THE THIRD TRIAL

[strangerpeople]

THE THIRD TRIAL

[The Conductor doesn't meet them when the chime rings. Instead, it is the Smiling Priest.]

Come. Though betrayal waits for no one, she is waiting for you.

[He motions towards the Synod, beckoning all to follow. Soon, everyone passes, almost painfully slowly, through the Seven Stations. They come to the sherd of the Mountain. Beyond that are 15 podiums, illuminated by its light. Around those are pews, with many hooded figures already sitting.

The Conductor is in a chair in front of the step to the well, looking absolutely angry and miserable. She speaks the info into her phone, but she sounds like she is being forced to say it, as opposed to simply going through the same rote routine. She takes deep breaths as the suspect list loads on everyone's cuffs.]

THE BRIGHT	THE WATCHFUL	THE DEIDRE	THE BRITTLE
				THE HALVED

A member of my crew is dead alongside your dead. Justice shall be served. I do hope you are proud of yourself, whoever committed this crime.

[She says nothing else. She looks like she's on tenterhooks. Looks like there's no point in delaying.

The trial for the murders of Konawa Talimo, The Deidre, and Zack Foster, The Watchful, has begun.]

Comments

[otherworldlyking]

[ ...this is going to be a pain in the ass of a trial, isn't it.

Anyway, he'll yawn after he's settled. ]

If you've got any questions, get them over with.

[ Anyway, he's taking this time to open the bottle. At least he has his drink with him...also he brought the face with him because, yeah.

He'll just speak what he needs to, and see if he can catch a nap here or there. ]

...And found what appears to be someone's face, but it's from nobody on the train or anyone I'd recognize. Don't really get why'd it be there in that case.

[unwittingking]

…did you have to bring the face with you?!

[Said through gritted teeth, covering his eyes in disgust. He may have checked the bodies, but he only took pictures of them! This is messed up!]

[overworker]

[You know what. She doesn't have a question. She has a statement.]

I can account for Bernie's whereabouts Thursday evening, so you can ask me as well.

[F r i e n d s h i p.]

[overworker]

...this is the first time we've had suspects that aren't with us...

[It's. Well... hmm!]

We can't verify their sides of the story. But with the state of the crime scene... I can't imagine anyone else getting in there and committing that crime without being poisoned or worse.

[otherworldlyking]

Think it was caused by someone's power?

[charmingheroine]

[Well. That's not entirely unexpected, given her suspicions about how these lists are assembled. And given the frankly Agatha Christie tier note-in-the-hallway nonsense, too. She is furious, but she has let her emotions push her to do things she'd rather never have done enough on this nightmarish parody of the Grand Tour....]

There's a question that's been bothering me since the first time you put us through this, ma'am.

What do you do with their bodies?

[katzenpfote]

... Also, how would one convict a dead person, should they be found guilty?

[eternaldivide]

[ so this is happening again isn't it... ]

If anyone has any questions please... Don't hesitate to ask.

[ and... with that aside... ]

The place where Zack was found had a ton of marks from weapons everywhere. I think it's clear enough that a struggle happened and caused the death of the robot there.

[overworker]

[Just as before-- Towa doesn't intend to question him unless she has to. It's probably troubling enough for him just to be listed up there. But she does intend to give his hand a reassuring squeeze in the meantime.]

[charmingheroine]

[She holds up the note, looking thoroughly irritated by its existence.]

This was outside your room, but... have you seen it before now?

[higanbana]

[If Towa has one of his hands, Ris is just going to take up the other side. She's got one hand in her pocket, like she's readying herself for something any second now.

But she's not actually doing anything short of being a particularly fluffy, tiny, and exhausted-looking guard dog right now, so.]

[biddentodance]

[Minato is here, still looking somewhat ill...but cleaned up. He looks over everything here, the well, the pews, the conductor, the suspect list.]

How...?

[No, he needs to focus on the task at hand. The trial.]

Do... Does anyone know what time, specifically the- explosion went off? For reference?

[eternaldivide]

It'd be... a few minutes before Tali's time of death, wouldn't it? Since when we found her she was still alive...

[unwittingking]

[So King hates being here about as much as anyone else. Two kids are dead, and they had the chance to save one of them, only for it to fail in the end. Then, there's this suspect list, that raises quite a bit of questions.

