MOCK TRIAL

[notjustanytoon]

[Perry the Platypus has died. There is no doubt about that. Those of you who were hoping that nobody would give in to the judge's demands have swiftly been proven wrong.

The students are hoarded to the studio lounge once again, where a large door has appeared, seemingly from nowhere. Inside, defying the laws of space and time, is an incredibly large room, bigger than any of the others. It's boring and brown, a perfect courtroom, and seems far more maintained than any of the other rooms.

Three very large framed portraits hang ominously over the whole proceedings. The first depicts an old mansion, decrepit and decaying, with an oddly purple tint. The second features a vintage building, tower-like in size and scope, against the backdrop of a bolt of lightning. The third...is considerably harder to make out. Namely, while a few bits of the picture appear to still hang there, it by-and-large seems to have been torn and clawed at by some very very big claws.

There is a circle of podiums, 27 to be exact, standing around a large bubbling pool of you-know-what. Be careful not to trip, kids. Each of these podiums bears a student's name, a small stool for sitting, and a screen and keyboard. You can guess what those are for, can't you? The podiums for our three minuscule friends come with stairs to reach the top of them, of course. 2 of the podiums stand empty, adorned with mini golden oscar statuettes depicting Edgar Balthazar and Perry the Platypus.]

Once everyone takes their places, Doom appears, sitting at a chair placed in front of the portraits. An ideal place to overlook these proceedings.]

The trial in the case of Perry the Platypus's death shall have very simple rules. You have accumulated enough evidence over the past hours and must now figure out who is responsible. When I call the vote, you shall type in the first and last name of the individual you hold responsible.

[His expression lights up just a little.]

Succeed in accumulating a correct majority vote, and you shall live while the culprit is punished. Should you fail to gather up a majority, or vote incorrectly...

Well. I suppose you'll find out.

[You have the evidence you need to piece this together, but can you apply it properly? Is there another way out of this situation? You'll just have to put your heads together and find out.]

(ooc: welcome to the mock trial! for those of you new to this, threadjacking and pointing out contradictions while contributing to the discussion is encouraged. if you have any questions, feel free to ask your mods!)

Comments

[tonewlengths]

[Rapunzel is trying not to stop and examine how ridiculous this all is, that is a one way ticket to despairing too much to deal with crime.] A suit? What was odd?

[defyingfrigidity]

There were initials on the tag: PPP. I didn't know what that meant, but Fiddleford had a picture...

[She turns to the man in question.]

Do you still have it with you?

[terribibble]

I do! I do. Hold on.

[He rummages inside his coat and pulls it out, holding it up. It's of a kind of weird possum.]

Does anyone recognize it?

[tonewlengths]

[...What am I looking at. Shakes her head.]

[pinkflip]

...Um, ew. [SHE CAN'T HELP IT, IT LOOKS GROSS--]

[hitontheheadasachild]

...uuuuh?

[She didn't even know what a platypus was what even is this]

[defyingfrigidity]

... It didn't occur to me earlier, but does that creature remind you of those other animals that were following Doom around? Could there be a connection?

[And if that's the case.... was it really one of their fellow captives that did this...?]

[pinkflip]

Those weasel-things? Uhh... This I think is a weirdo-possum. I think they're close to the same animal? [OH SO YOU KNOW WHAT A WEASEL AND A POSSUM ARE, BUT PLATYPUS IS OUT THE WINDOW HUH KIM]

[terribibble]

[Y'know, Fiddleford, if you'd just majored in Biology this would be sooooo much easier.]

Says possum right on the paper, though I don't think whoever did this sketch'd ever actually seen a possum.

It was in a folder with a lot of other papers. Same folder I found those pictures of Jessica in. There weren't any weasels but I wouldn't rule it out.

[pinkflip]

I mean, I found Jessica's dress in there a few days ago. [Is that related? It seems important.]

[hitontheheadasachild]

[Oh!]

Maybe one of them matches the page missing!

[defyingfrigidity]

[KIM'S GOT ONE UP ON ELSA SHE'S NEVER EVEN SEEN THESE THINGS BEFORE????]

But they're still so.... different? If you compare them to Perry, or any of our smaller companions, they're more similar to each other than any of them. That has to mean something, don't you think?

[pinkflip]

...Could be. Do you think...one of those weasel mooks are the jerks who did that to Perry?

[terribibble]

If they did then this whole trial's a dang joke.

MOD DOOM

[pinkflip]

Kinda already feels like it. [She speaks up and addresses their Dishonorable Judge.] How come you're making us do this, anyway? A trial? What's the point of it?

[notjustanytoon]

The purpose of the trial is simple. In order to achieve victory, the culprit has to "get away" with murder. This is something of an excercise for them, to prove that they are capable of doing so. That's in simple terms, mind you.

While I'm at it, I am willing to state that whatever nonsense you're spilling out is not relevant to this case. I didn't kill the platypus, and neither did my men.

[pinkflip]

[well that's great to know- while she has him here--]

Since you're being so forthcoming, mind answering a few other questions? Like, what happens if we don't figure it out? Or why there were twenty-five of us, but twenty-seven podiums?

[notjustanytoon]

...there were twenty-seven of you when you first arrived here. I would suggest you count the number of bodies in the room right now.

Should you fail to vote correctly, either by not attaining a majority vote or by simply voting for the wrong suspect...there will be a mass execution. The only one who will be exempt from this is the original culprit, who shall go free.

[exclamationpoint]

I don't think we'd be here if that was the case. [He's just saying.] It'd be like yesterday.

[hitontheheadasachild]

Yeah, but he 'does what he wants', too.

I sure wouldn't put it past him!

[kindaruledatit]

Yeah but.... he didn't do this yesterday.

[hitontheheadasachild]

Yeah but...that's because the old guy attacked him!

[defyingfrigidity]

I don't know if we should immediately jump to that conclusion, but it can't be a coincidence that we found it at one of the scenes of investigation, can it?

[hitontheheadasachild]

.......Y.......huh.

[Good point there]

[kindaruledatit]

[Shrugs wildly!]

Looks like something Stan would put up in the Mystery Shack.