foolishmortals | Trial 1

[After everyone has finished their investigations, everyone finds themselves gathering in the stretching room once more. The door shuts behind them. The corpse swings above the proceedings, ominously, and wandering eyes can't help but draw their attention to it.

It especially draws attention when it appears to move upward.

The whole room seems to move downwards, as the walls get longer and the ceiling gets further away. A snide comment from your Host echoes throughout the room:]

Tell me. Is this haunted room actually stretching? Or is it just your imagination?

Find your place in the graveyard. I will be with you shortly.

[After a few moments, the room stops. A new door opens.

It appears to be an outside area, covered in overgrown plants and moss. An incredibly high gated fence surrounds the whole area, and perpetual darkness (accompanied by a bright full moon) sets the mood. A cobblestone path goads you on through this area, leading to a circle of 25 tombstones, each labeled with a participants picture, name and their birthdate. They're arranged to face each other, ominously enough. On top of each tombstone is a small typewriter-esque keyboard.

The only unique tombstone here is the only marked for Karolina. It's adorned with a red rose and a glass of cognac, and her tombstone is marked with a limerick:

Here Lies Karolina Dean
She might have had a rough life
But she really didn't deserve that knife

As everyone finds their places, the Host speaks.]

The keyboard on your tombstone shall be used for voting who you believe committed this crime. Due to the...nature of some of our participants, I will be forgiving misspellings and accidental presses, but each guest shall only receive one vote, and we go by majority rules.

Take all the time you need, please. There's no turning back now.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

So you accidentally stabbed her? Then went door to door looking for help? ... It's hard to believe no one heard you, to be honest, but I guess anything's possible in a haunted house. But how do you accidentally stab someone else?

Yes, I'd like to know how it happened, as well. For all of our sake.

[She sighs. This is the part she was sure nobody would believe.]

We were cutting up some vegetables to cook, and Karolina cut her hand. It was nothing serious, but it left a mess we had to clean up. She was cleaning up the blood, and I grabbed the knife to put in the sink and wash, but I...I slipped.

[......Oh. Oh, no, he can only imagine how hard this must be on her right now.]

And you stabbed her. And then you tried to help, but...it was a stomach wound. You didn't have enough time.

[Yep, and her voice is starting to crack now as she talks.]

Karolina said she- she's got some kind of powers, it makes her glow and her blood look like it does. She said that she could heal it, if we took off her bracelet, but...

...But what? What happened when you took it off?

[It clearly didn't work.]

It didn't work.

[Yep, very obvious.]

I didn't know what to do, I'm not a doctor. All I could think of was to try and get something to stop the bleeding. So I went to my room, and I got my sheet, but I thought that maybe I could wake someone up to help me.

I'm sorry. I'm so sorry that none of us woke up. You...you were very brave, Miss Mulan.

[She shakes her head.]

It wouldn't have mattered anyway. She was already dead by the time I got back. I still would have been to blame.

You tried all you could. You're not a doctor. Even—even I would have been hard pressed to save her in time.

[This is the worst and he hates it.]

(no subject)

sentadaughter - 2017-06-24 19:54 (UTC) - Expand

sixfingeredstan - 2017-06-24 19:55 (UTC) - Expand

[He's not crying. For her sake, he'll wait for that (it'll happen, though, alone in his room where no one can see. He'll cry and scream and rage at how unfair it is, how she's so young, they were both so young and it was just a mistake, all where no one can see him because men don't grieve in hysterics, like the ones that want so badly to come out now).

But he's pale and his hands are clenched tight into fists to keep them from shaking, and all he can think about is one more door.]

I-is there anything you want me to do? To...return for you?

[She hesitates for a moment, wondering if she even has the right to make a last request like that. But eventually she does decide to go for it. If they get the chance, then closure would be good for her family.]

The armor, if you can. It's my father's. And if you find a sword, one with a dragon carved into the hilt, that's my father's sword. It would be good if he had those things back.

[She pauses and just breathe for a moment, though it's easy to tell that she's barely holding it together when she speaks again.]

Can you...tell them gently? I'm their only child, they're not going to take it well

[When she starts to waver, he goes over to her. He hesitates, and then reaches out to put his hand on her shoulder, leaving it up to her if she wants a hug.]

I will.

[His own voice is thick.]

I promise. I'll tell them about how brave you were. I'm- I'm good at that.

sentadaughter - 2017-06-24 20:01 (UTC) - Expand

toogoodforhim - 2017-06-24 20:31 (UTC) - Expand

sentadaughter - 2017-06-24 20:48 (UTC) - Expand

toogoodforhim - 2017-06-24 21:20 (UTC) - Expand

I wish...I wish I coulda done somethin' for you.

[He shuffles in his seat atop the tombstone and jumps down to talk over to Mulan.]

And I'm sorry. [He reaches out a hand, just as she had done for him.]

[She will take that hand without hesitation.]

Keep moving forward? That would be something you could do for me.

[He holds it tight.]

I will. No matter what happens, I'll always remember you. [He places his other hand on top of hers.] You're a brave girl. Always have been.

[A smile. Things won't be okay, but just for a while, they can pretend they are.]

.....Nothing worked, did it? We figured out early on that some of her powers didn't seem to be working in this dump.

[And now, that seems to be accurate.

Damn.]