Fourth Trial

[neverhadafriend]

[Same time. Same place. Same old murder. Thus is the cycle on Pleasure Island, and thus are the circumstances you find yourself trapped in.

The birds are unusually quiet when you enter the room, peering down at the crowd with some curiosity. The Genie is center stage, his eyebrows knit together in concern.]

...You know what to do, folks. [He rubs the back of his neck, somehow looking even more anxious than previous trials.] Just a, uh, fair warning, my master's getting real antsy about this whole exercise.

[ TRIAL START! ]

Comments

[madmadam]

Well, that makes two of us! Can we just skip to the good part?

[neverhadafriend]

With you, I'm assuming it's the execution, right?

[prodigalhairess]

If it's not going the way he wants it, then he could just stop it and let us go!

[A futile request, but hey. That's Rapunzel's way of being snarky.]

[neverhadafriend]

As much as I'd like that to happen, Raps, that's not gonna happen. The guy's committed to seeing this through, no matter what happens.

[Unfortunate.]

[nobodylikesyouwhen]

[ X-23 takes her place at her podium, setting down a couple pieces of evidence and clearing her throat. ]

I looked at the body. He died from his neck getting broken, but he had some other wounds on his face, too. Bruises and a black eye. He had splinters on his neck, too, which was weird until I noticed the cracked table nearby - those two facts are probably related. He had a knife with him, too, but it had no signs of use.

I also found a broken potted plant near the entrance to the room, with a bunch of footprints that fit him in the dirt.

[redloxy]

There was dirt outside the library too. It looked a bit like it was rubbed into the floor, and I didn't see any of it in the rest of the hall...did the footprints look like they were leading in or out?

[prodigalhairess]

[Splinters on the neck, a cracked table...]

So he... must've been pushed back, right? Or did the table fall on him?

[But the latter wouldn't have been enough to kill him.... right?]

[tadaishi]

Only one knife?

[feudalladyshandmaid]

There were a couple shelves of books knocked over in the library. And I found this book that was laying near Bob.

[She brought it and how she's putting on her podium.]

It looks like a history book, and so did the other ones.

[redloxy]

Umm... [Foxy pulls some dark fur out of her pocket.] Does anyone know who this fur might be from? I'm not even sure what animal it'd be...

[prodigalhairess]

[That... huh.]

You're the only one with fur, but it doesn't match you... where could it have come from? [Hmm...] Was there anything else weird about the library?

[nobodylikesyouwhen]

[ X-23 frowns at it. ]

Did anyone find anything else that could be from? One of the animals in the trophy room, maybe?

TIME FOR A CATHERD???

[prodigalhairess]

[There's a loud clearing of the throat as Rapunzel interrupts all the comments about Cass's. Uh. Neck bruise. Despite looking a bit red in the face, she goes on.]

S-So um... there are things I don't understand. The fur didn't come from anyone, and the book.... do you think that has anything to do with what happened?

[They stick out like sore thumbs...]

And there was... dirt in the hallway, wasn't there?

[halloteen]

Was the book open to a particular page? That might be something.

[nobodylikesyouwhen]

Yeah, probably from the potted plant.

[ A frown. ]

And it looked like it was leading away from the library, but the footprints in the library were Bob's. His feet are... big.

Catherd...ish

[tadaishi]

So this is a bit of thinking aloud, but...so far we know that something happened in the library. Bob was in there and had a knife with him, but no blood on it. Signs of a fight but everyone is uninjured and only his footprints to found...

I found a tea set in the kitchen that had been used recently that doesn't seem to fit in anywhere.

[nobodylikesyouwhen]

A tea set? Did Bob make himself tea? Or... the killer?

???

[prodigalhairess]

[Rapunzel looked pretty tired when all of this started. It's similar to how she's always looked during this; as someone who hates all the murder and toeing around in regards to the trials, going through this a fourth time is really wearing her down. But now... now she just looks defeated.]

... I'm sorry. I didn't mean to drag the trial out like this, but... I want to be honest. Bob is dead because of me.

[feudalladyshandmaid]

[And Cass meanwhile just sinks entirely onto her podium, face behind her hands.]

[nobodylikesyouwhen]

[ Ah, She Hates This. ]

The tea... you and Cassandra?

[bornforit]

But...but how?

[madmadam]

Well, well, well! Little Miss Sunshine killed a man!

Re: ???

[tadaishi]

[Tadashi's podium is suddenly a very awkward place to be standing, he's just going to step over to Bill's.]

[bottlerockets]

Wh--what? But... why? What happened?

VOTING TIME

[neverhadafriend]

Look, we all know that Raps is innocent, and I want to do this as little as you guys do, but we have to vote. I’m seriously not kidding when I say it would be worse if you don’t.

[madmadam]

[She's literally punching in Rapunzel's name when something he says stops her.]

...How much worse?