unknownseas | Final Trial

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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. ]

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You loved her. And they wiped you out of her mind then sent her back to her world to die, like a barren sow to an overdue slaughter.

[ She's been saving up a whole lot of Villain Monologue energy these past weeks huh ]

You had something taken from you and so you wanted to steal something in return to even the scales. You wanted revenge. Oh, I'm not judging you at all, you understand – I would do exactly the same. I have done.

[ Mielle smiles. ]

That's what makes us both villainesses.

[ That gets her to laugh. ]

Can you really imagine that? Me, your captor, the one who put you through all of this, capable of love?

[ The laugh lowers to a chuckle. ]

I knew I liked you. If Fontaine had bothered to pick you with the rest of us, I think we could have been friends.

She'd never be friends with garbage like you-- [shes not even friends with THEM---]

[ And that makes Mielle laugh in turn. Irritatingly, despite everything, it's still a very pretty laugh. ]

Oh, I doubt it. I would have loathed you from the moment we met and spent every moment wondering how I could get away with slipping poison into your tea.

[ .............. she says that like it's a joke but you get the impression she is one hundred percent Not Joking. ]

But even horrible heartless girls like us can surprise ourselves. You might not love us – but you loved her. And that's why you couldn't stand it. Love like that being taken from you drives you insane, doesn't it?

What's a little light poisoning among friends?

[ you get the impression she is probably? joking?? ]

Alright, you've found your truth. Yes, I sent Maelstrom and Jack out as revenge. Left them a blueprint for a Lutece Machine and tracked what they did with it. And both times it was like this.

Because they remembered your little game. Even as hard as you'd tried to wipe their brains. And something about it appealed to them... perhaps that's not surprising given the sorts of men they seemed to be.

[ she knows nothing about handsome jack but his vibes? atrocious. l + ratio + no bitches + headshot by a brain damaged teenage girl. ]

Were you hoping to continue, perhaps? Did you hope to see where they had gone wrong and improve upon it yourself?

What can I say? If you make a game, you have to playtest it.

I suppose I can see the appeal.

[ murdergame mastermind mielle... Can You Fucking Imagine. ]

Of course, that leads to the next question. Why us? We found your little whiteboard, so it's clear that your hands were, perhaps, tied when it came to those you brought into your so-called 'playtest'.

You weren't random, you're right. But beyond that I'm more interested in hearing your thoughts than fielding questions.

Hm. If you insist. I won't pretend to understand how it functions, but this machine of yours grants you the ability to observe and reach into worlds aside from your own – it's how all of the Founders were brought together and how we were brought here. I believe that's quite self-evident, so we won't debate it.

You were able to see all sorts of "what ifs" through this machine, I imagine. You and your precious Alex did as much together, once. Isn't that right? You witnessed what she would eventually become and you witnessed her death, long before it ever happened.

And then long after that, you stumbled across all of us. Managing New Rapture as your group had once. What were you looking for when you stumbled across our other selves? I don't think it's fair for you to make us guess at that.

There you go. That's the right question. Give me a second, you've earned some information.

It does not feel particularly unimaginable to me, no. “Love” can manifest in ways that are not necessarily good and pure, after all.

It doesn't need to be romantic, even. Even the worst people usually love something outside themselves.

My whole life, I've been empty. There's never been anything worth loving before. And it turns out I really shouldn't have started.

[oh never mind her sass she's deeply uncomfortable all of a sudden]

[ there's a reason she likes you, mafuyu :) ]

[she hates this!]

Empty. Hah... so it's like that.

...No wonder you were so easy to talk to.

...

Don' let her get to you, Sparkles. [SHE IS EXTREMELY CONCERNED BY THE WAY MRS MAYOR IS TALKING TO HER GIRLS RIGHT NOW....]

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specialyellthing - 2022-08-06 22:36 (UTC) - Expand

[ For what it's worth, her voice while speaking to Mafuyu is definitely the softest and most... human she's managed. ]

Some people spend their whole lives trying to fill that emptiness. I thought Alex could, even though I had already stopped trying. We both joked about it - "If only they could see me now back home." I started feeling that way about other people, too, almost. And then she died, and I remembered what a gift emptiness can be.

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

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specialyellthing - 2022-08-06 22:57 (UTC) - Expand

[.....

flashing back to a conversation he had with Rossiu like two days ago but don't worry about it]

So you feel it would be better to never love at all, than to lose the object of that love one day.