[ WEEK FOUR – 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

[feminitis]

[Sei's brow furrows as she considers that.]

Do you think it was the same people...? Or... two of the same people, at least. [Since they only found two bodies. Unless the monkey counts as a third.

...that would almost be ideal - it would mean they had a second chance at catching the people who got away last week.]

[hydrokinetics]

It's possible. The Sheriff did say it's possible that Bandits can be chosen more than once, but it could just be a couple of people who wanted to pin the blame elsewhere. With something like this, we should really focus on who could even possess those kind of skills.

[feminitis]

...shooting would probably be the easiest one to narrow down. Unless the decapitation was especially clean, it doesn't... that is... [Sei makes a face.] If someone unskilled tries hard enough, they could remove a head after a couple of tries with a sharp enough weapon. And it's not hard to start a fire.

But firing a gun can be really difficult. Even some of the most capable people I know from home struggle with it.

[flippity]

[ she raises her hand. ]

Um. The cuts weren't super clean, but they also weren't very... messy? But it was also more than just the, um, head. It was her whole body.

[feminitis]

[Shudders. GROSS.]

As if killing someone wasn't bad enough... was it really necessary to cut her up, too?

...but that means we're looking for someone with an average amount of skill, or someone with enough skill to try and make it look like they had less. ...or someone unskilled who just got lucky, but that's less likely.

I don't suppose anyone here has experience as a butcher...

[impulsiveness]

[WHY DO THEIR KILLERS CONTINUE TO BE GROSS??? But also, something else that was considered for Nui and Riku last trial:]

What if they chopped her up to make something else harder to notice?

[hydrokinetics]

Like what, another cause of death?

[impulsiveness]

[The answer is yes, so no need to write that down when he can nod at Percy. If it's not another cause of death, it could have been a bruise or mark that would identify the killer.

But that... would have been noticeable even then? Maybe?]

[feminitis]

That's possible, too. [HMM.] If they slit her throat to kill her, cutting off her head in the same place would certainly hide the evidence of that...

[She's not so sure about the other limbs though.]

...unless there's some kind of role that involves taking people apart? That might explain why we've seen it twice now.

[impulsiveness]

Or someone who gets their jollies off watching people come apart. Literally.
Sounds more likely to me than some sort of butcher role.

[Or... he thinks, anyway.]

[sating]

Well, I do. Rarely for a whole animal unless I'm cooking something extravagant like shāo zhū, but I have before.

[ Hannibal admits that easily, because considering how much he's in love with food, he doesn't feel like that would be a surprise. He'd even talked about it with Damian earlier this week when Damian brought him rabbits. ]

However, butchering is neat and clean. Without going into too much detail, it's about maximizing usable meat, so it's not unlike surgery in the precision that comes with it.

[feminitis]

[Sei studies Hannibal for a moment or two, then shakes her head. Nah... why would he ever butcher a human?

(Haha.. ha..)]

You're also not the kind of person who would kill someone as cruelly as this... [Or at all?? He saves lives, he doesn't end them?? Just let her live in willful ignorance.] ...but then, most of us left don't seem the type either...

[sating]

[ He takes the studying in stride easily, since it's not unwarranted, considering he'd made the comparison to butchering and surgery himself. But, still, he would hardly call any of the murders here neat. ]

Well, considering the roles and the Bandits, we do have people keeping secrets here, so there's at least a strong portion of us who are more than we want to say... [ He pauses, then adds: ] It feels like a strange thing to say, but thank you, as well.

[sating]

It does not help us now, I admit... But considering we still have not earned the "privilege" of looking at the bodies, if we happen to find this again in the future, maybe I could help. I wouldn't be able to identify anything in particular that might have been used to maim people, but I might be able to give a more general idea.

[ He looks to Yuna at his point though and gives her a nod ]

At least, unless I have more pressing tasks, naturally.

[ dr. dad is always on call :'( ]

[feminitis]

Oh, that would be really helpful!

["Quick, someone go get Dr. Dad" is going to be the new catchphrase of Whole Ass, isn't it.]

Thank you for the offer, Lecter-sensei.

[sating]

Of course. If we're not being given everything we need, then we'll just have to make do at the times where we have the bodies.

[feminitis]

[she thinks he's so cool and I hate this]

You're absolutely right! Would you like me to go with you? I have some experience with weapons, so I may be able to identify what caused some of the wounds. Or if nothing else, I could transcribe notes for you!

[sating]

[ He smiles just a little, because as always, he finds her enthusiasm endearing... ]

At this point, I hardly believe that I can insist that you rest. [ CHILDREN!!! ] So, if you would like, yes. I'd only ask that you not push yourself.

[hydrokinetics]

Shinnosuke and I had talked about him taking pictures of the bodies for the future when we don't get privileges, but as it stands that may not be possible now. [You know. With Shinnosuke being blind and all.] That would be good for the future though, yeah.

[sating]

Could someone else take the pictures?

[ Because I, Christy, don't know what it was being taken with so I'm pretending Hannibal doesn't know either sssh ]

[hydrokinetics]

Maybe. He was doing it with his phone so that's probably up to him? [Percy was already unsure but it sounds okay at the time.]

[cherrypuncher]

[She smiles and nods back but she looks so apologetic....... SORRY DR. DAD YOUR CHILDREN ARE IMBECILES]

[sating]

[ SMH :\!!! ]

[uraniumnumnum]

It's far more likely that they have access to the same set of weapons. We haven't got any reason to believe it's the same killer.

[ ash is as disinterested in the proceedings as ever... he just has to pipe up when people are Wrong. ]

The woman, Nisha - she said she and her ally had access to "tools." In other words, they're provided with a certain selection of weapons. It's not unreasonable to believe that the Bandits are, as well.

[feminitis]

[On the one hand, she's glad he's contributing. On the other, she hates being wrong.]

...that would make sense. I guess that's probably another of the ways that the Sheriff makes sure we don't actually have any evidence we can use in these things...