Taking Responsibility.

[kingmakereffect]

And a while after that strange, dark floor is accessed, after you've had time to look things over and get some idea of what's happening...well. There won't be any sort of official announcement to tell you to get downstairs, nor will there be a personal invitation for you to do so. Instead, the doors at the end of the corridor (were they there before? You find that you don't remember. It doesn't matter anymore, though-) slide open, as they always do, and the elevator ride to the courtroom is probably the first familiar thing that's happened all day. It's smooth and quick, though it seems to take a bit longer than it usually does. And when the doors open at the end of the line, the courtroom looks different. The dark, weirdly cylindrical room is largely the same in and of itself, but the usual twenty-seven podium circle is gone; instead, there's a smaller setup in the center of the room - ten podiums total, and you'll likely find the way your spots have been distributed to be very familiar indeed. Of further notice is the balcony - there's a structure that wasn't there before in view of the courtroom, situated high above, barred-in by a railing that'd probably be at about waist-height on your average person; there's no one up there just yet, however. There are so few of you now. It seems that today there are no speeches to give; maybe the Kingmaker is absent, maybe he just doesn' have anything to say. Either way, however, the implication in the fact that you're here at all is clear. For one last time, make the guilty take responsibility.

Comments

[goodforsomething]

Doubt it's that simple.

[cherryblooded]

Not at all. Whatever purpose the game originally had, it's not the same as this round's.

[penduli]

That's what I was confused about too. [ Hmmm. ] ...he did say the reason he wanted the game to end was simple, but unbelievable when I asked him earlier this week, though.

But it isn't that he's tired of us or this game, so I don't know what it could be.

[pokexplorer]

Apparently not.

[He's just going to wonder how many PokeWorlders have been forced into murdergames now.

If only the anchor was actually familiar to him.]

[cherryblooded]

Hm. Fair enough...

Speaking of the photos, though. No one recognizes the one that's been attacked some? Visionary?

[notjustawriter]

So none of this is real, we possibly all signed up for it willingly, and we don't know why.

[....]

These past winners, none of them seem like they were great people. A sadist, a serial killer, a sociopath... Ambitious is listed as a warmonger....

Was this some attempt to see if someone different would win the game?

[amygdalae]

I don't, at the very least.

[He can't speak for the others.]

[penduli]

[ SHRUG. ]

To see how people would run things if they got to be king for a day? Or... however long it takes for the game to end, I guess. [ ...that's something to ask, he guesses. ]

[sleepingkogoro]

I have never seen that man ever before. Looks like someone people would love to punch in the face.

[captainobnoxious]

Sounds like a hell of a collection.

[...]

What's a sociopath?

[cherryblooded]

It's a possibility. Though if you're looking for someone to win a game through murder, it's unlikely that you're going to get the nicest person.

[notjustawriter]

That doesn't give us a lot of room to speculate, does it?

[cherryblooded]

...I'd say 'maybe he thought he couldn't get any more murders out of us', but he's wanted the game to end for a while now.

[garudynamic]

Maybe they just ran out of people that fill the requirements- just doing the same thing over and over cuz, you know, AI.

[Shrug, hell if he knows]

[isafraid]

A monster, someone that likes to kill and do evil things for the hell of it.

[captainobnoxious]

... Maybe it's different for every Kingmaker. The first might've had good intentions, like Misa's whole killing criminals deal, but I can't say what ours is.

[amygdalae]

It's... not that easy to explain.

[captainobnoxious]

So a bad person.

[notjustawriter]

It's... complicated, yeah.

[garudynamic]

... we can try calling it?

[captainobnoxious]

Don't overthink it, Bruce, just give me some traits. I'm not gonna understand if you go long-winded on me anyway. Use an example if you want.

[goodforsomething]

Nah, but he looks weaselly. One con knows another.

[amygdalae]

If we are going with the virtual reality theory... at least in my world, something of this scale would have required a lot of resources.

Perhaps it ran out.

[...its a simple reason, right?]

PAGING KINGMAKER(????)

[cherryblooded]

That's actually a good idea.

[Cherryblod pulls out his phone and dials up the Kingmaker. Ring ring ring?]

[isafraid]

Usually.