TRIAL 2

[wringmaster]

Second Show

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The show must go on, with nineteen performers where there once was twenty-one. Joker calls everyone to the tent much like last week, though this time there are eight spotlights instead of twelve. Better odds, perhaps.

Whether fate of Zelos lingers on your mind or not, the consequences of your votes are clear now. Maybe though, there's some comfort in knowing that soon this entire circus will soon be behind you. Right?





[[Welcome to your second trial! You will have 8 hours (8PM EST) to find out whodunnit. You may vote for any of the suspects at anytime prior to the end of trial, and you are free to change your vote as many times as you like.

About halfway through the trial, there will be the opportunity for room searches for three(3) of the suspects. ]]

Comments

[tragedi]

I have made others suffer from my wrongdoings. I will kill all my enemies before me, but eventually the time will come when I'm to be slain in turn for all that I have done...it is something I have long accepted.

When I fight, those who get in my way are my enemy. Those who steer clear are my allies.

[ As soon as someone gets in his way in battle? They're an enemy. Though... ]

But, there may come a time when even that won't be enough.

[ ... ]

The question is...can Joker say the same? Can he answer for all that he's done with his life?

[mirristry]

... do you really believe your death will solve anything?

cw: containing some suicidal leanings. just to be safe, lmao

[tragedi]

[ ...no response to object to that, which probably is telling in of itself. ]

cw: containing some suicidal leanings because Phil is the same whoops

[mirristry]

I used to feel the same way... when everything was over and the world was safe, I planned to allow myself to be killed at the hands of the people I'd hurt. They had the right to do so, after all.

[...]

But then Ix said something to me. He told me that if I really wanted to atone for what I'd done, I should live and keep on protecting the world alongside him. He told me he needed me.

I'd hurt him more than anyone else, yet he still wanted me to live. I'm sure... I'm sure there's someone who feels the same way about you too.

oh no

[tragedi]

[ ...

Dimitri goes silent, though perhaps not for the reasons Phil thinks. ]

...And you sought vengeance as well?

[ Which, you know, is something he hasn't quite mentioned. But, you know.

He is, perhaps, admittedly curious. ]

[mirristry]

That was how it all started.

[He raises his arms to wrap them around himself, fingers digging into the fabric of his sleeves.]

It wasn't the right answer. Not in the slightest.

[tragedi]

...what answer is left? The dead call every day for vengeance against those who have taken their lives.

If they are not avenged, who will heed their cries? Who or what will satisfy them so that they no longer lay in torment?

[ ...And what is he to do, if not have that as his raison d'être? What else is he good for, when he can't even so much as properly lead except to exterminate the Empire and its Emperor that opposes him? Whose head he will hang from Enbarr once he has the opportunity. ]

[mirristry]

All vengeance brings is more suffering. It becomes a cycle that consumes everything in its wake until nothing is left, much less an answer.

[And in his case? Literally nothing is left, destroyed by the Voidstorm.]

Nothing can bring them back. The least we can do is move forward and honor their memory by keeping the same mistakes from being repeated.

[tragedi]

[ Ah, the Voidshitstorm...well, Dimitri would, if he had ever heard of it, be quite appalled by the extent of the atrocity. This is absolutely also before he goes off after having an episode because I said so ]

...The same mistakes.

[ He repeats, and normally it is not something he'd even heed. But this person who has barely gotten to know has gone down the path he has. Yet, in the end, it had done no good.

Dimitri looks away, down at his hands. ]

I am not sure if...nngh.

[ ... ]

...If we leave this place, then perhaps...

[ He may have the opportunity. But, he had been chasing the Emperor so fiercely while out on that field. Perhaps, after all of this time—he shakes his head. Again, though the words register a bit more clearly than before, he does fall silent, in actual consideration. ]

[mirristry]

It isn't too late to change your path. That's what Ix and Marcus taught me.

[His smile is small, but genuine... it fades slightly after a moment, but he continues:]

I'm no fool-- I know I'll never be able to atone for everything I've done. But I'm going to use what time I have left to make sure the same thing won't happen again. Even if the world and everything in it is a lie, there's still truth there... and that much is worth protecting.

[Ix hadn't been wrong when he'd said that much... Ix, who had the most reason of all to reject all of the lies, had accepted them wholeheartedly and kept on moving forward.]

[tragedi]

[ ...

He doesn't understand why those people have wasted time talking to him. He wants to spit on all of their efforts, even Phil's. But there is a part of him that lies sleeping, that still doesn't. That looks up from the void, wishing that he can be something human again.

Can it be possible? Novio had said he wasn't a monster, even Raven and Milla had attempted to talk him down. What if it is all wasted effort? What if...

...But all he can do is ask what ifs. In the end, he won't know the answer until he seeks it himself. That is what gets the words to sink in. It's a start. Barely one, but it is something...a rope he can grasp onto with his hands. He looks down at them again, and then Phil.

Tentatively...he nods. ]

...I will see what path lies before me.

[ He wants to be able to protect those he cares about as well. There is, perhaps, time for that as well. ]

One in which I will reach by moving forward.

[inthelineofdanir]

Do you know any more about what he has done than what you have seen in the fire?

[tragedi]

No.

[ No reason to pretend otherwise. ]

[inthelineofdanir]

Then you know very little about Joker and what he has done. You have no idea if his deeds require that he pay for them with his life. I know much more.

He has made very stupid decisions, but his motives are not dishonorable.

[tragedi]

[ ... now this is something they will not ever see eye to eye on, especially as fury rages like a tempest in that ice-cold blue eye of his. ]

...And what of the children that were sacrificed?! Did they deserve their ends? Is that not 'dishonorable'?

Do not act as if you know far more than I do when that man has swindled you with his decrepit sob stories!

[inthelineofdanir]

[Oh no. Don't you start!!!! Milla's expression goes dark. Don't you treat her like a child!!!!]

I never said that the children killed deserved their ends! But it is stupid to think you understand everything from one memory!

[Sorry Joker you're getting doxxed]

Owing someone a life-debt is a heavy burden. Carrying others' life-debts are even heavier. Tell me you would have sacrificed your own family if you had been in that position!

[tragedi]

...they're already dead. Your point is meaningless.

[ For his family he would've done wretched things, he thinks. It's easier to think of killing someone on a battlefield, no matter their age or gender. But something like this...

He can't wrap his head around it. Dimitri wonders if it is true, if his family were still alive, that he'd consider it. Though then he thinks of the children still...it's not something he has ever thought of, and it is bringing on a headache; he thinks that his father would have begged him instead to save the children. What about his stepmother? A crushing headache and the voices of the damned growing louder and louder.

He can't even think straight. ]

I would kill like a beast, I would even take the life of any who dares to get in my way, no matter who it is. Crush them all without mercy! ... But, this. You still defend him, as if he has any right.

[ He turns his back to her. ]

I will enjoy every single moment of pain he experiences. From beginning...to end.

[ Then, the beast of a royal man heads on out. ]

[inthelineofdanir]

[Why is she trying to argue with a Wilder? It's a question she'd ask herself as Dimitri starts to leave but then lol she's getting thrown by Diluc

Today's apparently just one of those days!!!!]