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

[ninehundredlives]

[Sigh. Just give her a second to re-center herself.]

There's not any bloody reason for him to cut her arm like that either. Unless he was...I don't know, across the bar? If he was facing her - it would be easier to start farther away and pull it back towards himself, and just sort of hope nobody noticed.

I mean, I don't know if he did any of that.

[matchbreaker]

Yes, if the point was to seem like a suicide, the whole thing seems intense. But let's keep on that train: him being on the opposite side of the bar. Does that mean anything else?

[ninehundredlives]

That he made the drink, obviously? God knows why Sigrun would let him after last week, but there's no other reason he'd be back there.

[heritrix]

She didn't really hesitate when it came to putting things in her mouth... Bathroom goo, and all.

[ninehundredlives]

God, good point, but let's never talk about that again?

[heritrix]

More than happy not to.

[It is the noodle incident we never speak of.]

[matchbreaker]

If that's the case, it puts the drugs in his hands. We know that he drugged Archer before now... Of course this is supposition, but continuing on that line of thought, he drugs her, and then he cuts her arm.

But when does all this happen? I like Aligula's bleed out theory, but it is sort of complex.

[ninehundredlives]

[Susan leans against her podium, looking down into the pit, obviously thinking aloud.]

If Sigrun were capable of coming to the foyer when Jericho made his announcement, I believe she would have. Even if she were with Kimblee, she would have cared enough about one of us maybe getting punished again. So...yeah, maybe she'd already been drugged by then? He wouldn't have had to cut her already, he could have gone back after Tabby died. Maybe he left her there to die from the overdose, and then decided to speed things up?

[matchbreaker]

Yes, Sigrun has been on the call to come to every summons of Jericho and meeting.

[ So she agree with that, so that's... the timeline? Mmm. ]

So in that situation, that means that the announcement from Jericho interrupted the murder?

[ninehundredlives]

Did Archer say Kimblee was in the room when that woke him up? I've honestly lost track at this point.

[matchbreaker]

Archer [ she glances at the man for him to confirm or deny if he wants ] said that he awoke with the announcement from Jericho and then went back to sleep, with Kimblee waking him before the trial started. Kimblee's story [ this one ] he woke up with him there and Archer didn't seem to disagree.

[ninehundredlives]

I'm not sure if we can really take that for gospel, considering Archer's state.

But either way, he could have drugged her and left her whether he made it back to the room before that or not. It really just changes what made him leave.

[matchbreaker]

I agree. I get the feeling Kimblee's largely not lied to us, just told strange half truths, but we can't trust his version of events precisely.

[ See: "I won't be executed" = "Already fucking dead" ]

[evilfrenzy]

[ALL RIGHT THIS IS A SHITSHOW BUT RIDEAUX IS JUST GONNA TRY TO HELP OVER HERE TOO...]

If I recall, she even said something about wanting a drink with him at that trial. But she was lamenting about it because he claimed he doesn't drink.

[ninehundredlives]

Well, some people don't. You can still have a drink with them, just order them something virgin.

[evilfrenzy]

Exactly.

[matchbreaker]

--You're right, I recall that too! And he had said that he could be there, he simply would not drink!

[ Okay he didn't Literally say that but. ]

[evilfrenzy]

[Oh, good. So he was remembering that correctly.]

Perhaps they were following up on that conversation?

[matchbreaker]

They most certainly could have done so, it's true. That at least confirms that Sigrun would not hesitate to drink with Kimblee, despite the poisoning dangers.

[explosivecombat]

That's because I don't. I like having my wits about me; it's been like that since I was sent to the front lines.

[evilfrenzy]

[Rideaux's tone remains perfectly polite here, but there's definitely an edge to it after his reaction to Kimblee's earlier words.]

Oh, I'm not trying to insinuate that you were lying. That's fair enough. I am simply trying to recall the exchange.

[heritrix]

It would likely mean he poured her drink.

[matchbreaker]

[ Well. ]