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

[onepunchgirl]

So, I'm pretty sure I speak for most of us when I say I'm pretty damn pissed that Franziska got killed. And it's obvious why: the staff members were afraid of her after she helped lead us to taking down Luke. What happened to Lara was horrible too, but let's be clear - it's not hard to imagine some staff members voted for her because they realized Luke could get taken down if they didn't.

[She closes her eyes and pauses. Even if she didn't react to it much, Lara's death was still a reminder of the consequences this twisted game carries. Veronica opens her eyes again, and continues.]

Now what did Franziska do that worked? For starters, she wasn't wishy-washy. Here's the reality here: none of us are innocent. When we vote to kill someone, anyone, we can't claim to be. The staff members don't care who they target, because they want to serve their own self-interests. They came after her because they saw her as a threat. Most of us were too afraid to even say who we were voting for yesterday in public. That's pure cowardice, and it's probably why our votes got so split.

So today? Let's say who we're going to vote for before the tally comes. Franziska and I were the only people who even did that much, and if you want a reason to trust me then you can count the fact that I stated my vote for Luke before the results came in. In fact - I would wager no staff members voted for him, not when the numbers were so tied and all our votes are anonymous. Why would they vote to kill him, compared to voting for Lara or someone else? So why not everyone who voted for Luke claim their name to it now.

"But Veronica" you might say, "what if there are liars?" My answer: Duh. But we also know 8 people voted for him. Counting myself, 7 remain. So if more than 7 people say so, then we'll know someone is being a liar and get a pool of suspects. In fact, I'd love for a staff member to actually have some balls and not stay in the dark, trying to twist people against one another but never taking responsibility when something goes awry.

[She takes a pause, and you think she's done but. No...]

Additionally, I did speak with Franziska after I assisted Angel with amputating Lara's foot. We talked about the trial and other people who we felt were acting suspicious. She did give me a name of a person, and I think it's worth sharing her thoughts.


...But, I think I'll save my tongue on that. For now. [She smiles.] I rather see how that person acts first during this trial. For fairness sake. Franziska was smart, but she's not a God. I'm not carrying out her last rites, only her will. Even she agreed polling people seemed like the best option when I talked to her.

And at the end of the day, that's what this game is really about. Communication. We need to be clear in our thoughts and not shuffle our feet around. Like I said - no one is an innocent. Let's not act as though we have no responsibility for the death of whoever we vote for.

[OOC: Ok so this is like the worst timing ever, but I won't actually be around most of the day because of work + rl getting in the way. I did want to get this out though since Veronica wouldn't just stay silent. If anyone has need of me, please private plurk me at @thejoyful or PM this account via dreamwidth. I'll be checking in, but I can't promise consistent presence.]

[selfdenying]

I voted for him.

[Alfendi has his notebook open for reference - he taps at a page filled with nothing but coded words. He wasn't here for the vote...at least, not him, but his other self.]

Apparently, I suspected him after his lackluster excuses for his sickness and his sudden relationship with Adam Parrish. I even told others about it afterward.

[antietam]

[ Adam has been quiet so far but Luke is still a sore spot... ]

Those are stupid reasons to murder someone for.

[selfdenying]

Look, I wasn't here to know the whole story, loverboy. [He leers.] But I was "down to the wire", I said, so "I had to go with my gut". And it looked like my gut instinct was correct. He was staff. That's that.

[grimdeity]

I'm sure the staff's reasons to murder people were, of course, beyond reproach.

[grimdeity]

I don't think "afraid" is the correct term. I think she made herself a target for them, unfortunately, by being so headstrong last trial. Not that that was wrong of her, of course. But it does appeared to have gotten her killed.

I would comment upon our morality in this place, but we don't have the time to discuss it at length. [ which is a pity because rose loves to discuss that shit at length. ]

At the time I stated my vote would be for Luke or Elizabeth. I voted Luke, in the end. I won't pretend I had much reason for voting Luke over Elizabeth, except purely superficial reasons. [ read: gay reasons ]

I would of course love to hear the name of the person she suspected, though I'm not certain I would care to advise you say it to the group, given what happened to Miss von Karma. But what you do is your own choice. I do agree we need to communicate as best we can, since otherwise these trials serve no purpose whatsoever.

