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]

[...All...right then, that went poorly and Ryuunosuke is currently out of commission, so just -

When he speaks again, there's a hardness to his tone that usually isn't there - the sort of tone one would expect from someone who hands orders down and expects them to be followed. The sort of thing one would expect from the King of the Underground, maybe.]

There's been a lot of talk of decisions, but I haven't actually heard any. We're willing to hear out any arguments you have - sparing, killing, whatever - but you must present an argument for either.

The one condition we have is that whatever happens, it happens to both of us. No killing one and sparing the other. If we die, we do it together, do you understand?

Talk it over amongst yourselves for a while. I have to take care of something, I'll be right back.

[...He's going to go check on Ryuunosuke, he won't be fully out of sight at any time, don't worry.]

[cherryblooded]

[Okay. Well. Cherryblod breathes in, breathes out.]

Anyone who wants to try to convince me we should kill them? Good luck. I'll listen, at least.

[...it's just not going to work very well.]

[captainobnoxious]

[... Sigrun can't even make a case. Outside that it's better that they're dead, or they need to take responsibility, but.]

Even if all nine of us could, you still wouldn't bend. That's just the stubborn streak in you.

[cherryblooded]

You're right. Let me try an argument of my own.

We spare them and I take - custody, I suppose you'd call it. I won't bring them to anyone's world if they don't give explicit permission. If necessary, I'll stay in this city with them.

I don't want to continue the cycle of death, I don't want to kill just because it's what's expected of me, and frankly I don't want to lose Mettaton again, as selfish as that argument is.

[captainobnoxious]

[beeeeeeeeeeeh]

I... Listen. You can still come to my world, and you can bring those two with you.

[...]

I never said I'd kill Mettaton now. Or soon. Just that I would. He's mine.

It could be far into the future for all I care, but I don't really want either of them to be let off so easily. And I don't want to leave you here, because everyone who does gets a little cracked, and you're worse off than most if that happens.

[cherryblooded]

...Thank you, captain. I'd have missed you terribly, if I wasn't able to see you again because of this.

[amygdalae]

[A very dry snort from Bruce.]

'Listen', yeah. [Hear those air quotes, man.] You don't need to patronize us.

[Everyone here knows that you're not going to budge.]

[cherryblooded]

Wasn't my intention.

[...but it's true.]

[captainobnoxious]

[... Honey, don't get yourself killed, please.]

Well. What's everyone's idea?

[sleepingkogoro]

...I hate to think a murderer can go unpunished. It makes me greatly uncomfortable, and in my world, although there would be extenuating circumstances, they would receive jailtime for quite some time.

But that is not an option here.

I'm personally against killing them, but I can't say I have an argument to say. At the end I think I'll go for the option that lets us live and be able to pursue the causes behind the murdergames. It's up to you guys to decide which one it'll be.

[So...neutral?]

[goodforsomething]

Kinda feels like lettin' them get away scott-free to me too. But I don't wanna hurt any of us anymore than we've been, and I know killin' them's gonna do that.

[isafraid]

And if we do kill them, how much will that do? Suppose it's what they've been expecting all this time.

[goodforsomething]

I'd rather they were locked up somewhere, honestly. Dyin's easy.

[notjustawriter]

I'd.... rather avoid any more killing. At this point, I don't think we can call it justice. It's murder; we're no better than them if we continue this.

I don't care who's a bigger monster, this is all too sickening. And our friends are over there, still alive. We just need to find out how to get out of here.

[amygdalae]

[...well, there he goes.

And Bruce glances around to everyone else.]

So.

[...he probably doesn't need to say anything. He's sure everyone has their opinion.]

[captainobnoxious]

... If we get them to agree to something, then we'll win, d'you think? Then we can have Glory to... do whatever it is we want.

[...]

Ask for locations for the other games? And see if we can't shut them down without killing anyone. There's gotta be better entertainment than this.

[amygdalae]

Can we even trust them to not do anything, at this point? Mettaton's turned against us twice and the other guy--he's not exactly a ray of sunshine either.

[Bruce has been through five betrayals at this point already, jesus. He doesn't want to deal with yet one more.]

If they try anything the moment we let down our guard, we're good as dead. They've done nothing to gain any of our trust at all - only sympathy and compassion, if anything.

[But is that enough?]

[notjustawriter]

This game has been run on nothing but trust and breaking trust, hasn't it?

Turnin' all of us against each other, killin' innocent people because of some goddamn bullshit incentive week after week...

There's no reason to think they won't do it again. Hell, Mettaton himself said he could do it again.

[God, that's a really good argument for killing them, isn't it?]

I'm just so tired of this shit.

[sleepingkogoro]

If they don't have access to Glory or to the equipment it's likely they wouldn't be able to do it again.

[cherryblooded]

They won't be able to run another murder game. As far as normal murder, I'll handle that. You know neither of them would win against me in a fight.

[He'd have to be very careful not to kill Mettaton, but he could certainly stop him from murdering someone else.]

[amygdalae]

[Bruce is tired as hell too. More tired than most, considering...]

It goes both ways - they haven't done anything to show that we can trust them, and we haven't done anything to show that they can trust us. Of course, we can be the better people and take the first step-- [as Cherryblod so desperately want to do] --but at the same time we have to be realistic about this.

The two of them ultimately care for themselves and each other - nobody else matters to them. How can we be sure that kind of thinking won't get us all killed?

[pokexplorer]

Mettaton also has appeared to have made an incredibly big decision behind even Ryuunosuke's back, so...

[No offense Mettaton, but that...did just happen. He's pretty much backstabbed everyone close to him in some way, it looks like.

...Colress still looks really fucking conflicted, though.]

[amygdalae]

[Yeah there is that, too.]

It's clear that with the right chance and siituation, they could very easily turn against us if we're not careful. After all these weeks I'm not that willing to risk another chance, especially to a pair who already has a history of doing so.

[captainobnoxious]

Neither of them are good people.

[... That's true, now. What Glory said.]

They're both bad people, and it's true we can't trust them. But I don't think they could kill us. Maybe a select few, but there's ten of us and two of them. There's still three people alive right now that Mettaton doesn't want to see die too.

[And hopefully Ryuunosuke still doesn't want to upset Mettaton, even with... the everything that just was.]

They know how this works better than any of us do, too. Even if they're both morons. We can use them to stop the other games.

[pokexplorer]

[...This gets him thinking.]

Miss Sigrun, do you suppose we should also consider Glory in this? She may be a mixture of memories, but she seemed to have rather strong opinions on "good people" and "bad people".

[Neither Mettaton nor Ryuunosuke have spoken about the subject, so he wonders where that part of her comes from.

...He's just wondering how much control Glory has here, too.]