robowest | [ WEEK SIX

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Inside the small room, Hannibal, Xion, and Shinnosuke's bodies all sit in individual chairs to be inspected. The door is wide open today. ]

[Well...let's start here. He's going to start from smallest to largest, so he'll be starting with Xion first. Aside from the gunshot wound is there anything noticeable? He'll be checking for any signs of her defending herself, bruising, etc. He'll also be checking her person for anything in her pockets, etc. Sorry Squee.]

[Yeah. And Jason is here, too, not afraid to strip down some corpses and stare into the abyss if necessary. Letting Percy do most of the manhandling, he does write something down between checking Xion's corpse for additional injuries — maybe even needle marks, to see if she was drugged.]

Damian told me you both heard gunshots.

[ Nope! Xion truly did not defend herself, there's no signs of struggle or anything. She looks exactly how she did the day before aside from the gunshot wound. And no needle marks.

There is also Tarvek's pocket watch and Felix's conductor whistle in her pockets. ]

[...well now that's just sad. He'll be taking those items to put in his own pockets. He has plans to shove them in her mailbox later. At Jason's question he nods.]

Yeah. It was really, really dark without the bonfire lit. The gunshots went off--I should have gone to check then, but that would have meant leaving Damian and Papika alone. [And now he feels worse about it, but he can bury his guilt.] The weird thing is that even with how dark it was we should have been able to see shapes or shadows or something, but there was nothing. Just the sounds.

[With Xion spoken for, he moves onto Shinnosuke, checking his wounds and his pockets.] You think the two of them were together?

[... Jesus. That's sad. He takes a moment to respond, more because his hands are occupied than anything else. He'll specifically check Shinnosuke for any sign that he might have fought back or defended himself, because the amount of gunshots on him is definitely overkill. Any signs that he might have been dragged or anything like that, too.

What the hell were they both doing outside that night? Jesus.]

You only saw and heard what you were meant to. That's how this works.

[There's a bit of blood smudged on that page, from the corpses. It's appropriate.]

Likely. They were close, so one of them might have followed the other if they ran out after curfew. But why would they be outside?

[ There are a few gunshots on Shinnosuke. Left arm, right leg, abdomen, and finally head. He's dirty, indicating a definite fight and dirt enough on his body to look as if he was dragged.

Then the shot on his abdomen goes through his pocket, ripping apart the bookmark there. Other than that, he's carrying his rulebook and his cellphone. There are also some notes on him.

That's it for Shinnosuke. ]

[...Shinnosuke you stupid, stupid idiot. For a moment, Percy looks really upset as he reads through the rulebook before handing it to Jason. They'll read these notes out loud after they finish looking over the bodies, but.]

...he told me about her, you know. His sister. He told me that he'd fight just to get back so he could finish what he started at home, more or less. [Shinnosuke definitely put up a fight.] The fact that he could still fight enough while he was blind is pretty impressive.

[He'll take a look on the cell phone, too. Maybe Shinnosuke caught pictures from that night.] Where do we even start with Dr. Lecter?

[As if they didn't already have reason enough to be upset over this week. Jason's face crumples up as he reads through the notes, almost as if he wants to cry, but he doesn't. Instead, he stuffs it in his pocket until later, giving Percy a look of utter exhaustion. Shinnosuke was (is) a stupid, stupid idiot and they're going to strangle him if they ever see him again.

For now, though, he shrugs at Percy. Good question, is what he means to say. Is there even a good place to start? Probably not. But he'll let him search through Shinnosuke's cellphone as he moves to at least get an idea of what kind of wounds Hannibal has on him.

There's... a lot of blood, obviously. And a bear trap. So what's the full list of injuries and bruises here?]

[ There's no new pictures on Shinnosuke's phone, only what Percy's previously seen.

As for Hannibal -- most of the blood is coming from his chest and on closer inspection, it'll be obvious why. Gunshot wounds! All over his chest, tearing through his shirt and body. It looks like someone emptied the whole clip.

Other than that, there is some minor rope burn around his wrists and the bear trap in his leg -- which is now broken as a result. He is also very dirty across his back, as if he was dragged through the dirt.

In his pockets, is just a note. His super extra handwriting aside, it says this.

That's it. ]

[And so the phone goes in his pocket, too. I'm sorry Percy's looting everyone's bodies. Anyway, he's peering over Jason's shoulders to look at the wounds, taking the note and squinting at the scrawling pretentious writing before crumpling it up a little in his hand.]

...you think he was already dead by the time they dragged him to the clinic? [Because how the hell do you survive that many gunshots?] Goes right back to the theory that whoever killed Xion and Shinnosuke probably wasn't strong enough to move their bodies far if they dragged him. [He'll just do one more sweep. There's nothing else notable, is there?] We should take all of this back to everybody else and start figuring it out.

[It's a good thing Percy takes possession of the note, because Jason might have opted to rip it up in a fit of rage. "A woman." What a convenient hint, with Natalie being found in the same room as Hannibal's body. He's about to make himself sick with the stress from all of this, but... he shakes his head and elaborates.]

I don't know. But you saw what someone left in front of the hotel: a black bag, rope and a knife. That's consistent with the burns on his wrists.

[So, you know. Maybe someone made him limp all the way to the clinic.]

[He's just...going to take his hand and rest it on Jason's back, opting to rub small circles between his shoulder blades in a gesture Jason might find familiar. Buddy. He knows.]

The knife was probably only used to cut the rope then right? There're no stab wounds that I can see. And why leave the bag out in the open?

[Though part of him appreciates the gesture, he ends up shrugging Percy's hand away and taking a step towards the door. Expression carefully blank, he shakes his head once again and gestures towards the other room.

No use discussing that here. They should tell the others what they found, and see where that takes them.]

[ WEEK SIX – TRIAL ]

THE BODY

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