Take Responsibility.

[kingmakereffect]

And after a given amount of time, those elevator doors at the end of the first-floor corridor open up; as it was last week, the ride down is smooth and quick-moving, even if there are less of you this week. (Technically, you're only down by one in the elevator; Bruce has ensured that Pearl is with you in some way, albeit unconventionally and by the grace of Ziploc.) However, when the doors open up to the podium circle standing in the middle of that black void of a courtroom, there's no mistaking the fact that there are fewer people present than there were last week – Kamui and Pearl have joined those with podiums draped in black, their framed profile portraits watching the proceedings in shades of grey. It's still impossible to tell exactly where the Kingmaker is watching the proceedings from, though it's obvious that he is; he'll wait until everyone is settled before he speaks, his voice coming from everywhere and nowhere all at once. "Devoted has been taken from you. All of you know what the stakes are now, but this happened anyway – looks like someone's determined. Whether they succeed or not is up to you." Twenty-four Survivors remain. We'll see how many are still standing by the end of the day.

Comments

[happysweets]

So that's out, then. Unless it was in one of the dorm rooms or something, but...

[captainobnoxious]

If they weren't, they could've just got a lucky shot in on her head. Though... depending on the person, this thing's not exactly easy to control the swing of.

[ratingspoint]

My soul and the motherboard are two separate things, darling!

[...Robots, man.]

And since everyone seems so confused by all of this, it's safe to say that very few of us knew any of that, isn't it?

[garudynamic]

Yeah, point. Though after Kamui we can't 100% assume anything about how strong anyone is. But, heh, let's not get into powers unless we have to. That's just asking for more crazy.

[lackinginfaith]

Not to mention they can't all be as easy to prove as that bloodletting thing from last time.

[garudynamic]

In theory, yeah.

[ratingspoint]

[...Lynne, how.]

...We tend to need a creator, sweetheart.

[capyper]

What doesn't kill ya makes you stronger anyway!

.... I've put weirder things in my mouth, don't even worry about it. [ not dead rocks, though ]

[lackinginfaith]

If we aren't all executed, at this rate we'll just poison ourselves.

[wokeupdead]

[ugh totally.]

Does anyone know who was close to her? I only spoke with her once.

[captainobnoxious]

[Listen.]

Yeaaah, you have a point. At least there's no need to lick it again and it's proof this thing helped smash a rock.

[captainobnoxious]

Thanks, fancy toes! That's exactly right!

[garudynamic]

Yeah. If we start assuming powers or any other weirdness right away we could work ourselves into a corner- I mean, we got lucky that Kamui's healing was easy to prove. But how would you even prove something like super strength if the person wanted to hide it?

[capyper]

True, true! But there's another reason I think she must've been on the ground. I mean, you saw signs of a struggle, right...?

[notjustawriter]

That's a possibility.

[Or not, apparently.]

[wokeupdead]

...Well, a smaller robot could make a new body for itself right? You guys seem pretty smart.

[look. she doesn't know how robots work.]

[captainobnoxious]

Let's at least focus so the first doesn't happen. I'd only like for two deaths to happen this week.

[amygdalae]

I agree. It took both me and Miss Caren to carry back the sledgehammer she got from the vending machine just a few days prior.

[So its certainly not something not anybody would be able to do.]

[lackinginfaith]

With how many people were running around looking for a body, I'd assume such.

[cherryblooded]

Ah, there's one other thing we have - we discovered white clothing fibers on Pearl's...pieces.

Detective Mouri put a few of them in his handkerchief.

[Good job, detective.]

[garudynamic]

Yeah, and Pearl is always up late at night so it wouldn't be hard to catch her while she was doing something in there. Like laundry. Especially if she was working over a basin or something.

[bloodisthicker]

True, but it's hard to say that it wouldn't get the job done if you could use it right. If anyone specifically knew about that, it would definitely make them more suspicious, but I think we should keep open minds about the whole thing.

[isafraid]

...That's really the best we can get now, isn't it?

[amygdalae]

[Yes, well. You're kind of a special snowflake, Mettaton.]

It's pretty clear. I talked to her myself previously, but she never mentioned this before.

[For obvious reasons, of course, but still.]

[sleepingkogoro]

Indeed! I have brought some here.

We could use them to compare to the clothes we may be wearing right now, although it won't be easy just with our eyes. Thankfully our options for clothing are rather limited, so it is possible the culprit has the same clothes than in the moment of the crime.