WEEK 5 TRIAL...?

[foundationmods]

TRIAL

Even though there's no guilty party left alive, The Lady ushers you all upstairs anyway. She looks...odd, her eyes glazed over in an odd manner, her motions a bit sharper than normal.

There's still the box, but for some reason it feels...ominous...?

And though she says nothing, music begins to play in the room...


VICTIM:
M̧̛̥͉̳̪͔͕̼͎̻͕͟Ì̤̝̩͇̝͖̠̬́͟͞͝ͅŅ̛̛͖̺͇́͜A̵̢̡̗̙͇̝̥̹͇̲̖̣̰̖͡T̶̵̸̗̼̼͍̘̞̠̀ͅǪ̸̸̨̞͇̪͚͇ ̨̼̪̖̯̻͙̤̬͉̟̭̙̟̗͡A̻̣̭̻̫͎͈̥͎̗̻͘͡R̢͇͚̻̦͟͝I̡҉̷̯̼̤̹̜̙̟̜̹̝̺̣͈̩̘̭͠S͏̶̜̬͔͈̭͉̯̪͙͓̪̻̖͉̩̕͜͟ͅͅA̡̢̻̥̠̭̯̻͇͖T̴̨̛͎̟͕̜̗̗̰̯̥̺̯̹͜O̧̧̭̥̺̱̺̠̞͜,̠̯͔̥̖̣͖̼̪͍̕͡͝ ͏͓̬͇̱͖̰̞̠̺͟R̵̡̛͍̰̯͔͖͚̣̼̼̲̻͡E҉̴̶̡͖͚͈͈̯̺̠̖̼Á͈̣̜̥̗͍̫̖̱̰̘͓̲̺̀̕͜͡N̴̸̵̨̰̭̖̰̯͖̩̺͇̟̱ ̧̖̱̣͖̲̙̲̖̟̩̭̩̬̝̟͚Ş̸҉̳̺͙͓̱̲̙̜͈̠̦̞͓͘͜C̴̵͙̫̰̫͕͓̲̬͔̯͝H̛͍̖ͅW̵̟̘̣̬͇̟̳̙̟͡A͙̗̩̟̣̥̪̮̯̮̜͙̮͎̗̳͎͚̹͘͞R̡̧̖̦̀̀ͅZ̹̺̙͕̰͘E͡҉̨̠͓̦͈̻̼̱͍́͝R̵̞͉͖̟̮͚̮̼͍̬͔̭̥͓̹̙̖̮̮͜


?̶̧͔̝̱́?̵̪̮̖ ̶̡̧͖̳͚G̖̬̳͜U̟͎͈̦̖̹̕E̗͈͚͎S̸͕̩T̷̲͖̬́S̩̝̻̲͟ͅ ͍̪̻R̯̟̩̲̻͍͡E̢̺̻͓M̫̦̲̲̼͡A̴̛҉̮̺̪̼̜̹̯Ị͘N͏͚͓̗͔̼̞̘.̙̥̮̳̩͘

Comments

We have a tribute

[jumpedtheshark]

[Tsumugi gulps and raises Ryouga up in the air with her hair.]

Ryouga-kun... he's been trying to volunteer himself this whole time.

[Not that she thinks she'll be believed, but...]

[wrongtiming]

...How do you know?

[jumpedtheshark]

I asked him and he nodded.

[A sigh.]

You... don't have to believe me, I guess. It sounds plain flimsy out of context.

[wrongtiming]

I mean... He can still understand what you're asking him, right? I guess...

[enter_the_darkness]

He has been literally flinging himself at The Bitch.

[ Hi, he learned a new word. :)

Also he's here to back Tsumugi 100% ]

[jumpedtheshark]

Exactly!

[Tsumugi shoots him a grateful look. She knew he'd have her back, but still.]

I-if he's going to die, it should be to help stall, right?

[latebluemer]

[Okay, that makes her snap out of her staring contest with the ceiling, and she starts forward instinctively -- reaches out.]

Shirogane-san...!

[Why. I thought we all had a mute Morse agreement here.]

[jumpedtheshark]

I-i'm not turning down any volunteers.

