Week 4 - Trial

[cartesio]

Week 4: Trial

It's dawn when the Sergeant calls everyone to the courtroom. Despite the early hour, the tribunes of the room are as full as the last two times, sleepy townspeople glaring and looking at the visitors with distrust. The Sergeant told everyone to get to their spots. Anyone who looks behind them, will see the bailiffs carrying Sting Eucliffe away, who is trying to resist them but doesn't seem to have enough strength to do that well.

"Don't worry about him. That guy ate a lot of ice and frost for reasons I don't understand, and now he has a very bad cold. I don't want him making everyone in this room sick, so he's excused. No, that's not a hint all of you should get sick to avoid these trials."

There are more podiums draped in black now. Clarisse, Eric Lecarde, and Jughead Jones have joined the dead, and their podiums look lonely without their occupants.

With a twirl of the gavel, the Sergeant recites:

"Today the trial will focus on solving the murder of..."

He takes a PDA out of his pocket, and holds it in the air. The PDA's text-to-voice software says: 'Forsythe'

"...Pendleton Jones the Third. The circumstances need no introduction, we all are aware of them. Here are your suspects"

            
Once everyone had a moment to see the faces in the photos, the Sergeant adds:

"By the way, there are two separate culprits today. Yes, two of these five people directly caused Jughead's death. When it's time to vote, remember to vote for two different people."

Let the trial begin.

Links

Evidence
Guestbook
Voting

[Welcome to the trial! Please remember to cast your votes here!. Your deadline is 8:00 PM EST. Good luck!]

Comments

motive talk -- suicide cw for Dazai because you know

[pursuitofdeath]

Well. If we're going to solve this we'll need to consider the motive as well I think.

It's a rather tempting offer, should one have a desire to live.

My own thoughts on that should be fairly clear to most of you, though you're welcome to ask, but I wonder exactly how others involved might feel about it.

[marmoron]

Assuming anyone here is actually stupid enough to believe the Sergeant can do that in the first place.

[pursuitofdeath]

True. No one has succeeded thus far-- there's no guarantee.

His delivery was also rather pathetic this week, don't you think?

[odasaku]

It looked like he couldn’t believe it himself.

[pursuitofdeath]

And yet someone was able to believe. Well, if you think about it-- as long as they got away with it, they had nothing to lose, even if it didn't work. But they still leave room to die in return. Sounds like they had a desperate desire to believe, against better judgement.

[protectandselfserve]

In fairness, Sarge and his backers have pulled off a lot of really improbable stuff so far, all things considered. Immortality seems like it'd fit in at least a bit, even if it seems like a raw deal when you really think about it.

[marmoron]

I dunno, I wasn't there for that. What were people's reactions in the room when he made that announcement?

[doublelammy]

Well, somebody was. ...Two somebodies.

[pursuitofdeath]

And no doubt they know who each other are-- so even now, they're working together against us.

[quickpersuader]

Are we sure about that?

It might be that they both tried different plans and happened to target the same person.

[pursuitofdeath]

It was said that they both had a direct hand in his death. Which means both were responsible for actions leading up to that death-- and they both met with him before he actually died. It's highly unlikely that one left, not sure if he'd die, and another came in after.

MODS

[doublelammy]

Maybe. Maybe not. It's hard to tell so early in the trial.

[She pauses, studying Dazai intensely for a moment, before speaking up again.]

Hey, Sarge! One more question. Can you give the motive reward to somebody else?

[A pause, uncertain.] Even if that somebody else doesn't want it?

[cartesio]

Absolutely not. You do the job, you get the reward. Giving it to someone else for doing nothing won't be tolerated.

[No giving immortality to anyone you want]

[odasaku]

[ oh my fucking god millium? oda blinks, unsure why she’s staring so hard at dazai before asking. ]

Why ask something like that?

[quickpersuader]

[Kino hums thoughtfully.]

Immortality would be useful for surviving on the roads and seeing as much as I can. But...

Personally, I think it's best to try to minimize the deaths I cause.

[silvertongueheir]

[An intense stare] The Sergeant just mentioned it would not be mandatory to accept the reward.

[quickpersuader]

Then that means it's possible the culprit just wanted to leave.

[pursuitofdeath]

But leaving was never part of the deal.

Even if you escaped detection, there's no promise you'd be released.

[He looks to the Sergeant.]

...care to tell us how that would work?

[cartesio]

As I mentioned, succeeding at overcoming a trial and not being pinpointed as the culprit would mean you'd receive a medal, authorizing you to leave this town at the end of May.

The reward is a bonus -- I'm not going to force it on anyone. The medal, though, that is obligatory.

[odasaku]

But why would anyone be so eager to kill that they would throw away a chance of getting something they wanted?

[silvertongueheir]

As Kino mentioned, it's possible they were looking at the overarching motive: the chance to leave.

[odasaku]

I see. You’re right. I didn’t think about that.

[ oda sighs. ]

[pursuitofdeath]

And why go through all that effort if not for the reward?

[He'll bite. This is fun.]

[silvertongueheir]

For all I know, you thought you would simply be an accomplice. Perhaps because you were not the one to fire the gun.

[pursuitofdeath]

I assure you, if I did, those bullets would not have missed their mark.

Even now, if it's a painless death, you're more than welcome to blame me in the guilty party's stead~

[...]

...is what I'd like to say, but Odasaku would get mad at me.