trusthell | Taking Responsibility.

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.

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[She thought so. Mettaton and her could've won together, then, and then he wouldn't have died, and she could take him home, maybe, but--]

I couldn't accept it because I didn't want to damn the rest of them.

Did you and Mettaton work together to win?

You know I'm not going to answer that. Are you accusing me of that? Because if so, I want to hear it.

[Alright then. She'll stand straighter. She'll lift her chin.]

Pretentious, you and Mettaton each killed the people leftover in your group, that way you'd have equal standing of being culprits. You left one person alive so you could have a trial in the first place and then outvoted them.

And then you became the Kingmaker.

Okay, so what happened to Mettaton in this theory of yours?

Since he was a culprit, too, he would've won with you. He wouldn't have been killed. He'd be a winner just like you.

[A hesitant pause.]

Murdershows are what he does, and he's never shied from the spotlight. If he got a role like a kill switch, to be able to perform in front of an entire city's worth of humans, then he surely would've taken it. That's what I think.

[Well, here's your answer.]

...hmmmm...

...if Alphys-san and Mettaton-kun were in the same round...do you think she would vote against her own creation, the friend she helped to create a new body for?

Maybe it wasn't necessary to leave only one person alive. It's possible Alphys was manipulated to vote wrongly by taking advantage of her friendship with Mettaton-kun.

[If only Mouri knew Mettaton's secret...then he would be absolutely sure of this]

.....That's right. I don't think she could ever vote against Mettaton, no matter the circumstance.

She didn't look the sort.

If she really was anything like how Mettaton said she was like to me...

[A pause.]

No, I don't think she could ever vote for Mettaton.

He seemed to like her, but it doesn't really matter much with that guy.

[He liked Aqua too.]

It doesn't. Everyone is secondary to getting ahead in life - and at the time, he really would have thought his life was in danger.

[...Bruce could never do it himself but

yeah

he can see it happening]

...it would have been easy enough, from what I know of her from Mettaton. Play the right cards, and she'd have easily done whatever he wanted.

Corr... [Speedwagon just... says nothing.

There's a lot he's thinking, and honestly, as he looks around this trial room... he doesn't like one bit of it.]

....So that's how it went.

Condemning his friend to death, and and gladly signed away her own life.

When you hate yourself enough, its easy enough to do anything if you believe it would mean something better.

[As we all remember what dumb thing Bruce attempted to do before.]

[Stan remembers that conversation they had more than anything, but doesn't give any sign of it in front of the others.]

Takin' advantage of a friend with problems...it woulda been child's play.

...I can't believe I ever thought Mettaton-kun wasn't so bad.

[Yeah, that is still kind of sore]

Don't feel too bad. He told me I'm the kinda guy he'd have worked with, back home.

[Which, right now, is rather sickening.]

It's tough to imagine anyone like that at first. That's what reading people comes down to.

[And sometimes he hates it.]

... Can we not talk badly about him right now?

[A quiet request. They can later, but right now Sigrun has her own feelings on the matter to deal with.]

(no subject)

cherryblooded - 2016-04-30 00:10 (UTC) - Expand

sleepingkogoro - 2016-04-30 00:10 (UTC) - Expand

goodforsomething - 2016-04-30 00:18 (UTC) - Expand

Especially when you know exactly what to say and do.

She had no chance at all.

[Poor yellow dinosaur]

amygdalae - 2016-04-30 00:12 (UTC) - Expand

[Just like before, Colress looks to Bruce. But it's not a look of bafflement this time.

It's...a really somber look, honestly.]

[He's totally fine, Colress, really...

totally fine......]

... Sounds right.

[She's not gonna tell his secret. Not even now, though she's really quickly realizing that she's got the worst taste in boyfriends, gods above have mercy on her.]