week 7 - trial; day 2

[vicedirector]

seven vices case 7 trial, day 2 ♫ sunday 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, after which everyone is expected to have cast their votes. >Discuss? victims suspects VOTING cast setting rulebook

Comments

[dhaosu]

[ He crosses his arms. He knew it was coming, he had a bad feeling when that winter coat fit. ]

... Undyne. She could also summon a multitude of such weapons, if I'm correct, and easily cause a good amount of damage without cutting through on the first time with those.

[crazily]

Correct. A spear would have a harder time cutting off someone's head than a different blade anyways. It's not impossible, but if you were running both in the dark and in a frantic state of mind, it's reasonable to assume that an "error" would be more likely.

[dhaosu]

[ ... ]

Mm. And even if that wasn't the case, I truly cannot see any way about it that she wouldn't be involved at this point.

[ And he cannot afford to be biased at this point, he thinks. ]

[detanimetion]

That's exactly what people said the last time I was a suspect, and it turned out that we just never found the actual murder weapon because it'd been cleaned off!

Look, if I was the type of person who'd commit a murder this cowardly and complicated, would I really use my own weapon?! Or make it obvious that a blade was used at all? If we never found one, that'd be as good as implicating myself!

[crazily]

But that was also a kitchen knife or an otherwise small blade. Slitting someone's throat with a kitchen knife is fairly straightforward, but a beheading? That would take a much more significant blade. Unless we've truly missed something quite major, there aren't many things that could be used, and I would say that most of them would be our personal weapons. An sword, an axe, a spear— Things of that nature.

[ He continues calmly, though it's with a shrug. ]

As for the rest, if it was you, I certainly don't think it was your intention to use your own weapon, but it was necessary. To me, the nature of Gilbert's death implies that it was much more hurried, whereas Alisha's was planned. If it were anyone else, they would have had to bring a weapon with them if something unexpected happened and things went wrong. You don't.

[detanimetion]

They didn't actually behead him with whatever they used though. They cut through it halfway and then ripped the other half off - maybe because their knife couldn't finish the job.

[She makes a frustrated sound.] If I was as desperate as you say I was, the wounds would be way different! A spear's way different from a sword, you know - I can probably slice off someone's hand if I was concentrating, but in an actual fight? Where I'd be in a hurry to kill someone? I'd stab them before doing anything else. Slicing through such a small target using the blade of a spear would be way more difficult.

[crazily]

[ He nods ]

I know. That's why I would have to wonder. If you used your spear as intended, then it would point to you without question. None of the rest of us use spears, after all, so those wounds would be quite distinct.

[detanimetion]

None of us...?

[She frowns suddenly.] Hey. Were Alisha's keys found on her?

[crazily]

[ you know at least i'm not playing mr. perfect demon sebastian so BREAK JUST TOTALLY FORGOT... NOT ME... sweats ]

Ah, pardon me, I'd forgotten about Alisha. But her keys were found on her, yes.

[detanimetion]

Damn. Then the killer probably didn't use that, not unless they went all the way back to the pool to replace it.

[crazily]

Which I would doubt, personally. After all, it would require incapacitating her somehow, taking the keys to go get her spear, then running into Gilbert and rather conveniently being able to use the spear to their advantage. Then they would also have to clean and return the spear, then the keys to Alisha. Considering the short timeframe we're considering here, that seems rather far-fetched.

[detanimetion]

Not if there were two killers.

[She pauses, trying to gather her thoughts together.]

It's really far-fetched, but since I know I didn't use my spears and I really don't think Astrid used her axe...let's say someone manages to knock Gilbert out in the lobby first. There aren't any wounds on him other than his face and hand, so I think they must have taken him by surprise and knocked him out instantly, otherwise he'd put up a struggle.

Then the other killer lures Alisha downstairs. If we think they did it by pretending someone was in trouble, then she'd definitely have her spear on her, yeah? We know she was in her room after all, it doesn't make any sense why she wouldn't take it with her if she thought someone needed help. They trick her into jumping into the pool, then toss the spear to the first killer.

The first killer uses the spear to chop off Gilbert's hand and head...I dunno how they ripped it off, but we can get to that later. They take the head to the record store and set all that shit up. While they're doing this, the second killer chains up Alisha and Gilbert and washes off the spear in the pool. They go back up to her room to replace the spear and then come back down to put the keys back on her body and dump it into the pool.

If Alisha entered the pool at around 6AM, this would give them both about half an hour to work with - way too short for one killer to pull it off, but working separately I think it'd be possible.

[crazily]

Well, if that's what occurred, then there's a rather simple way to check that.

[ He shrugs ]

Her spear would smell like the pool's water. It has a strong enough scent that it would likely linger, I'd assume. [ he doesn't know anything about chlorine though and neither do i honestly... if i'm wrong forgive me ]

[detanimetion]

Someone should bring it down then. Not me, obviously. The notes say that they also found a washcloth in her room so we should check that too.

[dhaosu]

... Last time was different. There are only two individuals on this list who could have utilized a bladed weapon very well.

You may have been in a panic, and did not have much choice.

[detanimetion]

They cut halfway through his head before ripping the rest of it off. I wouldn't call that using it well. If he was already knocked out, anyone could have done it.

[dhaosu]

...I see.

If Gilbert was knocked out, however, that would still require swinging a bladed weapon horizontally to lop his head off, correct?

[herbgrace]

That might actually point away from Undyne and Astrid. Beheading someone cleanly while they're moving is difficult even if you have the strength, but if he was unmoving, there's no doubt in my mind they could manage better than we saw if they wanted, especially Astrid and her axe.

[detanimetion]

[She nods.] Any moron can swing a blade up and down, it's not exactly rocket science. But if they couldn't manage to cut through his neck in one go, then they either aren't very strong or don't have the training for it.

[earie]

Or they were trying to make it look that way? [ She glanced at the head once that's enough experience. ] I thought the mess was intentional. So we can't figure out what did it.

[detanimetion]

If me or Astrid were trying to make it look that way, then why bother using a blade at all? It only makes us look more suspicious.

[earie]

What else would you use to take someone's head off?

[detanimetion]

Why would we take his head off at all?! It doesn't make any sense!

[dhaosu]

[ Good. ]

Understandable.

[brawlhalla]

I absolutely could have. The damage I saw [ while standing around during room searches ] is sloppy, to be honest. And if it were me, I wouldn't bother with something dramatic like cutting off their head?

I'd make it a cleaner kill, quicker.