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

[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]

I mean, is that really common knowledge...? I sure as fuck didn't know about it.

[blazeit]

Yeah, I don't know jack shit either. I guess what I'm wondering is, what does the killer have to gain from making us think she was poisoned with one thing as opposed to another? Isn't that totally unnecessary, when most of us would just look at poison and think "it kills you" without knowing the details of how it kills you?

[sunsong]

Good question. Uh...the bruisin' on her face, what did it look like? I mean, just to be clear?

[ninehundredlives]

It did look like someone's fingers, but it was light. Not as if they'd slapped her or anything like that. More like they grabbed her face a bit too roughly.

[sunsong]

I figure if you had any idea how big the person's hand ought to be roughly, you would have said by now...

[ UNFORTUNATE. a hand check would be easy. ]

But it wasn't the kind of bruisin' you'd get from like...a different manner of death, basically.

[ninehundredlives]

No, the bruising was too light. It wasn't exactly a distinct hand outline.

[It would have been.]

But it didn't look like she'd been in a fight or anything like that.

[sunsong]

So what do we actually think killed her, if we're questionin' it bein' rat poison...?

[ninehundredlives]

She wasn't really hurt at all. Maybe a different kind of poison? The -

There's sleeping pills in the infirmary. That's not such a bad way to die.

[sunsong]

That could be...? I know some of the dead people were fuckin' around with those, but who else has been?

[perpend]

I wouldn't expect an everyday person to know this.

I know about it because of police work.

[blazeit]

[ Which leads him to why he has a problem with the rat poison... ]

[sunsong]

Holy fuckin' shit.

[ninehundredlives]

Like chlorine gas...

[Thank you Susan]

You're right, that's a nasty way to die.

[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?