Take Responsibility.

[trustbound]

And once everyone has done what they need to do and gathered at that bottom of that stairwell in the dormitory, the door before them once again seems to unlatch and swing outward, lightly and of its own volition. It's the fourth time in the span of about a month; perhaps there's some strange, dark sense of familiarity in it. Perhaps, too, that stairwell leading further down is beginning to feel familiar, dark and unwelcoming though it is; the courtroom is still illuminated at the bottom of it, sending a slight amount of light up the stairs and guiding everyone down to that stark room made of concrete and steel. The podium circle stands still and silent in the center, waiting for everyone to take their place around the darkened pit below; once again, there's been a change in the circle itself in the form of three more podiums joining the ranks of the deceased. Fern, Tabby, and Sigrun all have their places in the circle marked with black cloth and a photograph in greyscale, keeping watch over all of you in a manner both unseeing and vaguely judgmental. As always, the thirty-sixth podium stands blank and unoccupied among you. Once everyone has found their place in the circle, Jericho can be heard over the public-address system; he seems to have collected himself at some point during the investigation, it shows in his voice, as little as anyone really wants it to. "For better or worse, Boundless is no longer among you. I'm sure you guys all know what that means by now, what you're here to do. And before you ask, because I know it's going to come up eventually and now's as good a time as any - yeah, we'd have you down here if someone tries to be a big damn hero for the group, because someone's still dead because somebody fucked up. It just means the dead person and the guilty person are the same person. So you know what, the game's the same, no matter what happened here - innocent against the guilty, fourth time, let's go! And as always, do your best!" Twenty-six Participants remain. However many leave this place is up to you.

Comments

[perpend]

Remember that a bottle of sleeping pills is missing.

[heritrix]

I thought Luca said they weren't. It was just a few pills out of one of them, right?

[notaccurate]

Yes, it was just some of the pills.

Also, this theory is strange. If she used the pills on herself, why would she have a cut on her arm?

[bloodisthicker]

...I'm wondering if there's a possibility that she used the pills on herself and then, before they actually killed her, someone saw her lying there and decided to take advantage of the situation.

[notaccurate]

Mmm, I doubt that. Remember Rule 3? If she had fallen asleep, she would have been punished for it. I imagine that is especially true if she did it to herself. And a rule violation wouldn't count as a murder, I think.

[perpend]

What if she was unaware that her drink had been spiked?

[notaccurate]

That would probably be more in line with a murder, yes. If someone drugged her to get the chance to murder her, then I am sure the coordinators would not immediately strike her down for a rule violation, and would instead wait it out to see if a murder happened.

[Jericho in particular seems like that kind of person.]

[firstaid]

I think if someone drugged her it would be a different story. So I agree with what's being said here.

[bloodisthicker]

We're getting into murky territory rules-wise there, though, since she wouldn't have been falling asleep. She'd technically be in the process of poisoning herself, and someone else just finished the job while she was incapacitated.

[notaccurate]

Mmm, I suppose it matters little in the end, since someone else killed her anyway. Regardless of who gave her the pills, it had to be the wound on her arm that killed her.

[paralogical]

No, it could matter. Don't feel like saying why though.

[notaccurate]

[Okay Mikoto you're getting a look.]

Why speak up at all if you're not going to say anything useful?

herp I can reading comprehension

[perpend]

Still, there's something incredibly fishy about this whole situation.

tw: suicide

[introspects]

Right, so...it may have been staged to look like...Sigrun-san had committed suicide. If she was knocked out before the murder happened, the culprit would have had time.

mods

[firstaid]

But if she was knocked out, wouldn't it violate rule three?

[trustbound]

[Yes, yes, hello, you are getting the most put-upon sigh, but - ]

There's a difference between falling asleep and being knocked out. One is a rule violation, the other isn't.

If you knock yourself out with poison or otherwise, that's kind of getting into weird grey areas that I don't really feel like explaining because I'll get like eighty more questions, so whoever brought that little snag up? Thanks, I hate it. But for the sake of clarification, intent matters. If you're trying to kill yourself, it doesn't count as rule breaking. If you're...I don't know, deciding to take sleeping pills in the library for some reason I'm sure is known only to yourself, then you can go screw yourself for trying to get around the rules and Alena will go deal with you. Make sense?

[notaccurate]

[Since he brought it up in the first place:]

I am ever so sorry for making you do your job. I hope you can forgive me for that.

[trustbound]

I mean, I'm just as sorry about your lack of basic common sense and being unable to tell if suicide is the same thing as falling asleep?

[firstaid]

We just wanted clarification for the sake of solving this. You don't need to be so rude, Jericho!

[trustbound]

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

[firstaid]

[Well, fine then. She'll just huff and go back to the trial. At least they got useful info.]

[notaccurate]

[WOW RUDE]

And I'm sorry you didn't think to have clear rules from the start, so that these questions wouldn't come up later.

[trustbound]

Likewise sorry that apparently I didn't idiot-proof them hard enough. I'll be sure to keep you in mind in the future.

[notaccurate]

[Welp.

Time to find a way to personally spite a disembodied voice]

[paralogical]

[ Okay, that's actually kind of funny. Sorry, Luca, but he's gonna laugh a little at this. Not, y'know, a lot. But a little. ]