bellelurette | TRIAL I

TRIAL I

Trial

Today is going to be a loooong day. You knew that pretty shortly after waking up, didn't you? On the plus side, it means you've had some time to process the death of one of your own, or leisure time at the very least. But come midnight, the clocks in the castle all strike out in unison again. This time though, you barely have time to clutch your head before you're transported elsewhere.

Yes, you're coming in your pajamas if you were already in bed.

The place where you find yourself is obviously not the castle, that much is obvious from an immediate look alone. The look is very circus fair meets hell, minus any actual fire (for now). The walls, the lighting, the atmosphere is different, reds and purples and exposed rock face all together with furniture that should belong in a courtroom, and a carnival, not a caldera. It's a stylistic choice, for sure.

Seating consists of various stools on the outer ring, the layout suggesting that the preferred way to conduct trial is to free mingle towards the center, unless you're partaking in food and refreshments. A veritable bounty of a spread is available for you to partake as you like. There's even an entire table's worth of chocolate, cut out in various animal shapes for you to enjoy. And yes, alcohol too, because a banquet without the finest wines isn't a feast at all.

Even with all the food there's plenty of space for all of you, but do be careful around the pit in the center of this room. How deep does it go? Where does it lead? There are other unanswered questions to answer, and you've been tasked with finding out who murdered Tia. The Witch of Ruin demands a show and unfortunately you are his captive actors. He presides over all of this from a balcony above, the best seat in the house.

(( OOC: Welcome to your first trial! You'll have 7 hours (until 8 PM EDT/5 PM PDT) to vote one (1) person guilty of murder. As this is scapegoat style, a correct vote is not necessary. Please remember to vote unless otherwise discussed with the mods, as that is our AC for this game ))

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[ here he is if you want to lodge a question or complaint (or both). ]

[ reply here if you'd like to examine any piece of evidence further! the body was automatically transferred here by ish, so get your body touching if you desire. ]

[ top level for reporting investigation results! ]

[ Siffrin

does not like to be the center of any kind of attention, so it's been with several hours of quietly psyching himself up that he can speak any, his naturally soft voice still... soft despite the efforts. He's washed his snowy white cloak since the morning, so there's no evidence of the blood that'd stained its hems before, and it's a great comfort right now.

It doesn't seem as if he'd planned to retire anytime soon. ]

So, um... The Observatory... Where me... Andrew, Dan Heng, and Blade were looking at the stars... is where Tia was too. Not with us at night. Just the morning. Um, dead.

[ (stars you never want to do this again) ]

Her body was really badly damaged, like she'd fell from the sky. And... she had a stab wound right here.

[ With a small gesture to... about... where his collarbone would be. Probably. ]

But I don't think that's what killed her. Probably just hurt. She had a lot of cuts on her back too, but her clothes weren't ripped. It wasn't... like a beast claw, but more like... a blade, or something really sharp like that. Clean. Um, on purpose. Hickey looked at her too, so... he can also. Answer questions.

[ ......................

Actually, it kind of looks like... Siffrin would prefer if questions were directed to Hickey, rather than him... ]

Or, you can... look yourself.

[ While he just

sort of

tries to fade back into the background. Okay. That's all, right? Now everyone knows? They can go look themselves why did he even speak up-- ]

[Damn, this is an elaborate setup... Ish really went all out, huh?]

Can I ask you something, unrelated to this... mystery?

[Not sure what else to call it even if "mystery" doesn't feel like it quite encompasses "my roomie got murdered after we spent the night together and now we have to accuse someone of murder with the end result being execution".]

[ good morning?!

but also who is that?? yoru stares up at ish in confusion. what happened to witch...

well, anyway, ]

This is a lot...

[ here is ayaka... trying to act like she isn't under the same roof as a dead body and that she has to play detective to make some stupid clown happy. ]

Um... I fell asleep in the backstage part of the theater. When I woke up I had some cardboard backdrops of fire on top of me. They had flames painted on them and stuff. Next to me were some candles that look like the ones in the chandelier, and they look like they had been burning for quite a bit since they were pretty melted down.

[ uh.... what else, ]

There were other set backdrops that looked like they were in pretty bad shape. It's kind of like if someone had thrown them around. So maybe there was a fight here, though I don't get how I wouldn't wake up from that...

[ but whatever. she got a good night's sleep and someone died during that. whatever. ]

Oh, and then we also had the rest of the fire backdrop at the stage. That's where I saw the curtain that fell, but all of the rigging looked to be fine. Except for the clasps holding the rope, that is. Those were loose.

