THE FIRST TRIAL

[strangerpeople]

THE FIRST TRIAL

[The hour is up.

A bell chimes.

Soon enough, the Conductor collects everyone.]

Right, come now. You don't want the rats come and drag you in.

[And indeed, if any of them do try to resist, the rats will swarm them and drag them down to the locked gate.

Soon, the Conductor is standing where the lock is, hands on her hips. Soon enough the Empress' Shadow, the Other Victoria, the daughter of Her Thrice-Renewed Majesty, hobbles in, still dressed in her black, using a cane, her head held high as she stared at the Conductor. If the Strigoi do indeed remember her, perhaps they have informed her of what is happening. The two stare at one another, silent, for a moment.

Then, with a sigh, the Conductor begins to recite words that she has clearly said dozens of times.]

Private citizen. In the name of the Empire and your eternal Empre-

[Beep. The Dowager's thumb is immediately on the fingerprint scanner, and there is a click before the chains dissipate, as if by magic. Then, the fingerprint scanner-a familiar, of all things, of a Strigoi-then hops over to the Dowager, squeaking over to the Outer Terrace. Then, the Dowager herself turned and began to walk off, though not without giving a small, sympathetic nod to the Strangers as she leaves.]

...oh. Well then. Thank you, your Majesty.

[Clearing her throat, the Conductor throws open the gates. It's a small English garden in twilight, with a fountain and bushes and a few animal-like familiars here and there. There is a small station which to make tea and crackers with accompanying crockery near the house, though there are no servants manning it.

In the center of the garden is fifteen podiums-something McBurn would recognize almost immediately-in a very large, wide circle, and a larger, sixteenth chair which the Conductor sits in,. Each podium has a pair of sunglasses chained to them; there's no way to unchain them.

Above them is darkness. On the side of the house facing them, a window curtain is slightly open; the Empress' Shadow is the only other live witness to this aside from the crew.

The conductor presses a button on the chair, and everyone's cuff beeps. There is a clock again, along with a list.]

THE ROSE	THE FORLORN	THE GOLEM	THE DISCORD
				THE HALVED

[She then presses a second button, which seems to do nothing. She then speaks laconically, if not bored.]

This is the trial of Weftlander Proto Man, alias Blues, alias "The Alphabet" . We are in week 2 of our journey; our current stop is Victoria's Chasm. The suspects are as recorded in Little Courtesy Registration No. 36244-H. This is Conductor Lilac recording; I am empowered by the edict of Her Thrice-Renewed Majesty to magister the following proceedings.

[Then, much more lively (if not a little sarcastic).]

Bureaucracy. Isn't it grand?

Now. Let's begin, shall we? You have the information, and you have your suspects. You have a time limit to which you must adhere to, and you must vote before that time ends. You may ask me questions if you wish, but-don't ask me to tell you who did it. Or anything else ridiculous. Do make your questions pertinent to what is happening, please.

[With that, she stands and strolls over to the station to make herself tea. Looks like there's no other choice aside from having tea and crackers; the clock is ticking.


The trial for the murder of Proto Man, the Alphabet, has begun.]

Comments

[overworker]

[This list of suspects can't hurt her, not more than she's already hurt by the reality they're facing here. Towa's puffy-eyed, with Rean's jacket draped over her shoulders, fingers tightly pinching the fabric for support as she speaks.]

I investigated... the first level of the dining car. So you're welcome to ask me any questions you'd like.

But what I'd like to share first is something of a discrepency that I found during my investigation.

Proto Man was carrying a pocket watch, which was stopped at 11:08. It may have been a result of the electric shocks from the water that was all over him. However... he also had an internal clock. But that one read 12:02. Which means there's a 54 minute gap between the two.

[telecosmetic]

Maybe there was a fight first, and the watch got damaged then?

[unwittingking]

[King already hates being here, for the sole reason that poor Proto Man had to die for it to happen. Now, he glares at the list of suspects. Not only him, but mostly people he actually likes. Fantastic.

He manages to climb onto his podium somehow, so that he can actually see everyone and vice versa.]

Alright, just...ask me whatever you need to so we can get this over with.

[It’s better to try and clear his name now than to waste time doing it later…even though it should be obvious he couldn’t do it.]

[technicolourdifficulties]

This is likely a formality given your relative sizes and the murder method, but I don't suppose you would mind showing us your paws? The killer is likely suffering from some rather painful burns.

[katzenpfote]

[Caleb just sighs and rubs at his face.]

Ask me questions if you would like, but I did not do this.

