trustfelled | Taking Responsibility.

Despite the lack of a body this week, you've had more than enough to explore and investigate; some of it may have answered some questions, while the rest...well, the rest may have just raised more.

However you feel about it, the fact remains that as soon as you all step out of that new section above the third and make your way back toward one of the primary hallways, the lights quite suddenly go out, casting the hospital into complete darkness.

Several seconds pass before something seems to happen and what sound like backup generators kick back on; the lights struggle their way back to life, only to immediately flicker and die again.

It happens twice more before the power seems to stay on for good - they're feeble, but they're on, and at least it's enough to see by. It seems the power is stronger in one place in particular, however, and it shouldn't be a surprise which it is; the courtroom remains just as illuminated as ever, the seats ringing the old operating theater remaining as starkly unoccupied as they always do, and the podium circle that awaits you seems to have been set up in its final configuration. Sakura Kashima's portrait has joined the ranks of the deceased, her podium draped in black cloth. A final reminder of all you've lost here.

Perhaps it's upsetting. Perhaps it'll only serve to make you more determined.

The public-address system remains eerily silent, even after you've found your places in the circle; once in a while the quiet is broken by soft bursts of static, by a heavy, electric-sounding humming noise. Occasionally, whispers can be heard; whatever they're saying, it's probably not for you. Regardless, however, one thing is obvious: this is the end of the line, wherever it may have taken you.

Eight Patients remain.

Good luck.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

So... Maybe QQ's been reading too many horror novels from the library, buuut that sounds like a setup for possessing us all and using our bodies to do unholy things. Just saying.

Wouldn't be the first time somebody tried to possess me.

[ Seventh King. Tch. ]

Edited 2017-08-04 19:30 (UTC)

Wow, Mikoto... Sure hope that didn't happen more than once. You did stop that person, right?

[ Well, it's Mikoto, he probably did. ]

Yeah. I burned 'em until nothin' was left.

[ You can apparently burn souls. Go figure. ]

Edited 2017-08-04 19:35 (UTC)

Heh, if it turns out we need to do just that, QQ will gladly help burn them to a crisp.

[ She may or may not have packed ingredients for molotov cocktails in her survival kit. ]

At this point, everybody deserves a shot at them.

[ Burning things is good, guys. Let's pass out those molotovs like they're candy. ]

You are not wrong...

All right, if we go by that. Does that mean we think they're possessing her too? [ Just to clarify. ]

They have done so often already. I do not know if they are at present.

That's true. Seems like they use her when they please, though I think I remember somebody mentioning she has to give them permission.

All right. How do we separate them from her?

And not into us. Let's not forget that part. QQ feels terrible for the Transmitter, but being the next host isn't QQ's idea of a good time.

Ah. There's that, too. [ Though, pause. He glances to Greed, Asgore, and Wheatley. ]

Could they even possess you three?

I have no idea. In theory, I could absorb a human soul, but I do not think that is at all the same thing.

Might not be. Regardless, I wouldn't recommend tryin' to absorb them.

(no subject)

journalname - 2017-08-04 19:54 (UTC) - Expand

preciousking - 2017-08-04 19:58 (UTC) - Expand

journalname - 2017-08-04 20:00 (UTC) - Expand

I don't think you can possess me. I'm a machine, everything inside me is a lot of programming and electricity.

[Maybe that's what the Transmitter meant about that he shouldn't be here: because he's not an organic being that can be possessed]

Mm. Makes sense.

If they could possess somethin' like you, they'd just make bodies for themselves instead of going through all this trouble. Unless they wanna be human—or something like it—that badly, anyway.

Edited 2017-08-04 19:50 (UTC)

Their criteria for kidnapping might just be "whatever has a soul". That would explain why they took Wheatley even if they can't possess him.

preciousking - 2017-08-04 20:00 (UTC) - Expand

Ms Chalkboard neither confirmed nor denied the Risen wanting bodies, so do with that as you will.

Indirect answers usually mean the answer's yes. When did you ask?

[ Sigh. How you frustrate him, Chalkboard. ]

Edited 2017-08-04 19:41 (UTC)

During the last investigation. She allowed 22 questions, though only as long as the answers were kept vague because anything too specific would be 'against the rules'.

Why the hell is she bein' so cagey at this point?

[ Such a headache. ]

What'd you ask her and how'd she answer?

Well, she couldn't answer a lot of things. What she did answer was the following...

[ He thinks for a moment before listing. ]

First off, the fact that the rooms were all created for us in the state they are in now.

About herself, she said she's been created and has never been alive, but she's a real person. The Risen didn't make her, she is not affiliated with them.

These games... they have different benefactors depending who is running them, but it never benefits the players. This specific game is under full control of the Risen, no further party involved. They did not create the game itself though.

The Risen's power can not revive anyone permanently, but it is not impossible and we may be able to attain the power while we're here.

Further, Greed ask if this is a simulation, which received no answer. Noteworthy, because otherwise she said outright if she could not answer.

...I am not sure I understand the part with the simulation.

A simulation could mean a lot of shit. D'you remember how Greed phrased his question?

georgeous - 2017-08-04 20:02 (UTC) - Expand

preciousking - 2017-08-04 20:12 (UTC) - Expand

positivespin - 2017-08-04 20:17 (UTC) - Expand

ossifragant - 2017-08-04 20:33 (UTC) - Expand

preciousking - 2017-08-04 20:36 (UTC) - Expand

Goin' by that, it sounds like the goal of this game really is to acquire new hosts for the Risen. Don't see what else they might be after.

[ So dumb. ]

Most of the rest aligns with what we guessed about Submerged. The reviving... Dunno what to make of that. Or the part about the simulation.