trustfell | Take Responsibility.

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

My handwriting wouldn't match. Don't go assuming things.

I wouldn't assume such things if you just gave us a handwriting sample. Look, I even got Mikoto's!

[To prove it, she shows him Mikoto's statement.]

Good for you.

[Apparently he's still not budging??]

Edited 2017-10-07 19:23 (UTC)

So now I need yours!

[At least this trial is moving on without them... somewhat.]

No.

[i am so sorry]

Please give me your handwriting sample. I understand Mr. Kimblee is vouching for you, but I would still like a sample from you. I'm sure others here agree with me.

[Maybe a couple of others, but oh well.]

Edited 2017-10-07 19:30 (UTC)

Kimblee's already said it couldn't possibly have been me. You're wasting your time.

Then please give me a sample. I don't see why you refuse to give me one if you truly are innocent.

There's probably no point for him anymore, seeing as Kimblee's vouched for him and all.

I still wish for a sample from him.

[Yuri, even she's not going to let you sway her out of this.]

There must be a reason he's refusing. Besides, what if the two of them are working together?

I really don't think Kimblee's the type.

......That doesn't sound like Mr. Kimblee, to be honest.

Excuse me?

[w o w]

I certainly do hope you have a reason for insinuating that, outside of your own stubborn pride.

I have no reason to other than the fact he refuses to give us a sample. At least we have something in Aligula's writing to have us think it may not be her.

[Which is why she's not so insistent about her.]

Could you convince him to give us one, then?

You really can't accuse me of being an accomplice to murdering Captain Eide and then turn around and expect me to give you something that everyone here acknowledges is pointless to begin with.

(no subject)

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Ugh, you're so annoying, Noble.

[ ...thanks, Aligula, did you have anything else— ]

Gimme the dumb note and I'll tell you if it's his or not. [ |T ] I got all his stupid, booooooooring paperwork, so I can tell you if it matches up or not.

[ just. leave her two awful compatriots alone, apparently, she has decided they're her people and your hassling is not appreciated i guess. ]

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Do you think Kimblee-san would sacrifice himself for anyone? That's very unlikely.

[Yeah, no]

...okay, I get that you are stubborn, but even this is beyond the point of being reasonable. Can't you just chide them for making this their hill to die on and move on to the rest of the trial?

[Like, he's all for calling them children for it, but even this is starting to waste time too.]

You guys are welcome to move on. I'm just going to stay here and see if I can get a sample.

[There are other people here to have a trial!! She's just on her stupid mission now.]

[ Well... ]

Alright, if that's what you want to do, I can't stop you.

[ As always, he'll leave the ultimate decision up to her. However... ]

But, personally, I think it's a waste of time, for a good amount of reasons. One, even if they were working together, only one of them would be able to get out of this alive. None of them strike me as the type to go for that kind of scenario. Second, they were with each other throughout the morning, so they have alibis and there'd be some kind of indication that there was two people involved, if you know what I mean.

What I think we should do is just circle back around to the other evidence and circumstances we know surrounding the case, discuss that, and see if we can come up with something else.

Edited 2017-10-07 19:51 (UTC)

[Archer rubs at his temples and sighs in frustration. He looks like he's dealing with a massive headache right now.]

No. I don't care how many times and how many different ways you ask, my answer isn't changing.

And so I'm not leaving.

[Smile. Smile!]

Have fun wasting your time, then.

[And he'll go back to leaning on his podium.]

[She'll just stay here because she's like that. Even though people are telling her... not to do this but... at least she doesn't have anything concrete on him. She's just stupidly stubborn.]

[You're welcome to stay; he doesn't seem to care. He's not going to be addressing her or otherwise acknowledging her presence, though.]