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

[cherryblooded]

[Cherryblod settles at his podium, at Sigrun's right-hand side, as always. It's been that way from the very beginning, and he finds it couldn't be more appropriate.

It's... better, this way, being closer together.

After all, aren't they all much closer now?

Let's begin.]

My group found what looked like the surveillance room. There were three screens - one of which displayed every other room in the vault besides what's missing from the first floor now.

...Didn't show the bathrooms or the sauna, in case anyone was wondering.

[Just gotta clear that up.]

One screen displayed the three hidden rooms - the one we were in and the two you investigated. It mentioned broadcasting when we turned it on.

One screen, though... Showed rooms similar to our dorm rooms that looked like they were from a different vault. They looked lived-in, and they had a different layout, but we didn't see anyone in there.

It also showed a city that none of us recognized. An inhabited one.

...Yosuke, Colress, am I missing anything?

[goodforsomething]

I fuckin' knew this was some kinda sick reality show.

[cherryblooded]

That's a theory. Wouldn't surprise me, at this point.

If we can see other vaults, it's also possible that we're broadcasting to the people in charge of those vaults. A network of murder, essentially.

[goodforsomething]

Not a bad plan. They can see where the other murder guys went wrong, if they do. And not on purpose like this.

[It seems obvious that the Kingmaker meant for them to end up here, for whatever reason.]

[isafraid]

A city? You're being serious! [well that's some awesome news.]

What'd it look like?

[cherryblooded]

Like a city - tall buildings, people going about their business. There weren't anything besides humans in it, so I think we can at least rule out Colress's world if nothing else.

[isafraid]

Nothing in particular stood out about it, eh?

[cherryblooded]

Looked like any other city. Sorry.

[isafraid]

... Ah, no harm done. Just thought that if we saw any interesting landmarks we could try to piece it together from there. [but they're all from different worlds... so how well would that even go?]

We'll just figure it out some other way.

[pokexplorer]

[Even though Colress has his Pokemon out with him, there's still a sense of intimidating pressure in the room...probably because a lot of Shit is going to go down.

He looks over to Cherryblod..]

That sounds like everything! Excellent summary, Cherryblod.

The additional vault rooms and broadcasting message are certainly the most eyecatching parts. It truly was strange that none of those rooms contained people. And there were plenty of them.

[cherryblooded]

We were investigating after the klaxons went off - most of us leave our rooms and get out and about at that time, but there are sometimes stragglers.

[amygdalae]

...do think its possible we could at least ask what the city's name is?

[cherryblooded]

He's not answering his phone and he hasn't said anything, but if you want to yell at him, be my guest.

paging... kingmaker...?

[amygdalae]

He must be watching this. [Especially since... well.

Glancing around now.]

Are you there, Kingmaker?

[kingmakereffect]

Of course I'm here, Temperamental.

[captainobnoxious]

[AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA SHIT

WHAT THE FUCK IS WITH PEOPLE GIVING HER HEART ATTACKS, SHE'S REALLY GONNA STAB SOMEONE WITH HER SWORD AND IT'S NOT GONNA BE FUN.]

Well, don't be shy, speak up a little more! Or show yourself, you bastard!

[kingmakereffect]

[Well, he's not addressing you, but at least he's answering Bruce's question?]

[captainobnoxious]

[sure answer the questions be minorly helpful for once in your damn life

fuckin jerk

don't think she won't just yell at him again though]

Talk! To! Me! Engage in conversation! I've got some questions for you too, you know!

[Viking Woman Yells At Air]

[kingmakereffect]

[No response, just this.]

[amygdalae]

[So totally making a face at the title here - he still doesn't like it, even after all this time.]

The city they saw through the screen - was it real?

[kingmakereffect]

Yes, it's real.

[amygdalae]

Could we by any chance at least know the name of said city?

[kingmakereffect]

That's not important.

[amygdalae]

[Of course he goes with 'that's not important'.

Sigh.]

Then at least answer this - we've all been throwing the virtual reality theory with a lot of circumstance evidence to back it up. Will you at least confirm that for us?

[kingmakereffect]

[There's a pause that follows that question, and the response he gives isn't a verbal one, not at first; instead, lights seem to be flickering to life inside the walls of the room, illuminating that glossy black surface from behind and showing exactly what's behind it.

They look almost like stasis chambers, almost like coffins, tipped back at an angle so they're not directly vertical but it's simple enough to see the people inside; twenty-seven bodies lying inert, though there are enough signs that they're sleeping rather than dead - there's no pallor to their skin tone, and occasionally they twitch a little. Not violently, just enough to indicate that they're breathing, that something's still functioning in there. Even on the nonhumans that don't have to breathe, there are signs - Pearl's eyes still track behind her closed eyelids once in a while, and Mettaton's circuits are still softly glowing.

Each of the setups are elaborate in design, all faintly glowing machinery thrumming from some sort of nearby power source; they definitely seem to be hooked up in multiple places to something, anyway.

More importantly, it looks like your deceased friends are still witnessing the proceedings after all. As are you, twice over.]

Is this the sort of confirmation that you wanted?