[telecosmetic]

So what were you doing then, hm?

[overworker]

[Hi she hates this too.]

Your ability here allows you to produce fire, right?

[higanbana]

[Ris looks about as happy to be here as anyone else. She's sighing and trying to piece together what they've found when her cuff beeps and displays a list of suspects.

Her eye widens, then narrows, and immediately after the suspect list is up she is seen doing something with her cuff.]

So. Given what you all have collected – and thank you very much for doing so – can we all agree that the dining car was more than likely the scene of the crime?

[overworker]

Yes, I think that's the most likely conclusion as well.

[telecosmetic]

Yeah, it doesn't look like there's signs of a struggle anywhere else...

[awitchdidit]

Ahaha...at least this lunatic recognizes talent. I am disappointed in one of you boys, though.

[Beatrice has brought her kiseru pipe with her, for proper detective ambience. She's also accompanied by the Ubergoat, who gazes balefully upon the proceedings.]

Mister...RGB? and I found a medical pack in the armaments car with the burn cream missing. I've got a theory about that, but it can wait until we've reconstrcuted the crime a bit

[overworker]

Burn cream... there were burns to Proto Man's clothes. Electrical burns are rather dangerous... do you think it's possible the person responsible was injured? If so we might be able to find them if we did the proper medical examination...

[eternaldivide]

[ Mithos just... looks at the suspect list for a moment. He's used to being suspected in the past so really this was no different. Though haha it didn't hurt any less seeing it. ]

... Ask me anything you need to.

[ He tries to sound as neutral as possinle managing to be... mostly successful. ]

[overworker]

[...you know, she can't come up with a question. Rather, she's just going to give him a pat on the head. It's okay friend.]

[telecosmetic]

[Eliza's going to offer him a hug, too. She believes you didn't do it!]

[awitchdidit]

...well, someone is going to have to play Bad Cop here. Please don't take it personally, but I've got a vested interest in finding the truth now.

Do you have an alibi for last night? Anyone who can vouch for where you were?

[telecosmetic]

[Eliza's going to pick up the sunglasses at her podium and peer through them. Anything stand out when she does?]

[strangerpeople]

[Nope.]

[technicolourdifficulties]

[With every twist of the knife this case, RGB has slowly been getting more and more upset about all this nonsense. Oh, sure, he's not about to openly admit that a good part of it is that he actually likes any of their little group, but... Proto Man had been something of a friend.

And betrayal stings still stings, even if you expect it.]

Honestly. The fact that I'm even on this suspect list is offensive. I'm the only one on the entire bloody train that couldn't have pulled this off!

[He makes a noise of frustration, red, yellow, and cyan all dripping from his mouth, though he composes himself after a moment.]

As Beatrice said, burn cream is missing from one of the medical kits. I'm sure you can all draw some obvious conclusions as to what that means.

If you have any further questions, I'm just as stuck here as the rest of you.

[higanbana]

Why not? Are you sensitive to water, as well?

[She admits she never thought too hard about whether or not that telly was ACTUALLY electronic.]

[whitemoontiger]

[ Was this all difficult? Oh definitely.

They had to do this to figure out who did it and he would do his best to help. Standing tall at his podium, he looked around at the others with a fairly determined look. ]

Okay... so from what I found in the second level Dining car's kitchen, was that one of the knives was missing from the butcher's block and looked to be a fairly big one. I can only guess that someone took the knife from the kitchen and stabbed him, but that wasn't what killed him so maybe when they saw that didn't work?

[ He looks down slightly, exhaling a small breath before shaking his head. ]

They got water and doused him with it, and with the open wounds he had, that's how he was electrocuted.

[technicolourdifficulties]

A terrible way to go, that. His last moments must have been agony.

[For all that RGB states that in a fairly even tone, coming from a fellow electronic device... Well, that adds a bit of weight to it, doesn't it?]

Catherd: burns and burn cream. Suspects please reply

[awitchdidit]

I think that's enough time faffing about with the preliminaries.

I have a theory about the burn cream, but first, I'd like all suspects to show our hands and arms.

[Beatrice lifts her arms, showing off her burns from earlier.]

You all saw me get these, of course, but I want to see the other four, all at once.

[unwittingking]

Already did, but sure.

[Holding up his paws for everyone to see again. Still no burns there.]

surprise clothing check

[otherworldlyking]

[ He'll yawn.

Well, that was a nice little nap, but unfortunately it seems the trial's still going on. He supposes more participation from him would speed things up. ]

...Alright, we've wasted enough time. It's better if someone who's not on the list is taking a look anyway.

