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

[snackooed]

[ Does Ema look uncomfortable at her podium? That stern severity of her expression from last trial is gone, and she's rubbing at her temples instead before she takes a deep breath and speaks up. Better to just have all cards on the table. ]

Rhea, Zerinda and I looked over Piers's body in the chapel. Just like before, we're looking at a couple of hours before the morning chime at best, based on his rigor mortis. I'm almost certain that the cause of death is blood loss from the wound to his neck, which appears consistent with bite marks. The extreme pallor of his skin and his livor mortis indicate severe anemia...but there was nowhere, nowhere near enough blood at the scene to support that finding. And there were no signs that his body was moved from another location, either.

Mira has pictures again, for our reference, so make sure you thank her. We should all take a look at them and try to form our own conclusions.

Mods?

[bolderfell]

[Any chance Therion can see where Angel keeps that key card? This is an innocent question that will never have any repercussions ever.]

[precognit]

[Alice is quiet in the elevator, and she seems a little dazed as they all get out and go to their places. Another death...how many more are there going to be? How many more people need to suffer in order for them to finally find a way free of this place?

Her fingers grip the podium tightly enough that if she had her usual strength, the metal would crumple beneath her fingertips. She has some small comfort in the orange-and-red shawl draped around her shoulders, at least. A reminder that not everything is awful.

She wasn't much use in the investigation, too late to the party, so to speak, but she can listen and think.]

[archboxer]

He also had some kind of cut on his hand.

[She seems disturbed, too.]

The bite marks truly were strange...

[bathymetric]

[ Inner pocket of her labcoat! Surely this is and will be fine. ]

[ladygeryon]

Someone shoved Slade's Pokeball into the vending machine. I bet they were trying to get rid of him as a witness! He didn't even seem to know Piers was dead yet...

[Nira is breathing hard, leaning heavily on her walking stick.]

[blackmass]

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

[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]

[bolderfell]

[Therion's always quiet in the elevator--man, he really hates that thing, huh?--but he recovers a little easier once they reach the trial room and the floor's no longer moving under them. Alice is right next to him; she's the only one right next to him, now. He looks at her a moment.]

...Hey.

[He pulls out the bow tie she made him from under his cloak.]

You made this, right?

[precognit]

If he was a witness, wouldn't he...know already?

[archboxer]

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

[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.

[archboxer]

[thanks the clergy hate it]

[precognit]

[Alice glances over at the soft call, and blinks.]

Yeah, I did. I...thought the knit fabric would be cozy, like your scarf.

[snackooed]

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

[bolderfell]

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

[What other teeth are we even talking about.]

[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.

[nothingcanstop]

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

[ JUST GONNA LET ALL THIS SINK IN. ]

[snackooed]

We do have animals among us, Therion...

[archboxer]

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

[bolderfell]

[He. Uh. Has no idea how to respond to that, so he doesn't.]

You put it on my door yesterday, right? ...Around what time?

[snackooed]

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

[archboxer]

Yes. Something like that.

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

[nothingcanstop]

[ Della chimes in quickly: ]

There was, uh...it looked like a handprint, or at least a partial one. It was near the...the mouth? Of the vending machine, you know where you get all the things. I couldn't tell much from it, but...it was on the smaller side.

[blackmass]

Quite.

[internal screaming.]