WEEK ONE: TRIAL

[retellers]

WEEK ONE: TRIAL (38 remain) Rise and shine, gremlins. Hopefully you found it in you to make and eat breakfast, despite yesterday's news. At 11am, everyone will receive a message on their PHS, simply stating: empoti enp emporium. by the strike of twelve. Shortly before 12pm, every participant will feel compelled to move towards the Emporium, if they aren't already there. No exceptions! Though they will have to navigate around shelves and merchandise and the like, everyone will fit neatly inside the room. Once all the participants are present and the clock strikes twelve, the doors lock behind them. Three of the Leaders are there with them: Swan, Tiger, and Goat. Tiger speaks. "You have nine hours. Try not to stab each other during them." ༶•┈┈⛧┈｡o°✥✣ 　　 ✣✥°o｡┈⛧┈┈•༶ Hello, everyone, and welcome to the second trial! For the next nine hours, the characters are expected to discuss among themselves, ask questions, examine the bodies of the victims, look over the evidence found yesterday, and revisit locations as needed in order to find the culprit(s). There'll be a one hour break from 5-6pm EST, where no mod tags will occur. Before the trial is over, please remember to place your character's vote over on the voting page. Voting will close at 9pm EST/6pm PST, and will serve as our activity check for the week, so please be sure you get your vote in before it ends unless you have contacted us previously. If you have any questions at any time, please let us know by pinging us on Discord!

NAVIGATION locations ₓ˚. statuses *+:｡ ic profiles :ₓo ic rules ･ﾟﾟ･｡ audience requests murder proposals ｡✧o private conversations ･ﾟo｡ curfew ･ﾟ✧ memories

Comments

VR ROOM

[retellers]

[ Teleportation is dope. Here they are in front of the VR room. ]

I'll be here if you need anything.

[reconnective]

Thanks, Swan. [and into the VR room he goes. the first thing's first, is the classroom set-up still the same as yesterday's investigation?]

Alphinaud said there was a message written on the board in this room. Do you think maybe that was Cater, too?

[recrowns]

[he nods along with that and - MODS, THE SETTINGS DON'T CHANGE RIGHT so like if someone went to the planetarium and railroad station after inves yesterday the writing would've been there??

IF THIS IS TRUE, soo-won is going to investigate the writing to see if it matches!!]

That is my current theory. It said 'Hurry up', correct?

[frostythehitman]

[ He sideeyes Swan as he steps further into the VR room, but gets to work. ]

There was other writing too, right? Do either of you know what those notes looked like?

[retellers]

[ Swan makes a face at Chad.

But yes, the writing would've still been there for them to check! And it is still in this classroom setting on the VR, so yes, the blackboard writing is there and matches the planetarium and railroad station one.

There doesn't seem to be anything immediately out of place in the VR classroom outside of that. ]

[reconnective]

[soo-won has the writing, so sora's going to wander to the windows to check and see if he can see anything outside or possibly see if the simulation will break while they do that.]

Yeah. I haven't seen any of the notes myself, but the trail matches if she went from the planetarium to the station to here. It's like she was really stringing somebody along to come find her.

[...but why?] They said the simulation was unstable, but I'm not entirely sure what that means yet.

[recrowns]

[given that soo-won did in fact check the writing yesterday, he'll just confirm after a look:]

Yes. This looks the same. [and he'll go closer to the writing?? it was written on the wall with sharpie, right. does it look like it was rushed?? if he continues to look along that wall, letting his fingers run against it to inspect for grooves, will he find anything? from floor to ceiling (he'll jump a little if he has to but he's pretty tall)

he'll continue the process around the perimeter of the room]

That means this place was damaged somehow, right? Vezda, do you know what would cause that?

[frostythehitman]

Unstable simulation means...something wrong with the tech, probably.

[ So he starts checking over whatever he thinks might cause a malfunction! Is the touchscreen alright? Any damage to the walls, floor, or ceiling where there might be hidden machinery making this whole thing run? ]

[retellers]

[ The touch screen is fine! In fact, everything looks completely normal and fine. There's no rush to the writing and no damage or grooves in the wall, it's all smooth VR tech.

