The First Trial

[airlockedmods]

[You get a little time after your investigation is over, but not too long. Your Overseer is right there, after all, and he can tell when you're finished.

Xander will lead you all out the door near Fourt's, opening what had been impenatrable sheet metal with a few taps and swipes on his tablet. This won't take you outside either; instead, it leads to a long hallway. Like a walk-through aquarium, the walls and ceiling are all made of thick glass, giving you an even better view of the stars outside. There's no sign that the mall is attached to some kind of large-scale station. There's really not going to be an easy way to escape here, unless you get transportation.

You're led to a wide-open area, empty except for a circle of podiums in its center. They're labeled so you can easily find yours, though only Yuuri's has a picture. Three of them don't seem to bear any names at all. It's probably nothing. The walls here are equally transparent, and they seem to have lines of large hatches going along them, as if this is where one might park one's spaceship when going on a fun space mall adventure. Shame you don't know anything about those.

You already know what you're here to do. You'd best be getting along with it.]

Comments

[ratherdoweddings]

[Yurika steps up to her podium. Since this morning, she's looked more serious than anyone's seen her.]

Yuuri-chan was found in the coffee shop, bled out from the neck and upper chest. Even if most of us risked our own secrets to mitigate the chances of death, someone thought that theirs was more important than her life. With what we've learned, the accounts of Togami-san and Fukawa-san should be treated as though they apply to our current situation, specifically the trial system and the risk of mass execution if we all fail.

There's something Church-san and I found in the nail salon. A kitchen knife hidden in the garbage, covered with bloody strips of cloth, like handmade bandages. The blood wasn't fresh, though blood does dry very quickly; it's probably from last night. The strange thing was, though, the knife doesn't look like it was used to stab. Any blood on it came from the cloth, not the other way around. What was the state of the body? We could figure things out from that.

[motherfucking_ghost]

Or they could've used the cloth to clean the blood off the knife? But if you're just gonna throw 'em away together, I don't see the point...

[imnotfat]

The carving knife seems to have been the murder weapon, but clearly this one knife can't be unrelated to the murder in some way if it has blood on it.

Were the strips of cloth on the handle of the knife? I have heard something like that is done to improve the grip on the knife.

[everylittlesecret]

She bled out fast from the looks of it. A wound to the neck like that... lots of spray, pretty much what's expected from something like that.

[Not very professional sounding, just is what it is.] You got the knife with you?

[induality]

[Trial... Fukawa is trying hard to keep her breathing even but now that it's started, she's fighting the desire to close up.

But she has the experience here-- some people are looking to her to help. As far as evidence though, she doesn't have much.]

...Clarith and I found where the murder weapon came from. It was missing from Fourt's. It was a carving knife... a-although all the knives in there were d-designed big, it was one of the larger ones.

[ratherdoweddings]

A carving knife, like the one Church-san and I found.

[shikosuki]

[ Just... staring at the empty, nameless podium next to him ]

The hell is this for?

[ratherdoweddings]

[Yurika frowns, looking at it from the other side.]

Maybe they couldn't get enough people.

[burninglight]

[just deadeyeing his own empty neighbor]

Somehow I doubt our dear Overseer will bother to explain it.

[induality]

It's odd r-right? B-but there has to be a reason... that happened in Hope's Peak. It belonged to... the Mastermind. But there are a few of them...

[refusedtoleave]

[Well that shatters the this 'is fake mall' idea. But Natsuhi just follows and takes her place silently.

The hand drawn picture of Yuuri and the younger girl also gets placed on her podium without a word. Positioned so that most of the room can see it. Though the people closer to her are getting an upside down view.]

[motherfucking_ghost]

...Is that supposed to be her and her sister? Huh, did she draw that at some point?

[curdle]

[ Thank goodness she's been studying her own name on the PIP enough to recognize the THO otherwise this would be real awkward. ]

[daughterofthemark]

[I mean. It's not like people won't keep an eye on her and make sure she finds her way to her spot.]

[tokencanadian]

[So we're doing this in the mall parking lot. Neato.

Any of Pyrrha's concerns that they really weren't in space had been thoroughly crushed now, and she was stuck standing by one of the glass window, staring out into the stars. It brought up a feeling that she couldn't recognize, it bothered her.]

There's so much out there...

[daughterofthemark]

[Arianna quietly sets the candle on her podium, staring at the portrait across from her.]

[motherfucking_ghost]

Is that for mourning?

[cyan_maid]

[...This can't be real.

It's what Jane tells herself, going through the corridor of glass. It's what she tells herself when she stands at her assigned podium, looking around at the endless stars beyond. It doesn't feel so right to think when the podium across from her is empty, and something snags in her heart and tugs, pulls, hurts.]

