First Trial

[stagemanagers]

[As the investigation ends, you'll hear Hester's voice inviting you to the auditorium. As this happens, the twin doors on either side of the concession stand, across from the gym, will click open. You can enter on either side; both go to the same place.

When you enter the auditorium, it's dark. There's only the small lights along the walkway behind all the seats, just enough to illuminate where you're going. There's a central path between the seats, down towards where you know the stage must be. That's where you must be going, right? As you pass each row of seats, the lights at their ends flick on, marking your procession and slowly making more and more of the room visible. Shortly, you can see your destination: a circle of podiums stationed in the orchestra pit, below the lip of the darkened, curtained stage. They're all identical, labeled with a cast member's name, save for Mumble's, which is draped in black crepe and has a framed monochrome photo of him - Elijah Wood him - on top.

When you reach the podiums, the lights above the stage finally come on. It's time to meet the Wizard.

The mechanical head, with glowing green eyes, is installed above the stage and the still-closed curtain. Even if you were standing on the stage, it'd be well out of reach. It peers down at all of you, its motions fluid, and speaks with a booming, artificial-sounding voice:]

Welcome to your first trial, everyone. I am the Wizard. It's time to determine who was responsible for the murder of Mumble. Feel free to talk amongst yourselves and work together - you'll have to show teamwork if you want to leave this room alive.

Comments

cw: freezing to death but like…detailed

[comeandfindme]

[ Probably, she’s going to deny it. That’s how these things go, right— ]

No, I’m not okay. [ Oh. Or not. ] He was a nice, good person. And something— someone— Do you know just what happens when your body starts shutting down from the cold? He probably— couldn’t even understand what was happening, he probably kept thinking just a few more minutes and he’d be fine, that any minute someone would— would come and find him, and then he forgot, all over again, and had to go through that, over and over and over!!

[ She’s crying. That’s all it took. ]

[yourattention]

All you want is for somebody to find you.

[He looks startled by what's coming out of his mouth.]

[comeandfindme]

[ Well, that just makes her cry harder, sorry Connor. ]

[tellthestory]

Peregrine -

[The Balladeer starts...but he's entirely on the opposite side of the circle from her. He looks up at the Wizard instead.]

Do we really all need to be here for this? [For the record the Wizard has zero interest in chatting with the Balladeer and will not be responding to this!]

[themuseabandonsyou]

[ Orpheus chokes a little, drawing in a slow, rattling breath through his teeth. He's stuck at his podium, nearly across from her, and can't offer much physical comfort, but- ]

I know. It's... [ One of the worst ways to go, that he can think of. But that's not helpful to say, so he just shakes his head. ] It's not fair. None of this should have happened.

[ His voice breaks a little, and he has to look aside, blinking back tears himself. What else is there to say? There's no comfort to be had in the notion that they'll get through this, because someone else is going to have to die - it's all cruel and unfair and he doesn't know what to do. ]

[comeandfindme]

[ Unfortunately, there's not much to say. Peregrine's crying, biting down on her lip to keep from saying anything more. ]

[howtheworldwas]

[ Eurydice can't hear it. She doesn't want to hear it, she doesn't want to know --

Sorry Orpheus, she's stepping behind you again, screwing her eyes shut until Peregrine finishes. ]

[themuseabandonsyou]

[ Orpheus puts his arms around Eurydice and hides his face in her hair, taking slow breaths that should be steadying but really aren't. This isn't right. This isn't fair. ]

[samefacesyndrome]

[ Oh.... oh no...

Hey you know your other hand, Peregrine? At a loss for what else to do or say, Rina reaches out and puts her hand over it, just like Elsa did on the other side.

It's all she can do right now. ]

[comeandfindme]

[ She doesn't shy away, like she didn't from Elsa, but she doesn't stop crying, shoulders hunched. ]

[employeeoftheyear]

[Spongebob looks away. He wants to say something, anything, that could cheer Peregrine up, but he finds tears coming to his eyes again.

Of course he couldn't help her.]

[feudalladyshandmaid]

[Cass leans over her podium, watching. Listening. Her face drawn tight in a frown. It's hard enough as it is, but the moment Peregrine starts crying... Well.

There's others with her already. If she joined them, would that just overwhelm her? She doesn't know, she grips her podium tightly.]

We'll figure out what happened, Peregrine. I promise.

[comeandfindme]

Why... Why does this keep happening?!

[ The Wizard was right. She has forgotten whose trial this is. ]

[feudalladyshandmaid]

[Okay, that does it.

Cassandra can't bring herself to look at Peregrine. But she has to. So she does.

She can't answer that.]

[fourbutts]

Oh, shit...

[ And she's gonna just. Come over and also try to offer like. Comfort? Little a comfort? ]

[comeandfindme]

[ Any comfort is welcome. Peregrine doesn't pull away. She doesn't exactly lean into it, either. ]

[violentenvies]

[Well that is...that is just horrifying. the though of Mumble going through that...

He really doesn't have much in the way of comfort to offer at the moment, so instead he'll try and have a handkerchief passed over to her so she has something to cry into and also wipe her nose]

[comeandfindme]

[ Sadly, the handkerchief goes untouched—at least for now. She's a little too absorbed in her own grief. ]

[disharmonizes]

[Well, that's... actually kind of horrifying and very bad and maybe he's just going to look at the ceiling now okay]

[wanderlusttitania]

That's...

[Sissi looks at Peregrine, her heart clenching in her chest. The thought of dying like that, alone, and not knowing if someone would come for you...

could she even give any comfort, when others were and it seemed not to help?]

no...

[voicerights]

Hypothermia. [So very calmly] Depending on the condition of his body at the time, it would only have been a few cycles of such before he passed out.

[comeandfindme]

I know how hypothermia works!! [ She snaps at him. The calm voice isn't helping much. ]

[alchemistake]

[Varian is silent. Stonily silent. He doesn't cry; if anything, he looks very, very angry, his fists shaking at his sides.]

[violentenvies]

[hhhh Varian :< Salieri is going to reach out and set a hand on his shoulder, squeezing gently]

cw; more freezing stuff

[defyingfrigidity]

[Elsa had been trying to comfort Peregrine when she suddenly burst out like that, and by the end of it... well. Elsa almost looks like she could use some comfort too; all of this is hitting so close to home, after all. She thinks of Anna, the curse in her heart spreading through her body at an agonizing pace over the course of hours. Anna, who could barely move and still chose to save Elsa over herself.

She thinks of how the first time she touched her sister in thirteen years, she'd been so cold. So still.

She's shaking herself, but she still has her hand on Peregrine's. She can almost feel the girl's grief radiating off of her, so... so even though Elsa's still not really good at all this touch stuff, she's just. Going to move around the side of her podium so that she can hug her.]