( TRIAL - WEEK 2 )

[abhoth]

At exactly 11:30 am, all residents who are still asleep will be jolted awake by a sharp, burning pain that spreads across their whole body. A simple look will reveal no visible injuries, oddly enough, and the pain will fade away as soon as they're properly awake. Those early birds who are already up and about will feel nothing — except maybe a strange, mysterious sense of relief as they go on about their business. Lucky them. Moments later, an announcement will come through the static-filled PA system: "This is Craftly speaking. My apologies for the rude awakening [not really], but your presence is required in the Dining Hall. Our second trial is about to begin. Please do try to be there before noon. My staff members have simply too many duties to tend to, to be escorting each and every one of you out of your quarters. Good day." And true to his words, anyone who doesn't make their way to the Dining Hall before noon will be dragged kicking and screaming regardless of where they've sequestered themselves. Sucks to be you, huh? Upon arriving there, however, residents will be given the menu, one copy of the rulebook, one pencil, one notepad, and a cheque folder. Lunch and dinner will be served at the appropriate times, and appetizers, desserts and beverages (of the non-alcoholic variety) will be available throughout the trial. All you have to do is ask one of the faceless men, and your food will be delivered to you in ten minutes or less depending on what it is. The Dining Room itself looks about the same as it does any other day — save for the fact that the lights have been dimmed. Why this, you ask? Because the projector is now in use. Transparencies containing each resident's profile will be displayed on the pull-down screen, with one of the staff members rotating through the images every minute. The profiles of the deceased are included, and if current discussion deems it necessary to focus on one particular resident, anyone is free to ask the faceless man to pause on the appropriate profile for a while. A small area has been sectioned off with a transparent, plastic curtain right next to the pull-down screen. Its use will become rapidly apparent once the victim's corpse has been wheeled in. Anyone who wishes to step into this area will be asked to wash their hands, and will be given a pair of latex-free gloves and a hairnet by a staff members who is stationed nearby. Residents are required to dispose of both items before returning to the dinner table; a trash bin is available outside of the curtains for this purpose. Evidence found during the investigation, on the other hand, will be displayed in the back of the room. Two, long tables have been taken out of storage for this occasion, and any items found by the residents on Friday will be displayed here for further examination. Finally — a clock above the pull-down screen displays the current hour. Please do remember you have until 9:00 PM to figure out whodunit and cast your vote. ( victims ) Characters will be given nine (9) hours to discuss everything related to the investigation to hopefully solve the mystery behind this week's murder. No one will be allowed to leave the Dining Hall, and all characters must cast their vote before 9PM EST. You may do so on this week's voting page. If you have any questions or doubts, shoot us a PM or a PP over at yuggoth. ( quick navigation ) voting | profiles | menu | locations | ic rulebook

Comments

CRIME SCENE DISCUSSION

[crushcard]

For those of you who located the bodies this week, did any of you find anything suspiciously altered from the crime scene?

Things that might have struck you as out of place.

[ A frown. ]

One of you among us has an instant camera as part of your role. It might be helpful in documenting crime scenes, if we can turn it in as evidence.

[thawedheart]

There was... one thing that struck me as odd.

[Yukina looks a little uncertain - she has no idea how this kind of thing works, maybe. Perhaps there's a logical explanation for it. She doesn't want to waste anyone's time by bringing it up, but if it is significant, better to talk it out now, right...?]

When we found Omega-san... she was sort of curled up, on her left side. There was a lot of blood... but, even though her right arm wasn't in the blood, the glove on her right hand was... soaked in it. If nothing was moved, that shouldn't have been possible, right...?

[godly]

If she was bleeding, maybe she was trying to stop the blood flow by grasping at her wounds. That would be something of a natural response in a moment of panic, I think.

[thawedheart]

That's possible. There... was a lot of blood.

[Yukina bites her lip. The thought of someone trying desperately to stop the bleeding... it's awful.]

[godly]

And it was only the inside part of her glove that was soaked with blood.

[He makes a gesture, grasping at his neck.]