Show me your shoes while we're at it.

[ He's just going to come over and examine each suspect's clothing. He'll wait for the shoes portion too, whether it's holding them or lifting them up as well, but he'll give off the impression that he'd rather be doing anything else...as uuuusual. ]

[unwittingking]

Um...okay.

[Not sure what that's going to do when King's still wearing the vest, button-up shirt, and black pants from the first day, only adding his collar and Bailey's blue bandana around his neck, the latter covering the former.

Oh, and no shoes. Because why would a dog need shoes?

The point is, there's nothing off here.]

Halfway mark lol

[disregartist]

[Suddenly, a chime rings. From...somewhere.]

Oh, goodness, your time's already half up.

...Hm.

[right back to candy crush saga]

[technicolourdifficulties]

...May I as what you're playing?

[Because that's totally relevant to the case, right?]

About the motive...

[zackthekiller]

[Sorry Zack hasn't been really helping with the case, he isn't that good at this whole mystery solving thing. Even if he's been through something like this before. But he does have a thought.]

Hey... I dunno if this really matters, but you think someone actually would kill to try and free whoever the bastards are holding hostage? Pretty much everyone flipped out on Tuesday, if I remember correctly.

[otherworldlyking]

[ Looks like they might have something in common there. ]

... Probably.

CATHERD

[higanbana]

[Ris clears her throat.]

If I could try to gather everyone's attention for just a moment.

So. To collect our thoughts... I believe what we have deduced as the method of murder is as follows.

There was a knife at the bottom of the stairs in the dining car. Proto Man somehow fell down the stairs and onto the knife, providing the needed pressure to pierce his metal frame.

From there, he was either dragged to the kitchen or ran there himself, leaving being the oil trail that was found by the stairs. Once in the kitchen, more oil pooled on the floor, and water was applied to his injuries in some fashion, leading to his electrocution.

There are burn marks on Proto Man's clothing and burn cream missing from the armament first aid, but we do not know how these factor in at this point.

Of our suspects, we know RGB would have been killed by the cause of death as well, and it is likely that King is too small to have successfully attacked our victim without putting himself at risk.

Those are simply the objective facts. If anyone has anything else to contribute, please do.

[otherworldlyking]

That fancy cloth probably belongs to someone who wears gloves [ There was the other thing but that doesn't make sense, so. ], and Caleb couldn't have used his power to help in the murder.

CONFESSION: Black resigns; smothered mate

[awitchdidit]

[BGM]

ENOUGH!

[Everyone can hear Beatrice shout as McBurn approaches her to examine her injuries in detail.]

Goat, end his lineage if he takes a step closer.

[The Ubergoat remains inscrutable. Beatrice, however, reaches for a match, and lights her pipe one more time, before continuing.]

That's quite enough. You've got me. I killed Proto Man, and damn all of you for making his sacrifice pointless! You really care so much about justice you'd condemn an innocent man by proxy?

[She takes a puff on her pipe, seeming to calm down as she exhales smoke rings.]

Well, okay, Battler's only relatively innocent...

[Her expression suddenly changes to a manic grin.]



I'd like to have a little more fun drawing out how I did it, but your theory hangs together regardless of how it happened, so congratulations for that! I'm not proud of how easy this one was, but I have to give Proto Man credit, he attacked me in a way I didn't anticipate! Robots! Seriously! This is why you shouldn't cross over fantasy and sciiii fiiii!

[She holds up her hands.]

Ahaha, he literally got me caught red-handed. Even after I disabled him by shoving him down the stairs onto that knife, he was able to wound me! A real hero, that guy. I knew I'd need a miracle to get out of that one, so I risked as much as I could for the greatest amount of reward! An ultimate sacrificial illusion spell!

[She sighs.]

But so much for my illusions. So much for my husband, I suppose.



[But then she brightens up.]

Ahahaha! Still! You all...eventually...did a wonderful job. If you can defeat me, even in a low-difficulty trainer mystery like this one, I'm certain a miracle will occur, and you'll defeat the wicked empress. Ahaha...even if there's three sacrifices instead of one, maybe this isn't such a bad outcome, huuuuh?

[otherworldlyking]

[ He just raises a brow. Yeah okay, he's not scared of some goat, but hey the less work he has to do, the better. ]

...Finally.

[ He can go back to taking a nap now that his sparring partner is going to be fine. He's not very interested in seeing the execution, after all. ]