THE THIRD EXECUTION

[disregartist]

THE THIRD EXECUTION


[The chime goes. The voting ends. The cuffs begin to blink, and soon enough, the picture on the screen is shown.]

[It is done. Charlotte Aulin, The Bright, has been condemned to die.]

E R R O R

[From the Conductor's seat, she turns pale as a sheet.]

No, that-!

[She slumps back into her seat, staring at her phone, silent. Stunned. Angry, certainly, but definitely stunned.

The Smiling Priest walks back over to the podium.]

It appears the Conductor has not explained all of the rules of the Little Courtesy to you. Shall I, Millicent?

[No response.]

A trial with a dead culprit, successfully convicted, automatically voids. No execution of the culprit, of course. No incentive. But. She did not realize the bomb was not connected to the deaths, as you all did. A rare occurrence of of inadvertent tampering, it does not happen very often in these trials.

She realized too late, of course that her uncertainty doomed the proceedings. In this event, the conviction of an innocent person is automatically overturned, and said innocent is given the incentive by means of compensation for their...inconvenience.

[He flashes a smile.]

As I said. The Drowned Man would not allow you to die tonight, my dear.

Comments

[technicolourdifficulties]

...Bloody hell, we have gone full Lovecraft, minus the downer ending.

[Or, well, perhaps he's speaking preemptively. After all, the story is not over.]

[higanbana]

...But if we're avoiding the downer of it all, I suppose we've no right to complain?

[She's just. Kind of answering numbly, just kind of staring at all of this because what.]

[unwittingking]

Yeah, I for one appreciate not ending this with some giant monster coming in and making us go insane.

[He knows like one (1) Lovecraft thing]

[technicolourdifficulties]

...

[He abruptly straightens up, grinning widely.]

Yes, of course. Today has ended better than expected, given the circumstances. That's something worth celebrating, isn't it?

[In spite of the cheer in his voice and actions, a stain of yellow is all that graces his casing.]

[higanbana]

...

[She's quiet for a moment, a long moment, as she takes a breath to reorient herself and get her mind back where it needs to be.]

We will make it something worth celebrating. Just give us time.

[Her smiling earlier was unsettling enough. The way she says this, almost monotone and her gaze boring holes into the Conductor relentlessly now but otherwise expressionless... this might be even scarier.]

[technicolourdifficulties]

[Mmmmmm, that sure isn't an expression he likes. He understands, but also...

He snaps his fingers.]

...Right. We still have a few people to pick up before the proper celebrations can begin, don't we?

[higanbana]

[...Oh, RGB.

But she manages to smile a little, and it's not even terrifying this time.]

You're right. Perhaps we can even repurpose our gilded little cage into the luxury it was meant to be for their welcoming?

[unwittingking]

[Lucky for you, King has no idea what emotion yellow is (except for one which may be inappropriate to suggest) so-]

Yeah, I'd drink to that...If I decided I would ever drink again.

[Yeah, uh, never again]