Take Responsibility.

[kingmakereffect]

And after a given amount of time, those elevator doors at the end of the first-floor corridor open up; as it was last week, the ride down is smooth and quick-moving, even if there are less of you this week. (Technically, you're only down by one in the elevator; Bruce has ensured that Pearl is with you in some way, albeit unconventionally and by the grace of Ziploc.) However, when the doors open up to the podium circle standing in the middle of that black void of a courtroom, there's no mistaking the fact that there are fewer people present than there were last week – Kamui and Pearl have joined those with podiums draped in black, their framed profile portraits watching the proceedings in shades of grey. It's still impossible to tell exactly where the Kingmaker is watching the proceedings from, though it's obvious that he is; he'll wait until everyone is settled before he speaks, his voice coming from everywhere and nowhere all at once. "Devoted has been taken from you. All of you know what the stakes are now, but this happened anyway – looks like someone's determined. Whether they succeed or not is up to you." Twenty-four Survivors remain. We'll see how many are still standing by the end of the day.

Comments

[bloodisthicker]

[...WHY CAN'T HE BE PROPERLY MAD AGAIN HE WANTS SO BADLY TO BE MA...wait.]

...poles? Really...?

[garudynamic]

Is there anything... anything we can do? Anything you want before...

[lackinginfaith]

...yes, why?

[lackinginfaith]

[Caren opens up her shell pendant again and tugs the piece of Pearl out, leaving the purple lowercase-p pearl inside. The white piece goes onto the podium.]

Keep that with the sandwich bag. She should go with all of you.

[garudynamic]

[He nods, and makes a vague gesture at the smaller pearl.]

What about...?

[After what she said it was he's not sure the Kingmaker would even allow it to be saved. If that'd be cheating.]

[bloodisthicker]

The Water Tribe is essentially divided between the North and South Poles of my world, so I guess... we had more in common than I thought.

[...but his older brother's long past saving.]

[lackinginfaith]

Right, your nation. You'd mentioned something like that.

I hope it's safe.

[lackinginfaith]

I can die even if he doesn't get it. But I don't deserve to have the choice to save myself, even if it's just part of me.

[also if you took it around she'd be haunting you. and so would the next Caren, nagging you to take her back to her world and let her be born. do you really want that.]

[garudynamic]

None of us deserve any of this, Caren. But it's... it's your choice. I'm not gonna fight you for it.

[Aw he wouldn't mind it]

ACCOUNTABILITY.

[kingmakereffect]

[And as the votes come in, the lights go out, and the room is once again plunged into darkness; the only light visible is that ambient dark blue that accompanies the electronic touchpads powering down.

Eventually, though, as before, the pit illuminates itself, and Caren is gone from the circle. Again, there was no sound, there was no outcry or indication of a struggle - Caren was there and then she simply was not, leaving nothing but traces of water on the floor where she'd transformed.

It seems that her arrival in the pit has left the dampness behind, however; when she enters from that door beneath her podium, rather than crawling, dragging a long tail behind her, she's walking under her own power, her usual bright clothes and hair standing in stark comparison to the empty white walls of the pit.

The walls don't remain white for long, however; there's a sudden shift in the tiles, as though they're being lit from behind, and the pit is soon bathed in a pale pink glow - there's a warmth to it, almost, nothing sharp or harsh to the color itself, but any comfort that may be taken in it is short-lived as the door beneath Podium 7 opens.

When Pearl steps out, her movements are graceful, deliberate; Caren steps back, her eyes narrowing. They've seen this before with Zagi, but actually seeing your victim - someone you've confirmed dead, someone whose soul you smashed with a weapon in your own hands - seeing that person standing directly in front of you is another thing. But the gem on Pearl's forehead is intact here, despite the fact that it's still very definitely on her podium above, where Bruce left it.

Pearl isn't smiling like Zagi, but there's nothing angry in her expression, either; it's strict, maybe, but not unhappy. It's just straightforward and a little severe in intensity, and as she approaches Caren she holds out her hand.

The gesture is fluid and calm; Caren doesn't seem to be wanting any of it. Instead she just...stares, like she's trying to figure out what the trick it. She steps back again.

Pearl doesn't give her a choice the second time, lunging forward and gripping Caren's bandaged hand with a grip so tight that Caren winces, and the sudden pain seems to catch her off-guard strongly enough that Pearl can jerk her forward into what isn't quite an embrace, but closer to a closed-waltz position.

