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

[bloodisthicker]

...So given the condition of the art room, is there any evidence that Mion wasn't murdered? I know what the crime scene is intended to look like, but honestly, I'm insulted that whichever of you did it thought we'd buy it for a second.

Why don't you try to save a little face by confessing and lying about how you wanted to protect us from the random element? Surely it's better than proving to the rest of us that you were afraid enough of having your name picked out of the Kingmaker's hat that you threw twenty two other people in front of a train.

[he's scanning the room while saying it and trying not to look at anyone in particular, because honestly, he has no leads. But he's mad as hell and if the culprit can be guilted into a confession, they can watch something wearing Mion's face... he doesn't know... beat them to death with a Battleship set and the rest of them could go back to their rooms.]

[ratingspoint]

Oooh - how authoritative of you, I'm impressed.

But really, darling, there's no point in setting it up like that if the person was just going to confess anyway... Other than maybe proving that they're the most disgusting person in the room? That's a possibility! A strange PR choice, but how should I know what was going through their mind.

[bloodisthicker]

Let's be honest here -- at best, they didn't consider offering themselves as a sacrifice, meaning that once we learn who they are, we're down two instead of one.

I guess the Kingmaker could have nixed the idea of self-sacrifice, but if he didn't, the killer really should have been the only one who died.

[ratingspoint]

He didn't, actually.

[...Well, then.]

[bloodisthicker]

...so, either shortsighted or very likely the most disgusting person in the room, then.

[ratingspoint]

Possibly! Unless someone got more information than I did when I asked about it, self-sacrifice is definitely on the table.

Or, well, it was, before all this business with Mion-darling happened.

[bloodisthicker]

And we can thank whoever it was that decided to kill her for that. Granted, we don't know if anyone would've actually done that, and it's not like the Kingmaker gave us a down to the hour deadline...

[...]

...pun absolutely not intended.

[ratingspoint]

...I think someone would have, sweetheart.

[bloodisthicker]

...

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

[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]

...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.