The Coordinators (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
trustbound) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
trustfell2017-09-16 12:19 pm
trustbound) wrote in trustfell2017-09-16 12:19 pm
Take Responsibility.
| The door at the bottom of those stairs is unlocked. It opens as though of its own volition - with a heavy click and a light outward swing toward the staircase leading back up to the dorms, not enough to harm anyone who might be standing in the way but enough to give them some slight encouragement to move. As for where the door will lead everyone...well, that has yet to be seen. The first thing to be noted is that it's dark - not pitch-black, granted, there's some slight illumination bouncing off the walls, enough to show you that you're at the top of yet more stairs and giving everyone something to move toward, but the fact remains that it's dark, and this stairwell looks long, and the walls are all made of smooth concrete. Bunker-grade, almost, the sort of thing one would expect from a professionally-built basement designed to withstand almost anything; do be careful not to trip on the stairs, whether through a lack of coordination or simply nerves, because the concrete floor at the bottom is likely to be...unforgiving. Eventually the stairwell ends, however, and everyone will find themselves faced with a room that seems designed to survive the apocalypse itself - a high-ceilinged room made of concrete and steel, stark and bare in comparison to the wallpapered rooms above. In the center of the room is a circle of podiums, thirty-six 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 - 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 panel with buttons on it, thirty-five in total; next to the buttons are smaller strips of engraved metal to serve as labels, bearing the titles of everyone that's been present in the Academy, living or dead. All of the podiums are identical, except for the one intended for Jean and the thirty-sixth slot. The podium that should bear Ascendant's title has had a black cloth draped over it, and a copy of Jean's profile photo is sitting on top of it, framed and colorless, an image in greyscale. The thirty-sixth slot has a podium there, but everything that should be on it is notably blank. Once everyone has found their spot in the circle, the public-address system sounds out across the room, crackling to life moments before Jericho's voice can be heard "Ascendent's been taken from you, and it's up to you to decide what to do about that. I guess you could do nothing, but that'd be kind of a waste, yeah? Unless he really meant that little to all of you. But you're all a bit less of a generalized trainwreck than that, I think. "Do what you can, hold them responsible. If not...well, Rule Seven's still a thing, and someone's trying to see it through to completion. Guilty or innocent, it really doesn't matter. Do your best!" |
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Okay, so we're solving it. Does anybody have a summary of what they found?
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One of the basins was missing as well--did anyone happen to find one while looking around...?
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[Kirei took a few out of his coat pocket to confirm the fact; small, glasslike, and clear.]
I don't suppose we're fortunate enough that anyone would recognize them.
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I also believe whoever did this had something of a sweet tooth, given that there were candy wrappers around the same location.
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I looked into Jean's room. There were some papers left on his desk; notes he was taking. [Rin holds up one sheet.] The first one just says "Titans - No one else has heard of them?" The second sheet is labeled Humans, with a question mark, and includes a list of ten names.
Judging by the ones listed [and she waves the paper, like anyone can read it for themselves, if they'd like] I think he was probing into those whose humanity was unclear to him. Some of the names are crossed out or checked off, probably after he determined an answer for himself.
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[ . . . Elda's tone is actually pretty upbeat? So this means they can end the exercise, right? Why are they even here? She wasn't awake for most all of the investigation to body discovery, she just got up with the announcement and then fixed up her hair, joined the crowd assembling, and now she's, uh. Here.
... Hi guys. ]
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[Elda...]
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Sounds like it. And now... whatever this is.
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[can you people just...be normal, for once]
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[ orihime is definitely Judging you from the other end, but then looks away, down at the floor. ]
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No, we all just decided to go visit this strange room we didn't know of before today.
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why is this happening?
her hands grip tightly to her podium, and she looks around. ]
S-So... Where should we start...?
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Then he looks to his right.
Then he raises his hand.]
Can I have a different spot?
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Now it does really feel like they're a little bit in school (not really.) ]
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[rude]
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[Hibiki speaks up from her side of the room. The positivity is gone from her voice, and she sounds annoyed and accusatory in its place.]
The culprit is obvious! We don't have to go through all of this!
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MODS
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CAT HERDING, ROUND 1
[For someone her size, Weiss can certainly be loud when she wants to be, like now, where she's put her fingers in her mouth and whistled as loud as she possibly can.]
We're all over the place. Let's regroup.
First of all, we know this isn't the Coordinators' doing, per Jerry. Second of all, the missing candle, paper, and basin are all accounted for; they were taken from the storage room and the laundry room. The same candy wrappers were in both the storage room and on the ballroom stage, also.
Rin found a set of notes in Jean's room, one concerning Titans and one a list of names. We aren't sure yet what the names correspond to. It could be anything from assessing threat level to figuring out who would be able to help in a fight.
As for Jean's body, Inspector Cabanela noted that he died from a blow to the back of the head strong enough to break his neckindents on Jean's hands were a match to the beads on the stage, and that they probably came from a necklace of some sort.
...we can't rule out an accident, either. It's possible the necklace was broken in an attempt to break a fall.
Okay, what did I miss?
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BEAD CHECK
Hey, uh... Given the beads, I'm gonna check people's hands, necks, and wrists for any indents. Alright?
[ So Alex is going to walk around and compare. Someone can check her too, she is clean. ]
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Re: BEAD CHECK
SELECTION.
[And there's Jericho, addressing everyone this time over the system; he sounds decidedly more interested in what's going on now than he did the questions – there's probably a reason he's not the PR guy.]
