sheriffexe: (the horizon)
sheriff swanson ([personal profile] sheriffexe) wrote in [community profile] robowest2017-02-04 12:00 pm
Entry tags:

[ WEEK THREE – TRIAL ]

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 [plurk.com profile] robowest.


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impulsiveness: (074)

[personal profile] impulsiveness 2017-02-04 05:05 pm (UTC)(link)
Alright. A lot [understatement] happened yesterday, so let's start off by getting all our facts in order.

[Or, uh. Try to.]

Remember that hole the Sheriff was digging on Thursday? Well, Shinnosuke, Rin and I went to take a look in the morning after curfew was over — and found out someone cooked up some corpse gravy by dunking four different bodies into a chemical bath. There was barely anything left when we got there, but the skulls were pretty intact. Enough to tell that two of them were smaller than the others, and one of those had a hole on the forehead and on the back. We... think that skull might belong to Nui, and the remaining three to people who were already dead.

[Obviously, since both Riku and Annabeth's heads are accounted for.]

What about everyone else? What else did we find?
ceded: (pic#6266556)

camera & body updates

[personal profile] ceded 2017-02-04 05:25 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Xion saw that glimpse of her friend's head, thank you. If it fazes her, she doesn't show it, though when she comes to the fore of the room to speak, she's very pale. It's probably pretty clear she never slept last night, especially given that she was sitting outside with Percy ... all night, and was there when people began to arrive in the morning. Her broken foot has no shoe; just a sock tugged over the bandaging and splnting just visible beneath the hem of her pants.

Hobbling to the front of the room is rough on her, but Percy is close by her side, and the two of them will stick close together for most of the day. ]


I have two things I want to go over. The camera, and what I found with Sara.

[ Her voice is remarkably even, if a little ... dead. ]

Tarvek and I locked ourselves in our room around 9 on Thursday night. At some point, we ... we just fell asleep. Both of us. [ A beat, and she frowns, which is like. Wow! She's showing emotion! Amazing. ] Something happened. I don't know what, but there's no way either of us would have let ourselves fall asleep while we were doing something so important. And when we woke up in the morning, the camera was gone. Our door was still locked and our window was closed, but the camera was just ... missing.

[ It's probably visible how angry she is before she reins in her emotions again, returning to baseline. ]

Someone stole the camera from our room. [ After which she just kind of directs a very, very flat glare out into the room. Fuck all y'all.

Anyway.

Xion's jaw will work as she swallows and then moves on. ]


When Sara and I went to investigate the hotel yesterday, we found ... Riku and Nui's room torn apart. There was blood and ... flesh? [ she breathes that word like it's a question before forcing herself to move on ] all over the place. It was a complete mess. Even...

[ pause pause pause.

Xion has to shut her eyes, taking a steading breath, and then stares blindly ahead and again forcing the words out. ]


Even Riku's head was messy. The cut, it ... wasn't clean. It was like whoever did it had no idea what they were doing, or ... had to do it really quickly, maybe.

[ Shaken, but trying very hard to seem like she's anything but, Xion pauses and then gives a very shallow nod. ]

That's everything, I think. I'll try to answer questions if you have any.
thatsthespirit: (pic#10763698)

[personal profile] thatsthespirit 2017-02-04 05:27 pm (UTC)(link)
[TODAY IN MILLA'S TRIAL SNACKS, she brought everyone cereal! with milk! and freshly made (slightly watery) tea! and several types of fruit juice! look what do you expect from her she can't cook??]

[but putting that aside, she wastes no time in getting to work. the brief view of Riku's disembodied head on the gurney doesn't faze her. she's got this]


At around midnight on the night the killings occurred, Yuna, Natalie and I were sleeping at the clinic. [MORE SLEEPOVERS] We heard a single gunshot, and although the precise direction was difficult to determine, it sounded as though it came from the bonfire, saloon or train station area. Inspection of the bonfire revealed a blood spatter, which I assume could have come from the victim being struck by a bullet.

[folds her arms]

I'd like everyone to state their whereabouts at midnight on the night of the murders. Please also have someone confirm this for you, if you can. I know this information can't be conclusive, but it's a start.
moraled: (Doggos and snow)

[personal profile] moraled 2017-02-04 07:13 pm (UTC)(link)
I fear we must begin with one thing.

