[ 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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Comments

[athenite]

Who lets a weapon they own out of their sight in this situation? Tea or no.

[ SHE DOESN'T BUY THAT... ]

[thatsthespirit]

Do you think he's lying, then?

[Milla's jury is still out on that one]

[athenite]

I'd need a much better explanation as to "whoops someone took it without me noticing" - which is what I gather is the explanation here? - to think he wasn't.

[thatsthespirit]

[she nods]

I understand. Frankly, I have no viable theories on what happened myself.

[athenite]

Besides, he's clearly and obviously lying to us about other things, so...I don't see why he wouldn't lie to us about basic facts like that as well.

[hydrokinetics]

Fair point. Tiara lied last week to protect Ao. Why wouldn't the same thing happen this week?

[thatsthespirit]

And he is being rather evasive in his answers.

[he never did tell anyone who attacked him, after all]

[feminitis]

Way too evasive.

[she's grumpy about it]

[athenite]

Basically, there's no way we can trust him about the sword being stolen.

[ ALSO GRUMPY :) ]

[feminitis]

But if he was the killer, why would he be dumb enough to leave the scabbard underneath Mister von Karma's body? It shouldn't have been possible for it to be there if he had it secured properly, and if he's a swordsman, he should have known how to do that!

None of this makes any sense!

[athenite]

It's possible he gave his scabbard to someone, rather than having it stolen.

[feminitis]

[...it's such an obvious solution that it catches Sei by surprise.]

...he'd only give something that important to him to someone he trusted, but then, of course he'd trust whoever he's trying to protect...

[impulsiveness]

[... HMM.]

What if it's misdirection? Not set up by someone else, but set up by himself. Doesn't seem like he gives a damn about being in the hot seat as long as his "informant" is kept out of the spotlight.

[feminitis]

At this rate he's going to get executed... that's such a stupid reason to die!

[uuuuuuUUUUGH]

[athenite]

Misdirection or he simply gave his "informant" his weapon to start with.

[thatsthespirit]

So he's either trying to protect someone at the cost of making himself more of a suspect, or he's guilty.

Either way, no other potential culprits have come up during the course of this trial.

[feminitis]

...if he's helping a killer cover this up, he's dangerous.

But if he's not actually guilty and the killer goes free, then there's someone even more dangerous among us... what the hell are we supposed to do?

[thatsthespirit]

I wouldn't call him "dangerous," no. The true killer could be someone important to him, or someone he believes must stay alive at all costs. Or perhaps the killer is someone like Tiara, and he is merely covering for them to protect them.

[not all people kill with rotten intentions, Sei]

Either way, if his wish is to die in the place of the real murderer, then so be it.

[she says without sympathy]

[glaring]

That might only buy us some time. We'd still have a killer among us... but we'd have a few more days to figure it out.

[ sorry, sword man. ]

[hydrokinetics]

Anybody know why? He had to give an explanation why he's being unhelpful, right?

[impulsiveness]

Not that I know. Maybe it's time we have another chat with him? We can invite his sword and everything.

[Come on. Let him and Sei do sword assisted interrogation.]

[feminitis]

He can't keep quiet about this forever!

[oh dear]

[impulsiveness]

Nah. He can. You can even say he'll take this secret to the grave. [Ugh.] But like hell I'm letting that happen.

[hydrokinetics]

[Interrogation sounds like it's a good idea. He and Sei were already talking about it, but it could be about time.]

I'm not seeing a downside to that since we keep circling around the same questions without any answers.

[impulsiveness]

And it's not like we have all the time in the world. We only have a couple hours left until we need to vote.

[Though the thought makes him ill.]