SECOND TRIAL

[bathymetric]

Time's up, boys and girls. Please gather up your evidence and make your way to the vault door.

[ The process of heading to the elevator and crowding in remains the same as last week - Angel leads you all to the elevator car, then stays behind as you make your slow descent to the dome below. You might not even notice if you aren't paying attention, but... the cart is already less crowded than it was last week. You certainly won't be able to avoid noticing it if your numbers dwindle too much further than this.

When the doors open on the trial room, it's just as bleak a place as last week. ]

Take your places, won't you? And this time, you all know what's at stake. No more... funny business.

[The number of podiums displaying that red light is higher now - Damien, Lif, and Piers are all represented by blank spots now, no tasteful covers or anything normal to mark their passing, just a red glow and a gap in your number.

Cheery!

The screens raise up to the ceiling to give you all room to see, and the Professor's final words before the trial begins ring out: ]

Find the killer, leave alive. And killer? Try a little harder to stop them from doing that than the last one in your shoes. Call out for me if you require anything.

[ Welcome to your second trial. ]

I have died every day waiting for you

[lovelikeyou]

[That was, in Rose's opinion, even worse than last week. Any loss of life is an awful waste, but for it all to come of some horrible accident...

This week, she doesn't retreat back to her room. She knows now that the people here, or at least enough of them, like to gather after these experiences. Many of the Crystal Gems were the same way; she remembers their post-battle huddles well. It's not a party, really, but...it's good to be together. To have friends around. Maybe, to remember those who were lost.

So this time, she'll go to the cafeteria herself and request some food for everyone. It's just basic snacks, the kind of human food she knows well enough to ask for. There's some hot chocolate provided, too. She definitely knows people enjoy that. It doesn't take too long, since she isn't making most of it, and then she goes to invite everybody she can find.

She doesn't slip any notes underneath doors, for the people she doesn't happen across. Some Crystal Gems didn't join the groups, or maybe did after one battle but not another. Sometimes they wanted to be alone. She never really understood that...but it wasn't her place to tell them otherwise. Weren't they all about freedom?

Everybody probably knows something like this is going to happen again, anyway. It's their choice to come.]