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

[cherryblooded]

...I thought you said you couldn't lift that, Miss Caren.

[lackinginfaith]

Barely. It's possible for just about anyone, just inconvenient. Bruce can attest that I have trouble. Either way, I saw when we were all walking to the elevator that there was one in the evidence, and I wanted to eliminate myself either way.

[cherryblooded]

I see. Good thinking.

[So her sledgehammer isn't dusty?]

[lackinginfaith]

[Nope. It's clean.]

[amygdalae]

I can speak up for her - I personally helped her to move the sledgehammer she got from the machine into her room a few days before.

[Yeah, he had been wondering about that when he saw Sigrun with the sledgehammer. That's a relief.]

[capyper]

Oh, I see! So you ran back and grabbed your own, 'cause that's one people already knew you had, right? That's pretty smart.

[lackinginfaith]

Right. I reported it in that meeting last week.

[garudynamic]

So either the person who used it had to be very strong or Pearl had to be off her feet. I mean, she's wasn't SUPER tall, but getting a hammer that high can't be easy?

[capyper]

Noooo offense to anybody this applies to, but... that handprint wasn't too big, right? So the person it belongs to probably isn't super tall! I think it's more likely to be that she was on the ground or something like that.

[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]

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?

[captainobnoxious]

Yeah, yeah. If no one's against the method, we can see if this sledgehammer can actually split the bigger chunks of her and who's best at swinging it though. Or even lifting it up.

[Considering most tend to be 10-20 pounds, it's easy enough for Sigrun herself to lift the hammer she's got. Still a little weighty but. IT's fine.]

A test of strength. We'll narrow it down that way.

[penduli]

[ Like, Pearl's already dead and she's not getting any deader, but-- ]

There's probably not enough pieces left for us to get to everyone, and--that's a little disrespectful, isn't it?

[captainobnoxious]

Her gemstone's not even that big from what I remember about the lady, so maybe not all of it is from that.

[lackinginfaith]

That's just indignity to remains.

[captainobnoxious]

[... Fair.]

[ratingspoint]

Don't damage her further.

[For fuck's sake, Sigrun.]

[captainobnoxious]

[Yikes.]

Just an idea, just an idea. We can at least give this hammer a swing or two, right?

[isafraid]

And seeing as the most of us are adults, I can see how that method might narrow it down a bit.

[Says the Jojo character.]

Do we necessarily need to... break Pearl apart more then she's already been?

[captainobnoxious]

No... We can just swing this thing around a few times and see if there's anyone who can hit the mark, so to speak. Or at least not go wildly out of control with it.

[notjustawriter]

....That's just disrespectin' the dead.

[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...?

[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.

[capyper]

Right! I don't think that the person who did this needed to be strong... If Pearl were on the ground, then they could've just kinda half-swung half-dropped the hammer on her, you know what I mean?