WEEK 5 - TRIAL

[petoskeymods]

TRIAL

It takes a full day after finding the body, but on Saturday, the counselors call you all to the campfire, the bonfire already roaring away as everyone finds their seats. Stan and Red are seated there, with Stan holding a box saying 'VOTES' written on it.

It looks like you're here to find the killer.

And just like before, you know you'll be forced to vote before the night's over...

And condemn someone to a grisly fate.

VICTIM: Usagi Tsukino
CAMPERS REMAINING: 15

((Remember that Everyone must vote and that Votes are due by 6pm EST!))

Comments

[finalguard]

[ This happens and Boa abruptly recoils from Eddie and backs off from everyone at the campfire. The look on his face is one of despair and there are tears in his eyes. ]

Stop... stop giving me that look... you don't know... you don't know....

[itsagazebo]

[Eddie looks like he's been slapped, but he lets Boa go.]

What... what is it?

[trashmouthtozier]

[Richie's crying already - he - he knows. he just knows. he feels cold, numb]

You didn't see her. Did you...

[finalguard]

You think it was an accident, don't you?! You're trying to make it out like I'm like you, that I belong here somehow.

[ He's yelling now, volume control absolutely down the drain alongside his emotional state. He can't stand it. He can't stand being loved like this, when... ]

[itsagazebo]

Boa... [Eddie's eyes get wide. No... no he can't be doing this. Tears start streaming down his cheeks.]

You don't fucking mean that. You're our friend! none of us belong here, but... but you're our friend!

[finalguard]

So was she, wasn't she?

You're never going to forgive me anyway! I heard all you said yesterday! Stop playing nice, stop pretending!! This isn't...

I'm not....

[ And now the tears are just streaming down his face. He can't do this, stop extending your hand when he knows you're going to recoil in disgust sooner or later. He can't do this. ]

[killtheanimals]

[Damn it.

He isn't oblivious. He knew from the start that Boa was the most obvious option - he was on the beach, something people had blessedly seemed to forget about early. So--]

Boa.

[Don't do this.]

[finalguard]

[ Boa can't look at Mitsuru. Even known Mitsuru is seeing him, seeing this, makes the shame burn through his skin into his very soul. The one person who should never see him like this, never ever ever ever ever ever.

He doesn't know how to face him. There's nothing he can say to preserve that precious something they had before, he's so sure of it. ]

[trashmouthtozier]

[Richie's hands fly over his mouth.

no.

fuck.

no.

all these weeks ...

he thought they'd gotten through to him ...]

[bladeisme]

[...

Ichigo doesn't know Boa that well. Not like the rest of them. But he knows that note of self loathing more than anything else in this world, and he's somehow kept it together during all of this long enough to step forward.]

...Boa.

What happened?

[finalguard]

[ He can answer this now, huh? It's obvious anyway. ]

She threw the bucket at me. I think she thought I was someone, something else... She tried to apologize, but I... I was defending myself.

She wasn't... she wasn't actually a threat to me, but if I'd let go...

She would have told you all. And you'd have killed me!

[bladeisme]

[....

Ah -

Ichigo doesn't close his eyes, doesn't look away -

But there's a clearly sympathetic look in his eyes, staring at Boa.]

[diesifkilled]

[...And there it is.

And as much as Shirou had told himself he wanted to kill whoever had killed Usagi, as much as he'd thought he didn't have any more capacity to care... now that he's looking at a crying kid?

This isn't what he wanted. He never wanted to see anyone cry. And it's not what Usagi had wanted either.]

[linearcrash]

[ Nine manages to eventually sit up. Crossing his arms as he ignores his vision blurring from the tears. ]

Hey...why did you go to Red?

[finalguard]

I was scared... I was so scared...

[ It doesn't matter if what he says is pathetic anymore, does it? He's pathetic and they're all seeing it. ]

[linearcrash]

Hey...

[ He's up and wrapping his arms around Boa. ]

You know, none of this changes my opinion on you....

