Ei's footsteps echo as he enters the first cell.
"Prisoner 001, Emily Lewenhock," he reads off a notepad before looking up (quite a ways—why are half these prisoners so tall?). "Am I saying that correctly?"
Emily turns from where she'd been washing her hands, looking a little blank until she catches up. "Ah, yeah. I mean—yes, sir?"
With a satisfied nod, he seats himself on the bed and invites the prisoner to do likewise, albeit at a safe distance. Emily goes along with it, idly drying her hands on the sheets.
Ei informs her that, naturally, she'll be going first, and asks if she'd like to discuss her crime with him before they get started. She's not sure what to say. She protected something, but no, she didn't really take any lives to do so. She doesn't understand what all this is about or why she's here. Ei admits it's quite a lot to get used to, even from his side, but they won't be able to completely orient themselves until they figure out how this projection thing goes.
He stands. "If you're ready?"
It sounds like more of a command than a polite request, but Emily follows suit anyway, tucking some hair behind her ear.
"Let's see what happens, I guess."
---
Despite the promise (implication?) that the rest of you would be free to watch, Ei shoos you away so the chosen prisoner can be guided down the long hallway alone. Once they reach the courtroom, though, the wardens are too occupied having the prisoner sit in the lone chair properly to keep you away.
So a few of you make the trek yourselves, finding the hallway only marginally less lonely with your company. The walls still seem stifling, their silence somehow out of place.
But the courtroom is wide open, if barren, and there's not much to be uncomfortable about until the prisoner of the day is secured in place. A strange...—machine? Somehow enough of it remains in shadow to obscure any useful details—emerges from the wall to hover around the prisoner's head, then everything but you and the wardens is swallowed by utter darkness.
It only lasts a moment, though. Once the shadow subsides, you find yourself seemingly somewhere else...
