SECOND TRIAL

[whimsicalism]

SECOND TRIAL

THE CONTAINMENT CENTER

((CW implied cannibalism from monsters, clowns.))

Once all of the relevant rooms have been searched, it's time to dry tears and gather up evidence. The sheep, whirring dully and many of them hanging their heads, gradually round the remaining children up and begin herding them to the elevator doors. Even with only two extra people missing, it's much roomier inside once the doors are closed. Once everyone is loaded, the car begins its shrieking descent, lights and sounds grating equally as the students are once more shuttled down to the containment area.

Some of the cells on the way down contain familiar charges, but other denizens seem to have been moved. Or perhaps the layout of the containment area changed recently? Today, a large cell is home not only to an elderly woman but her large rickety home. She sits on her porch with a certain grace, even if there's a glint in her eye that feels more malicious than kindly as she beckons at you with a gnarled finger. The sudden scrambling of her home's talons might startle the unprepared. Another cell contains nothing more than a constantly roaring fire, the blaze stretched wall to wall and pulsing rhythmically at its core every so often, as it if it had its own beating heart.

For anyone worried the clown wouldn't be returning: Have no fear! The gang's friend is here again, though there are two fewer intact balloons now gripped in his hand. He's even taken efforts to look beautiful for everyone observing through the cell doors, and the red makeup around his lips is bright and freshly applied. Beautiful! Until he draws the flat of his knife across his mouth, and the source becomes obvious, just as bright as it was a week ago.

In the courtroom--the depressing, angular nightmare that passes for one--the stone podiums stand waiting for their respective students once more. With a couple more empty than the last time the group was down here, they're looking more and more like gravestones.

The desk is still down here, albeit empty this time. But the projector screen is exactly the same, the ram's head looking out at the sick entertainment on offer. For someone who's turned all of this into his own person theater, one would think he'd sound delighted by the death and destruction. Instead, his strong voice is just as clipped and angry as it always is. He barks out a command.

"Time to actually use those minds of yours! I guess this witch hunt is about to begin. Find out what happened to Thomasin or it'll be your necks on the line!"


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

OOC NOTES

Welcome to your second trial for Round 2! As we know that trials and any afterparties can get busy, we'd like to quickly remind everyone to make sure their Week 1 AC is squared away by tomorrow's weekly post and to start collecting their Week 2 threads to submit. Make sure to get your regains in by tomorrow night as well!

As a clarification for what evidence can be brought in, a rule of thumb is that 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

[bellabellabella]

I never claimed I wasn't a monster. I'm.... I was trying to be better, even if I knew exactly what I was.

[cellpreservation]

Killing a person doesn't make you a monster.

[Firmly.]

[violence_ensues]

Yeah!

[Adorabat agrees strongly.]

Ed, you're reasonable. You can do things besides eat and smash.

[shinedsobright]

So that was you projecting, huh?

[bellabellabella]

That was me knowing what I was talking about.

[shinedsobright]

Really? You've been in a game like this before, with some hotshot-on-high forcing you to make sacrifices?

[bellabellabella]

No. I sought out and killed some of the worst of humanity, for a little while. Even those - rapists, murderers, serial killers....

Each life you take has a weight. They press on you.

[shinedsobright]

[Is he confessing this to Fret because he's already said he's a vampire, or is it just because he's about to die? Something inside him is twisting and winding at the exposure to this view, making him want to shut it out. He thinks about Kanon.]

So every life's sacred to you, but you kill... And Thomasin wasn't any different. I guess you could think of it that way.

It still seems like bullshit though. That there's no difference between that and how things went here. Unless... that thing you said about Isabella getting into trouble easily...?

[bellabellabella]

I....

At home I, and my family, we try to abstain. I usually hunt game animals, sometimes big predators. We're careful not to affect the population. We don't want to kill humans. I decided to try a different way of life, briefly. It wasn't worth it.

That is how I know.

Bella....

She's almost died at least three times, since I met her. I suppose that her involvement, such as it is, in this would make it four.

[shinedsobright]

[Fret takes this in. He still doesn't see what Edward sees in Reika to imagine they're the same. But there's no reason to beat the dead horse. Sounds like he'd have killed for Bella no matter what else was going on, or how else he felt about other things.]

Well then, you must want something to leave for her. Last words? Parting gifts? Or do you figure you'll just see us all in hell for real?

[It's a striking possibility!!]