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

[reunified]

I. I can try.

[ Altman isn't too keen on approaching the body--too many flashes of the outbreak back in the facility--but he stands beside it all the same. It takes a moment of looking at it before he figures out an angle that might be possible for him, then he starts.

Standing by the head, he hooks his arms under Dave's and pulls him back off the table, head turned and trying very, very hard not to look a the body. He's already broken out in a cold sweat, and he can feel his heart thudding fast and erratic in his ears.

--it's going to move it's going to split in half at the jaw and boneshard teeth are going to snap for his face and jagged--

Altman loses his concentration as he lifts and Dave's legs fall to the ground. Altman freezes, trying not to hyperventilate. His hands have started to shake. Just reach down. Arm under the legs. It's slow and awkward, and it makes him all too aware of just how much weight and muscle mass he's lost in the last few months, but he manages to lift Dave properly with some struggling. He's heavy, though, and when Altman tries to take a step he fumbles again and makes the mistake of looking down at the face.

The legs fall. Altman's entire body is shaking now, his eyes locked on Dave's as if afraid to look away. ]

He's. He's nearly my weight. I can't. I can't. Please let me put him down. Please.

[inthebones]

...You're either a very good actor, or you made a grave understatement just now when you explained it as 'mild' symptoms. Go ahead and put him down.

[A pause.]

And you're very sure you don't have strange blackout episodes where you wake up above mutilated corpses?

[reunified]

[ Altman half drops, half places Dave's body on the floor, then turns around and empties the contents of his stomach onto the rug. It's a minute or two before he stops retching, and even then he still shakes. ]

I-- He looks like they did before they started moving again. The dead people. Back in the crater. The things they turned into-- The bodies looked like that just before it happened.

[ He spits, trying to clear his mouth, then wipes his face with his sleeve. ]

I've never blacked out unless someone hit me or drugged me first. I just... The Marker makes you see people. People you love. The ones who've died. I haven't seen them since I came here, but there are dreams. I keep dreaming I'm back there. Back in the sub when he goes insane. Back in the chair with Krax. That's all. Nothing else.

[inthebones]

[Susan comes from the type of era where it is entirely appropriate to offer a man on the verge of hysteria a stiff drink. She proceeds to do so while pushing him not-so-softly away from the body.]

Sit.

We can discuss your psychological hang-ups later. There's no need to ruminate on that at the moment.

[Not that this episode cleared him at all in Susan's mind - it was perfectly possible he was madder than he let on.]

[reunified]

[ Between Susan's drink and Belarus's vodka, by the time Altman staggers into a chair he has alcohol in both hands. While not typically a big drinker, he seems to be making more and more exceptions to the rule these days. He shrinks into the chair, trying not to spill on himself. ]

Sorry. Thanks.

[ --more for not interrogating him on his mental issues than anything else. ]

/2

[mostlymarried]

...

[quietly, Belarus kneels down to rub his back, offering a small bottle of vodka she keeps in her coat.]

I can see why you search for God.

[mostlymarried]

[she stands to address the others]

It can't be him.

[reunified]

[ Altman laughs, quiet and hiccupy and still sounding rather sick. He doesn't protest when she offers the vodka, just takes it and immediately helps himself to a long pull. ]

I don't think God wants much to do with us anymore.

[mostlymarried]

He loves us for all of us; he weeps when we weep. He bleeds when we bleed. He would understand you and welcome you, however lost you feel.

[reunified]

He must be bleeding a lot these days.

[mostlymarried]

Humans are a series of misfortunes and hardships. He bled from the beginning.

[notyetlost]

Remind me to not go to the chapel when you're preaching.

[mostlymarried]

...I don't preach.

[notyetlost]

Amen for that.

[He can imagine all the depressed conflicted people now.]

[mostlymarried]

...

You look as if you want to say something.

[notyetlost]

That's just like. A really depressing way to look at stuff. Especially God.

[reunified]

What'll he do when a crazy space rock cult takes over and starts murdering people in the name of Convergence?

[mostlymarried]

I...

...sorry? [NOPE YOU LOST HER THERE...]

[reunified]

There are people where I'm from, the people who hurt me, who are trying to start a cult based around a rock we found at the bottom of the ocean. The rock drove most of them insane, and because I remained sane they tried to make me their prophet. It's... like an infection. It gets into their minds and confuses them, leads them on, makes them obsessed with 'becoming whole.' Then the monsters come.

[mostlymarried]

...

We must come from very different places. I have never heard of such things.

[reunified]

Probably. Or I'm from the future, like I seem to be for most people.

[humanic]

Holy crap, sorry dude! I just wanted to see if you'd be strong enough to pick up him, I didn't know you'd react that badly. I mean then again, if you'd ask me to pick up a corpse I'd probably freak out too so uh wow I'm just a huge idiot you can yell at me if you want now totallymybad.

[reunified]

[ Altman just shakes and laughs unsteadily, trying to edge away from the body. ]

A. A few months ago I would have been able to lift someone his size. I'd been confined and on minimum rations for... I don't know how long before I got here.

[ He holds his hand back up, pulling down his sleeve. His arm is thin, most of the muscle atrophied. ]

I was never strong, but I used to be healthy. I haven't been since I got here.

[humanic]

[He whistles when he sees the arm.]

Okay, so it looks like you aren't faking it after all. Not that I really thought you were after that show.

Which means you're probably innocent. No special powers, yeah? So you'd have to had carried Dave all the way up the stairs to the second floor to drop him, and that doesn't seem like it'd be possible for you.

[reunified]

Not on my own. If there had been more than one killer, maybe.