trial #3

[judgejudy]

DAY 6 (afternoon) Complex Population: 27 At noon, the same tone from the morning rings out, and Judy's voice filters out over the intercom. "Good afternoon, residents. As per Safety Protocol 6227-A, it is time to conduct a trial to bring justice for the victim. Please proceed to the courtroom on the first level." Just as at night, if you don't go to the courtroom, you'll be treated to an electric shock of increasing strength until you go to the courtroom or are unconscious. Though considering the ominous penalty for not participating in a trial, you should likely just go rather than risk not voting because you've been knocked out by your own stubbornness... Once you're in the courtroom, you'll find that bottled water and light snacks are provided, but otherwise you'll have to bring anything else you may need. As you come to your conclusions about who to vote for, you can step into the judgement theater to cast your vote at the terminal. You may change your vote as many times as you'd like, but at 7PM, your vote (or lack thereof) is locked in. You have until 7PM to discuss and vote for who you think the murderer is. — ic rulebook character statuses character profiles Voting will close at 9PM EST on 10/22. voting

Comments

[puffing]

[ AHEM, ahem. Bigby's here. he's shirtless (as always, apparently), having since been removed of the shirt he was wearing during the attack but laying right next to him in case anyone needed to see it as a form of evidence. his shoulder is bandaged appropriately, as neatly and as tightly as possible considering the severity of it. a larger bandage was secured around his hip, showing the second wound he received.

he's more pale than usual, a side effect of losing who knows how much of his own blood. at least his face and skin was scrubbed as best as it could, even if there's some hints of red lost in the stubble around his chin. Bigby wasn't particularly talkative, which would typically be reasonable when someone thinks about what happened to him. but they're in a trial not more than a few hours later, and he has the misfortune of having to clarify what happened. ]

I killed Kei. [ well ok. he's just getting it out there now rather than later. ] It was in self-defense. He approached me after curfew, sometime after I fell asleep. Stabbed me with a sword, which I'm assuming is the one his profile said he carries. I never talked to him before. He had a second weapon. It was along the lines of what staff has used to kill people before. Some kind of pole with goddamn barbs at the end.

The stab was probably meant for my heart, but he missed and it woke me up. We scuffled, and he got another good hit on me. One arm couldn't be used for jack shit thanks to him, and the other was being used to keep him from not swinging that pole thing anymore than he had. So... I tore his throat out. With my teeth. [ WELL OK. ] He mentioned a second person being involved. Said he was doing it as a favor. Couldn't get much more out of him because of what happened, obviously.

[ now just let him shut up and catch his breath. everything hurts. ]

[liven]

Sloppy work on his part, still...

[ stop criticizing the apparent assassin??? ]

...but this is the story as he told it to all of us before he had time to even think about anything, and I believe all the evidence lines up. So I'll say I concur with this series of events, because I do.

[selfsufficiency]

[Alice stands nearby with Leo draped over her shoulders, watching people's reactions to Bigby's explanation and tightly gripping one of the water bottles provided for refreshment during the trial.]

This all lines up with what I saw when I woke up, too. It was completely self-defense, so nobody better get any dumb ideas here.

[puffing]

[ apartment #7 da best

love you guys ]

[grimdeity]

I don't think any reasonable person could fault you for your actions, at least.

[ all evidence points to self-defense, so. ]

A favor, hm? That's certainly curious. Have you made any enemies, perhaps?

[puffing]

[ that gets him laughing. and then wincing. hard. remember, everything hurts right now. it sucks not being a superpowered wolf in disguise. ]

Diva, maybe? But I don't think I need to worry about her sending people from beyond the grave for payback. Otherwise, maybe people just wanted me to shut the fuck up during trials more often. Or if the guy that told Kei to do this isn't staff, he had something that he wanted done about me that he couldn't say in the trial.

―Real eager to hear that opinion if he's listening, by the way.

[grimdeity]

Hm, probably not. No sign of zombies or ghouls so far, at least. [ #joking ] Perhaps someone just figured you'd be an easy target, clearly.

As am I, if just so we have a solid candidate to consider voting for for.

[tearable]

[ Elizabeth is trying her best here and no one can fault her for it. Despite her lingering suspicions about everyone... things don't add up. He was mangled and even Shijima can confirm that there was nothing immediately offputting. Bloody mouth or otherwise.

She listens to his full testimonial, wincing a bit near the end. ]

This lines up to what he's told me as well, even in a drunken and pained stupor. The only thing we have to be concerned with is more than one killer since I doubt that Kei boy - who was not working alone, it seems - was unable to kill Franziska.

[ But, focused to Bigby: ]

He gave no other implication on what this "favor" may be?

[puffing]

I didn't really... give him the chance to talk much more. [ he points with his good hand towards his own throat. can't talk when it's been chewed open, after all. ] It was all heat in the moment. Even I didn't want it to go down as fast as it did, pissed or otherwise. We needed answers and he was one of our only chances at something.

[tearable]

[ Gross??? ]

If it was your life or his, a caged animal can only lash out to protect their wellbeing.

[ Elizabeth... uh.. was talking about herself but feel free to also assume she was talking about Bigby. :) ]

[becauseimacoward]

With your teeth?!

[The hell? You know what, nevermind. Let's focus on something else]

I can't shake the feeling the fact you were targeted inside the apartment is odd. The staff members had been careful not to spill blood anywhere else other than the room we see the bodies, for you to be attacked in the room...

