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

[innocentloveholic]

[ ... ]

You should be angrier about being implicated too! I totally appreciate the sentiment, but like... You should think about yourself toooo, you know?

[matchbreaker]

I know it's not me, and I have a perfect alibi as well.

[ She shifts around the cube, finally setting cube-ditty down. ]

I'm too furious to fly off the handle again.

[innocentloveholic]

Ooh, really? Is there another romance blooming around here~?

[ aligula no ]

[matchbreaker]

No, no. Nothing like that.

[ In spite of herself, that makes her laugh a little, she waves a hand ]

It's a different sort of love.

[innocentloveholic]

[ aww boo. ]

Love is love, Indomitable. I'm glad you could find something here~! Even if romance trumps all, in my totally biased opinion.

[matchbreaker]

Yes, as am I.

[ Even if it was terrifying for a long time. It still is, on some level. ]

I hope you've found some love here too.

[innocentloveholic]

...I don't know if I'd call it anything like that, but I've made some totally great friends, at least!

[ Does that count... ]

[matchbreaker]

Good! Glad to hear it, girl!

[ Like... sincerely. Even if her laugh is edged with a lot of anger and perhaps a bit more evil old lady than usual. She's...

Look, she can't help but have some suspicion, even if she doesn't want to. ]

[innocentloveholic]

[ ...Right back at you, girl friend. Alibi doesn't mean much to her, given what was up the last time there was "an alibi" involved. ]

[chessturner]

What's this alibi?

[matchbreaker]

Sayaka was with me all night. I didn't really sleep.

[ Hence why there's bags under her eyes. ]

[destage]

Yeah...she watched over me last night.

[She's thankful for that much, kind of smiling a bit.]

[chessturner]

I see. I suppose that means you can confirm she didn't leave your side at any point. That's good.

[Because you can confirm that, right?]

[destage]

...I didn't wind up getting myself to sleep until fairly late last night, but...yes, I can confirm that much.

[That, and she's got enough faith in Elda.]

[matchbreaker]

I just didn't sleep. I'm usually nocturnal.

[ Even if she was up ... far too long at this point. Yawn.

... Which probably does leave a few unaccounted for hours but not much. ]

[innocentloveholic]

[ ...she doesn't waaaaaaant to say this, she likes Sayaka and Elda, they're two of her aforementioned friends...

But ultimately, it's her life over anyone else's, right? ...She's still gonna lay her head down on her podium and siiiiiiiigh before she speaks up. ]

None of that totally matters if you two killed together, like Tenacious and Reserved did.

[destage]

Absolutely not.

[Aligula, do not even go there. Sayaka's look settles into a glare, and...]

...Her watching over me was a preventative measure for that much.

[innocentloveholic]

I was just saying, Attentive!

[ Just... putting it out there. ]

She mentioned the whole "multiple people saving people" thing to me like, not that much earlier, and then with you two having an alibi together, and... You know? [ A soft groan. ] I don't want it to be either of you, because I like you, and I'd tooooootally love it if I could go back to having nice parties without being super freakin' mad about stuff after trials!

[destage]

Yeah, I get that much, but that's why she was watching me in the first place.

[...Sayaka averts her gaze a bit.]

And I wanted to make sure she wouldn't leave and...have something stupid happen to her, either.

[innocentloveholic]

...I wouldn't want her to end up a dumb corpse either. She's better than that.

[ Though, she thought the same about a handful of other victims and look what happened there. ]

[matchbreaker]

If you're confident in accusing me, you're also confident in me saying I'd leave you for dead, you know.

[ Elda responds here, baring her fangs just a little. She's... she's not quite sure she has it in her to refute Aligula's reasoning on anything except emotion, and getting defensive right now would just make Sayaka look worse. So she'll go this way, digging her nails into her podium a little. ]

[innocentloveholic]

[ ...Oh, that's... ]

So you wouldn't pick me to save? I'm hurt, Indomitable! What about our pinky swear?

[ that isn't what you should be taking from this, aligula, but thanks for your #priorities ]

[matchbreaker]

I meant it. I want to see that Hellsalem's Lot place, a world where humanity isn't the dominant species. But if you asked me to select between everyone who's still here and only keep one person, if I already was working with Sayaka... well, then no, I'm afraid it'd be someone else.

[ She keeps a hard gaze on Aligula. ]

... Picking and choosing like that is hard. It's precisely because that choice would be hard that I didn't make it.

[destage]

[...Sayaka nods her head, in somewhat guilty agreement. No point in really denying what she was considering now, is there?]

[innocentloveholic]

[ ...She lifts her head and stares right back at Elda, her one eye opening just a bit before it closes sharply, and she turns her face away. ]

It'd totally be Alex, right?