onceuponacomm | FINAL TRIAL

FINAL TRIAL

Final Trial

This Friday morning you've investigated as has become commonplace, even if the circumstances have shifted. And now it's time to take stock of what you've found, what options you have, what options you don't, in the lull of action you have left.

The abyss in the fountain beckons, but doesn't demand quite yet. Who knows when that will change, though.

[OOC NOTE: You'll have the first hour of trial to discuss what you found in final investigation yesterday, and then we'll get this show on the road! ]

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Ja, that's understandable. She is someone quite a few people were close to.

[Using her image to get them to hesitate makes sense and he can get that! Fortunately for him, he doesn't care.]

Oh, are you? Are you speaking of a specific child or... perhaps of the ones you've taken care of before?

[There aren't quotes around "taken care of" but that is only because he tried very hard not to put them there!!!]

The ones that come to me. They were lovely, it's too bad they don't seem to last long.

[For someone who is making an effort to sound so motherly, she said that with the air of someone who talks about missing a bus or something]

[probably because you eat them!!!!!!!]

I apologize for the rude question, but... what happens to them?

[How exactly are you killing them...????]

They just die. I don't do anything. It just seems they die. One day they start looking quite tired, and they ask for help, and I try to give them a happy time. After a couple weeks they just...die.

And then I eat their lives.

[So matter of fact]

[Hmm, yeah he's not sure he believes that, but he'll leave it there.]

It seems a bit strange that you'd jump to a setup quite like this. Why did you decide to bring us all here and why set the rules up as you have?

Any thoughts about that? I don't mind talking about it, but I'm dying to hear what you think.

[Yup, she's welcoming theories]

Well, I imagine such a drastic change was due to necessity, one way or another. Were you unable to find or bring other children here?

Less I couldn't, and more I had to. When something is working well you don't change plans unless some big problem is getting in the way.

[She wouldn't prey on adults if she didn't absolutely have to, is her point]

[Right, that's what he was figuring.]

So moving on to seeing if you could get the same thing from adults, ja, that makes sense. There were quite a few of us brought here, though... Were you concerned you wouldn't get what you needed from just one person?

Yes. That's...I suppose I can admit it.

[She supposes it was to be expected they'd figure that bit out. The part she had been keeping under wraps there in that conversation with Alexei pops up:]

I have never consumed an adult ever before. It's...different, somehow. Maybe it's the age, I don't know. But I found out I couldn't just consume any of you right away instead of wasting any time trying to convince you all to listen to me. Part of the reason why I set this up is that I needed time to figure out how to do so. I'm glad to say I did.

[Well, not that she had much time to waste. She's starving, as mentioned in meetings a while ago]

Until not that long ago the most I had been able to do was take a little bit to sustain myself for a little while longer. Isn't that inconvenient?

[How could the Beldam sustain herself every once in a while from people here? Any thoughts, Yeager?]

Edited 2021-07-17 22:06 (UTC)

[Interesting, he wasn't expecting that this was to buy her time to figure out how to do this.]

It certainly does sound inconvenient. I imagine that those who died here weren't of much use to you either.

[...]

Is that why you dragged some of us into the mirrors? It was almost one person every week of our stay here, ja?

That's right. I'd say I'm sorry for taking a little bit of your life back then, but seeing the mess you made I think it's only fair.

[Not that she can use such an excuse with anyone else, hah. Yeager was a special kind of destructive.

But yeah, that confirms it, it seems every week she dragged someone to sip a little bit of life from, enough to keep herself going]

I used some settings I had used with some of the kids in the past. They were quite pitiful children...even when they were living happily with me, they wanted closure. So I gave it to them. I created their world homes so they could set everything right. I created the people and animals, and allowed my children to gain respite. I guess me bringing up those sets also attracted the souls of those children to whoever I chose.

[That’d explain why everyone who went into these explorations felt a presence in their heads -- the kids those sets were associated with, reliving what once was a chance to see their problems have a happy resolution, with varied results]

Them being there bothered me, but it all served as a good distraction while I siphoned out bits of your life.

W...what?!

[ A perfectly horrified reaction from him here ]

Oh, you. Don't leave cooking unattended, it's never good.

[Apparently someone disapproved Huaisang's decision and cheated to make it burn into cinders even if he didn't put it to the fire. She plays dirty]

[ Tch!!! ]

I...I've never really cooked anything by myself before...

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sans_merci - 2021-07-17 22:29 (UTC) - Expand

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biyishuangfei - 2021-07-17 22:36 (UTC) - Expand

[SIGHS VERY LOUDLY... but you know what, he probably deserves this so he isn't going to bother being mad about it. Sorry to that poor little kid who was just trying to bring fire her family, though...]

I won't apologize for what I did, because I'm really not sorry.

[Listen he was given a doll with a glowing red thing in its chest and that hit a little too close to home!!! He's maybe a little sorry to the poor kid's soul but not to the Beldam!!!]

Whatever you took from us wasn't enough though, was it? It's kept you going this long, but you've been weakening. So what exactly do you plan to do to us now?

To you? Hopefully nothing. To most people who died...? Well, I have stashed their lives. Once we're done here I can take it, save some for the future, and then we all go on with our lives a little richer than before, in more ways than one.

[She smiles sweetly]

It'd be a shame to have gone through all this for no reward. I'll fulfill your wishes, and to those I can't, then I'll give the resources. I'm quite crafty, dear.

I have no doubts about that, ja. And I suppose I can see the appeal in such an offer.

But I'm sure you also know that none of us will be willing to take you up on it.

[There's plenty of reason to turn down an offer like that, but no one's going to be fine just sacrificing the dead like that...]

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incompletely - 2021-07-17 22:30 (UTC) - Expand

I have a question. The things you make... Why do they all have the button eyes?

[She taps her own]

Don't creators make things true to their own image?

[Well, not exactly the reason]

You see, usually to get the kids to stay I convince them to...sew buttons over their eyes. If they see everyone having them they get used to the thought.

You tell them... to blind themselves...?

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sans_merci - 2021-07-17 22:39 (UTC) - Expand

[ Hahaha hoo boy, pointedly not looking at Marcus. ]

I see.

[ ... ]

Did you do the same each time we entered the mirror, or only the first time when we went through the stories you set up?

[ "we" as if anyone else made choices that poor ]

Every time. Thank you for coming so often.

[I'm so sorry, Phil]

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biqe - 2021-07-17 22:33 (UTC) - Expand

[Phillip...]

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biqe - 2021-07-17 22:37 (UTC) - Expand

[OH HE IS NOT HAPPY ABOUT THIS.]

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