Accountability.

[ratingspoint]

"Killswitch? I 'left Alphys to die'? Please, darlings, don't tell me you actually buy all these tired old storylines..." It's been a few weeks since that particular voice has been heard by anyone in the Vault; it's sharp, flamboyant and incredibly familiar, and it's coming from the same place the Kingmaker's always seems to - nowhere and everywhere at once, piped in through some unseen system. "You know, normally I'd balk a bit at being dragged out in front of all of you for another trial, because I think you all know by now how much I hate repeat performances. Fortunately, there's a difference, isn't there? Between now and then... And if the crowd cries for an encore, who am I to deny it!" There's a panel of wall behind that balcony, one that slides open quickly and easily; the pair of people that emerge from it...well, they're different than anything the Vault has seen so far, that much is obvious. The first is reasonably slight in frame, his hair and his clothing bright in color; he's resplendant in...just about every tacky accessory Caren unwittingly brought with her to the Vault - with the exception of the bra, naturally. Because we've got to have some dignity here, clearly, even if that dignity doesn't extend to the fucking leopard-print bucket hat currently sitting on his head at a jaunty as hell angle. His expression is intense and deeply manic, his body shaking a bit and fists clenched at his sides as though he's trying to keep himself from laughing, from lashing out and hitting the wall, from doing something to relieve some of it, but his eyes... ...His eyes, though. His eyes are dead as hell, his stare cutting and utterly devoid of emotion all at once. And the second...well, he's familiar, though it seems his avatar has changed quite a bit since the last time you saw him. It's something more suiting, let's put it that way. He's the one leaning over to greet you now, hands braced tight against that railing spanning the length of the balcony. "Beauties and gentlebeauties, I'm pleased to introduce to you our hosts for the evening! First of all, the Kingmaker, without whom none of this would have been possible!" And that gets a sweeping gesture to his side, where the ginger just...enthusiastically pumps his fist in the air, and that's when the laugh escapes him, harsh and uncontrolled. "It's about time!" Mettaton tosses his head a bit at that; he doesn't laugh himself, but he seems pleased enough with it before he continues. "As for me? Well, I'd like to wish you good evening and good luck - both sentiments straight from the King of the Underground! Try to make this good for us, all right?" "Make it cool!" "...Sweetheart, really." ...Right, well! Let's begin, shall we?

Comments

[ratingspoint]

...Well, will you look at that, we have a winner!

[YEP.]

[goodforsomething]

Fucking son of a -

[Let's just assume that Stan is going to be over here cursing to himself for a few minutes.

He is so done.]

[amygdalae]

[Have a shoulder pat, Stan.

Don't worry they'll figure this shit out.]

[goodforsomething]

[The ranting stops at the shoulder pat, fading into only a white-knuckled grip on the edges of his podium and a dangerous set to his jaw.

Thanks for the moral support, man.]

[cherryblooded]

...How do you get the people out of the portal, though?

I mean. Everyone else I can see you just going through and grabbing, but I was underwater. Unless your friend holds his breath really well, that's not feasible.

[ratingspoint]

Again, Glory mostly handles that sort of thing. By the same logic, I shouldn't have been able to be grabbed, either - nothing leaves the Barrier, remember? Including me.

And I know for a fact it wasn't broken when I left.

[cherryblooded]

Alright. So it's a weird magic-techno portal that no one understands except for possibly the AI.

Do you know if it's two way? ...That is, can we go home?

[ratingspoint]

...It might be. I don't know; I chose to stay, as did Ryuunosuke.

[goodforsomething]

Are you really even King of anything anymore then?

[ratingspoint]

Trust me, sweetheart. There's no one else still alive in the Underground that can take the title.

[cherryblooded]

...Guess we'll find out when we see it for ourselves. Not really looking forward to the life of a TV star if I have to stay here - that suits you much better.

Well, now we know how we ended up here, why we're here, what kind of place we're in and why the vault's able to do all the things that shouldn't be physically possible, so what's left...

[He's mostly thinking aloud.]

...The executions?

[pokexplorer]

...I cannot say I could imagine it being anything else at this rate.

[Aside from someone managing to tame Dialga and Palkia or some shit.

He doesn't even want to think about how much nuclear waste went into this one.]

I know you said that you do not know how it works...so is it completely random who comes out, or is it figured out by Glory?

[ratingspoint]

It's handled by Glory. I don't understand what algorithm she's using, if any exist.

[pokexplorer]

I see. So the both of you asked her for a set of participants, and we are the ones who turned up?

[Man, he wishes he could ask Glory some things too, but those questions have been used up...]

[ratingspoint]

More or less, sweetheart! We wanted an interesting set, and we definitely did get one.

Thank you for that, at least.

[pokexplorer]

[That's just going to get a mild scowl, along with a dry response.]

I am sure we are all happy to oblige.

[But now that he's thinking about it...and he realizes it is less relevant but his curiosity speaks for him.]

Did it surprise you to see someone from a repeat world end up here once again?

[He's speaking about whomever had the Pokedex.]

[sleepingkogoro]

It's strange...

It's said this was to deal with bad people. Uryuu-san and Tinman are undoubtedly bad people. Alphys-san...I suppose she was by extension a bad person for giving Tinman the body and therefore giving him the means to do all the stuff he has done. I suppose the rest of their group was bad people in some way.

...how did things go wrong, if these two didn't have anything to do with Glory's decisions? Why did Glory choose us all? It's true if you think about it most of us can be "bad people" in some way, but there are a few that don't really fit.

[ratingspoint]

Alphys didn't do anything to deserve this.

[...wow, hello, mettaton, fuck did you come from- ]

[notjustawriter]

I doubt it has anything to do with "bad people" and hasn't for a long time.

[greatestcool]

Silver wasn't bad!

[ohhhhh boy you pissed off the crazy ginger disaster]

He didn't do anything wrong! He was pulled into this stupid game just like you guys were! Unless you want to start arguing that you're all awful people because trust me, I'd love to hear that one!

[captainobnoxious]

Alphys wasn't a bad person.

[Not with what she did for Mettaton. Not for how she was more into building things than battling.]

[cherryblooded]

Haven't we told you things about accusing people who you've never met, detective?

[penduli]

Well, they wanted an interesting set of people, so Glory gave them one. [ ...someone who loves blood, a vampire, an actual psychotic mess, a mermaid princess, a rock...

It's. Definitely an interesting group. ] Morality's largely based on people's experiences and perceptions anyway. Everything I did here, I did for my sister, even though it was wrong—and I know it was, though some people might think it was noble of me to try and save her—and I...

...I don't know if I'd do it again at this point, actually. [ #characterdevelopment— no he just got back the memory that was "fucko go enjoy your life and stop worrying how it's gonna be without me" paraphrased. ]

Anyway, the purpose of a game changes as time passes. Words end up meaning different things based on how they're used—it's honestly no surprise a game meant for weeding out the bad initially might eventually turn into something like this.

Of course, I've never expected someone who earned the title Dilatory to really think things through completely before speaking.

[goodforsomething]

[Stan knows the calculations for powering nuclear waste portals

He'll do you a favor and not mention them]

[pokexplorer]

[Thanks Stan, you the best.]