THE FIRST TRIAL

[strangerpeople]

THE FIRST TRIAL

[Minutes after Detective Beauford Bottson rumbled off, an alarm suddenly starts to go off, complete with flashing red lights. This is followed by the very unwelcome sound of you-know-who.

Oh, what fresh hell is this.]

ATTENTION PRISO--GUESTS! GO TO THE ELEVATORS IMMEDIATELY! IT'S TOTALLY AN EMERGENCY! AHAHAHA!!

[And indeed, the elevators are open and ready for fast travel. Only this time, the elevator immediately takes the Strangers downwards, and into a large room of controls with a force field in the center of it. Beneath everyone is a semi-translucent floor, revealing a massive, futuristic engine beneath them. Despite how giant it is, it's unnervingly quietly, only letting out a hum that can just be heard.

The controls are beyond the force field in the center, so there's no way to get to them without naturally passing through it first. And as everyone enters into the force field - complete with a slurping sound as they pass through it, they will realize two things.

The first is that any weapons on them are somehow gone.

The second is that they can't get out of the force field once they've entered it. Instead, they will have to stand in a circle, with Bottson in the middle, transmitting the evidence found to the wristwatches.]

bASed on tHe inFormATion I have hEre IS...the suspects who stole my HnduyFDUFB mu-uu-U-rdered!



tHeRE yoU Go!


[Finally, above everyone and beyond the force field is Marie, flying around on a floating platform. She looks smug as ever as she leans over, chuckling.]

WELL, SO MUCH FOR ALL YOUR HIGH AND MIGHTY RESOLVE, RIGHT?? SO GO ON, JUST TRY AND SEE IF YOU CAN FIGURE OUT WHO KILLED THAT WOMAN! AND REMEMBER...IF YOU VOTE WRONG, YOU'LL JUST HAVE TO LIVE WITH THE CONSEQUENCES OF KILLING SOMEONE INNOCENT, WON'T YOU?

AHAHAHAHAHAHA!!

Comments

[theserpentsmiles]

Yurick-san.....please stop. [Nagisa is quiet. There's a lot going through his mind, and he knows a thing or two about death and killing.]

[mementodagger]

[Whereas Naoya's words make him seethe quietly, Nagisa makes him deflate a little. He turns away from the rest of the circle and goes to the force field, sitting down near it. He wants out of this room and away from everyone.]

[theserpentsmiles]

[He'd gotten the truth out of Akira, and really, there's no way around this.....guilt. Two people...and Karma gone, as well.]

I'm part of the reason he did this, so....let me take the fall.

[stealsyourduelist]

And keep one who has already betrayed us in our midst? No thanks.

[theserpentsmiles]

[....Rosenkreuz has always seemed the logical type, so...]

How, exactly, was this him betraying you? I don't think he'd have done this if Clotilde-san hadn't tried to hurt him first. Akira-senpai isn't an assassin.

[stealsyourduelist]

Yet he was already carrying with him the weapon to enact a murder plan. If Vita had not attacked him first, he may have worked up the nerve to find another victim, with all that he had at stake.

[He sighs.]

Although I admit that with what we've seen here, nerve is not exactly what I expect.

[fashionfever]

Yeah, a cord and a knife! He literally covered up the strangulation with the knife, right?

[beguiledcard]

No, I didn't.

[fashionfever]

[Angela just - turns away from Akira and shakes her fist at the ceiling.]

HEY, WHOEVER THINKS IT'S FUNNY TO STAB PEOPLE WHO ALREADY DIED? I'M ONTO YOU!!! BAD STUFF IS COMING YOUR WAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[theserpentsmiles]

If he'd acted only on his own motivation, then.... I still deserve some of the blame. Part of his motive was....reuniting me with someone I didn't know had died.

[stealsyourduelist]

Nonsense. You might as well say you're to blame for merely existing, by that logic.

However, it does appear to be the case that getting away with murder would allow him to resurrect your friend. If you are willing to die for that friend, then that much I respect. You would have to make your case however.

[he cares more about pragmatism than justice hahahaha]

[theserpentsmiles]

[Karma has always been better than him. At everything. There's no reason it would be better to have Nagisa here than him...]

In terms of sheer practicality.... You'd want him around instead of me. He's troublesome - but strong and fast and the second-smartest person I know...the first isn't alive either, but bringing him back isn't on the table. Karma-kun would be much better at figuring out a way to upend this.

[Which might. Say something about Nagisa's own thoughts for how to move forward.]

[mementodagger]

[Softly, flatly:]

You're only a child. You shouldn't even be here, much less offering yourself up like a sacrificial animal.

[crouching_sin]

... Really? You're using that as a defense for him? In this place?

[mementodagger]

Not all children have hands stained with blood. The ones that don't... deserve to remain that way, as long as they can.

[He sounds faraway, disconnected.]

[theserpentsmiles]

[....Oh.]

I'm not one of those, Yurick-san.

[mementodagger]

[A tired sigh.]

What are you talking about?

[fashionfever]

Isn't Akira literally like one year older than him?

[mementodagger]

Akira's no longer innocent. That's all.

[fashionfever]

I... I definitely don't wanna do anything to an innocent person...

[vividsins]

[ A bitter laugh. ]

Humans aren't innocent. Nothing really is.

[mementodagger]

I mean those who haven't taken a life.

[He pinches the bridge of his nose. There's a headache starting.]

What does it matter now? Akira is doomed.

[beguiledcard]

Nagisa, no!

[ He's outright yelling that, tbh. ]

I'm not letting anyone take the fall for me!

[theserpentsmiles]

...Karma-kun wouldn't want you to..... He was prepared to die. We all were. [It didn't mean any of them were ready or wanted to, but....] I've seen him throw himself off a cliff to get a better chance at his goals.

[Nagisa lost count of how many times the class was put in danger.]

[beguiledcard]

[ He can't respond to that... He feels... sick. ]