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

[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...

[liven]

That means nothing. Man of the sword or no, he could have been coerced or persuaded in a million different ways. No person is above being brought down to a lower level, and I will not accept that sort of defense.

Humans like to think themselves or others beyond reproach, but ideals like "honor" and "good" are simply better stories they tell than the less palatable ones. All of them are simply stories, however.

[modissty]

It's not a defense I'm looking to provide. I'm only attempting to determine what could have caused Kei to act like this...

But if it's about coercion or persuasion, I can't tell you any more than I already have. If Kei was speaking to anyone privately, then he was doing it very, very carefully. I didn't notice anything strange about him in the time leading up to this morning, nor did I see him speaking with anyone.

[liven]

[ ... ]

I've decided I still like you.

[ congrats? ]

Also, I believe a great number of us are skilled liars, unfortunately...what a pain.

[modissty]

[DAMN he's moving up in the ranks now. He looks briefly surprised, but politely nods, at least...]

Thank you...? [Still a hint of a question in his tone though because Shijima, why.]

To me, he seemed like a straightforward person, so it's difficult to imagine him being good at lying... But if the evidence lines up with what Bigby is saying, then certainly, some level of deceit was involved. I just can't determine where it may have begun or what it might have led to.

[liven]

Perhaps he believed his reasons were straightforward. I do believe the evidence points to Bigby's account being true, however.

[ and she was. there when they woke up in the crime scene so???? ]

I do not know that speculating about people's motives is exactly helpful. We still have no idea why Luke was doing any of this, or if he was doing it of his own free will, for example. I think the idea that we ought to assume the Staff are out to get us simply for their own pleasure is perhaps a little naive...there are undoubtedly deeper levels to this game than any of us know, even them. It makes the question of "why" a rather stupid one.

[modissty]

Mm... That does sound possible, with what I knew of him. [Kei believing his reasons to be straightforward, that is.] I wasn't able to take a look at much besides Kei's body, myself, and I haven't had the chance to speak to Bigby either, but it seems like most agree that his account is truthful.

Still, I'm uncertain how we could narrow down people he may have spoken to without trying to examine the "why". [ALSO WHY CALL IT A GAME SHIJIMA PLEASE] Unless someone else saw him speaking with someone, what other leads do we have?

[liven]

The "why" involves things we cannot ever know, does it not? The leads come down to what we can infer. Who did Luke and Kei spend time with? Who did they trust? What did they say in trials, and who agreed or disagreed with them? I do not think Franziska was wrong in her path of logic - she did point to Luke with it, though also to innocents - but I can't say I have always paid close enough attention to be certain of the answers.

All we can truly do is say who we find suspicious and for what reasons. The motives those people would have to do the suspicious things are rather hard to say.

[modissty]

[He seems to be considering that, but hey, it's a way better starting point than he had... He nods after a few seconds.]

Then it really is just a matter of behavioral and conversational patterns... For Kei, at least, I can't think of any strong opinion he voiced outside of his disdain for the execution system.

[liven]

I believe that is an opinion shared by most.

[ since it's bullshit. ]

I suppose we'd have to poll everyone to see who remembers what...and try to keep better track of such things in the future.

[ by which she means: you need to remember this shit for her in the future. ]

[modissty]

Yes... He scolded me about it, actually - my involvement, that is.

[KEI, A PUNK.]

But that would be a wise idea. I'll see if I can recall anything else in the meantime.

[liven]

...A bit hypocritical of him.

[ what a punk????? ]

I'll let you do the polling, as well.

[modissty]

[HE CAN'T DISAGREE. GOD, KEI, yelling at him for mcmurdering and then trying to mcmurder... Damn.]

I'll see if I can find anything useful, in that case.