third 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. Some of you have a detour to make beforehand- Hester lets you in to her office to drop off the precious cargo without incident. She then slips off to in the direction of the scene shop.

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. The SQUIP, the Balladeer and Rina now have theirs draped in black crepe and with a framed monochrome photo of them on top.

When you reach the podiums, the lights above the stage finally come on. the Wizard is once again waiting for you. Beside it Hester is slowly lowers in on her bubble. Either she was magicked up there or the catwalk repair had a very impressive turnaround time. The Dad Squad and Peregrine have already seen this week's look but those who haven't might notice the braid bun her hair is in has half-fallen out and her little white heels are covered in dirt.

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

Comments

[fourbutts]

Pass out, huh...

[ Janis is going to actually. No one checked her, but she's in one of her jackets, which absolutely has some old and artsy bleach stains on it somewhere. Which she pulls next to the stains on his pants to compare.

She's quiet, to try not to upset anyone else, but. ]

So why were you handling bleach, Varian?

1/2

[alchemistake]

[Handling...?

Varian tenses when Janis moves to stand at his side, more so she can hold out the edge of her jacket and compare the artsy-bleach with the stains in question.]

[alchemistake]

[Varian pulls away, closer to the podium. He takes a deep breath and shakes his head a little.]

This- earlier this week, I was trying to get grease stains out of my clothes. I- I've been working with the car...

[He suddenly untucks his shirt and holds it out for Janis and everyone else to see. It's got some faint dark stains that look similar to that of grease from a car, though the shirt he's wearing at present is white so...obviously his attempts weren't thorough enough to completely get out.]

I know that...t-this looks bad, but I swear that's the truth.

[sugarlumps]

People don't kill their girlfriends, WHY DOES EVERYONE KEEP SUSPECTING THE PEOPLE THAT WOULD NEVER LUMPING DO THIS?

[fourbutts]

... I mean people do kill their girlfriends, broadly speaking that is a thing that happens. I get what you mean, and Varian wouldn't, but.

[ she sighs. ]

We can't eliminate anyone based on "I don't think they would have done this."

[employeeoftheyear]

...

What if the Wizard did it?

[disharmonizes]

Well, I would love to see that mechanical embarrassment get executed, personally.

[feudalladyshandmaid]

[...!]

Do you really think the Wizard would jump so quickly to killing someone himself?

[whatyouwant]

He already killed Balladeer.

[feudalladyshandmaid]

He did.

[GLARES in the direction of the big giant head]

[employeeoftheyear]

Well, maybe! I mean he's obviously not above murder and maybe if he thought we weren't gonna kill he might, you know... do it himself to make us have a trial? Not to mention that the only reason why we didn't have a trial for... for Balladeer... is because The Wizard didn't consider him a human, not that he wasn't responsible.

[feudalladyshandmaid]

...Even if he's not responsible for this, that's something to keep in mind.

[Just how far can their captor bend his own rules? We'll have to see.]

[sugarlumps]

No, that sounds pretty fake.

[why you making stuff up, Janis]

And yeah, but, like, it's Varian and Bob, that's just lumping stupid.

[mayavericks]

I would rather ask every question, than miss one and doom us all.

[Speaking of questions, though.]

Varian, have you made any headway with the device?

[sugarlumps]

Maya, you're amazing and great, but there is such a thing as a stupid question. People who say there isn't are just trying to make stupid people feel better.

[mayavericks]

Lumpy-san. Consider if Mumble had died this week. Would you not think it a stupid idea to ask Elisabeth-san half of what we did? She clearly was upset and did not remember.

At this point, most of us trust one another. We... have to be amenable to asking the difficult questions.

Mods we're tryin this again

[alchemistake]

The- o-oh, yeah...

[SORRY HE'S BEEN LIKE. Distracted, but he has been tinkering with the headset ever since he received it from Orpheus. It's probably been a while, by now.

He's going to try to push the button after a few more adjustments, holding it carefully in his hands so he's not covering up any speakers.]

[stagemanagers]

[After all his tinkering the play button has been unjammed. The sound isn't great but Rina's voice is clear between the patches of static and distortion:]

“B-But… it’s dangerous…” [ --- ] “W-Wait! Please! Um... I had something I really wanted to give you! Could... could I at least--” [ bzzt ]

“Wherever you are / No matter where / I'll fly high…”

[ bzzt ] “I made it a flower so um--” [ --- ] “--it's something called a wish bracelet”-- [ bzzt ] “--if you make a wish on it right now and take care of it--” [ -- ] “--your wish will come true. Without a Wizard.”

“W-Wait! I'm sorry--!! P-Please wait!” [ bzzt ] “--y-you don't have to keep the bracelet but--”

[And the rest is static.]

[brokeforgood]

THANK YOU!

[sugarlumps]

You're welcome!

[she loves all of you, theoretically, but this line of questioning seems real dumb]

[fourbutts]

[ Janis exhales. ]

I believe you.

[ Hey while she's here, just to check... does that boy have a bracelet on, by any chance? ]

[alchemistake]

[He doesn't, no, but. There's honestly not much he can say to that other than the fact he doesn't have one, yaknow]

[fourbutts]

[ Hm. Maybe she was waiting on his. ]

Just to be sure... where were you last night? Even if we can't, you know, confirm an alibi or whatever, let's just get you squared away while we're here.

[alchemistake]

[Well...that part is easy.]

I spent a lot of the evening in the scene shop...I saw Cass there, but otherwise it was just me alone.

[fourbutts]

Aright.

[ She looks over. ]

Cass, can you confirm that?