week 7 - trial; day 1

[vicedirector]

seven vices case 7 trial, day 1 ♫ saturday At 9AM, every television will go off, loud enough to wake anyone sleeping. The calm, apathetic voice will advise everyone to gather in the chapel for the trial. Static will continue to blare in the head of anyone dillydallying. Once all of the guests have gathered in the chapel, the doors will lock. Most of the pews have been moved aside to allow for more space, and a few tables have been set up on the altar. On the first, there is an additional copy of the rulebook, and the information cards of the victim and suspects laid out, with space for the suspects to provide their whereabouts, as well as an autopsy report. There is also a large wheeled chalkboard upon which you may write theories. On the second table is a pitcher of water and some glasses, as well as very simple sandwiches and pastries. The door behind the altar has finally been unlocked. It's a rather plain room with an area set off by a folding screen. Inside, you will find a table on which the victim's body has been laid out. Next to the table, two black and white photographs have been hung on the screen. they are close ups of the victim's body, as it was found when the body discovery announcement chimed. A few sticks of incense burn in the corner to avoid any smells. At 6PM, the trial will adjourn. Everyone will be escorted back to the hotel by Miata, after which everyone is allowed to head to either the kitchen to get dinner, or to their rooms. Attempting to wander off into the other areas of the hotel will trigger the static alarms in everyone's heads/televisions. >Discuss? victims suspects cast setting rulebook

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astrid's room

[muties]

[ TIME TO RUN AWAY FROM EMBARRASSMENT. Come along, whoever you are that comes along!

Astrid apparently gives her a Mysterious Bag on the way out according to Lucy, which Roxy will take with. She doesn't know what it is, she's not sure she wants to. ]

Ok, I'm not sure what this bag is about but if we find a drug lab in here I'm outtie.

[ JUST SAYING. ]

[billarious]

[Bill is coming, and he's eyeing that Mysterious Bag a little.]

...drug lab? Could it be used for something like that?

[They aren't going to find a drug lab are they? That's not what that bag is for, right?? That doesn't seem like the kind of thing that would help prove someone is innocent.]

[brawlhalla]

[ Yeah, about that bag. As soon as they open the door to Astrid's room, they will probably notice one thing above all other things: THAT SURE IS STORMFLY, RIGHT UP IN YOUR FACE. Apparently when you are Astrid Hofferson, you sometimes leave your dragon pal in your room. While the initial reaction is the spikes on her tail extending, Stormfly pauses and sniffs the air.

Is that...? IT IS. The dragon immediately goes over to Roxy and sits on the ground in front of her. OPEN THE BAG, GIVE HER THE GOODS??????

Inside the bag there is raw chicken. After being appeased with this treat, Stormfly will (mostly) ignore the intruders. (Mostly) because she may follow them around like an extremely oversized cat after finishing her snack. But she won't actively try to harm them! ]

[muties]

Yeah, probs.

[ Opens door THAT IS NOT A DRUG LAB........ THAT IS A DRAGON OH GOD IT'S COMING TO HER oh the bag ok wow ok ok ok dragons are just big cats ok ] Hey there, Stormfly... pretty girl... such a. Good scalebeast.

[ Opens bag, slowly pulls out the chicken and. Offers it to Stormfly.

Once it's clear they won't become dragon food themselves, Roxy will move on to search the dresser first. ]

[billarious]

[Bill, meanwhile, is....

...gonna hang back and see if he can pet Stormfly some too. DRAGON he has wanted to pet you for so long will you let him pet you...]

Hey there girl! You're a pretty one aren't you? Yes you are...

[But!! So as to be useful, he'll take a look around the room in general. Maybe see if there's anything sticking out or noticeable about it beyond the dragon.]

[brawlhalla]

[ Stormfly will allow all the petting from her two New Best Friends. Apparently the bag of chicken was the In Bill needed to get on her good side??? If Bill's looking for anything that sticks out, he may notice a few drawings tacked to the wall nearest the window. Want to check those out?

