Take Responsibility.

[trustbound]

And once everyone has finished their investigations of the building, the door down at the bottom of that stairwell in the dorms seems to once again have been unlocked; it opens slowly and as though of its own volition, swinging outward lightly after an audible click of the latch. Hopefully everyone knows better than to stand in front of it by now, but if not...well, it's gentle enough to provide some sort of encouragement to move without straight-out hitting anyone. For the third time in as many weeks, the stairwell that door leads to is dark; the only light visible is what managing to get in from the courtroom below. The room itself remains as unforgiving and imposing as ever with its walls made entirely of concrete and steel; the podium circle stands starkly in the center, wooden structures ringing the darkened pit below. Again, there's been a change in the podium setup; Blue and Walt have joined those with podiums draped in black. Their profile portraits are arranged atop them, greyed-out and observing the proceedings, along with the rest of those that you've lost. As always, the thirty-sixth podium stands empty. Once everyone has found their place in the circle, Jericho can be heard over the public-address system; he seems to have gotten himself together a little more since morning, though he still doesn't quite seem up to the usual. "Methodical's been taken from you; almost all of you know why you're here right now, and even if your secrets aren't safe anymore, I'd still suggest doing your job to the fullest - unless you consider those secrets worth dying over, even if they aren't worth killing over. As for the guilty party...your secret's safe with me, but unfortunately? You're not safe at all just yet. Whether you manage to actually ensure that you are by the end of the trial is a different matter, I guess. Innocent against the guilty. Let's go round three, see how well you all come out. As always, do your best!" Twenty-nine Participants remain. Let's see how many remain at the end of the day.

Comments

[captainobnoxious]

[STOPS BEFORE SHE DOES IT




THAT LOOK LOOKS BAD.]

What?

[sleepytimegal]

Why- why are you trying to put it in your mouth-?! That could be dangerous!

[captainobnoxious]

Nothing ventured nothing gained?

[BUT MORE SERIOUSLY:]

The quickest way to find out what something is to give it a little taste.

[innocentloveholic]

Or sniff it.

[ come ON sigrun....... ]

[captainobnoxious]

[.......... sniffing it would be a good idea.]

My taste's better than my smell, but I gotcha. Point there.

[sleepytimegal]

Yeah, but the quickest could also be the...deadest. We're dealin' with a case where there was...poison, so- here, let's sniff it instead? ...Carefully.

THIS TIME FOR REAL

[captainobnoxious]

[FIIINE.

She'll smell it.]

[trustfellows]

[I mean. Congratulations! It's disgusting. ...What are we trying to figure out about it here.]

[captainobnoxious]

[Is it like. Bitter smelling? What kind of disgusting are we talking here, actual garbage, rotting body, medicinal. Something like that.

She is not a professional in the least but surely there is something outside of "this is disgusting bathroom jelly".]

[trustfellows]

[...so since you have Experience With This Shit, it's probably closer to something organic as opposed to medicinal or something synthetic - not quite rotting body but definitely organic matter.]

[captainobnoxious]

[....... Wow.

Yeah, she definitely has enough slime experience for This Shit. It would've been like eating a troll and

let me tell you

disgusting. Biting them is bad enough. This shit? No bueno.]

Well, it's from something that's alive, I can say that much? It's not man-made bathroom jelly. It's natural home grown bathroom jelly.

[Vegans love it!]

[hesperos]

So from something that's alive... that isn't from anything human or man-made, huh?

[ Weird... ]

[captainobnoxious]

Yup. Could be from a plant or some kind of animal, or... if any of our local not-humans can make this kind of thing in their body, I guess.

[Like secretions or spit.]

As far as I can tell anyway.

[firstaid]

So combine it with what Susan said, then perhaps it could a form of side effect from someone here?

[hesperos]

Yeah, maybe...

Since if the one who killed Walter had ended up poisoned, they'd have shown the side-effects at some point I'd think. It's probably also why Walter had the chance to even get as far as he did, now that I think about it.

[ Because if someone that capable/strong was at that level already, they should've been able to finish him before he reached the billiards room. ]

[captainobnoxious]

[Good points from the Vesperia kids.]

Now I'm really glad I didn't eat it.