( TRIAL - WEEK 4 )

[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, but due to a certain someone who I shall not name [he's still pissed] — today's trial will take place by the pool. 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 Outdoor Dining Area 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. Due the Kitchen and Dining Hall getting wrecked, lunch and dinner will mostly consist of grilled and barbecued menu items. Hamburgers, hotdogs, salads, and items that require little preparation — all the residents have to do is ask in order to receive. Similarly, all beverages will be retrieved from a hundred quart cooler that has been placed by the side of the pool. Not as fancy as usual, but at least the pool is clean now. Some inflatable pool toys lazily swim in the water, along with pool noodles. Every now and then, the waters will vibrate to the sound of buzz saws and assorted power tools. Looks like the Disposal Room, Dining Hall and Kitchen are under reparations. A tent has been placed over the area to shield the residents from the sun, and to make up from the lack of transparencies everyone will receive a small booklet containing each resident's profile. They look a little bit like shitty PowerPoint presentation handouts, but maybe it's part of the charm. The profiles of the deceased are included, as always. A second tent has been set up in the parking lot, complete with an air conditioning on the inside. Its use will become rapidly apparent once the victims corpses have 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 their table; a trash bin is available outside of the tent for this purpose. Evidence found during the investigation, on the other hand, will be displayed in a table by the pool shed. Any items found by the residents on Friday will be displayed here for further examination. Finally — one of the grandfather clocks has been kidnapped from its respective floor to show the current hour. Please do remember you have until 9:00 PM to figure out whodunit and cast your vote. And if anyone tries to leave the area before the trial is over? They'll discover an invisible wall blocking their path. ( 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 Pool/Outdoor Dining Area (the pool shed will also be locked), 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

[godly]

Is heaping suspicion upon her simply because she's familiar with Suzaku really fair, however?

[blacktailed]

They're all too willing to believe a spy. Don't blame them. He's good at what he does, then.

[blacktailed]

We all could be murdered any day. I think of every day I'm not dead in this place a small relief.

[godly]

Or we're being too quick to place blame simply because we've lacked the ability to find evidence that isn't flimsy.

[A sigh of frustration.] Either way, this is a very tenuous connection. Shouldn't the argument of "Yukina was close to Ryou" instead lend towards the fact that she would not want to kill him?

[godly]

[Two whole hours. Three whole murderers left -- and that's if you're being generous and are 100% certain Suzaku killed someone.]

I don't know where else an axe would have come from, and it doesn't seem like we're going to get the chance to examine one to begin with.

That and there's still evidence on the table that doesn't make any sense to me in how it would at all be connected to the murders.

[crimsonsparrow]

I'm curious to know who the arsonists were. I think your time would be more valuable trying to figure that out, at this point.

[DEAD MAN WALKING but at least he has a delicious beverage.]

[godly]

[He frowns. Unfortunate that suspicion has been thrown your way, Suzaku, because Light hates relying on uncertainties. There's just no evidence that seems concrete enough to him, but the reality is that they're all going to have to make the vote eventually.]

Not just the arsonists, but the cause of the actual explosion itself.

[godly]

The butcher paper. [THE BUTCHER PAPER.....god it bothers him.] The... leaf. And no one has even mentioned the cleaver that was found buried -- inexplicably -- in the gardens?

The latter doesn't seem all that irrelevant. The other two? I can't see why they'd be important. But would the faceless men have brought in evidence that may be useless? Hardly seems fair.

[thawedheart]

Craftly-san told me that there might be other places someone could get an axe. But nobody is going to give that any sort of thought if it's coming from me.

[y'all aren't subtle. she knows she's fucked.]

[blacktailed]

Anyone can be persuaded to kill their closer bonds with the right leverage. I don't want to suspect her either, but...

[and it's clear she's not happy, she looks stressed in a way that might be familiar.]

I don't trust spies. That's what it narrows down to for me.

[ninjay]

Thanks.

[ just waves ]

[godly]

Spies? [It's easy enough to see the stress; just as it's easy to see the exasperation in Light, as if he's tired because of the frustration he's managed to hold back thus far.]

Shouldn't your decision instead be based on the evidence available to us?

[Which is, admittedly, not a lot.]

[blacktailed]

Spies are liars by trade. Why should you trust a word from their mouths, if they aren't working for you?

[g101]

That's what the cards are, right? Mira's said organ extraction, and well... Marty's organs were out...

[ hints about skills, things people are capable of. information to be used. ]

[ninjay]

My profile card, she means.

[ungodly]

Who else would Ryou willingly share tea with? She's our only lead and it all seems to lead back to her.

[godly]

Wasn't Ryou generally considered to have a friendly personality? [He didn't really talk to him, but that was the general sense that Light had gotten.] If asked politely enough, he might've sat down to have tea with anyone -- even despite his physical state.

Why is she a lead? Because of her connection to Suzaku, and because she's too "weak" to have killed someone with a traditional weapon?

[ungodly]

Ryou almost died. He'd have to go through a lot of pain just to make it to the pool. But I agree that he was a sensitive guy. He'd probably go for someone he really liked if they really wanted him to go.

The Suzaku thing's probably irrelevant. I just wanted to see if he'd budge at all. He probably is just a dude that doesn't care about anyone. But yeah — this was a murder that relied on trust and surprise. As far as I can tell, it only leads to her.

[godly]

I'd go so far to say that if someone asked nicely, even if it was someone who was generally unfamiliar with, he might have gone along with them as well. There's really no way to say.

But all right, let's focus on those that Ryou was close with. Surely Yukina-chan wasn't the only one?

[ungodly]

The only other one I can think of is Hajime, but me and Quer were with her all night. She was there when we woke up, too. He was quiet and scared easily.

[godly]

So then what do you think her motive is? We're calling them... "mafia" now, aren't we? Do you think she'd be one of them, if she helped catch Mira in the trial previous to this one? That doesn't make much sense to me, unless she's playing a very complicated game that we're unaware of.