THE SECOND TRIAL

[strangerpeople]

THE SECOND TRIAL

[Soon after the finals clues are found, there is a beep on everyone's watch. Then, the Conductor's voice echoes through the jail once more.]

Attention. All passengers of the Eventide, please come to the building in the courtyard. If you are not a passenger, you must have a ticket to enter.

[A ticket? Oh boy. And everyone's suspicions are confirmed when they come to the courtyard and find people-many of them who had been fleeing the prison that very morning-queuing in line to enter the building. Not the Strangers-they are immediately escorted in.

They find themselves in a courtroom, with them sitting at podiums in the center. Above them in the ceiling is a retractable dome; all around on the walls are large screens, so people can watch the proceedings no matter their location. People are filing in, even as a recorded voice drones that the jail isn't responsible for lives lost during the trial-or the sentencing.

Hm.

Lilac is in the judge's seat, the pangolin in her hands. Nearby, the captured animals-sans the rabbit, for some reason, and the sheep-are inside another pen that has been set up. The force field seems to have been quickly erected. After announcing the court proceedings and registering her right to magistrate, as she did the previous week, she clears her throat.]

THE WATCHFUL	THE CAVIAN	THE BRITTLE	THE FORLORN
				THE ENGINEER

You all know what you must do. You have your evidence, and you must decided who is responsible. Remember-every vote counts. And...just pretend you're alone again, if it helps, I suppose.

[There's not much else to do. There is the option to ask for the concessions they are selling to everyone, though its mostly water and popcorn. Otherwise, you are once again on a time limit. This time, the audience is watching. Their eyes stare hungrily at every action.

The trial for the murder of Atsushi Nakajima, the Rushlight, has begun..]

Comments

[overworker]

[Seeing her name up there is a strange feeling. Nonetheless she has little choice.]

Um... if you have any questions, I'll answer them to the best of my ability.

[As for something to contribute--]

Regarding the state of Atsushi's head... I can speak a little bit about that from experience but I wasn't much help during the investigation itself. It's not the first time I've seen it come off actually.

[zackthekiller]

Wait, what?

[charmingheroine]

I think I speak for everyone by asking for a little more information about his head being... detachable. When did you witness this, and why?

[disregartist]

[Lilac takes a deep breath at the discussion.]

Zack's Alibi

[zackthekiller]

[Hey, you know what's worse than having your face in the suspect list? Being put on trial in front of millions of people who probably hate your guts on default.]

For the love of god-

OKAY. LOOK. I'm gonna be perfectly honest here. There are three things wrong with this picture.

One. I barely spoke with the guy or anything.
Two. I don't like this prison, so I never really looked around this place.
Three... If that was me killing him, I woulda just stabbed him a buncha times in the chest!

Anyway, if ya really need to know, I was in my room all Thursday night until I got woken up by everyone screaming. Then I spent a while looking for Eliza because she didn't wake me up before going somewhere? I don't know, that's what she told me...

Tch, just ask me anything. Do whatever checks you need to- I don't fucking care.

Re: Zack's Alibi

[charmingheroine]

[Spoken to everyone - ]

He told me he hadn't looked around on Thursday night, so that isn't a last-minute alibi.

[unwittingking]

[King is back on his podium again, a towel also draped over part of it, and possibly hates this situation even more than last time...actually yeah, it's worse than last time. At least then they didn't have an audience.

In fact...]

Okay, three things. First:

[Looking at the crowd.]

If this and staying in a prison is the way you people get entertained, I'd genuinely pity you and your sad, sad lives, but I hate you, so.

[Shrug

Turning back to the others that are part of the trial.]

Second, ask me whatever. At this point I think I'm just getting judged for wanting my family to be safe.

[Glaring at Lilac.]

And third, pretty sure someone used the shower, 'cause there was a used bar of soap, this wet towel [Gestures to said towel] and what I think were footprints. There was also some weird wax in the sink, but I have no idea where that comes in.

[And that's all the important info he has, so he'll just wait for the others to ask him things.]

[strangerpeople]

[BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

popcorn to the head stupid dog!!]

[otherworldlyking]

[ He yawns...well it's whatever. ]

If you want to ask me anything, get it over with.

[ But anyway. ]

Found the computer on in the warden's office. The key cards for the animal pen and off limits were missing, and the docility levels of some of the animals were lowered.

[telecosmetic]

The computer was controlling them? Those poor animals... [A pause] Well, I guess it's good to keep the ones that eat people and souls from doing that...on the other hand do they really need to be there at all?

[charmingheroine]

Wait - were the other keys still there?

[She really doesn't want to admit she stole a set, but....]

[zackthekiller]

Jesus...

[He really hates this prison more now.]

So maybe the killer might've thrown the cards away somewhere if they don't still have them.

[dragonmouth]

Why would that even be a thing?

[telecosmetic]

[Eliza stares at the suspect list in shock when she sees both her and Zack's faces on there.] Wh-why? I-I don't know why I'm up there, but I really had nothing to do with this! I got run over by all those animals, so it's not like I had time to do anything else...you...you can ask me whatever questions you want...

[overworker]

What happened when you were out there? Are you okay?

[dragonmouth]

I'm not sure what happened with the other animals, but...

The... sheep? Seemed rather disturbed.

[telecosmetic]

There were some meat-eaters in there...maybe that's what scared it?

[technicolourdifficulties]

I found one of the key cards by the animal pen. Given that releasing the animals was clearly intentional, I believe it to have been intended as a distraction to avert people's attention from the murder.

[He seems so much calmer about this whole trial business this time around. Maybe it's because he's not on the proverbial chopping block this time?]

