Take Responsibility.

[kingmakereffect]

And once the allotted time for investigating comes to a close, those elevator doors at the end of the first-floor corridor open up; the ride down is fast, smooth, and understandably tense as far as atmosphere goes. You're down to less than half of your original number. The doors slide open and the podium circle comes into view, standing stark against the black-walled courtroom and encircling that pit in the center; Misa and Aqua have joined the ranks of the deceased, photographs in greyscale watching the proceedings from their podiums draped in black. Of course and as always, the deceased aren't the only ones watching; the Kingmaker will make his presence known once everyone has settled at their podium, his voice sounding out through the room for all to hear. "Resilient has been taken from you. Maybe this time the guilty party will actually succeed at fulfilling Rule Seven, seeing as this is the sixth try and all. Whether they manage it is up to the rest of you." Thirteen Survivors remain. However many will be down by the end of the day is up to you.

Comments

[trustharder]

[It isn't cracked.]

[isafraid]

[He turns it over in his hands, then shakes his head.]

Not a crack on it. Only thing is, it doesn't feel like turning on when I try it.

[captainobnoxious]

Do these things turn on if they're not in our hands anyway?

[goodforsomething]

Us specifically? Can they tell?

[That's creepy.]

[penduli]

Like through fingerprint recognition or something? [ ...huh.

That's not a bad idea, and it'd keep identity theft low... ]

[captainobnoxious]

[...]

I could be right?

[captainobnoxious]

I don't see why not. I mean, our keys specifically open our doors, so why wouldn't they turn on specifically for us? It'd keep privacy too.

... Not that I know how that'd work, because that sounds waaaay too techy for me, but it popped into mind.

[cherryblooded]

I've used Yosuke's key for him before.

[captainobnoxious]

So I'm wrong.

[that is so saddening]

[penduli]

It was a good thought, Miss Sigrun. [ Like... from a technology-stupid viking, it really was... ]

[cherryblooded]

Sorry.

[It was a good thought!]

[isafraid]

[He glances over to her.]

As good an idea as any we've had so far.

[amygdalae]

It was a thought.

[Although having said that...]

I suppose we should actually know what the actual limitations of these devices are.

[Does anybody... want to do the honor of asking the Kingmaker...]

[amygdalae]

There could be some sort of fingerprint sensor, I suppose...

[Hmmmm.]

[amygdalae]

Did it run out of battery or something?

[...although that shouldn't be the case, since his own is still working...]

[isafraid]

....Battery?

[UHHH....]

[amygdalae]

[...sorry, Speedwagon.]

Energy. Devices like these need stored energy for it to function.

[isafraid]

So that's it. [He gets it! Sort of! God he's sorry for this.]

Well I guess that's possible then. But then wouldn't all of our little gadgets be turning off by this time too?

[amygdalae]

Yes, if they started at the same time. Which more or less renders my own question moot.

[garudynamic]

[So if it's not ID recognizing...]

Still, that means someone broke it without smashing it. Water maybe? Or they took the battery out? These kinda phones can be really touchy. Hey Speedwagon, toss it over.

[He loves ya bro, but he doubt you'd even know where to start looking]

[isafraid]

Uh, right! Catch!

[Yeah he's... kind of lost. Completely lost, if we're being honest.

But hey, he's got a good throwing arm. Think fast, Yosuke. He's trusting you to figure out this mysterious little brick.]

paging mods

[garudynamic]

[He snags it out of the air, turning it over in his hands.]

Okay, so if this is anything like the phones in my world the battery should be on the inside. If it was dunked in water it might still be damp on the inside too.

[He digs through his little bag and pulls out, hilariously, the gold and silver earrings he borrowed from Mettaton waaay back before the first trial. They might be small enough to use as impromptu screwdrivers for bitty screws]

Oh man, please don't fry me.

[trustharder]

[...Yosuke. Buddy. Pal. Speedwagon does have the toolkit right over th-

Okay, you know what, sure, go ahead and try to unscrew it. The battery's still there, though.]

[garudynamic]

[LOOK USUALLY THOSE THINGS DON'T HAVE TINY LITTLE SCREWDRIVERS OKAY look it's Yoosk he dumb]

Okay, so they didn't take out the battery.

[He pops it out and does a quick pat around for moisture and any obvious damage just in case before putting it down]

So something else fried it.

[trustharder]

[Yeah, it's. Kinda wet in there, I'm just a tool and somehow didn't note this, god I'm sorry]