He won't yell, though. He needs to be rational and state what he found.]

Zack and Tali were both beat up badly. They both had a bunch of cuts on them, unfurling some of Zack's bandages, and Tali having bruises as well. As for what killed them...best guess is the deep cuts on Zack's midsection, and the glass shards in Tali's stomach.

[Everything else...well, they should be able to figure it out on their own.]

[overworker]

Do you think maybe... the two of them fought?

[technicolourdifficulties]

[Rather than the usual faffing about and largely letting other people solve the crime, RGB actually gets right to business for once.]

Given the cleanliness of Zack's wounds and the blood-covered sword, I would say that it's fairly safe to assume that is what killed him.

Furthermore, given the disparity between his time of death and Tali's, if one takes into account that it's highly unlikely that the dearly departed princess would have taken three-quarters of an hour to bleed out while remaining within relatively few meters of the crime scene rather than seeking immediate medical attention, this suggests that at the very least, Zack is not responsible for her death.

[charmingheroine]

The question then becomes who is responsible for his death, doesn't it?

[She bites her lower lip, staring down at the podium, visibly wishing she could just go glow-mode and set it on fire.]

I really, really don't like speaking ill of the dead, but she was a princess, under constant threat of assassination... it would make sense if she knew how to use a sword. But that doesn't explain the glass, or her injuries.

HALFWAY POINT

[disregartist]

[Somewhere, a chime sounds.

It is halfway through.

What is happening?]

[otherworldlyking]

[ ...Is something happening?

That sure is some sound, so he'll wake up and look around. ]

[biddentodance]

[A chime? Is there something happening...?]

a catherd (kind of...actually, not really)

[otherworldlyking]

[ He'll yawn.

Damn, this trial is still going on... ]

This is taking too long, so let's talk about finishing this up.

There was that talk of someone trying to kill everyone on the train with some kind of bomb, and then it came up that Tali could've killed Zack, or he did her in. So, it sounds like we could be looking at one of the dead, and that's about the size of it.

Unless someone wants to talk about something else, or see if anyone alive has injuries.

[overworker]

Um... actually, an injury check wouldn’t be a bad idea. Just in case...

[Ahem. Cough. Yeah her feet sure are interesting.]

post-injury check

[higanbana]

...So. If I may.

I posit that none of our living suspects would have gotten out of what clearly went down with Zack and her Highness without injury. As we have now checked all of our living suspects, we know they are fine.

Therefore.

As uncomfortable as the idea is, is it not fair to begin seriously questioning the idea that our culprit, or culprits, are already dead?

[katzenpfote]

That actually makes it a bit more comfortable. After all, they are already dead... if they are falsely accused, they can't die again.

[... Right?]

[charmingheroine]

The face was in the lounge, wasn't it?

[She's trying to collect her thoughts, and pauses a moment, fiddling with the way her cape hangs over her shoulders.]

Before anything else, I want to reiterate what I said when her ladyship offered us that engraved invitation. You're some of the only people in this miserable world who I don't want to see hurt.

[She unfolds the note, again, and smooths it out against the podium.]

So, because it seemed like a blatant red herring, in hopes that I'd be able to startle someone into reacting, I left the contents out of my report of the note, and lied about the location where Tali asked for a meeting. I'm impressed, really. If one of us did do this, whoever it is didn't even blink suddenly when I did.

[higanbana]

Wait. Wait, what?

You lied to us about evidence?

What is even the purpose aside from getting us all not to trust you?!

MODS

[higanbana]

[Ris takes a moment to take a long sigh, before taking her head out of her hands and fixing her gaze on the Conductor.]

Ms. Conductor. I have a couple of questions for you.

One. How much do you actually know regarding the outcomes of these trials? Since you seem to be able to say with certainty who the culprits are.

And two, relating to the first: can you, with certainty, disprove my theory that the case of the bomb and the case of this murder are unrelated?

[disregartist]

[The Conductor looks up at this.]

Firstly, in general I am aware of the culprits. I do not know the outcomes of any given trial beforehand, however. That is up to you.

Secondly, I do not have to disprove anything to you, not when it is entered into evidence.