[zackthekiller]

Well, where's the other one?!

[eternaldivide]

[ -- Oh. We might as well speak up about the body right. Mithos takes a deep breath before he finally speaks to explain. ]

Every one of Atsushi's wounds looked like they were gouged out pretty deeply. The chest and, for some reason the wounds at his ankles were particularly large. Overall it looked like someone just carved him out, but none of the wounds really looked like one that would be fatal. The chest looked to be the closest. None really explain why the cause of death is "penetrative trauma", either.

But since we know we seem to be dealing with a candle and not your usual human body I guess that changes things, since gouging wounds on a human would look far more fatal than the ones on Atsushi's body.

[zackthekiller]

Jesus... Did you find a knife anywhere?

CATHERD PART 2 ELECTRIC BOOGALOO

[higanbana]

[For the first time this trial, Ris speaks up.]

...We seem to be talking in circles again. Perhaps it is best to condense what we have put together so far.

Atsushi's body was found in the computer room, and it is possible that a computer monitor was used to hit him. That said, we do not know if the computer room was the actual scene of the murder.

Atsushi's head was removed, but because Atsushi's body is made of wax and he had done this in front of Towa before, it seems unlikely that this killed him.

There are a number of gouges to Atsushi's body, although our cause of death given was "penetrative trauma."

At some point, someone, likely our killer, lifted the key cards to both the animal pen and the off-limits area. Only the animal pen key has been recovered.

Whoever had the key cards released the animals, lowering their forced docility. Someone also used the shower, or at least turned it on. There was some melted wax found there, which we can only assume came from Atsushi.

It is seemingly impossible to tell what inflicted the gouge wounds on Atsushi, and we have not found any other weapons. As such, it is not currently possible for us to say for certain how the struggle ensued or even precisely where.

Have I missed anything?

[biddentodance]

One desk was missing a monitor, probably the one in the wall. Computer tower on that desk was unplugged. Not....sure what that might give us, but...

HALFWAY POINT

[disregartist]

[DING.

The clock chimes. The halfway point of the trial has been reached. Some of the audience goes to the bathroom, or outside. The rest stay and watch.

This is super riveting, after all.]

mysteries! let the murder on the orient express references continue

[biddentodance]

[Alright, they seem to be talking in circles again, at least where they're not just making puns at McBurn's expense. So he'll try and get them back on track, a bit.]

Going to just....list out a few things I can't figure out, see if we can go from there.

One. The computer cord.

Two. The location.

Three. The animal pen.

Four. The wax in the drain.

Five. His expression.

Six. The table.

Seven. The lack of a weapon.

Eight. The off-limits area.

Nine. The bath.

Ten. The sheep.

[technicolourdifficulties]

...? What about his expression?

MODS

[charmingheroine]

[There would probably be convenient mic feedback, if they had microphones. Good that they don't, really.]

Excuse me, ma'am? I understand bringing us here, but... why them?

[She's gesturing at the animals, of course. And then, she frowns, and turns to look at them for a moment, plainly searching for something she doesn't find.]

Eliza said something about a rabbit, didn't she? How come there's no rabbit here?

Re: MODS

[disregartist]

Oh, that's the warden's doing. Not mine. As for the rabbit, Warden...

[She pauses to look at the name.]

...Jackcracker?

[Even she doesn't believe that's your name good sir.]

......the warden has yet to recover the rabbit. The docility levels being messed with may have allowed it to slip under his nose....which I'm sure the Empress will be happy to hear about, along with this whole stampeding incident.

[There is some murmuring in the audience.]

Catherd 3: Electric Beagalee

[katzenpfote]

All right. I believe we need to look for some physical evidence. Let's start with looking for any wax under the fingernails or on the hands or indications that it might have been removed, considering the residue.

[otherworldlyking]

[ Whatever the case, he'll hold out his hands for Caleb or whomever to observe.

They're clean. ]

ARGUMENT ARMAMENT: I'll Do Whatever It Takes, Become Evil Itself

[telecosmetic]

[As the accusations start flying at Zack, Eliza's been grinding her teeth. Finally, she can take no more, and slams her hands down on her podium, glaring mostly at McBurn. She completely ignores Caleb's call for a catherd.]

Enough! Is this really what you're all doing? Accusing my big brother on the most tenuous possible evidence you can find? You should all know-he can't read! How would he be able to find that keycard and lower the docility levels? Why would he, who's strong enough, have to bother with a trap? How would he not get his bandages wet in the sink?

[Eliza makes her hands into fists.] Not to mention, he'd have to be in two places at once in order to set up that trap and release the animals! I'll say this with complete certainty-Zack had nothing to do with this! In fact, shouldn't I accuse you, McBurn, who's so eager to use that circumstantial evidence as a clue?



[Argument Armament...start!]

[higanbana]

[Ris has something she wants to say... but given that it's Eliza, she just bows her head.]

CONFESSION: I Will Protect You From Everything That Hurts

[telecosmetic]

Stop...STOP IT! You want concrete proof? Here! Here you go!

[Eliza slams a hand down on her podium, and Blaggut appears beside her, stumbling and dropping the four waxy knives he's carrying. Another slam, and Aelfryth appears, her fur still somewhat damp with water, tail twitching.]

Eliza-I thought- [Blaggut's teeth also have waxy bits on them, it seems.]

Quiet. [Eliza reaches out to touch Blaggut on the head gently.]

Well? Is this proof enough for you?



[Argument Armament...END]

[otherworldlyking]

[ He'll yawn... ]

Yeah, proof enough. I've changed my mind.