Take...Responsibility?

[kingmakereffect]

Unlike previous weeks in the Vault, there was no specifically allotted time for investigation; for the first time, this weekend the elevator doors remain closed at the end of the first floor corridor. There's no getting down into the courtroom from here – but then, you don't need to. After all, no one is dead. Just the same, however, a crime has been committed; perhaps not one that warrants any sort of death penalty, but one of your number was attacked by someone else still walking among you. The dining hall has been chosen as the allotted meeting place for the day; it's not the same as the trial circle by a long shot, but even so, the portraits of the deceased watch the proceedings from the far wall. Ten Survivors still remain. Let's see who wanted to lower that number by one – or nine.

Comments

[goodforsomething]

Nah. I quit passin' him information a while ago.

...it was an open-ended thing. Info for info. I thought I could play him - get more than I gave. And hell, maybe I would've tried to save Ford too. I spent my whole life tryin' to do that, and that first week the only thing I wanted was to see it through.

[Stan smiles bitterly.] Then it turned out I saved him after all. And a buncha strangers I met in a death vault treated me better than my own damn brother did.

[sleepingkogoro]

How long ago is 'a while ago'?

[goodforsomething]

After...after Megumi died.

[The Norman Incident]

I told you what happened that week with me and Ford. I didn't have anything left to go home to. Maybe I shoulda stuck to the con harder, but...I kinda got pissed at him.

[notjustawriter]

He... He's been tryin' to pull us all apart for weeks.

[goodforsomething]

Sure. That's what this is all about, ain't it?

[notjustawriter]

We need to trust each other, it's the only way to get the better of him.

[goodforsomething]

You think we can, after this?

[notjustawriter]

I think we have to.

[isafraid]

At this point, trust is what we need the most.

[amygdalae]

[...putting two and two together...]

That's why he got somebody else then. Either by that time you already quit, or the Kingmaker probably was guessing that you wouldn't last long under him.

[Working under him, that is.

Anyway, a long, pained sigh.]

...not that I can't relate. I've probably got more positive human interaction here than the last ten years of my life.

[penduli]

Actually, he told me that it'd be stupid to just rely on one person's information.

[ ...wait, if Stan quit, then he would've only had Black's word to go on, and

...that would just be stupid. ]

[amygdalae]

[...well

here we go I guess.]

...it would. [Even Bruce can agree to that.]

[goodforsomething]

[Stan shrugs.]

It would be pretty dumb. I just figured after Mettaton...

[goodforsomething]

I figured. You remind me a lot of me when I was younger.

[.....]

For what it's worth, I meant what I said before. Even if it were for my family, I couldn't live with myself if I'd got you all killed now.

[amygdalae]

[That? It just brings up a sharp, bitter laugh from Bruce, because jesus he's so done.]

I wish I could tell you I'm that noble. I can't kill anybody even if I wanted to because I've got nobody left in the first place.

[goodforsomething]

[...yeah. This is not a shocking revelation. And he's just made it so much worse.]

Ah, don't say noble. It's selfish - I don't wanna lose anybody else.

And you...you shouldn't give up on yourself so easy. I know it probably doesn't help to hear it, but there's always more folks out there. You're a good guy, Bruce, you'll find your people.

[amygdalae]

[Bruce just shakes his head.]

I've already told Sigrun this, so I might as well - I was betrayed by my teammates - the Avengers. That's the last thing that happened to me before my arrival here.

[goodforsomething]

...well, fuck 'em, then. You oughta have people who won't pull shit like that - and I know who I am sayin' that.

[It'll hurt a hell of a lot if Bruce never forgives him, but he brought that on himself. Better to have admitted it now than to have the Kingmaker throw it in their faces later. If it helps to hate him, fine.]

[amygdalae]

[Bruce is... fine, honestly. He suspected the mole thing was still going on even after Mettaton, which was why he asked Aiden last week in the first place. It doesn't really affect him because he knew it was coming.

Just. Not like this.

Still, Stan's words are appreciated. Bruce manages a smile, although it is a little bit strained.]

...thanks.

[goodforsomething]

[Stan just waves it off. No need; that doesn't deserve thanks, it's a statement of fact.]