THIRD TRIAL

[whimsicalism]

THIRD TRIAL

THE CONTAINMENT CENTER

Still hungry, and perhaps with some new fashionable shoe colors, the students are herded into the elevator, which is lined with a plastic tarp this week. With the elevator becoming a perpetually emptier space, there's plenty of room for the Prefect herself to squeeze in next to everyone else, standing at the front of the group and ineffectively covering the side of her head with her free hand as soon as the tearing screen of metal and high-buzzing florescent lights kicks in.

The descent this time takes the group of students past several new chambers. The first is occupied by a grotesque caricature of a lunch lady, who ladles unidentifiable pitch black goop onto a constantly rotating line of trays as she smiles at the group with a single tooth. The clown, ever present for the show with his dwindling collection of balloons, rides a tiny tricycle through pools of spilled acrylic paint, the wheels squeaking as they paint out blood red patterns on the cell floor. The last chamber the students will see before arriving in the trial room is completely empty, save for a cloudy grey fog that blinks inside it like a thundercloud.

Instead of the usual black ram emblem on the telecom screen, the Principal's flame-wreathed silhouette is visible this week, though his chair is turned away from the camera and only the outline of his back seems to be visible. There's an empty container of Rocky Road ice cream sitting next to him on a side table, the spoon still balanced in the carton. The entire trial room itself smells like the lunch time rush at a cafeteria or fast food restaurant, the smells of grilling meat, roasting vegetables, and sweet dessert occasionally passing through a chamber that is completely devoid of any actual food.

With some hesitation, Nanami goes to the desk next to the podiums and takes her old seat. She glances back at the projector screen, then her shoulders slump forward and she leans down against the desk.

"It's happened again. Valmont, the... Boss...Baby. Has been killed. Maybe this really will go on forever, until no one is left... Anyway, you need to find out what happened if you want to live and not starve. ...Don't forget the rules. Get started."

As she finishes speaking a sheep walks around the trial room, handing everyone an apple and some graham crackers. Of course, even Nanami gets a small treat. The Little Brother glances at the shape of Father in his chair before quietly placing a finger to it's robotic face only for the angry voice of your Principal rings out. "Hey! Don't--ah, forget it. That'll get you through the trial. Maybe you'll bust a gut or something. What are you waiting for?! You heard Miss Kiryuu, start already!"

Investigation | Podium Layout | Locations | IC Profiles | IC Rules | IC Evidence Presentation | Evidence List | NPC Questions | Dorm Map | Paint Map

OOC NOTES

Welcome to the third trial! Consider this your reminder to make sure to get in your Week 2 AC by tomorrow's weekly post and to start getting your Week 3 AC ready to submit. Make sure to get your regains in by tomorrow night!

Remember, if you can carry it you probably can bring it. We mainly want to discourage corpse desecration, if we can, so while the body itself isn't allowed into the trial most things are. If your character has access to a piece of evidence and you don't know if you can bring it in, you can either ask the mods privately if that's possible or by pinging them in the post itself. If a piece of evidence is forgotten, you can either assume retroactively that someone did or that the sheep brought it in to make sure that everything is tidy.

As always, just put MODS in the header of your comment to get our attention for any clarification.

Good luck!

Comments

[keyringwitness]

...it would be easier than killing someone, I think. If you just wanted to run away.

[cellpreservation]

And I'm saying I don't think he even had the guts to do that!

[keyringwitness]

...Yuta...

[Curved blade... odd sensitivity... beeline to the kitchen...

Without any warning, Yasu walks up to Yuta, as if to have a heart-to-heart with him.

Then she kneels and takes a look at his shoes. Is any of the red paint already dry, or of a different color than it's supposed to be? Or in an unusual place, such as on the top of his shoe when he was supposed to have stepped in it.]

Um, I- I'm sorry. Your room is next to Dylan's, you own a sickle, and you've been getting unusually heated, so I have to check.

[cellpreservation]

-Huh?!

[She can in fact take a look! As one might expect, there's a lot of red paint.

However.

There's also a tiny speck of blue under it, too.]

[keyringwitness]

...blue...

The only way you could've gotten this is if the blue paint dried on your shoe while you were spreading it around, before you got the chance to clean it off.

And...

[Yasu pauses, then sighs.]

You were so convinced that Valmont was too much of a coward because you saw him hesitating by Dylan's door, didn't you?

1/2

[cellpreservation]

2/2

[cellpreservation]

Finally.

[canreallymove]

.............................


[Red room.]

Dude, you-

[cellpreservation]

I didn't plan it though, okay? I didn't know about the note. I just thought- I mean, it's a Thursday night!

[VALMONT WAS AN IDIOT OKAY!!]

[canreallymove]

DUDE! I-I--

...

[He just slams his fists down on the podium, shutting his eyes.]

Just...right. Right, I...god this whole thing is so way past uncool, and here I was like a moron thinkin' it was her, and-

[Yuta was going to learn how to make eggs and...and other stuff so he could cook when they got food again.]

I almost got us all killed-!

[Maybe if he'd patrolled later. Maybe if he'd some something-

He's more mad at himself than at Yuta, even if it's clear he knows. He knows it might not have changed a thing.]

[violence_ensues]

[Adorabat doesn't say anything. She just looks at Yuta with sad eyes for a moment before flying over to him and giving him a bat hug.]

[cellpreservation]

[Oh.

A...wkwardly wrapping an arm around her to pat her on the back.]

Hey...

[violence_ensues]

...

What... what's something you'd like for me to draw for you?

[keyringwitness]

...no hard feelings, right?

Like we agreed.

[cellpreservation]

Yeah.

Like we agreed.

[keyringwitness]

You said this wasn't my kind of mystery, but... as morbid as it sounds, you did well.

That was some impressive misdirection.

[There's a weariness in her voice as she gets up. It doesn't even feel like a tragedy anymore, just an inevitability. That's how she can joke like this.

And she holds out her hand for Yuta to shake.]

[temmapathy]

[Emma stares for a moment, then lifts her hands to sign.]

I promised myself not to be mad, no matter what.

[And she starts over to pull him into a hug as well. Love, to turn away wrath.]

[cellpreservation]

[Man he's getting a lot of hugs right now and every single one is unexpected.

...But he'll hug her back.]

[canismajorcontrolfreak]

[...Dylan does think of one question, though.]

W-was it the...the sickle? Or...something else?

[cellpreservation]

[He shakes his head.]

It was a scythe I got earlier. It's still in my room, so someone might want to do something about that.

Sorry. But asking people to talk about weapons makes it really easy to lie.

[panglici]

[Carrie could hug him, sure. He's right there. But there's others who are doing that, and... and...

Well, maybe after this, if she's not struck down on the spot. Maybe then.]

[cellpreservation]

[-!]

Carrie?!

[canismajorcontrolfreak]

[...oh no...]

The...the shoes...he found them so I...I couldn't get any smell off him...

[cellpreservation]

...Sorry. Your nose was a real problem.

[And he does look genuinely sorry for that.]

But the sheep should clean everything up afterwards at least.

[canismajorcontrolfreak]

[He just sort of...nods numbly...

He can't think of anything to say, right now.]