first trial

[airlockedmods]

[With the announcement and evidence, the doors in the pool area are the next destination for anyone who doesn't particularly want to see what a punishment from PAL would look like. Kip, for once not acting like a complete coward, takes the lead and opens the doors. The patio is a large, round room with high walls and a domed ceiling, but the biggest feature of the room is the a circle of podiums that takes up most of the floor space.

The room itself is decked in the same almost gaudy golds and reds as the rest of the mansion, with walls high enough that it's impossible to see inside the trial room from the promenade that encircles the whole mansion. The domed ceiling provides an unhindered view of the stars overhead. As for the podiums themselves, they're the same sort of garish gold with a digital screen facing toward the center of the circle, and a large, currently dimmed rose silhouette facing the center beneath the screen. The screens each have a name and title associated with a Champion written in green block letters, all save for Mikaela, the Champion of the Millennium Tree Forest. Hers are a striking red and, floating above her podium, is a greyscale portrait framed in some kind of bold, gilt-looking frame. She smiles out at the group, her eyes gentle and kind even with the noticeable lack of color.

With Cece staying behind to take care of the body, Kip is left to cross the room by himself, stepping onto a platform that rises up just high enough to be out of reach and back far enough toward a far wall to have a full view of the court room. For a brief moment, Kip is obscured by a dome of glass that closes over him, but when the dome lifts it's clear that the only thing obscured was a quick change, taking him out of what was clearly his pajamas and dressing him in a sharp, mournful black suit. He's recovered from looking slightly green, but his body language and expression remain quite somber nonetheless.]

Welcome, Champions, to the Rose Ceremony. This is the trial stage, where the goal is to find the true culprit and...

[PAL almost sighs in disappointment.]

Well, Kipsqueak already spoiled the stakes for you. Find the culprit and they'll be eliminated, vote incorrectly and they'll be allowed to go home at the expense of the rest of your lives.

Oh, and don't bore me. I cannot stand being bored.

Comments

[scourgingstars]

...She mentioned it before. That no one else can see her world's daemons...she implied it falls to her to be held responsible for what they do.

[myocordial]

Humans... can be very cruel...

[scourgingstars]

They can be, and yet there are still those like Mai who fight for them regardless.

This is not right, but our hand is being forced whether we choose to acknowledge it or not.

[nojohnyouare]

[Cornered. Mai can't look at the others. She especially can't look at Clarith, nor Roland, who brought up powers.]

...When I was eight years old, my mother was very ill. She finally died in hospital, and I. I couldn't accept that. I cried over her, and the next thing I knew, she was waking up.

The doctors called it a miracle. We had hospital bills, so my aunt thought to sell my story to the media. I'd appear on talk shows. They brought out dead or dying animals and made me heal them for the crowd.

...People don't acknowledge magic. It was mostly bred out of the population centuries ago, and now it's only in legends. You know what they say about a nail that sticks out. Our home was vandalized, we were shunned... They eventually ran my mother and I out of town.

["Trivia: Had to move to the city of Monomi when she was eight years old."

Had to.]

Even in a new place, we'd be recognized. I only made one friend there, playing in a field. And when I told him about my power... He said he accepted me. But he ran away the next day anyway. He said he had to leave town, and I never saw him again.

That was when the demons appeared.

[honoraryembryon]

... What scum. Mai...

[ ... He's... truly sorry. Why does it have to be her? She doesn't deserve this. Not this girl, it's all he can think. She's so young... damn it. ]

If only you hadn't been forced to be around such awful people. ... I'm sorry.

[nojohnyouare]

...[She nods sadly.]

It's my fault.

[honoraryembryon]

... Only by... technicality. ... Listen, Mai. You... have two choices. Bearing your karma, or... hiding from it.

[ After talking with the others, he's pretty sure she should hear this. ]

How this ends is... your decision. ... For the record, I don't blame you. I blame that computer. But...

[myocordial]

...So this is what you meant. When we spoke about miracles.

[Not always a good thing, indeed. Damn it...]

[pandorasbunny]

[Tiny Mai looks on, quivering. The air ripples behind her.]

Rejecting yourself, when you have the power to make things real, brings your fears to life. When you don't think you deserve happiness, they destroy it. When you think you have to suffer and that people shouldn't be around you...

[The kid is starting to disappear into light herself.]

[myocordial]

...Pushing people away. Hurting yourself. [Subconsciously.] Because something should be, it happens.

I don't believe I've ever encountered something this unfair.

[misanthropicprinciple]

...Mai-chan.

[He's very specifically addressing the little version, here.]

[cameupshort]

Because- you were helping people!?

[...Okay, fuck humanity. Heart can he join your robot uprising or something.]

[nojohnyouare]

...That's how things are sometimes.

[cameupshort]

That's not-

[Of course it's not fair, none of this is.]

...this isn't your fault. I don't care what anyone else says.

[daughterofthemark]

Dame Mai...

[NO

EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS STORY IS HORRIBLE

EVERYTHING]

[nojohnyouare]

[Mai's lineface has broken, as has her resolve. She's just going to cry now.]

[daughterofthemark]

[noooooooo]

[scourgingstars]

[Ardyn's hands were in a white-knuckled grip on his podium, but his voice remained as steady as it had been from the start.]

You only did what was right--you were using your power to help. Giving up so much for the sake of others who cared nothing for your efforts. Those who dared to hate and curse you for something they could never understand...they are the ones who should be held accountable here.

[But it wasn't going to be that easy, would it?]

You can't control where and when daemons appear, can you. That's...what happened to Mikaela, and what nearly happened to us.

[motherfucking_ghost]

Wait wait wait a fucking second--just wait! Are you saying a demon killed that girl because her powers came back a little?

So...she didn't kill anyone technically!

[buddyoldpal]

Damn... That's fuckin' awful. People are such shit.

[ WHY DID IT HAVE TO BE SOME KID WHO DIDN'T EVEN MEAN TO... ]

[nojohnyouare]

...

[She just looks at her podium at that.]

[serrata]

... Mai-chan...

[ there's really no need for formalities here and now, is there. not at the end of everything.

god damn it if she wasn't holding onto Clarith with a death grip right now she'd be at your side in a second. ]

You-- you were just trying to help! Weren't you?! How could anyone treat you so badly for that?

[nojohnyouare]

[let her tell you about the winged people oh wait, they went extinct in the shouryaku era]

[shikosuki]

[ .............

He doesn't have anything else to say now.

He's done. ]

[nojohnyouare]

[sorry dude]