Take Responsibility.

[wordsmithery]

The time allotted for investigation this week is a bit longer than normal - not due to anything done wrong on the part of the Apprentices, but perhaps due to a basic understanding that two corpses are going to be decidedly more difficult to handle than one. However, at the end of the time period you've been given, the elevator is waiting for you, as cold and sterile as always in its journey up to the courtroom; you're down to almost half of your original number, and if anything is going to indicate that this shows no signs of stopping, it's probably this week. The deceased have had three more join their numbers since you were here last - Gold, Varric, and Viktor's portraits have been greyed-out and set atop their spots in the podium circle, the podiums themselves draped in black fabric. As always, the lectern above stands empty. Whether he's with you or not, however, once everyone has found their place in the circle, the Wordsmith's voice can be heard throughout the room. "Welcome back. Two more Apprentices are missing from your number today, and I have little doubt that weighs heavily on your minds. Balanced and Capricious have been lost to you, so that the guilty may have a chance to leave the academy and possibly even gain something otherwise impossible to attain. If you wish for your fallen Apprentices to receive justice in death, then you know what to do: yet again, hold the guilty accountable." Sixteen Apprentices remain. However many leave here at the end of the day has yet to be seen.

Comments

[introspects]

Ah, I can turn that on, Marker-san.

[ so. she's from 2003...when these sorts of phones weren't really a thing...but she knows what power buttons are?! so she's going to press that to turn it on. ]

[matchbreaker]

Oh, thanks. I still don't get how that's even a phone.

[ BUT OH WELL. MAYBE THERE IS MORE TO BE FOUND ON THERE. ... You know other than selfies and nudes ]

[trustwellness]

[Between the two of you, you'll probably be able to figure out how to navigate the phone pretty easily! What you're looking for is in the photos. Some of them were taken here inside the school, but the important ones were taken back in Viktor's home world. There's photos of the streets of St. Petersburg and other places, like Hasetsu in Japan. If you keep poking around for long enough maybe you'll find the nude photos in a separate folder, but the important part here are the photos of foreign places!]

[introspects]

...Marker-san, did you bring those handwriting samples with you?

[matchbreaker]

[ She nods! Right here! ]

Of course! We don't wanna have that trip us up later.

mods!

[introspects]

Thank you.

[ she brings forth the note she found in varric's room. ]

I'd like to see if this note matches Viktor-san's handwriting.

[ is it a match? ]

[trustwellness]

[It is!]

[introspects]

Ah...it's a match. So...this is what Viktor-san wanted to show Varric-san. Pictures of his hometown.

[matchbreaker]

So that means some of the things on the digital phone are his hometown, right?

[introspects]

Maybe. Though...Viktor-san was a celebrity, so some of those photos may have been from earth itself but not his hometown.

[matchbreaker]

Oh, so he travelled!

[ Hmmmm ]

... Wait, this is a computer, right? He said computers are like file cabinets. Maybe there's a home town cabinet?

here we go

[introspects]

Ah, he probably did. It doesn't look like all of these photos are from the same place.

...I think a folder would be a better word for that. Should we look?

onward to nudes ]

[matchbreaker]

Yeah, let's do it!

[ HOW DOES PHONE? ]

[introspects]

Okay, let's see--

[ just a little bit of button pressing, wait, that's not how you do it, oH MY GOD IT'S TOUCHSCREEN??? THE TECHNOLOGY IS SO ADVANCED, okay uh

going through the folders and in one of the thumbnails

there is a naked selfie. ]

[matchbreaker]

[ . . . You know what, she won't be scandalized. She's going to force a laugh ]

I wonder if his fans liked that stuff too!

[introspects]

[ JUST. KYA'ING INTO THE DISTANCE...... ]

[matchbreaker]

[ Whoa don't drop the phone! Got it! ]

The man did swim naked at night!

[introspects]

V-Viktor-san?!

[ HAVE YOU NO SHAME

the answer is probably: no ]

[matchbreaker]

Yeah, him! I saw it myself!