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

[blazeit]

[ YOU TELL THEM, WEISS ]

Can we also ban talking about who's in love with who or whatever because fucking priorities, guys.

[ ... Anyway. ]

How about we consider it one piece at a time, like what about that warhammer? Who here could probably lift it, let's start with that.

[openterrain]

That's hard to say... You, me, Giovanni, Sol, and Weiss for sure.

[ ... ]

And... Marty or Mordecai might have also managed it.

[sunsong]

[ ...SHE'S FLATTERED, JEAN, BUT SHE'S ALSO PRETTY SMALL BUILD-WISE. BEING ATHLETIC DOESN'T HELP HER BEING THE SMALLEST PERSON LEFT STANDING. ]

Uh, I couldn't swing it that well, probably...

[blazeit]

Yeah, I think other than Sol and... probably Marty, that list sounds about right.

[sunsong]

If it were a bit more manageable size-wise I could give it a go...

[ sol do you really care that you couldn't lift a giant hammer

is this the time to care about that ]

[openterrain]

Scratch Sol and Marty, then.

That probably makes it one of us that killed those two, then...

[openterrain]

-- And Tabby. I forgot about her, but she's always fighting people with super powers and stuff, right?

[icysemblance]

I'm strong, but not that strong. I can't manage things that are as large as that hammer without someone spotting me, and even then, I wouldn't be able to manage it long without dropping it.

[Yang's the one that does the heavy lifting, okay.]

[icysemblance]

Unless it's directly relevant? Then yes, that can wait.

[A nod.]

Whoever used it was smart enough to at least try and clean it off before hiding it in the piano. How did it get wet?

[announcemyvictory]

They might have washed it off in the sink, but I didn't see any blood in the kitchen.

[blazeit]

Is there a sink in the art room, maybe...?

[icysemblance]

...I think so. Weren't there also buckets of water around Marty's body, or was that all alcohol?

[blazeit]

Marty was murdered on the fourth floor, wasn't he? I don't think it'd make a lot of sense for a murderer to clean it off and then lug it back to the music room on the fifth floor.

[ninehundredlives]

I didn't see any buckets left, but there was water at some point. The carpet would have been in much worse shape if they'd thrown alcohol all over it.

[perpend]

It looked like there was a lot of blood in the sink in the art room at one point.

One of the taps was left running.

[icysemblance]

That might very well be where the hammer got washed off.

[zomgboom]

SHE STARTED IT!

[blazeit]

... She kind of did... but she probably just can't help that she's made so many bad life decisions on who to get attached to.

[ NOW HE'S THE ONE GETTING SIDE TRACKED... ]

Anyway, do you think you could lift that warhammer?

[zomgboom]

I dunno. Is it like Thor's?

[clearasmud]

NO STEAK FOR A MONTH, KATSUKI.

( one/two )

[blazeit]

I CAN MAKE MY OWN STEAK NOW ANYWAY, MOM!!

[blazeit]

[ wait fuck did he literally just do the equivalent of "i called my teacher mom" ]

Oh my fucking god just ignore the last thirty seconds of my existence.

[openterrain]

.... 'Mom'? Really?

[ NOT THAT... JEAN CAN TALK. RIP SPACE DAD. ]

[sunsong]

...She kinda did, yep.

[ SYMPATHETIC LOOK ]

[clearasmud]

[ ..."fucking priorities" tho ]