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

[penduli]

[ ...okay.

Let him write them down on his heart balloon'd page then, then tear it out to pass over to her. ]

Revolutionary - a person engaged in political revolution, or someone/something involving or causing a complete/drastic change
Clandestine - something kept/done secretively, usually b/c it's forbidden/taboo
Gregarious - a person fond of company/someone who's sociable
Torrential - rapid & heavy rainfall/water flow
Timeless - not affected by passage of time or change of fashion
Intuitive - instinctive basically, someone who's intuitive follows their gut w/o conscious reasoning. also refers to things that are easy to use/understand
Visionary - someone who think about/plans for the future w/imagination or wisdom
Persevering - gerund of persevere, which is continuing to do something even when the odds are against you. like us now vs. km

[garudynamic]

[He cranes over to see as it goes]

Nerd.

[penduli]

Oh, shut up. [ No heat to it though. ] I'm useful for once, aren't I? Let me have my moment.

[garudynamic]

Just this once.

[captainobnoxious]

[Heart balloons.... So cute...]

You are so helpful, Black. Thank you. Even if your... shorthand things are weird.

[Let's see. He was a driven person who was even more difficult than the Kingmaker himself. That's a pretty good point of interest. They wouldn't have been friends unless circumstantially. But they made a good team, too.

What she knows about the Kingmaker and what she knows about the titles here.]

... Guess the revolution guy, the greg one, and Persevering might be our closest bets? Just from this. Torrential too, maybe, if it's anything like my title and means he was just a hell of a person.

[goodforsomething]

You gotta be a real character to pull off a look like that!

km buddy pal

[captainobnoxious]

I'll say. Must've been from a pretty hot place, if he could wear something like that out on the sea.

[She knows a seaman when she sees one!!

The fucking anchor is a giveaway.]

So? Am I warm? Revolutionary, Greg... Gregar... Greggy, Persevering. One of those?

[kingmakereffect]

Yes, you're close. One of those three is right.

[captainobnoxious]

Are you gonna tell me which, or are you gonna make me guess from one of three people? Because I think I know who it is, just based on the title, but I'm not completely sure.

[kingmakereffect]

Don't expect me to make things easy on you now.

[captainobnoxious]

Persevering is my main guess. He might be young, but like I said, age doesn't matter. And someone who wouldn't stop no matter what fits the way you described your friend pretty spot on. Greggy was my other one, seeing how you and I get along so well, but I'm more sure of the first one.

[And she is nothing if sociable.]

[kingmakereffect]

You're right. His title was Persevering but his name was Silver. He was my best friend.

[He sounds tired. Maybe a little bit upset, but definitely tired.]

If you're going to talk about him, please use his name.

...You still have a lot left to figure out though.

[goodforsomething]

Did Visionary kill him?

[amygdalae]

Gregarious.

[amygdalae]

Persevering looks incredibly young.

[As do some of the others in those photos, honestly...]

[captainobnoxious]

Doesn't matter if they're incredibly young or not, Bruce. Just someone that our Kingmaker here would've found common ground with through circumstance and... well, apparently they made a pretty good team, so. You know.

Age doesn't really matter in a place like this.

[says the 32 year old who dated a 19 year old]

[amygdalae]

[You have no place to judge, Sigrun.]

...he did put himself as 25, didn't he? I suppose the age gap wouldn't have been that horribly big.

[...still doesn't make it any better.]

[sleepingkogoro]

...hey, now that you point that...I can't avoid noticing some of the people in the files look strangely young when compared to our group. In ours the youngest ones were Aqua and Hanamura-kun, but in the past group I'd say the Persevering kid, the Surviving girl and the Curative girl look younger than them.

[Could that be significant in any way?]

[amygdalae]

...perhaps something happened.

[Bruce... is just guessing, honestly. It really could be nothing. But it also could be something.]

[isafraid]

If they really got the smart idea to put children through this nightmare, then they're even worse then we thought!

[He didn't want to imagine it like that, but the photos do look pretty young...]

[penduli]

Teenagers aren't children. [ really. maybe to you old people but. ]

[goodforsomething]

Yeah, they are.

[isafraid]

[He didn't really mean it like that but..... okay this is happening]

[notjustawriter]

[Don't worry, Black, when you hit 30-something, you'll be thinking anyone under 20 is a child.]

[amygdalae]

[They totally are.

Bruce is too polite to say it, though.]