Take Responsibility.

[andexecutioner]

And like last week, after a given amount of time the corridor at the northwestern end of the foyer opens up; it's quiet when it happens, and vaguely unsettling like Juri's first appearance here – it wasn't open, and then it inexplicably was, and even if you were investigating in the foyer you probably couldn't say when it happened. As before, that podium circle stands in the middle of the courtroom at the end of that claustrophobic little hallway; there's no mistaking that there are fewer of you than there were last week. Mallick and Nephenee have joined those with podiums draped in black, their framed, greyed-out profile portraits observing the proceedings that are about to unfold here. Juri is nowhere to be seen, but the feeling that you're being watched is still undeniable; he'll wait until you've all found your spots to address you. "Steadfast is dead. Maybe someone's trying to take me up on the incentive; maybe someone was just feeling opportunistic. Who knows? It's not really important now; what matters is seeing if they manage to carry out the terms of Rule Seven. It's your job to hold them responsible. Good luck." Twenty-seven Competitors remain. Let's see how many are still standing by the end of the day.

Comments

[bluemeanie]

[guess who got a good sleep. none of you fuckers did, except for him. this bald fuckbag.]

Let's get right to it, then.

[seventhprogenitor]

My, I think this is the first time I've seen you all morning! Continuing your trend of disrespecting the dead this week as well?

[And Ferid's continuing his trend of this, so.]

[andneversaydie]

[...Mozu is still not doing good, but she goes ahead and says something, putting a box apparently filled with napkins on her podium.].

...s-so, um... I'm no good at investigating, but I still wanted to help out some, so I made everyone some rice balls. I know none of us probably have much of an appetite after t-that, but... it's hard to concentrate on an empty stomach, so I hope it'll get everyone's brains goin' while we solve this. Sorry I couldn't do more...

[onedrinkwithme]

[He isn't hungry after seeing Nephenee but the thought is very appreciated.]

Nay, you did well.

[Come on, he's not going to belittle a kid even if his own nerves are a little shot.]

[fittedgloves]

[ She'll give Mozu a small smile. ]

Thank you, Mozu.

[innocentloveholic]

[ ...oh my gosh, Food. Don't mind if she does~ man it totally pays to be next to the small farm girl. ]

Nooo, noo, this is totally fine! It's not like any of us got to eat this morning! [ and no one might be hungry after the whole corpse thing. ]

[didntgetdadslooks]

[what the hell you precious agriculture child EVEN ANGEL THINKS YOU DON'T DESERVE TO DEAL WITH THIS]

Thank you, Mozu.

[fortunatedetective]

Please don't fret, Mozu-san. Your efforts are commendable.

[A rice ball would be nice. Naoto approaches to take one. Nom]

Let's start with the usual: cause of death.

[Let's be orderly]

[oasisrose]

[Mozu...]

There's no need to apologize. Thank you, Mozu, for thinking ahead like this.

[meanttobe]

You did great, Mozu.

[Sends her a subdued smile.]

[myfedorarocks]

Thank you, Mozu.

[passional]

Thank you, Mozu.

[ He gives her a small smile and takes one of the rice balls, biting into it. ]

It tastes incredible.

[notaccurate]

[Aww, what a sweetie.]

It's alright, this is plenty. Thank you.

[seventhprogenitor]

You did more than enough, Mozu darling, as you can see everyone appreciates it.

[... Though he isn't going to take one himself. Someone is still a little too queasy after passing by the blood it seems, but has the energy to go at it with Walter.]

[flagitate]

[ Mozu, you're too good for this place. ]

They're really good. You're doing great, Mozu.

[greenmamabear]

We'll all work better on a full stomach. Good thinking.

[poultryfists]

[You know what? She is absolutely here for a meal before they go at this for a while.]

Thanks, Mozu.

[hesperos]

Nah, it's fine. Thanks, Mozu.

You're a pal.

[ Yuri's lacking in appetite like some others are as well, but it doesn't mean he can at least give her thanks for the attempt. ]

[glaciates]

Yeah, thanks. It was smart of you to think ahead like that.

[Look at you, doing something useful with yourself even if you can't investigate! UNLIKE A CERTAIN SOMEONE JEEZ ISAAC]

[middaymoon]

[ Right. Let's just ignore the standard-issue bickering for a moment. ]

What did everyone find while they were investigating? I looked through the sewing room and found it completely ransacked. However, there wasn't anything missing from the storage bins.

[meanttobe]

There was! Not from the storage bins, I mean, but from the thread? Some green thread was missing, if I got that right, and...I think someone dug around the needles too? They looked all uneven.

[Starting off the trial on the same page this time, aren't we.]

HANDS AND ARMS CHECK FOLKS

[onedrinkwithme]

Katniss brings up a point of checking ourselves for any potential injuries. Mind if we show our arms and hands and we may find a clue to help us.

[He's glad he stopped wearing gloves and instead rolled up his arms. Nothing on him!]

[greenmamabear]

[Arms and hands are wood and injury free on Fern's end.]

