Take Responsibility.

[trustbound]

Another weekend, another investigation - another day spent gathering as much evidence as possible relating to the death of yet another Participant. If it's routine by now, it's a sick one; either way, the door at the bottom of that stairwell swings open once more, revealing the darkened stairwell below. The courtroom stands illuminated at the bottom, sending a slight amount of light up the stairs and guiding everyone downwards; the podium circle remains as ever in the center, waiting for everyone to take their place around the darkened pit below. Your losses by now are impossible to ignore; almost half of your original number is dead, and regardless of how today goes, you're going to drop below that threshold by the end of it. Along those lines, four more podiums have joined the ranks of the deceased. Terumi, Mikoto, Orihime, and Estelle have all had their podiums draped in black cloth, a photograph in greyscale keeping vigilant watch over the proceedings as they unfold. As always, the thirty-sixth podium remains empty and unadorned. Once everyone has found their place, Jericho can be heard over the public-address system; he seems calmer than earlier, perhaps, but no less interested in what's about to ensue here than he usually is. "Noble has been taken from you - and it was a hell of a way to go, especially for someone that we'll readily admit probably didn't deserve to be here. But either way, you know what you have to do here as a result of her passing. This is either going to be great or it's going to be terrible; in the end it's up to you guys to decide how things end today. You all know the stakes. The innocent versus the guilty; the game goes on, regardless of who's around to play it - as always, do your best!" Seventeen Participants remain. However many leave this place is up to you.

I dreamed of a world so far from here that's not on the map

[matchbreaker]

To my Fellows,

What is "good" and what is "evil" is something that can be debated for longer than most of you will ever live, as is the nature of men. These debates are without meaning in my eyes. Despite that man's belief, men are not born to be good or evil, and what flaws they have in personality or character are things that can be overcome through their choices. Both for better and, as we've seen, for worse.

Life is not without suffering, but I should hope that every one of you is loved by someone. Loves someone. Many of you probably know that some of those loved ones are entering into an experience similar to our own. The terror of that is an undeniable sword which hangs above our heads.

Do not isolate yourselves, and hold onto what belief will best inspire you. And if you wish to join us for another one of these gatherings, meet us in the dining hall at 8PM.

Sincerely yours,
Elda Marker

PS: Those who can taste will once more provide food.

[ Well that sure is a lot of words which is being put under your doors, put on the fridge, and generally distributed around. It... uh, sure is a letter? It's in the same impossibly perfect cursive as last week, and is written with an almost angry bravado. Because even if she was vindicated at the end there, she was vindicated by a (by his own admission) evil priest. So. That feels bad.

Anyway, with some effort, the dining hall (which now has a lot of candles at Cabanela's little shrine, even with adding the two more here) is filled with food: Susan's got the booze as usual but also a big pot of mac and cheese. Adelina's done her noble best with some finger sandwiches. Yuri's brought some sweets that Estelle might've made. As for Elda, well, she still basically can't cook, so what she provides instead is:

A few board games including a Settlers of Catan, Sorry, and Candyland knock off. I guess we're playing games. Or at least she's suggesting it, who knew? ]