trustfell | Accountability.

Accountability.

Perhaps there's an expectation of a grand entrance here – something over-the-top and loud and flashy, something that speaks to either ego or a desire for a certain kind of presentation. But the fact of the matter is that nothing like that comes. There's just a light tapping in the direction of the stairs that lead back up to the dorms, like something's entering the room, something small and light and as it comes closer, there's an enthusiastic little jingling noise that comes with it.

And then there is catfriend, making its way down the last of the steps and coming to a stop near the door, where it sits casually and calmly until something, inexplicably, seems to shift.

It's difficult to say what it is, but it's apparent that something in the room has bent in a way that it shouldn't – it's the sort of jolt that comes with a sudden earthquake, a brief shock down the spine and then there's someone here that quite simply wasn't before.

And whatever those in the room were expecting out of Jericho, it...likely isn't the person who's standing in front of them, near the thirty-sixth podium where Rachel has moved easily out of the way to allow the woman who's appeared from seemingly out of nowhere to take her place.

Her hair is long and brown, similar to Alena's, done up in a thick plait that she's got pulled over one shoulder; she isn't particularly attractive, and not pretty in the way that Alena and Hilda were. She's just kind of plain, with eyes that are a little too large and wide-set for her head, and though she's fairly tall and well-built for a woman it's not in the same way that Sigrun was – its softer, in a way that doesn't suit the hardness in her expression. She's dressed simply, in the way that the clothes in the closet upstairs were simple – a dress that's well-fitted but plain, with brown knee-high boots under it.

She glances over at the cat, which makes its way over and jumps up onto the podium in front of her, where it proceeds to curl up and set its head down as though asleep – though it's very clearly watching the rest of the room.

The woman sets her hand atop the cat's back lightly, smiling a bit to herself before looking back up at the group; the smile doesn't leave her, though it seems more than a bit forced – but when she speaks, while her voice sounds different (it's higher, lighter in pitch) it's incredibly obvious that the cadence and delivery are exactly the same as what you've been hearing over the public-address system for the past ten weeks.

"Hey, guys – well, I guess you got what you wanted. And congratulations, it's going to be a complete waste of time! Let's not pretend that we're here to make friends or play nice with each other; Rule Five's still in place, but damn if I don't expect to hear you guys whine at me for the next couple of hours until we decide that this is pointless, face-to-face meetings always kind of suck, and the universe is a cold, unfeeling place.

But you know what, while we're all here and staring at each other – my name is Lisbeth Larimore. Though I guess for the past two and a half months, you've been calling me Jericho.

Let's see what you guys have to say, and how things look coming out the other side."

That odd, overly-bright smile still hasn't left her face.

"And as always, do your best!"

Your hostess for the evening, everybody. Let's begin.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[And after that's out there, Lisbeth is just...quiet, and her eyes have gone strange and blank and dead, and she isn't tearing up –

(she hasn't cried in such a goddamn long time, does she even remember how)

- but she's shaking a little and she can't seem to focus on anyone in particular, and after a long moment she just. picks up the cat and folds her arms around her, clutching Johanna to her chest and bowing her head, and when she speaks again her voice is just as dead as her eyes.]

So Courageous is being an incorrigible bitch, as always – does it ever occur to you that this is why people only ever just tolerate you? And Inconspicuous is cheefully suggesting I should just make sure that Rachel doesn't exist, because he doesn't understand how cause and effect works. Awesome.

Are you happy now? You've upset Rachel. Does that make you feel good about yourselves?

[There's literally nothing behind it – no sadness, no anger, nothing. It's like something in her has just...stopped.]

I'm still going to kill all of you. I'm going to kill all of you, and I'll feel better once I've done and then I'm going to start over, and she won't remember this, and I'll find whatever caused it and I'm going to fix it, and I'm going to save everyone.

[Her words are still completely dead but they're picking up speed, more of them forcing themselves out after every time she breathes, and there's just no feeling anymore, she can't - ]

I'm going to kill all of you. I'm going to...

[She can't make herself finish.]

[ I mean, she did her part, and Lisbeth hates her so what does she need to do now she's not sure uh?

... Yeah she's going to stand near Rachel and, ]

It's going to keep piling up, her memories.

[ It's clear that's the case, isn't it? ]

It'll be fine, in the end.

[God, there is literally just nothing left, she sounds dazed as hell.]

