first trial

[airlockedmods]

[With the announcement and evidence, the doors in the pool area are the next destination for anyone who doesn't particularly want to see what a punishment from PAL would look like. Kip, for once not acting like a complete coward, takes the lead and opens the doors. The patio is a large, round room with high walls and a domed ceiling, but the biggest feature of the room is the a circle of podiums that takes up most of the floor space.

The room itself is decked in the same almost gaudy golds and reds as the rest of the mansion, with walls high enough that it's impossible to see inside the trial room from the promenade that encircles the whole mansion. The domed ceiling provides an unhindered view of the stars overhead. As for the podiums themselves, they're the same sort of garish gold with a digital screen facing toward the center of the circle, and a large, currently dimmed rose silhouette facing the center beneath the screen. The screens each have a name and title associated with a Champion written in green block letters, all save for Mikaela, the Champion of the Millennium Tree Forest. Hers are a striking red and, floating above her podium, is a greyscale portrait framed in some kind of bold, gilt-looking frame. She smiles out at the group, her eyes gentle and kind even with the noticeable lack of color.

With Cece staying behind to take care of the body, Kip is left to cross the room by himself, stepping onto a platform that rises up just high enough to be out of reach and back far enough toward a far wall to have a full view of the court room. For a brief moment, Kip is obscured by a dome of glass that closes over him, but when the dome lifts it's clear that the only thing obscured was a quick change, taking him out of what was clearly his pajamas and dressing him in a sharp, mournful black suit. He's recovered from looking slightly green, but his body language and expression remain quite somber nonetheless.]

Welcome, Champions, to the Rose Ceremony. This is the trial stage, where the goal is to find the true culprit and...

[PAL almost sighs in disappointment.]

Well, Kipsqueak already spoiled the stakes for you. Find the culprit and they'll be eliminated, vote incorrectly and they'll be allowed to go home at the expense of the rest of your lives.

Oh, and don't bore me. I cannot stand being bored.

Comments

[brokencode]

[Angel stands at her podium, looking altogether too small, too frail, too scared. Every now and again, she lifts her hands to rub at her upper arms, as if trying to move some warmth back into them.]

Rhys, Finn and myself found some things in the garden. It was very cold, for starters... Also... [She trailed off, looking to both men for help. There was... no good way to describe the other things they saw.]

[tacomeme]

Cold? But isn't the weather in this place controlled by PAL or something?

[motherfucking_ghost]

PAL has control of just about everything right now. Why would he be fucking with the garden, though?

[tacomeme]

I don't see why we would. And we have no way of fiddling with it either. So unless someone has ice magic or something I don't see how they could have dropped the temperature. Especially a few hours after Mikaela died.. Whatever they did had to have lingered.

[honoraryembryon]

[ Hand raise ]

I have ice magic but there's... I mean, it's still pretty capped off. If I wanted to use it to an extreme amount, I'd have to transform.

[everylittlesecret]

Ice is my worst element. If it gets too cold, my body will just heat everything up again. So... no lasting cold from me.

[scourgingstars]

I can ordinarily utilize ice magic, but I haven't the ability to draw energy or a vessel to store it in. Besides that, even a Blizzaga would not leave lasting effects for more than a few minutes.

[plugout]

[ Rhys looks very distinctly uncomfortable; he grips the edge of his podium to steel himself. ]

We, uh-- w-we saw a thing.

[ A thing. Good job Rhys. Give him a second. He rubs a hand at the back of his neck and takes a deep breath. ]

I mean-- the garden changed for a little while. And there was... a kid. I think it was a kid anyway, I couldn't tell who it was.

[scourgingstars]

What do you mean, 'the garden changed'? [one thing at a time, because holy shit]

[honoraryembryon]

Yeah, what he said. How did it change? From where, if you could ascertain that?

[plugout]

[ Oh, he's being helpful! ]

It was like, uh... an illusion, I guess? It was the garden one moment, and a field of some sort the next. I don't really know if there was a source for the... the thing happening.

[ ... ]

There was a lot of stuff in that field. Plants, but, uh... I don't know much about them to tell you what kind.

[ wow okay. ]

[shikosuki]

A kid?

What did they look like? Were you able to make out any features? Like hair?

[brokencode]

They had dark hair.

[shikosuki]

Hmm...

A lot of us have dark hair... n-not that the kid is the same as the culprit or anything, but--!

[plugout]

They had kinda... long dark hair. That's it.

[ ... ]

Th-they. They said something, though. "Please accept me."

[shikosuki]

[ .........

BAD FEELING INCREASING... ]

I-I see...

...that sounds really sad.

[desperateprayer]

...Long, dark hair...?

[ ... ]

...That... Only matches a few of us, doesn't it...?

[everylittlesecret]

........ there wasn't a well involved, was there?

[misanthropicprinciple]

...Tell me more about this kid. Female, long, dark hair... How old would you say she was? Middle school, younger...?

[buddyoldpal]

A "thing."

[ Stares. ]

Real fuckin' helpful, Legs. Did the thing tell ya who killed Tree Girl? How the fuck did the garden "change"?

[plugout]

No, it didn't.

[ LOOK HE'S NOT HERE FOR THIS, YOU ASSHOLE. ]

I don't know! It just kind of-- the air got weird, distorted, and the field was suddenly there!

[shikosuki]

--Wait, did you say distorted?

[cameupshort]

It- uh. It changed. While we were in there. Into some kind of grain field.

[You two will affirm he's not crazy, right?]

And there was- I don't know, some kind of figure, just for a second. A girl, it looked like.

[brokencode]

It... was not unlike witnessing my own powers. The world seemed to change around us.

The person said something, too. Asked... us, perhaps? To accept them.

[cameupshort]

Right, they said- um. "Please accept me."

[He is in no way prepared to deal with this, but it turns out being scared shitless is pretty good for one's memory.]

And then everything went back to normal.