Take Responsibility.

[antitrust]

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.

Comments

[perpend]

I don't know. It's... odd.

She was also surrounded by the petitions from the fridge.

[And then he pulls out a little baggy from his pocket. It contains what looks like smashed up bits of silver.]

...There was also this, but I dooon't have a clue what it could be for.

[sunsong]

The petitions? What the hell...was she trying to compare handwriting or something...?

[ninehundredlives]

Maybe to that easel?

[icysemblance]

It's possible. Does anyone have any of the petitions, or were they all destroyed?

[perpend]

[Don't worry, he's got you covered.]

I have them right here.

modcheck!

[icysemblance]

Thanks.

[Well? Match to the easel?]

[trustmods]

[...what are we checking, exactly, there's a lot on those petitions]

[icysemblance]

[let's start with checking Mordecai's writing first since we've got the most of it, then Hibiki's.]

[trustmods]

[It doesn't match either of them.]

[icysemblance]

[Marty's or Yuuri's?]

[sunsong]

That makes sense to me. Maybe that message was done before Hibiki and Yuuri were murdered?

[withabigsmile]

[...???]

Could I see that for a second?

[What is it, something from the vending machine?]

[perpend]

Of course.

[Here you go, Blue.

Whatever it is, it's definitely not part of the Golden Gun, but other than that, it's not immediately clear to him what it is.]

[withabigsmile]

[Silver mechanical parts...]

Did someone have a laptop or something?

[announcemyvictory]

A laptop? Is that another one of those things like the "video games?"

[withabigsmile]

Kind of? Do you know what a TV is?

[announcemyvictory]

Yes, we've got those. We're not archaic.

[withabigsmile]

Well, imagine a TV screen, except it's small enough to fit in your lap, and you can use it to check the internet, which is kind of like a giant library and communication system all in one.

You can play video games and do all kinds of other things on it too, but those are the basics.