trusthell | Take Responsibility.

There's a door at the juncture of the building, to the south of Room 10 and to the west of Room 16; it blends well with the wall, and it's difficult to notice unless you're staring directly at it. Either way, however, it's just appeared to be dead space – after all, were it something vitally important, surely it would have been unlocked before now, wouldn't it? The Wordsmith has promised to provide for you all.

That door is open now.

It's hard to say when it opened; it simply...seems to have, without anyone visible unlocking it. But the fact of the matter is that it's open, and the room beyond seems to be a holding area – somewhere to wait while the elevator beyond the threshold arrives.

Its doors opened without it being called; it seems it was sent from elsewhere, given that there are no call buttons anywhere to be seen. The doors slide open, revealing enough space for all of you; it won't be terribly comfortable, but it'll be safe – the ride itself is fast and smooth, without any alarming shaking or noise that implies you should probably be concerned about the contraption.

It's noticeable, though, that the elevator is bringing you upward.

The door opens into what seems to have been, appropriately enough for a university, a grand lecture hall – it's all polished wood and no windows, with several rows and aisles of seats to be occupied by students set behind long tables for note-taking and doing assignments. Each individual area is outfitted with vaguely outdated-looking lamps designed to make it a little easier to see exactly what one is writing. The front of the room, though, has been cleared out and remodeled, in a big way, and that's where the aisles lead you, clearly where you're supposed to go - in the center of the room is a circle of podiums, thirty in total, arranged so that everyone standing at them can see each other. So everyone can look each other in the eyes, if they so choose. The podiums are interlocked - there's no cutting across the center of the circle, and for good reason, it looks like there's a lot of nothing down there where the floor should be - and each is bearing the title of the person who's assigned to stand at it. No names, just adjectives, emblazoned across two brass panels on the very top and the front of each podium.

(They're all the same height, but the smaller among you will find that there are a couple of steps behind your podium, leading up to a raised platform for you to stand on so you can see over it. It's a little more dignified, at least, than needing someone to fetch a box.)

All of the podiums are identical, outside of the abovementioned physical accommodations, except for the one intended for Adelina. The podium that should bear Securing's title has had a black cloth draped over it, and a copy of Adelina's profile photo is sitting on top of it, framed and colorless, an image in greyscale.

To the north of the podium circle, behind where everyone is standing, is the lectern – a tall podium raised several feet off the ground, presumably where the professor delivering the lessons for the day would stand such that they could be seen and heard by everyone in the room. For the time being, however, that particular podium is empty.

That doesn't mean you won't be addressed, however; once you've all found your places, the Wordsmith's voice can be heard above any ambient noise that may be present.

'In accordance with Rule Seven, the party responsible for the death of Securing must avoid detection in order to end the exercise here at the university. Which means, naturally, that you will all be given a fair chance to foil that attempt. That is why you are all here today.

To the innocent: seek justice for your fallen Apprentice. To the guilty: be prepared to take responsibility for your actions, should they succeed.'

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

I believe it would be best if we started with the condition of Miss Adelina's body. The cause of death was strangulation. The evidence for this is a lack of stab wounds and bullet wounds, no marks around her mouth to suggest poison, and the hand-shaped bruises on her neck. The murderer had to use a great deal of force to cause such distinct bruising.

[ Visibly distraught, Orihime steps onto her podium between Sportacus and Jasper. She looks around the room and saddens at the sight of Adelina's portrait. This is definitely not a trust exercise. This is sick. But for her sake, they need to figure this all out. Despite herself, Orihime speaks: ]

Um... I...guess we should go over all of the evidence we've found so far. [ She'll start. ] I was in the hallway, and a puddle of the blood smears was on the ground. There were a lot of footsteps around the same size, and one looked kind of funny...like it was cut off halfway.

Edited 2017-01-28 17:14 (UTC)

Was there anything notable about those hand-shaped bruises?

Cut off? Like the culprit tried to clean it, for example?

[So a trial, huh...well, that's an intellectual match, and Kyrie is all for battles of wits]

Actually, I don't think it was blood. Christo and I were looking at the smears on the walls, and it wasn't behaving- or...smelling- like blood at all.

[Of course, she didn't get to stick around to find out what it was.]

Edited 2017-01-28 17:16 (UTC)

Yes, there was. The prints were on the small side. They weren't small enough to be from either of our animal friends, but they were smaller than average.

...so wait.

[he says, doing his best not to look pale and shaky.]

What was all the probably blood red stuff, then? It was literally eveywhere, and I didn't get a look to see if her back was ripped up.

[...well, that's peculiar.]

Do you two have any idea what it could have been?

How was it like, then?

Possibly. It was smudged. It didn't look the same as the other ones, and that footprint was smaller.

...So we're looking for someone with small hands.

[ But why are they even doing this trial. If it ends, aren't they all off free? The rule said the course was terminated, right? So Elda does take her spot on the assigned podium (ignoring the step provided for her and instead leans over the podium to ask, perhaps being a dick, ]

But if this's ending the course if they get off free with it, why do this whole charade?

[ Nothing in the rules other than the foreboding word "terminate" said that they had to or anything. At least she's pretty sure? ]

I don't believe it was blood, either. Adelina was covered in a red substance, but it didn't dry like blood, and the consistency was off.

[Silver takes a moment to consider the situation, sprinkled waffle in hand courtesy of Gold, and decides he's got Priorities today.]

Why the hell would anyone eat a tomato out of a can?

[This is... Well it's not entirely relevant, but it's a little relevant. Promise.]

Personally? I'm not entirely sure. Christo would know more about it than I would, but I don't think it was anything that came out of a person, let's just put it that way.