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

[amygdalae]

[...]

What made you even suddenly decide to try repairs there in the first place? She was there, sure, but something must have happened that required you to suddenly ask for her assistance.

[ratingspoint]

Well, she came in while I was already in there. I was playing for a while, but again, my ankle hasn't been doing too well. So I had the toolkit in there in case it decided to seize up.

[amygdalae]

Would that kind of fix even work in the first place? As you've said before, your make up isn't exactly that of a normal robot. You're powered by your soul, after all, and you confirmed to me that the properties of your body is different because of the fact that you're bonded.

[goodforsomething]

I did see him doin' that earlier. I doubt he was pretending on the off-chance of this.

[ratingspoint]

It would be a temporary patch until I either had my magic restored and could fix it myself, or until I could get to someone like Alphys who could help me with it.

...You're really just proving my point, though. You know that, right? If that sort of fix wouldn't work, I couldn't have possibly fought her the way you're all insisting I did.

[amygdalae]

Unless it did work, for some reason.

[ratingspoint]

Say it did. What are you even suggesting happened then? I absolutely didn't pursue her, so...?

[amygdalae]

[Man Bruce doesn't even know. He's just going his best to think of what is most logical right now.]

This could have been the point where you hit her left shoulder. It was probably an easy reach, especially if she was kneeling.

[ratingspoint]

Interesting theory, but I'm left-side dominant, sweetheart. If I were going to hit her at all, it wouldn't be on her left.

But it was a good try.

[amygdalae]

You could have just as easily be hitting her right. She wasn't exactly only bruised on one side alone.

[ratingspoint]

So what does this change, exactly...? She met me in the music room, and I didn't have the wrench on me because I was playing piano like a sane person. Why would I have her fix my ankle and then fight her, gallivant up three flights of stairs to go get a weapon, gallivant back down three flights of stairs to finish her off, and then do...everything else I supposedly did?

You know who does that? No one does that.

[amygdalae]

...you didn't have the wrench on you at first, true.

But Aqua could have brought it down for the repairs.

[ratingspoint]

...A wrench large enough to bludgeon someone to death with is definitely large enough for me to tell her not to bring it down to use it on me? The toolkits are fine.

[i mean he sees where you're coming from and both mettaton and aqua are kind of inept but

jesus christ we're talking about something that controls fine motor skills, not unscrewing a fucking lug nut on a car tire]

[amygdalae]

She could have brought it down unintentionally - she could have brought down several tools from the workshop at the same time to see what would work and what didn't work. The toolkits can only get you so far, after all.

[ratingspoint]

So that's where you're assuming the multiple weapons came from?

What, are we suggesting she brought me a vibrator too?

[amygdalae]

You could have easily taken those from her room - or your own, whichever. You did after all stop by there to put her bloodied clothes there and get out her dress.

[ratingspoint]

Either way, it's cute and all that you're absolutely married to the idea that Aqua brought the wrench down, but she definitely didn't.

[sleepingkogoro]

If you grabbed, say, Aqua's right shoulder with your left hand and hit her against the floor that could cause the left shoulder bruise.

[It kinda resembles scenarios of fights Mouri had pictured for the self-defense class, at least]

Especially if she was in an unstable position such as kneeling or...pretty much anything that wasn't standing up.

[ratingspoint]

And then I...what? Ran up three flights of stairs to get a weapon, ran back down three flights of stairs to kill her, and then did everything else that everyone is claiming I did?

Get real. It's like I've been saying. No one does that.

[sleepingkogoro]

[Mouri closes his eyes. Mettaton is not the kind of person that would allow one to sit back and see stuff happen. If they were going to fight him in some sort of word fight...

...then may as well fire any theory they could think and see what sticks.

It's desperate, but what else could be done]

The wrench was already in the crime scene.
Aqua brought the wrench.
The wrench wasn't the crime weapon.

I concur you wouldn't go all the way to the workshop to get a weapon, but that doesn't mean you didn't kill her. The scenario you are refuting is one of many possibilities.

[It was not much progress, but better say something than not saying anything]

[ratingspoint]

Then what are you saying did happen, sweetheart? Because if the wrench was already there then I didn't know about it, and I was not about to let Aqua use something that size on my ankle.

[sleepingkogoro]

If I had to guess...

...

...you didn't kill her immediately, I mean, you didn't crush her head right there when you were with her at first. It's possible you fought without a weapon. I know very well you are prepared for fighting, faulty ankle or not.

Bruce-san found bruises that may indicate she laid on her side for a while, enough for blood to gather and form the bruises he found.

While she was incapacitated - or unconscious, I don't know - you could have taken the time to go get everything we found, including the crime weapon. Once you had all the objects you chosen the crime weapon and killed her, afterwards taking the time to smear all that stuff with blood in an attempt to confuse us.

That is it.

[He is not confident, but that is what connecting the dots leads him to]

[ratingspoint]

I'm going to stand by my story that I didn't crush her head at all, if no one minds, but hypothetically speaking? All of that still falls under the category of "who does that."

[penduli]

[ ...hummmm. ]

Do you have any guesses yourself, Mettaton?

[ratingspoint]

About who would have done that sort of thing? How should I know. We're looking at someone who knows how to smash someone's head in with a wrench, for crying out loud, it isn't like it's rocket science.

If I had to take a guess, someone found her after I did, already had a weapon with them and killed her with it. It makes more sense than all this business with the stairs to me.