trial #2

[judgejudy]

DAY 4 (afternoon) Complex Population: 32 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 10/15. voting

Comments

[tearable]

So. Glass breaking aside, anyone want to come forth and say they've noticed anything strange?

[ Guys, this is our best chance of just shooting the shit and talking theories. Or just, you know talking about their options. Elizabeth figures she'd start the ball with the question no one wants to ask or probably answer. ]

Think it's wise if we start trying to be logical about this instead of smashing abstain again.

[selfdenying]

Well, it seems like Alice has a bit of a cold from somewhere, but...other than that, I really haven't noticed anyone acting differently than usual.

[SORRY ALICE that's the only strange thing he can think of]

[liven]

I don't think she got sick until we investigated that foot. She touched it, but I didn't.

[ is that helping

can she be done now ]

[tearable]

Where was the foot again?

[ REFRESH HER MEMORY. ]

Nothing odd about it other than being... um... a cut off foot...?

[liven]

The fountain. The cut was cleaner than one would expect, but other than that...

[ A SHRUG. ]

If we're looking for something "weird", the timing qualifies, right?

[tearable]

Seems about right. There has to be a connecting factor there. No one else has gotten sick and Alice has interacted with others without someone else contracting it.

[ Why???? ]

I would suggest we limit our time focusing on feet and more on... well, the vote. We could get distracted.

[selfdenying]

You investigated the foot? The one in the fountain?

[.....Huh.]

Do you know if anyone else touched it? It's not still there, is it?

[liven]

We threw it back in.

[ SO UH...I GUESS...IF NO ONE CLEANED THAT UP?????????? IT MIGHT BE THERE STILL?????? ]

I just looked. I wanted a better idea of what was used to cut off the foot.

[judgejudy]

[ it is indeed still there ]

[selfdenying]

Interesting. Obviously, we can't experiment at the current moment, but if touching the foot makes you have a cold...

[It's a weird correlation. As far as he knows, you can't really get infected by parts of dead bodies...maybe it has something to do with the fluids? Ugh, he's no doctor.]

What was the cut like? Clean, or ragged?

[antietam]

Just like last time, there isn't anything pointing to someone.

We're going to have to find another way to do this. Instead of trying to come up with who did it, we need to find out who is most likely to be a staff member.

[tearable]

Maybe not at the crime scene but unless our staff are perfect little angels, they need to slip up somewhere. If someone noticed an odd behavior during the day, it may be telling.

[ Elizabeth had a few odd things to note, but she holds off. Especially after the sensationalism of last trial got an innocent person killed. ]

Well, that becomes a million dollar question when we don't know anything about these bozos.

[antietam]

Odd behavior isn't evidence. ... But at this point, it's the only thing we can rely on.

People who seem maybe too familiar with this place or too willing to let things continue as they are. The staff doesn't want us to figure them out so they're going to be distracting us.

[tearable]

I know it's not. [ DIVA... clutches chest. ] I don't like it but it starts a conversation going...

[ Elizabeth isn't keen on it.. not at all. ]

Distracting us how? I haven't noticed anything abnormal that's commanded our attention. [ There's a huff of air past her lips as she lowers her head, trying not to get too aggravated. ] We're all keeping our walls up and trying to not get stabbed in the back, it's hard to tell.

[antietam]

We did get off-topic at times last trial... But I can chalk that up to being confused about everything.

Guess all we can do is observe people now.

[karmas]

Agreed. Your logic does you credit. [She's tapping the base of her whip against her palm, thinking.] We likely won't know how to distinguish the staff until we locate one we can analyze.

But to choose incautiously only tips the scales in the favor of the staff at this point.

[antietam]

I guess that's why we have a few hours for this. But we can't waste time on things other than figuring out another solution.

So... characteristics that staff members might have? Things that have seemed strange? What do you think?

[selfdenying]

If we can narrow down the staff's motivation, things will be much easier. Are they killing because they can? Are they doing it for a purpose? Is this all just a scientific experiment for them?

One's motivation can greatly change one's attitude on certain things, so, for example, it's unfair to say "look for people who like being violent for fun" when the staff might be doing this out of some strange desperate necessity.

[antietam]

No, I don't think we can look for certain personality traits to narrow down motivation. After all, most of us have never met each other. People could easily be faking.

... Especially the staff, since they're already apparently good actors. Why is a good question, but what will it lead us to?

[tearable]

If it was a science experiment, what gain would they have?

[ She really...really doesn't want to think it's because they're just mindlessly killing. ]

In 1920, there was a science experiment by John Watson focusing on behaviorism. It spoke mainly about testing the idea of fear in conditioned responses. Trust me, it was nothing like this but there's been distinct attempts of trying to understand how the body and mind works.

[ Trust her...? She's been an experiment herself...???? ]

Myself and Lara both looked for two-way mirrors and cameras, however. It turned up a poor attempt.

[jackhole]

Oookay, well, first of all. They're probably dicks if they're child killers.

[ wait he too, is a dick ]

I mean -- you have to be pretty ruthless for that! So, uhm. Ruthless people? Ruthless dicks. Very... forceful... aggressive dicks.

[heroizes]

[ Jack is definitely snickering at this point because he has the sense of humor of an immature five year old and I hate him ]

[jackhole]

[ that was NOT SUPPOSED TO BE INNUENDO ]

[antietam]

[ He sure seems a lot more stupid when Adam isn't focusing on the robot. ]

I think that'd be the first type of person we'd look for. Isn't that why everyone was so keen on executing Diva? Because she admitted to killing before?

If they were smart, they'd try to hide their sadistic behavior.

[jackhole]

[ look, he has his moments but generally, this is what you get, adam. ]

You think a person can hide sadism? Seems kind of, uh, contrary.