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

[trustmods]

[Nothing there, either.

You can keep going, but the handwriting isn't going to match anything on that petition. Really, the more you look at it, the more it might start looking fake - like someone disguising their writing.]

[blazeit]

[ Well, that's definitely weird — he notices the fact that it looks like somebody's purposely changed how they write, but he's going to bluff a little. He glances up at Sol, trying to not let any surprise show on his face. ]

I'm no good at this kinda shit, you give it a look.

[ And then, in a very low tone: ] Doesn't it look kinda... faked to you?

[sunsong]

[ She'll take the papers from him, curious. ]

Yeah, yeah... [ And then, equally low, after examining the papers: ] ...You're right. If that's the case, though...someone was trying to frame Mordecai, right? The letter that "had" to be his...but if there's one person who wouldn't disguise his writing in a case like that, it'd be the person whose letter we assumed it was. Right?

[blazeit]

Yeah, he'd be a convenient fall guy, being dead and unable to defend himself and all.

... Besides, Jean said the letter is weird. Like it's not how he'd address his wife, so... the letter's almost definitely fake. You think we should bluff and say we can't tell whose handwriting it is rather than saying it's a fake and see what reaction we get?

[sunsong]

Up to you. The one who keeps sayin' it had to be Mordecai, though...

[ That's Rick. ]

[blazeit]

And it's real convenient for him that Mordecai's dead.

[ It... makes sense that Rick might've killed Mordecai for that purpose

Anyway, he raises his voice back up to normal levels so everybody can hear. ]

Well, it's a fucking wash, guys. It could be pretty much anybody, as far as I can tell. I guess it kinda looks like Mordecai's?

[ He's like. Kinda average at lying, but it's passable enough. ]

[sunsong]

[ THEY'RE GOING TO GET SCOLDED FOR CONCEALING EVIDENCE AT SOME POINT but she's with him on watching for reactions. ]

Handwritin's a lot neater than mine ever is, that's for sure.

[perpend]

Does it?

[It sounds like Cabanela believes him.]

You'd think he'd address his wife by name. He seemed like a romantic sort of guy.

[blazeit]

Hey, you can come over here and check it yourself, if you want. Maybe the possessed pen was already in control of him?

[ And should Cabanela come over, Bakugou will mutter in a low voice: ] Pretty sure the letter's a fake.

[perpend]

[Let's walk on over to take a look at that letter; after all, he's seen Mordecai's invitations.

He'll response back in a low voice.]

That would make sense, wouldn't it? It would be easy to frame someone who isn't around to defend himself.

[blazeit]

Yeah.

... I just wanna see if how he takes it if he thinks are going his way.

[ And then at his normal voice: ]

Just keep the petitions and shit, I don't wanna hang onto them anyway.

[perpend]

...Good idea.

[He'll just take the petitions back.]

I'll hold onto them until we're through here.

[openterrain]

[ SEE, HE TOTALLY KNEW IT. ]

So it is faked. That means it was written but someone that doesn't know her name... [ Hmm... ]

[blazeit]

And somebody wants to pin some murders on somebody who's conveniently dead and unable to defend himself.

[ninehundredlives]

He was a writer, wasn't he? Maybe he was trying to get...literary.

[Susan doesn't buy that Mordecai could have murdered anyone with a hammer, but she doesn't seem to think they're lying about the writing.]

[icysemblance]

But someone who didn't know his wife's name wouldn't have been able to address her as such.

[openterrain]

[ Jean doesn't look like he believes it at all. ]

But it could be faked, right? There's no way he wouldn't call Ha-- call his wife by name.

[withabigsmile]

[Blue too thinks y'all are full of shit.]

Exactly. And if it looks kinda like his handwriting, that just means someone was trying to make it look like his, right?

[blazeit]

You knew him better than me, you can come check it too if you want. Shit, I said I wasn't gonna be good at it, why don't you fuckers look at it yourself if you want.

[ Bakugou's good at pretending to be annoyed, at least. Come join the gathering, Bakugou will confide to Jean as well. ]