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

[icysemblance]

Where's your evidence?

[rickdiculous]

What t-the fuck does evidence matter here. There's a lot of evidence pointing to me because I was framed, Jesus. What about...the red cups? Empty. Who the fuck throws empty red cups in an art room?

[withabigsmile]

[...]

What about your robot?

[rickdiculous]

What about it?

[withabigsmile]

I couldn't for the life of me figure out what those little mechanical bits were, but now it makes sense.

You smashed your little robot friend too, didn't you?

[rickdiculous]

W-why the fuck would I smash him?! Christ. The only thing I could salvage for parts that are even remotely usable and you expect me to - to just smash him? Somebody else did it! That...that should be prime evidence!

[sunsong]

Well, you could've salvaged him for parts, too.

[withabigsmile]

So you're saying someone stole your robot, smashed it, threw red cups in the room, and drew game pad symbols in blood just to frame you?

And I guess Mordecai's letter was to frame you too, right?

[ninehundredlives]

He's got a robot?

[withabigsmile]

It's a teeny tiny little thing that only knows how to pass butter!

[ninehundredlives]

So it couldn't have lifted that hammer?

[withabigsmile]

Nope. Sadly, it was only on the receiving end.

[zomgboom]

If there was, like, a robot that could lift a hammer we would have all seen it by now.

[blazeit]

Wait a sec, what the fuck is this about a robot. Is this like, a robot that could lift something heavy?

[ Say... a warhammer...?? ]

[sunsong]

First I heard of it.

[blazeit]

Yeah, that sure changes some shit real fast.

[perpend]

[........]

What color is his robot?

[withabigsmile]

It matches those parts, if that's what you're asking!

[perpend]

Thaaat's what I was wondering!

[icysemblance]

Evidence matters a lot. You've been too quick to point the blame at a dead man this entire time. How do we know you didn't go up to the bar, get a bunch of cheap drinks in red cups, and leave them wherever you felt like it?

[rickdiculous]

You don't see the fucking easel? The letter? He had that fucking pen on - on him. I saw it, bitch.

[icysemblance]

Easy to fake, and more than one person got a pen like that.

[rickdiculous]

Yeah, exce-cept for the fact that I didn't!

[blazeit]

Out of curiosity, when'd you see him with the pen?

[rickdiculous]

When he threw it across the room like a pissy little baby.