unknownseas | FIRST TRIAL

[ After a while, once all the appropriate clues have been found, Mayor Fontaine calls out again over the speakers. ]

Alright, citizens, pack it in quick and head to the back of the Hall of the Founders. You have business to take care of.

[ When they do reach the Bathysphere station, Eleanor is manning the controls, gaze quiet and even over the crowd. The hatch at the front of the strange elevator is open, and everyone is gestured inside. A series of small submerisbles are lined up, waiting to be ridden. ]

Just hop into the bathyspheres one or two at a time, and the system will get you where you need to go.

[ It's a long, cramped ride from here, but Fontaine's word is true. At least you can tune into the radio in the pod?

The bathyspheres take you down until even the few lights of Rapture are out of sight, down until lights of a different kind are visible - the reds and blues of bioluminescent sea creatures, a little too out of your way to make out what they are, blending to a strange sort of not-quite-purple as the bathysphere reaches its final destination: a glass dome built into the sea floor, about the size of an average house.

As one by one the bathyspheres arrive carrying the new citizenry of New Rapture, less natural lights than those of the creatures around you begin to click on in the dome. In the center, most of the space is taken up by a circle of podiums, each with an image of one of you engraved into it.

A projector of some kind kicks on, which combined with the lighting allows for the familiar silhouette of Mayor Fontaine at his chair to appear on the side of the dome, watching over you. ]

Time to do your best to figure out who killed the Diamond in the Rough. And do yourselves a favor: keep it interesting. I'm here if you have any burning inquiries.

[ And here it is.

Welcome to your first trial. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

... Yeah, I. [Breathe in. Breathe out.] I kind of lied to him earlier in the week? Said we'd figure this out without. Y'know. So it doesn't surprise me that he went out to, I don't know. Try to stop this shit.

[She probably should have kept a better eye on him. Hindsight's 20/20 like that.]

...I think all of us wanted to believe that.

[So it wasn't necessarily a lie and it wasn't your fault.]

It... was his decision to make. It truly is unfortunate that it ended like this.

[Which is a very stilted way of expressing just how fucked up all this is!!! But it's Rossiu, what did you expect.]

[It's so weird to be in the moment. Just a single moment, with all the infallibility of a human.]

... Guess we should be glad the rest of us are still here. There's no limit on how many people a person can kill.

[...Wow, he didn't think of that and boy does he not like it!!]

I... suppose you're right, though perhaps now isn't the time to discuss such things.

[Don't go giving anyone any terrible ideas!!!!]

Don’t go blaming yourself, sis. He wanted to be heroic.

[Right. Just here. Just right here, not in the infinity of possibility.]

Yeah, well. None of the rest of you better get any ideas about that shit.

That's not your fault.

[A beat passes.]

What else were you gonna say?

[right here, right here—

Deep breath. Slow release.]

He was pretty fucked up about whoever his captive was. Her name was Mai, if he told anyone about her.

[He fixates on a detail, although yet again, he remains cagey.]

When you got a second...

Did she sound young to you? Younger than him, and younger than you or me.

[Small hands. The hostages are gone from their cage. Then again... There's just a good chance he's going in circles.]

No, she looked more... like Jonathan's age, I guess? Twenty and maybe change.

Oh.

[Dandy shakes his head to either side.]

Nevermind, then. Unless she's got baby hands...

I better forget about it.

Did you suspect perhaps Adaman's hostage had left that print?

I don't think that could be the case anyway. It was on our side of the glass.

[He feels so goddamn useless, all of a sudden.]

...I see.

A little.

They might've been tryin' to get help, but... I dunno. Whoever went at him bonked the poor fella up pretty good.

[He's also starting to wonder if there's two culprits. A team of accomplices, but Dandy will keep his mouth shut about it for now.]

............. Dandy, I'm pretty sure the hostages did not break out and commit a murder. If they had, I would probably be dead right now.

Didn't say that.

[okay but like... hello??? yes u did]

Don't worry about it.

[He won't address it here, but um??? Alarming.]

You know saying that just makes you way more suspicious, right?

(no subject)

bootyhunter - 2022-06-25 18:17 (UTC) - Expand

allatonce - 2022-06-25 18:19 (UTC) - Expand

bootyhunter - 2022-06-25 18:30 (UTC) - Expand

Mai was... She raised him; he said she was both a sister and a parent to him. He spoke incredibly highly of her.

Explains why he related when I said my mom would've been more mad if I tried to break her out, then. And also means we probably don't have some kind of stupid double reacharound situation.

In other words, you believe it's unlikely Adaman ever attempted to attack to rescue the hostage.

[Hm...]

I agree. In addition, I believe somebody like Adaman wouldn't have lied to his animal companion about his intentions or about how worried he was for everybody else.

[While there's a chance he changed his mind while out there, Aiba doubts it. She has a good opinion of Adaman]

Leafeon seemed certain that Adaman went out only to patrol. While we cannot rule out the fact that he lied to Leafeon, it does seem unlikely given how highly he valued his partner.

[Of course, that's more speculation than actual fact.]

Yeah, I mean. I can't say that he didn't attack someone thinking they were up to some shit and then... [GESTURES AT ALL OF THIS] But I don't think it was just self defense on the part of whoever did this.

[On account of they most likely moved location.]

Don't blame yourself, Joy. You'll only bring yourself down.

[ His voice is soft. ]

Neesan. Don't...blame yourself. It's not your fault.