[ WEEK TWO – TRIAL ]

[sheriffexe]

TRIAL

In the morning, the town comes back to life. Birds crow overhead, a snake nearby hisses, a lingering coyote dips behind a shop before disappearing into the wild. It's a frightening contrast to the stillness of yesterday but it doesn't mean it's over yet. After all, today is the trial. The Sheriff stands on the porch of the Town Hall and brings his hand up to his mouth to let out a whistle. He'll thumb back to the Hall behind him and very clearly state -- "Trial time, folks. Get in here and figure out who did it." And then he'll turn to leave before pausing and adding on, "Bring a snack or somethin' too. The Town Hall is set up more like a court house, a Judge's bench at the front but instead of at center, it's off to the side as if more for observation than participation. There's a table at the front of the room already holding a small box and a pad of papers and pen, for voting apparently. A side room containing only a metal gurney is next and today it's obvious why there's a gurney there at all with the corpse, resting right on top of it. Aside from that, there are rows for everyone to take a seat and it's only after everyone is inside and settled, that the doors close and the Sheriff speaks. "Well, have at it. You've got till nine." And then, he points to a clock on the wall that reads 12:00. Good luck. Welcome to the trial post! Characters are free to discuss everything related to the trial here. They won't be let out of the room until 9PM when voting ends. Every character must vote and the voting post can be found here. If there are any questions, please shoot a message to this journal or to robowest.

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CAMERA FINDINGS

[ceded]

[ Xion finds herself clearing her throat. She still doesn't really ... like speaking, especially not to a big group of people like this, but it was ultimately her call to keep the camera. She needs to share what it is that the three of them saw that night. ]

Hi, everyone. So ... I didn't get a chance to bring this up before the investigation yesterday, but we saw something on the camera on Thursday night.

It was between 11 and midnight... we saw Mr. von Karma leave. He looked sort of upset, and he was holding a note. [ A beat, in which she frowns, but finally continues: ] We saw Higekiri leave next. Although... he didn't have a sword on him. Oh, and they both left through the windows.

[ A breath. ] That's everything.

[hydrokinetics]

[.....]

"You may see something but it's what you're meant to and how it happens is what's meant to happen." [Yeah. Okay. So that's apparently what the Sheriff meant.] You didn't see anything else after that? Through the windows or anything?

[ceded]

[ Xion slowly shakes her head. ]

No, nothing. That was it.

[hydrokinetics]

And obviously those two didn't come back. But if Higekiri didn't have his sword on him what do we think the chances are that either he had it stored at the tailor's already or somebody else might have picked it up?

[ceded]

[ That makes her visibly uncomfortable, and she swallows. ]

If someone else picked it up... that'd mean someone else was the killer, right?

[a_sin_for_him]

So we have the victim and another individual's whereabouts irrefutably set the night of the murder as not in the hotel. Obviously there's an immediate implication there, but it seems...a bit too neat and simple.

[Especially with the gift of the camera. How coincidental, that it was acquired just in time.]

[hitsitoff]

It does seem real damn convenient, doesn't it?

[Yeah, he's not sure if they should buy this or not either.]

[a_sin_for_him]

Entirely. What was it we were told...we'd see what was intended for us to see?

[God, if only they knew what the real purpose of this whole thing was, some framing, some context. Without it...]

So have we simply been so lucky as to discover the killer's identity immediately, or are we being given false leads?

[ceded]

[ Xion's mouth twists. ]

I've been thinking about it a lot. If Higekiri left without a sword, then ... how did a sword get there? Mr. von Karma didn't have one, either.

[a_sin_for_him]

Perhaps one was provided outside of the hotel? Or left where it could be easily found?

And we've no proof of a sword, do we? Only a scabbard.

[impulsiveness]

"Between 11 and midnight"... That's around the time the Sheriff kicked Yuna, Milla and me out of the stocks and into a cell.

[Which seemed like a blessing at the time, but...]

Do you think he knew this would happen?

[ceded]

[ She's quiet, for a moment. ]

We only see what we're meant to see, right? [ Said softly. Which is to say: yes. ]

[elemancy]

Scrap Heap probably knows everything that's going on. Better to assume he does than he doesn't.

[hydrokinetics]

[Sorry he's just going to snicker at Noct calling the Sheriff Scrap Heap. Thanks Noctis.]

I think we can agree with that. [A pause.] Aren't murders supposed to be cleared by him anyway before people do them?

[thatsthespirit]

[frowns deeply. the pieces are clicking together in her mind]

And Higekiri's weapon is missing its scabbard, when one was found underneath the body.

[tsk]

It's almost too simple. Too easy.

[moraled]

... Certainly, it is a shame that we do not have the body, to compare the wound to his sword. It is difficult to say what is truly irrefutable evidence when pieces are missing.

[thatsthespirit]

Indeed. And we don't have any explanations for his physical state, either. If he really did kill Manfred, then did the victim fight back?

[ceded]

Milla...?

[ please elaborate on your thinking because Xion is standing here frowning ]

[leadastray]

She's saying it's all too convenient... this could be a set up.

[expelliarmed]

When they left, why didn't you try to get them to come back?

[ His tone is subdued, not accusatory. But if they saw them leaving, they might've had time to go get von Karma and Higekiri to come back before something - well, something like what happened happened. ]

[ceded]

[ Ah.

Xion ... is quiet, for a long moment, her expression somewhat closed off. There are several reasons, none of which she seems to want to explain. But after a pause she tries, ]

Well, at first I wasn't sure if we'd see anyone else, so I wanted to keep watching for a while. Then... [ A beat, and she starts to look uncertain. ] We didn't know where they'd gone. We'd have to search everywhere... I didn't want to leave Dr. Lecter and Will.

[ Alone to defend the camera, is what she means, though one could take that statement in other ways. ]

[expelliarmed]

[ He purses his lips, wanting to ask after what she's not saying, but decides it'd be better not to for the moment. ]

That's understandable. [ He couldn't blame her for that choice, given the circumstances, and...did she not trust the people she'd been watching it with? ]

You've still helped us a lot by telling us what you saw. Thank you, Xion.

[court_chesster]

Did you manage to save a recording or anything like that?

[ceded]

Um... actually, the camera doesn't save data for very long.

[ Looks a bit ... annoyed. ]

I wanted to, but I noticed later that all the prior footage had been erased. You can only pull up the last few hours of video the camera saw.

[ she wasn't pleased to learn that particular feature of this stupid camera, okay ]

[court_chesster]

So they wanted us to look but not too closely, huh...

Did anything else stand out to you?