FOURTH TRIAL

[whimsicalism]

FOURTH TRIAL

THE CONTAINMENT CENTER

((CW spiders))

The Principal's hateful dismissal of the latest murder still ringing in the halls, the students are ushered with much more force and hurry into the elevator this time. There's a certain amount of urgency to this descent that hasn't existed before, as if some great force is beginning to run out of patience with Ira Academy's slowly dwindling student body. The cold, pre-autumn gloom grasping at the upper levels has permeated these basement areas as well, and an uneasy chill wind rips through with no discernable source.

In their holding cell, the monsters all pace with more restlessness than usual. A bipedal crocodile monster tall enough to barely fit inside his cell without hunching rams his snout repeatedly against the front wall, blood stains gathering on the glass--and perhaps, if one looks close enough, some hairline cracks. A horde of black spiders with poisonous red markings spin nervously in the corners of their cells, wrapping up anonymous but distinctly humanoid figures in their webs. The clown makes everyone a balloon dog! How nice of him. He slits it open with his knife and leaves the shredded ribbons of rubber dangling from his fingertips.

Though the audio is clearly on and the Principal's view into the trial room seems undisturbed, the video feed on the projector screen is cut off today. Instead of the ram emblem or a visual on his firelit office, nothing but a wall of black stares back.

Nanami opens her mouth to introduce the case as soon as everyone is at their podium, but she's cut off by Father's angry, disembodied voice before a single world can leave her mouth.

"Sure, let's keep it up with the bread and circuses. If you don't get that then you should have paid attention in history class! I won't be surprised if you spend the whole afternoon trying to figure this one out, just to waste my time. Find out who killed The Dependable Dog, or you'll really find out where they all go."

Investigation | Podium Layout | Locations | IC Profiles | IC Rules | IC Evidence Presentation | Evidence List | NPC Questions | Labyrinth Map | Playground Map

OOC NOTES

Welcome to the fourth trial! Consider this your reminder to make sure to get in your Week 3 AC by tomorrow's weekly post and to start getting your Week 4 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. 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

MODS DID IT FOR YASU SO WHY NOT

[holyironmade]

[She hasn't really had time to put the shoes and socks back on yet so they're just sitting there for the taking. She is giving him a withering stare.]

[violence_ensues]

Um...

[Adorabat... doesn't know...]

...Um, I played dodgeball with Kuro and she's strong...

MODS!!

[canreallymove]

[She can punch him later.

Time to examine the shoes, top, bottom, inside and out.]

[normalnotroyal]

[Rosalinda's shoes don't have laces, but are more of a Mary Jane. They're buckled normally though.]

[keyringwitness]

[Hm, alright. One more check before Yasu gives up on this line of questioning entirely, then: do they match in texture?

...and, following her gut, Yasu also checks the frilly headband-hat-thing that Jeanne wears all the time. Just in case.]

[normalnotroyal]

[Normal stuff here, no injuries.]

[whimsicalism]

[There's nothing notable about Jeanne's black loafers up close, inside or outside.]

[canreallymove]

[And no indication they were cleaned recently?]

[shinedsobright]

We might be finally out of those... unless Hunty D get to be a bloodhound when he's all werepuppy?

[whimsicalism]

[Just dog hair! There's a heavier layer concentrated toward the middle of the roller, but there are no other types of fibers or hair attached.]

[holyironmade]

Ufufu. It is bittersweetly nostalgic.

[Jeanne will turn her back to allow the headband to be removed from her hair if desired (she is in fact naturally wearing it as part of her church outfit). Insofar as it is not yet removed, it looks intact.]

[holyironmade]

[A healthy background level of unwiped floor scum!]

[panglici]

It's probably mean, but... hey, Hunter, I have a really terrible question.

[copycut]

[ WELL, SHE TRIED IT, ]

[whimsicalism]

[The texture between the two is comparable.

The fabric on Jeanne's headband is intact.]

[hashtagwoof]

... [ He frowns as she approaches. He can already guess what she's about to ask. ]

If it has anything to do with the murder, I have literally no reason to go after the dalmatians anymore. Dylan and I agreed to a truce weeks ago, and these horrible past few weeks have given me plenty of time to wonder why I was trying to help my horrible aunt with her horrible coat.

Seriously. The motive was about secrets. Why would I kill to keep a secret when I blurted it out to everyone during the meeting?

[holyironmade]

What are you talking about? My uniforms and gym clothes are in Kuro's hamper. You cannot seriously imagine that I committed what you call this bloody drowning in a bright white dress.

[violence_ensues]

...Wait, then that should mean the monster is the one that killed Dylan...

[Adorabat eyes everyone that did not tell their secrets. Anya, Hunter, Dewey, Emma, you four are definitely safe from Adorabat's gaze.]

[copycut]

[ Kuro hums. ]

Here. If you want to take a look, you're welcome to. I didn't notice anything in particular about them, but I was mostly checking for hair that might have been missed during the clean-up.

[keyringwitness]

Hm... they're similar, but I'm not going to condemn anyone based on "similar." [Yasu sighs.] Many different things could be made out of this kind of cloth, saying that you're for sure guilty because of it is the kind of amateurish mistake that man would make...

Could you tell me what you bumped your arm against? Anything would help! I just want to get this over with, really, having to be suspicious of you is tiring.

[canreallymove]

...This doesn't clear you just yet. Just so you know. You can't explain where that mark came from. You know that's a bad look., and you know what that means.

[Sorry, Jeanne, whether you get to punch him or not after the trial is in the air, but you are a suspect. Again.]

[copycut]

Hey, Jeanne— [ Kuro's just going to slide over, since she's right here anyway. ] Would you mind if I check the bottom part of your dress, too?

[holyironmade]

But you also cannot explain where the mark came from. You do not have any theory for why the culprit would acquire a notch specifically.

[panglici]

[Carrie actually goes a bit pale as she realizes how much worse she made this.]

It's nothing like that, trust me, I'm sorry! I just - when you become like a dog, do you just act like a dog, or is there actually an increase in how good some of your senses are?

[canreallymove]

They got it during the struggle with Dyl, when they were messing with the windows, or when they put Dyl in the sensory deprivation tub.

Which is a way better explanation than your "I don't remember".