Turnabout a la Mode! Day 1 Investigation

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The journey is far less painful than might be expected. After arriving in the Champ de Mars in Paris, the arriving strangers go unnoticed by the crowds all around, the people too busy whispering to each other in horror. Several are crying and others are carrying their children away from the Eiffel Tower which stands high above in the dark Paris night.

The area is hauntingly beautiful, with lights covering the trees of Paris's park and banners talking about the great Tic and Tac's final Parisian tour before going worldwide. So why is the entire place so somber?

The fact that the police are scrambling about is the first clue that something is very wrong. As the Visitors were warned, their powers are completely gone, leaving only their mundane skills. With no Persona to call on, it will make this entire journey far harder... but thankfully Minerva can be spotted close by.

But before anyone can do anything, she's being carried away by the policemen, put into a car, and carted off.  The police bar the perimeter, looking at you in annoyance.

"Mesdames et Messieurs, the show is over, and this area is a crime scene. Please move back so as not to cause issues with the investigation."

It seems something terrible has happened...

But just as you're pondering your next move, another car screeches up beside the yellow tape, and a man with a fervent expression and a rather alarming mustache leaps out of the car.  Gesticulating wildly, he descends upon the scene like a storm of extravagantly expensive cologne.

"Get back, get back!  A terrible crime has occurred here!  And I, Chief Inspector Otto Gaffe, swear that I shall not rest until justice is served!"

A flailing arm barely avoids breaking a nose as he impatiently pushes you out of the way.

"Who are you?  ...Is that an attorney's badge?"

Perhaps this would be a good place to start.

((There will be no tag order so as to speed things along!  But each group should only respond to the portions marked for them (A, B, or Defense).  When all the necessary clues have been discovered, we will initiate Day 1 Court. You may respond!))

Comments

please correct me if I've interpreted the procedure wrongly, I'm kinda really confused orz

[thirdarrow]

So, the magic show seemed to involve dropping the hammer from all the way at the top of the tower, whereupon it would hit the ground. Whether it was supposed to strike the victim (non-lethally, of course) or not was still an unknown, though. It was probably intentional... just not lethally.

He ought to go back and look at the hammer again.

Taking a pencil from his pocket, he began to sketch a drawing of the computer panel and release mechanism. Having come from the past, all this new technology was foreign - thus his lack of a camera. However, his eye for detail and drawing skill meant that the sketch would serve the purpose of a photograph in the investigations. His book's pages could be wiped clean once they returned to Hinoto-Ri, anyway.

The descent from the tower took quite some time, and he needed a while to catch his breath. Afterwards, he returned to where Shelly and Bobby had been talking. Shelly seemed to have replaced the cloth, which meant he had to move it again...

Walking towards where the hammer was, he lifted the cloth's corner and took a look at the metal instrument. Perhaps even tapping it gently with his pen, just to make sure it was indeed made of metal.

This is totally fine, just imagine a huge metal tower

[turnaboutalamode]

> Sketch of the crime scene recorded.

As he returned to the crime scene and lifted the sheet, no one seemed to stop him. The policemen were busy filing papers, the other two were talking. At the sound of his pencil, it echoed back gently; this was certainly metal. From the way the stage had cracked it seemed to be deliberate as well; if he looked closely enough he could see that the stage itself was made to shatter easily, perhaps to add to the grandiose finale.

Probably not so much for a death, however.

The body's head was where part of the giant hammer now stood. From the way the victim's neck disappears into it, little is left to know exactly what might have happened.

She's dressed in a tight-fitting outfit with a few pockets, not leaving much to the imagination either, stained with the blood as red as her nails from her very recent, unfortunate death.

hmm okay, I see!

[thirdarrow]

Hm. There was still a very minor chance of this being an accident... but murder presented an overwhelming possibility. Who would have a suitable motive, though? Perhaps someone more familiar with the place would have an answer.

He made a note to interview more people.

Throwing the sheet open, he made a sketch of the deceased and the presumed murder weapon, leaving out some details on the corpse for the benefit of anyone else who might be looking at it later. After he was done with it, he knelt down and scrutinized the corpse intently, looking for any other injury or physical abnormalities.

Another issue that needed to be clarified was the nature of the 'mishap' - whether the hammer was replaced, or the victim was pushed. A pity, then, that there were no existing recordings or photographs...

[turnaboutalamode]

> Sketch of the victim recorded.

Thankfully when he does, the policemen are too busy answering someone else's questions to know what he's doing. It might be a good idea to finish this quickly!

The victim itself, apart from a completely obliterated head does not seem to have any physical markings. As he pats over the corpse, he will quickly notice that one of the costume's pockets has a bump.

[thirdarrow]

His time was running out fast, so he decided to take a look at what was in the woman's pocket. He examined it very briefly, enough for him to commit its image into his memory, and then quickly replaces it into the woman's pocket, throwing the sheet back over.

Before the policemen notice, he quickly moves away from the victim and turned so that his back was to them, giving the impression of sketching the scenery. However, he was actually putting down the image of the object, as it was still fresh in his mind.

[turnaboutalamode]

> Sketch of the item recorded.

If he showed the sketch to someone else, they might be able to tell him it looked like a USB drive, unless Takakage already knew what it was.

[thirdarrow]

Well. The item was certainly foreign, but it seemed important. He had half a mind to retrieve it and give it to a Visitor more acquainted with modern technology, but it might complicate the court process later.

The next course of action would be to ask a native.

He took one last look around the area for anything out of the norm that the magicians may have left on the stage, before leaving to find anyone who might be able to give him answers.