First Trial

[stagemanagers]

[Just as everyone is starting to finish their investigations, there's a slow ominous sound from the lobby.

The gilded doors on the northern wall have opened.

This time, the space behind them is lit; you're free to enter. There's one more set of doors to pass through, and then you're all, finally, in the House. There's one grand chandelier above, glittering crystal, and the seats around you are made of fine red velvet. Those don't seem to be for you, though - all the way down in front of the stage, where the orchestra might sit, there's a circle of wooden podiums. They're arranged so that everyone can face each other, and are fixed into place. Each one bears a metal plaque with a cast member's name engraved on it. There's also a metal panel on top, with twenty ivory buttons paired to everyone's name.

Among these, only Jean Valjean's podium is different - that one is draped in black crepe, with a larger greyscale version of his headshot from the playbill framed and sitting at its foot like a funerary portrait. Standing where he might have stood, a bare lightbulb glows faintly atop a metal pole.

Right here, you're very close to the stage. But the curtain is closed, and it's a little too high to easily clamber up. You may not want to try. You've got more important business right now, after all.

As everyone is finding their places, the Balladeer's voice suddenly sounds loud and clear throughout the space.]

Okay, guys, here's how we do trial. I've...never actually been involved in something like this before, but you can do it. Just take all the time you need to talk it out - I'll be right here the whole time. You don't need a unanimous vote, we go by majority rule.

Oh, and don't mess with those buttons until you're really ready to vote. You won't be able to take it back.

...good luck.

Comments

[inforapenny]

...That, um, that looks like somebody's contact lens.

[sunshineprincess]

Contact lens? What's it supposed to do?

[inforapenny]

Oh! Um, people wear them instead of glasses. It- it's a thin film of plastic that helps people compensate for bad eyesight, I think it's called a contact lens because the way you put it in means it comes in direct contact with your eye.

[There he is- the stammer and twitching fades again when he's talking about something sciencey.]

That one's useless now, though, once they dry out like that there's no way to rewet them to make them safe to put back in your eye.

[irreprochable]

So whoever lost this will have impaired vision?

[inforapenny]

Well- yes, in one eye. Unless they lost both of them. But- but they might not be impaired to a noticeable level, we don't have any way of telling how bad their eyesight is without their glasses or contacts.

[irreprochable]

That would be a problem. But if someone was dealing with an impediment they do not normally feel, we would start to see signs eventually.

[trettende]

Does that mean our killer has bad eyesight?

[ Yeah, so much for ignoring Billy. ]

Moreover they must have been from your "modern day" if they had something so advanced in their eye.

[rockthistown]

Right! Does anyone know when they were invented?

[solomonjihad]

If it's plastic, it's modern.

[inforapenny]

[well unless you went right back to ignoring him...]

Contact lenses were invented in, um. The late 1800s, but yeah, the ones that look like that were invented in the 1950s. So it doesn't belong to anyone from before that.

...But how do we know it's the killer's? It could've just- just been lost by somebody who had nothing to do with the m-murder.

[irreprochable]

Asarte has a list of people's dates. We could compare.

[solomonjihad]

Possible, but a great coincidence.

If the lens is connected, our suspects narrow greatly.

[sunshineprincess]

That means it's gotta be someone from our future!

[inforapenny]

That's who it belongs to- where did you find it? Do we know for sure it's the, um. The killer's?

[sunshineprincess]

It was right by the puddle of blood in the dining hall close to the shrine. Maybe someone was praying with Valjean?

[lifegoalsorwifegoals]

[D-ne blinks and peers at it.]

I wasn't aware anyone wore those here.

[trettende]

They wouldn't show if it they did, would they? Is there any way to check everyone's eyesight?

[catliketread]

...Winslow's writing would work well for that, wouldn't it?

[irreprochable]

We could narrow it down by checking the dates people arrived from.

[trettende]

Perhaps! If he writes something different for each of us... or well, anyone who is from the future, then we could be sure if someone can't see.

[rockthistown]

He always keeps paper! Should we make one of those eye charts?

[dieformymusic]

[Raises clipboard. Hey, he's willing to help.]

[inforapenny]

We, um, we'd have to do two tests to really figure it out. One up close and one at a distance, because we don't know if the person who lost their contact is nearsighted or farsighted.

[dontfeedplants]

I just want to say that I've never owned a pair of contacts.

[Might as well get it out of the way since it's kind of obvious he had poor eyesight.]

[lifegoalsorwifegoals]

[D-ne smiles at him, gently.]

I don't, ah...think that'll be enough to clear the others' suspicion, Seymour-san. It seems...all of us from the modern era will be tested.