SECOND TRIAL

[keyofimagination]

[When the investigation is done, the door to the boiler room once again opens, with the elevator doors readily awaiting the remaining guests. Like last time, once everyone is buckled in, the elevator moves backwards and then up, with The Narrator’s voice echoing in.]

Dipper and Merlin, despite their age difference, had a lot in common. They both are fascinated in science, the unusual, and an escape out. Last night, they decided to stay up late, only to both find out that they are forever in an eternal slumber. And they’ll soon learn that they’ll be stuck in a never ending nightmare called… The Twilight Zone.

[Once again the elevator stops abruptly.]

You are about to discover what lies beyond the fifth dimension. Beyond the deepest, darkest corner of the imagination… in the Tower of Terror.

[Did you expect the elevator not to drop again? Because too bad, the elevator drops again. After a few more drops, it once again stops at the top floor, The Tip Top Club.

The soft music fills the room and the Tip Top Club looks almost the same as it was last week. Except now Preston, Finnick, Merlin, and Dipper’s pictures on the wall are also in grayscale. The Narrator is still sitting on the stage, but he is now sitting in the chair like a normal human being. In his hands there is the all-too-familiar Talky Tina, that The Narrator is thoughtfully looking over. When the guests enter the club, he finally looks up.]

Welcome again to the trial room, everyone. I hope you remember all the rules from last week, but if you need a refresher I may explain the rules again.

Comments

[nocasetoobig]

[WELL THAT KIND OF PULLS HIM OUT OF THE LAST OF HIS MELANCHOLY, STUPID ELEVATOR. Chip - still damp - pokes his head out of Tadashi's pocket, grimacing before hauling himself off completely and shaking a bit to try and get some of the water off. Urgh. Hope there's some kind of towel here...]

...all right, what'd everybody find?

[darnsitall]

Mr. Narrator, may I ask you a question?

[keyofimagination]

Of course, Sally.

[theduck]

[Yeah, knowing the drop was coming didn't make it any better (or less nauseating) this time around. Still, might as well get this part over with.]

Er, I found some scissors. In the lobby. They were buried in one of the plants. There's some fabric stuck to them, and I think it used to be white, but...

[He holds up the bag pointedly, and both the scissors and the fabric are covered in blood so. Yeah. There's that.]

Other than that, there were a bunch of snacks lying around on the lobby floor. Probably not as important.

[darnsitall]

Do you enjoy being our host?

[darnsitall]

Scissors! I noticed a pair were missing from the first aid room along with some other supplies. It seems like someone really cleaned the place out.

You don't think they could be the murder weapon, do you?

[theduck]

I, uh, didn't get a good look at the body, but they look sharp enough to do some damage.

[He kind of bolted as soon as he found it. There was quite a crowd around the first aid room afterwards, though, so surely someone got close enough to tell how he died.]

[nocasetoobig]

I didn't see Merlin's. But Dipper's...[he swallows] I didn't see any cuts or bruises. He just...drowned.

[keyofimagination]

...I enjoy observing all of you, even if this isn't necessairly the most pleasant conditions.

[theduck]

[He hates having to suggest it, given how smart Dipper was, but-]

Are we... I mean, do we know the deaths are related...? Dipper could've- people drown on accident all the time. He could've fallen in.

[hallotween]

Why would anyone use scissors as a murder weapon? There have to be better ways.

[coulombslaw]

Maybe the killer felt they had to be "creative" [He makes the air quotes with his fingers] It's not like there are lots of weapons in here.

MODS

[nocasetoobig]

I just...I can't see him doing that. He'd have tried to get out! What would he have been doing there, anyway? The pool cover was on, and there was a big hole in it!

Wait...hole, scissors...

[He tries to remember. Did the hole in the cover look cut, or ripped?]

[darnsitall]

You'd be happier if we weren't all here, then.

[hallotween]

But, knives. In the kitchen.

If you wanted to stab someone, wouldn't you just use... [no she's making herself sad...]

[coulombslaw]

If you went around holding a big kitchen knife, you'd be suspicious. Scissors are...slightly less suspicious. They may have tried to catch him off-guard.

[sentree]

[ Well, give Thalia a few minutes because she is, like last week, not taking that elevator ride too kindly. This whole setting she seems vastly uncomfortable in, but, hearing this, she speaks up. ]

I examined Merlin. He had a deep stab wound, in his chest. From what you're telling me... It was made by something sharp that wasn't a knife or a sword. Probably, it was the scissors. He had wounds across his arms and his hands that seem to have been the kind you get while fighting back.

In...terms of other strange things. His clothes were damp. Not from blood, but from water. Additionally, it looked like he fell on to the cot. Like maybe he tripped backwards.

That's...everything I found.

[hallotween]

Coward...

[nocasetoobig]

...if his clothes were damp, maybe he was trying to get Dipper out of the pool?

I'm phonetagging so I can't switch accounts but

[keyofimagination]

[It was, but not necessarily from a cutting tool. It was a hole that looks like it might have been created by impact.]

[keyofimagination]

That's not at all the case.

o7

[nocasetoobig]

...no, I don't think someone cut it open. I think that must have been made when he fell.

[sentree]

Or the water splashed on him when Dipper fell. Either way, it places him at the pool.

[coulombslaw]

How sturdy was that pool cover?

[Sounds pretty flimsy if someone made a hole by falling on it, but better confirm that]

[nocasetoobig]

I could walk on it, but not very easily. And I didn't do it without having Tadashi help me with a lifeline. Thanks again, by the way.