week 5 - trial

[productions]

week five trial



victim



suspects



Character Statuses
Setting
Manor Rules
Voting

Comments

The Ash

[inthebones]

[Having retrieved the ash from Touko's room yesterday, Susan had declined to examine it thoroughly at the time given that all she could smell was blood and guts. The room being marginally fresher now, she'll get to it.

Surely it couldn't be that obvious but it certainly couldn't hurt.

She'll examine and sift through Poland's ash first. Is it very fine? Can any larger pieces - paper or cloth - be discerned in it? ...Does it smell like cigarettes? Burnt flesh? Candles?]

[productions]

[It is very fine, and nothing is in it. It smells a little like burnt leg, but there's a stronger smoke smell that could conceivably be from a cigarette or ashtray.]

[inthebones]

[Susan gently takes a few moments to properly ascertain the smell of Poland's ash, backing away and returning a few times before moving to compare the ash from Touko's room. Is the quality and the fineness about comparable? Is it the same to the touch as well? Smooth in her fingers or rough, with edges?

...The smell, though. Touko's ash is much stronger, of course, given the quantity, but...]

...Cigarettes.

[productions]

[It is a similar consistency.]

[inthebones]

[Susan will stop her examinations, glance around the room to ensure Touko isn't paying attention, and then accost the people closest to her.]

Could you come over here and examine this, please? I'd like to be sure my observations aren't in error.

[teenspirit]

[ Well, if you want someone with delicate sensibilities, a princess-and-the-pea type is probably what you need. ]

'Sup, bro?

[ Maybe that musical interlude has made her loopy. ]

[inthebones]

...

I'm going to pretend those two syllables were a response in the affirmative since that's what I'm looking for at the moment.

Compare, please. This is the ash found near the charred leg by the fence. The other is a sample of ash taken from elsewhere in the house.

[teenspirit]

[ She stares between the two, not sure of what Susan wants her to do or say. ]

They look the same?

[inthebones]

...Smell it and feel it, I mean. We've examined severed limbs yesterday; it's only a bit of ash.

[teenspirit]

[ Sonia grimaces; somehow, this is more gross to her. She dips a finger in each pile, then leans down, delicately sniffing. She immediately recoils. ]

Smoking is a filthy habit for commoners!

[inthebones]

[A slight smile at this response, though it is immediately tempered by a grave expression.]

Precisely.

The second sample was taken from Miss Aozaki's room. It's her cigarette ash.

[teenspirit]

[ Sonia wipes her hand off on her skirt, nodding, then she looks up suddenly, understanding what Susan has just said. ]

...

W-well...!

[inthebones]

Well.

[Susan pauses and lapses into thought.]

There is, after all, only one person in the house who indulges in this habit. Everyone knows that. And would she really be stupid enough to indulge in her habit while planting pieces of a body? ...We'll need more evidence and a plausible scenario for how the crime was performed.

But... to be frank, she does fit your criteria, does she not?

1/2

[teenspirit]

...Well, a smoking addiction is... it's an addiction. You never know... how bad a craving might be?

[ Okay, she's getting off track - ]

[teenspirit]

Actually, she is the only one on the list that fits every part of the criteria.

[inthebones]

...That was my thought as well. Alice has a temper and is altogether human about what she likes and dislikes. Miss Aozaki is... difficult to read, though invariably pleasant.

Well.

If it is indeed her, let's find the scenario that fits all the pieces of the puzzle. We must not choose the wrong one this time.

I think I shall be brash.

[teenspirit]

[ Sonia mumbles in a moody manner: ] And everyone called my profiling stupid... [ Okay, well, just Felicia and Alice. But still. ]

I am sure it will become quite clear shortly.

[inthebones]

Her objections were either very convincingly acted or discounted her entirely as your 'type', though, you must admit.

[Susan will refrain from mentioning that she had listened to that back and forth with some amusement.]

[teenspirit]

No, that's certainly true. She is far too emotional to be a Freddy-tier killer. Ah, but that's not a bad thing! Definitely not!

[ Since. Yeah. They don't need ten million psychos in this house. ]

[inthebones]

Well. We all must land somewhere on the tier of killers. Self-defense is never out of the question - There are very few people who wouldn't ever kill at all.

[Says Susan who has already murdered one person but then he totally deserved it.]

[teenspirit]

I hope it does not come to that here...