CHAPTER 3 ; TRIAL

[themodsgrimm]

The Story Continues... CHAPTER 3 - WEEK 329 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 Tiger at the head of the table, a glass-covered rose near her right hand. Tick tock, Narrators. You have nine hours to deliberate. Throughout today's trial, the delightful, delectable scent of freshly brewed coffee will linger in the air though there will be no coffee present. Instead, today's trial snacks include...finger foods. Welcome to your 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 Danielle (entrappings), 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

BODY EXAMINATION

[themodsgrimm]

[At the head of the garden are the bodies of Hijikata, Monika, and Fitzgerald laying inside glass examination cases. These cases may be opened, but please be kind to the dead...]

this isn't actually anything but

[fonlines]

[ Ion had quite disregarded the bodies-- both of them, all three of them-- yesterday, and the day before, but he's not now, it turns out. He's standing tall in front of the cases, eyes closed, head bowed just the slightest. His lips are moving, soundlessly, murmuring out faint, indistinct things that might be anything from a prayer to an oath.

Whatever it is, he's quick about it, eyes reopening in short order even if they stay uncharacteristically sharp afterwards. He was a safe, respectful distance from the cases before; he takes just one step toward his partner's now.

His voice is still quiet, but it carries just that little bit much better now that he's actually properly speaking. ]

You... promised me that you would keep me safe, when I never asked for such a thing. That you would protect me, and that if ever you were to be my death, then it would have been because of circumstances out of your control. And yet you must have known, and known that I would have known-- that so much is out of our hands, here.

Still you kept promising, whenever I doubted.

What... [ he says, drawing out the word as he makes a soft, aimless gesture in the air with his free hand, ] exactly, did you think to accomplish with that?

[ and he just lets that hang in the air between them for a lengthy moment. ]

Still, I can't lay all the blame at your feet. I did say, after all, that I would do my best to see us through this game.

[ us? the two of them? all of the castle? as many of them as he could save?

he sighs, the gesture long and deep. ]

I am only sorry my best was not enough.

[hairbrain]

[ if rapunzel takes a closer look at monika's body , what color ink will she see? ]

[themodsgrimm]

[If she's just looking, she won't see any ink! Maybe she should follow the example of her predecessors and squeeze some ink out?]

[randori]

[ Natsuo lingers by Hijikata's and Monika's bodies for a while, lips moving soundlessly, before turning away and crouching by Fitzgerald. Particularly, that hand of his with the missing fingers- the last three starting from the pinky, right? Are they clean cuts? ]

[themodsgrimm]

[Yes, they are - and the fingies have been cleanly detached from the hand!]

[function]

[ before 2b actually inspects monika's body, pod helpfully appears with a flower crown in its hands and lays it on her head.

...

she'll take a closer look at monika's wound. was she stabbed from the back or front? ]

[themodsgrimm]

[She was stabbed from the front!]

[asswipe]

[Looking at Monika's body. Does her hair look mussed up/unbrushed like it might have been carelessly pulled out of a ponytail at some point, or is her hair relatively tidy? Or option c: is it magical, flawless anime girl hair because, #goals.]

[themodsgrimm]

[It's flawless magical girl hair tbh.]

[faceripper]

[ Fane heads over to Monika's corpse with a, uh. dagger in hand. But at least this time before he gets stabby, he turns to the crowd or anyone that's watching this and holds his hands out wide. ]

Now. Before I do this, does anyone have any objections with me checking to see if this dagger matches the stab wounds on Monika and Francis?

[ look guys he learned ]

[alttitude]

[nice

stabbing etiquette]

[function]

[ SOMEONE RESTRAIN TOOB ]

[concasse]

[SANJI IS PROUD]

[londonstar]

It'll help accelerate the investigation, so I don't see an issue.

[fonlines]

[ god,,,, is this really his decision to make,,,

partner why were you like this. ion ask yourself why you were paired with him, go on, do it. ]

I think... finding answers and enacting justice might be more important than any well-intentioned sense of propriety right now. I think he would have agreed.

Just be careful about fingerprints, perhaps?

[ he learned a thing, last trial. ]

[vigilantics]

[ steph and jae-ha are here to check out fitz and see if there are any signs at all of restraint?? ]

[faceripper]

[ Anyways. For the mod's sanity, I'll make this a new thread. ]

[ Once 2B isn't going to mid-trial murder Fane, he approaches Monika first with the dagger in hand. He lines up the dagger to her wound to see if it's a match. Carefully. He really is trying to be more respectful this time around. ]

[alchemenace]

[ would Varian be able to tell who died first between Fitz and Monika by examining the bodies... I hate this ]

[londonstar]

[ okay smart team is up to bat and waver's going to observe monika's body...can he get an approximate time of death before toob fucking mauls him like the demon she is? ]

[axilium]

[hey, remind me where fitz was stabbed?]

[sanguinairy]

[After this, Souji can only assume that a "prolonged death" either means someone drew out their stab-kill, or because something else was at play.

SO!! Since he's already at Hijikata's body anyway, he'll first check to see what the wounds look like, checking his front and back. Counting for cuts, their depth, whether or not there are signs of a struggle re: markings on the hands/lower arms especially.]

[vigilantics]

[ steph will be hobbling over here with the katana and dagger to fitz. that she got from fane and jae-ha!! i assume i'm not waiting for a confirmation reply

... anyway so she's going to like... FROWN DEEPLY as she arranges the fingers so that they look like they are still connected to the hand?? this is gross. she'll try to see if it's possible to get three fingers in one slice with the dagger first. ]

[alchemenace]

[ hello Varian has a magnifying glass and actually knows how to use it. like anyone but let me have this

Anyway he's going to start by looking more closely at the wounds on all three bodies because that's what people told me to do. IS THERE SOMETHING SECRET THERE ]

[axilium]

[before my internet dies IS THERE ANYTHING UNDER FITZ'S FINGERNAILS]