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

[hesperos]

In comparison, did either of them appear to be more skilled than the other?

[destage]

I...honestly wouldn't be able to tell.

[Like, they were both better than her, and that's honestly that.]

I'd say that they were both the same, but that's just out of what I saw. They both offered good advice.

[hesperos]

[ Oh well!! ]

That's fine--I think that still helps narrow it down some, anyway. So, we've got 'handwriting and skill with crossbows'. I guess motive's another thing to consider too.

[notaccurate]

We should also consider who was on decent terms with Sigrun, if they were shooting crossbows together and then went to the bar afterwards.

[hesperos]

Yeah, that's one possibility. Though I wouldn't really know who's been real friendly with her lately.

[ninehundredlives]

She was friendly with all kinds of people. Even Alena.

[heritrix]

Formality is another factor at play, besides the handwriting. The note we have is well-worded, indicating someone who's educated.

[hesperos]

I'll keep that in mind.

[firstaid]

Well, Elda may have pen and paper so we could check handwriting. Perhaps we could borrow some from you, Elda, if you have them?

[chessturner]

Keep in mind there are no guaratees anyone's writing will match the note.

[It'd be kind of easy to fake your handwriting if you're asked now to write]

[firstaid]

I'm still going to try, Kyrie. Please do not interfere or suggest otherwise. It's better than our guessing we've just been doing so far.

[matchbreaker]

... Huh? Yeah, sure.

[ She's got the notepad that she drew the runes on (and some other sketches from earlier days) and a pencil here! You want it? ]

[firstaid]

[Oh sure! She'll take those from Elda!]

[matchbreaker]

... You should we hash out more of the motive? I guess no one would really be willing to say one way or the other about it, though.

[chessturner]

We'd have no way to be certain if they're telling the truth, too.

[Kyrie knows very well she's being kind of suspected, and while she's not happy about maybe having to reveal what she'd like to change, her pragmatism states being honest will lead to not being accused anymore. Her dignity and personal pride will have to be left aside]

[matchbreaker]

That's the bigger issue, yes. I mean, there's tells in someone's body language and all... [ But then Kirei's theory makes sense to her, so it's all probably moot. ]

[evilfrenzy]

True. But you know, it was pretty surprising to me that we apparently managed to hit the time limit when there was an incentive like that on the table.

[matchbreaker]

Same, honestly. It was tempting to me too, insofar as I understood was Jericho was talking about.

[blackmass]

Should we even bother considering the motive? It seems very like Jericho to claim the offer invalid once the timer ran out--would the rest of you truly think otherwise?

[matchbreaker]

Wait, why would you think that?

[ . . . She apparently didn't think of that. ]

[blackmass]

...Why wouldn't you? I obviously know Jericho no better than the rest of you, but his incentive regarding our secrets held a reasonably clear limit--'whatever's in there is going to be made known to everyone if you don't kill someone by the end of the week.' I have no doubt that had no one been murdered, their timer would have claimed one of us and all of those secrets would have been made known.

I see no reason to assume anything else he offers remains on the table, but as I may be alone in that perhaps our hypothetical culprit knew no better.

[destage]

[Mrrrr, talk of the motive just makes her look kind of flatten a bit.]

They probably wouldn't, but even then, it'd have to be someone with very little faith in their ability to get a place in the world on their own.

[She is still fucking pissed with that??]

[matchbreaker]

That's how I feel about it to some extent, but there's a few specific uses for it... well, to change things which can't be helped, even for me.

[paralogical]

You might need to remind me what it was.

[matchbreaker]

Seriously?