antumbrac | FIRST TRIAL

Trial I

The opera house doesn't seem to have gotten any changes. There are no lights on the windows, the lobby is dark. Only when everyone is gathered there something does happen: Rembrandt appears, opening the main stage doors, the large and heavy doors creaking when they open.

Rembrandt herds everything together, guiding them down the halls of the seating area. You better not stray from the hallway -- there's a very palpable sensation that something's deeply wrong about this place. You may perhaps see the form of something moving, blending with the darkness. Wait...it's several forms. A few pairs of intensely blue eyes, eyes that so far only Ango may have seen before, gaze at everybody. You really shouldn't try to approach. At least they don't try to come closer, cowed by Rembrandt's presence.

The main stage is the objective here. It's lit rather brightly, with the spotlights the Lady had used for her introduction a few days ago, illuminating the stage. In what's a rather ominous touch, the backdrop depicts hellfire. There aren't any props around, other than a few seats that seem to be spares for seats in one of the minor auditoriums, not even enough seats for everyone. Rembrandt blends into the darkness.

"Welcome!"

That's the Lady's voice, coming from high up. Looking up, you'll find a balcony to a side, large and with two seats. There's the Lady, wearing her dress, visible even in the darkness. She's standing up right now and leaning on the railing, shouting at them.

"Let's try to make this short and sweet. We figured it'd be fun if you all got to discuss who killed dear annoying Elliot. Give us a name, and we'll execute that person. Nice and simple, don't you think?"

"So, culprit who saved so many people from us...now you have to struggle for your own life. Oh, we never told you about this before? Don't feel bad, there's a lot we don't tell you all about. She sits down, adjusting her dress.

"I'm not going to pretend I care about you all catching the right person. Just give us a name and let the culprit go free, for all I care. Get started, we don't have all day to do this! You only have seven hours! Get moving!"

Here you are, all the actors in this impromptu play about justice, and the audience is...well there certainly is an audience larger than you were expecting. Everyone will hear the noises of those things moving around in the seating area, from time to time directing their eyes at the group, but they still make no attempt to approach. Looks like the audience that really matters is up there, in the balcony.

Let the trial for the death of Elliot Schafer begin.

[OOC NOTE: From the halfway point of the trial and onwards, you'll have the option to ask the masterminds for the chance to get a hint! Be warned, though: the price will involve some body horror for your character. Keep that in mind when deciding to use this option!]

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You say that as though being a prosecutor is anything to aspire to! Just imagine having that much pride in being a doll for whatever governing bodies will have you and carving out your pathetic existence presenting work that others have done for you - it must be exhausting justifying your own arrogance to yourself.

[Prosecutors are, in his experience, largely regulated by the Council - and while he's not here for Alexei's bullshit, he's even less here for the Council.]

I'm hardly being defeatist - I would just prefer that we not waste time at the eleventh hour, when things really come down to it, with all the bleeding hearts turning the stage red and you going on about justice like it matters in a place like this.

Justice always matters. If you believe otherwise, then you should not be working in law enforcement at all. Even in the most sinful of places, I won't be brought to tolerate murder or condemn an innocent. [ Though we're not all innocent, are we...? Hm. ]

I happen to have a code of honor.

It doesn't matter in places where it's impossible to achieve.

[Or in places where it's inconvenient, but ehhhh.]

So does your code of honor involve letting over twenty people die when we could kill two and move on with our lives? It's like I've been saying - whether you like it or not, this was a good outcome for most of us. Our loved ones against two people we barely know.

[ Ah. That gets a clenching of his jaw. Cumore found a sore spot. ]

We have no solid reason to believe in the credibility of the Lady's claims right now. She could tell us anything about our homeworlds and the people in it while we're here, without us ever getting around to check for ourselves. It would even be less effort for her and her enforcer to just do so.

It's possible she lied and is going to attack those in the photos anyway. It's not like we'd find out as long as we're in here.

[And Noelle thinks that's really likely, in her opinion. These masterminds don't seem the moral sort at all]

Edited 2020-01-11 18:15 (UTC)

To what ends? It's wasted effort if the end result among our group is the same.

Oh, certainly. How many lives are you willing to bet on it, though, I wonder?

[ There is no answer. Mikami definitely seems more tense now. ]

What bleeding hearts? There's maybe three of those here at most. Everyone else is somewhere between "generally does good but is also pragmatic" and "doesn't care about the outcome."

[look at barrister I CAN AND WILL HAVE JUSTICE and try that again, will you]

[Okay but he's one of the three clearly.]

FIRST TRIAL

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