So it looks like you've heard a lot over the past little while. If you think it's enough, if you're satisfied with that, then go ahead and put your vote in. Hold whomever you think killed Ascendant responsible for their actions. We vote by title here, so that's what you're looking for.
Everyone's required to put a vote in, but majority rules, so... It's not like I'm going to yell at you or kill you or anything if a few people vote wrong. If most of you do, though, it's not going to be a good look on anybody. Well, anybody except the guilty party, anyway, because guess what! You guys were right about the penalty. Good job on not needing me to hold your hands through that, I knew you could do it!
It's either the innocent or the guilty. One side or the other is going to die here, and you get to pick which it is. Do as you see fit with all that, and we'll see what happens coming out the other side.
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the one who killed. It sort of takes her a moment to find Caren's title, because it's a weird fucking word, but she presses it without fanfare.]
> Aqueous
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Re: SELECTION.
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ACCOUNTABILITY.
And then suddenly, the lights go out.
The room is quickly and abruptly pitched into absolute darkness, almost as though the electricity to the room has been completely cut; the darkness is immediate and absolute, and it hovers heavy over the room for a long several seconds before another source of light makes itself known.
It's not as bright as one might expect, though it's definitely a contrast after what came immediately before it and as such, it may take your eyes a while to adjust. Just the same, the pit seems to be illuminating itself, a light flickering on below each and every podium, one after another around the circle. All of them are white – with the notable exceptions of the one beneath Podium 35, which is shining red, and the light beneath the empty one, which remains darkened. The pit is lined in what looks like white tile; it's pristine, immaculate despite the one colored light staining a portion of it, spilling crimson down the wall.
It's obvious, as the lights come on, that Caren is no longer among you; she's disappeared without a trace, her current whereabouts unknown.
However, the pit isn't empty, that much becomes obvious almost immediately; Alena is standing off to the side, beneath Podium 35. She's still wearing the Graceside Academy uniform, though she's currently bathed in red light given her position in the circle. She doesn't seem to be armed; she doesn't seem to be anxious, either, simply learning with her back against the wall, her usual fidgety tics and tendency to play with her hands noticeably absent.
A panel eventually slides back and open, recessing sideways into the wall near Podium 20; after a moment, Caren steps out. Her head is held high but her hand is noticeably buried in her pocket again – probably holding on to that shell pendent everyone here now knows the meaning and the necessity of.
She pauses for a moment before walking into the circle proper – she'd meant what she said about taking responsibility for her actions, and as such she lets her gaze dart but makes her way into the center of the arena.
Alena tips her head up; it looks like she says something, but what she says hardly seems to matter – the walls respond almost immediately to her words, all of the sections below the podiums shifting open the same way Caren's did, back and to the side. All of them except the one Alena is leaning against, which remains closed; the rest remain opened once they've recessed, revealing nothing but darkness beneath.
Darkness, and the sound of rushing water.
The force of it is harsh and sudden, a massive amount of water flooding forth in a single burst, a single powerful wave cascading out from the open doors, converging on Caren in the center before she can move – and given that she's surrounded, it isn't as though she has anywhere to go. The water recesses some as soon as it's hit her, though there's still a thick layer of fluid on the floor, about knee-high in depth – enough to wade through easily.
Or, well, it would be, if Caren still had legs with which to do the wading.
As the water ebbs back it becomes obvious that Caren's body has transformed; her hair color has shifted into a lighter, brighter shade than it was before, her eyes having gone from grey to a vibrant purple – but perhaps most jarringly, in place of legs she now has a shining, fanned-out tail, truly befitting of a princess of the Antarctic.
She props herself up with her hands for support, and it takes her a moment to get her bearings. A moment in which Alena is approaching her, soaking wet but generally protected from the massive sweep of water by her previous position; that said, her mannerisms are almost unnaturally calm, her eyes odd and blank.
Alena reaches out to the side, as though feeling for something with her hand without quite looking at it, her fingers grasping for something in the open air; after a moment there's a sudden, visible shift in the air and a trident materializes there, massive and glittering bright red in her hand, the prongs long and sharp and wicked-looking. She rotates it a bit in her grip as she approaches; Caren immediately seems to realize what's about to happen and draws back abruptly.
However, it isn't as though she can run, or even move properly to get away; the water is entirely too shallow to swim in.]
Good night, Aqueous.
[Jericho can be heard a moment before Alena stabs her; she hits Caren in the chest once, twice, standing over her as her body falls to the ground, only to drop down with her, kneeling over Caren's body and shifting her grip closer to the head of the weapon before continuing to stab downward with the prongs. She seems untrained in it – it's a repetitive, basic motion that's a little unwieldy-seeming – but after the first couple of hits, that hardly matters anymore.
She hits her until she seems to consider herself done; she sits back on her heels for a moment, still looking unsettlingly blank, before she seems to come back into herself a little and begins sifting through the bloodied water with her hands for something, the movement strange and detached.
She seems to find what she was looking for and takes it into her hands; as she does, Jericho speaks out again.]
Both sides of this whole thing, you and her... You all did really well today, I'm proud of you!
You can go back upstairs now, there's nothing else for you to do down here. Good job.
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[ He is so satisfied about this? As for the execution, he does lean into a bit, it's interesting especially with her transformation and all. But that being done, he's happy this didn't take long at all.
Time is precious or something. ]
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