THIRD TRIAL

[bathymetric]

[ Once all the needed information has been pulled from the PARTY ZONE and nearby echelons, Davy Jones once again does his rounds to collect everyone and bring them to the theatre. ]

You are all familiar with this procedure by now, step quickly!

[ And with the blast of the organ, down the elevator starts to go, into the bowels of the ship below. Things darken and then, as before, you hear a song from the crew of the Dutchman drifting predatory below. ]

Take yer places, all of ye.

[ The circle of podiums remains, two more podiums rusted over and aged. Jones takes his place, meanwhile, looking out the window at the sea.

The shanty dies down, and the atmosphere darkens.

Welcome to your third trial. ]

Comments

[thisaroma]

[ The soles of his shoes are fairly scuffed up, but probably not unexpected for a JRPG character who spends his days hiking across all kinds of terrain! There's no glass in the treads.

What else are you looking at, he's got a lot of accessories here... unnecessary belts everywhere. ]

[deathmagnetic]

[ Awesomesauce.

...Risotto's going to be looking at everything! Just to be thorough. No matter how many belts or pelts or whatever he has... ]

[thisaroma]

[ Well, looks like you're more thorough than some people, despite their best efforts!

Move one of those belts above his ankle, and there's the glint of a small shard of glass embedded on the underside. ]

[deathmagnetic]

[ ...That's an odd place for a piece of glass to be found in. ]

Plumeria. It looks like there's something of interest. I'm sure you can see it just as well as I can.

[ He's not going to bother to hide what he's seeing here. But, anyway. ]

So, it appears you've a shard of glass stuck in quite a place. I don't recall you having investigated any part of the scene. Not that it would explain the placement of such an object where it is either.

[paucipan]

[!]

Oh, I certainly can.

[She's trying not to let fury outright color her tone, but hoo boy. You got some explaining to do, Decus.]

[thisaroma]

Hm?

[ Looks down to see what he's referring to..... ]

Ah...

[ Hm. ]

No, I guess I didn't.

[deathmagnetic]

No, you didn't. So, what was that made you kill Sylvando?

[ And, as usual, Risotto's not the type to hold back. Look, y'all, he's used to just going hard on interrogating people back home before he kills them if he needed intelligence before a kill. Habits were hard to shake. ]

[leaveittomother]

Alice. Do you even need to ask?

[conceivesfrenzy]

...

[ She's watching Risotto grill Decus with intense interest, but she's not saying anything. ]

[leaveittomother]

[Reika is going to say something, though.]

You wanted them to think it was me.

[onlyyoucan]

You mean what she brought up before?

[leaveittomother]

Yes. I do know something.

[conceivesfrenzy]

Please, you're not that special. Anyone could've done that. [ looks at Filbo and Flayn ] Well, almost anyone.

[leaveittomother]

Neither are you, Alice, but you are the only one who knows what my title means. He might have worked alone but it doesn't take a genius to figure out you were involved.

You know that means? You're a threat to Jack.

[conceivesfrenzy]

[ She breaks into a fit of giggles. ]

Ooooh, so scary, Reika. ♡ What are you going to do about it, hmm?

[leaveittomother]

Why, isn't that obvious, Alice? I don't want to die but if it's for Jack, that doesn't matter.

[jibunwo]

...Alice. You're oddly quiet this time. After the pair of you being implicated once, I would assume you might have something to say.

[conceivesfrenzy]

[ She laughs. ]

Oh, what, so you can talk down to me about personal responsibility and all that again? I think not. Decus is more than capable of defending himself.

[jibunwo]

Do as you will. I doubt you care if he's executed, anyway.

[leaveittomother]

If he's executed she'd go free, after all. Why, there's a reason she tried to shift the focus of the trial onto me.

I know she's skilled with knives.

[deathmagnetic]

I do. I'd like to hear the answer, even if it's likely to involve something around or about her.

[thisaroma]

[ ...Well, crap. Okay. ]

You're that confident making an accusation based on one piece of glass, huh?

[ There's a brief glance at Alice as he thinks over something. ]

...All right. I'll tell you what happened.

[deathmagnetic]

[ He'll catch that, but he won't draw attention to it just yet. ]

Then, out with it.

[jibunwo]

I'm listening. The last thing I want is to nearly screw this up twice.

[cethflayn]

[. . .

Flaynonymous is going to wait until anything further comes to light before she breaks Flaynonymous.]