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

[liven]

Access to the room and armed further are about the same thing. It is obvious that the staff persons have access to abilities we do not - such as telling Judy to undo their cuffs, or open doors. It should be safe to assume their opposing forces also have extra abilities.

Whatever Kei was, he was someone who could get into a locked room and who had an extra weapon. I think the only "how" could be "having an extra title"...or whatever you call the anti-staff. Or staff. It hardly matters which he was at this point.

[ since he fucked up? ]

As to "why", that's equally hard to determine, isn't it? We assume the Staff are running some experiment. But is the anti-staff running an opposing experiment, or are they "good" insofar as they're meant to help us? It seems more likely to me they're two sides of the same coin, and neither are specifically out to save all of us. One side might not be entirely against us, but that's not the same as being for us...

[modissty]

[Shaking his head!]

No, he wasn't acting any differently than he usually does. I wasn't with him every moment of the day, but doing something like this at all... I'm not certain how well he could have hidden it. I did share the couch with him, though. He was there when I went to sleep last night.

[modissty]

[GOOD QUESTION.]

Ah... I don't believe so.

[selfsufficiency]

Then why was he in our room when we woke up today? Why did he attack Bigby?! Ugh, this doesn't make any sense!

I knew people here couldn't be trusted.

[liven]

In that case, I suppose I will ask. But I expect praise for my idea, even if it fails.

[ ok shijima ]

[liven]

Is Minatsuki alive or dead? We seem to have misplaced her.

[liven]

"Why"...Bigby has been one of those persons trying to figure things out in each of our two trials. Doesn't that make him something of a threat to the people running about killing everyone?

[grimdeity]

Based on what Shijima and Alice have said, more likely Kei. I meant only that there are things about this place and each other that are likely still unknown to us. Or that two men just decided to fight, because reasons.

[ shrug. she's used to stupid shit tbh?? ]

[modissty]

I don't know the answer to either of those things... To be honest, I didn't know Kei very well, but... he seemed a man of honor to me, so I can't make sense of this.

[He doesn't make a remark on the people not being trusted part though since boy howdy any argument he'd cast out against that would be dead in the water with their current circumstances.]

[tearable]

As brutish as Bigby can be, would petty squabbles really lead to a throat being ripped out and body parts being stabbed?

[ rose, i'm setting you up for the snark. take this ball and run. ]

[grimdeity]

I don't disagree. Though given that Kei is deceased, I doubt he'll provide many answers on any cohorts staff or otherwise.

[modissty]

[SHIJIMA... Well, cats do as cats do. Sakyou's just here like ??? in the meantime.]

...Very well, then. I'll give you appropriate thanks when you return.

[selfsufficiency]

I'm just glad that man got a surprise when he tried to hurt him.

[#keideservedit]

...at least we know for sure this means Bigby isn't staff.

[liven]

Some people thought Luke was a trustworthy fellow, as well.

[ tbh everyone here is a lying liar who lies ]

[liven]

Most likely.

[selfsufficiency]

Apparently someone told him to go after Bigby. Who would he even respect enough to carry out that order even knowing that if he succeeded he might get caught in one of these trials?

[estimated]

Actually, when I went to examine the scene after all of you... followed Bigby out the door —

[ and he remembers that, because it was loud?? wolf bigby and all of his little ducklings rushing after him ]

From all of the blood that he tracked, it's impossible to tell exactly who moved or didn't move during the night. Personally, I also think that the situation is as simple as this: Kei tried to kill Bigby, and ended up killed himself.

But, we'll have to find a different way to prove it.

[selfsufficiency]

[Grumbling:]

He deserved worse than he got.

[grimdeity]

[ picks up ball. tries to run. probably fails because player just woke up. ]

That certainly sounds like an average weekday night in many places, yes.

[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. ]

[tearable]

Agreed. For the time being, until proven otherwise, we can only assume Kei was a staff member. There would be no other proof otherwise. Bigby's testimonial to us before all of this implied Kei did not work alone. I don't give a damn if it's some other party... they think they're doing good but it's going to send a panic.

[ Elizabeth was actually pretty pissed about it. ]

That's when we overlook things. That's when we make mistakes. That's when we send an innocent person to their execution.

[ Shijima has the wisdom that Elizabeth is lacking right now, mostly because she feels as if this is going to drag on the entire day and what -? For nothing. ]

I'll be blunt with you, Shijima, once we heard about the six others... I have no doubt Franziska was one of them too. She claimed to be able to protect someone if they cooperated. It was an insistence that seemed fueled by something under the surface that we can't quite pick.

[ Who promises to protect someone so adamantly...? ]

[modissty]

[Shijima and Alice for the dang dirty realists squad.]

...True enough. Even so, he was a man of the sword. [Y'know those #samurai types.] To think that he'd throw away his honor over this...

[tearable]

[ im so sorry ]

Don't know what kind of places you're hanging around, miss....

[liven]

From what I saw of the scene, I think it was harder to tell if Kei were moved, not if Bigby were attacked where he was sleeping. I meant that to have proven he were attacked in his sleep, beyond all the obvious, there would really just need to be blood where he had been sleeping...

So, I think that actually it can be proved.

[grimdeity]

It certainly sounds that way, yes.