what gets me. what really fuckin gets me about taako and lup’s trust is that, at least from taako’s perspective, it’s more than just a trust of “i trust you because we’re siblings” or “i trust you because we’ve always been together” or “i trust you to stay.” it’s a trust of “i trust you’ll come back to me” and that’s so powerful and it’s made all the more powerful because taako doesn’t even voice his fears when lup says she and barry are becoming liches. that’s how powerful his trust and love in his sister is. she’ll come back to him. she always will. so taako will be there while she and barry make the scariest choices of their now-eternal lives, because he knows he has no reason to fear. his sister is his heart, and his heart will always come back to him.

Espada's Theory Monologue || Espada || Trial 1 ||ATTN: Everyone basically

Espada regret the fact that she voted so quickly, and that she revoted just as quickly. She knew she should have waited until she had fully fleshed out the case completely. However, the sudden start to voting made her act a bit quicker. Their time was short, but there was still things uncertain. Now that she had finally put everything together, she knew she had to speak up. Everyone was confused, even she got caught up in it. However, she felt that in order to make the most informed vote possible, everyone needed to be on the same page. She began to speak.

My apologies, Watcher. I would like to request the floor for the remaining time we have left. I have... a lot to say.

She cleared her throat and opened her eye to gaze at the others who surrounded her. It seemed to burn with a spark of determination.

If we currently have no way of confirming whether or not the Everblossom can attach itself to a human remotely, both suspects cannot be fully ruled out. Because of this, we should look at the testimony and evidence and see how both culprits fit in with them.

Braut visited the greenhouse tonight sometime between 10 to 10:30. She briefly crossed paths with Hypnos, but she continued with her plan anyway. The wolfsbane plants were taken from the greenhouse, and she brought them to the garden to plant and enchant them. She set the trap, and all she had to do now is secure an alibi for the time of the crime. She bumped into Silence around 11, and from then on Braut was in her room sleeping, or at the very least lying in bed, not moving. Both Silence’s testimony and Kislap’s knowledge makes this an undeniable fact. 

Now, we get to Margarita. Some time after 11:15, Margarita decided to pick some hyacinths. We do not know for sure why she chose to do this, other than the simple fact that she likes them. This disrupted Braut’s original intention of poisoning Vanitas, as she had seeded the idea of a hyacinth bouquet to him a few days prior. At this time, Braut is still in her room, unaware of the situation. Also at this time, Ibis witnesses Margarita picking the flowers as she travels from the lake to the Tower Agastya foyer. Ibis entered the Foyer around 11:30, and claims she did not see Poppy while she was there.

This is when we get to our main dividing factor, the Everblossom. However, for now I will ignore how it became planted into Margarita’s body. I will get to that when we discuss our two primary theories. Instead, let us move on to the aftermath.

After Margarita dies, she becomes infected by the Everblossom. The blossom was given specific instructions by the culprit, to give life to the host body and follow the Queen’s commands. Margarita’s animated corpse proceeded to make its way to the Tower. It encounters Poppy, who may have been attempting to clean the muddy footprints left by Ibis. We do not know the exact timing of this event, but let us say it happens around midnight. That gives us enough time for Ibis to have left the muddy tracks around the tower halls without her running into Poppy, and enough time for a fight to break out before Poppy’s time of death at 12:12 am.

Due to the transmutation circles on Poppy’s hands, and the markings on the foyer walls, we can assume that Poppy fought back against Margarita’s corpse using alchemy. The corpse becomes heavily wounded, but due to the strong white magic runes, it is not stopped. While Poppy only suffered minor external damage, the corpse was able to pull the key out of their body, releasing their soul and effectively killing them. However, even after killing Poppy, the Everblossom zombie continued to move around on it’s own. Because the host body was heavily wounded, it could only limp, but instead of simply staying put, it slowly dragged itself out of the foyer and towards the lake. I cannot say the reason why. Perhaps it was seeking sustenance in the form of water? It could have also been ordered to dispose of the host body in the lake when it’s job was done. Regardless of what instructions it was following, it managed to leave the scene before 12:20, when Webster witnessed the Watcher and Poppy’s empty body as she passed by. Irezumi did the same at 12:30, and finally Vanitas discovered the body an hour later. At that time, all of us were summoned and instructed to investigate. While this was going on, the Everblossom was still dragging Margarita’s corpse to the lake. Not exactly a fast mover if it takes an hour and a half to walk that distance and still not make it to the water. A small group of us managed to find her, and while it didn’t respond to our shouts, when approached it lashed out violently. We were able to subdue the body, but the Everblossom continued to thrive until the flower was snipped away. 

From here, we should examine our two possible culprit theories. 

With Braut as the culprit, a lot of things fit together nicely. Braut admitted to having a secret meeting with the Watcher, the Watcher admitted to having one person in their debt. While Braut claims that she couldn’t have gotten the flower from the Watcher because they only met privately once, that does not rule out that she asked for the Everblossom and was provided with it at that same meeting. Even though the wolfsbane should have been enough to kill Braut’s intended target, it would still make sense to plant the Everblossom among them, if her goal was killing multiple people at once. If she was able to give the right instructions, she might have been able to kill all three required for her to win.

This is where we get to the biggest hole in our argument and the main reason we have been stumped so far. How did the Everblossom take over Margarita? If Everblossoms are unable to take over a human corpse on their own without some physical assistance, then this would completely rule out Braut, even if all of the motivation makes perfect sense. Of course, the inverse is true as well. If we cannot prove that the Everblossoms are capable of doing so, Braut is not cleared of suspicion, no matter how airtight her alibi is.

With Ibis as the culprit, it’s a lot less clean. Ibis would need to have access to an Everblossom. Her only meeting with the Watcher was a public meeting in which Kislap and I were both in attendance, so she could not have gotten the Everblossom from her. Because they are not cultivated on this campus, she would have needed to bring the flower herself.

However, we cannot deny that if the Everblossom needed a human to physically plant itself in the corpse’s eye. Ibis is the only candidate who could have done so. You could excuse the Everblossom having the illusion magic as a result of it consuming the enchanted wolfsbane, taking on the glamour magic for itself. There is also the fact that Ibis seems to have impeccable timing for avoiding the key events of the case. Had she lingered any longer in the garden, she would have surely seen Margarita die. The poison of a wolfsbane should be strong enough to kill a human almost instantly. She also didn’t witness Poppy at all, despite walking through the future crime scene and all around the halls. 

Even so, Ibis as a culprit still makes little sense to me when you think about the circumstances. Ibis was in the presence of two people before happening upon Margarita alone. Let us say that she was the one who planted the Everblossom. She would have had to have the means to do it on her person, even during the time spent with Bungle and Leaf. I have a hard time believing that Leaf would not notice this during that whole time. Secondly, Ibis would have had to know about Braut’s plan in order to effectively capitalize on it, and as we all know, Braut has been keeping several secrets from us already. Unless Ibis is a mind reader, she would never have known what Braut was plotting. Otherwise, she would have stumbled upon Margarita’s corpse completely accidentally. In the short time frame between when she left the lake shore and entered the foyer, she would have had to spontaneously decide to plant the Everblossom into Margarita’s corpse and give it instructions to kill Poppy. It just feels wrong. While it’s possible, it just seems completely implausible.

Espada took a deep breath and sighed. She wasn't used to talking this much at once.

As for any other potential culprits, if Ibis is not the culprit, then the possible window for someone to interfere is extremely small. Not to mention, everyone else is either accounted for, or is Sally. Sally is even less likely of a candidate than Ibis, in my opinion.