[onepunchgirl]

I'm not afraid for my life. I was born and raised as a solider, so death has never been far away. I only withhold the name because I don't want us to jump on someone over what could be nothing. If that person seems strange to me today, I'll say something.

[tearable]

I voted for someone other than Luke or Lara.

[ Elizabeth states dryly. ]

I had no confidence in my choice and thus, voted for someone who was not at risk of being voted. That's my penance - to know I could have voted for the correct choice.

[ The tough choices were definitely hard to make and in the end? She was weak. She thought not being part of the deciding vote would clear her conscience but... lol boy was she wrong. ]

I'm not quite sure if I agree with your theory of communicating. I see it's in good nature, miss, truly but - we have people who do not care and will skew the results in their favor to muddy an already horrible situation. We don't need another person getting the idea to play superhero and take someone out in their sleep.

[onepunchgirl]

I understand your concerns. However my belief is that it's easier to understand people's intentions, good or bad, through communication. Understand? Staff members will engage if they want to sway the conversation toward what they desire.

[tearable]

[ Elizabeth feels like that's wrong. She's seen it - she's talked with people once she left Columbia. She's seen the silver-tongued and wicked hearted but there was something that makes her want to believe in Veronica. Believe in her cause. ]

Right. I just hope they don't just tell us what they want us to hear. They have information - these roles or some such - that we can't comprehend without outing themselves. Franziska, as much as I disliked the way the woman acted, did not deserve to be hunted down.

[ She's shutting her eyes, tenderly adjusting her wrist in her cross armed stance. ]

That wasn't the repentance I felt she deserved.

[injectors]

... I didn't vote for Luke, but —

[Considering what happened to Franziska after the last trial, uh.]

Please be careful, friend.

[onepunchgirl]

[She smiles.]

I've never been one for caution. Nothing is gained without risk, and I don't fear death. Not even here.

[injectors]

You may not fear death, but I'm tired of finding a fresh corpse every other day. So please, don't intentionally paint a target on your back.

[alittlemaster]

I voted to abstain despite the consequences.

[liven]

My vote was the same as Alice's. Our end vote was not for Luke, though it was at one point in time.

[selfsufficiency]

Right. Someone else started looking suspicious after we voted for him, so we changed our votes.

[mitsubou]

I didn't vote for anyone here.

[Shakes head.]

In any case, we shouldn't be trying to pin the blame on someone just because the person he liked ended up being staff. [LOOKS IN THE DIRECTION OF SOME... PEOPLE...]

[liven]

That's not the only reason I find him suspicious, personally. But if you find someone else suspicious, by all means say so. Although I do figure we'll end this the same way we did last time.

[grimdeity]

No, but it's worth thinking about, is it not? Why would someone feel so attached to a person they knew only a few days, who turned out to be the enemy? Perhaps simple naivety is the answer, but nevertheless. At the end of the day, we will be pinning the blame somewhere, won't we?

[onepunchgirl]

So you abstained?

[daturah]

In the hopes of helping move things along, I didn't vote for Luke. I abstained. [much good that did in any case.]

I do wonder if the staff were being more rash than intelligent in killing Franziska off so quickly. [this is the gloomiest Hitsugi's looked all week] There's picking the rather easier targets to eliminate at first, an then quickly getting rid of the louder threats.

Maybe more of us need to be louder.

[puffing]

Voted to abstain. Apartment #7 can confirm I told them that, as I can confirm all of their votes were what they told me during the same night. I liked both Luke and Lara. Didn't see the same suspicion that the prosecutor did. She was half right, though. And I guess she paid the price as much as Lara did for that.

[ he hasn't even had the time to properly focus on her death. sorry, Franny. he's kind of processing it all now. ]

[antietam]

... That's interesting. I've been asking people who they voted for and two people I've already spoken to said they abstained, one who's mentioned it here. Someone else claimed they abstained which would make it three.

But yours is the fourth one. So someone's lying, I guess.

[betraitor]

I wasn't sold that anyone Franziska pointed her fingers at was actually guilty, so I voted for someone I figured wouldn't get many votes. I'm not into putting people to death on person's loud suspicions.

[he figures that's a good enough answer, though he has little to add to that at this point.]

[onepunchgirl]

And that person was?

Oh and don't worry, if that person tries to hit you I'll stop them.