robowest | [ WEEK FOUR

Entry tags:

murder: trial

[ WEEK FOUR – 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

robowest.

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[ 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.

[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...

[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?

Like what, another cause of death?

[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?]

If there was something else, then it had to be covered up super super well.

[ and it probably would have been even harder to spot anything considering, you know. the crows. ]

So not bruises.

[The crows... why.........]

What about stabs? You could cover those up by chopping at the right spot.

Maybe. Ummm, I remember last week that Xion said whoever did that to Riku, the cuts were really bad so it seemed like they didn't know what they were doing? These weren't... like that, but they weren't very neat. So. Possibly?

[ she suddenly looks very uncomfortable? papika glances at wherever the heck eliot is, and then leans in to whisper in jason's ear. SHE MOSTLY DOESN'T WANT ELIOT TO OVERHEAR THIS since he seemed pretty upset at lust getting killed ]

There were crows. At her body. They might of... made it harder to tell if there were, ah, other wounds.

[... If he was going to write anything coherent, it gets overridden by all this SUDDEN DISGUST??? Holy shit. He looks at Papika once she's done whispering in Jason's ear, a little wide eyed.

Y i k e s.]

I see. Thanks, Papika.
I'll keep that in mind. [EW???]

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.

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.]

[s h u d d e r s]

I really hope that's not the case, but you may be right...! Ugh, I hope there's no one like that among us...

[Mostly because the number of outwardly creepy people is rapidly dwindling and if it turns out whoever it is is a good actor that presents a whole new set of problems...]

With our luck, there is.
Don't forget we have a cat killer on the loose, too. Talk about disturbing.

[GOOD THING THEY HAVE ASH TO FALL BACK ON................ Maybe. God help them all.

...we've got all kinds of maniacs around here, huh.

[SIIIIIIGHS]

[Assuming Xion read the note out loud, etc.]

You know, maybe you guys should try asking Mr. Sheriff about the cat killer.

[Assuming Xion is reading etc etc]

Already asked about the entrails. It's your turn to ask something gross.

[Since he can't bully him into corpse duty anymore, okay.]

... Okay, I was trying to be helpful and give you a hint. Someone who already asked Mr. Sheriff told me who the cat killer was, so I know.

(no subject)

impulsiveness - 2017-02-11 18:56 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

insincerely - 2017-02-11 18:58 (UTC) - Expand

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.

[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...

[ 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.

You're welcome, Sensei.

[She smiles a little, but then her expression becomes a little more solemn and she glances down at their feet (all three of them).]

...I know everyone has their own secrets, and there are some times when it's better not to pry, but I'd hoped that after a month of this we'd all be a little... better at figuring them out, when it mattered.

[ At the solemn expression, Hannibal pauses and considers Sei, but then takes a half step forward so that he can reach out to place an encouraging hand on her shoulder. ]

Figuring out peoples' secrets is an art that people refine for a lifetime, to be fair. We would naturally make missteps even in a month. But I think we are getting better, at least. We are starting to ask better questions.

...that's true.

[Sei smiles, encouraged, and some of the tension seems to go out of her shoulders.]

Right. This is going to be the week that our luck turns around, I just know it!

[ He smiles in return as I, Christy, die of this purity what the FUCK ]

It will. [ Hannibal draws his hand back, then nods ] So, let's work as hard as we can to be quite certain of who we pick.

Yes, Sensei!

[Somehow she is more pure now that she's lost a leg than she was before. WELP.]

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