Fifth Trial

[bathymetric]

[ There's a long while of examination before the Mayor speaks up. There's plenty of evidence to pick up yet again this week, after all. ]

Annnd that's going to do it. Wrap it up and head to the bathyspheres, kids, you've got some business to attend to.

[ The bathyspheres take you all down, down, into the now-familiar dome below the city. The similarly familiar red glow persists until the lights properly turn on - the projection of Fontaine's silhouette is gone, of course, replaced by that same flickering "please stand by" message. But your mayor's voice is still the one that speaks over the increasingly empty circle of podiums. ]

If you somehow need a reminder of why you're here, three of you are dead. Get away with it, killer or killers, and the execution room gets to really work overtime today. But I guess if you wanna live, you should find who murdered three people. Could be important for you guys.

[ Welcome to your fifth trial. ]

Comments

[specialyellthing]

We could guess, based on context, right?

Who is us and what could have been bein provided?

[sastruga]

The most obvious would be that it's the group as a whole. But it could also be about his suite, perhaps... Those are just guesses, though.

[inaclearing]

No, no. There’s a general group one, too.

[sastruga]

I don't think that's who the letter is addressing, I think that might be the "us" he's referring to while speaking to the intended recipient of the letter.

[honeyedtea]

You don't think he was talking about her, do you? The mayor's assistant. She's the only one that comes to mind who could be said to have provided us anything.

[inaclearing]

He wasn't...exactly a fan, the last time we talked about her. That was a while ago, though.

[allatonce]

... I mean, I think you're thinking about it a little too literally. "Provide" doesn't just apply to physical items, people can provide comfort and cheer, and all sorts of shit like that.

[inaclearing]

Well...okay. Who -

[Brett's face contorts a little as he scans the circle. There's so few of them now.]

Who...has done a lot of that?

[specialyellthing]

I’m out, after this week. Ain’t done much of that.

[inaclearing]

Oh, Zinda...

[He hesitates, torn between wanting to comfort her and belatedly realizing that this could also be interpreted as putting her more on the suspect list.]

[specialyellthing]

It’s fine. [Its not, but she’s resilient, and cozied up to her dead beau.]

Sides. If we’re rulin out based on the letters, I’m out. Unfortunately, so would the other people Id think of.

[inaclearing]

[Brett sighs, peering back down at his notebook for a moment.]

If we think this and Hild's murder are connected...Hild had blood under her nails. We should check for injuries again.

[onemillion]

Yes, I think that's a good idea. Should we start with defensive injuries on hands and arms?

[Or should we just skip ahead to the "everyone strip" portion of the trial.]

[sastruga]

...We may as well be more thorough.

[specialyellthing]

Get it out of the way, right? [Shes shrugging out of her jacket already. less people to appreciate it now. it’s real sad.]

[onemillion]

...Yes, it would be best to get it out of the way so we don't have to revisit it later.

[He sure doesn't like it, but here we are anyway.]

INJURY CHECK

[inaclearing]

...yeah, I guess you're right. Might save us time later. I can do it again, and someone else can check me. And, uh...Zinda or someone can get you all.

[He means the girls, clearly. It's still pretty listless, he seems a lil out of it, but here we go...]

Shirts off. And anything on your hands or arms, this time. [we all remember what happened with seo dawon]

[onemillion]

[Rossiu still doesn't like it, but he's not actually going to argue this time. He's exactly as much of a scrawny string bean as you'd expect underneath that uniform jacket, but aside from that there are no injuries or anything else of note! His hands and arms are likewise injury-free.]

I can check you, Brett.

[sastruga]

[Mafuyu will let Zinda check her without any fuss. She's wearing her dress today, so it's a bit more of a production to check her, but that does mean it's... pretty thorough.

...Looks like there are no injuries on her.]

[fuckingguy]

[ AND THE RIGAMAROLE BEGINS.......

Nandor is, once again, wearing that thing he showed up in! Only this time it's got Hild's blood all over it! The white cuffs of his undershirt have some transfer on them, even. Defensively, he says: ]

I do not enjoy this any more than you all, okay? After last week, it seemed like changing clothes would be more suspicious.

[ Once he's shirtless, it's obvious that he's unhurt. He even takes off all the rings and the little chain necklace he's always wearing! Nothing doing. ]

[asymptotes]

[ Shirtless is his natural state, and Drakkon is free of scratches or other similar injuries!

... His knuckles are, admittedly, lightly bruised, but. ]

I don't think my knuckles have been flawless since I had enough materials to make training dummies, but... no scratches.

[honeyedtea]

[ Mielle looks inclined to be Difficult about this until she realizes it'll be Mafuyu checking her over at which point she largely lets it happen without fuss because... honestly I can't even give any other excuse than She's A Lesbian at this point.

She has a few light scrapes and scratches on her hands that aren't consistent with any of the evidence (but are consistent with, say, someone trashing their room in a tantrum because they got caught out for attempted murder). Otherwise she's completely clean. ]

[capreelcious]

[ Floyd doesn't argue about cooperating this time! He'll pull off his t-shirt so people can inspect.

No injuries! ]

[fuckingguy]

That... was not how Jonathan saw her, I do not think. Perhaps he had more sympathy later, but he would certainly not say she didn't deserve to be here.

[inaclearing]

He was very...rigid about these things. And it must have been someone he knew well, too - he knew they'd been through a lot.