Take Responsibility.

[wordsmithery]

The ride up to the courtroom occurs, as before, after an allotted period of time for investigation; the elevator waits patiently for you at each floor - third, second, first - before sending you upwards and on your way to the courtroom high above. As always, the trip is a smooth one; granted, after everything that the morning had been, any small comfort that fact may bring is likely not helping much. There are three less of you this time around, a fact reflected in the podium circle standing in the middle of the room; Alani, Milla and Chiyuki have all joined the ranks of the deceased, their podiums draped in black and their portraits in greyscale keeping a watchful eye over the rest of the trial circle. There's still no one present in the lectern above; however, once everyone has found their place in the circle, the Wordsmith's voice can be heard throughout the room. "I can see that matters are beginning to seem dire for you, Apprentices. I am sure that you all cared for Sympathetic in some measure—all except the guilty party. And now it falls to you once again to determine who that is. For your own sake as well as Sympathetic's, hold her killer accountable and have them take responsibility for their actions." Twenty-four Apprentices remain. We'll see how many remain at the end of the day.

Comments

[modernmedicine]

[She nods.]

The chemical smell was rather strong. I think that perhaps the chemical scent was from the explosion itself.

When you say the billiard balls weren't part of the explosion, what do you mean?

[feistytrader]

They were cracked and broken on the floor, but they weren't burnt or anything.

[plentyfriendly]

A chemical scent? Any chance it was sodium azide? The container of it in the chemistry lab was completely empty.

[modernmedicine]

Now that I think about it, the scent was rather pungent. Sodium azide would make sense.

[tsugomori]

Unfortunately I don't know much about such a thing. Is there anything else important to know about a chemical like that or just in general that you might know?

[ Because what are chemicals. ]

[modernmedicine]

It's used in explosive making.

[tsugomori]

My, my... even if a normal human was hit by it and lived, I can't imagine it would make a pleasant injury.

[plentyfriendly]

Is there any chance someone would know how to synthesize metallic sodium from it?

[That metal is volatile, to put it lightly, and there was an explosion...]

[modernmedicine]

I think the question is really whether there's more than one person who would know how to synthesize metallic sodium. The profiles clearly indicate that Mr. Kimbley has both knowledge of chemicals and a like of fireworks.

[plentyfriendly]

True enough. I'm more of a physicist myself, considering, and considering there's a distinct lack of science texts in the library...

[Whoever it was would need that knowledge in advance...]

[neverheardofhim]

Yeah, it's like we said earlier -- this solution is too easy.

An attempted frame-job, maybe?

[plegia]

Kimbley's not an idiot. He wouldn't do something that would obviously connect to him. While a frame job is certainly possible, I'm not sure how likely it is. How many of us would know what chemicals to use to create an explosion that wouldn't end up killing us too?

[modernmedicine]

It is entirely too easy, I agree. It's certainly possible it's an attempt to frame someone...

[neverheardofhim]

If we were back home, I would admit to being able to have made something like this but... I think there are a few people here who can attest to what I a miserable job I was doing with this stuff. [Phi? Jasper? Estelle? Anybody remember his week 1 experiments with bleach and meat?]

[plentyfriendly]

It's true. The smell was awful, which is normal, but...

[Then there was the distinct lack of safety measures. That seems to be something of a theme.]

[alchemicals]

...Sodium azide, huh.

[That's interesting, from the sound of it.]

[feistytrader]

...Could you tell us what you know about it?

[Please educate the people who have never taken a chemistry class-]

[alchemicals]

Sure thing.

[plentyfriendly]

It's an ionic compound that's not dissimilar to table salt. It just has azide ions in it instead of chloride.

[The applications thereof are beyond her though.]

[alchemicals]

Oh, trust me. I know what it is.

Chemical weaponry is my specialty, after all.

[plentyfriendly]

That's an ominous statement to make here, considering.

[Here's hoping he'll cooperate... or potentially that hedunnit.]

[alchemicals]

Yeah, I know that, too.

[well. we'll see, won't we.]

[sportadork]

So, the murderer is someone who knows chemistry very well?

[alchemicals]

Probably. I don't know what they teach people in school nowadays.

[Is he being serious, is he fucking with you, it's hard to tell.]