trusthell | Take Responsibility.

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

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.

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

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?

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.

[ 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?

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

That's just indignity to remains.

[... Fair.]

Don't damage her further.

[For fuck's sake, Sigrun.]

[Yikes.]

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

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?

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.

In here, I'd hope not.

[That's worse then giving someone a knife.]

... First off, when we're done with this, you should show me your cool hammer moves!

[ oh god, the priorities... ]

Also, I don't think the person who did this necessarily had to be able to swing it well. If Pearl were on the ground... then you could just let gravity do its business.

I can't say I'm an expert with a hammer, more of a knife and gun girl myself, but I don't see why I can't show you a thing or two!

[... But that is a good point.]

At the very least they've gotta be able to hold it above their head then, right?

Aw yeah!! I'm gonna hold you to that, then!! [ TWO THUMBS-UP ]

And I think so... but I think we said near the start of the trial, most of us could at least lift it, right?

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

So I've heard. Rocks aren't something we usually consider respectful, that's all. But she was a person. [She guesses.]

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...?

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.

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?

...if the gem is Pearl's... self... maybe the killer didn't expect that? Like they attacked her and there was a struggle when she didn't go down like they expected?

I mean, I sure would be surprised if that happened ... could be that they weren't aiming for her gem, exactly, and it just happened that they crushed it during the struggle.

Unless Pearl mentioned her... nature? Her whatever, to anyone it's not something anyone would think to aim for.

Well, consider this! The culprit might not have been aiming specifically for the gem. Like Tarrlok said earlier... if you bonk somebody on the head really hard, they're, uh.

They're not gonna get up after that, generally speaking.

... And, well... I didn't really wanna go here? But where else would you hit somebody with a blunt force weapon for a sure kill? You could just mangle the person and not kill them.

[ ... such important input ]

(no subject)

garudynamic - 2016-03-12 17:37 (UTC) - Expand

capyper - 2016-03-12 17:40 (UTC) - Expand

garudynamic - 2016-03-12 17:41 (UTC) - Expand