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

[baitless]

[LET’S STOP TALKING ABOUT AGES OKAY, HE’LL SET THE GUITAR DOWN ON HIS PODIUM]

In any case, we found Piers’ guitar in the library, where it was hidden by some books. You’ll note that it’s cracked and that one of the strings is snapped, and that there is also blood on it. The remaining strings are out of tune, which may suggest it was intended to block some sort of blow.

[fivestagegod]

...Is that where the cut on his hand came from, do you think? Instrument strings are pretty nasty when they snap.

[lovelikeyou]

Those can definitely bleed...

[fivestagegod]

Blood on the guitar, blood smeared on the altar. ...Not enough blood in Piers, for some reason. Charming.

[bolderfell]

He could have hit someone with it, too. Can't tell direction just from that.

[pimpplan]

A blow from what, though? No one else found a weapon, right?

[lovelikeyou]

There wasn't one in the toilets.

[she checked!]

[ladygeryon]

What if he tried to hit his attacker with it? That'd have similar damage, right?

[pimpplan]

Yeah, like What's-His-Name said. [ nods over to Therion. He absolutely knows what his name is. ] It's definitely possible, though I'd have to think that if someone actually got hit with that thing, that there'd be some pretty solid bruising. It's pretty sturdy, isn't it?

[snackooed]

Especially hard enough to crack the guitar...to say that would hurt is probably an understatement.

[archboxer]

Perhaps we should check ourselves to see who has bruising. To narrow it down, I suggest we only check the women.

['Myself included, of course.']

[pimpplan]

[ Zelos opens his mouth to say something, but somehow finds the intense willpower to close it without saying anything. That's... probably for the best. ]

[hardnosed]

[ She doesn't say anything, but from Rhea's perspective it'll be insanely obvious that Jasper's just like... looking down with earnest confusion. ]

[nothingcanstop]

...The women who aren't eight feet tall.

[hardnosed]

[ she's saying!!! ]

[lovelikeyou]

[sigh]

Jasper and I can't bruise. But you can check me anyway, if you still want to.

[Can't speak for Jasper on that one]

[hardnosed]

We're obviously too large to have done it anyway. Playing along with this line of thought is just a waste of time.

[lovelikeyou]

[Rose just shrugs, because she....kinda agrees, but]

If it will prevent any arguments, I don't mind.

[hardnosed]

[ She has a retort to that! But it's apparently the undead experts' jobs to be Really Loud this time around, so she's just going to roll her eyes and save it for later. Is this character development... (it's not) ]

[archboxer]

[She wasn't pointing fingers at you, Jasper! But she does clear her throat.]

Actually, Rose... if you do not mind, you could be the one to check us.

[If you.. know what bruising is but she hopes she does.]

LADY BRUISE CHECK

[lovelikeyou]

[She does! Maybe not a ton about the internal processes, given she usually just sees it and cries on it and it's gone, but she certainly knows what it looks like.]

I can do that.

[She'll start coming around, then!]

[emberserker]

If you can't bruise, who's to say a zombie or whatever it is did this can?

[hardnosed]

Can someone just say what it is?

[lovelikeyou]

Oh - I don't know. Can they?

[She's kinda looking to Kirei, apparent vampire expert, on that one.]

[bolderfell]

[I mean, Therion prefers people don't know his name, so. That's fine. Doesn't do much for his opinion of Zelos's intelligence, but it's fine.]