Take Responsibility.

[trustharder]

And after all has been said and done and all clues have been found, those large steel doors at the end of the hallway open up. The elevator both is and isn't a particularly nice one; it rides smoothly and quickly and it's obviously been kept-up, but there's nothing on the interior walls, lending a claustrophobic feeling to what's already a relatively small space, particularly with all of you in there. (Well. Almost all of you.) No distractions from what just happened, nothing to take your mind off of considering what might, just you and your fellow Survivors in an unadorned steel box. There's no visible panel for buttons, either; looks like it's pre-programmed; at least the ride is a relatively short one, though it's difficult to tell the distance traveled before the door opens again. You would be forgiven for your initial thought being that it opens into a void. It isn't complete darkness, but it's enough of a visual shift from the elevator that it probably takes your eyes some time to adjust; instead of the usual concrete and steel, the walls are a dark, heavy black, making the room look far smaller than it is. There aren't any corners to it, either; the room is tightly circular, complimenting the setup in the center of it. In the center of the room is a circle of podiums, twenty-seven in total, arranged so that everyone standing at them can see each other. So everyone can look each other in the eyes, if they so choose. The podiums are interlocked - there's no cutting across the center of the circle, and for good reason, it looks like there's a lot of nothing down there where the floor should be, just a massive black pit in the center - and each is bearing the title of the person who's assigned to stand at it. No names, just adjectives, emblazoned across two brass panels on the very top and the front of each podium. Affixed to the podium itself is a glass touchscreen panel; it's dark for now, but it'll probably be relevant later. At least the glass is shatterproof, in case things get heated. In general, though, all of the podiums are identical, except for the one intended for Zagi. The podium that should bear Adaptable's title has had a black cloth draped over it, and a copy of Zagi's profile photo is sitting on top of it, framed and colorless, an image in greyscale. It's hard to tell where the Kingmaker's voice comes from, when it does; it seems to come from everywhere and nowhere at once, like it's being piped in from someplace you can't see. But he's very definitely audible when he does speak. "Adaptable has been taken from you. Looks like the guilty among you is attempting to end the exercise by carrying out Rule Seven. It's up to you whether they're held responsible for their actions or not."

Comments

[kingmakereffect]

Refusal to vote is the equivalent of aiding the culprit in this context. Are you sure you want to do something like that? You'll have to take responsibility for your actions, you know.

[pokexplorer]

DEPENDENT

[Colress doesn't seem to be too hesitant about this, especially when the alternative is Kamui escaping and everyone else dying. He only wishes he could've seen more of Kamui's abilities in action. Shame.]

[lackinginfaith]

He'd have killed more than just us. Sometimes what's right isn't nice.

[wokeupdead]

[That's... a pretty loaded sentence there. She's still angry though so.]

So you'd put me on trial too just for not voting?

[isafraid]

You're right, it's bloody madness in a nutshell.

[He sighs.]

And we don't even have a choice in the matter.

[paidinblood]

He asked me. It was a fair fight.

[Well maybe not very fair of him to have claws and regeneration but who's counting-]

[clubleader]

[ The hesitates a little, but... it's either they vote or they die. ]

DEPENDENT

[captainobnoxious]

It's nothing out of the usual. The way I see it, we're our own little community at the moment, so it's only natural we'd take care of things ourselves as well.

[In the wild, when there's no one but yourselves, you have to make hard decisions too. But that's just her case.]

It's him or us. And you wouldn't want to risk the rest of us dying over one person, would you?

[garudynamic]

[He trembles. Before (or so he thinks. It'd be an awful night's sleep and another memory before he realizes he's already done this before. But that was different, wasn't it? That was Saki. Nanako. This is a near stranger, so it's so much easier to play the higher moral ground) he's always had someone to *fight*. Some way to resist just going along with things and accepting the way things were. There's no other option, and that's almost worse then sentencing Kamui at all]

It's not *fair*. He shouldn't have been in here at all! None of us should have!

[notjustawriter]

[His hands shake.]

Dammit.

I can't die here.

>DEPENDENT

[He doesn't look like he feels great about himself, though.]

[amygdalae]

[Bruce doesn't want anybody to die, but its too late at this point.

He doesn't need to be a genius to see where this is going.]

The best we can do is to prevent this from happening again.

[kingmakereffect]

There wouldn't need to be a trial. The rules are what they are. Make your decision, Perceiving.

[garudynamic]

That doesn't matter. Yeah, he's gotta pay for killing Zagi, but it's not right to make murderers out of the rest of us either!

[ignorantly]

> DEPENDENT

[ Had it been anyone else, he would have hesitated more before putting his vote in. But Kamui is a vampire, and while those aren't the same as ghouls they're close enough, in his opinion. ]

[wokeupdead]

[This is so so so frustrating. She stands stubborn for a while long before slamming the button.]

DEPENDENT

Whenever I find you I'm dragging you in for a proper trial. You'll face justice properly.

[cherryblooded]

I agree with you. It's not fair at all.

[Despite that, Cherryblod is calm as he speaks.]

But, suppose that you don't vote for him, and the majority goes a different way. If that happens, then you'll be partly responsible for the deaths of the rest of us. Every other person that you've met here will be dead.

Can you really do that?

[happysweets]

[ She can get behind that logic. It's certainly one way of justifying blood on your hands. ]

That makes enough sense to me. I never thought of them as mutually exclusive, but...

[ She supposes that's probably how Kira thinks of it, too. Or, at least, a similar perspective. ]

[ratingspoint]

Please. You're not murdering anyone - you're indicating who you think did it, that's all. It's not like they're handing you the-

[...]

...We aren't going to be expected to jump him or anything, are we?

[amygdalae]

But we're not the one who's going do the actual killing.

[They are the ones who pull the trigger, though, and Bruce can sense that all too well.

He hates it.

He can tell Sigrun will probably have something to say about his words, but before she can speak Bruce takes a breath and selects DEPENDENT.

...nobody's life should be worth more than another's, but right now this is against everything he tries to stand for.

And god if it doesn't tear at his conscience.]

[prismbloom]

We'll make sure he does.

[notjustawriter]

That's right.

He won't get away with this.

[uro_cyon]

DEPENDENT

[Considering the circumstances, it's pretty cut and dry. No hard feelings either, especially if he accepts the fact that he's a vampire at face value.

He had to play the game, at least for now.]

[garudynamic]

... no. I know that.

But if we just do it and don't even argue it... isn't that as bad as agreeing with it?

[He slumps, clearly giving in. There's was never any real question on that front]

[happysweets]

[ Well, it's like Sigrun says. Like Kira says.

This is justice. ]

DEPENDENT

[wokeupdead]

[Just a nod. She's so mixed up emotions wise that she really doesn't want to talk. This simply isn't Justice...]