Take Responsibility.

[trustbound]

Once again, as people finish their investigations and make their way toward the door at the bottom of those stairs in the dorms, the door down there is unlocked once again. It opens as though of its own volition, with a loud clicking sound and a soft outward swing, not firmly enough to harm anyone who might be standing in the way but enough to give them some slight encouragement to move. The stairwell it leads to is once again dark, the only light coming in from the courtroom below, if it can really properly be called that. It stands as cold and unforgiving as it did last week, all concrete and steel and the podium circle in the center, surrounding the darkened pit in the middle. Nothing can be seen down there for the time being; it simply seems like a large black hole leading nowhere. Three more podiums have joined Jean's in being arranged differently from the rest; Caren, Yosuke, and Chitoge have all joined the ranks of the deceased, their podiums draped in black with their profile portraits sitting atop them, greyed-out and watching the room with unseeing eyes. The thirty-sixth podium remains empty and blank, as always. Once everyone has found their place in the circle, the public-address system comes to life once more, and after a moment Jericho's voice can be heard "Dexterous has been taken from you; seems like a lot of you were friends with her, and you all know why you're here by now and what you're supposed to do. So hopefully you guys won't be disrespectful assholes again and expect me to make you give a damn this time! Be self-centered about it all you want, just do your jobs. After all, it's in your best interests to do that. As always, do your best - I'm looking forward to seeing how it goes." Thirty-one Participants remain. However many are left at the end of the day is up to you.

Comments

[blackmass]

...

You're saying that she was resetting the timer?

[matchbreaker]

I don't know, that sounds right stupid to me. But that's a pure chance thing, right?

[heritrix]

She wouldn't do that at the cost of her own skin. Even if she did, shouldn't it be seven days now?

[It's been a week since Jean died.]

[icysemblance]

Not necessarily. We don't know whether the timer is always the same. It's possible it's entirely random.

[ninehundredlives]

Alena told me it wouldn't get shorter, at least. I don't think she would lie about that.

[Other stuff, probably, but the rules seem straightforward.]

[zomgboom]

But we, like, do? Susan said Laney told her the timer won't get shorter, only longer.

[icysemblance]

We don't know that she didn't lie about it.

[zomgboom]

Nah, Jeremiah Bullfrog is, like, pretty anal about the letter of the law and not the spirit. She wouldn't lie about a lot of things but not about, like, the rules of the game.

[ninehundredlives]

That's my thought. The one thing we can trust her on...

[evilfrenzy]

[After Tabby speaks:]

Plus, Alena doesn't really beat around the bush with answers. She'd probably refuse to answer entirely before lying.

[blackmass]

It certainly does sound idiotic. But her willingness to confess leaves me wondering if the goal was really her own salvation.

Kill one to save many. It's a common moral dilemma.

[notaccurate]

And if she is convinced that she has bad luck, then perhaps she thought she would be the first to die by pure chance anyway. So if she was going to die regardless, in her mind, then why not save others in the process? Something like that?

[blackmass]

If that should be the truth, then her selflessness is...

[Kirei trailed off, the smile on his face looking very fixed for a second or two.]

...commendable.

[explosivecombat]

And I suppose all of this 'commendable selflessness' is why she put us through a trial and didn't just confess?

[blackmass]

And how do you think Jericho would react, being denied a spectacle he clearly enjoys so much?

[explosivecombat]

I'm fairly sure what Jericho wants in this situation doesn't matter - the condition for Rule Seven is going undiscovered, nothing more. There's nothing that says we can't aid in our own discovery, or that we even have to try to remain undiscovered at all.

Honestly, if you lot are going to try to be altruistic in future, the least you can do is go out making Jericho impotently angry.

tw: suicide mention

[ninehundredlives]

You don't have to kill someone else to reset the timer.

[Stated quietly and factually.]

[explosivecombat]

Ah, did you verify that for us...? Consider it appreciated.

[...That is probably not the reaction he should be having to that, but.]

[withabigsmile]

Ding ding ding! This is why it's so easy to trick silly boys.

I did this completely for selfish reasons, but I'm not going to wriggle around when I know I'm beat!

[notaccurate]

[That actually gets Luca to respond in annoyance.]

Well excuse me for wanting to believe that sometimes people can be motivated by things that aren't entirely selfish. I will be certain to assume that everyone is only looking out for themselves from now on.

[icysemblance]

Resetting the timer makes a whole lot more sense than just being tired of being here. We're all probably tired of being here on one level or another, but I think resetting the timer...

[She shakes her head.]

...it at least means something. It's buying us all time.

[matchbreaker]

That's too altruistic... isn't it?

[ Like, she brought it up, but it's still bothering her. Buzzing in her head like something she can't quite come to grips with. ]

[icysemblance]

Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. I don't think it is personally, but I can't say the same for all of us.

[heritrix]

[...I mean, Rin fundamentally does not understand that logic, and a comment like this is making her angrier. It's exactly why she got so pissed at the last trial. But Rin manages to keep her chill here, speech short and clipped.]

It makes no sense if you were to ask me, but Blue's not one of those people, so we can drop that.

[icysemblance]

I'm not so naive as to think everyone is altruistic. Not everyone is going to think like that, and I don't think that's an intrinsically bad thing.

[People suck, honestly, and Weiss knows that.]

I just - and this is naive, and I'll be the first to admit it - think some people do want to give people a chance like that. It's stupid and I know that.