It would make sense, given how she might've reached for the wound. However, I think this means her choker was removed before she was stabbed.

[nowyouseeit]

. . .

It would be possible if she stabbed herself. There was a lot of blood, and the spatter suggested it came out pretty quickly.

[restlessgods]

Since the Ghost was not involved... it could be suicide, but I doubt it as of now.

[thawedheart]

I agree. Omega-san wouldn't have killed herself - she really, really wanted to catch the Ghost. I can't see her willingly dying before that happened.

[crimsonsparrow]

[Suzaku shakes his head.]

I discovered Vincent at the diner, but there was nothing particularly odd or out of place. Well, other than the fact that there was a clear struggle that went on throughout the whole establishment. Plenty of furniture had been toppled over but I couldn't find any evidence hidden or discarded other than the body in and of itself. Either the place was cleaned up, or the body was dumped there and the furniture tossed around as an afterthought to make it look like a crime scene.

[The body was stabbed so many times for such a lack of blood...it's possible that the crime took place somewhere else and the body moved.]

[crushcard]

... Did Vincent look like the kind of person who would have put up a decent fight enough to topple furniture? I apologise, I didn't get to speak with him much, so I'm not familiar with him.

[crimsonsparrow]

No apologies necessary. I never spoke with the man, either. I only recognize him from his photo. He seems a rather weak-willed sort of person, if you ask me, but looks can be deceiving.

[Shrug.]

His body was broken around enough I could believe that he at least tried to get away--especially if his injuries were sustained over a prolonged period of time.

[crushcard]

... There was blood at the grocery, and shelves were knocked over.

Likely he died at the grocery and was moved over to the diner.

[vitamin_a]

Vincent fought with all his strength.

[Apollo says that a tad forcefully]

His knuckles and hands were rather bruised and bloody, he must have done everything he could to ward off the culprit.

[ninjay]

There was no body at the grocery there, but there was definitely some type of confrontation there. It makes me wonder if one of the events of the night didn't begin where we found the body.

[crushcard]

Was there blood at the grocery?

[ninjay]

There was, yes. It was a... moderate amount, I think? Some drops of blood and blood sprays. The shelves were knocked over as well.

[crushcard]

... Suzaku mentioned that there was a surprising lack of blood at the diner, where he found Vincent's body.

Likely that murder happened there and the body was moved to the diner subsequently.

[rextenebrae]

[ Hmm... ]

Given that the dark strand of hair could match up with Omega or Hibiki, I believe that one of those two could have been present at the grocery store at some point.

[ninjay]

There's also the chance that it belongs to neither of them, if someone with dark hair attacked them. But the length of hair makes it seem like they were part of someone's bangs.

[ so anyone with dark hair and no bangs are less likely to be the owner. hibike and omega both have bangs though. ]

[rextenebrae]

[ ... ]

... Well, then given what we do have, we can probably make a reasonable assumption it really was one of them.

[wristbands]

I don't think it could be Omega's. There's no way there could have been her blood in both the lounge and the store... plus it didn't look like she put up a struggle, like we thought happened in the store.

Hibiki's body is covered in bruises, though, so... he's more plausible, if it is his hair.

[rextenebrae]

... So, if it was him, why would he have gone out there by himself? It just seems strange, to be walking to the grocery store in the middle of the night.

[ Pause... he thinks about this for a moment. ]

Unless, I suppose, he was meeting with someone...

[forlease]

[ HE HAS SO MANY REGRETS FOR FINDING THE BODY. He really doesn't want to talk about this... ]

The one in the dining hall-- Hibiki, I think is his name? He was sitting in a chair with his face down. There was blood on the table and the scalpel was nearby... I think that's it? Sorry, I don't remember all the details.

[crushcard]

[ SORRY RYOU but kaiba's not really sorry. ]

Was there food on the table? That could narrow down when the murder happened.

[forlease]

[ Is he ever? ]

I don't know-- I wasn't really focusing on that. [ Kaiba there was a DEAD. BODY. ]

I want to say that there probably was, though? Why else would they be in the dining hall...