It's not been fine at any point in this last cycle, has it? The next one probably won't be that much better, will it? Rin's working out an attempt at a solution here, you can hear her out.

Courageous is doing her usual thing of "acting like she's the smartest person in the room because she's so completely up herself she needs to act like she's a genius for coming up with a solution that's already been considered."

[ . . . ]

She's a lot smarter than me, for better or worse. I found the truth, and I'm not sure where to go for it here at the end.

...Lisbeth.

[he feels the contempt he's been feeling for Lisbeth fading as he starts to speak, because... heh. It's just like when they were just dealing with Jericho, isn't it?]

It's hard to accept it when you've been dedicating your life to fighting something, to hating it, to doing everything you can to destroy it... and then you find out the person responsible is someone you love. Someone who's family.

...It hurts. I know it hurts. It's unimaginably painful.

[He swallows.]

I know... you think that you're going to have to kill Rachel if she's the one who caused the disaster. I... guess you'd know the limitations of your abilities better than I would, but from the way you've explained it, it sounds like it really doesn't have to be that way.

You might have the opportunity to help Rachel avoid what happened. You might... be able to make it so she doesn't have to shoulder the burden of what happened.

[She's not really moving much, or looking up. She's just kind of there, and outside of the shaking she's gone very still.]

If you know all that, then you know that no one can solve the world's problems in a fucking hour. You're coming in here, going "Oh, I know you've been dealing with this for years, but we can totally take care of this after a brief discussion because we've got Courageous completely up her own ass, she'll be able to fix everything for you after insisting that the total destruction of your world isn't so bad."

[Again, though, there's no bite behind it or anything, it's just kind of there.]

You don't seem to get that I've already done what I can on this side of things. Why the hell wouldn't I?

...

I probably should've gotten that, huh? I...

...

Honestly, I didn't want to kill my brother, either. I tried to go through every other option, once I actually stopped being dazed by the whole thing. Maybe I could talk him down, if he wasn't apprehended. Maybe things would turn out alright.

In my heart, I knew, though. If he just got away and started over... he would've just done the same thing our father did. I probably would too, if I got too comfortable. I didn't have confidence in my ability not to, and... I didn't really think I could live with myself after killing him, anyway.

[...]

But I had to break the cycle. Otherwise, there'd never stop being people like Noatak and me.

...Part of the problem here is that there are too many moving parts. I'm not trying to be a bitch, I'm really not, but I can't influence the whole industry, and I'm really pissed off that you all seem to think I can. We were brought up here. This is something we do. It's what we were made into. They use us just as much as we use other people.

I can only influence so much, powers or otherwise. And I can't make them make broad changes like that to the mainframe. If we get caught trying to do it ourselves, Alena will die. I know that for a fact.

[Her grip tightens around the cat; she still isn't looking up, there's still next to no vocal inflection.]

I don't know what you want from me anymore. I'm not...I don't know. I don't know, all right.

Your powers work on one world at a time, right? What if somehow, she was off the world at the time? Could that ... I don't know, end this while keeping some versions of her alive?

[ She's speaking from ignorance, obviously. the whole destroying a person thing was the building's power, not Lisbeth's. But maybe that'll... spark something in someone smarter? ]

Edited 2017-11-20 04:31 (UTC)

...ah. That's how it is. There's no way to stop them from being a factor if you reset things so the cataclysm doesn't happen.

[like yeah. he Fucking Gets It.]

I suppose the obvious question is what you want from us at this point, honestly, because killing us won't actually fix the systemic problems preventing you from fixing the cataclysm.

...

What are we dealing with, as far as how they'd try to kill Alena?

It'd be an execution of some sort.

[She doesn't want to talk about this; there's still not much feeling in her voice anymore but god, she doesn't want to talk about this.]

...I just want you all dead at this point. I don't...know what to do. I just want you all gone, and then I can try again.

[...]

It's been a really long time.

...

You've suffered through a lot. I wish I had better answers for you, honestly. It's a lot easier for me to stand here and tell you to break the cycle if it's just you and one other person, not you and a system.

...

Given, of course, that our dead companions know Alena much better than we do, I do have to wonder how amenable they'd be to keeping an eye on her so she doesn't end up executed...

...How do you mean?

Well, I admit, Elda had the idea first, but I was thinking we could organize it so that she'd stay with someone who'd protect her if you reset things.

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject