second trial

[airlockedmods]

[Like last week the announcement sounds, the Champions with their gathered evidence file once again to the teleporter where the courtroom waits for them.

The a circle of podiums has changed since last week. The Griffin, Toby, and Angelica's floating portraits have joined Chintanda's above their respective podiums as well as the bright green having been changed to a glaring red.

The Overseers are waiting on their floating platform when the first group of Champions arrive. They're back in their black suits, side by side. Jamie's expression is grim but he looks more mentally present than the last trial. Bolton, on the other hand, looks stern but not grim, arms crossed over his chest. Once again, he's the one who makes the announcement.]

Welcome, Champions, to the courtroom. Sixteen of you have entered, but - in the best case scenario - only fifteen of you will leave. Compile your evidence and figure out who the killer is. If you vote correctly, the culprit will be executed and the rest of you will be allowed to go back upstairs. If you vote wrong, however, the killer goes free and the rest of you take the punishment in their place.

Remember, there is no time limit but keeping things interesting is in your best interests.

Comments

Execution: Unmasked (CW: Space death)

[theoverseers]

[Once all the votes are tallied, Bolton straightens his lapels.]

Attention, Champions. Now that the votes have been tallied, please stay close to your podiums.

[And on cue, the mechanical voice comes from around them:]

Input tallied. Culprit identified. Execution Protocols initiated.

[Slowly, each podium encases its occupant. Like the week before, as soon as the hard bubbles contain each innocent party, the glass floor opens. There's no bleeding heart to try and save the culprit this week. As the floor begins to open, Seth laughs and laughs.

[[Explicit Content Warning]]

He can be heard until the whoosh of the vacuum of space sucks the breath out of his lungs and the sound out of the courtroom. He floats out into the void with no resistance, as his body spasms with his last attempts to laugh and blood spurts from his mouth with a dying gurgle. His skin flushes red, then crimson, then begins to blacken and blister and peel as his body expands, stretching the champion unitard to its absolute limit until the seams strain against the pressure.

[[Explicit Content Done]]

The floor closes over top of the body, and the protective bubbles begin to recede again. Next to the body, appears a mask that looks about as evil as you can imagine a mask to be.

Bolton nudges Jamie with his elbow, and Jamie, the one who stays normally quiet, speaks with no small amount of venom.]

Not today, Satan.

[Bolton cackles and presses a button on his PIP. A bright light manifests from three different points underneath the space station, coalescing into three laser-bright streams of light that vaporize the body, mask and all.]

[kingshaming]

...

Was that the real Serpent?

[Speaking of that evil af mask]

[ratherdoweddings]

It looks like it...

[Yurika's covering her mouth, but trying to watch regardless.]

[kingshaming]

Then at least we don't have to worry about it drifting to some other Realm.

[ratherdoweddings]

I wish that were the only thing we had to worry about.

[kingshaming]

[He nods, placing a hand on her shoulder and urging her towards the teleporter]

For tonight at least, it should be. Let's go- nothing good is coming out of lingering here.

[yukionna]

[ It doesn't shock her as much this time. Not to say that death-via-airlock isn't still horrifying, but seeing it once before and it being Seth who's dying this time lessens the blow. ]

Death claims all at some point, demon.

[ Good-fucking-night, Seth. ]

[almightyconflagration]

[McBurn is going to glare over at Rukia. Not that he cares about Seth, it's the demon part that annoys him.]

[yukionna]

[ Deal with it, McButthurt. ]

What?

[almightyconflagration]

Only my immense distaste for the term you used to refer to him.

[yukionna]

...should I have used something less grandiose?

[ because she doesn't want to compliment Seth or anything ]

[imnotfat]

...that was strangely satisfactory.

[The destruction of the mask, he means. Not everything else. So much for this being Seth's winning option. Togami isn't the type of jerk that revels on other people's failures for no reason, but in this case he's kind of enjoying the mask's destruction]

[voltrounds]

[Ricky watches intently, waiting for it... yep. The station is armed, and whatever the hell Seth was planning, it won't be happening today.

For a few seconds, it's satisfying to watch.

Then the moment is over, and when Ricky looks up, she sees the empty podium almost directly across from her.]

[misplacedxsheath]

[Margulis watches the execution with no small amount of satisfaction, which only increases at Jamie's quip and the destruction of the mask.]

Good riddance.

[almightyconflagration]

My thoughts exactly.

[misplacedxsheath]

We ought to burn his belongings. I'm sure our Overseers were quite cautious about the possibility of parts of him surviving, but I'll take no chances with evil like that.

[Now might be a good time to remember one of his job titles is Chief Inquisitor...]

[almightyconflagration]

Or with that disease of his. [Because the last person they need picking that up is him.] I'll help.

[cyan_maid]

[God. As much as she has no pity for Seth, Jane can't help but feel sickened as she watches him laugh into the face of a gruesome death. One of her hands is splayed on the podium for her balance, knuckles white, the other is pressed over her hand. She audibly gasps as the lights appear, zapping the body and mask into nothing.

Holy shit.]

[refusedtoleave]

[Haha not getting her this time. She tightly closes her eyes the moment the glass appears and only opens them when she can hear again.]

...Did they have to shoot him as well?

[misplacedxsheath]

Yes. A being like that...I suspect if they hadn't, he would have merely found himself a new host to possess.

[refusedtoleave]

So... He was an illness that could think and choose where to go next.

[misplacedxsheath]

Yes. A consciousness free of the limits of a mortal body, surviving parasitically by stealing the bodies of the living...most likely using that mask as a medium.

[voltrounds]

You heard what he said. All he had to do was wait for someone to find him, and he could start all over again.

[refusedtoleave]

I know. It's just the idea of him surviving that...

[voltrounds]

At worst, it was a justified precaution.