Take Responsibility.

[trustbound]

This investigation seems to have been difficult for many; while your time here hasn't been particularly easy on anyone, it's been eight straight weeks of people dying, of losing those you care about - or at least, losing those you had some sense of solidarity with. There's only about a quarter of your original number left. Either way, however, there are some things that remain constant, even if your numbers do not - the corridor down below the dorms, the way the door sounds when it unlatches, the gentle outward swing of the door. The darkened stairwell that it leads to. The courtroom. The podium circle remains in the center of the room, the spots marked out from the dead having increased in number yet again; Aligula, Hibiki, Sayaka, and Alex all have had their podiums altered, draped in black with greyscale portraits set atop them. They'll be keeping an eye on the proceedings today, for better or for worse. As always, the thirty-sixth podium remains blank. 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. "Attentive and Submerged are gone - and trust me, for at least one of them, it's better for everyone that way. Maybe you disagree with that, maybe you don't, I don't really give a fuck - and at least for the guilty party, their deaths might be their ticket out of here. So it's probably better for them, anyway. Either way, I'm pretty sure I don't need to tell you what you're here to do. Once again and as always, it's the innocent versus the guilty. Whichever side wins is mattering less and less every week, isn't it? Even so, you should still put some effort in, just to satisfy the dead - so you know what, do your best!" Nine Participants remain. However many leave here at the end of the day is up to you.

Comments

[matchbreaker]

Clearly. [ Like right now she's looking down a crossbow and Kyrie's arguing with everyone. Elda can see the stage for what it is. Leave everyone else to logic it out, she's in no mood to do that. She's... she's in no mood to do anything. ]

I don't doubt I'd be injured. With that crossbow, you can probably kill me too. It's too bad you missed the timer.

[chessturner]

[Her expression clouds for a moment]

I'd say it's safe to say everyone here missed the timer. Frankly, I was betting on someone committing a murder last night.

[matchbreaker]

So was I. [ Elda looks over at Adelina's flawed argument about what Kyrie will be remembered for down there. Anyone who was in the room when Elda was freaking out might remember her last question to the same girl. ]

We were all too late, or perhaps too complacent. If we can believe Jericho, everyone here has lost everything.

[chessturner]

...maybe you're correct. It's possible we all have lost everything. Our worlds being gone would be one thing more to lose.

But, you know...there's a chance to gain again. Even if you lost everything, you can continue living on, and find something new. I may have lost everything, but I'm not going to give up.

And for that, I must get out of here. It's rather obvious, isn't it? This exercise is going to be over, now that there was nothing new to be found anywhere, and I doubt it'll end by letting everyone here leave.

[matchbreaker]

[ As long as you're alive, you can find something new...

For Elda, who has wanted to live forever, that rings true. But for Elda, the Grandmother and Mother who has now lost everything... ]

Don't paraphrase by parroting, Kyrie.

[ Inhale, exhale. ]

The only thing left to all of us now is victory. And I'm afraid right now, you're the last hurtle I'm going to accept before we beat the snot out of Jericho and win this.

[chessturner]

Then we're going to have to grit our teeth. I'm your last hurdle...and this trial is my last hurdle.

[And Kyrie lost hers, apparently? Despite that, she still holds the crossbow up, steady and prepared to shoot at any moment to anyone who approaches]

In hindsight I should have taken your offer from Monday, about talking with you. I suppose if there was anyone who could have talked me out of this, it was you.

[matchbreaker]

I doubt it. [ Elda says that calmly, but her gaze averts a little. That stings more than she'd like to admit. ]

... I had the impossible choice between a daughter I'd made here and my family on that world that has Shihaba on it. I was paralyzed. [ She... ] Yours is a lot more simple, it's logical, to use your own wording.

[heritrix]

[...yeah, Rin knows we're talking about Kyrie over here, but:]

Elda, what do you mean by that?

[matchbreaker]

Kyrie missed the timer. I had discussed with Adelina the semantics of his wording before now, but... it doesn't matter. Assuming Jericho wasn't bluffing, all of our worlds are lost.

[ She though Rin of all people knew that, based on their hug in the library. ]

[perpend]

...Yes. If it wasn't a lie to get someone to act, then...

[heritrix]

[There's not much change in expression from her, but she actually seems relieved.]

If that's all, then it's nothing. Even if it wasn't a bluff [and from the way she talks, it sounds like she's banking on it], he said they were on the brink of cataclysm. Nothing is lost yet. I won't have that.

[matchbreaker]

[ Don't you give her false hope like that. She...

Exhale just exhales through her teeth. She's not sure which is the better belief to hold onto right now. Because that's all either option is, belief. Right now though... right now, it's time to kill another woman.

... Of course it is. ]

[bloodisthicker]

You're right.

And... well. I suppose there are definitely those of us who shouldn't take it lightly, but honestly, there are people in my world I trust to save it from some sort of cataclysm over some smug coward who hides behind a PA because a participant punched him once.

[evilfrenzy]

Yep. Even if he said it's the sort of impending cataclysm most aren't aware of, chances are that some probably are and are working against it. [...] Take it from someone with experience.

[hesperos]

He's full of crap.

[ no one asked for your biased opinion, yuri ]

[notaccurate]

Then why set the trap in the first place, if you thought someone else would kill someone?

[hesperos]

So was the trap a 'just in case', then? If someone hadn't committed the murder you expected to happen, you'd hope someone would've walked into yours.