[Even if he's not all too eager to throw this out there, it's...necessary.]

We must state clearly and plainly who we suspect of this act.

[...]

Without suspects, we shall go nowhere. However, if there is a name to be offered, it must be stated plainly, and for what reason. The evidence we have is spotty and inconclusive, and thus... We shall not progress without reasonable suspects.

[It is a trial, after all.]
hydrokinetics: (you should ever have your head down)

[personal profile] hydrokinetics 2017-02-04 08:29 pm (UTC)(link)
[And after a while...]

One of the other questions I had is about the victims themselves. Do we really think they were randomized, or do you think maybe they had something more in common than we think that one or two people would be interested in killing them over?
ceded: (pic#7499405)

SOMETIME EARLIER THIS MORNING, after xion fucking drags tarvek over to a corner....

[personal profile] ceded 2017-02-04 08:49 pm (UTC)(link)
[ She's .... she's not happy, and it's visible. She's been trying hard to keep a clamp on her emotions, and she's mostly succeeded.

When she gets a chance to drag Tarvek away to talk, though, the look on her face is dark.

Once she feels relatively confident that they won't be overheard, she gets close to him and hisses, as quietly as she can: ]


You talked to Riku about me! Why?! Why didn't you just ask me if there were things you wanted to know?

[ There is an undeniable undertone of betrayal and hurt, both to her voice and in her expression. ]
leadastray: (pic#10975699)

[personal profile] leadastray 2017-02-04 10:07 pm (UTC)(link)
I think it would be important to know which of us is most proficient with a fire arm. I single shot to the head is no easy feat.
thatsthespirit: (pic#10763705)

A NEW ANGLE

[personal profile] thatsthespirit 2017-02-04 10:38 pm (UTC)(link)
[hokay, after Percy and Xion are done speaking with the Sheriff, Milla speaks up again!]

All right! Let me summarize what we know so far.

Three people were murdered this week: Annabeth, Nui, and Riku. According to the Sheriff, none of them had any roles in this game. They weren't Bandits, they were merely participants. The consensus seems to be that Nui murdered Riku and Annabeth, due to her parasol being found in Riku's room and the fact that her clothing was partially burned when Annabeth's corpse was also burned. It seems as though Nui was then shot in the head from a distance, possibly from somewhere near the station or the saloon. The blood spatter near the bonfire and restaurant supports this, as does the state of her skull. [according to Jason] Nui's body was then taken and dumped in the chemical bath the Sheriff set up earlier that day.

Also of note is the fact that a bear trap was found on the Sheriff's porch a few days before the murder. The Sheriff confirmed that we could have used the bear trap to assist us in this week's killing, but we didn't. He then stated we should have used the bear trap to capture whoever stole the camera from Xion and Tarvek's room.

[and here is where her theories get interesting]

I think that's confirmation that the Sheriff is not the one who took the camera and locked it up. And that brings me to another thought: the person who took the camera from Tarvek and Xion's room could have, quite possibly, shot Nui when they went to lock the camera in the jail cell.

[and then she shakes her head]

. . . I can't guess a motive at this point, other than one of revenge. But maybe if we focus on the crime that occurred in Xion and Tarvek's room. . .

[we'll get somewhere??]
Edited 2017-02-04 22:41 (UTC)
insincerely: ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ. (no let's not do karaoke again)

we're all screwed, the comment

[personal profile] insincerely 2017-02-04 11:21 pm (UTC)(link)
[WELP.]

So... we can all start hating ourselves even more, because apparently there were three friggin' killers. What now?
sidearmofthelaw: (13)

SUBGROUP - Nui's murder

[personal profile] sidearmofthelaw 2017-02-04 11:49 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Nisha's gonna jump in on this one. ]

So, Nui. She was headshot, probably from a distance, and her corpse was dumped in the chemical vat. Her clothes were also burnt a bit. That means she had to have been by a fire. And it means our culprit was a good shot, whether or not the shot was the killing blow, and it means whoever it was dragged her corpse over to the pit. Am I missing anything?
impulsiveness: (022)

A thing

[personal profile] impulsiveness 2017-02-05 12:01 am (UTC)(link)
... Felix said Chane was with him on Thursday, but she said she was alone in the hotel lobby. Seizaburo pointed out she could have been feeling "shy", but—

[Lying during a trail is... bad. And Jason looks unsure, making zero eye contact with Chane or Felix.