As for the dresser, Roxy will find Astrid's clothes more or less neatly folded. She clearly hasn't worn a lot of this stuff, but probably went through it at some point and folded things back up to replace them. On top of the dresser are her rulebook and two envelopes. ]

[muties]

[ Oooh, time to Rudely Pry. She will flip through the rulebook to see if Astrid's made any notes on people or whatever before getting into those envelopes. Sorry bro, but you a suspect and your name needs clearing. ]

[billarious]

[Why yes he will check out those drawings! Thank you for the invitation. Don't think he isn't coming back for you though, Stormfly. You big sweet beast of chaos.]

[brawlhalla]

[ As it happens, Bill doesn't have to come back for her! Stormfly will simply follow at his heels, apparently perfectly happy with the situation. The drawings seem to be mostly maps. Several are obviously of the village, expanding every time, but another is labelled "Dragon's Edge" and seems to be of a different place entirely. The sketches have a specific style and...a lot of skulls. And little stick figure Astrid occasionally dancing on them. And a lot of added defense suggestions. Why don't they have guard towers or something??? Astrid apparently wants some. And also more walls. And traps.

...Her hobbies are clearly a Thing.

There do not seem to be any special notes in the rulebook! It's been flipped through often enough, but no notations have been made. The envelopes, however, seem to be the two motives to come in envelopes. One contains a picture of this guy with no explanation. The other contains no photo, but these words instead: "Astrid Hofferson is in love with Hiccup Haddock".

Feel free to celebrate calling it, Roxy. ]

[muties]

[ That guy looks like a douche. Also, HELL YEAH CALLED IT. YOU GET THAT BOY ASTRID er when you get home I guess.

She'll take the second one just to add it to evidence as Clear Proof Astrid didn't do it because let's be real-- this not "kill two people, bodies in the pool, decapitate and dehand one, electroshock the water, BLOOD TRAI, etc" kind of motive for anyone.

Prying accomplished, onto the closet and the safe too while she's in there. ]

[billarious]

[YOU SWEET, PRECIOUS, PERFECT BEAST OF CHAOS. He is going to pet you so much while he looks at these maps and doodles and things. These are really nice maps? Maybe he and Astrid should collab or something, they could do wonders together. He doesn't have an opinion on guard towers either way, but the skulls and skull dancing and traps are a nice touch.

Buuut nothing really seems like evidence stuff, unless there's some "kill Gilbert and Alisha in some grand elaborate way" trap written down, so he's gonna turn and hug the dragon and then move on to the bedside table. Are you gonna keep following him Stormfly? You're welcome too!!! He doesn't mind!!!]

[brawlhalla]

[ STORMFLY DOES INDEED KEEP FOLLOWING BILL, since he...keeps petting her. She's started to purr, which is apparently a thing dragons do. Who knew?

The bedside table doesn't have a whole lot to it. There's a few snacks stored in there (including some more chicken, which gets Stormfly's immediate and full attention) but otherwise doesn't seem to be anything much of interest. Astrid doesn't seem to have taken a whole lot of stuff back to her room.

The closet has more clothes, a lot of which have been Mostly Ignored. Nothing seems to be immediately amiss with any of them. In the safe are a few folded up letters tied together in a bundle, with a note saying "Get these home if I die". They're not addressed to anyone in the building; there's a letter for her parents, one for Hiccup Haddock, one for Heather, one for the Thorstons, one for Fishlegs, and even one for Snotlout. While Roxy CAN open these, DOES SHE NEED TO... ]

[muties]

[ Astrid we need to work on your ability to wear different outfits.

No, she does not need to. Astrid is not stupid enough to leave a murder confession lying around even in a locked safe, ok. She will put them right back where she found them. She may be nosy but goddamn she is not a monster.

Onto the bathroom! Does Astrid do her laundry in the tub... Is there spaghetti in the toilet... DOES SHE BRUSH HER TEETH... ]

[billarious]

[Bill wouldn't judge her if she did her laundry in the tub tbh, even if he knows how to do laundry in the machine himself.

