fifth trial

[stagemanagers]

[As the investigation ends, you'll hear the Wizard'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. Discord, Elle, Orpheus and Eurydice now have theirs draped in black crepe and with a framed monochrome photo of them on top. At Maya's podium is a stool with a fresh amaryllis flower carefully set on it.

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. She's still in her pretty pink prom dress, her hair restyled and make-up freshened to not be so messy from sleep. It's also worth noting the blood on her skirt from when she assisted in helping Maya with her injury is gone.

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 fifth trial, everyone. It's time to determine who was responsible for the murder of Elle, Orpheus and Eurydice. 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 suicide discussion (I hate this I hate this)

[employeeoftheyear]

[He goes to grasp Per’s hand.]

We... we will find a way out of this.

... If we say we we’ll all go out together...

The Wizard clearly doesn’t just want us all to die, right?

[He glances at the Wizard head.]

Cw suicide discussion HERE WE ARE...

[comeandfindme]

[ Her breath catches in her throat. ]

S-sabotage. If. If he needs...someone to win, then.

[ Peregrine lets Spongebob take her hand, but she's back to shivering. This is clearly not something she likes thinking about. ]

[employeeoftheyear]

[He grips her hand tightly.]

I know, I’m scared too. But I don’t want to leave anyone behind here. Not anymore.

[barberic]

Except that he may.

Remember what he said during Varian's trial - he was almost eager for us to vote wrong and "end this." He wants this to end, whether we drag it out or not.

[employeeoftheyear]

But he wanted Varian to get away with it, right?

What if we make a pact that we’re all live this auditorium together, whether alive or dead.

Re: Cw suicide discussion (I hate this I hate this)

[sugarlumps]

I'm pretty sure that's exactly what he lumping wants, Bob!

[employeeoftheyear]

But if he wanted us to just die he could have done it day 1.

[sugarlumps]

Yeah but he's really dumb! What if he doesn't wanna do it himself for some reason, and make us do it to ourselves! Like a sick prank! Or a bad haircut!

[feudalladyshandmaid]

He doesn't want the blood on his hands, Spongebob. That's why he's forcing us to hurt each other.

[employeeoftheyear]

Exactly! He hates getting his hands dirty! And his only choice if we refuse to vote is to kills us all, right?

Cass, do you think he wants to do that?

[sugarlumps]

If he kills us for breaking his stupid rules does he still think it's his fault? He's really lumping dumb, Bob.

[feudalladyshandmaid]

[Cass opens her mouth to answer.

And it just.

Stays open for a moment.]

Spongebob, I... We can't do that. Even if you're right, the risk is too great. And nobody here wants to die.

[employeeoftheyear]

I don’t wanna die either, Cass. I really, really don’t. But if we just stay here and vote for a person to go didn’t want to kill, we’d just be giving the Wizard what he wants.

And you saw the motive this week, right? How do you know that he’s going to just keep making us sick like this until we all kill each other off? Or worse? I know we have people helping us, but they’re struggling! We can’t just sit here and hope that something good happens.

Sometimes you gotta take risks, Cass.

[feudalladyshandmaid]

Spongebob, listen to yourself.

Think about why we're all here: the wizard wants us to suffer, but he also wants us to die. He could force all of us into torture for the rest of time - instead, he gives us motives each week and makes us vote for who lives or dies. If we chose to... to end it, here and now, how is that any different from giving the Wizard exactly what he wants; us, suffering.

And if it doesn't work out, we might never get home, Spongebob! I want to go home! I want to apologize to everyone for the things I did! Even if I'm already dead. But I can't do that if we're all trapped in the Wizard's school as ghosts.

I'm... sorry, Spongebob. But I can't make things right if I'm stuck here. That's too great a risk.

cw: suicide

[brokeforgood]

Spongebob, we're still on thin ice about this whole dying willingly thing-- [don't get her grounded till grad school]

cw: suicide

[employeeoftheyear]

I know, I know Farrah, but...

[He especially hates suggesting it around Farrah. Ever since Wednesday he’s been incredibly worried about her well being.

But...]

But do we ever have any proof that any of his threats are real? Even this week, we weren’t at any threat of dying! It was all thinking that we could die.

Maybe... maybe if we actually challenge his threats...

[defyingfrigidity]

No.

[God. Her stomach is turning just thinking of this.]

I want to live. I want to find a way out of here. And I don't want to die first for that to happen! Either way, whatever we do, we're giving him something he wants! All the Wizard wants to do is to see us suffer.

[employeeoftheyear]

But Elsa aren’t you listening to yourself? You just said that he wants us to suffer, not die!

... I know you have people you love at home, and it’s a hard choice to make, but.

But maybe if we all promise to go out together, alive or dead, it’ll turn out alright in the end.

cw: suicide

[defyingfrigidity]

Death is still suffering. All of us choosing to take our own lives because we don't want to play the Wizard's game anymore isn't brave, it's the ultimate form of despair because it seems like no other way out!

[It's how she looks back on her past now. How much of a coward she was, to think that dying would solve everyone else's problems. She thought she'd be doing something good, but all it would have done is made things worse for other people.]

And what if it doesn't turn out all right? What if we all die and there's no way to bring us back without anyone here to help? Then we'd all be dead and everyone we love from home will never find out what happened to us.

I care so much for all of you. I don't want to do what we're being forced to do. But I want to see my sister again, and I can't do that if I'm trapped in some underworld while she's in Arendelle, wondering where her big sister went.

cw: suicide

[comeandfindme]

[ Peregrine thinks about everything "Brett" said to her last night. She thinks about her mom, how worried she must be.

They'd just...started to make things better.

She's been listening this whole time to the discussion but this is enough for her. After pushing everything down, she wraps her arms around herself, starts to cry and can't stop. ]

[defyingfrigidity]

[Hey, you know how in other trials, Elsa's been there to offer you a hand or a hug? That doesn't change this time, Peregrine. Even with how much she's clearly affected by Spongebob's words, Elsa will lean over to the podium next to her and wrap an arm around Peregrine's shoulders.]

[comeandfindme]

[ Usually, Peregrine tries at least to keep up some kind of...front? She lets herself feel the hurt, channels it into anger or determination, and she keeps going. This means not quite leaning into the comforting touches in the trial room.

That's not true today. She's been there for Maya and for Janis today, but. Right now she just lets herself cry into Elsa's arms.

It's been a long month and a half. ]

[feudalladyshandmaid]

[Cassandra listens to Elsa dress down the idea, plain to see for all of them, and make it clear where she stands. And in some way, she couldn't be prouder.

Sneaking between their podiums, her hand winds its way into her girlfriend's. Squeezing it a couple times.]

[defyingfrigidity]

[She's going to hold on tight to Cass's hand, her thumb rubbing over her girlfriend's knuckles in her own show of comfort. She appreciates it, Cass.]

cw: suicide

[employeeoftheyear]

[He pauses. Elsa isn’t wrong. And honestly a part of him knows this is a stupid plan.

He takes a deep, grounding breath.]

I understand Elsa. There’s so many people I miss from home, and if they aren’t all dead I don’t want them to wonder their rest of their lives where I went.

But... but what’s our other option? Kill an innocent person and then repeat the cycle? Until what? Until we all die here, alone and afraid? We have some help but how long will that take? We don’t know if we’re any closer to being free than we were day 1

And if we continue this who’s to say that the Wizard’s motives won’t be worse than what we already got?