VOTE 5 RESULTS

[kentucky_mcgiygas]

[ ARE YOU RAN RAN READY? Because this announcement is a big one! ]

Clover: 2
Niles: 2
Lotus: Hotel pass
Snake: Hotel pass… times two! There was an extra one floating around, but now there are no longer any in play.

Charlie: 0
Dee: 0
Ene: 0

That's one big group! Everybody come on down and say hello!

Comments

[keybroad]

Uh.................

[Counts off on her fingers.]

Charlie, I'm sorry I tried to get you killed the fourth voting round, and now you're actually dying. You were so much nicer than I expected, you really must have been a good friend to the whole "gang", I hope you had fun finishing that whiskey. Dee, thank you for calling me a sister, I'm pretty sure that was just an American thing, but still, it was nice, and I probably could have tried harder to see if there was some other way to do this.

[takes a breath, looks at Ene - puts down her hands, she's gonna run out of fingers really fast]

Look, I know that everyone who's died from no votes is at least partially my fault. I need to get them out of the way before the manipulating. I'm sorry to Naoi-kun that I didn't vote for him or make anyone else do it, and I also didn't take the things he said seriously at first. I'm sorry to Natsuhi that I didn't try harder to get that vote and keep you from going to the hotel? Yeah, actually, yeah, I'm very sorry about that considering this would have also been a great opportunity to keep Katou from dying. Katou, if you still have any presence, you must know about that shrine I have, you know I'm really thankful that you were such a "good sport" about everything and I regret that it played out that way even though at the same it was definitely my goal for that to keep me and Ronove alive.

Uh... I went way out of order... Seven, you should also already know everything that was going on, and children are watching this, they don't need to hear about what you went through before. Sion and Kira-kun and Kujo-kun, I never spoke to you but you seemed like promising young people who shouldn't have been stuck here and maybe I should have tried to help you? Frank Gallagher... I also could have tried to help you and didn't??? [This is apparently exactly as absurd and confusing to her as the earliest things that Ene said.] Clover and Snake, maybe I should have asked you earlier if you were going for hotel passes yourselves so then we wouldn't bother Eva? Link, I'm sorry I didn't help after the fire more... I guess that applies to Zelda too? Maybe it was disrespectful to act like her when she was unconscious.

Gorix, I'm sorry I wrote you off after thinking you were just trying to escape. I should have found you and talked sense into you, even though he and I never found you. Also this was probably a bad reason to be so mad at Ene. Frank Reynolds... [it is really hard to dredge up her regret here, but she manages it] I don't actually believe that murder is the right response to murder, which isn't even exactly what you did, it was mostly because it was convenient for me if everyone would agree you should be the one left in the cold. Sophie... I tried for a while, I could have tried harder.

People who are alive that I manipulated...? Uh... Do I have to say I kind of hoped Simon and Mac and Dennis and Rhys would eventually die and I mostly talked to them when I wanted something? Especially Rhys, I might even have led him on? Ronove was... sort of like that at first, I already told him that. Um, and I almost got Nijimura-kun killed, that was wrong, I guess it was manipulative to not tell him that once it wasn't necessary anymore. I never got to know Corrin and thought he was worse than he is... Also... okay, I already apologized to Niles as soon as it happened, that stuff is staying private, making it public would cause more problems for everyone.

That's how things are between me and Santa... I apparently can't keep telling people that this or that is what he would have wanted, that's "not taking responsibility", I guess, so I'll stop digging this hole deeper by saying what I think he would think about what I thought he would think. I was "reckless" like he told me not to be. That was stupid.

And Ene... I apparently hurt your feelings even more than I realized, which I already knew was a lot. I was catty, I yelled at you a lot, I thought I'd done my part and hoped I'd never have to talk to you again. I really have no idea what you want to hear. I never have. I was completely wrong about you. Wrong about everything, I didn't know anything, and now I'll never get to know, because you're going to die, and that's tragic even if it's beneficial for me. I distrusted you so much I didn't go to your show in the theater because I thought it wouldn't be safe for the audience... But no. You basically adopted two children, when I didn't make time to do that, I told myself it was okay, I only had so many hours in the day. You've been a good person and also as far as I can tell a real person no matter what Ronald McDonald says.

[Looking at the other cameras around them again.] Should I bow? Will that play well on American TV?

[digiteyesed]

[Oh my god. Oh my god that's so much. She is talking so much. Ene waits for her to finish, and is actually surprised she got an apology too, some of that was nice to hear. But she still reaches out for Lotus's shoulders and shakes her] Bzzzzt! You only got some of that right, I'll give you a C! The reason I was so mad at you was because you tried to blame me for the deaths of other people without votes, which is still an awful thing to do, so it's awful to yourself as well. I'll say it again, you aren't responsible for people that died trying to escape here, you aren't responsible for people that died because they didn't get votes. You having votes when others didn't is not the problem here. It's okay to want to live Lotus! Why do you think I sent you to the hotel instead of leaving you to die?

[keybroad]

[GENUINELY SO SHOCKED AND TOUCHED THAT ENE STRAIGHT UP THINKS LOTUS PERSONALLY SHOULD WANT TO LIVE AND BY EXTENSION SHOULD LIVE...??? She's struggled to keep her head steady while being shaken and has to prioritize tilting her face to keep her makeup straight (nothing leaks out of her eyes, she's determined, but she wished she'd known this was coming and could have simply worn waterproof mascara) so her hair ornaments have been jangling loudly. Afterwards she's still dizzy - it's just been such a long day - Lotus steadies herself by putting her own hands on Ene's shoulders, bangles clanging against the metal body.]

I don't know why! I wouldn't have put up that I traded votes with Ronove in the first place if I already knew you were going to use your hotel pass on me, right? I spent so much time trying to force other people to die instead of me because I never thought anyone would actually want to do it for my own sake!

[digiteyesed]

[OF COURSE YOU SHOULD WANT TO LIVE LOTUS!! No matter how much Ene might not personally like her, she doesn't want to see anyone die because they think they aren't worth it.] Nobody wants to die. Hell, I don't want to die, even if I'm willing to. Everyone here has been placed in an awful position, including you. And we've all had to do awful things to get by. You're not special in that, Lotus. Don't get me wrong, you've done some particularly dickish things, and others should be rightfully mad until you make amends to them. But you're not responsible for every bad thing that happens here, and you can't do anything to make what you are responsible for right if you're dead. You don't deserve to be dead. Go get your consolation prize, meet up with Natsuhi, go home and live well. And try and fit some therapy in there, jeez!

[keybroad]

[It is such a foreign way of thinking for Lotus that her earnest stare is underscored by the intense confusion of hearing someone speak another language. She has so thoroughly embraced the idea that she has to either literally die or else actively murder dozens of people, Ene's description of how she should have lived - no, how Lotus should go on to live in the future - without being such a mean person... it's actively intimidating. Towards the last sentence Lotus lets her lips get even thinner; maybe it reminds her of something. Well... enough.]

Understood. [She releases one of Ene's shoulders.] I'm going to survive and get out of here. I'll be off. [Ittekuru!!! She releases the other shoulder.] Maybe we'll agree more often in another life, Ene.