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

[sunsong]

We're doin' it. You bein' weird about this for any particular reason?

[rickdiculous]

Nah, I just - I wanna see you do it.

[sunsong]

This is why Cabanela's our favorite old man, y'know.

[rickdiculous]

Cabanela c-can inhale my dong enragement, child.

[sunsong]

Jealous?

[rickdiculous]

Of what?

[sunsong]

Us likin' him, duh!

[rickdiculous]

Why the fuck would I want any of you to like me.

[clearasmud]

Because some of us are awesome!

[rickdiculous]

I-in case you haven't noticed, the people I gave a shit about are dead!

[icysemblance]

...that just means you have nothing left to lose.

[announcemyvictory]

Mr. Sanchez, you said something that very first day, didn't you?

[clearasmud]

[ . . . ]

In case you haven't noticed, it's the same for me.

So I'm going to bring them back. What about you?

[rickdiculous]

...I plan on it.

[sunsong]

Dunno. I guess sometimes it seems like you prefer the opposite?

[rickdiculous]

There were three pe-people here who I liked. Two of them are dead and one is...gee, it's safe to say that she's as far from that list now as Leonardo DiCapri-[eerrgh]-o is from an Oscar nomination. Haha, yeah. Am I right?

[sunsong]

Who was the third?

[perpend]

[wow, and after he comforted you, too

rude]

[blazeit]

Well, if I were the guy who threatened mass murder within the first 24 hours of being here and suddenly there are 4 people dead, I'd probably be titchy too.

[sunsong]

[ snorts ]

Point. Kinda curious about the results, now.

[withabigsmile]

It's not just that, you know! The Nintendo fan made video game references, the drunk left behind red cups...

[When you slot Rick into it, it makes way too much sense.]

[perpend]

[.......]

Putting it that way, it does start to add up.

[sunsong]

It's way too early to call it quits, but...like I said, I like to have a solid base of facts. So we check our shit out.

[perpend]

Right.

We get the obvious suspect out of the way first.

[sunsong]

And even after we solve one set, we still have another to go, so...

[ Step by step, they move forward. Like always. ]