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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Well, these are ideas for why he's running this game in the first place, not for why he's ending it.

[ ...he really doesn't know why he's ending it, so. ]

If this is being broadcast.... does that mean that it's a television show?

Maybe the show is ending?

[ ...he's had too many intimate conversations to want to believe this, nnnooo. ]

May...be? [ nnoooo oooo oooooooooooo ] I can't say I'd be surprised if it was—humanity doesn't have the best track record when it comes to what it finds entertaining.

[...He doesn't fully understand what a television show is, but this gets him thinking.]

All plays are supposed to end eventually. It can't go on forever.

[There's not enough of them.]

That's what I'm thinking.

With television, we have these things called "seasons" and they only go on for so long, and then it's over for a while.

There's usually a big finale to make sure people watch when the show comes back.

Yeah...

[Here comes the Mr. Mystery voice, Stan straightening his back and gesturing dramatically.]

"Can our heroes find the truth? Who is the Kingmaker? And just what is lurkin' down those dark corridors? Tune in next week to find out, folks!"

Why would you wait a whole week to find out?

[She'd just binge watch anything. Fuck waiting.]

They don't air the entire show at once. It only comes on once a week.

Well that's a good way to keep suspense going.

[Shows sound pretty cool.]

Sure, but that's still dumb to me. I'd want to see everything in one go.

Oh definitely. [He thinks it sounds neat but yeah he's with you, Sigrun.]

Sounds like doing that might take some time, though.

[YOU ALWAYS GOT HER BACK, GENTLEMAN FROM THE 1800S.]

Yeah, that's true... I guess you'd have to have no life in the first place to binge something like this. There's a lot that goes on.

(no subject)

isafraid - 2016-04-29 18:40 (UTC) - Expand

Just how it works!

Suspense sells as well as sex does, sometimes, and there's a lot of work that goes into shows too. You can't just film it and then put it out—it has to go through editing and everything.

...there's some shows you can watch all day, all week via livestreams set up by the showrunners using their surveillance cameras, but that's usually for day-to-day stuff, not for the big challenges and eliminations. Those are still once a week or so.

Edited 2016-04-29 18:20 (UTC)

[She's minorly horrified that Black said that "sex sells" but you know what she can punish whoever tainted his vocab later.]

... So this kind of show is regular where you're from? Murders and all?

Definitely not on my end.

[He doesn't even want to think about this, jesus.]

But its more like... if people who watched this knew it was fake, then it certainly would be a crowd-drawer.

[Humans always have been morbidly curious.]

It'd be pretty popular! Like a fake reality show!

....honestly, dependin' on the culture, knowing it's real might be part of the fun.

Didn't Rome have battles to the death for sport?

goodforsomething - 2016-04-29 18:27 (UTC) - Expand

isafraid - 2016-04-29 18:41 (UTC) - Expand

[ ...SIGRUN, PLEASE, WHY ARE YOU HORRIFIED AT THAT OF ALL THINGS...

also oh my god, now I have to actually think: would there be murdershows in Hellsalem's Lot? I hate you so much. ]

Not... regular, I'd say, and not usually murder. There's underground fight rings that can get pretty heavy-handed, but they're just that: underground. And then there's at least one of the kings that likes making a spectacle out of his destruction... but usually, they're just. Normal things. Like team challenges or quizzes, when you get down to smaller groups. There's also usually a way keep yourself from being voted off the island—or out of the show—and whoever wins gets a huge sum of money.

They're pretty entertaining for a lot of people, but there's not usually any danger of dying.

[bc its so casual

also: ur welc]

Have any of them featured a robot?

penduli - 2016-04-29 18:32 (UTC) - Expand

captainobnoxious - 2016-04-29 18:34 (UTC) - Expand

penduli - 2016-04-29 18:35 (UTC) - Expand

captainobnoxious - 2016-04-29 18:36 (UTC) - Expand

isafraid - 2016-04-29 18:42 (UTC) - Expand

Yeah, though those are popular more for the drama then the challenges.

[He's having that realization Black did earlier- that people might have seen some of his more private moments]