FIFTH TRIAL

[bathymetric]

[ It's not terribly long, once everything has been found, before Davy Jones heads out to round you all up once more and take you into the theatre. At least plenty of you are around the same area, so it probably doesn't take terribly long.

The ride down to the trial room is the same as ever - a blast of the organ, a slow descent. It's really starting to become clear, though, just how your numbers are decreasing. You're already down three, counting the absence of Chloe, potentially more when you come back up.

The crew of the Dutchman is singing as Jones lets you out into the trial room. ]

To business, passengers. I am about if you need guidance.

[ The circle of podiums is less populated than ever. So many of you are islands now, so to speak.

The song dies down, the waters quiet.

Welcome to your fifth trial.. ]

Comments

[dokkalfheimr]

[Ah, that's... Well...]

I don't... I don't know, it's hard to say. All we have to go off of is what happened to Decus, and...

[magycks]

Honestly, I kind of just want to know if she was trying to frame me. Or poison me? That yogurt's such a dumb specific that so few people patronized, it feels like it'd have to be on purpose.

[dokkalfheimr]

...I don't know if she was after you or not. I truly don't.

She didn't really speak to me about what she was going to do, but she...did make it clear that she intended to do something.

[ltcommandroid]

Despite the threat to yourself?

[dokkalfheimr]

It...seemed so. Again, she seemed terribly ashamed when she came to me about it; I assume she intended for me to tell her not to.

[magycks]

But you didn't.

[ THIS IS A QUESTION she's just phrasing it as a statement as much as possible because if she is right, maybe it'll look like she knew all along!! ]

[dokkalfheimr]

That...

[She goes a little blank at that.]

That doesn't mean I killed anyone. It just means that I'm complicit in the deaths, at worst. There's...a difference, I...

[jibunwo]

...No. Time and again we've established that the person who commits the act is the guilty one, except in cases of forced compulsion.

But you feel as though you killed someone, don't you?

[dokkalfheimr]

Why would I? And before you tell me it's because I haven't been forthcoming about this, it's because I imagined you would accuse me of having done something.

[jibunwo]

No, that's not it at all. It has nothing to do with how forthcoming you are or aren't today.

You're not just 'complicit in the deaths at worst', you're complicit in Plumeria's death at worst. Are you really going to act as though you feel no sense of remorse for that?

[sivard]

You mean so much to her, the idea is...

[dokkalfheimr]

Of course I do, but I can hate myself all I want later in the evening. It's more important to be alive to do that then than it is to self-flagellate now.

[magycks]

And that explains the reaction everyone mentioned. You were willing to cover for her. You were ready to cover for her. You weren't ready to discover her corpse.

[dokkalfheimr]

...Think what you will. Do we agree yet that I didn't murder my retainer?

[magycks]

No. But I'm leaning in the opposite direction, personally.

[deathmagnetic]

And if you didn't, why wouldn't you have? Are you implying the two of you came to an agreement on her carrying out those actions, or is the implication here was that you simply didn't dissuade her?

[dokkalfheimr]

[Well...]

[jibunwo]

Freyja, did you-...

[He trailed off, like the thought in his head was not one he wanted to think about on any level whatsoever.]

Did you try to stop her?

[dokkalfheimr]

[NOT...EXACTLY... KIND OF THE OPPOSITE OF THAT ACTUALLY]

[guffawsungraciously]

...

Was there much of a difference between the depictions of your ideal futures, may I ask?

[dokkalfheimr]

Yes, there was. But this one didn't affect me like a couple of weeks ago did; you all saw it. I'm not good at covering my emotions, if they're strong.

[ltcommandroid]

As I recall, you largely seemed confused.

[And of course, he doesn’t misremember things.]

[dokkalfheimr]

Of course, it...seemed pointless for him to target me in the same way a second time. It was the same thing he promised me in the third week.

[ltcommandroid]

I do not think that would be surprising at all. That incentive was extremely effective on you. If Plumeria had not acted, would you not have?

[magycks]

In light of that... okay, so she finds the essential oils and she puts them in the yogurt, showing characteristically poor judgment with her dosing once again. Decus eats some, but it's obvious that it's been tampered with, so he doesn't consume enough to become truly sick. She trails him to the first aid room, where she tries to finish him off, only he manages to shake her and heads toward the first floor, but before that happens...

... Why is he wearing the tie-dye, though? Like, with the jacket there to sop up potential blood, what's the point?