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

[estimated]

[ this morning has been a busy one for dazai, running around in order to check out all of these murders and even some injuries over there? wow! but he speaks up now, clearing his throat. ]

Yesterday, I examined both Kei and Franziska, and I’ve also looked at Bigby’s injuries — and I’ve noticed something interesting regarding the time of the two deaths.

[ here he goes! he’s just going to list the observations that he made this morning, because it’s the first time that they’ve dealt with Multiple dead people on one day. ]

Franziska was murdered some time between 2AM and 8AM.

[ if he’s not wrong, there was a small crew of people handling franziska’s case, so he’ll leave discussing the specifics of her injuries up to them. what’s important to him here is stating his estimate of the time of her death. so, moving onwards. ]

On the other hand, Kei was killed at a time between 12AM and 2AM. His throat appeared to have been torn out — but it didn’t seem to be the work of an item.

[ which means that it was probably clawed out somehow by someone’s fingers or teeth. or a fierce pair of feet, for all of the feet fetishists out there, i guess. ]

Bigby’s injuries also come from that time, of between 12AM and 2AM. One of his two wounds looks as if it could have come from a sword — which is Kei’s luggage, as stated on his profile. Therefore, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to assume that they had some kind of encounter, and that their injuries were caused by each other, given where Kei was found this morning — in room 7.

[ a pause, before he continues. ]

What I’m interested in, however, is the time that these deaths occurred. Why were they so far apart? Does this mean that the staff members are restricted to certain time ranges that they can kill within? Or do they just need a break between murders?

[selfsufficiency]

"Some kind of encounter"?

[Alice scowls at Dazai.]

Kei broke into our room and attacked him. Don't phrase it so suspiciously!

[estimated]

Really? That's news to me.

[ he's actually looking pretty shocked, because look, no one told him this?? ]

I tried asking Bigby earlier when I met with him in the bar, but he wouldn't give me the entire story.

[selfsufficiency]

[She narrows her eyes at him. If Bigby would't give him the entire story, does that mean Bigby doesn't trust him...?

Sorry Dazai, your stock's gone way down in Alice's book.]

Seeing as he'd just woken up after fighting for his life, it's not surprising he wasn't in the mood to talk to you.

[estimated]

[ it's not a matter of bigby not trusting him, probably. it's a matter of not ever actually having talked too much to him in the first place. after all, would you trust someone that you've only talked to yesterday? ]

Given that the first time I've ever spoken to him was yesterday, when we met to chop Leo's foot off, I'm not surprised.

He said that he was saving it to defend himself at the trial. After that, I didn't press him.

[liven]

If you go around stabbing people in the middle of night in their own rooms while they're sleeping, you sort of lose the right to live, I think...

[selfsufficiency]

Agreed. The only difference is this time he got caught in the act instead of us having to catch him at one of these stupid trials.

[liven]

Ah, that guy tried to cause trouble in our room. I think that it was a reasonable reaction to someone trying to stab you to death, really...

[ "that guy" is kei, in this case. ]

The time has always been odd, though, hasn't it? One person a night, only at night. Perhaps because that guy tried first, they counted it as a failure and got to try again?

[estimated]

[ don't worry, he knows who you're talking about, despite the vagueness of "that guy". but he nods, because that's true. ]

From Alice's outburst, I guessed as much.

[ at least shijima is willing to discuss it more calmly. with alice, he doesn't feel as if he can make much headway in a discussion on this topic. where is her time out corner ]

Is that allowed, though? To be able to try again if they failed? Then again, the staff members are the ones who probably make the rules, not us.

[liven]

It's not like we can ask about it and get a real answer. Judy is very unhelpful about that kind of thing...but then, they're in charge of her, so that's not surprising?

[ she shakes her head. ]

Bigby woke up when he got a sword stabbed through his body. He reacted accordingly. At least he heard that guy say something weird before he died...but really, I think all of us would have killed someone who woke us in that manner, given the nature of this place.

[becauseimacoward]

You're supposing the attack on Wolf was the staff's work. There's no doubt Von Karma was murdered by the staff, given where the body was found, but we should also consider Kei acted by his own will, for one reason or another.

[However...]

If Kei was part of the staff, it's possible von Karma was murdered because the attempt to kill Wolf failed.

