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. ]

Comments

[archboxer]

He also had some kind of cut on his hand.

[She seems disturbed, too.]

The bite marks truly were strange...

[blackmass]

[he hates this he hates this he hates this he hates this-]

[archboxer]

[thanks the clergy hate it]

[drladysounds]

What was strange about them?

[She never saw those bites, but from the sounds of this, it sounds like the bite marks are really significant in this murder]

[archboxer]

They did not tear the throat as much as one might expect.

[snackooed]

Rhea's right. It's probably more along the lines of biting in and letting go, rather than biting in and ripping away.

[drladysounds]

Hmmm... [She thought maybe it was meant to hold Piers in place, but if they let go right away...] Like a warning bite, like dogs and cats do when they're close to getting pissy?

[Sounds like a warning, really]

[emberserker]

I'd say someone getting into a fight with him is more likely than someone spontaneously deciding to pretend they're a dog.

[archboxer]

It seemed to be fatal, I doubt it was a warning.

[snackooed]

Even after I cleaned up the area around his neck, I wasn't able to confirm with certainty whether they were entirely consistent with human teeth. However, I can say that the bite wasn't enough to tear off any chunks of flesh.

[bolderfell]

...Human teeth, as opposed to...?

[What other teeth are we even talking about.]

[nothingcanstop]

As opposed to a bear attack or something like that. Right?

[ JUST GONNA LET ALL THIS SINK IN. ]

[snackooed]

Not so much a bear as a, er...Pokeymon? Am I pronouncing that right?

[ladygeryon]

I said this before, and I'll say it again. Slade wouldn't attack his own trainer like that! You didn't see how upset and confused he was when he came out of the Pokeball!

[archboxer]

Yes. Something like that.

[She wasn't going to say it but thanks, Therion!]

[snackooed]

We do have animals among us, Therion...

[bolderfell]

I mean. We wouldn't have a trial for one of the pets, would we? So that'd only leave Sly.

[snackooed]

Actually, not too long ago, I heard about a murder trial where a whale was the defendant...

But back to the task at hand, you're probably right, unless they were, I don't know, an accessory to murder or something.

[fivestagegod]

[Oh for god's sake.]

So, I sincerely hope the Professor intends to burn that now that we're done with it, and that you didn't get any fluid on your hands.

[blackmass]

Quite.

[internal screaming.]

[archboxer]

I fail to see why that would be necessary.

[fivestagegod]

[Because of shit like this, Rhea.]

[snackooed]

I was careful when I cleaned up. I used fabric from the sewing room, so I didn't touch anything directly. But now you have me worried...

[fivestagegod]

You should be. Especially since we have at least one undead and several other inhuman things that are decent at masquerading, and we don't know what they are.

And before anyone jumps on me for that, let's not all insist on standing around acting as though everyone's ages are normal around here.

[archboxer]

Even if you could not confirm it... the fact that it did not tear seems rather inconsistent with an animal attack.