THE TRIAL ROUND... TRIAL... YEAH I SHOULD'VE CHOSEN ANOTHER NAME.

[thegardeners]

[On Saturday morning, the gates of the courthouse fly open.

All character will be ushered-- or forcibly dragged, if it comes to that-- the the Courthouse by the various gardeners. The interior of the courthouse is spacious enough for any amount of vigorous discussion, whatever that may be. Who knows what's on the second floor and beyond.

Meng Po sits above the chairs, overseeing everyone below.]

Today, you have all been brought here to find the one who murdered Cagliostro. Once you have come to a decision over who is guilty, you will cast votes on who you believe is the murderer. If the majority votes correctly, the murderer is condemned to Hell, and you will all be one step closer to reincarnation. If they are not found, they will be reincarnated instead, and whoever else is voted in their place as the murderer will be scapegoated. The murderer's sins will be falsely imprinted on them, condemning the scapegoat to Hell.

Should you correctly identify the murderer, there will be a second round of voting: the mercy vote, or the exoneration vote. If you believe the murderer deserves to be reincarnated or the victim deserved to die for any reason, you can vote for exoneration, and the murderer will be reincarnated if the majority votes for it. However, I am not responsible for what happens afterwards to the rest of you.

[...That's... okay, sure.]

Without further ado: the court is in session.

[Do your worst.]

Comments

EVIDENCE LIST (don't reply)

[thegardeners]

[The evidence list is here. This list is given out ICly to all character; you can begin using it to discuss the murder immediately.]

QUESTIONS

[thegardeners]

[Any questions to NPCs (aka mod questions in IC) go here.]

[ladyporthos]

[Nira walks in ahead of the gardeners escorting her, and walks toward the center of the room. She chooses not to sit for now.]

Alright...so it seems someone punched Cagliostro on the forehead and she ended up falling on the barrier. It's also obvious she was moved afterwards.

Also...I'm wondering if she fell in the lake and someone tried to give her CPR. That bruising matches what I've heard about it. [Hooray for having a boyfriend who's water-savvy!]

[shikiori_no_hane]

[ What a pain! Oh well. ]

Leaves, sticks and flower petals were scattered around on the 17th floor. But nowhere else, except inside the room on the same floor too. The bed was made and was clean, but nothing else was up with the room or anything.

[sundiet]

[So they're really doing this.]

So I take it all of us saw the note, right? Well, there's one crumbled note near the courtyard, between there and the pagoda. Someone obviously read that one note, probably because she made a lot of the same notes.

[A pause.]

So... the killer found out where she was by reading them?

[774]

[Cagliostro's dead. That doesn't bother him much - he only knew her for a week, and people die. Not a huge deal. What does is that someone in this room was willing to kill to be reincarnated - something that makes sense to Nanashi, intellectually, but gives him a bit of a queasy feeling in his gut when he gives it serious thought.

And one notch higher than that on the priorities list...]

If we find the killer, there'd better not be an exoneration.

[With a glare around the room to drive it home.

If any of you fuckers get him in hot water for a risk someone else took, he swears...]

[creepylaugh]

There is something that's really striking to me, [ pun unintended the player swears ] that the head wound is seriously nasty but not the cause of death. Whoever threw that punch, if it was one, had very solid strength, whether or not they had been taken by surprise or were planning to fight her to begin with. We could check for bruising on knuckles, but I'm not sure how far that would lead us, given she was a shortie. Maybe the mark was left just one-way... but should we check just in case?

We could also watch out for hand size when balled into a fist, that might be more useful.

wound check + hand check

[shikiori_no_hane]

So, Caglio-something was swinging around the branch, yeah? What if she got a hit on her killer? If she did, something like that could leave a mark, I'm thinking.

So! Everyone, roll up your sleeves and let me see your hands to make sure they're not bruised from a branch or hitting her in the first place.