...either something strange is going on with the staff, or the person Kei was doing this for wanted you to die and didn't care where.

[At least he's taking the testimony at face value]

Any idea why you'd be attacked?

[puffing]

Yep. With my teeth.

[ he'd shrug but that would just be stupid, even for him. ]

He came to me with weapons, so I'm pretty sure he knew what he wanted to do before he got there. Maybe my size had to do with it. They can easily move kids and women, but a guy like me would take several people. So they just tried taking care of me while I was knocked out, knowing everyone else was still asleep.

[ as to why he was attacked... ]

Maybe I beat them in pool one too many times. Who the fuck knows.

[selfdenying]

Anyone who thinks you're staff now would just be revealing themselves to be nothing more than idiotic.

[APARTMENT 7 SOLIDARITY???]

However, you bring up an interesting point, Bigby. The weapons were gone when we all woke up, weren't they? Somebody must have come by and picked them up after he died and you fainted. Possibly Kei's wonderful benefactor?

[selfsufficiency]

[...oh, yeah, that is weird. And even weirder - ]

If that's the case, why didn't they finish him off before he woke up? Unless they just didn't care who died, as long as... someone did.

[Alice's brow furrows and she leans back against a wall to steady herself, squishing Leo a little in the process. Sorry Leo.]

[selfdenying]

Another good question! Looks like you're one of the lucky ones who has brains among this crowd of fools, Alice.

[Who even know if that's a genuine compliment or not.]

It would've been so easy. Bigby was already vulnerable and to the point of death. Perhaps only one person can murder one other person - if the murderer fails, well, they just have to move onto another victim.

[injectors]

... That's a good observation. Do you believe they could have wanted to use Bigby as a scapegoat, to divert attention from the staff during the trial?

[injectors]

Then it's possible a staff member armed him and then instructed him to attack you after curfew.

[But the theory bothers her. Unless Kei was staff, as well, why go after Bigby? Never mind that she should be disturbed by Bigby ripping Kei's throat out, but, you know... #borderlands.]

What I can't begin to fathom, however, is why he would follow these instructions. Regardless of what perspective we look at it — it's suspicious, isn't it? Unless Kei was staff, as well, he would have no reason to trust that second person. And for that matter, unless he had a good reason to mistrust you... Why attack you at all? Surely, he must have been aware of the consequences of doing so.

[Like, the trials. And Bigby has nice little stab wounds that would point to a sword, doesn't he?]

[puffing]

There had to have been some incentive. Maybe it had to do with the fact that we're all a little cloudy in the head. Elizabeth had some... shit happen with what happened in the cage, with Lara and Luke. Could be common knowledge to the staff if they know, but―

[ it's best that she explain it rather than him. ]

―Ms. Elizabeth, if you could just... pick up where I left off, please.

[ cause he gonna go die ]

[tearable]

...I would have preferred if you asked me ahead of time before disclosing but I'll chalk it up to you still being drunk. There's no way you'd break my trust, correct?

[ BIGBY, YOUR FUCKING BLABBERMOUTH. ]

... We've all been suffering from some kind of mental illness - some... memory loss. I couldn't remember much about certain things but -

[ She'll be vague. ]

Once I left after my fight with Luke... I remembered. I remembered something I could never forget unless something occurred. Some manipulation or experiment... took a memory from me but something else restored it.

[mansplains]

With your teeth? [hOLY SHIT]

Why you? Do you have any idea?

[puffing]

[ oo... ps totally lost this in the influx of tags ]

I didn't have anything on hand. Don't like using weapons anyway. Had to improvise.

[ and he's used to using his teeth for Bad Things. sorry, not sorry. ]

The only thing I can guess is that someone thought I was trouble. Would have maybe guessed Franziska, but... someone else crossed her off the list.

[mansplains]

[use your fists like a man you creeper] Well.... it worked out for you, I guess.

[no it's still fucking weird]

Judy talked about a team that can give out weapons. Whoever they are, they really wanted you out of the picture. Or they wanted to test out their abilities, I'd guess.

[toyotamane]

Tore out someone's throat with your teeth, eh?

[That's damn brutal...Dickson is grinning behind his bandanna. His statement is said with no judgment, then, but approval.

Bigby is certainly someone who won't go down without a fight. Also oh, the situation as it stands from the man himself, but still...]

Did you talk to this Kei at all before he decided you ought to be dead? I gotta wonder as well, if the "second person" ain't the one who voted for you in a previous trial. I'm sure you remember that little pleasantry.

[Bigby was pretty furious, as anyone would be, he recalls. Someone has it out for the extremely hirsute man.]

[puffing]

We briefly exchanged words as he kept trying to kill me, yeah. Emphasis on brief.

[ the guy brought in two weapons to brutalize him with. are his teeth really all that bad in comparison? ]

I doubt it. It's possible, but I'm pretty sure Diva voted for me because of the trouble I caused her. I asked after she died just in case, but no one'll own up to it at this point either way.

[toyotamane]

[Hey, most people have glass jaws. Taking on a guy armed with two weapons is a damn achievement.

Dickson hums, wipes at his nose. Ugh.]

Eh, I'd say we're best leavin' no stone un-turned. Either this was a freak incident by some maniac who thought it'd be fun to try his sword on a beast, or somebody's got it out for ya.

[Could go either way!]