FINAL TRIAL

[strangerpeople]

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!]

Comments

[losergod]

It means we were essentially changed on the cellular level to resemble blood cells--the things that help a body function, I'm guessing? Is that correct, Miss Halley?

[ichbindereinzelganger]

Yes, that is correct. It's become essential for Project Diatron's microsurgeries, so all of you were subjected to it.

[vividsins]

Is that why I can't eat nightmares now?

[toushiro]

And you pit us all against each other because...?

[ichbindereinzelganger]

I didn't. What reason would I have to encourage a ridiculous game like that? I really should have just specified what I wanted Aunt Marie to do. I can do it next ti--

[ichbindereinzelganger]

--ime....

[backuphero]

There's no next time if you can't find her, huh?

[He's doing the demented cheerful face thing again, someone might want to grab his left arm....]

[losergod]

[ Giving you a forceful pinch. ]

[vividsins]

[ STOMPING ON HIS FOOT TO GET HIM TO CUT THAT OUT, PLEASE DON'T PISS OFF THE VIRUS CHILD. ]

[ichbindereinzelganger]

............................

[What are those black things forming in her eyes--

yeah those are tears

gj]

[losergod]

... I'm sorry, Miss Halley. Jonathan has no concept of emotion, or any idea about anything.

[ He sighs. Please don't cry. ]

[ichbindereinzelganger]

..........I.....

s-she's really gone, isn't she...scans...picking up nothing...

[snff]

[losergod]

... For what it's worth, she didn't give us any choice. She was going to kill yet another one of us when she murdered someone. She tried to make it look like someone else did it. There... wasn't another option.

[theserpentsmiles]

[....Marie was awful - from the logs, it sounds like she wasn't very nice to Halley, either. But the two of them were family. Nagisa can't begrudge her this, not when he's forgiven his own mother.

...He moves slowly, for once being careful to ensure she knows he's coming, and them gently wraps his arms around her. This is a hug. He is hugging her.

She seems to need it.]

I'm sorry we took your family from you. [Not sorry for killing Marie, she deserved it, but....he's sorry there was collateral damage. Of course, there always is, isn't there? But that doesn't make it any less important.]

[ichbindereinzelganger]

[Halley freezes at the contact, as if she's never had one before.

She actually seems to shake a little, as if expecting Nagisa to do something to her in her vulnerable stare.]

[theserpentsmiles]

[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.]

[ichbindereinzelganger]

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

[theserpentsmiles]

[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.]

[mementodagger]

[Yurick smacks him upside the head.]

And you want to upset our captor why?

[backuphero]

Because I hurt and I'm scared, all right?!

[To his credit, Jonathan looks horrified the instant the words leave his mouth - and it isn't the words, it's that he snapped like that at Yurick of all people.]

I - I just - I don't want to die here!

[mementodagger]

[Yurick doesn't even look fazed by it. His demeanor has been off since the memory restore. But his voice grows soothing and quiet now at least.]

... I'm sure most of us feel the same way, Jonathan. You need to remember the control you've learned here.

[losergod]

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.

[backuphero]

...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.]

[losergod]

... 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.

Mods, notifs have been a mess again -

[backuphero]

[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?