THE FIRST TRIAL

[strangerpeople]

THE FIRST TRIAL

[Soon after the final clue is found, there are three more loud, unsettling tonal clangs, all which go right to the bone. No matter where they are, the Titled will hear another, loud creak.

The set of doors on the left are slowly opening, revealing a long, long corridor, with a very long flight of stairs going upwards, just barely visible at the end of it.

The Intercessor's voice booms through the air and shakes the ground, sounding loud and clear no matter where the Titled might be standing at that moment.]

ENTER!

[The voice brooks no argument. As soon as everyone goes through the set of double doors, they close behind them. There is no choice, and no turning back. The Titled must go up the stairs at the end of the hall. They feel like they take forever, but when the stairs are finally traversed, there is a single door at the top, already open to them.

Welcome to the Debate Hall, Titled. Its the best-lit place you've seen, with gas lamps on the wall bright as possible. Its also the emptiest place they've ever seen so far - its massive and yet the Titled and the Intercessor are the only individuals to be seen in the entire area.

Seems, because there is faint chanting coming from the darkness behind that stage at the other end. There's no real way to hear what's being said, no matter how close you try to get. No way to check if there's even anyone on or behind the stage to make such chanting possible. The only person remotely close to the stage, standing on the stone steps, is the Intercessor.

There is also a faint rumble in the air, as if the world itself mourns the crime committed.

So. Take your seats at your stone desks to face one another as you debate. And yes, they are stone. Yes, they have stone chairs with which to sit in. And yes, your Title is on your assigned chair, etched in with chisel and hammer. Every desk also has a copy of the Writs with Orders 7 and 8 circled, and a copy of the autopsy file of the deceased on top of it; that is all the aid you will get from whoever brought you here. The rest, it seems, is up to the Titled, with what they have found.

Seats 7 and 8 are empty. Their copies of the rules and evidence lay untouched.

Once everyone has taken their seats, the strange, ominous chanting stops. Its time. Bound in blood, the death warrant has already been signed. The contract is complete. Its now just a question of finding the guilty party to fulfill the call for justice.

So, get ready, Titled.

The Inquisition of Laslow, the Spinner, has begun.]

Comments

[strangerpeople]

[Uncannily well.]

[carries_war]

[He takes a deep breath and looks up at Yusuke, steel in his eyes.]

I need you to take that bandage off.

[pursuitofbeauty]

The way Yusuke looks back at Rubedo...

It's sad.

"You saw how sick I was when Laslow was found. Do you really believe I could murder him in cold blood?"

[almightyconflagration]

Those fruits. Any of us could bring him back. Well, except me, I juiced mine.

[pursuitofbeauty]

"...."

Yusuke looks toward the Intercessor.

"Is he correct? Will the fruits work on us while we are trapped here?"

[intercessing]

...those things...I do not--

[There is a quiet pause, a long pause, where their eyes widen slightly, before going back to the normal pinpricks, before they shake their head.]

No. There is a...specific means that must be used for them to work. A means which no one here has access to.

[pursuitofbeauty]

"Then I could not possibly have chosen to take a life with the intention of returning it if I had any idea how the fruits worked."

[almightyconflagration]

So it means someone here killed for a lie. Makes me glad I juiced it, at least that might be useful.

[carries_war]

I've seen Albedo hide and cower from someone looking at him harshly, and I've seen him shoot people dead. The heat of the moment...it brings different things to the surface. Maybe overnight gave you time to reflect on what you did and feel guilty.

Let me see your hand, now.

[socialhacktivist]

Stop this! Yusuke couldn't have done this.

[Why is this happening. This can't be real...]

I know this guy! He saved me! He would never hurt anyone!

[zephyranthe]

If he's got nothing to hide, then all he's gotta do is show us.

[She doesn't really like this either, but she's not keen on having everyone else die because they made the wrong decision.]

[socialhacktivist]

...we're wasting our time. If something happened Yusuke would have told me. We're teammates. He'd never hide something like this.

[Much as she should she just can't calm down right now. The idea of them getting this wrong and losing Yusuke is too much.]

He's weird and stupid and says the wrong things and doesn't think but he's not a murderer!

[pursuitofbeauty]

"Futaba is right," he whispers. "I would, under no circumstances, ever commit murder. Even when the life of the man who murdered my mother was in my hands, I spared him."

[socialhacktivist]

That's right. They forced him to confess. Even though the police never would have been able to prove it with a shred of evidence, we uphold a strong code of justice.

...besides, wouldn't it make more sense to look for someone the incentive meant a lot to? If there's anyone who wants to get out of here and use that thing to bring someone back it's me. So... if you just want someone to blame, then pick me.

[...................]

[carries_war]

If that's the case, all he has to do is show me his hand. If there's no fresh wound under that bandage, I'll back off.

[pursuitofbeauty]

"The accident in the kitchen happened yesterday morning. Of course it would be fresh."

[socialhacktivist]

[No. No no. No no no no no no. Futaba's fingers are bone white, clinging to the podium. A little more pressure and she might actually break something.

...her fingers, not the podium.

She absolutely refuses.]

There's no way. Absolutely not.

[Her voice is cold but absolutely certain.]

[goodnightbats]

Huh. Well would you look at that.

[almightyconflagration]

If he's the one who did it after all, you can punch me with a firey hand like I offered after this.

[It's kind of an apology for thinking she did it even if plenty of evidence did point towards her?]

[goodnightbats]

Well, it wasn't me. Might have been him, though. The clothes were a lot better hidden then most of the other stuff, right? Why try to hide em if they weren't suspicious?

Hey, Intercessor! He said that you could vouch for him having cut himself in the kitchen, right? Can you vouch that he wasn't cut before he went into the kitchen, and that the cut did occur when he was butchering? Or might it have been there already?

[intercessing]

Mm. I can confirm that he cut himself once, yesterday morning, while butchering. I believe I didn't see any previous cuts on his hand when I took over preparing the food for him.

[goodnightbats]

So you clearly saw his hand before it was cut? Or was it only that you saw him cut himself without that, and when you took over there was only one wound? I'm just wondering if it's possible that the cut was already on his hand when he began, and in that case if a "kitchen accident" was what was being used for the alibi.

[almightyconflagration]

Though if he did it then how did the burns get there after the victim died? No one found evidence of anything that could have started or held a fire, much less something that could make that shape.

[pursuitofbeauty]

"I cannot answer that. I was not lying when I said my power isn't pyrokinesis."

[goodnightbats]

[She shrugs]

Couldn't tell ya. I'm still willing to try and brand a handprint onto somebody if people think I need to, but like I said, I'm not sure it would work, and anyway I didn't see people lining up to volunteer, and nobody wanted me to try it out on the dead guy.

Are we absolutely sure that it was fire that caused the marks, though?