second trial

[stagemanagers]

[Just as with last week, once the investigation finishes, that slow, ominous sound from the main lobby rumbles through the opera house.

The doors to the court room have opened and the time has come for a trial.

The court room looks just as it did before: the grand chandelier glittering above your heads, the fine red velvet seats. In the orchestra pit your circle of wooden podiums awaits you, just the same as before save for a few recent additions. Like Valjean before them, D-ne, Gabe, and Hime's podiums have been draped in black crepe with their greyscale funerary portraits. Behind them, where the performers themselves stood only a week ago, a metal pole stands with a softly glowing lightbulb atop it.

The curtain is closed, waiting to open when a decision has been reached and an execution can commence.

When everyone is in their places, the Balladeer's voice echoes loud and clear through the theatre. He still sounds slightly bewildered by all of this.]

Okay, everyone, you all know how this works now. Trial rules are the same, still no time limit, just...keep at it until you figure out what happened. You can do this.

Comments

[dechagny]

[Yes, let's do this! Good good good.]

Does anyone have a pen and paper? I would be happy to submit a sample.

PAGING BILLYDEER

[solomonjihad]

Ah...if we don't...could we maybe have some?

Is that ok, Balladeer?

[tellthestory]

Um....if you really think you need it, I guess. Wait a second.

[A minute passes, and he slips out from behind the curtain and leans over the edge of the stage, holding out a clipboard with a pen and several sheets of paper. He's still got his mic on, so he covers it with a hand to speak.]

That should be enough.

[solomonjihad]

[She gives the Balladeer a smile of gratefulness.]

Thank you, Balladeer.

[She can pass some out with you if you want, Hans?]

[trettende]

Yes, thank you. I'll go first.

[ Hans takes the clipboard and carefully writes up part of the message. His handwriting is clean and crisp, but there's no match. ]

If you would, Astarte?

[solomonjihad]

Mm.

[Giving a simple nod, she also writes part of the message. Her own handwriting is a bit illegible, a hybrid of cursive and non-cursive and accidentally a katakana in one instance, and its definitely not a match.]

[tellthestory]

Don't mention it.

[He steps back and...sort of leans against the wall to watch instead of actually leaving? He doesn't seem inclined to add anything else though.]

[dechagny]

[Raoul takes his turn, writing in neat and precise cursive. Not a match, though.]

[dontfeedplants]

[Seymour writes something down next. His handwriting is not very neat and in print, so it's easy enough to notice that it's not a match.]

[allicareabout]

[Yeah, no match whatsoever here, either.]

The words here sound like they were written by Hime, either way. Let's say the kid had issues talking to people.

[robitussin]

[Perhaps unsurprisingly, Natalie's handwriting is not a match.]

[catliketread]

[The Pirate King's handwriting is surprisingly elegant, but it's not a match either.]

[inforapenny]

[Billy's handwriting is tight, messy all capital letters, but it's definitely not a match]

[tellthestory]

[kinda judging tbh]

[inforapenny]

[It's an engineer's handwriting]

[tellthestory]

[And he's an artist, we've got such a great twin dichotomy going on here!]

[onthebusagain]

[Heather's handwriting is loopy too, with a good use of hearts instead of dots, but it's not a match ]

[trettende]

Your handwriting is cute, I never thought to dot the i's like that.

[ Aw, those hearts wouldn't happen to be a match for the ones on the note, would they? ]

[onthebusagain]

Isn't it? It really pisses off the teachers. [Nope, sorry.]

[bestof]

[Eliza's handwriting is neat and feminine cursive but not a match.]

[blackstache]

[Hook's handwriting is waaayyyy too fancy for this nonsense. In spite of his penmanship, he's not a match.]

[irreprochable]

[javerts handwriting is as precise and orderly as the man himself but not a match.]

[aflatouttahell]

[Jezebel's handwriting is pretty capital-c Cute, but it's not a match.]

[littlegirl_littlecurl]

[Darla's handwriting is actually very neat and sharp. Not a match.]

[sunshineprincess]

[Anna has the handwriting of someone who was raised to write well. Is that even English? Clearly not a match.]