unknownseas | Final Trial

[ After a long while of investigation in areas that she definitely did not authorize you being in, the Mayor speaks up over the loudspeakers throughout the entire city. She's not using distortion at all, for what it's worth. ]

If you're all done rifling through my past and looting my things, there's a show that we really ought to get on the road, don't you think? Don't worry, I'm not going to come to you. You'll come to me.

[ And, one by one (along with your evidence), every single one of you is teleported into, rather than the underwater dome, a sectioned-off area of the Hall of the Founders. The walls around you are thick glass, and you can see beyond them that the Sparrows have begun restoring the statues. Massive stone renditions of the original Founders of New Rapture surround you, though some are still covered in cloth. A series of podiums have been set for you.

And within your final trial box is another box of frosted glass, ominous before you, just transparent enough to see a figure inside, sitting at a desk, her feet up as she lounges in a rolling office chair. ]

I love the dome, but there's nowhere for me to sit, you know? I was going to reveal this to all of you, it was going to be a whole big thing, but then you woke up early and ran off to do God-knows-what in a bunch of places I didn't need you in! Almost as if someone tipped you off to my plan.

[ Inside the glass case, the figure leans back in the chair further. ]

So you know what? Go ahead and talk amongst yourselves. Air my dirty laundry. Maybe I'll even join in in person. See if you can figure out what happened here, for starters.

[ Welcome to the final trial. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

So says the person who gave us all titles specifically to get under our skin...? "Marionette"... You're ridiculous.

Well, yes, that was the main reason for them. An innovation in this whole exercise you have Gunnar to thank. Well, his assistant, technically.

How exactly is it an innovation? It hardly seems necessary.

Oh, Rossiu... surely I don't need to talk to a former citizen of Adai about the value of a little dehumanization? Why you drew lots instead of calling names?

[Ahahaha. Wow. Okay, so it's gonna be like that, huh.]

That wasn't—!

[And yet he almost takes the bait anyway. Give him a moment to compose himself.]

If the intention is to make us hate you, I'm certain you can do a very good job of it - you've done your research, it seems. But what I don't understand is why. With Fontaine dead and the rest of the Founders sent home - why are you still here? Why are you running this game?

Hm... it's not an answer, but let me tell you a story.

[ ... I need you to know that while you don't know who this is yet, she is weirdly breathy and Intense while she tells stories like this. ]

Once upon a time, a king brought his entourage to a pool to bathe. Within the pool was a serpent. A hungry, wicked serpent. There were six knights in total, and his daughter. The bravest knights in all the land, and a little girl who had snuck along. When the king went to bathe, the knights watched him in case the serpent struck. But of course, the serpent didn't. The king bathed, and the serpent woke up, but it wasn't there in time for him.

But as the king left, the little girl went to play by the water. But now the serpent was awake. It rose out of the water, and while the king couldn't grab his sword, he could save either his bravest and strongest knight or his daughter.

By pure logic, the knight is the correct choice. But the king wouldn't save the knight. Why?

Because it was his daughter, and most people would prioritize a connection like that over anything else. Emotion, and a strong bond between loved ones.

Where are you going with this?

When pushed to the brink, Rossiu, you learn exactly who a person is and what they're capable of. The basic human instinct is "breed and survive." Anything beyond that is the true measure of a man.

I'm well aware of that. So did you reach the brink during the game you were in, or afterwards?

The funny thing about being pushed to the brink? Sometimes you can just... swan dive right over it. Find something new.

[Oh yeah, diving right off the slippery slope, that's definitely a thing that can happen!!]

Allow me to take a guess, then: this started as revenge. For what was done to you - for being tricked into making the very game used against you. You came to loathe Gunnar and Jack for their parts in this as well. So it started as revenge, against Fontaine and those that wronged you.

Interesting. Let's divide what happened into statements.

I invented this game, and then Fontaine put me in it.

When we won, Jack and Maelstrom betrayed me, so I sent them off to do research for me. Call them... interns, if you will.

I'll freely admit that those statements are true.

(no subject)

onemillion - 2022-08-06 22:32 (UTC) - Expand

bathymetric - 2022-08-06 22:42 (UTC) - Expand

onemillion - 2022-08-06 22:47 (UTC) - Expand

See what I said?

I got that part from your files.

Hm... "All we have to offer each other is information", huh? I guess that's why you just copied everything from the other games. Is any part of this your own idea?

Oh, Mafuyu, honey...

I invented the game. They iterated on my design.

Edited 2022-08-06 21:39 (UTC)

Ahh, there we go... Seo Dawon was right. A little push to the ego and you're a lot more forthcoming.

[ A laugh. ]

Seo Dawon was smart, I'll give him that. Stubborn, prideful, and too reliant on his magic for his own good, but... game recognizes game, as they say.

[ muttered to herself: ] That's news to me.

I did tell him that being that prideful was going to be the death of him. Re-death, I guess. He was pretty stupid, too.

[...]

You are, too. In a lot of the same ways. You think you understand everything.

Well, if anyone in this room does understand everything, I suppose it's me. I've watched enough people who thought they were smarter than me disappear.