FOURTH TRIAL

[bathymetric]

[ Well! That's sure something, isn't it? There may or may not be a lot of you excited to get down to business, but Jones does eventually move to collect you all and bring you to the theatre. It's a familiar routine by now, perhaps even comfortingly so given the irregularities of this particular killing.

Two of you gone this week. The elevator is started to feel downright spacious, don't you think?

A shanty, as usual, echoes from the crew of the Dutchman as you enter. The room is the same as it has ever been before you as the elevator settles into position. ]

To yer positions, passengers. Chins up.

[ Three more podiums claimed by the rust and wear.

You have your evidence, and you're going to need it before long. The music outside dies down.

Welcome to your fourth trial. ]

Comments

[scouserer]

[While Flayn and everyone else is dealing with Lorna, Constantine turns to face Davy Jones. A quiet fury coarses through his words as he growls--]

Mr. Jones--you can't seriously make us kill this girl over the entity that possessed her. You saw clear as day--these things are separate beings! A spirit is not the same as the host!

[Why didn't he say the same for Allenby? Good question...I was kind of Out Of It that trial.]

[scythegun]

I don't think Mr. Jones has much of a choice in the matter. The Captain likely found this all very entertaining - and why would he want to stop there? Someone has to take responsibility for those deaths.

[This is probably exactly what the Captain's been hoping for since the very beginning.]

[scouserer]

[Constantine swallows. Yeager is right, of course, but that doesn't mean Constantine will accept it.]

[silentscout]

Lorna can tell us its name.

[That seems like the most straightforward answer to him. Vote for the curse, not Lorna.]

[bonesorter]

[About that, unfortunately...]

I don't know it's name... I've never been able to learn that, about it.

[Which, in hindsight, it probably prevented out of self-preservation for this exact sort of scenario.]

[scouserer]

Can't we use the bell and ask it? It was forced to listen to Jones when he used it.

[sivard]

...It didn't matter with Allenby.

[hellahighwater]

This is so fucked.

[scouserer]

[That's not the answer Constantine wanted to hear--but even as Zaveid says it, he knows it's true. He grimaces and looks away, hands balled into fists.]

[ahelpingpaw]

Nothing's right in this place.

[Things just aren't fair, are they? This trial room and everything that happens in it is like concentrated wrongness]

[thekeyofsea]

[ There's a moment of genuine mixed emotion on Jones's face - and an unpleasant noise as his claw grips shut and grinds. ]

They share the body. It is... hardly fortunate, but such is the judgement.

[bonesorter]

[At that, Lorna... actually nods, reaching up to wipe her face with the back of her arm.]

I... I understand. I should have tried harder to keep it from taking over... it's my fault what happened.

[It isn't fair, but Lorna will take responsibility for this if it has to be done.]

[cethflayn]

No it is not! You...you were doing all you could, and none of us knew to help you!

[Oh boy this is just Flayn's Terrible Day]

[scouserer]

It's not your fault. It's the spirit who decided to possess your stupid body in the first place.

[Constantine looks...well. His expression is unreadable right now.]

[sivard]

....It's not your fault.

It's these damn rules that keep us from punishing the actual perpetrator and nobody else.

[paucipan]

[...]

Sorry. About all of this; you didn't deserve any of this.

[Plumeria's never been good at this, honestly, and it's a little terse, but...]

...Hopefully you find peace.

[The survival of Lady Freyja and the group comes first, but man. This sucks.]

[silentscout]

It's not your fault.

...I'm sorry. I hope you can find rest at least.

[leaveittomother]

[She's just sighing. She doesn't trust herself to say anything but god. She's sighing.]

[guffawsungraciously]

It is not as though that is an easy thing to do. You ought to have at least some pride in being able to keep the thing at bay at all, really.

[dokkalfheimr]

[She's quiet for a moment before she says anything; she didn't even know Lorna that well. But some of the things the spirit said aren't sitting well with her.]

...No one here blames you, Lorna. And we still care about you. Please don't believe that we don't.

Thank you for holding on for so long.

[ahelpingpaw]

Lorna, there literally is no way any of this is your fault. Do yourself a favor and don't blame yourself for something that was out of your control.

[It's uncommon for Filbo to sound stern to some extent, but he really doesn't want Lorna's last moments to be she blaming herself. Alas, easier said than done]

[ltcommandroid]

It was not your fault. I...understand that it likely feels that way to you -

[the slightest flicker of a glance at Plumeria, whoops]

- but we do not hold you responsible.

[magycks]

[ opens her bill to say "yes, it is"

rethinks that move........ ]

Ugh, I'll just let them have this one.

[magycks]

And if one of the self-sacrificing morons who just volunteered their bodies and souls to the entity gave it a new home? Just wondering.

[ COME ON PROTAGS GO FOR IT!!! ]

[heroantagonist]

Yeaaaah see, the thing about that is there's rules to this whole thing. [Jack adds shortly after Davy Jones, via one of the screens.] Can't exactly get nitpicky about it now.