After a bit, the scene does flicker out, though. The window Sora was looking through is gone-- as is most of the wall. There's debris around the desks, and everything is a mess. It's the same classroom, just... destroyed. ]

[reconnective]

--hey! [the scene flickers out, and everything is gone. the classroom's wreck and he just kind of frowns.] ...soooo this isn't really normal, right?

[can he start digging through the debris? he'll try to turn stuff over with the toe of his shoe to see if there are any hidden secrets to indicate if this was just cater's memory or something else.]

[recrowns]

[he

he has no idea what anything about this is normal to be honest. but soo-won will also assist then, looking through the debris, checking the floor and ceiling]

Um. I would hope not?

[frostythehitman]

[ He'll still be investigating the walls, ceiling, and floor--if everything in the room has been damaged, maybe something here has been too. ]

This is...oddly specific for a malfunction.

[retellers]

[ It's too bad Cater is too dead to tell you! But outside of the simulation flickering between both scenarios from time to time, there's nothing out of place that looks like it's the room itself and not the simulation.

The simulation just looks like a bomb went off in it, but there's no explanation as to how and why hidden underneath the debris or in the ceiling. ]

[reconnective]

[...hmmm.]

Nothing. [he kicks aside a piece of debris, but he seems to be thinking.] So this thing reads our brains or whatever to pull memories out of us, right? So if you're thinking of something else, the simulation could change.

So. What if Cater's killer caught up to her in here and interrupted the simulation before chasing her out to the docking area? Or maybe she thought she could scare them by making them think a bomb went off?

[god. what else can they even check? he'll just start feeling along the walls of the room looking for cracks or damage of any kind.]

[recrowns]

[hmmmmmm]

I think so - what kind of room is this again? Is it common where Cater's from?

[i'm going to establish it right now

soo-won's never been to formal school so he has no idea where he is right now.

is it possible to tell where the bomb detonated? is there a center that's more clear of debris? if they check the ceiling NOW does it look any different?]

[frostythehitman]

But that still doesn't answer why things are glitching. That means something is wrong with the tech powering it, right?

[ checks the corresponding walls on the outside of the room JUST IN CASE. ]

[retellers]

[ the walls on the outside are fine! Everything, is, in fact, totally fine. There's no real sign of where the bomb went off, the simulation seems to just be glitching between two versions of the same room. One normal and one...exploded. ]

[reconnective]

I think so. She told me she was going to school that trained cadets for war, so a classroom makes sense. So does...the bomb. It was a school training people to use magic because her world was at war. [...wow he has no ideas now.]

Should we try to create something else and see if it still works at all? Maybe we can pinpoint what's actually wrong with it if we do something new with it.

[recrowns]

Perhaps....?

Let me try...

[what if soo-won tries to think up a

nice tranquil garden that is very different from bomb explosive classroom]

[frostythehitman]

[ sighs and walks back into the VR room. ]

Yeah, we might as well.

[retellers]

[ Soo-Won successfully changes the setting to a nice garden! So nice. So tranquil. So not glitching.

No, for real, it'll stay a nice garden with nothing else. ]

[reconnective]

[...]

O...kay...? [he'll start to walk around and check just to make sure nothing glitches out.] If they left the room with the simulation still in place, maybe it cut out when she died...? I don't know if that's how it works.

[recrowns]

[yeah he has no idea

also his memory is pretty good so what happens if he tries to bring it back to the same scenario before? will it populate the classroom again? what if he tries to turn off the simulation entirely?]

It may be that she was attacked and her thought process was disrupted.

[he looks around]

Can we check to make sure there isn't any blood here? On the actual floor.

[frostythehitman]

I'd expect that if this thing works based off our thoughts, that as soon as the person whose thoughts it's based off of dies, the simulation would shut off. But maybe it gets damaged.

[ He nods to Soo-won. ]

Seeing what it looks like without any simulation at all might help.

[retellers]

[ no you can't have it back, it's gone. But it does let you shut it off! And the room is!

completely fine and empty. Everywhere. Floor, ceilings, walls. It's clean! There is nothing there. ]