Caren squirms against Pearl's grip; she freezes up as the music starts, the strains of it audible both within the pit and to those still standing at the podium circle outside. And when Pearl makes her move the motion is gentle enough to keep her from stumbling; it's gentle enough to ensure Caren moves with her, and she calmly paces her through a few bars of melody before pushing her lightly, twirling her out and away and releasing her hand.

And once Pearl's hand is no longer occupied, it moves to that gem on her head, pulling a long bright spear out of the center of it, letting it materialize in her hand; when she leaps at Caren it's quick, measured, and she lands just close enough to sweep Caren's legs out from under her, dropping her to the floor again. Her spear is just as quick when Pearl moves to bring it down on her, as though it's going to pierce her throat.]

Goodnight, Aqueous.

[The Kingmaker's voice sounds out as Pearl shifts direction with her spear; it's not much, but it's enough, and the head of the weapon pierces through the pendant Caren has been wearing. The pearl inside shatters; Pearl's spear doesn't stop once the pendant breaks, driving through Caren's body and impaling her completely through the chest, front-to-back.

Caren's body jerks, the motion shuddering but largely involuntary; she drops to the ground, unmoving.

Pearl doesn't retrieve her weapon; she just stands near the body, staring down at it with that same strange, severe expression as the lights in the pit go dark and the fluorescents above return to life.]

[bloodisthicker]

I'm sure they're fine. They've both got strong leadership that could get them through a crisis if one came up.

...Republic City's the place I'm really worried about, anyway.

[lackinginfaith]

[say that in a week when you've got a ghost Caren and a hypothetical ghost child judging your robot nurse magazines from the machine]

[cherryblooded]

[That was... strange.

Cherryblod watches the entire exchange, the dance and the impalement, completely silently - now that he's expecting the dead to show up intact, even that doesn't get a gasp. When the lights come up, he turns to go back to the elevator.

There's still the living to attend to.]

[amygdalae]

[Two for two.

Bruce had watched the whole thing, cruel as it was, and while he's not too surprised to see Pearl (or what looked like Pearl, anyway), the fact that she appears there is definitely something to take note of. Since now they know that her having a body after death is an impossibility.

A few questions are answered, but now more take their place. How much more does everyone else here have to suffer for the Kingmaker's own enjoyment?]

[garudynamic]

[LOOK HIS MAGAZINES ARE PURE.

Okay no, he finally puts her down and shuffles away, not wanting to get caught in case the same thing happens that did to Kamui.

He should say something. Yu would say something]

...good luck.

[ Nailed it]

[captainobnoxious]

[... That was an oddly beautiful death, if Sigrun's honest with herself, though something like "beauty" didn't usually come to mind when that instance is involved. She weighs the sledgehammer in hand before leaving it aside in her podium, the melody of the song still caught within her mind as she turns to go.]

[penduli]

[ It's not that this is easier to watch, but it doesn't give him the knee-jerk instinct to turn away and practice some deep breathing exercises. The melody is beautiful, and the dance is, too; he flinches when Pearl's spear drives through Caren's pendant and the rest of her, at least.

If he isn't careful, the same thing can happen to him. He blinks slowly, staring into the pit's blackness, before he lets out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding and steps away from his podium.

He'll be keeping his head down on the way back, avoiding anyone's looks. This is two for two, twins-wise, and it's not like he's been particularly quiet about his own (and the lengths he'd go to for her, to some people). ]

[bloodisthicker]

[...right, he needs to put those feelings aside and stop being such a goddamned sentimental eleven year old. Those are stupid and will only trip him up when he needs to not hesitate. Let's try to dispassionately watch someone we kind of actually liked die, then.

...huh. Now, Pearl's "body"... that's still in a plastic bag, isn't it? If these are those "zombies," then what the hell is that thing?

...if anyone's up to discussion at the gathering someone will hopefully have after this, he wants to talk about that. Not... anything else.]

[happysweets]

Were you?

[ She sighs with her head in her hands... ]

Shame Misa-Misa never got to see it.

[happysweets]

It's not even just that it's murder, it's...who she killed, and why she killed, and what she was doing, and...

None of it's right.

[ratingspoint]

[Well, that...it certainly was something, wasn't it.

Mettaton will wait for a while even after the pit goes dark; he doesn't seem troubled or anything, though he doesn't really seem like anything - just kind of cold.

He doesn't like feeling like that; it won't last for long.

He'll make his way over to Pearl's podium, though, even after Bruce has taken the bag containing...her away from there; he'll consider for a moment before taking the photograph that had been set up there with him.

If the Kingmaker minds, well, that sounds like a personal problem.]

[notjustawriter]

It's awful.

All of this is awful.

[isafraid]

[He chuckles mirthlessly. There's no laughter here.]

A damn shame.