15strangers | FINAL TRIAL

FINAL TRIAL

[Once everyone has managed to gather every piece of evidence they can get their hands on, there is, at last, a sense that they can go up to the top on the elevator that works. Granted, with access now granted, they probably could have gone up at any time, but it they would have been ill-prepared for what might be up there.

In any case, they might not have needed to worry.]

[Barbara will no doubt recognize this place as where Marie brought her just the previous week. It is a master control room, filled with buttons and levers that line the walls. However, the dome also allows for a view of what's outside - of the skies, the stars, the planets. The alpine valley the Base is situated, with its bubbling waterfall, and the crystal-clear blue lake it empties into, surrounded by flowers below the Base's base. The lake itself empties into a crystal clear river that looks to be narrow, but deep and rapid.

In the center of the room, near where the elevator rises out of the floor, is a chair, with a giant plush of that cheeky raccoon snuggled into it. Once everyone has come into the room, the elevator melts into the floor with a slurping sound. Now, everyone is here - and there's only one seat, meaning almost everyone will be standing for the duration of this discussion. There's no food or drink here, either - the Titled will have to make do with whatever they brought with them.

There's is a rumble below, as the Titled, together with Bottson and their menagerie of animals - gather together for one last trial. Everyone and everything in this universe may be at stake, and ultimately, either they all go home - or no one will.]

[It's time! The objectives are simple in this trial. It's time to finally answer the questions the Titled have about why they are here - and face the Mastermind of the Base.

Most importantly, though - who's got dibs on that chair? It's the only one in the room!

In any case, good luck, Titled!]

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[Nope, nothing. Just a gentle embrace. She...really doesn't know what a hug is like, does she? He thinks she must have read about them in books, or seen Ivy give them to her husband or son... He gives her plenty of room to wiggle free and escape if she needs. His guard isn't fully down - it never is - but it's down enough. She couldn't kill him, but she could hurt him if she wanted.

It's just a hug.]

[The next thing Nagisa might know, there's a nine year old now openly sobbing black goop on him.]

[He rubs her back gently - it's okay to cry. It's okay to grieve. He doesn't care about black goop or germs or whatever. Right here and now, there's a crying child. Like Sakura, in some ways...

He'll hold her as long as she needs, and anyone who tries to interrupt this is getting a Look shot at them. Let the girl grieve.]

[ So it's not much, but he's going to lay a hand on her shoulder, since Nagisa is already hugging her. He's... sort of a germophobe, okay, this is hard for him. But she's just so gentle and kind and it's... yeah. She doesn't look anything like the monsters his own brain conjures. ]

Mister Yurick is correct. Please try to listen to him. She's just a girl, timespans or not. She's spent her entire life with Marie.

[snff....snff...]

m-my dad...oh...i-if...if the base didn't eat her, it probably...

[snf]

Probably...? ...You don't have to say, if you don't want to.

[He's here to listen. It's not just about information, she....god. She's had Marie, but she's been alone these ten thousand years. He can't even imagine....though it makes him wonder. What does time look like for someone who moves at mach 20?]

...so was Malus.

[He knows no one here knows that story. He knows. So he hangs his head, and grits his teeth, and says nothing else. They're right. He needs to hang on to that control.]

... Mister Morris. I'll tell you a story. There was a girl I knew who played horrible, awful, sometimes life-threatening pranks on the people who lived in the same house as her. She did horrible things, constantly, so much so the people began to hate her and actively wish for her demise. And she couldn't die, she'd just get a new body printed for herself, so why care, right?

... But she was alone. And nobody paid attention to her. The one person she'd cared for most was wasting away mentally. I was all she had. She was picked on for a few days, and eventually decided to start a cult and start hurting people back. She would never be dirtied again, she decided. So she murdered in the name of being clean.

Objectively, she was a horrible, awful person. She killed people. She ruined lives. She ran around with no remorse or care for even her own well-being. But deep down, she was a lonely girl with no friends and no one there for her. She was a product of her environment, a protagonist in a twisted story she couldn't stand.

That girl, Miss Wiltshire, is my daughter. And I love her anyway.

I would be a hypocrite if I didn't give Miss Halley the same chance. And I think you should too.

Professor Lu Kuo Tang, I believe...

Inside days...

..........

...If Aunt Marie took your memories, then it's possible that's why you can't remember.

Bottson....

[She scoops up the robot gently.]

She re-programmed you? I can't--that's just so...

If you want to get away with murder, rig the results. But just because he was programmed one way... Well. You're the one writing your story and no one else, milady. What story are you going to write? One where you're the hero who saves everything? Or one where you're the villain who destroys it?

... Mister Bottson. Is there another way around this? Do we have to vote for someone? You're in charge now. Can't we just... abstain?

Edited 2018-08-18 16:19 (UTC)

[He looks stricken. This is worse than what C described earlier, but...

"she was a product of her environment"....]

I'm - C, I... I didn't know. I didn't - and it's no excuse.

[He squares his shoulders, but not in the way of a man about to fight. Not truly. It's more of a "heading to the gallows, knowing he did his best" sort of posture...]

Miss Halley?

[While hugs happen]

uH, yO Yo, hATe to Be a FoO, bUt wE goTtA voTe...

[The wrist watches light up, revealing Halley's face, with a single vote: guilty or not guilty.]

sORRy, H----ORRIBLE ABOMINATION OF NATURE!! AHAHAHA! IT'S TRUE!!...

[Ugh she looks a mess, her face is covered in ink]

...

I guess that's not the worst thing she's called me...

Edited 2018-08-18 16:26 (UTC)

Mister Bottson, what happens if we vote one way or the other? Before we make our decisions. Will anyone be hurt?

...Why, exactly, are we voting? No murder has been committed as of yet. In fact, we have time to even reverse the damage done--especially with the extraordinary healing Miss Halley is capable of. But according to the rules of this place, Miss Halley has not yet committed a crime worthy of execution or even of voting.

[ Mostly he's tired of being told what the fuck to do. ]

[He might still be hugging the virus child.]

Can't we just kill the people who sent us here in the first place? Halley-chan had nothing to do with that.

Yo, bUt H----ORRIBLE ABOMINATION OF NATURE!! AHAHAHA! IT'S TRUE!!--diD crEAte tHe wHole tHIng! If sHe hAd bEeN mOre sPecIFic, nONe of tHIs wOulD hAve hAPpENed, Yo?

And?

[ SHRUG. ]

Marie's the one who thought up and then set up the death game. Not Halley.

[ He's a demon. He works on technicalities and details. ]

I doubt they'd be so foolish as to show themselves, Nagisa. Not when we'd all like to have our pound of flesh from them.

Page 14 of 32

FINAL TRIAL

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Mods, notifs have been a mess again -

VOTING

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