...Jesus Christ, we might actually be in space.

[motherfucking_ghost]

...Why wouldn't we have been in space?

Hand Check

[desperateprayer]

Um... So there was blood and glass in the Starbucks sink. This gives us the possibility that... That someone handled the glass. Nari also mentioned that poppies stain. So there... Might be something like that, too, if they were put in her hands. The poppies are a long shot, but... Let's check each other's hands.

[ It's. She's okay. She'll be okay. ]

[cyan_maid]

[A soft sigh, but Jane shows her hands, fronts and backs - even pulls her sleeves up to her elbows if that's not enough. She's clean.]

SMELL CHECK

[daughterofthemark]

Everyone.

[Arianna's voice is audibly shaky, but she's projecting well enough.]

I ask that we check for the scent of rosemary on everyone. The scent at the scene was particularly strong.

[burninglight]

[Nope, he pretty much just smells like all the coffee he's been drinking lately.]

[curdle]

[ Thomasin stares at Nari a while longer, frozen, but then--

And.... You ever kill the livestock or watch your father do it?

--and she rips her hands out of hers, violently, making a noise in the back of her throat. ]

No! If you've all turned against me--

[ Thomasin's voice is quiet, but it shakes with emotion, and her eyes blaze. ]

Thou art right, Yurika, that I keep secret. So what secret should I have killed her for? Tell me, then! Say why I did it and for what! The wages of this trial are death. We all knew that. We...

[ Oh, she's not good at this. She can defend herself, she can scream and rage and divert words, but always when the words were lies. She was always right before. When she railed against Father, she was furious, terrified, but righteous. ]

I never went to hurt Yuuri. I will not die for what I did not do. Tell me.

Now, she is only afraid. ]

[ratherdoweddings]

You didn't intend to hurt her, at first. But you wanted to keep your secret, and you were sneaking around with those candles again. Maybe she heard something and thought it was Xander-san; we know he's been out after hours before.

[induality]

[Fukawa's face reflects how she feels inside. Irritated, tired... hurt.]

Hasn't this damn thing gone on long enough? Let's... end this already.

[burninglight]

...Touko's right. I think...we know enough now.

Voting time!

[kingshaming]

You have all had the needed time to discuss what occurred this morning. Now it is time to bring swift retaliation on the one amoung you who has broken the peace.

On the podium before you put in your vote for who you believe has killed the Champion of the School Living Club.

And before you start up your arguments be aware that there are consequences if you as a group vote incorrectly, and there will be no leaving without an answer from all surviving Champions.

One way or another, no one leaves this room without payment in blood.

[a10tionplz]

[Actually fuck this?]

Yeah? And what's your "payment", Xander?

EXECUTION: MORE WEIGHT

[airlockedmods]

[As the votes are tallied, the lights illuminating the parking structure go dark all at once. All you can see is the faint red glow from Yuuri's podium, and the fainter glow of the stars outside.

When the lights return, Thomasin is no longer among you. She's in another section of the garage, separated from you by a pane of glass. She stands there alone, but not for long; after a moment, several people enter her side, dressed in Puritan garb. They look human, if unfamiliar, but their motions are jerky in a way most of you will recognize.

Thomasin tenses as she sees them, backing away and circling as if to find a gap, somewhere she could run to get away. Fists clenched, she makes a break for it, but the nearest robot - a tall bearded man - grabs for her with inhuman speed, catching her arms in both hands. Thomasin wrenches in his grasp, but she's nowhere near strong enough to escape; she's flung to the ground, pinned on her front by the man's knee digging into her back. As she struggles against him, she can't see that the others are carrying out large stones, one after another.

The first knocks the breath out of her. She fights to push herself upright, but the second comes too quickly, and her arms buckle. After a third, all she can do is scrabble at the floor in a futile attempt to drag herself away. Her face is still turned towards the rest of you. You can see the fear in her eyes, and her nails failing to catch even a little against the cool metal floor.

She is only a child. It doesn't take that much more weight.

The final moment is imperceptible. She was still alive when blood began to leak from her mouth, after all, and when the stones must have already cracked her ribs. But eventually, Thomasin stops moving entirely.

Once she's gone, the robots immediately turn to leave, abandoning her body beneath her pile of stones. You're free to go as well.]

[imnotfat]

[The executions always managed to rattle Togami a bit, even since Hope's Peak times. He watches, the only sign he's a bit bothered being the sweat on his face.

Personalized executions...this truly is plagiarized from Hope's Peak. Once Thomasin is dead, he turns around to leave]