[ 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

[generously]

[ Having listened to everything that's been said so far, Claire takes the stand to summarize everything they know. ]

Alright, the clock's ticking, so here's the deal.

Two victims, two killers. Word has it that Simon was offed by bandits, shot square in the forehead and dumped in the water, mafia-style. According to old Hal, the bandits wanted to kill Simon, so he gave them the opportunity.

As for Lust? She got drugged by an "independent party". The Sheriff told me that if the she got shot by a tranq dart or chloroformed, that we would have found the evidence, so take it as you will.

Additionally, it's unclear if it was the drug that killed her, but whoever did it kindly chopped her up for extra points.

Have I got things right, so far?

It's been confirmed that neither victims had a role, so there's that, too, I suppose. Oh, we also have a dead monkey.

[ Basically, this case is a fucking mess. ]

Now... the question of the hour - where do we go from here? Anyone got anything to say?

[thatsthespirit]

I think we should split our thinking.

[she speaks up from her spot somewhere on the side, where she's been sitting the whole trial]

Focusing on two murders at once hasn't worked for us so far, so some of us should focus on Lust while the others should focus on Simon. Yes?

[generously]

Personally I'd focus our efforts on one murder case, doesn't matter which. If last week proved anything, it's that we can't spread ourselves thin.

[thatsthespirit]

[she wrinkles her nose, displeased]

You might be right, although I admit only focusing on one murder and willfully letting the other one slide leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

[moraled]

[...he's got nothing.

he's!! got nothing!!]

We do not even have names of potential suspects.

[hydrokinetics]

We don't, but we at least know that the Bandits were able to work well enough together to almost impress Hal. Does that give us anything?

[moraled]

... That they were capable of working together?

[...]

Very little. I can think of very few people here who would not be able to work together if they were forced to. Especially as he has already confirmed Ash was not one of the Bandits.

[generously]

What about alibis and such? She was your roommate, yeah? Did she say anything strange before she never came back?

[moraled]

She was my roommate, yes. She did not appear to be acting strangely that night at all.

[Frustrated as he feels about it because he should've!! Noticed something was up!!]

[insincerely]

Well, we've done a shit job at narrowing our pool of suspects. We could say it was someone weak since they drugged Lust, but then we can say that cutting her up would take strength—and we never did decide how she was drugged, right?

And we don't have anything for Simon, especially with the advantage that Bandits have.

[generously]

Cutting a defenseless person up wouldn't take that much strength. If anything, transporting her in pieces would make it easier on whoever lacks the muscles.

[insincerely]

If we're going down that line, though, we also don't know if there was any point to cutting her up besides earning more merit, so that doesn't even necessarily point it to being someone weak.

[leadastray]

An independent party means it must have been at least somewhat personal, correct?

[insincerely]

It means that they probably didn't care about Lust, at least... though I don't know if it necessarily means that they wanted to kill her in particular—she could've been a random choice.

So we can probably eliminate... at least Mr. Barnham and Mr. Spencer as her killer, since they seemed to have been relatively close to her. Unless they were just faking it, anyway.

[leadastray]

You're right, if we think about this the opposite way, someone who wanted to earn merits without killing someone they cared about. Though that's an assumption that could apply to anyone.

[feminitis]

...I'd agree with you on that. I don't think either one of them would have killed her, if they were just doing it for merit.

I mean, I don't think either of them would have killed her at all, but...

[thatsthespirit]

Not necessarily.

[folds her arms, wincing a bit as her ribs throb with pain]

If someone committed the murder to earn merit alone, then it wouldn't matter who their victim was.

[impulsiveness]

The Sheriff said as much, didn't he? The more elaborate the crime scene, the better. If anything, chopping her up to pieces might have been easier if they DIDN'T know her well.

[Which... leads them nowhere? But he's shooting Milla a look as if to say, take it easy.]

[uraniumnumnum]

[ he's still sitting there seething, as he has been since his... "altercation" with Noctis. Now, though, he laces his fingers on the table in front of him, glancing up. ]

I know how you are. Some of you are planning to vote for me because of the Sheriff's cat. You'd let your precious killer slip away just to get some kind of pathetic revenge for a goddamned cat. Well, let me tell you something. I didn't kill either of these people. I didn't even know them. Voting for me would be an emotion-driven, useless decision, and a waste of everyone's time.

[ a pause. ]

If you're not convinced, why don't I give you a more interesting lead? Lust was the one who singled out Nisha to be killed. Now Lust is dead. Don't you think that's an unusual coincidence?

[insincerely]

[Wow, he's blind and even he can feel the amount of salt rolling off of Ash right now.]

[elemancy]

[hope you like this loud, agitated sigh coming from the other side of the room because.

it was probably totally needless to say half of that and ash doesn't know when to stop being a fucking tittybaby about things. but he says nothing else because he's just "why.png" forever today.]

[thatsthespirit]

[aSH]

. . .

For what it's worth, I don't intend on voting for you.

But you should refrain from killing cats in the future.

[moraled]

The Sheriff has clearly stated that you are not the killer--at least in relation to the Bandits this week. There is little reason to vote for you.

This is a trial to catch a murderer, not a cat killer.

[So chill]

[leadastray]

You're a callous brute, but I think most people here are focused on whoever is killing people first.

[generously]

What are you trying to say? Nisha killed Lust? Is she meant to be this so-called independent party?

More importantly, anyone who kills an innocent animal deserves to die. Not that I'll base my vote on that, but I ain't gonna feel sorry for you either.