DAY 03

[thecomputer]

[Good morning! The doors unlock at 07:00, the enforced sleep effect wearing off just a few minutes prior. The body will take some time to find this time - because Zolf was hidden in the depths of the Labyrinth!

The Computer doesn't speak up until someone finds him.]

Good morning, Citizens! Last night, participant Zolf-O-DEF-1 was terminated due to Communist action. There are now 10 Citizens and 5 Communists.

Trial 03 will begin at 20:00.

[Friend Computer will remain to answer questions for ten minutes. One hour after the body is found, the usual fleet of cleaning droids will clear up the corpse and surrounding mess.

On the profiles list, Zolf’s full User ID is now visible, and his status has changed to DEAD.]

Comments

[angry_jerk]

[Wow that really pisses him off. So much so that he briefly loses the ability to speak and just sputters angrily for a moment.FUCK OFF!

[schrodingers_man]

[ Yomiel didn't actually completely know what would happen when he pressed that button. But he sure wasn't expecting swords.

For once, he doesn't look away from the body, though. This one's his doing. He can't look away from that--he won't. It's revenge. Of course he wanted that. They deserved it. They all deserved it.

The mania in his face fades to an impassive expression as he slips his PDC back into its pocket, but the way his shoulders move with his breathing betrays the rush of adrenaline he's still feeling. ]

Two down.

[angry_jerk]

That is not art. That is a plethora of cubes jammed together in some perverse attempt to defy god and nature. Meets dog vomit and cat urine.

[fullonbraced]

It's not just cubes! There's some pens and staples in it too!

[And lo and behold. There are.]

It's a metaphor, man!

[in_plain_sight]

[No, no, this is a good thing. If someone more intimidating pulled that they'd be in a bleeding heap by now. But Mukuro doesn't think Dan's ass is worth kicking! He's very lucky.

Unless he has like straight-up superpowers or something? I don't know the canon but I haven't gotten the impression he does. Either way, it doesn't change her impression of him, she's judging by appearances here.]

[angry_jerk]

Its a metaphor that you suck at art.

[fullonbraced]

Hey man! I'm not as good as the Professor, but I'm trying!

[...She pokes at a statue sadly.]

That's the only thing I can do!

[standbyrival]

[W O W]

[Paul was hanging back, just about when Yomiel started yammering away. He doesn't react until the whole SWORDS FOREVER THING]

[theeeen he just laughs]

Guess I was right, that was well worth the risk.

[murimurimuri]

[Shrieks in an unpleasantly high-pitched way and flips around to not have to look at the body. It takes him a second to regain his calm, but once he does he asks the most natural question:]

Is... is her monkey okay?

[thefaceofjustice]

Well yeah! Aren't you? We have an officer down!!

[thefaceofjustice]

[Wow she just got murdered super hard. At least Bobby's not going to try to arrest Yomiel since it's essentially self-defense for the group.]

[thefaceofjustice]

[GOD WHAT DO ACE ATTORNEY DETECTIVES EVEN DO AROUND BODIES IF THEY'RE NOT TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHO MURDERED THEM...]

And we have a lead on a third...

LATER, IN THE LIBRARY

[plentyfriendly]

[Phi wastes no time in the Emergency Backup Labyrinth, and comes across the library fairly easily after realizing the layout was basically the same.]

[She starts looking through the books, noticing that most of everything is blacked out, but then a particularly familiar-looking cover catches her eye. Opening it, however, she finds... this entire copy of Schrödinger's Cat completely blacked out.]

...well, it figures.

[...She'll just take this with her, provided the computer will let her.]

[schrodingers_man]

[ Yomiel hasn't been reacting to everybody else's reactions, but for some reason what Paul just said has caught his attention. ]

What did you just say?

[standbyrival]

[. . .oh right you're still actually there tho]

[he closes his mouth, and then EH. He is happy enough she's gone. He shrugs]

Remember when I said I investigated her last night? I might have been pulling your leg.

Good thing she actually was a Communist.

[schrodingers_man]

WHAT?

[ Yomiel grabs Paul by the front of his jacket and it's probably a good thing that he doesn't actually have the arm strength required to pick the kid up like that. ]

What were you thinking?!

[standbyrival]

[he's like barely five feet tall Yomiel you got some weak arms]

I was thinking we need to get rid of the competition and FAST before we all end up dead! Didn't you notice how she was acting last trial? How defensive she was of that Robin kid? She has no real argument, and tried to compare me to Rin. It was so obvious!

It's a good thing you're so gullible or we would have never gotten this far.

[schrodingers_man]

[ Look that's like almost 100 pounds he's a nerd he can't bench that much. ]

You stupid brat! What if you were wrong?! Do you have any idea how much you just risked?

[ He fucked up once with Moge-ko, but at least a trial isn't a finality. If he'd just blown the Troubleshooter's one chance on an innocent Citizen, he wouldn't even care about the penalty, Paul would be so dead right now.

So he's lucky he was right. Yomiel lets go of him with a shove and then turns to leave, giving one last passing word over his shoulder. ]

I don't even care if you're the real Loyalty Officer or not, don't talk to me again.

[standbyrival]

She died once already. I bet she didn't even mind it.

[QUIET AT THAT BIT THOUGH.....then he just snorts, letting him go]

That's fine by me. Your usefulness has run out, anyway.

[lexicalscope]

You didn't need to do that!

[Whoa, lookout, tiny robot girl with a big gun and a pissed off look to her face, coming your way.]

If you knew, you could have pushed the button at any time! You didn't need to torment her!

[lexicalscope]

But even if we're right, we're killing someone who's done nothing wrong besides being on the wrong team. I...I know we have to do it, or we'll be killed instead...

I'm a soldier. I'm not used to killing someone who isn't actively trying to kill me.

[schrodingers_man]

[ Yomiel looks at Curly impassively. Either he doesn't believe she's going to shoot him or he doesn't care. ]

She knows exactly who killed her. Everybody does. That's more of a kindness than the Communists give their victims.

[plentyfriendly]

I wonder if this would be any easier if we knew they were all safe somewhere. Or if they didn't really die.

[She's beginning to feel bad here. About a few things.]

[lexicalscope]

[Well, she's not really pointing the gun at him. Not deliberately. Really, she's just keeping it handy. You know. In case he tries to choke her or something. ]

That would have been better than taunting her with it!You made sure you got everybody's attention, and you made a point of gloating about your power over her. She may have been a communist, but she was still a nice person. That's more than I can say about you.

We might be on the same team, but from here you still look like a bad guy.

[lexicalscope]

I know I'd find it a lot easier. We could treat this as a big game. Unfortunately the stakes are higher than that. There are more of us than there are of them, so fighting our best will maximize the number of survivors...

...but that doesn't make me feel any better about being forced to kill people. It's bad enough having to hunt down people who had the misfortune of being placed on the wrong team, but we've also got a chance of choosing poorly and killing one of our own.