trusthell | Take Responsibility.

Take Responsibility.

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.

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I'll start with my inspection of the body.

[Bruce's voice is clipped and terse, his usual politeness somehow vanished in the wake of Mion's passing. His expression is devoid of anything as well, as if Bruce has effectively shut down every part of himself that would feel anything.

All in all, he is much less warmer than he normally would be.]

There are no signs of restraints on her body, and inspecting her neck shows no bruising at all. There is also a large bruise on her head that had been caused prior to her death.

In addition, upon further inspection of the wound I found that it had been cleaned, and the wound itself is of a good size and was a clean strike straight to the femoral artery. All of this likely suggests that the victim was in no position to defend herself when the killing blow was dealt.

Hmmm. Did the killer knock her unconscious before stabbing her thigh, then?

That seems like the most believable sequence of events right now.

Sounds like she was knocked out and then stabbed onto the thigh.

[A nod]

I have to agree with Cherryblod-san, the culprit must have known what they were doing, but I think it's also common knowledge the legs have an important artery.

It's strange it was severed in one single hit, though. No hesitation, just good aim and knowledge of where exactly it would be.

Just knowing that the legs have an important artery isn't enough for you to sever it in a single clean hit. You'd have to either have experience with combat or human anatomy in order to get it first try.

That's a pretty specific wound. It'd be difficult, even with a lot of knowledge. I agree, whoever did this knew what they were doing.

I think combat experience is more likely than just theoretical anatomy knowledge - it's harder to put into practice than it looks.

So we're lookin' for someone who has combat experience with a sword, or a similar type of blade.

I've used them before, but I'm not that good with them. Anyway, I was in Mettaton's room all last night - he can vouch that I didn't leave.

I can, yes!

[HELLO SHRIMPDAD HE IS HERE.]

I was up all night, as I usually am - he didn't go anywhere.

Thank you, dear.

[He appreciates your support.]

And while I did go to sleep, you've seen humans all of a handful of times - I doubt you'd ever be that good at finding a specific artery on a human body.

[Do monsters even have arteries??]

Correct, darling! If I were going to stab someone, I would go for the chest or the face or something - somewhere that would make sure they died when I killed them. The most I know about humans otherwise is that they bleed if you poke them hard enough.

[...Buddy.]

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cherryblooded - 2016-03-19 16:37 (UTC) - Expand

Thanks for the confirmation. I appreciate it.

[he never doubted you, shrimpdad]

[Hmmm. Her chances are not sounding too good right now. And she's got no alibi. Wow.]

I'm well-versed with pretty much anything that's sharp and anything that shoots, but I'll admit that I haven't had a sword like this in a while. I'm more used to daggers.

And humans aren't my expertise. Animals and trolls are, though I can't say it's all that different either... except for trolls, which have all the weak points. Animals are pretty much the same as humans in where their blood runs. I just don't see a point in the bloodletting this time though, if she was stabbed after she was down for the count or whatever, why not just use the neck or chest?

To try to make it look like a suicide, I suppose. Nobody would think somebody with a hole on their chest - visible in plain sight- died by hanging, not even for a moment.

[That would have been an even worse attempt than the one found right now]

It was a pretty bad cover-up but there was an attempt. Finding the wound on the thigh needed some examination.

Edited 2016-03-19 16:39 (UTC)

Got it.

[It's a shame, this is a pretty nice sword. She weighs it in her hand a moment before pointing at the gory blanket with it.]

So was that really used to clean up the blood, or just to catch the blood when they cut her leg? Because we usually have something to catch livestock blood since it tends to be, well, everywhere.

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pokexplorer - 2016-03-19 16:59 (UTC) - Expand

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garudynamic - 2016-03-19 17:09 (UTC) - Expand

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captainobnoxious - 2016-03-19 17:15 (UTC) - Expand

The neck would be the first place to think about cutting if you were going for blood. That's how you drain the blood out of a sheep after you kill it--it helps with preserving the meat.

[ He never helped with that part of the life cycle, but uh. Yeah. ]

[Yeah. That's her boy.]

Guess there's no real reason to preserve her though since everyone's still really against the idea of cannibalism for survival.

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isafraid - 2016-03-19 17:14 (UTC) - Expand

[Hmm....]

Never touched a sword before, but I'm a bit versed in using smaller blades. I won't lie that I've gotten into some tough dustups back home.

[.....are you trying to incriminate yourself?]

[NO

Just.... being honest...

also stupid, but that's just Jojos.]

Speaking of smaller blades, you were also in the games room, right? Did you see that little metal bit that was mentioned earlier?

Can't say so. I might've seen it a bit, but that was mister Gabriel's investigation.

[He got the gross investigation.]

Maybe, but the more telling fact is ghat there were no signs of her struggling against the rope. There is a chance she was already dead when she was hung.

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