[A tired look. Tsumugi does not make agreements without verbal layouts of contracts. Even if she really thinks this might get her thrown under the bus.]

It's plain to see that it's their choice.

[latebluemer]

[She bites her lip, hard, but she's not here to reprimand Tsumugi. She knows -- they've learned from the very first trial how bad leaving things to chance can get. She just--]

We don't even know if this is leading anywhere. Are we really going to put our faith in the guy causing all of this?

[jumpedtheshark]

What else can we do?

[She's open to any other good plans.]

[latebluemer]

We have to get the Outsider out of there somehow. There has to be a way to get him to agree before we're all gone.

[This is not a good plan, but neither is the Outsider's, which they don't know about yet so I'm just going to ironically foreshadow instead.]

[jumpedtheshark]

.... If we can do it without hurting him, then I can agree with that plan.

[Waiting around obviously isn't producing results.]

[latebluemer]

I'm pretty sure every ghost is entitled to at least one punch.

[Maybe more. She is absolutely more sympathetic to the ghost situation than the Outsider's, sorry Tsumugi. At least she isn't advocating for killing him or anything. Just smacking apologies out of him at the very least.]

Where is that tablet...?

[resortghosts]

[Interrupting morse code:

.--. .-.. . .- ... . / .-.. . - / ..- ... / .--. ..- -. -.-. .... / .... .. -- --..-- / .. -.-. .... .. --. --- .----. ... / .- / ..-. ..- -.-. -.- .. -. --. / -- . ... ... / .-. .. --. .... - / -. --- .-- .-.-.-]

[justfists]

I have it.

[it's lest on her last accusatory message about "there never was a plan."]

You want to get him outside of the Brain?

Re: We have a tribute

[theycallhimmrpchan]

[He sharply nods in confirmation]

[jumpedtheshark]

See?

[The pig has spoken.]

And... thank you.

[She's considering all these volunteers on her good side on account of them standing between her, her most important people, and death.]

[rosebridled]

Hibiki-san...

[ sorry for taking away your power of speech here

ACTUALLY BRB gonna go get some hot water in this ice bucket ]

[theycallhimmrpchan]

[He'll fetch his clothes, the bucket and runs off to an area where he could have some privacy]

[rosebridled]

[ waves... ]

Re: We have a tribute

[theycallhimmrpchan]

[After humaning]

Don't think I'm a hero or something, I've never been good at controlling myself, and there... there are people here who are my friends, and and those I like as more than as a friend - even if everything goes off without a hitch, I can't let them die.

I'm sorry, Zaizen-chan, Cinque-chan.

[latebluemer]

Hibiki-kun...

[Her hands are in fists at her sides as she shakes her head a couple of times, pale and angry and tearful -- she hasn't stopped being tearful for a couple of executions now, and she's not going to stop now. She approaches haltingly, but then -- you know what, he's just going to get yanked into a hug.

It's definitely using all of her strength, sorry.]

[theycallhimmrpchan]

[He sniffles, hugging her with as much strength as he dared]

I want - I wanted to say it you before, more honestly... but I'm too scare and too bad with words. You and Cinque-chan, even if it's selfish to like you both... I - I that's how I've been feeling!

You both need to get out of here alive!

[latebluemer]

[Thanks to their adVENTures together, he'll know that it's quite a bit. She's not made of glass, to say the least. But at least she's learned to hug by now. More or less.

Her eyes blink wide, a few tears escaping, and then she tightens her grip a little more.]

You-- All of you--

[Of course she didn't see this coming at all, but she hasn't seen a lot of things coming lately. She's not equipped for it, she's not built for it, she's not meant for it. But here they are. There are a lot of things she wants to say but she bites them all back.

It's not the time, and one of them needs to be fair.]

I can't answer you right now. I'm sorry. But I can promise you -- I can promise you I'm going to do my best.

[theycallhimmrpchan]

[He slowly bows his head, and he gives her a light squeeze, his voice lowers to a strained whisper]

I'm sorry for telling you that at this moment. It isn't fair of me.

[Ryoga steps back, and tries to give a smile, broad and gentle, but not reaching his eyes]

I know you'll do everything you can and beyond.