trusthell | Take Responsibility.

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Elda? Is everything alright?

[She's careful to not...ask if SHE is because it's obvious she's not.]

I stepped in something.

[ It wasn't that long ago and it's not healed. ]

[DID YOU STEP IN PERHAPS...............A PERSON

But no Judy can. She can guess.]

I see...will it be okay?

[You know, Judy reeeally didn't like Elda at first, but their conversations over the weeks have kindof softened her previous outlook on her. She really seems to have cared about Chiyuki, so don't mind Judy being concerned.]

I can stand long enough to see someone dead.

[ But this whole balancing on one foot thing is hard okay ]

Yeah, I don't doubt that at all.

[Whoever did this might have to avoid a vampire's wrath, for sure. But Judy just kinda hopes she'll let Mercy look at that foot later if she hasn't already.]