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

[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?

[notjustawriter]

There's.... probably not an easy answer to this, is there?

Dammit.

[amygdalae]

There never was from the start.

[Bruce knows all about them moral dilemmas, believe me.]

[penduli]

...as much as I hate to say it, it does seem like Mettaton cares about Miss Sigrun still, at least. [ doesn't change anything, but. he's pedantic. sue him. ] He just doesn't want to leave his friend alone or lose anyone else.

[amygdalae]

You'll have to forgive me when I point out that it certainly hasn't stopped him from pulling his backstabbing stunts twice.

[Once bitten, twice shy and all that.]

[goodforsomething]

Carin' about someone isn't just sayin' you do, it's actin' like it. That usually doesn't involve this much...everything.

[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.]

[captainobnoxious]

... It's true, she does. She also thinks that bad people can be missed or liked, even if they're bad.

[Glory thinks she's a good person. That's nice, really.]

I'd like to ask her opinion, but I don't know how favorable it'd be to anyone's plans.

[pokexplorer]

Missing them and liking them is one thing, but...what do you suppose she would say about the possibility of sparing them? She specifically mentioned Mettaton when talking to me about bad people.

[Yeah...he had a conversation about it too.]

[amygdalae]

...I'm frankly more concerned with making sure they never do this again, or turn against us if we ultimately decide to keep them alive.

[A twitch of the jaw.]

Right now we have no idea what the two of them are capable of; they could actually have their powers in here right now unlike us, and they'd be able to get rid of us in an instant if that's the case.

[And then get purged, which means they just die for good.]

We can't just blindly think sparing them means they'll spare us. Perhaps now they might, but what about the future?

[captainobnoxious]

If they wanted to kill us, they would've already. And they'd have every right now to spare us even if we spare them because there was a good chunk of us, myself included, talking about killing them.

[Even if she... doesn't want to make good on her kill intent right now.]

Cherryblod wants to take them both in. That also means they'd be staying with me. Two people Mettaton couldn't stand to see hurt. Not that either of them could beat us -- I'm confident enough to take out that noodle, and I already know what kills Mettaton.

As for the future... no one can predict that. They could want to do this again. They could be content with killing trolls in my lands and performing around the known world.

But we shouldn't dismiss the fact that they are useful for the time being. Keeping our guards up won't be an issue, I think.

[sleepingkogoro]

...you know what, I can fully trust Eide-san and Cherryblod-san to be able to deal with those two. It isn't because I hope Mettaton-kun or Uryuu-san will stop being bad people and won't try anything against them, but because I know Eide-san and Cherryblod-san are more than capable to counter anything those two can do.

[Emotions are a bust. Practicality triumphs]

[cherryblooded]

Thank you. Really, I - thank you.

[It means more than he could possibly say.]

[notjustawriter]

....Yeah.

I don't trust Mettaton or Ryuu, but I do trust Cherryblod and Sigrun.

They've been the leaders here, haven't they? They've kept us together this long.

[isafraid]

[Speedwagon nods curtly.]

If there's anyone here that we could put our trust into handling them, then it might just be those too. If it's this plan we're really following... I'd say there's no better option to handle it then Cherryblod and captain Sigrun.

[he likes both of you nerds. Please don't let them down.]

[amygdalae]

[Urghhhhh

You people, seriously.]

Are you all really so willing to risk everything just because of them being potentially useful in the short term period? They purposefully set this up, deliberately made this happened, and even if this is just a VR simulation, it doesn't invalidate what happened, and what we all felt and experienced.

I don't want to spill any more blood either, not with what I already have on my hands. I don't care what happens to me - but you guys are my responsibility and I'll see it that you all make it out of this safe and sound no matter what. I can't trust either of those two jokers up there with all your lives on the line.

[penduli]

We're our own responsibility, Mr. Banner. We don't belong to you or anyone else—it isn't your job to keep us safe.

[ Hell, it's not even Sigrun's job to, even if she's so stubborn on it. ]

If they want to take in those two, that's their choice. Let them deal with it, while you go off hopping around worlds to take care of everything else. [ He... also doesn't agree with the notion of them being anywhere near Sigrun or Cherryblod, but whatever. ] It's either we go for that neat little alternative they've thought up for us, or we kill them.

[notjustawriter]

Protectin' people's as much my job as it is yours.

I can't say I know what it takes to be an Avenger, but as the last of the Schattenjäger, I'm not about to go down a path of violence if there's a chance this can be solved without bloodshed.

However remote, I'm willing to take it, if the rest of the group is.