THIRD TRIAL

[neverhadafriend]

[Once again, you make your way to the lobby of the Adventurers Club. Once again, you make you way down the stairs to the trial room that awaits you below the surface. Today, however, the birds seem to be occupied by something other than the excitement of murder. Whispers are exchanged, and although no sentences can be made out, you might hear the occasional word--enough to know that they're talking about wishes.

Before the weight of the conversation begins to settle in, Genie appears in the center of the stage, glancing around at the podiums.]

Wow, the crowd's really starting to thin out, huh? [He lets out a nervous chuckle.] Y'know, I don't...think I've asked my master what happens if this keeps happening until nobody's left.

[He looks like he's about to add something else, but glances towards the birds on the ceiling and decides against it. Third times the charm, right?]

Comments

[feudalladyshandmaid]

Then you should ask your master about it.

[Cass has no time or need for this bullshit. Another person is dead and they're no closer to their escape now than they were four weeks prior.

Though, something about what those birds were whispering was... interesting. But she could hardly focus on that right now.]

It looks like there was a real fight this time. Jessica's was trashed, clothes racks knocked over, and things were smashed. In the middle of it all... was Daisy.

[She looks to Raps. She's got this.]

There were bruises around her neck, not to mention a few bruises and cuts on her arms. It definitely looked like she'd been strangled.

...Oh, and her clothes looked... straightened out? Her hair too.

[So, you know. Normal murder case.]

[primafacie]

I think Daisy was in the laundry building beforehand. I found her clothes, which were being washed, and these books. [She holds up the stack of archaeology books she brought with her.] I haven't the slightest idea whether or not they have anything to do with what happened, but I felt it better to bring them in case they prove to be helpful.

[She's still, uh. Fine. It's fine. This smile isn't forced at all.]

[feudalladyshandmaid]

[It's Fine, yeah. But Cass isn't smiling.]

'Archaeology'? [Huh.] Not sure what those would have to do with anything.

You think you found her clothes in the laundromat, though? Could they have been someone else's?

[diebartdie]

Not many others here who would fit into her outfit, I imagine.

[primafacie]

I suppose they could have been anyone's, really, but I also found knocked over bins and possible blood outside. [She hesitates.] And this.

[Carefully, Sugarplum sets a knife on her podium.]

[diebartdie]

...was the knife cleaned recently, you think? It doesn’t look like it has a lot of blood on it.

[He’s staring at it. Madman knows about knives.]

[primafacie]

I found it on the ground like this. I was hoping, ah, that it was merely dropped before? A fight?

[diebartdie]

...you know, I hope the same. I would much rather be strangled than stabbed.

[prodigalhairess]

The bruises on her hands and arms also looked like defensive injuries. Daisy tried to put up a good fight...

[She was scared of dying, and yet....]

Whoever did this couldn't have come out of it uninjured.

[nobodylikesyouwhen]

We could check for those, too. Injuries in general, if the fight was that drawn out.

wound check?

[prodigalhairess]

That would be good, yeah. We could try to narrow it down at least a little bit that way.

[Rapunzel's the first to hold her arms out; she's still wearing the shirts from their rooms or the shops, so the sleeves are short and show she has no wounds on her arms, though there are a few small knicks and cuts on her hands. Nothing serious-looking, though.]

[nobodylikesyouwhen]

[ She'll go ahead and just... take off her jacket to show that she is unharmed! ]

I still heal, though, so... checking for this kind of thing still doesn't say a lot for me.

[prodigalhairess]

Don't worry, I don't think you did it.

[Maybe it's a little hypocritical, because she couldn't believe Kronk would do anything either, but... she just has that feeling. x-23 was clearly shaken from the voices, but Rapunzel knows that she also doesn't like being thought of as a weapon. She wouldn't do something to ruin that.]

[nobodylikesyouwhen]

[ She nods and sort of. Half-smiles.

Boy is she glad she was able to read the notes on herself and get confirmation they were never able to implement the whole Trigger Scent thing, or she might not be as sure!! ]

[diebartdie]

[Nothing recent or serious! Outside of the ugly tattoos on his arms (knife and a jolly roger) nothing is terribly worrying about them in the slightest.]

[primafacie]

[Sugarplum's arms, as always, have been visible this whole time. They're free of wounds, but also:]

I don't heal, but I don't bleed either.

[feudalladyshandmaid]

Good... to know. [Or bad, depending on how you look at it.] But it looks like you're wound free, so there's nothing to worry about.

[nobodylikesyouwhen]

Are you harder to injure than humans are?

[ look she just. if you don't breathe and you dont bleed you're something else she's not judging but it's true and she has to check. ]

[primafacie]

I suppose that depends on how you want to classify that? I'm quite fragile and would almost certainly hurt myself if I fell, for example. But things that would harm many of you don't really hurt me at all.

[madmadam]

[Mim is, unfortunately, completely unharmed.]

[feudalladyshandmaid]

[Cassandra shows her arms. Like Rapunzel, there's a few small scars and knicks but nothing recent.]

[bottlerockets]

[Chicken Little is, thankfully, not dealing with any wounds here.]

[tadaishi]

[Tadashi's got a few older, fairly small knicks on his hands, mostly. There is, though, set of three recent-looking scratches near his elbow.]

[prodigalhairess]

[... Do they look like claw or nail marks?]

Hey... what happened there?

[tadaishi]

[They look like animal scratches.]

You know those birds? [He points, indicating the ones above their heads.] Their talons are sharp. Don't let them perch on you.

...Genie got me one of them, I swear.