trustfell | Take Responsibility.

And when the door at the bottom of those stairs unlocks and it swings open gently of its own accord, allowing everyone back down into the courtroom, there are decidedly fewer of them than there were just a few days ago.

The change in the podium circle is massive this time; Dio, Logan, Marty, Yuuri, Hibiki and Mordecai have all joined the ranks of the deceased, their podiums adorned with black cloth and greyscale photographs. Furthermore, the mass of shadows in the pit at the center seems agitated again, shifting and breaching upward toward the glass if one looks at it long enough.

It's been something of a bad week, to put it gently.

Not that it's evident from the Conductor's behavior; as usual, the proceedings are being watched from behind that panel of translucent glass behind podium 30, and he'll speak as soon as everyone has found their place in the circle. His words are a bit more rapid than usual; he seems interested in this one.

"Temporal, Lucent, Vivacious and Universal...all four of them have been taken from you. Does whomever is responsible for this really deserve your compassion? There can be no hesitation; you should offer no mercy.

It's you against the guilty. Take control of your fate, and hold them responsible."

Thirteen Participants remain. You've lost five people this week, and eight since the last investigation; we'll see how many more you lose today.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It starts normally enough.

"To my beloved wife,

My dear. I'm afraid that you'll learn of the things I have done here, and you shall grow to res-"

Then it gets creepy. They write 'I AM NO LONGER HUMAN'.

[She'll pass it, though.]

I don't recognize the writing, though.

...oh. They must have been using one of those pens from the machine. I got one - that's all it writes, after a little bit.

...that's incredibly disturbing. So it doesn't mean that the writer snapped, but that the pen's possessed, or something?

Something like that.

Yeah, I got one, too. I considered leaving it in the mail room as a prank way back when, but I never ended up doin' it.

There was an easel in the Art Studio that had nothing but that written on it. "I AM NO LONGER HUMAN," over and over...

Did the writing look like the letter? I passed it around, so...

[Good question.

does the writing on the easel look the same as the letter?]

(no subject)

trustmods - 2015-12-12 17:26 (UTC) - Expand

withabigsmile - 2015-12-12 17:29 (UTC) - Expand

mods 2

icysemblance - 2015-12-12 17:52 (UTC) - Expand

trustmods - 2015-12-12 17:53 (UTC) - Expand

...Ol' Mordy had a pen that caused all his writing to become that. Thou-thought he was gettin' possessed or something.

Susan got one, too. I don't blame anyone for thinking they were possessed after that.

Hell yeah, brah. I-it makes you do some reeeeallll spoopy stuff.

Well, that narrows it down pretty significantly. I mean, there's only a few logically likely candidates for people who have wives here.

[ but at the same time, what the fuck is logic. ]

... But that sounds like straight-up demon possession or something, holy shit.

[ ... ]

Mordecai was married, but I think he would have called her by name, not 'beloved wife'.

I don't know... it's a little romantic!

But you're right. There's a possibility it's fake.

openterrain - 2015-12-12 17:23 (UTC) - Expand

rickdiculous - 2015-12-12 17:24 (UTC) - Expand

openterrain - 2015-12-12 17:34 (UTC) - Expand

rickdiculous - 2015-12-12 17:35 (UTC) - Expand

announcemyvictory - 2015-12-12 18:01 (UTC) - Expand

I would have guessed the same, honestly.

If anything's possessed, it's the pen. I have one of them, too.

Do you have it on you?

perpend - 2015-12-12 17:37 (UTC) - Expand

rickdiculous - 2015-12-12 17:39 (UTC) - Expand

ninehundredlives - 2015-12-12 17:41 (UTC) - Expand

rickdiculous - 2015-12-12 17:43 (UTC) - Expand

ninehundredlives - 2015-12-12 17:46 (UTC) - Expand

rickdiculous - 2015-12-12 17:48 (UTC) - Expand

[ Huh... combined with what Jean's saying, he has to wonder about one thing: ]

Have you used it? Does it change how you write completely, or do you just go along fine for a few sentences and then fucking existential crisis all over the place?

perpend - 2015-12-12 17:36 (UTC) - Expand

blazeit - 2015-12-12 17:38 (UTC) - Expand

announcemyvictory - 2015-12-12 18:02 (UTC) - Expand

That's something. I think we can rule out anyone around our age or younger, so that would leave Giovanni, Cabanela and Rick, for the men, and Sukuyo, Susan, and Youko, maybe Elise and Tabby, for the women, considering who's alive.

Edited ( ) 2015-12-12 17:21 (UTC)

Divorced 26 years, beeeyyy--aatchhh.

icysemblance - 2015-12-12 17:24 (UTC) - Expand

rickdiculous - 2015-12-12 17:25 (UTC) - Expand

blazeit - 2015-12-12 17:24 (UTC) - Expand

rickdiculous - 2015-12-12 17:26 (UTC) - Expand

I'm not the sort of guy to tie myself down, really.

[who the hell is silver's mom.]

withabigsmile - 2015-12-12 17:26 (UTC) - Expand

For what it's wooorth, I've never been married.

icysemblance - 2015-12-12 17:27 (UTC) - Expand

I would rather die than, like, get married.

Oh, I'm not married yet. It's a nice thing to think about, though.

[elise, your servants literally whisper behind your back about how they feel sorry for whoever you end up with]

icysemblance - 2015-12-12 18:05 (UTC) - Expand

I'm not married.