WEEK TWO: TRIAL

[retellers]

WEEK TWO: TRIAL (35 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: This is your reminder to be at the Emporium by 12 PM. 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: Wolf, Rabbit, and Fox. Fox speaks. "... Third time isn't the charm, as it turns out. You have nine hours. We'll help with what we can, as before." ༶•┈┈⛧┈｡o°✥✣ 　　 ✣✥°o｡┈⛧┈┈•༶ Hello, everyone, and welcome to the third 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

HOWLING ROSE

[siblingless]

Um... Elsa-san, Hua Cheng-san and I found Brick-san's body inside a cannon, on the Howling Rose.

[A glance at Elsa and HC, like. Please correct her if she hecks up.]

There was a splatter of blood on the deck, and I think— [Cutting herself off to swallow, like she's nauseous. She continues after taking a deep, deep breath.] There were pieces of bone and brain matter mixed in. As if someone fell from a great height, and hit their head. I looked up to see what parts of the boat were nearby, but nothing stuck out to me. From the splatter, there was a trail as if Brick-san's body was dragged to the cannon? We noticed a set of bloody footprints moving away from the splatter, to the exit. I noticed some rope was missing from the cargo downstairs as well, but nothing else.

[exercisms]

Brick-san spent the night on the ship with us. So whoever did it must have come on it and . . .

[Yikes.]

[siblingless]

[Ah... Yikes. She grimaces.]

I'm sorry, Kageyama-san.

[exercisms]

I'm sorry, too.

[She's kind, but don't console him. He's not the one who had to see what happened.]

[siblingless]

Do you recall if Brick-san was behaving strangely that night...?

[exercisms]

No. He was talking about wanting to protect people, next week. He was saying next time we should all try to go in the same location, and have the Leaders tie us up.

[siblingless]

[oh my god]

Not that I disagree with the intent, but isn't that a little...?

[recrowns]

[it's

a little bit automatic how he reaches out as if to console her - before catching himself very quickly and dropping his hand with a sheepish look]

.... thank you, Yoshizawa. Could we return to the ship and climb atop the masts and see if there are any hints higher up?

[siblingless]

[She appreciates the gesture nonetheless, smiling a bit when she notices the aborted gesture.]

Mhm, it's worth a try. None of us tried to climb after we found Brick-san, and there's still the matter of the missing rope.

[recrowns]

[he nods in response to that]

Then let's do that. The fort and the ship seem to be the two areas in which we need to investigate again.

[siblingless]

[And a nod over here, too!]

Perhaps Xie Lian-san can accompany you? He said he took stock of what was in the cargo, so I'm sure he'll be able to help.

[recrowns]

[he

glances in a certain vague direction

before looking back]

... I'd rather that Xie Lian and I aren't missing from trial at the same time but... I'll consider the suggestion.

[evocationary]

[ in the distance from where she's futzing around with the body: ] I can keep an eye out too, Bougie, once I'm done with this.

[dianxias]

It's alright - ! There are many places to be searched, so we can coordinate accordingly.

[siblingless]

[... Trying to look in the same direction and failing, probably.]

May I ask why?

[robopriest]

[Just. Looking over at this.]

[Hm.]

Why Xie Lian, though?

[dianxias]

[ xie lian reaches to pat her back, stops and remembers the curse... and ruoye wriggles out of his sleeve to give yoshizawa a little pat between the shoulders. :c ]

...I'd like to look at the cargo hold again. Vezda and I did some stock of it the night before, so I might be able to tell what's missing.

[siblingless]

[She appreciates it, anyway! And offers him a little smile.]

Oh! You did? That would be helpful, yes. Perhaps you can go with Soo-won-san...?

[Since Soo-won brought up giving the boat a second look.]

[dianxias]

That would be fine.

...To think, that such a thing occurred while we were all right there. I know that is the way of the Realm, but...

[ ...but, it hurts him, to know there was nothing he could've done to stop it. ]

[siblingless]

[... he gets a gentle bop with the joker plushie, too.]

I'm sorry, Xie Lian-san.

[dianxias]

[ bop. he gives yoshizawa a small, reassuring smile, and ruoye's end comes up to tap the joker plush gently in exchange. ]

...We'll just have to do the best we can to unravel the mystery of what happened, for now. Thank you for your kind words, Miss Yoshizawa.

[horologia]

Not being able to do anything, even though it happened so close...

You know that if you could have done something, you would have. Please have faith in that, and take solace in it, Xie Lian-san.

[dianxias]

[ homura gets a small smile, too. she'll be able to feel his concern and sadness, but there's a genuine gratitude to it, too. ]

...Thank you, Miss Homura. I will.

[supremity]

[ He can't pat her for getting through it, but Hua Cheng stands close enough to offer a more supportive, encouragingproudsteady emotion in lieu of physical contact. ]

Nothing seemed amiss, the night before. But you could say that of every Thursday night we've had so far - even if he seemed so set on figuring out some means of solving this.

[siblingless]

[The gesture is appreciated! She offers him a tiny smile.]

Yes... Kagayama-san said the same. Something about, um, asking the leaders to tie us all up?