[Hey, Bigby, over here. Dojima turns his head towards Bigby. Would you be as kind as to provide your witness testimony?]

Wolf, do you remember anything? How you got woken up at a time everyone but staff was knocked out, for example? I'm not saying you're staff, but it's certainly a deviation from normal and could give an idea what the victims do or see before they get murdered.

[estimated]

Kei acting on his own will would be the first time we've seen something like that, but... I do agree with you.

[ that kei may or may not be a staff member. all they know is that he and bigby had an encounter with weapons last night, after all. ]

We don't know where Kei stands, as a staff member or a non-staff member, so we shouldn't jump to conclusions on that matter — at least, not this early on.

[puffing]

[ OOPS he kind of provided his testimony here, but Bigby will go ahead and respond to Dojima directly for a follow-up. ]

Like I said, I was woken from the sword belonging to Kei piercing through me. There's nothing normal about any of this shit, but you're right. It deviated from how things have been handled until today. We can't even consider that the prosecutor's death is the same at this rate.

[grimdeity]

Perhaps Bigby and Kei's encounter was due to some kind of quarrel, rather than staff. Or perhaps they merely felt like it, for the sake of it. That could also be why they're at different times.

[selfsufficiency]

Kei wasn't in our room when we went to sleep. If he wasn't doing something shady, what was he doing in our room while everyone was supposed to be knocked out, huh?

[grimdeity]

In that case, I would agree that he was certainly doing something shady. But there are others that are not staff that Judy mentioned, yes? He could have been that. It's merely a possibility to consider.

[estimated]

What do you mean by "for the sake of it"? Do you mean that Kei or Bigby woke up and decided to kill people?

[ despite his wording, he still sounds entirely calm, rather than angry. it's the only way they're going to get anything done during this trial. ]

[liven]

It would have been Kei doing that. Simple logic tells us that Bigby really was in our room when he was attacked, and that he reacted in retaliation. The wounds and the fact that there's blood where he was sleeping should confirm that, should they not? So don't go about saying that Bigby could have woken up and decided to kill people, lest you mislead everyone.

[selfsufficiency]

[Shijima already said what Alice wanted to say so she's just going to back it up with a glare.]

[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?? ]

[tearable]

[ She's curious about the timing as well, especially because two dead bodies implies there was time to kill between or two murderers were at play. Elizabeth's thinking - recalling what was said about the six people other than the staff. Oh, sorry, she totally remembers vividly the night she had to kill Luke. ]

Bigby said that someone sent that man into the room. Perhaps there two isolated incidents and one of those six Judy mentioned isn't... working for the staff, but not necessarily working for us either? We need to start asking questions about why someone would send Kei off to his own, highly armed and ready to kill. That is, unless he was staff himself.

[liven]

It's possible that people other than staff have the ability to kill at night. If they are working against the staff, but do not know any better than us who the staff are, it's possible they're playing russian roulette with our lives as well...that's the most likely answer, since it's the stupidest.

[tearable]

Stupidest and infuriates me just as well. We have a hard enough time protecting ourselves against the ever-stacking favor into the staff's side but... now we have to deal with a different variable?

[ A sigh of annoyance. ]

People play their hands too damn quick.

[estimated]

[ poor liz... but he nods, and then lets out a frustrated sigh — at how little they really know about what's going on around them. ]

We don't even know what those six can do. For all I know, they could be worse than the staff members themselves.

[ you know, playing russian roulette with the remaining residents' lives, which is actually a pretty good way of putting it. ]

Maybe they had some kind of grudge against Bigby and wanted to put Kei's life on the line, instead of theirs. Or maybe they were a staff member themselves, and wanted to use Kei to wipe their hands free of guilt. Either way, there's cowardice involved in Kei being sent off on his own.

[tearable]

That much is true. I was naive to believe they'd off some kind of assistance after this. Now, they have access to our rooms and are well-armed. Far more than anyone else.

[ THIS IS NOT FUN. AND ELIZABETH IS NOT DOWN FOR RANDO KILLINGS. ]

Who the hell would be petty enough to throw someone's life on the line for a grudge? Whatever the case may be, we have no damn answers and I had to help sew someone up - again.

[ There is definitely cowardice. ]

Using someone to do your dirty work... in a time like this...? Lowest of lie.