THE FIRST TRIAL

[strangerpeople]

THE FIRST TRIAL

[Almost as soon as the investigation is over, a loud DING echoes through the mall.

The elevator doors in the food court, before completely inaccessible, have now opened for the Titled. It will not close until every last Titled has gotten in. Nor will everyone have to wait long for potential stragglers; a thought comes to everyone's mind, a realization that they need to get into the elevator. They need to go.

They need to find out who did this.

The elevator is a small freight elevator inside, and its just big enough to fit everyone in it. After a short ride, the elevator opens...

And they are on the roof. Despite it clearly not being that late in the day, the roof seems to be surrounded by an air of cool, perpetual sunset. Beyond that, good luck making out what's beyond the roof - there seems to be a city, but it's utterly unidentifiable. Not that anyone can jump off the roof to try and get closer - there is a translucent barrier surrounding the roof that is utterly impenetrable.

The main attraction of the roof, however, is not the fuzzy landscape beyond. It's the large, stepped circular platform which is a mere ten paces from the elevator. On this platform are 15 podiums, surrounding a large, empty, circular floor. Instantly every phone pings, giving everyone their platform assignment based on their bedroom number. And - upon arriving at their designated podium - they will find a dock for their phone to slide into. As soon as they do so the XAMINE app will pop up, revealing everyone's findings regarding the murder.

Not Wake, though. His podium is lower, and bare save for a white cloth.

Still, everyone - including Ren, who will find that whoever arranged this whole deal has given him a chair to sit in - will need their strength. Which is why each Stranger also has a bento box lunch, carefully prepared, waiting for them at their podium. Each meal is tailored to every Stranger's specific tastes and allergies, as best as a bent box meal can be. It even comes with a cup of their favorite drink.

So, take a few bites, take a few breaths, and get ready, Titled.

The trial for the murder of Wake Archus, The Feeling, has begun.]

Comments

[notgentle]

[Man, she's so full of tears, it's hard to figure out where to look at her. There's actually something he needs to say, though - to everyone, really - and Torri is the one who makes him think about it.]

I gotta... apologize... for something I let you think. Okay, obviously it was also bad to kill Wake and all the rest of you and it would be nice if things didn't have to be that way. That said.

I didn't feed Wake sleeping pills. I mean, I didn't actually want him to suffer too much, so I hit him over the head a bunch of times with the wire strippers until he blacked out. That was it, though, there was no need to knock him out twice. You have to believe me about that even if you think I'm an asshole, there was no "lost half of his strength" bullshit. I guess the life coach left out her vitamins or something...

[beguiledcard]

.........

[ wait what ]

[theirmagic]

... What? Dio, is that true?

[ The fuck? ]

... Did someone plant fake evidence, then? That's too convenient...

[beguiledcard]

He has no reason to lie at this point... right?

[scienceofmagic]

To seem nicer than he is, maybe... But if he is telling the truth, then that complicates everything moving forward.

[beguiledcard]

Why bother seeming nicer now?

[ ... ]

He could be trying to make us feel even worse about all of this, but...

[lifecoach]

It wasn't me!

[She's waving her hands defensively.]

They'd, like, literally erase me if I tried something like that. I'm totes serious.

[totalbullshit]

"Erase"?

[ Not punish? Not execute? Weird change of vocabulary. ]

[lifecoach]

[LC looks a little sheepish for the slip up, but not too concerned.]

I'm not someone you can really, like, kill. It's another one of those, like, existence things. Ahaha.

[beguiledcard]

... If that's true, wouldn't that mean it's--...

[ one of them...?????

But....... ]

[byanyother_name]

...I'm afraid it's something I've suspected from the start. I discussed it with Dio himself, in fact. Tampering with the scene is an escalation, but I've assumed from the beginning that...

At least one of us is probably working for our captors.

[thegreenhornet]

I dunno, it could have been someone else. I know we're not the only ones in this mall. There's something beyond the barrier down in the Yokutwhatever.

[May as well fess up about that since Wake is dead and therefore unable to be all 'I told you so']

[theirmagic]

Wait, what? This is the first I'm hearing about this. Do you want to explain, Mister Reid?

[theirmagic]

[ Ursula gasps. ... There's no way that can be true. ]

... I don't believe that. Why would anyone want to do that?! We were all kidnapped!

[eyesofdespair]

Maybe they were offered something that would make it worth it.

[beguiledcard]

[ ... This feeling is worse than the one that hit him after the murder.

His jawline is clenched as his hands curl into fists briefly against his podium. But he very quickly regains some composure, his voice calm as he considers this... ]

If that's the case, do you think they could have been threatened into it?

[notgentle]

How the hell would that change what you would do about it? If I had a nice mother with cancer like some people, that wouldn't change your vote now, right?

The infiltrators. [he'll throw that out there in case kurama doesn't so that their great sense of showmanship infects the crowd.] That's what we were calling them hypothetically. With no sign of security cameras, and the life coach pretty limited too, it would make the most sense if there had been one of us.

I thought of that person as just feeding information or something, though... even if they seriously interfered with this case on purpose, it doesn't look like they were literally trying to help me at all costs.

[thegreenhornet]

Being threatened into it wouldn't change anything. A criminal henchman deserves as much punishment as their boss.

[byanyother_name]

It's entirely possible. I certainly don't put any method of coercion past our captors at this point. Threats, bribes, blackmail...

But we can't dismiss the chance that they are willing. I'm sorry, Kurusu-san. [And he really is.]

[notgentle]

Look, hand to Broth--Hand to God, I didn't put the sleeping pills or cup or anything out there. I don't know why they got there, but it wasn't me. Listen, if I were saying this to look good, wouldn't it be the other way around? That I knocked him out with just sleeping pills and someone else hit him on the head later?

[theirmagic]

...

[ Her tired eyes seem oddly serious. ]

I believe you. But then... if it wasn't our Coach, or you, that only leaves one of us.

[beguiledcard]

[ He thought the same thing, at first... but... [

Why would any of us even bother with doing that, if all of the evidence would eventually point to him, anyway?

[theirmagic]

I... don't know.

[ That's what she doesn't get either, Akira. ]

[pinnately]

[ ...ah. Somewhere down deep she's angry, but it's not towards Dio. It's at herself. She shakes her head. ]

You're still a bad person. [ She wants to yell, but she can't. Yelling won't help, crying isn't helping, nothing will help. But she still needs to- she doesn't want to think anymore. ]

[notgentle]

[He smirks, perhaps with a little too much bravado.]

That's right, that shouldn't change what you think. Next time someone commits a murder, I don't want anyone to come crying and say "he's better than Dio, at least this time there weren't handcuffs".