PROLOGUE : TRIAL

[themodsgrimm]

The Story Continues... PROLOGUE - WEEK 037 Narrators Remain ; Wakey wakey, naughty murder children. It's a lovely Saturday, after all. Breakfast is served piping hot at its usual time and all of the evidence has been removed from the scenes of yesterday. No matter how you choose to spent your morning though, the clock will begin to chime the moment both hands reach the large, ornate twelve. Before your eyes materializes a door...but not just any door. Unlike the door leading to the festival, this door sits primly and properly right in front of the foyer. Whether you exit the castle on your own or you feel a friendly, invisible push, you begin to walk under an arc of wisterias. Behind you, the clock continues to chime with every step you take. By the time the time the clock strikes twelve, you've entered a beautiful garden. In front of you is a long table, 19 seats on each side. Around the garden are several glass cases containing evidence collected yesterday. As noon intensifies on the sun-shaped clock, you'll find Dragon at the head of the table, a glass-covered rose near her right hand. Tick tock, Narrators. You have nine hours to deliberate. Welcome to your first trial post! Please see here for the OOC summary of events from yesterday's investigation. In addition, please be sure to vote! Please see the voting page on how to vote, as we will have two special things to vote for. Voting will close at 9pm EST/6pm PST! If you have any questions, please ask on our Discord server or ping us on plurk. Please direct pings for the NPC to Dana (decals), as she will be taking point for today's NPC, and the moderator team will be on deck for all other questions. full navigation. locations taken (statuses) stories (profiles) info & faq wishing well private conversations

Comments

THE STORY SO FAR

[psychedelica]

[ he claps his hands once to get people's attention once they're done taking their clothes off (he still looks somewhat disgruntled.) ]

All right. Let's organize the information we have. Otherwise, you'll just get confused.

The victim was Gi-gan. She died from two puncture wounds, but she's bleeding purple ink instead of blood. And she's the only one bleeding ink. She was an ex-pirate who wouldn't hesitate to defend herself, so she probably got surprised in some way. If she did defend herself, we know Sanji, Jae-ha, and Reyna have recent injuries on them. And... so does Stephanie.

We found Nico, Jae-ha, Sharpay, Reyna, and one of the Ions unconscious in the mansion along with her body. None of them remember anything, apparently. Jae-ha and Sharpay live together, so they don't have any alibi for where they were. It sounds like Tiger might have moved some of them to where they were. There was a... "break dancing" armor, too, but apparently, nobody was inside of it. So it was some kind of magic enchanting it, probably.

There are five carving knives missing from the kitchen, and Varian admitted to taking one. Rebecca took the dresses. We don't know where the letter opener is. Natsuo had ink on his shoe, but it was black ink that didn't match Gi-gan's blood. He said it came from the tapestry.

As far as the murder weapon... Sharpay's heel matches the wounds on Gi-gan's body, but Tiger also brought a bloody stiletto knife from the armory that could have been used. She said one of us made it available, so if anyone wants to fess up, we're listening.

[ a pause; he folds his arms. ]

I doubt Jae-ha did it, since I think they're related. If you ask me, Sharpay is suspicious.

[vigilantics]

I flew into a wall. Natsuo was there.

[ falling is in her skill set :/ ]

[psychedelica]

Huh? What the hell were you doing?

[ giving her such a weird look... ]

Well... I can vouch for you, anyway.

[vigilantics]

It just... sort of happened...?

[ she smiles at the second comment though. ]

[randori]

We were trying to bust open the wall.

[thesettingsun]

It's not Sharpay.

[You don't have all the facts!!]

Even if Gi-gan was caught sleeping outside I don't think Sharpay would have been able to kill her without being injured, not to mention that Sharpay wouldn't have gone for a messy murder like that. I mean, you'll ruin your clothes that way.

[psychedelica]

That's a stupid reason to think she wouldn't have done it.

[ BLUNT. ]

Anyway, she might have had help. From one of us, or from those two, [ he says, gesturing to Tiger and Dragon. ]

[thesettingsun]

It's an excellent reason. Have you spoken to her at all?

[Like, just asking.]

[asswipe]

The five people who were found were unconscious and don't remember a thing that happened. We've been assuming Gi-gan was... killed, while she was conscious. But what if she wasn't? We've already accepted magic walking suit of armors are a thing, anyway.

[thesettingsun]

I don't think Gi-gan's stupid enough to sleep outside when there's the probability of murder...

[londonstar]

Agreed. She cares far too much about her appearances to put them at risk in that way.

[ he shrugs. vanity is fine. ]

I believe that this coincidence is a red herring and that our true murder weapon is the knife.

[concasse]

... So someone may have used the knife first, then followed up with the heel to make it look like Sharpay-chan did it?

[psychedelica]

What makes you say that?

[ honestly asking. ]

[wagashis]

...we do still have to weigh that against the fact that all of us are part of this game of theirs. Is her appearance the most important thing to her?

[people can risk plenty, with the right motivation.]

The same would go for anyone else who might not have a reason to do it.

[disilluded]

She could very easily have put on other clothing from the tailor to commit the murder with.

[That's...just a bad reason to not suspect her.]

It is not as though we took inventory of said clothing.

[thesettingsun]

She doesn't like the clothes in the tailor. She has higher standards than putting that on her body even for murder.

[asswipe]

Rebecca said she took the five missing dresses from the tailor earlier in the week. [So.] ... I don't know if I can trust that we found everything anymore, though.

[alttitude]

If I raised a hand against my Captain, she would've blinded me with tobacco from her pipe and thrown me into the oven.

[No hesitation. He also sounds like he would've wanted it. Sigh.]

Though it's worth mentioning - it's also not in the Captain's morals to not harm women and children. While I agree she'd defend herself against a brute, she's not in the habit of actively harming anyone weaker than her.

[axilium]

... So if, hypothetically, Sharpay attacked her, she would've held back?

[alttitude]

[ . . . he can't help the obvious show of irritation.]

Hypothetically.

But I saw Sharpay myself after curfew - for as long as I was awake until their magic whisked me off somewhere, she didn't leave the bedroom.

[psychedelica]

[ why do you sound like you want that, jae-ha... Hikage gives him a weird look, but doesn't pursue. ]

And Sharpay definitely wasn't the fighting type, from what I remember of her tapestry.

[axilium]

Do we have any idea why Tiger might've moved people around?

[if it was explained i apologize sweats]

[thesettingsun]

According to Dragon, she thought it was funny.

[psychedelica]

... Based on how she talks to us, she probably "thinks it's funny" because it confuses us. The actual killer is probably mixed in among some innocent people she threw into this mess for fun.

[wagashis]

[listen if this ends up being sidetracking i'm sorry ooc BUT:]

The moving armor was already out of its usual place in the morning, wasn't it? Have we considered that if there was a confrontation that night, it might have been used for that as well?