Take Responsibility.

[andexecutioner]

The door at the northwestern corner of the foyer is open. It's hard to say when it opened, but the fact of the matter is that it seems to have; it leads to a separate hallway that seems to run alongside the dormitories. The hall is long and dimly-lit, but it's illuminated well enough to make it plain that the walls and floor in here are different; they're far less designed to give off an impression of grandeur - if anything, it's claustrophobic back here: the walls are close and darkly-colored, and the entire area is barren until it opens up into the room serving as your destination. The room is circular and high-ceilinged, covered in more of the exposed wood that lines the rest of the building; there aren't any visible lights, however, which is...odd, given how bright the place is. It lends the entire area a sense of unreality; it's easy to distract yourself from it, however, once you notice this place's centerpiece. In the center of the room is a circle of podiums, thirty in total, arranged so that everyone standing at them can see each other. So everyone can look each other in the eyes, if they so choose. The podiums are interlocked - there's no cutting across the center of the circle, and for good reason, it looks like there's a lot of nothing down there where the floor should be - and each is bearing the title of the person who's assigned to stand at it. No names, just adjectives, emblazoned across two brass panels on the very top and the front of each podium. Affixed to the podium itself is a panel with buttons on it, and again, there are thirty in total; next to the buttons are smaller strips of engraved metal to serve as labels, bearing the titles of everyone that's been present in the facility, living or dead. All of the podiums are identical, except for the one intended for Sayaka. The podium that should bear Attentive's title has had a black cloth draped over it, and a copy of Sayaka's profile photo is sitting on top of it, framed and colorless, an image in greyscale. Juri is nowhere to be found in here, but that doesn't mean you're alone down here; the feeling that you're being watched is strong, and he'll wait until you've had time to take in what you're looking at before he addresses you - over the public-address system again, from the sound of it. "Attentive's dead, and somebody's to blame for it - but you guys get to decide whether Rule Seven's carried out or not. It's your job to hold them responsible for what they've done. Good luck in doing it."

Comments

[myfedorarocks]

That's certainly possible-- but whatever it was, it was strong enough to rip the finish off of the table.

In other words, it wasn't exactly a sweet drink.

[notaccurate]

...you know, poisons sometimes taste sweet. Is it possible she was poisoned?

[myfedorarocks]

[He looks thoughtful.]

Arsenic has a sweet taste, but obviously there wasn't any poison in the storage room.

[notaccurate]

Arsenic is an insecticide, so it could have been in a cleaning cabinet. Or in wallpaper, if this place is particularly old.

[Oh look it's the 1880s calling again.]

[hesperos]

[ Scratching his head a bit, he doesn't know for sure, but better to say it than just leave it. ]

...Well, people can always make poison, right?

[myfedorarocks]

If they have the correct knowledge, certainly.

Usually toxic chemicals are labeled as such.

[notaccurate]

And there's not many combinations that can be mixed up to make a sweet-smelling poison. Arsenic, if we find it, is the likely candidate. It's highly toxic, and it's very sweet-tasting. But that is really hard to get your hands on, just because of how dangerous it is.

[oasisrose]

... arsenic...?

[Jean looks concerned.]

[myfedorarocks]

It's a toxic chemical. As Luca said, it has been used as a pesticide in the past.

Even ingesting a little of it is likely to be fatal. Though I don't know how anyone could get their hands on it here.

[oasisrose]

... ... ...

[She's going to regret saying this, but...]

I know how they could. The vending machine has arsenic -- it gave me two bottles of it.

[fivepints]

[...You know, it's probably a bad idea to bring this up, but - ]

I...uh, I wouldn't say it smells sweet, exactly -

[...]

I guess it does after the fact? It smells like. Something. Weird. Depending on who's smelling it, some people love it and some hate it, but anyway, WD-40...it very much does dull wood if you spill it onto something.

[seventhprogenitor]

Oh, that certainly narrows it down -- I know there's more than a few people who took that from the storage our first day here. There were many of it missing when Luca and I were decorating my room.

[... Not that anyone is gonna be forthright about taking it now, huh.]

[myfedorarocks]

[He nods.]

It's not like we have a shortage of WD-40 to clean up messes.

[notaccurate]

[The mun had to google when it was invented to be sure but That is definitely something Luca does not know about.]

WD-40? What is that?

[fortunatedetective]

It's a type of multi-purpose oily substance. It's mostly used in maintenance and cleaning, but it could be possible there are other uses for it.

[Guess who just used Google]

[cilantro]

[... Actually, come to think of it:]

We might want to check everyone's hands: there's a risk of irritation to one's skin if you're not wearing gloves or being particularly careful when using it, if I recall correctly?

[fortunatedetective]

I...I can't say it with certainty, but I guess that could be a possibility.

[Naoto doesn't have anything wrong with her hands!]

[middaymoon]

[ Mahiru's hands are free of any irritation or injuries. ]

[seventhprogenitor]

[Ferid has to take off his gloves for it, but his slender hands also have no irritation or injuries.]

[flagitate]

...

[ She unwraps those bandages from her hands. They're burned pretty badly from whatever the hell happened before she came here, but other than that, there's nothing. ]

[myfedorarocks]

[No irritations or injuries here.]

[oasisrose]

[Jean's hands are not irritated. In fact, the skin is quite soft to the touch.]

[poultryfists]

[Nothing interesting about Yang's hands!]

[hesperos]

[ Yuri raises his hands up with a slight smile. He wiggles his fingers a little too, because why not. Also, they are free of any injuries or irritation. ]

[notaccurate]

Can it be used to clean up blood?