[ He rolls up his sleeves for everyone to see, holding out his hands as well, and tada no marks/bruises. ]

VOTING FOR MURDERER

[thegardeners]

[The gardeners slowly stream into the courthouse, giving every person present a list containing everyone's names.]

Please choose the person you believe is the culprit.

[Though it's kind of a given now.]

EXONERATION VOTE.

[thegardeners]

Congratulations. The majority of you have voted for the true murderer, Neku Sakuraba.

[And this is where things get interesting.

Anyone sitting near the middle might want to move away, now-- the ground begins to shake beneath their feet, and the floor literally opens up, as if there's a secret staircase being revealed. But this is no ordinary underground basement-- if you look down, you can see fire burning, bright yellows eyes staring up and a large hand reaching out from deep below--

Uh, try not to fall in. That's Hell you're walking into.]

Now, proceeding with the exoneration vote.

[The gigantic hand, which seems to mimic one of a woman's, with decorated fingernails and bracelets on the wrist, proceeds to pluck Neku up with its fingers. Not delicately enough to be comforting in any way, but certainly carefully enough to avoid squishing or dropping him.

The gardeners hands everyone another piece of paper. This one's a bit more simple.

EXONERATE?

>YES / >NO]

Please choose wisely.

[Neku's literally hanging on a thread here. Your choice whether to let him drop.]

EXONERATION IN PROGRESS.

[thegardeners]

...Really.

[Meng Po doesn't sound very happy about this.

Still, the people have spoken. Though it's a close vote, it's a majority-vote for EXONERATION all the same. Xiao Bai's probably exasperated at this result too, not because she's harmed by this, but because it's going to mean more work. And that's due to...]

Well, I suppose the dead should live without regrets. [Okay, now she just sounds bitter.] Neku Sakuraba, you will be exonerated. The weight of your sins shall be lifted off your shoulders. By the graciousness of this court, you have been granted permission to pass onto the next life.

[You can't just remove the sin of murder, you see. You remove it all at once. Meng Po sits still as the gigantic hand suddenly puts Neku down gently on the floor in front of her, and retreats into the abyss below. Only then does the hole slam shut with a bang, and Meng Po reaches out to grab the top of Neku's head.

Deal with it, boy, even if she yanks at your hair a little. You're being reincarnated.]

The Peach Tree shall bear your lifetime of sins.

[And with that, Neku starts glowing. It's fitting, for someone being purified. But to clean something, you have to dirty something else; and that's why Meng Po's face twists into an expression that looks close to that of pain, but more of disappointment. Since she's standing on the podium above everyone else, they can see Meng Po's transformation clearly-- the way the skin on her hand wrinkles, her back hunches, and she seems to shrink in size quickly, in the span of just a minute...

Congratulations! You've just made Meng Po age 50 years. Where there was once a foreboding young lady now stands... okay, she's still relatively foreboding and pretty fit for someone who looks to be in their seventies, but the idea is there.]

Don't say a word.

[Her voice comes out in a croak, as if she's gotten unused to being this old. Actually, this is a lot closer to her usual state of being. Still, she's... not happy with this, but what can you do when you're just the moderator, right?

Her raises her arm, still with as much force as a person half her physical age would, the instead of opening up the ground, the back of the courthouse (!?) begins to to crackle and shake. It then flies open, as if they were just two sets of giant doors, and a blinding light fills the room.

You can't get more stereotypical than this.]

Once you walk through those doors, your spirit will be brought back into the mortal realm in a new body. I cannot say where... however, without sins, it can't be too bad.

[Basically, you're going to win the jackpot, son.

She finally lets go of Neku's head, and-- yes, he's still glowing. He won't stop. She turns around, and the gardeners rush to her, carrying a bowl of soup. She turns back.]

When you are ready, you just drink this soup to lose all memories of your previous life... and of this place. You will not be allowed to pass through those doors without taking in every last drop.

Try not to waste too much time.

[Say your last good-byes. You'll probably never see them again.]