Take Responsibility.

[trustbound]

This particular investigation was likely a difficult one, for various reasons; whether through frustration or sheer disgust at the level of depravity involved, it's been a long day already. It doesn't seem like it will get any easier by the time the door to the courtroom unlocks, gently swinging open to allow everyone downstairs. As always, the stairwell is dark, but the courtroom is already lit up down below, a thin amount of light bouncing up the corridor to guide everyone downstairs; the podium circle stands stark and silent in the center, marking spots for both the living and the dead; by now, the latter far outnumber the former. Kirei, Milla, Angel, and Susan have all had their spots altered, their podiums draped in black cloth and their portraits set atop them; they'll be joining those watching all of you in greyscale as you work today. Do you think you'll do them justice? Either way and as always, the thirty-sixth podium remains empty and unadorned. Once everyone has found their place in the circle, Jericho can be heard over the public-address system; he doesn't seem to have settled any from the investigation. "Peerless, Edifying, and Adroit have all been taken from you - and hey, it looks like you found all of them, we appreciate that. But even if you hadn't, you'd still be down here, and I'm sure I don't need to tell you what you have to do as a result of everything that's happened. This is another one of those things that's either gonna be great or it's going to be terrible, though maybe I'll add in a third option of 'interesting' this time, just due to the setup. As always, you know what's going on here - the innocent versus the guilty. Seventh time lucky, maybe. As always, do your best!" Thirteen Participants remain. We'll see how many leave here at the end of the day.

Comments

[bloodbiter]

I... looked over Susan's body.

[A breath.]

There was a serious wound on her head. I doubt she was hit by anything wooden, because there were no splinters or the like in the injury. There was bruising around it, too. Her right hand was missing, and it, ah, looks as though it was - sawed off. There was a black piece of cloth tied around her wrist, as though someone was trying to stop the bleeding. It was tied tightly, tightly enough that they were really trying to do so, I think. There was also... a note in her other hand, which was tied shut with wire. It said go up and give her a round of applause, everyone, don't be shy here.

[She'll set it down on her podium so anyone can look at it if they'd like to come around.]

She also had some other bruises on her person, so I believe she must have tried to fight back. Lastly... In the room where we found her body, someone had taken a few items from one of the shelves. A can of black paint, a paintbrush, a pair of scissors, glue, and some of the wire.

[chessturner]

A wire...in that case, it seems likely Maxwell-san and Ashworth-san were murdered by the same person.

That'd leave Angel-san as the outlier here. A second culprit, perhaps?

[bloodbiter]

I'm not quite certain. After all, her left arm was gone... That seems similar to the other two murders, since they lost body parts as well.

[matchbreaker]

[ Applause. Applause as her hand was hacked off. Elda kicks Fern's podium again and squeezes Ditty, who looks up at his sort of friend with some concern. Elda then forces an exhale and: ]

That note's made of hacked up letters too, right?

[bloodbiter]

Yes, it is. I wish we might be able to check everyone's handwriting, but...

[matchbreaker]

That doesn't matter. It's probably mostly Tarrlok's.

[ she slaps her hand on her own podium ]

After all, I found where they were working on it.

[bloodbiter]

I suppose it's good to know, but... Everyone received those notes. It doesn't help us narrow down who may have done this, the way handwriting might have. That's what I meant.

[matchbreaker]

Yeah.

[ She taps the notes on her podium a few more times. ]

The notes are pretty much made of everyone who made a public notice. The only ones excluded are my own and the ones for Aligula's parties.

[bloodbiter]

Really...?

[She pauses, frowning slightly in thought.]

Just not the two of yours? That's strange.

[matchbreaker]

There might be some others too, not everyone made public notes for invitations. But we're conspicuous by our absence given my own were recent and Aligula's are numerous.

[bloodbiter]

That seems... A simple mistake to avoid. Do you think someone was trying to point our suspicions in your direction?

[matchbreaker]

If they wanted to implicate me, they chose the third victim poorly.

[ she says this darkly, and then kicks Fern's podium again for good measure. ]

None of these would have been my first choice.

[bloodbiter]

Perhaps not, but the idea here is that were anyone to succeed, the rest of us other than the person they chose to leave with would die regardless.

[matchbreaker]

You're missing my point. Even that being the case, ... Susan in that regard isn't bad, but I'd've killed someone whose been more helpful in solving these cases than Angel or Milla.

[innocentloveholic]

Mine and yours? [ ??? ] That's so totally rude! Did they think we wouldn't fit in or something!?

[ ...this is probably not the aspect of this she should be mad about, but. ]

[matchbreaker]

We do both have a fairly distinct method of writing.

[ Aligula's cutesy script and her own impeccable cursive. Not that it would matter for those cannibal notes. ]

[innocentloveholic]

[ Mrrrrgh. ]

Well, yeah, I guess so... [ huff. ] I'm gonna chalk it up to them not appreciating our lovely handwriting.

[notaccurate]

Maybe you two have a secret fan.

[innocentloveholic]

Oooooh, if that's totally the case, then they've got great taste~!

[matchbreaker]

[ Elda exhales through her teeth and then bounces Ball-Ditty off her podium ]

Or we're meant to be implicated, but that's so esoteric.

[destage]

[Sayaka perks a bit and stares at Elda.]

They'd have a pretty hard time of it, though, wouldn't they?

[She says this...almost knowingly.]

[matchbreaker]

Yeah. [ She nods at Sayaka. ] For me, at least.

[innocentloveholic]

[ —and there goes her cheer, jesus. ]

I don't know what esoteric means exactly, but I'm so not being here for being implicated for anything.

[matchbreaker]

[ Elda... sighs. She sighs, as her anger doesn't have much of an outlet. Ditty seems to respond to her mood, becoming a more solid cube so she can move it around in her claws. ]

I wouldn't want you to be either, Aligula.

[bloodisthicker]

...

Or one of them didn't have any of their own notes, but they figured they should leave someone out just for the sake of implications.

[Elda is not the one he's trying very hard not to glare at over here. HE'S TRYING. VERY HARD. TO WAIT FOR ALL THE EVIDENCE. SO HARD.]