Ugh.]
ceded: (pic#6877516)

SUBGROUP - Riku's murder

[personal profile] ceded 2017-02-05 12:06 am (UTC)(link)
[ She looks sick at this point, and she's kind of shaking, but her voice is remarkably steady. ]

I'll go over what we know and what we think we know about Riku's murder. His head was in the room he shared with Nui, and so was his sword, but his body was missing. There were pieces of him everywhere, along with a lot of blood. Like ... fingers, and ... flesh.

[ Ha. Ha ha. She keeps going. Somehow she keeps talking even though she has never in her life wanted to throw up more than she does right now. She probably looks it, too, her frame hunched and her eyes a little wild, but she manages to keep it together. ]

Nui's parasol was in the room, too. It was sitting on the floor.

[ A breath. ]

Right now we're pretty sure that Nui didn't kill Riku, so the parasol might have been there because she was framed. The weapon that was used to kill Riku wasn't there, because it wasn't his sword. That was as splattered as everything else in the room. [ ... ] I don't think I said this before, but Riku's head was on his pillow, next to his sword. And ... the door was open, when we got there. Just a little bit.
hydrokinetics: (I wonder)

SUBGROUP - Annabeth's murder

[personal profile] hydrokinetics 2017-02-05 12:13 am (UTC)(link)
[Will Graham caused him to crack a little. The announcement of three different killers caused him to crack a little, and yet he's keeping Mrs. O'Leary close and facing everyone with a hard expression as he almost calmly relays the facts.]

Annabeth was locked in the stocks starting Thursday morning. We fought a little about me staying with her, but she always wins. [There's a little humorless laugh.] Always. We traded weapons, I left her with a pistol and I went back to the hotel. Harry can confirm that.

Sometime that night, a coyote snuck up on her or something and she dropped her gun. Sheriff says it probably ate it. [He thinks it's bullshit, but fine.] Without a weapon, she was defenseless. Our killer probably approached her, saw that she was there and chose to get her out of the way. I think it might have been whoever stole the camera from Xion. She would have been a witness, so they doused her in gasoline and lit the stocks.

[But...] What I don't understand is a couple of things. When Dr. Lecter and I went to the stocks yesterday morning, we found this on the ground. [He pulls at one of the two necklaces he's wearing, specifically the piece of coral.] After we chased the coyotes out from under the porch we found her body half-eaten and charred...one of the coyotes ran off with her arm. But her necklace was in tact, too. It didn't burn in the fire somehow.

How did our killer get her out of the stocks to move her? And why do anything with the necklace? [The last part probably isn't important, but it matters to him a lot.]
sating: (lots of people think rich = good)

s...trip... searches...

[personal profile] sating 2017-02-05 01:01 am (UTC)(link)
We don't have much time left, so let's continue this part of the investigation efficiently.

[ Even though this is absolutely ridiculous, honestly, but. Hannibal is going with it. ]

We believe there may be people with injuries hidden by their clothing, so we will be inspecting certain parties for them. I will look over the gentlemen, and any women that may be comfortable with me doing so. [ like, might as well make this quick ] So, please.

[ line up I guess we're going to town ]
impulsiveness: (014)

30 minute warning

[personal profile] impulsiveness 2017-02-05 01:31 am (UTC)(link)
[GUESS WHO LOOK LIKE HE'S JUST ABOUT READY TO DIETM??? IT'S JASON. IT'S ALWAYS JASON.]

... Guys, we have 30 minutes left until we have to vote. We're not any closer to finding any of our killers than we were at noon.
sidearmofthelaw: (11)

JAIL CELL

[personal profile] sidearmofthelaw 2017-02-05 02:32 am (UTC)(link)
[ Once she's locked up, Nisha will be standing there for anyone who wants to come talk. She doesn't look... upset, necessarily, but she does look annoyed and resigned. ]
dubiousalignment: (38)

JAIL CELL

[personal profile] dubiousalignment 2017-02-05 02:36 am (UTC)(link)
[Tarvek is resigned. What's to be done? Not much, that's for sure.

He's not going to reject any visits]