Take Responsibility.

[kingmakereffect]

And once the allotted time for investigating comes to a close, those elevator doors at the end of the first-floor corridor open up; the ride down is fast, smooth, and understandably tense as far as atmosphere goes. You're down to less than half of your original number. The doors slide open and the podium circle comes into view, standing stark against the black-walled courtroom and encircling that pit in the center; Misa and Aqua have joined the ranks of the deceased, photographs in greyscale watching the proceedings from their podiums draped in black. Of course and as always, the deceased aren't the only ones watching; the Kingmaker will make his presence known once everyone has settled at their podium, his voice sounding out through the room for all to hear. "Resilient has been taken from you. Maybe this time the guilty party will actually succeed at fulfilling Rule Seven, seeing as this is the sixth try and all. Whether they manage it is up to the rest of you." Thirteen Survivors remain. However many will be down by the end of the day is up to you.

Comments

[ratingspoint]

[Ah- ]

Well, well, well. That was a nice try, sweetheart! It was a valiant attempt, and maybe I'll give you points for moxie.

That still doesn't negate A and C, though, which are the most important - I'd be so easily defeated it'd be pointless to even try.

[cherryblooded]

C is irrelevant. You don't need an incentive to defend yourself, if that's what happened, and you've told me that you think about killing people even without one - if it was really impossible, would it even be under consideration?

[ratingspoint]

I think about killing people, sure. That doesn't mean I could do it if put to a practical test, so C still stands.

[cherryblooded]

A then. You say that a human with a strong enough will or hatred can easily kill you?

But Aqua wasn't that kind of person. Even if she'd tried to kill you out of desperation to save her world, she wouldn't have hated you. You could stand against a conflicted soul like that.

[ratingspoint]

I probably couldn't stand against someone with that much determination to not die, though. Unless you're saying she sacrificed herself, but nothing is consistent with that.

[cherryblooded]

Are determination and desperation the same thing?

[ratingspoint]

That depends on context, I think.

There's "determination, the feeling", and "determination the...thing."

[...that was eloquent.]

[isafraid]

There's two kinds of the thing?

[He thought there was only the--you know what anything can happen, can't it?]

[notjustawriter]

What's the difference?

[ratingspoint]

Well, everyone can experience the feeling - that's your basic fighting spirit and all that!

The...thing is something else. It's a trait only humans can have; if it's strong enough, it can do all sorts of things. Rewind time, bring people back from the dead, things like that.

[YOU KNOW

AS YOU DO]

[notjustawriter]

[What the utter christ.]

Sounds an awful lot like some kind of magic of its own.

[amygdalae]

What?

[w h a t]

[captainobnoxious]

Kind of like how we keep seeing dead people down in the pit, for example.

[Look, she speaks. It's harmless info.]

That same sort of thing. Though obviously it's not the same here, since... non-humans have come back to life too.

[isafraid]

....Hang on a second.

[Just. What the hell? Also...]

So, what you're saying is that monsters can't get this kind of determination?

[ratingspoint]

We can't! It makes our bodies melt, actually. It's gross?

[AS

YOU

DO]

[isafraid]

[CHRIST

That wasn't a mental image he was looking for today!]

It'd even melt metal?

[ratingspoint]

...I actually don't know? But I don't really want to find out what it would do to my soul.

[isafraid]

I... can't blame you if it's really capable of doing that to a person--err, monster.

[pokexplorer]

Soul business or not, I am having a difficult time with your claim that you would be easily defeated. You are [a Steel-type] made of metal. It is not as if one hit is going to do you in.

[ratingspoint]

If a human hates me enough, or wants to survive enough in a fight against me, I could absolutely be killed in one hit.

Some of the strongest monsters in the Underground had that happen to them. I would know - I've seen the recordings. A human child has killed the strongest we have.

[pokexplorer]

[Wow, that's, uh...

This must be what it's like when someone gets completely confounded by the information he spouts about Pokemon.]

And you believe Aqua would be able to fit that description? You're already assuming that her soul is stronger than yours, after all.

[ratingspoint]

I know for a fact that hers is stronger than mine - all human souls are. It's said that it'd take the soul of every monster in the Underground to equal the strength of one human soul, actually.

So you see? It follows perfectly logically - I couldn't have killed her, even if I wanted to!