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

[holyironmade]

...it would be much more pleasant if I could take your words literally, but I will cooperate.

[In other words, Jeanne is wearing an extremely long skirt without trousers of any kind underneath. Ultimately, she toes off the shoes and socks and gathers up the skirt to six inches below her waist. Her bare legs are completely typical.

Her sleeves are so long that they technically cover part of her hand. Each time, she holds her hand up in front of her face to pull down the fabric, and it takes almost an entire minute each time to even reach the elbow. But the mark is revealed almost immediately. There is a notch on the ulnar side of Jeanne's right wrist. She is a slender girl where the knob in her arm can be felt; with the fingertips right side up, the notch is underneath the knob. It is facing towards Sonic, away from Jeanne; she has absolutely no reaction.]

[canreallymove]

...What's that?

[pointing to the notch]

[holyironmade]

[Her face is blank - "what is what?" - as she turns her hand around.]

This?

[Yes, Jeanne, that.]

I have no idea. It was hidden under my sleeve. I do not remember when I received this mark. I must have brushed against the corner of a desk or a doorframe.

[canreallymove]

. . .

[He frowns at this. Last week, he accused Jeanne of being a suspect. And this week. This week...

He closes his eyes.]

Look, puttin' aside last week...you know I can't just believe you on that, man. You seem like someone who would remember where you got a mark like that.

["Do you see any scars on this hand?"

Snap.]

[holyironmade]

It is not a stain. The skin bounces back; blood was not drawn, did not pool in a bruise. I have been challenged to live as an ordinary girl and waste time the way that you all do, bustle around against the bars of your medium-sized cage instead of my snug one, and came into contact with a small, hard object during that time.

[Whether or not you believe her description that it occurred in an innocuous manner, this does seem to be true...]

1/2

[canreallymove]

...Ok, fine. Let's assume then that you are telling the truth, and you're really innocent, and I'm just being an idiot who should be punched in the face for accusin' you again over an itty bitty mark.

And if that's the case.

2/2

[canreallymove]

Then you wouldn't mind me looking at your shoes a little more closely while you're not wearing them.

[In fact, he's moving to go grab them.]

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.]

MODS!!

[canreallymove]

[She can punch him later.

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

[whimsicalism]

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

[canreallymove]

[And no indication they were cleaned recently?]

[holyironmade]

[A healthy background level of unwiped floor scum!]

[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.

[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.

[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.]

[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.

[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".

[holyironmade]

That is not an explanation, Sonic. That is essentially the same thing as "during the commotion of the murder". Against the edge of the window, for example? We saw the white fabric got caught in the latch, but my sleeve was clearly not struggling against the latch.

[canreallymove]

You didn't ask for an explanation, you asked for a theory. I gave one to you. You got a better one? Because all you're saying is "I don't remember" for that mark you have!

And who says it had to be your sleeve that got ripped? You?

[If she did this, if she really did this, if she was really guilty-]

[shinedsobright]

Dude, chill. Her injury is on her wrist, what else would you be talking about?

[holyironmade]

You did not give me a theory. You gave me a range of theories. I am pointing out that, while you are correct that the hard window frame would be a fairly good candidate for the creation of a notch, it seems like that process would involve any long sleeve getting caught in the latch, when we literally have my unscathed long sleeve here for inspection. Either someone else's sleeve was caught, or it was a person without a sleeve, or a totally different scenario occurred.

[Also she has told Yasu this so there's that.]

[temmapathy]

Maybe when pressing against the edge of the pod? If only that water had a stronger smell...

[shinedsobright]

The kind of injury Dylan would leave on someone would have to be a bite, yeah? We do have his bite marks to compare to stuff.

[copycut]

I agree with that. It's possible our culprit could have been bruised in the commotion, but it's not exactly the kind of injury we said we were looking for at the start.