FINAL TRIAL

[foundationmods]

TRIAL

After a very, very long six weeks, it has finally come. The last time everyone will need to trudge up those stairs and meet in the master suite. It's do or die time, and hopefully everyone knows what needs to be done by now.

As soon as the guests walk into the room, they will be able to smell the food that the chef has provided: duck l'orange, served up on a nice platter. Eat up everyone!

There are a few unexpected guests this time. A large group of the rats is here, and they show up in a swarm as they carry Gabe into the room, much like how they had carted him off to the Child Daycare last night. Once he is deposited in the room, Gabe will also stand up and remain there, crossing his arm and looking a bit standoffish.

They're not the only unexpected faces around here, though...

VICTIMS: ICHIGO KUROSAKI and THE RESORT THE HOTEL

10 11 GUESTS REMAIN

Comments

[dereban]

[ Inaba is actually one of the last ghosts to actually go back to a body, and for a while she's just sitting in the cart before she curls up a little, hands in her face and just lets out a sigh without saying anything. It's been too long since she's had this feeling. It feels just like it did before, back then. Like waking up from that coma. ]

[whirlingmace]

[ JUST GOING TO TACKLE HER ]

[dereban]

[ LETTING OUT A CHOKED NOISE ]

--Cinque!? Don't do that!

[whirlingmace]

[ WHOOPS ]

I'm sorry. I'm just really glad I can see you again.

[dereban]

There's no way that I was going to let myself stay dead. [ Even though she's late. ] Sorry that it took me so long.

[whirlingmace]

[ Carefully wrapping her hands around her. ]

I'm glad... I remember about...

[ What her issues were. ]

I'm glad you're back, Inalin.

[dereban]

I know. It's still a little uncomfortable for me, to be honest, but I can't do anything about it right now. [ A pause, and then: ] Thanks... though, for everything.

[latebluemer]

[Aoi's here, though, no matter how long it takes.

Each person who gets off that cart and opens their eyes and is themselves (not quite all the way themselves, perhaps, not in the way that it would be back home; but then she is not all the way herself either, in some ways that seem to matter less now) calms the low-lashing storm that's been churning in her heart since the last weekend. The last week.

It feels like that's all there's ever been, sometimes, the hollowness of watching the game rip people away -- but now, like a miracle, it's quieting.]

... Inaba-san. It's good to see you again.

[She'll hold out her hand whenever Inaba looks ready to graduate from the cart.]

[dereban]

[ And she will take that hand to help herself steady out of the cart, hopping back onto her two feet, trying to adjust herself as she rolls her wrists to make sure she's doing okay physically. ] That's good. Sorry I'm late.

[latebluemer]

It's good to take your time, especially with this crowd.

[I mean, some of them have already tried yeeting themselves into the wrong body entirely; they could always just swap clothes and stuff, because everything is uncanny valley Costco pack of dolls right around here, but all the same. It's something lighthearted to ease Inaba back into...

Well, into non-Morse code? She's forgotten what a lot of the dead even sounded like, come to think of it. Not that she has a ton of memories of speaking to a lot of them extensively in the first place. Inaba especially, in the lifetime before this Resort.]

[dereban]

Yeah. . . thankfully I was able to get some space before coming back. It was way too noisy.

[latebluemer]

[That earns a little laugh, lighter and airier than it has been in... probably ever. Probably a long, long time.]

I don't know, it was a bit too quiet over here. I'm okay with the noise, now.

[She'd almost forgotten what it felt like to have a full house, come to think of it.]

[dereban]

I guess that's fair. You'll need to teach me how to play that card game of yours once we get out of here, though. I never got a chance to learn it.

[latebluemer]

It'll be good to have some real opponents, come to think of it.

[She hasn't played much against anyone but the A.I. in. A while. Even before the Resort, she'd cut back a lot on her dueling, though it was still great for stress relief; it just... wasn't quite the same, especially within the Foundation, when she looked for people to duel against.]

We might even be able to get some real duel disks out of the Foundation instead of these tablets.

[These are her priorities, fam.]

[dereban]

I should pick up on it pretty quickly, and depending on how the game itself plays, I might actually be decent at it.

[ She snorts a little bit, placing a hand on her hip trying to hold up an air of confidence in spite of how she's actually feeling at the moment. ]

And you think so?

[latebluemer]

You have some gaming experience at least, so I'm sure you'll be a high-level player in no time. I'm looking forward to it.

[She doesn't explicitly bring up her experiences with mafia, but that's what she's thinking of -- long-ago discussions about roles and strategies and some other things that might have flown over her head and which seem so strangely removed from today.

Inaba, though, gets a sharp smile. It's just a little dulled from all their time here, but it's the look of something a little dangerous and a little considering.]

It's the type of thing they usually have me working on, the electronic stuff. Between me and Nanashi? We have a good chance.

[dereban]

There is that. [ Inaba's played other games besides mafia, of course - being someone who was a bit of a shut-in (not to Yoshi's extent, of course) back home, in Yokohama, who just ended up surfing the internet and playing things on there, all by herself. It was a pretty lonely life, back then. It was the same in the Foundation. She fell back into old habits. At the sharp smile, though, Inaba finds herself returning it with one of her own, lips quirking into something that you could say belonged more to an evil villain. ] Hah. Honestly, you guys are more advanced on the tech than I am. I seriously need to start learning to get back in the game. Can't be left out of the technological loop, you know.