FIFTH TRIAL

[rech]

[Today marked yet another death, and your good friend Randall is here to hype all of you guys up for this! As the room stretches, he speaks.]

You all know the spiel here, don’t you? Stretching room, I’m the Phantom, always my way, blah blah blah. We should get on with this. I want to see how it ends.

[A candle is lit and a voodoo doll placed out for Prince Kit. Your shitty ghost pirate friend is prepared.]

Trial start.

[TRIAL START!]

Comments

[hasit]

[Leia's here and she brought her fucking coffee and she's just sort of staring into space from her podium because at a certain point the grief becomes white noise in her head and it's easier to just power down that part of her brain than to give in to sadness and upset.]

Evidence. We all...we all know the drill.

[not_over_yet]

There was a bookcase atop the body--oddly, the books from it appear to have been removed first. The bookcase caused him no visible injury, and the absent books were carefully placed around the rest of the room. There was also a chair knocked over.

In the casino, there was a table apparently knocked over, with some playing cards scattered nearby. The table wasn't damaged at all though, and combined with the oddness of the bookcase, I'm wondering if the scenes were staged to some degree.

There was one book missing entirely--The Metamorphosis, by Franz Kafka. Did anyone happen to have taken it back to their rooms at some point?

[stanbyme]

I didn’t know we had a library til today, so it wasn’t me.

[bayoublues]

Kit was tryin' to make his way through the books in the library...I think when I last saw him, he was readin' somethin' called On The Road? Maybe Kit took it.

[doopdoll]

What? Were they not strong enough to just shove the whole shelve over? [WHO TAKES ALL THE BOOKS OFF FIRST?]

[downtonabbeast]

[Beast is here and he didn't bring coffee but he brought the porg. If anyone needs therapy (and he wouldn't blame them), Monsieur is available to hug.

Beast of course looks as morose as usual. He pauses by Kit's spot for just a second before he finds his own. Every week this song and dance gets more difficult. There's so many empty spots.]

[hasit]

[Ackbar is at Leia's heels, and after only a moment's hesitation he goes over and curls up atop one of Beast's feet. Therapy pig is here I guess!!]

[angelgoatdemon]

[The goat opens his mouth a little, then clears his throat. People may or may not notice there's now a dog collar on him!]

There were bruises on Kit's neck, caused by strangulation. Beside his body was a broken wand, snapped clean in two .

[The goat, he speaks like a man! He's clearly not used to this.]

[not_over_yet]

[ ! ]

You can talk?

[ CLEARLY THE IMPORTANT QUESTION TO ASK ]

[hasit]

[Oh. Wow, who's going to talk next week, Monsieur les Gros Yeux?]

It's good to hear from you, Lekmet. The bruises...were they hand-shaped?

[bayoublues]

[that was probably important but HUH??? WHAT???]

Lekmet?! How--Wh--

[nachosquire]

[GAAAAAAAAASP]

Lekmet!!! You're! Saying! People words!!

[Sorry but that's extremely exciting.]

CATHERD

[rech]

That’s enough.

[Randall cuts in. He is wearing a plastic necklace around the brim of his hat, one of the ones from this week. You might be able to make out “PRINCE KIT + RANDY” in beads.]

You need to get your evidence in order. That was my friend, and he died, and I took his necklace because I loved him. There is a dead body. Somebody has died. There is a stick that probably could’ve exploded and blew up 20 more people.

That might have been interesting to watch.

Anyway, get a move on.

[faciliheir]

[. . .]

You took the necklace off his corpse.

[upgradeit]

[You know what, for once he can't even like. Be mad. About Randy??]

Right. Okay. Did anybody find anything else?

[stanbyme]

Wait, back up, what was that about a stick that could blow up?

MTB: START

[downtonabbeast]

Enough. All you have are several coincidences. I did not kill Prince Kit, and having removed my bandages or read a certain book aren't proof.

[But you're welcome to try and proove it anyway.]

[stanbyme]

Aw hell.

Fur woulda wiped off prints easy as gloves.

[hasit]

Your Majesty, is there any chance you were there last night?

[faciliheir]

[GOD CJ YOU BETTER BE FUCKING RECORDING THIS SHIT IS ABOUT TO GET WILD]

[athleticallyinclined]

A coincidence is as good as proof when it comes to a monster like you!

[ THIS IS THE BEST DAY EVER ]

[downtonabbeast]

[The Beast sighs, bites his lip, and reaches into one of his sleeves.

He pulls out the magic wand and says those three words...]

[holdthetrumpet]

[And suddenly Kit is standing at the Beast's podium, looking very scared.]

You have to understand. It was... we planned it together.

VOTING

[rech]

Alright, now for the fun part.

Go ahead and jot down the culprit's name...and don't make Hades come back here.

[hasit]

[assuming everyone is done BRAWLING LIKE ASSHOLES, Leia gives a resigned sigh, eyes pressed shut, and pricks her finger.]

Prince Kit

Execution: Snuff Out the Light

[rech]

Another day, another watching a good friend get executed.

[Kit is pushed out onto the stage. He staggers, then rights himself, and when nothing immediately happens he relaxes just a little. There's no rocket or tube with a fan at the top.

Of course all that means is that there's something else in store for him.

There's a noise like the rumbling of an avalanche or the tearing of a steel beam and a gigantic woman's leg descends from the rafters above the stage. How did it fit up there? Disney magic. It's wearing a beautiful glass slipper.

Kit has a split second to look Very Confused before the foot hauls back and kicks him into the far wall. He slides down it and struggles to stand, but the foot moves forward and traps one of his legs beneath the toes. It drags him backward this way, grinding his leg against the wood of the stage. It twists and snaps beneath the pressure and he screams.

It is very likely Kit has never been severely injured before in his life.
The foot retreats upward and he stays down on the stage, panting, one leg stuck at a grotesque angle behind him.

It comes down again with a crunch on his back and he screams again. A few more sharp stomps and a chorus of cracks later he's a shuddering, crying mess. Red is starting to stain his white wedding suit in places and there's a dribble of blood leaking from his mouth -- massive internal damage, no doubt, because how could any of his ribs survive that onslaught?

But he isn't allowed to just slowly bleed out. We did that last week.

The foot returns and this time it doesn't stomp, it grinds, grinds with the veracity of someone trying snuff out a cigarette or the life of something small and soft. Soon the screams and sobs die off and clear glass of the shoe is smeared with blood. All that's left on the stage is a crumpled mess. Kit's body is allowed to stay there in the spotlight for a moment so everyone can get a good look before the foot nudges him off stage left like it's kicking a piece of trash out of the way, leaving only a trail of red behind.]

[rech]

For the record I am kinkshaming Kit right now if anyone asks.