Take Responsibility.

[kingmakereffect]

For the third time, those elevator doors at the end of the first-floor corridor open up at the end of the allotted investigation period; the ride down is, as ever, smooth and quick-moving. You're down by five. When the doors slide open, the podium circle still stands in stark contrast to that now-familiar black void of a courtroom, and once again, it's changed to reflect your losses – Caren and Mion have joined those with podiums draped in black, their framed greyscale profile portraits staring out at the rest of you. (The portrait of Pearl hasn't been removed from her room, but it seems the Kingmaker has replaced it with another; either way, her photograph is in the courtroom along with the rest.) As before, the Kingmaker waits until everyone is settled at their podiums before he speaks; he still isn't visible, but he can clearly be heard, his voice coming from everywhere and nowhere all at once. "Capable has been taken from you. I'll confirm one thing for you so no one will waste time asking – the killer wasn't me. Looks like the guilty decided to take a shot at Rule Seven after all – and whether they succeed or not is up to you." Twenty-two Survivors remain. We'll see how many the group has lost at the end of the day.

Comments

PAGING KINGMAKER

[cherryblooded]

We may as well be certain.

Kingmaker, what are the provisions for two people involved in murdering a third?

[capyper]

I do bleed, yep! But if you're looking for cuts on me, I already showed I don't have any.

[garudynamic]

Depends on how strong they are, probably. There's no real way to measure it.

[amygdalae]

I believe so.

[Just glancing in the general direction of... whatever. It's hard to look at the Kingmaker when you don't even know where the fuck he is.]

[capyper]

.... That's the trouble with society, ya know. You can't aesthetically appreciate people unless it's the right time and place when it's like, look, they don't just stop being hot during a sad moment.

[bloodisthicker]

...

No, so do I. I just have no idea how much time this hypothetical individual would have to decide.

[cherryblooded]

Hm... In that case, I think most of us taller than her could manage it. Norman and Colress would be the exceptions - height, but not much muscle.

[ratingspoint]

That would be why I asked. Among other things.

There's no point in looking at an incentive like that and going into it blind.

[bloodisthicker]

The fact that you don't have any cuts on you presently doesn't mean that there weren't any, though, as was clearly evidenced the first time we went through this mess.

[captainobnoxious]

Honestly, besides whoever really killed her, I'm probably your most likely bet to be able to do anything like that, you're right. I would've done a better knot for her though or just tossed everything into an already started burner.

[please don't continue to paint targets on yourself]

I'm glad you're getting over your jumpy starts though, good on you. Thanks.

[capyper]

Okay, so... I don't want to do this, but you can cut me up if you want to check that I don't heal from cuts. Really, the only way I'm different from you humans is I don't age and normally I don't have to use the bathroom either.

..... Tarrlok... please be gentle with me...

[ are you ready for this, Tarrlok. ]

[trustharder]

[While it's certainly a good question, it is unfortunately a small piece of metal. You're not going to be finding any dramatic stories here, since we're all normal people with normal vision who cannot find any more clues from said small piece of metal. Sorry, Sigrun. Nice try though.]

[capyper]

Are you done with it yet? I had second dibs!

[bloodisthicker]

Well, I'm certain you can, but it's not like you go around telling people about it. You just quietly think to yourself wow, my next-door neighbor cleans up really nicely, doesn't she? and proceed as normal.

[captainobnoxious]

[Is it a chip off of something? Or... someone?]

[kingmakereffect]

That depends on how they're both involved.

[captainobnoxious]

In a second! I'm investigating!

[.... she's looking really hard at it is what she's doing. creating magical adventures for this little thing]

[trustharder]

[Well, it does look like it was broken off of something.]

[cherryblooded]

Thank you for your directness, as always.

If they both cooperate with the express intent of killing a third person, are they both able to escape, assuming we don't discover their guilt?

[bloodisthicker]

...I mostly just asked him if we could vote for him on the off chance that he'd actually say yes.

...

It wasn't very productive.

[captainobnoxious]

[Gasp! A clue!

...

...

By chance, is the sword damaged? She'll even wipe off some of the blood to find out.]

[trustharder]

[No, it isn't.]

[capyper]

Investigate faster, then! I wanna see it too.

[bloodisthicker]

...

[HMMMMMMMMM...]

Can I see that for a second, actually? I think I might have an idea.

[amygdalae]

...Captain Eide, may I look at it for a second?

[It's a far fetched idea for now but they are all lost in the dark, so.]