THE THIRD TRIAL

[strangerpeople]

THE THIRD TRIAL
(~SK. 17-18)


[When the investigation ends, the D O N G rings throughout the ship, followed by Zero's voice.]

It is time. Everyone, come to the theater. Time is...wasting.

[And so it is. The seating has once more changed to reflect the fallen-Moriarty and now Brain's podiums are draped in black. And, of course, there is no food-

The screens come up, and the mask of Zero appears, ever inscrutable. Their instructions are brief.]

Your Brain is gone, I'm afraid. Cut into pieces and cast aside...and someone here knows why. Now, it's time for you to discover the truth as well...if you can.


[The trial for the murder of Brain, the Blue, has begun.]

Comments

[pegasinister]

They seem intentional. I'm worried this is another Dead Man's Hand meant to taunt us.

[valkavian]

I mean, probably, you got a diagram or some shit?

[ And she's gonna toss him a pen and some paper. ]

[pegasinister]

[He nods and draws what he saw]

[valkavian]

[ A blink, she's gonna pass this sketch around. ]

Jesus.

[pegasinister]

What?

[yesorwoof]

Hangman is a game.

It is an American game.

Val-chan can explain it better than I can.

[Makima hadn't properly put her coat back on after the strip check. It is floating behind her in an ominous aura.]

[pegasinister]

[... man he appreciates her using her power for dramatics- if he has his magic he too would be doing cool floating shit. It's not fair]

And game about hanging... how do you play?

[exequte]

[Well, she's not Val, but she does know the game.]

It's a guessing game. Words are marked out, letter by letter, and usually a scaffolding and the beginnings of a noose. After that, letters are guessed one by one, with each incorrect letter adding a body part to the "hanged man". Once the entire man has been drawn, the person playing the game has lost. Alternately, if they guess the word correctly before the entire man has been drawn, then that means they won.

[pegasinister]

Only instead of gaining limbs... Brain lost them.

[not_a_lego_maniac]

Well, I'm never playing this hangman if that's how you play it!

[valkavian]

Yeah, it's pretty fucked up, right?

This whole situation is pretty fucked up! Right? RIGHT?!

[ The gross laughter continues as she's now gagging, tears of blood now streaming everywhere. ]

[not_a_lego_maniac]

Yes! It is! Actually!!! I agree, Val!!!!

[exequte]

[She's concerned about her for this reaction.]

Y-yes, but.... but isn't everything else here too? All of this is awful. I don't know why anyone would have wanted to make it worse like this, though.

[exequte]

You usually use a piece of paper or something else to write on, not....

[somuchshipping]

So that would be four guesses, then...?

[godspiousjasper]

What a wretched game. It appears our culprit had a twisted sense of humor to do that to him.

[voidseeing]

I have to hand it to our culprit... they were certainly creative.

Creative... and sadistic.

[exequte]

It's possible. It would mean that he... died after four wrong guesses, though.

Was there a list of four letters anywhere?

And... And I'm not sure how he could have played, if he was the one being hanged. He wouldn't have been able to talk....

[not_a_lego_maniac]

That, and what word would he have even been guessing?

[pegasinister]

If he was propped up perhaps? Though I did not notice any misplaced furniture.

[yesorwoof]

Perhaps the location of the limbs represented the letter.

It would explain the distant location of the workshop. But... the weapons room was also used. Hm...

[not_a_lego_maniac]

[Zack stares at the diagram, frowning.]

Makima, why don't you explain it? Just, you know. For the people who don't know what it is.

[yesorwoof]

Excuse me. I needed a moment to think. Akane-chan has ended up explaining this now.

You see, I will need to reconceive this entire case from the ground up, and not state details about the game prematurely. I would like to trust in Hubert-kun's ignorance of the game.

[not_a_lego_maniac]

No, it's ok. I mean...there's others who don't know what it is, so it makes sense!

[yesorwoof]

Don't worry if you didn't know what it was. I have bigger fish to fry right now than any of the full-time suspicious individuals in our midst.

[Coat aura looms larger.]