FIRST TRIAL

[bathymetric]

[ After a while, once all the appropriate clues have been found, Mayor Fontaine calls out again over the speakers. ]

Alright, citizens, pack it in quick and head to the back of the Hall of the Founders. You have business to take care of.

[ When they do reach the Bathysphere station, Eleanor is manning the controls, gaze quiet and even over the crowd. The hatch at the front of the strange elevator is open, and everyone is gestured inside. A series of small submerisbles are lined up, waiting to be ridden. ]

Just hop into the bathyspheres one or two at a time, and the system will get you where you need to go.

[ It's a long, cramped ride from here, but Fontaine's word is true. At least you can tune into the radio in the pod?

The bathyspheres take you down until even the few lights of Rapture are out of sight, down until lights of a different kind are visible - the reds and blues of bioluminescent sea creatures, a little too out of your way to make out what they are, blending to a strange sort of not-quite-purple as the bathysphere reaches its final destination: a glass dome built into the sea floor, about the size of an average house.

As one by one the bathyspheres arrive carrying the new citizenry of New Rapture, less natural lights than those of the creatures around you begin to click on in the dome. In the center, most of the space is taken up by a circle of podiums, each with an image of one of you engraved into it.

A projector of some kind kicks on, which combined with the lighting allows for the familiar silhouette of Mayor Fontaine at his chair to appear on the side of the dome, watching over you. ]

Time to do your best to figure out who killed the Diamond in the Rough. And do yourselves a favor: keep it interesting. I'm here if you have any burning inquiries.

[ And here it is.

Welcome to your first trial. ]

Comments

[onemillion]

[The ride down is... sort of terrifying and really cool. It's not the first time Rossiu's been underwater like this, but without the protection of Gurren Lagann, it definitely feels different. But the bathyspheres don't leak and no one dies on the ride down, so it looks like we've got more important business to attend to. He hesitates for a moment as he arrives at his podium, looking at Adaman's beside him before he shakes his head and turns to the others.

Rossiu has Adaman's room key with him in case anyone wants to look that over for any reason, but otherwise he has nothing else. Leafeon has been left in Adaman's room (though not locked in this time!!) because he thought it would be a terrible idea to bring a Pokémon to this.]

I investigated Adaman's room; room D in suite 4. [His former neighbor.] The door was locked and I found Leafeon inside. For those of you unfamiliar, Leafeon is a Pokémon and Adaman's partner. He was retrieved from the vending machine. Leafeon had been locked inside all night and had made a mess of the room in his worry for Adaman; other than that there wasn't anything immediately relevant in his room.

[He does have some letters to pass out after the trial, but those are not important right now and will have to wait.]

I spoke with Leafeon and was able to determine a bit more about what happened before Adaman left for the night. Adaman was very worried - both about his people at home, and all of us here. He paced about for some time before eventually saying a prayer and leaving - presumably to keep an eye out for us. He locked Leafeon in, likely as a precaution.

[This is not in bold because it was not a clue, it was an optional Leafeon investigation but it may still be important evidence!!]

[dullshooter]

That thing can talk?

[fuckingguy]

He is surprisingly expressive, actually. Real clever little guy.

[onemillion]

Yes, he is. I was a bit worried he wouldn't understand or would rush off immediately... but he was remarkably composed.

[Honestly, Leafeon handled it better than some people here...]

[onemillion]

No. He is intelligent enough to communicate in charades, however.

[...He is very confident in his interpretation of Pokémon charades, okay!!]

[dullshooter]

So this is a testimony…done in charades…by an animal.

[…]

It’s been nice knowing you guys.

[giddyundertaker]

[ ... Griiiiiiin. ] Heh heh heh...

[onemillion]

Feel free to dismiss it if you want.

[Listen sometimes these things happen.]

[allatonce]

... Yeah, I. [Breathe in. Breathe out.] I kind of lied to him earlier in the week? Said we'd figure this out without. Y'know. So it doesn't surprise me that he went out to, I don't know. Try to stop this shit.

[She probably should have kept a better eye on him. Hindsight's 20/20 like that.]

[onemillion]

...I think all of us wanted to believe that.

[So it wasn't necessarily a lie and it wasn't your fault.]

It... was his decision to make. It truly is unfortunate that it ended like this.

[Which is a very stilted way of expressing just how fucked up all this is!!! But it's Rossiu, what did you expect.]

[allatonce]

[It's so weird to be in the moment. Just a single moment, with all the infallibility of a human.]

... Guess we should be glad the rest of us are still here. There's no limit on how many people a person can kill.

[specialyellthing]

Don’t go blaming yourself, sis. He wanted to be heroic.

[allatonce]

[Right. Just here. Just right here, not in the infinity of possibility.]

Yeah, well. None of the rest of you better get any ideas about that shit.

[bootyhunter]

That's not your fault.

[A beat passes.]

What else were you gonna say?

[allatonce]

[right here, right here—

Deep breath. Slow release.]

He was pretty fucked up about whoever his captive was. Her name was Mai, if he told anyone about her.

[pairtner]

Don't blame yourself, Joy. You'll only bring yourself down.

[withagun]

[ His voice is soft. ]

Neesan. Don't...blame yourself. It's not your fault.

[pairtner]

Adaman, you...

[Aiba shakes her head]

I wish...he had been more cautious, for his own sake.

[More reason to want to solve this, given Adaman was so worried for everyone else]

[onemillion]

So do I.

[For his sake, and for Leafeon's.]

Unfortunately, there isn't any changing what has already happened. We must do what we can now.

[sixthnonsense]

[Just the mention of Leafeon makes Hagakure's shoulders sag even more. He's upset about Adaman, but there's even more layers to this.]

Man... I know it sucks that they acted at all, but did they have to orphan the poor Pokemon?

[onemillion]

Leafeon is... I will not say he's doing well, but he handled it far better than I thought he would. He's currently in Adaman's room; we can discuss what comes next with him once we return.

[But yeah. Yeah. It sucks a lot.]

[sixthnonsense]

[He nods at that.]

Yeah. And we will return. We'll figure this out.

[kninja]

I saw him out late, the first night our friends were brought in. Came to stop by the meeting room, though he didn't go in. Asked after everyone's well-being. He said he hated sitting around idle.

[onemillion]

[Rossiu nods at that.]

He always was determined to spend his time doing something of value, so I am not surprised he was patrolling.

[howveryglib]

[…he doesn’t say anything, but huh. maybe he misjudged the kid without bothering to get to know him.

then again he did get killed so like]