WEEK 3 - TRIAL

[productions]

week three trial



[At 9 AM precisely, the old grandfather clock chimes once again, and the doors to the drawing room are opened. They will remain open until everyone has come inside, after which they will shut behind them. It is not possible to leave on your own, although perhaps if you have a specific purpose the hostess will allow you to go, as long as you are accompanied by a partner.

The room is set up comfortably, with several tables by the fireplace set out to assist with the trial. The Hostess will also remain in a seat near the fireplace, next to the scales on the mantle. At lunch, the doors will open to bring in a large meal on an automatically rolling buffet, and at 3 PM, tea and finger sandwiches will be served. You'll be able to enjoy the trial in comfort, of course, but the information cards set out on tables will not allow you to forget your true purpose here.

At 7 PM, the trial will adjourn for the day. Players will be escorted by the Hostess to the ballroom, where dinner and wine will be served until 10 PM, at which point players will be required to return to their wings in groups with their wingmates and will be locked in their bedrooms until 8:30 AM the following morning.]

victim



suspects



Character Statuses
Setting
Manor Rules
Cheat Sheet
Voting

Comments

[souredsweet]

[THAT SEEMS LEGIT.]

Do you think—? Someone should go check, in that case...! [Kaoru seems hesitant, though.]

[throe]

If she's gone, then it's not the body we have to worry about! It's her spirit, forever lurking these hallways, seeking solace... or possibly... revenge!

[souredsweet]

Then we will need an exorcist... [AND WAIT] It would still be improper to leave the body there as well, though it... surely is not in good condition if it is still present.

[throe]

Thankfully, I've handled spirits before! There's not much I can do without my regular items here, but... salt and sage may be all we need. At least as a means to stave her spirit off for some time.

Wouldn't we be able to smell it though? It's been a week, you'd think that it'd at least detectable.

[souredsweet]

I do not know about sage, but I can at least bring back salt with the flour. [for their caveman attempts at fingerprinting, but Kaoru leaves that much unsaid.]

That is true, but the bodies that we examine for trial do not smell even after days. There is no sign of decomposition in any of them, so it... could certainly be feasible, for a body to remain undetected... [glancing warily toward the door again.]

[throe]

Do as you must! We need to eradicate this spirit immediately, lest she possess those of us who are not skilled in waring off possession as a means to seek her revenge! Grab some of the candles from the parlor as well.

I thought the game runners might want to make it a little more authentic. [ She shrugs, it shouldn't be hard to put spoiled meat or something with one of their usual body dummies to give the illusion of a "decaying corpse." If they could use pigs blood last week, why not go with that? ] It doesn't seem like them to skimp on something like that.

[souredsweet]

[a hasty nod!] I will, if time permits it. [as for that, though...]

To skimp on... what, exactly?

[throe]

Their "murders" and "executions." If they take the time to set up all the other ones, why wouldn't they set up Sharon's too? It's not like there isn't a way to almost recreate the smell of a decaying body, especially if they wanted to add a shock factor.

[aozaki]

The other deaths all happened through participation of some sort or another, including Ukraine's execution despite her innocence. Sharon died as punishment for going against the rules: as an exception, I don't think it's too shocking that she was put out without any ceremony. As for the smell, do you really miss it that much?

[the conversation's sort of interesting, okay.]

[throe]

It would just be keeping up with appearances like they have with the previous murders. They used pigs blood last week, didn't they? Why not go the extra mile to make it more authentic like they have with everything else?

[aozaki]

[frowns and chinhands...]

There's still a strange sort of order to this whole thing, you know. That's why I don't think they'd give the same sort of attention, to a death caused by disregarding the rules as opposed of having fallen to its intended structure.

[a beat;]

Although that would be reading into the psychology of the producers responsible, and that's probably reaching much too far for us, I concede...

[souredsweet]

[that gets a little hesitation.]

Should it not be more concerning if she hasn't decomposed...? A decaying body is to be expected, but a body that remains in one piece even after death goes against what we know as natural.

[throe]

But, it's like you said, if the other ones haven't "decomposed" then why would it be weird if hers doesn't? It's a stage set up, there's only so much they can do to really make it look like a decomposing body like in the movies.

[souredsweet]

[a beat, and then:]

Do you believe that the bodies are not real?

[throe]

That's because they're not. It's not that hard to create set designs like they have with as much money as they have.

[souredsweet]

How can you be so certain that they are not actual corpses? Aside from the lack of smell or signs of immediate decay, they seem very realistic.

[throe]

Exactly, seem. How do you think they create dead bodies for movies or television? We're on a game show, it's not meant to be real. It's just meant to look real.

But Latvia did tell me that when he died, he would be willing to let an autopsy by one of us be performed on his body just to "prove me wrong."

[souredsweet]

[oh god latvia why... kaoru looks vaguely horrified.]

Truly...? He wishes to prove you wrong to such an extent? [AND "WHEN" HE DIED just how pessimistic is the guy!!] I can only hope that matters will not progress that far.

[throe]

He refuses to believe it couldn't be possible that everything here is just a set-up for the show enough to let an "autopsy" be performed on him by one of us. [ She shrugs. ] But only if it's cleaned up nicely after we're done.

[souredsweet]

At least there are people here who would be able to perform it respectfully. [but the entire turn of conversation seems to have made Kaoru pretty uncomfortable.]

—Still, while I... do not entirely find it reasonable to believe that everything here is entirely falsified, I do not wish for anyone else to potentially risk their lives in order to prove it.

[throe]

If he's actually dead then it wouldn't be risking his life much.

[souredsweet]

[THIS IS TERRIBLE... Kaoru makes a vague noise of discontent.]

It would be nice if we should not have to fret at all about the possibility of anyone else dying at all, unrealistic as it may seem by this point.

[throe]

The game runners expect a "murder" every week regardless, otherwise there isn't a show. Which is the entire point of this entire thing.

[souredsweet]

I still maintain that a way out of this place might be found.

[even after three weeks... granted Kaoru hasn't seen many people looking around lately, what with the whole being preoccupied with not dying thing.]