And...well...surely Astrid won't mind if he feeds Stormfly some of that chicken too, right? What could possibly be the harm of that? There is no harm in that, spoiler alert!

He's also gonna check over the beds while he's here. Hey Astrid do you make your bed?]

[brawlhalla]

[ UGH NO MOST OF THESE OUTFITS ARE SO IMPRACTICAL!!!! Roxy has probably noted Astrid only really wears combinations of things she can move and fight in, and she doesn't feel like a lot of this stuff qualifies, okay.

As to the bathroom, Astrid's bathroom is actually pretty clean? There's a towel hanging up that's a little damp still from her shower the other night, but there's no laundry in the tub, her toilet is spaghetti free, and the toothbrush seems to have been used. There's nothing more interesting than a hairbrush in here, otherwise, honestly. And a pile of dirty clothes which are in a basket she appropriated from elsewhere, but that's it.

STORMFLY ABSOLUTELY ADORES BILL BY NOW, AND THE PURRING CONTINUES...she also eats all of the chicken that comes her way and tries to see if dragon eyes will work to get her more. sad dragon eyes. starving dragon eyes. totally didn't have a full breakfast this morning dragon eyes. lying dragon eyes...

The beds are made with almost military precision. One is pretty untouched - the one nearest the door - while the other has been slept in (but it's still super neat).

Be careful, though, there's a kitchen knife under the pillow. ]

[muties]

[ What a cleanly viking. Your ghost dad is probably proud.

Coming out of the bathroom, ]

Ok, I found Astrid's motive for this week and nothing murder-y. You?

[billarious]

I love this dragon - [Is Bill's immediate response as he continues feeding Stormfly. It's not even going to take lying dragon eyes to get him to do that tbh. It's not like he's ever had any sort of animal companion before that he actually needed to worry about over feeding or spoiling, he doesn't know any better.]

Oh but I did find... [He pulls the kitchen knife out from under the pillow with one hand, holding it up to show Roxy.] This!

[He's gonna just look that over a little honestly. Is it clean? Has it seen use?]

I don't know if this is murder-y or not though. She could just have it to defend herself with right?

[brawlhalla]

[ THANKS FOR SPOILING STORMFLY, BILL, i say, like Astrid doesn't do the same fucking thing...Stormfly will companionably headbutt Bill as she purrs and continues to consume snacks. Tonight, Astrid will go to the snack section of her room and have a headache.

As to the knife, it seems to be entirely clean and doesn't seem to have seen any use. He's probably right about the defense thing, though the only way to know for sure would be to ask. ]

[muties]

Probs. We can ask her, but no one got stabbed this week anyways. Er, that I remember.

[ And Roxy's mostly sure a knife won't SEVER A HEAD... ]

[billarious]

[You're welcome Astrid! But it looks clean enough, so he'll just slip it back under the pillow. They can make a note of it and ask Astrid, but they probably don't need to bring it? Plus how can he accept these headbutts and the purring if he has a knife in one hand? He can't, and that just isn't right. That hand would be better used feeding Stormfly more. Or petting her. Or both.]

Yeah, probably for the best. I can't think of anything else to search in here really, and I'm sure this sweet pea wouldn't be hiding anything from us so I don't know. Think we're done here?

[brawlhalla]

[ STORMFLY HELPFULLY CONTINUES TO LAVISH ATTENTION ON BILL she will completely follow them to the door but not leave the room if they're done and leaving...she's apparently under orders not to leave. ]

[muties]

[ Aw but the dragon is evidence of how cuddly Astrid really is!! ]

Yeah, we done. Let's head out.

[billarious]

Alrighty!

[The dragon is absolutely evidence they are in agreement here obviously she needs to come with. But she gets some extra love before he'll actually leave when she just stops at the door ugh he doesn't wanna leave her behind but he gotta. He'll ask to visit again!!!!]