Take Responsibility.

[antitrust]

After a while, 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; it's not as bad as it was last week, but again, there are decidedly fewer of them than there were last time. The podium circle has changed once again, with Rick, Tabby and Sukuyo joining the ranks of the deceased, their podiums draped with black cloth and adorned with greyscale photographs. The shadows are quiet down in the darkness of the pit; for the time being, it's hard to say what the pit itself looks like after the explosion last week. One way or another, we'll find out by the end of the day. As usual, the proceedings are being watched from behind that panel of glass behind podium 30; he'll speak as soon as everyone has found their place in the circle. "Familial has been taken from you. Regardless of what her affiliation was – whether she was with me or the lot of you – you know what you have to do by now. 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." Ten Participants remain. However many more we lose today is up to you.

Comments

[openterrain]

... I don't know about you, but if I was gonna plan a murder and arrange it to look like a suicide, I'd pee beforehand.

[blazeit]

Well yeah, so would I. The way I see it, what makes sense logically is for the killer to have grabbed the rat poison on the sixth floor, done... weird stuff with it in the bathroom, then gone to the first floor to be a sick fuck and kill somebody.

... Actually, there's one other thing I'm wondering about. What if the bottle is there just to make us think that's what was used to kill her?

[sunsong]

It's worth considerin'. I don't know why she would have killed herself for this reason...I mean, in general, weren't we all pretty much "so the fuck what" about the mole thing? I don't even care. They all clearly weren't into workin' for the guy any longer, so why should it matter?

[blazeit]

Yeah, same. And the other weird thing is, I feel like this person didn't even really try to make it look like a suicide. Like, was there even a spoon nearby for her to stir the rat poison into her drink?

[ninehundredlives]

There wasn't, no.

[blazeit]

So basically this cover-up is so weak that even a first grader could probably blow through it.

... What I don't get is, what's the point? Does the killer gain anything from setting it up like that...?

[ninehundredlives]

Not much, unless they really just underestimated us.

[sunsong]

I haven't heard anyone mention it. I mean...they obviously bothered to have her write that note, right? So they tried at least a little. Because like fuck I'm buyin' she'd kill herself instead of tryin' to help us out.

tw maybe?? for suicidal ideation

[blazeit]

But here's the thing... she wasn't injured except the bruising on her face, right? So how'd they force her to write the note?

... Could they just have... taken a letter that she'd already written and... you know. Not used.

tw maybe?? for suicidal ideation

[sunsong]

I don't think she'd write a letter like that and abandon it. I mean...come on. The letter said she was writin' it right before she killed herself. Right? As to how they forced her...

[ A shrug. ]

Unless we assume someone else wrote the note or that someone forced her to write the note somehow, I don't think it works. What we have to figure out is whether or not the notes are faked by someone else - or if one of them was forged, I guess, like Weiss says? - or if it was a force thing. Maybe they threatened her?

[icysemblance]

I know the writing matches, but are we absolutely certain she wrote the note herself, and it wasn't someone copying her handwriting?

[sunsong]

I didn't check the notes, so I'm not sure if we're sure. Wasn't the crumpled up note found in her room, though? Where was her key?

[ninehundredlives]

You know, the more I think about it...

[Susan's been rather quiet for the past couple minutes, whether because of the mole flood or the weird discussion she had with Jean about the incinerator.]

...there were no tea stains in the cup. If there was anything in it, it must have just been water. And there was still some poison in the bottom - it wouldn't have been dissolved all the way.

Wouldn't she have noticed that?

[blazeit]

I can't really see it too great from over here, but isn't that rat poison stuff more powdery? It should've dissolved pretty fast in that case, right?

[ And also... ]

[ninehundredlives]

I think that depends. Not everything dissolves well in water. I don't know about rat poison in particular.

[perpend]

...I've been thinking about it.

Are you familiar with how strychnine interacts with the body, Susan?

[ninehundredlives]

Not personally.

Doesn't it close up your throat?

[perpend]

It can, yes, but what it does is cause seizures and muscle spasms to the point of death by exhaustion.

In other words, there's no way she could look peaceful had she taken any amount of the poison.

[blazeit]

... So the rat poison's probably not how she died, then?

I seriously, seriously don't get what the killer was thinking. Did they just not know how rat poison works?

[sunsong]

Holy fuckin' shit.

[sunsong]

I'm definitely not...care to share, old man?

[perpend]

[NEVER TRY TO TASTE THIS STUFF, SOL]

[sunsong]

That depends. I mean...are we assumin' she really wrote that note, whether or not it was under duress? Because if you got her to write a note, there's no fuckin' reason to make the poison undetectable. Right? If you didn't, there is, and both notes were by you...

[ninehundredlives]

Don't you think she would have tried to fight? If someone forced her to write a suicide note? It'd be obvious they were going to kill her anyway, she'd have nothing to lose.

[sunsong]

I'd think so, yeah. But basically -

[ She gestures with a hand, annoyed. ]

Look, if we assume she wrote that thing of her own fuckin' volition, it's a suicide, right? Because she didn't get rid of it, or crumple it up. It was all nice and neat and completely finished. If you guys are tellin' me she wrote it of her own free will, then how is this a murder at all?