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

[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.

[antietam]

Staff who didn't do anything. You just killed an innocent boy.

[selfdenying]

Ah, but was he not complicit with the murders of two children? He may not have dealt the final blow, but he allowed them to, if the information I've read is correct. That's hardly "innocent". He also murdered one person and almost murdered another in his execution, and showed no remorse for his actions.

Your boyfriend wasn't squeaky clean, loverboy.

[liven]

The information is sound. He killed Lara Croft, an innocent, and attempted to kill Elizabeth as well. He is no innocent. But I believe the Staff would see it differently.

[antietam]

You don't know any more than I do about how they kill. He might not have been told who they were going to kill, he might have been. You can't blame him for anything because no one asked him.

... And you obviously have the wrong information if you think he didn't feel guilty about killing Lara. He couldn't even look at her while he did it.

[selfdenying]

Didn't I already say I wasn't there? Do check if you have ears.

[Alfendi, not everyone knows about your stupid Jekyll and Hyde deal.]

[He pauses a bit, his skin pale (he looks exhausted), but he shakes his head and turns a few pages in his notebook, clearing his throat and reading aloud:]

"I asked Adam and Luke about how they would feel if the other was a staff member. Both were somber about this possibility, but both told me that they would do whatever they can to catch the staff members and stop the murders from happening.

Adam even said, and I quote "I don't want to be with someone who's a murderer and I doubt Luke wants that either."

[He lets out a laugh at that, like he's just read a very nice joke.]

Well now, Adam Parrish. Is love really that blind?

[antietam]

Luke didn't murder anyone until he was forced to and guess what? I'm not with him anymore, so thanks for that.

[selfdenying]

Based on this quote, you already considered staff members murderers, and now, suddenly, Luke is an exception? Was he the lost little lamb in the midst of wolves?

[He feels a wave of nausea and he shakes his head - this is all idiotic. It really is.]

Of course, I know you're going to say "he was innocent"! Which is true. But this is hardly your hill to die on, moron. I almost suspect you don't even care if the rest of us die. If you're so hung up on the past and have little concern for what happens to us in the future, how do you think it makes you look, hm?

[antietam]

Or maybe with new information that was presented to us, the fact that Luke was listed as innocent, I realized that the staff members aren't all murderers.

And no, I don't really care what you say about me or what happens here. I'm done with this stupid experiment.

[becauseimacoward]

That's enough!

[Hey, sorry you two, but you're starting to get distracting]

This is not the time to argue about Parrish and Castellan's...whatever they had going on.

Focus on the actual case.

[Well, Dojima can't deny there are reasons to suspect Adam, but he currently doesn't think Adam is a staff member, which is why he's trying to divert the attention away.

Not that he's expecting it to work. Alfendi seems the kind to keep pressing on no matter what]

[mansplains]

Why are you doing this, Adam?

I know you're upset about Luke, but there's nothing anyone can do about it abymore. What you're doing right ow us making yourself look suspicious.

[antietam]

Obviously I don't care about that or I wouldn't have said anything.

I care more about those here who have killed innocent people but still think Luke is somehow worse than them.

[grimdeity]

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

[antietam]

Luke didn't murder anyone.

[liven]

He didn't get the opportunity to do so before being caught, you mean. And he did murder them by inaction; he was part of a group killing people, and had a more direct recourse for stopping the murders than anyone else that he refused to use.

[antietam]

How do you know how the staff works? They could be working individually. Luke might not have been a member who was meant to kill. You don't know unless you want to reveal your status as staff.

[liven]

I believe you are staff, actually, Adam Parrish. And if he were truly "innocent" he could have revealed what he knew to people. He did not. Not even when his life was forfeit, in order to help those he supposedly cared about.

[antietam]

Luke had a reason for working with them. I knew him, unlike you, and I know he would have had a good reason for doing all of hat.

[liven]

You knew the boy for a handful of days and spent most of it convincing yourself hormones were apparently true love. He may have believed his reasons to be good, but that does not excuse what he did and would have done. Unless you would have allowed him to kill you and everyone else here just for "good intentions", your argument is invalid.

[grimdeity]

Not directly, perhaps, but that doesn't excuse him from the staff's actions as a group that seems to specifically exist to commit murders, does it? And as a part of that group, it's likely he would have likely done so eventually, though admittedly we may never know.

[antietam]

Exactly, you don't know. You don't know and I don't know so this is a pointless argument but I don't see any reason to accuse him of things we can't be certain of.

[grimdeity]

Certainly, but you seem awfully defensive of a boy who you know was working with the group of murderers, and was unrepentant of it. He killed Lara in the gladiatorial execution, you may have forgotten, rather than accepting his defeat as a staff member.

[antietam]

It was self-defense. How many people here are letting Bigby off for killing someone for the same reason?

Luke didn't want to do it but what would you do in that situation? Where only one of you can get out alive? I'd never blame him for something like that.

[grimdeity]

Different circumstances, completely. Or are you suggesting Lara specifically aimed to get Luke in the gladiator chamber with her so as to have a go at him?

While the votes are also responsible for what happened in that situation, I wouldn't say he is blameless, either. What would I do? Perhaps the same. Does not change that he actually did it, however. Knowingly, and with the intent to escape the-- however twisted and disgusting-- punishment for being staff.