FOURTH TRIAL

[splitaseam]

[To what I'm sure is everyone's joy after a sad investigation like that, after everyone reaches the Stretching Room, Oogie's voice can be heard.]

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

[Well at least he's honoring Ghostave's memory, except he starts laughing, almost tauntingly, after he says that.

In the very least the graveyard seems identical, with three new epitaphs for our dearly departed.

Here lies Lea
Slaying bugs he made a name
And got sent to the deadliest game

Here lies WALL-E
They were our dearest friend
But that didn’t help them in the end

Here lies Tarzan?
????
?????


... Ok then.

Oogie speaks before everyone can get to their tombstones.]

Don't keep me waiting!

Comments

[toogoodforhim]

You said it broke something... inside him. That would have "killed" him. A lot of the instruments were in kind of rough shape, do you think that a cello could have hit him hard enough to break that?

[terribibble]

If someone swung it with enough force, maybe. They'd have to really be tryin' to hurt him. That'd explain why the cello was all in pieces, but it doesn't explain why some of it was chewed up to sawdust unless pieces got-- got caught in his machinery, or somethin'. Which is a distinct possibility.

Someone could've just as easily smashed it after the fact and planted it.

[He works very hard not to look at Mike and his long metal staff, which could easily batter a robot to death and smash a cello.]

[capulion]

That is... an interesting point. Is a ch-ello strong enough to break the stone Wally was made from? He was... dented.

[toogoodforhim]

...If he was still alive when we found him...

Wouldn't it have to be someone who knew when to stop?

[terribibble]

... Yes. Someone who'd recognize signs of a breakdown startin'.

[sixfingeredstan]

...Someone who's seen plenty of robots meet their end.

[terribibble]

[Okay. Okay, no. They have to think about this logically. They can't keep sidestepping it.]

But he... He was talkin' about gettin' people out. About bein' willin' to take the fall for that until he found out it'd get us all killed.

Don't you think he's the sort of boy who'd rather come forward than risk everyone else gettin' hurt on his account?

[Unless Mike is a really, really good actor, but somehow he doesn't think so. Mike's been nothing but genuine this past month-and-some-change, in Fiddleford's opinion. Why would he work so hard to gather evidence and move things along otherwise?]

[sixfingeredstan]

I know. I know. But he also didn't know that it'd get us all killed until this morning. And...

[Ford mops a hand over his face.]

I think so, too, but he's also just a boy. Just a boy, not even eighteen, for the love of Cthulhu. Maybe he's just...lost his nerve. Aren't we all afraid to die, at our core?

[toogoodforhim]

But why would he have showed us his... Whatever that thing was? If he was guilty wouldn't it have been easier to just... list off other options instead?

[sixfingeredstan]

Because...if we thought we could trust that he was telling the truth, by showing us he had nothing to hide...perhaps he could throw off our suspicion.

[kindaruledatit]

...Wait, you really think so? [Even if it's just a theory, she's casting a leery look across the gravestones. She doesn't...]

I mean, if he showed it, and it didn't look like it was used...

[terribibble]

[Ford, come on, please. Let him believe it can't be Mike. Let him find an excuse, any excuse. Please.]

... Yes. I can't -- I can't argue that.

[sixfingeredstan]

I very much wish that you could.

[aboyandhiscar]

You know I can like, hear you guys, right?

[this is REALLY AWKWARD]

[kindaruledatit]

[frick]

Sorry! We're just... [Nah, there's no real excuse, is there?]

We're really tired, dude.

[aboyandhiscar]

S'cool, cool. I get it.

[kindaruledatit]

...We'll figure this out. Trust us, we're not just gonna try and claim someone did it out of the blue.

[Not.... not like last time.... This is Different.]

[aboyandhiscar]

I know you guys will. I wouldn't mind normally buuuut it's kind of everyone's necks on the line.

[terribibble]

Just... I don't want it to be you, is all. I really, really, really don't.

[So he has to find reasons that it's not. Let him have this.]

[sixfingeredstan]

[YES, VERY THAT. Ford's over here looking morose.]

[aboyandhiscar]

[u guys...Mike huffs, putting a hand on his shoulder.]

Just do your best, alright. You're gonna get through this.

[wannagetsmote]

Pretty sure an instrument could kill one of us. You almost broke my face on a manjo. [ He tasted blood for hours, Fidds. Hours! ]

[terribibble]

Oh, sure. I keep Betty in tip-top shape though is the thing. The instruments here aren't bein' looked after near so well.

But that's why I wouldn't rule it out as a possibility. A cello could do that damage if it was still sturdy. And... and it's like I said earlier, the obvious answer's sometimes the right one.

[Which is not usually how his brain works. The obvious answer to him is usually the one he discounts first because his brain likes to leap to the wildest conclusion and go from there. But he can't do that here. He can't. Jumping to conclusions almost got Star killed last week. No more.]