trial 4 afterparty

[exequte]

[Boy, that all sure Just Happened, didn't it? It Sure Hecking Did.

Akane helps drag anyone who needs it out of the theater as best as she, a tiny frail sick girl, can, before heading straight to Hubert's room and retrieving the letter he had told her was there, and then finding a sheet of paper, a pen, and a small knife, writing a short one of her own, and paying Charon to send it to the afterlife.

After this she brings Hubert's letter to the mess hall, as gathering for food after these things seems like the common thread that's bound all of them together.

Akane herself still has a lowgrade fever, and that last trial was not easy on her, but it seems to her like there's more important things to do at the moment.]

Comments

[exequte]

Okay everybody. To begin with....

We need to talk about what we're going to do about the X-Door.

And... and we need to talk about what we're going to do to help the dead.

[She will be attempting to herd everyone she can into the room for this discussion, but as long as nobody tries to open the door now, feel free to also do other stuff. Just... hopefully after also talking about this, because this is an important thing to discuss.]

Oh, and, um...

Anybody who wants to read it, I found the letter that Hubert left.

[strangerpeople]

[Afterparty, guest starring: the Gimme?!

He is in A Mood, accepting Akane's letter and payment with no ado.

He...glides off after, his shadows going with him. His business here is not done. He will approach Alastor.]

[godspiousjasper]

I... very much believe that we must eradicate that tree before we can rescue anyone who's in Tartarus. Which means remaining here to do it, since I believe we can access it's heart from underneath where we hold trials.

[ Guess who'd been listening to snippets of conversations during trial this whole time? You bet he did. This is about as much as he picked up on, but don't mind him being wearily settled on one of the chairs. ]

[superstylishsquid]

[Alastor manages a strained smile as Charon approaches.]

Hey. Thanks for that holy water, came in handy.

[yesorwoof]

[Makima is sitting. She has delicately devoured a tasteful amount of chocolate and now can speak.]

I vote that we do open the door.

Surely if Aoi-kun and Hubert-kun did not mean their deaths to be meaningless, as the prior ones were called, then they knew we would use the X passes.

If using the x passes did not help in previous loops, why not say so?

I refuse to believe everyone among us is so pure of heart. Either it was used and was not enough of a problem to mention, or it was never used and we should try it.

More importantly, we will try it. We will all do it together.

[superstylishsquid]

[He's sitting right next to Roland, close enough to be used as a backrest if need be.]

Same. Plus, even if we do find another weak spot of the tree...if the dead escape Tartarus but end up back on the ship when we've already closed the X-door...

The rules say it'll only stay open for a little while, and then it won't open again.

[superstylishsquid]

And the tree? You expect us to just run, and leave our best point of access to the Qliphoth and its tender closed off forever?

[strangerpeople]

Hhhh. [a short, sharp sound. The Gimme offers two letters.]

[exequte]

I'm afraid it's not that simple, though.

Because....

Because, if we want to avoid opening the door, then we need to have complete faith that nobody among us would try to open the door.

If any single person decides that they want to get out, the rest of us...

We're lost forever.

[somuchshipping]

X-Door

[Right after the execution, Hermes is gunning it for the X-Door. He reaches there fairly quickly, and starts inputting the first X-Pass. However, when he's just about to finish, he stops.]

[And stares at the X-Door.]

[...]

Hermes's Room

[The door is open. Hermes is carefully taking items from the closet and laying them down on either bed. From now on, Hermes considers this entire room his closet. And oh look! He may have gotten a few new items!]

Wildcard

[Come up with a scenario of your own!]

[yesorwoof]

Alastor-kun, what happened to "we get our powers back and this thing is a glorified tin can"?

[superstylishsquid]

Moriarty got around to writing back, huh? About time.

[He takes the letters and opens one of them up.]

[superstylishsquid]

Remember when you asked about restoring our powers? I don't think just leaving through that door will do it.

[godspiousjasper]

[ It's been some time since he's actually hurt this much but it's 100% worth it. May end up needing that backrest at some point. Probably soon. ]

Precisely. We need to make sure when those doors open that everyone can leave through it.

[strangerpeople]

[There are two pieces of paper, neatly folded.

One is Alastor's own letter, with corrections written on his spelling in Moriarty's neat handwriting.

The other is a letter written by the man himself, and it reads:]

Dante and Vergil are down here - I've met both of them, and helped Vergil with cleaning out Dante's Pizza box horde, where he was sleeping amongst. A more filthy and degenerate man I have never met, even among the beggars of London!

Secondly, I have managed to awaken my connection to Yamato - and with my newfound power to create miniature black holes, I will be attempting to lead the charge to get out of here - along with any other dead that can awaken their own power, after whatever potential new arrivals come. Vergil and Dante will most likely be able to, though they do have the same power - the same one you were given, even. Lucifer, yes?

I look forward to laying my eyes on all of you! You especially, you incorrigible devil!

Till we meet again,
James Moriarty

[exequte]

I agree that it might be best to try. It seems.... It doesn't seem very likely to me, that once outside we would have no way at all to regain entry.

Even if we assume that this ship is a gate to Hades, it's not like there's not stories about people sneaking in to there.

But, that said, it still seems risky.

[somuchshipping]

[Oh...]

[If Hermes manages to get to Charon before he leaves...]

[Hermes is looking down at the ground, idly clawing it.]

...I must look like a bit of an idiot, believing everyone here would last until Sunday...

[godspiousjasper]

You're right. We need to be in complete agreement to stay here to finish everything or we all risk being trapped on the ship forever.

[ Which is not a prospect that he wants happening by any means. He'd love to get out, thank you. ]

[superstylishsquid]

Oh joy, I get to deal with Dante's 'one of us needs to change' jokes if they make it back up here.

[Not even surprised Dante's been unliving like a slob. But if this is all of Moriarty's letter, what's the other one?]

[yesorwoof]

I don't think it will happen the second we walk out. But I don't believe it could happen in here either.

[She rubs her shoulder.]

Do you believe we should destroy the tree without our original powers?

[superstylishsquid]

Those stories don't usually end well, you know.

[superstylishsquid]

I think a devil's powers are the best bet we're likely to have...and don't think I can take on someone who ate two of the tree's fruits on my own.

But besides that, I'm not willing to bet the souls of everyone who died here on what we'll be able to do if there's an answer out there as to how to get our powers back.

cw landmines

[yesorwoof]

Have you ever heard of landmines?

The rational choice is to wait for others to step on them first, then try to venture across.

If a helicopter greets you, you're even more likely to get into that.

[exequte]

I know.

But isn't that what we're proposing to do if we do stay, after all?

Bring the dead back with us?

[yesorwoof]

Are you willing to bet the souls of the living on no one ever taking the chance? Look where the honor system has brought us.