[seventhprogenitor]

Alright then everyone, alright then, let's not cause another death today!

Let's get ourselves in order. What do we know for certain, and what do we have yet to learn?



[besides everyone else's bathroom habits]

[poultryfists]

We know that Rideaux took care of business this morning.

[She's a helper!]

[evilfrenzy]

[Boy, today's trial has not been kind to Rideaux, has it?

Well, he definitely deserves it, because...]

Fine.

[It's pretty much the first time he's raised his voice the whole trial despite what he's been put through, but this time he's been legitimately cornered and he hates it. There's no way he can get out of this.

He'll go ahead and unbutton his shirt, at least shrugging it down without completely taking it off. The big surgical scars on his abdomen are probably what he was so concerned about showing off for everyone to see, but what's more important to the case is the bruises on his upper arms and a huge-ass one on the back of his shoulder. There's no way he got those from bumping into a counter, that's for sure, and they're already turning purple so he must have been hit hard. You know, like in a fight maybe?]

Are you all happy now?

[Time to end this.]

[meanttobe]

[It's not the size of the bruise or the scars that make Brady wince.]

Dude... It was really you? Why?

SELECTION.

[andexecutioner]

You guys are a mess. But I think we've heard everything we need to, don't you?

[And there's the Adjudicator, saying that with about all the empassioned fervor of a casual shrug, honestly.]

Select the title of the one you believe to be responsible for Steadfast's death. Majority rules.

[seventhprogenitor]

I'll be surprised if one of these ever goes well, honestly.

[Maybe within the first hour. No distractions. Everyone's on the same page and they got it on lock.

Ha..]

> EVALUATING

ACCOUNTABILITY.

[andexecutioner]

[And once the votes come in, the lights go out; once again the room is cast into darkness and shadow and the vague ambient light from the backlit buttons on those panels – and for a brief moment, that goes out, too.

The pit in the center of the room illuminates itself, that bright white light seeming to pulse a little behind the bright tile of the walls and floor; it soon becomes immediately obvious that Rideaux isn't among you anymore.

Juri is waiting for him, waiting for that door beneath Podium 28 to open up; even so, he doesn't seem prepared for what happens once it does – a set of three small, sharp blades (scalpels, those with quick vision among you might notice, scalpels from the infirmary in the second corridor) come arcing out of the darkness behind the opening, aimed rather solidly to try to catch Juri in the eyes.

He moves out of the way of two of them; the third catches him rather solidly in the cheek as it zings by, cutting a good-sized streak into his face as it grazes him hard. Two things become very apparent, then:

The first is the fact that Juri apparently doesn't bleed; there's obviously an open injury there, it doesn't heal itself, but there's no blood to be seen. It's just...dark.

The second is that Rideaux seems to have taken a good amount of blades from that infirmary, given that he's very calmly reaching into his coat for three more as he steps out into the pit properly; he's already got several clutched in the fist of his left hand, scalpels glittering like claws between his fingers, and once he's got a similar setup in his right he doesn't waste time. He's not going to wait for Juri to come to him – from the look of what happened last time, that's a death sentence, and he's not going to simply let himself die.

And as it turns out, Rideaux is also very, very fast.

It's hard to say exactly where those scalpels go - presumably into Juri's body, at least one of them, as Rideaux grabs him by the collar and drops him to the ground; Juri doesn't seem off-put by this so much as he does curious, lying on his back on the ground and tipping his head a little to the side for the briefest of moments, as though to make out what he thinks of all of this. It isn't long before his expression goes dark, however, and he's quick to kick Rideaux off of him, shoving him to the side and grabbing his hair in one of his hands as Juri gets up from the ground.

And then he's using his free hand to casually pull one of those scalpels out of his damn throat where Rideaux had stabbed him (again, it doesn't heal up immediately, but there isn't any bleeding, either), wrenching Rideaux's head by his hair to the side to keep him off-balance and planting a knee into Rideaux's back to force him down and pin him there for a moment, and Juri's voice can be clearly heard from the pit.]

That was actually a really good try. Sorry, though.

[And with that, he presses his hand up against Rideaux's back.]

Good night, Evaluating.

[Another brief burst of light passes between the culprit and the executioner, and any resistance Rideaux was putting up is gone; he simply drops forward against the ground, lifeless, and after everything is said and done Juri looks up again, once again looking more than a little aggressively manic for a guy who's currently still pinning a corpse to the ground.]

Congratulations, I guess. There's nothing left for you guys to do here; you can leave whenever you want.

[innocentloveholic]

[ There's scalpels, there's a fight...! That's interesting, and Aligula still seems as excited as she'd been at the first execution—leaning forward, watching every moment, remaining like that for another few seconds after they're dismissed.

She steps back eventually though, crossing her arms a little... thoughtfully, honestly. He doesn't bleed—there's not a lot that doesn't, short of actual ghosts, but he hadn't really seemed like one... And those are see-through besides, aren't they?

...hummmmmmmmm. A man with secrets is totally great, but figuring those out is always such a trial. (Haha, trial.) ]