[finalguard]

[ Boa absolutely melts into this hug and presses his frail shivering body against Nine as if that could save him from death. ]

I'm scared... I don't want to die...

[ But then he does quickly add, almost stumbling over his words: ] But I don't want you to die either.

[soylentprotag]

[There's a sharp inhale when he sees that look, and the tears, the way the group is splitting apart and opening to account for the space opened in it. Lenka closes his eyes for a moment and then opens them, forcing his hands out of the fists by his sides -- as the group closes up again, as the mourning begins. Because it is mourning, for everything they've broken today.

What else they're going to break now, no matter what the vote is.

He'll approach once things have wound down a little, just to stand next to Boa for a little while.]

You want to live, where others die. It's not really like the secret, isn't it?

[It's not accusatory, or angry, but just exhausted. Like everything today has sunk into the core of him, along with all else that's happened, disappearing somewhere.]

[finalguard]

Better them than me...

[ His voice is quiet but he does manage to respond somewhat evenly. ]

I don't want them to die, but they always do... and better them than me...

[soylentprotag]

So there are things you have to live for, Boa. What are they?

[There's something a little more solid there, behind the question; it's a genuine one.

Boa's sentiment isn't one Lenka can relate to at all, so perhaps they're doomed to never see eye-to-eye on something like that. Or maybe Boa is the normal one, the one who knows what usual survival looks like out here -- the problem being that survival is judged not by the world but by those of them also trying to survive.

What can they find, at the end of that?]

[finalguard]

[ Boa stares at Lenka in silence for a moment. This question, it's...

Talcott wanted to save his world, Lance his... it's always like that, but Boa...? He has goals, but they're his and... ]

... myself. Isn't that enough?

[ Isn't it enough to just want to be alive for his own sake? It isn't, not here. But Boa knows he can't change anyway. ]

[homeecspacecop]

[Boa confesses, and Chuuta just sits there. He doesn't move forward, he doesn't say anything, just watches the yelling and crying and... everything else.

If Boa hadn't confessed, Chuuta would have been... he would have kept insisting he didn't do it, right up to the very end, and he would have died anyway, they would all have voted for him and spent the last minutes of this trial screaming at him or turning away.]

I trusted you. [Chuuta says, maybe too quiet to be heard.

He'd trusted Boa. They weren't friends, but he'd trusted Boa not to kill him, enough to spent Thursday with him last week. They weren't friends, but Boa hadn't tried to hurt him, had taught him how to shoot a beyblade and they'd had fun.]

How could you.... [how could he, how could anyone grin at someone like that and then a week later try and kill them? How could anyone kill someone and then try and kill someone else just to protect themselves?]

[finalguard]

[ Though quiet, the words hit like a slap to the face. Boa whirls around to Chuuta, his own face already covered in tears over and over, eyes puffy and cheeks red.

What he lets out is between a sob and a strangled laugh. ]

Why? Are you stupid? Why would you...

[ ... trust me?

It'a the one thing Boa genuinely didn't expect. He had expected, if nothing else, that Chuuta distrusted him as much as he did. Boa, closest ally of the person Chuuta had attacked. Boa, who never made a secret out of thinking Chuuta was up to something shady.

If nothing else, he had assumes that they were standing on common ground here. Knowing now that isn't trust (why is he believing this? why can't he just think Chuuta is lying?)... Knowing that now, Boa absolutely feels the ground crumble under him. He isn't sorry, not really, but it does hurt. ]

[homeecspacecop]

[Is he stupid? Boa somehow... didn't think he'd trust him. Maybe Chuuta's just an idiot, maybe trusting people here is stupid.]

Maybe. But I wanted to trust you. [Chuuta wants to make the decision to trust. There's a value in trust, and a value in working through the pain that comes from it.]

[finalguard]

You...

[ His voice just gives out here and he stars at the ground. What can he possibly say to the person he was going to let die in his stead? He doesn't regret it, he doesn't, but... Now that Chuuta is looking straight at him with this betrayed look that Boa wasn't expecting in a million years... Now all he can feel is shame. ]