[ Bonsoir Ish, Richard's coming up to talk again. He's changed back into his armor during the downtime, and with a fun epée from the Mars room at his side. How fun! ^_^ ]

Is the idea that we're simply going to continue deliberating until we decide on a guilty party?

[ He's bringing his moist and bloody clothing, bring careful not to fuck it up any further than when he removed it.

Does it look like blood spray pattern or drip drop blood? ]

[ Hearing his name, Hickey looks up from the buffet table. He's been diligently putting together a plate for himself but oh okay we're doing this now, apparently. ]

Er, yes, I examined the body. The stab wound wasn't what killed her.

[ He plucks one last little chocolate animal for the road, and then heads over. ]

Oh, and she had shards of glass embedded in her hands. Whatever the cause, it cut up her gloves as well.

Edited 2025-03-15 17:21 (UTC)

Can we have coffee or can you only make hot chocolate and overly elaborate meals?

Falling... from the sky into the observatory? From above it?

Or do you mean that she fell from the staircase within it?

[ how high up is that thing, anyway? ]

So somebody decided to attack her with a fucking sword or whatever then throw her off the building?

That’s gotta rule out a few people. Me and Chara for one. I can’t see the kid being able to shove a grown-ass woman.

Break and I walked out of the ballroom into quite a scene-- every mirror along the Promenade was shattered. In front of some of the mirrors were broken shards splattered with blood [He brought some with him if anyone would like to look!], with more of them towards the end of the Promenade near the theater and fewer near the ballroom. Likewise, there were a few droplets of blood on the floor near the theater, seemingly indicating that whatever encounter may have occurred started in the theater.

There was one thing that was quite interesting, however. I also found a few candles scattered about on the floor as if they had been dropped haphazardly. From what I can tell, they seem to be the same type as are found elsewhere here-- lit by magic rather than by actual flame.

[And yes, Vanis is absolutely sitting here saying all of this with a glass of champagne in hand.]

Edited 2025-03-15 17:28 (UTC)

...Yeah. It's a lot.

[ there really is no other way to say it. ]

How are you?

[ aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa ]

She wasn't on the staircase with Andrew and I, so...

[ Small, uncertain shrug. ]

I think... if she had been, then... I would've gotten blood on me, too. Before I looked at her. But only Andrew did between us.

[ So more... likely... from above-above? To them. ]

Not necessarily, if one of us got the right leverage and she was already wounded.

[He's just saying...]

[ okay, well, at least sabo's used to giving reports of his findings. sure, the circumstances are extremely different but he knows what's important to mention, at least. ]

Ayaka, Richard, and myself woke up in different areas of the theater that we later further investigated so I'll let them speak for themselves.

However, as to what I found, one being entirely unintentional as was that at upon waking up, Richard and myself were underneath the curtain that had fallen over. We were also surrounded by candles. The curtain seemed to have been pulled off of its ropes as they were hanging loose, except that the ropes didn't have any visible damage from where I could tell.

[ an (even more) tired look and a frown as he recalls the next bit. ]

Unfortunately, I wish that was all there was but I also found myself waking up next to five clockwork dolls. They were the same dolls that I've seen around the castle in various locations. [ why the dolls? why him? why five..??? ] After searching under the curtain, I found five brass-colored bells where one of them had been dented. They look like they could have been attached to something but I couldn't find anything.

So her gloves alone were cut up, but not her other clothing, despite the wounds on her back?

Did it seem like those backdrops got placed on you on purpose, or like they toppled over on top of you?

[ (You think Bonnie would disagree. They could probably shove The King off the top of the House, if they really tried. Not that any of you would let them.) ]

... There's balance, and all... but you're probably right.

No, the clothing on her back was cut up too. The cuts seemed quite random, but the fabric didn't look to be torn.

If she really fell maybe she tried to hold onto something made of glass, before plummeting down. When you're in danger, you'd do anything to stay alive, even if it means holding onto broken glass.

[Adrenaline makes it easier, after all!]

... from the mirrors, most likely. Let me check.

[ So both of them were in basically the same physical space but only one of them was bloodied? ]

Mmm... my other thought was...

Where in the Observatory was she found, could you clarify? The ground, the center of the room, tucked away in a corner somewhere...?

[ Homura is not the most delicate of people at the best of times, but an attempt is being made here, ]

I am wondering if it was likely that she was— killed elsewhere, and then relocated to the Observatory for some unknown reason.

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TRIAL I

ISH

EXAMINE EVIDENCE

DISCUSS INVESTIGATION

observatory - body

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theater - backstage

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Dan Heng's clothing

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Promenade of Reflexion

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theater ( audience/front of house )

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