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

[holyironmade]

[Jeanne finally produces the small note, though she only shows it to Kuro for now, gripped tightly: "I want to talk about the two of us", followed by her own (girlishly round) underline, arrow, and question mark.]

I thought that this was all he wanted at the time.

[copycut]

[ Kuro leans in. Her own voice is quiet. Girl talk...? ]

So did he ask you to meet anywhere?

[holyironmade]

No...

[Her head sways a bit. She's like a doll who can barely keep the smile on.]

We were passing notes under the door. We had discussed the need for this in front of everyone at the meeting. To conserve energy. I eventually conveyed the desire to harmonize our wills later. I... [and this, she whispers] couldn't bear to contemplate the threat to my chastity much longer.

[hashtagwoof]

... You we're going to date him. You fell in love and wanted to date him. Is that what you mean to say?

[ He can't think of anything else she could be implying here. ]

[holyironmade]

That is... the opposite... of what I meant...!

[She's shaking here and can barely get her parched voice out which is a good thing.]

He! Was! In love with me! When I treasured him as a friend! And if I had been able to accept his feelings then maybe he would have been distracted from—but instead you all think—you all think I killed—

It's treason!!

[gotnothing]

[ Frowns a little. ]

Yeah, you probably could do better.

[canismajorcontrolfreak]

[Quietly:]

Agreed.

[holyironmade]

There is more to life than doing better. Human beings are not planks of wood replaced in a ship.

[canreallymove]

Treason?? What are you even talking about!?

[holyironmade]

Stop insisting I killed my friend and forcing me to reveal personal details about him. It is hurtful. I will admit that I suspect a human child such as myself most strongly. I will continue to submit to the checks. Humility is among the virtues I embody, after all.

You are fortunate. If I were a normal girl as some of you wish, I would sit under my podium and cry.

[canreallymove]

...Look, man, I'm not here to be a jerk. I'm trying to figure out who did it! And this is stuff we need to know if we're gonna mark you as innocent or guilty!

And yeah, right now you're one of the more likely suspects. That's why if we wanna get this right you gotta help us disprove it was you. And if you really liked him like that, and didn't want to kill him, then wouldn't you want people to know that?

I just want the truth so we can get out alive, man! Somethin' like this is important to know!

[whimsicalism]

[You can't tell but Father is covering his ears. What is wrong with these children?!]

[copycut]

H~oh, look at Miss Popular...

[ IS NOW THE TIME, GIRLS ]

Okay, okay! I get it now. He wouldn't want the girl he likes to see what he was about to do, and you were still locked in your room. Sound right?

[keyringwitness]

["All the sins of the world-"

"He wouldn't want the girl he likes to-"

I'm going to go through with it-

Curved blades-

He was a coward-]

Kuro.

Do you think this was assisted suicide? And...

[You can't ignore the heart.]

I'd like to see your other knife. You only showed us the one.

[canreallymove]

...Other knife?

[copycut]

[ Hm. That wipes the teasing smile off her face. She straightens up from where she had bent toward Jeanne's podium. ]

I don't know. That's my honest answer. I think, no matter what we say Valmont's motives were, we're making a big assumption.

Personally, I don't know that I would buy him wanting to die. Even if he couldn't bear the hunger, he sure seemed like he wanted to live earlier this week. But... It's a possibility, so we can't rule it out.

[ Without acknowledging the request, she offers her other blade for examination. ]

Mod Ping

[keyringwitness]

[She says nothing, just takes the blade and examines it.]

[whimsicalism]

[This isn't curved enough to be the weapon.]

[cellpreservation]

I still say he was way too much of a coward for that. Kuro, Emma and I all saw it for ourselves on Monday night.

[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]