the mastermind meme

[monomods]

 

You asked for it, we're finally giving it to you! Say hello to the mastermind meme!

What does this mean exactly? It means your character is the one responsible for everything! They've been controlling Monobear from the shadows (or maybe they have an assistant to help them, possibly even one of your classmates!), they've been putting forth the motives, running the trials, all of it! And now they've finally chosen to reveal themselves and their true motives.

What are their motives? Why do they want to spread despair? Are they somehow connected to the late Junko Enoshima? And most importantly what is their snazzy Monobear-themed look like? You decide!

Threading reactions is highly encouraged and feel free to AU things up to mix up our current survivor pool as much as you'd like.

Comments

[holocast]

Tonight, the elevator doesn't stop on its usual floor.

The more astute may realize there's something wrong immediately - that you've been descending a bit too long, that you're disappearing too far down beneath the surface; on the other hand, it may take a moment for you to realize it, because it certainly has been a long day. Surely it's just a trick of your imagination, surely you're just on-edge from the unsettling announcement from Monobear this evening -

Congratulations on nearly finding me - and to reward all your hard work, I've got a special surprise for you bastards! I've heard you wanted a chance to put the Mastermind on trial? Well, you've got it! Don't even think of not showing up - I'll see you in the courtroom!

- and surely, surely, this has to be the end.

But as it stands the elevator is still descending, like you're being dropped into the pits of hell itself, and when the doors finally slide open there's a courtroom and the usual circle of podiums, and visible behind it is a raised dais, the sort usually occupied by Monobear with Monomi bound and hung above.

Usually.

The courtroom is surrounded by machines, the air thick with the heat rising off of them and the ambient whirring and humming of fans and motors that aren't quite silenced; the throne has been replaced by something different, something decidedly more alive - a massive sea serpent coiled around itself like a snake, head raised and large eyes glittering as it watches the others file in, large mouth open, fangs perpetually bared. However, it doesn't seem about to attack, not yet; after all, it hasn't received any commands from its master.

His outfit is unsurprisingly unchanged; why should he alter it any? He's already styled after the god of death; to change it strikes him as tacky, unbecoming. In the end, Monobear was a front, something left to him by a teenaged girl with hairclips and bared cleavage and an embarrassingly short skirt, one of the chosen ones with the power to change the world; the real power is in the mechanical structure behind the dais, behind Gyarados, the tremendous glass cylinder containing the platform and the and the cables and the massive cocoon that he's drawn so often during his time here.

Yveltal sleeps for now; it deserves the rest, after what it's done to Kalos.

And so for now there's only the trial circle, and Gyarados, and Lysandre sitting on the coils Gyarados is forming with its body, the creature itself serving as a more powerful throne than man could ever make. Pyroar lies at his feet, positioning almost idle; his expression is bored, unimpressed, though Lysandre's own doesn't mirror it. Though his expression is often unnaturally blank, despite the conviction in his speech and the pressure behind his words, there's a bright, burning intensity in his eyes, his gaze alive.

He leans forward, folding his forearms over his crossed legs; he supposes it's a shame that it had to come to all this.

After all, whether you realize it or not, he tried so hard to save you.

[mirage_diver]

It's a good thing he'd gotten his frustration out after what had happened to Jumba... and to Archer. After all, he knew right away that there was no way two people pulled the trigger on the same gun, even as Monobear supposedly sent the duo to their "deaths". Plus, having avoided drowning in his own world several times - as well as surviving an almost-lethal jolt here - he knew that being tossed in the ocean was hardly a death sentence, and knew that there'd be no way Monobear would kill off the Pyroar while still leaving all those other pokémon alive. Lysandre never left, and it had been obvious, at least deep down.

Somehow, this was less painful than the first "betrayal".

He says nothing right away, though - he'd expected them to spell out exactly how Jumba's murder happened before he accepted blame, and Locke knows that they'd have to do the same here, or else he'd kill them all. This wasn't a time for silly derails or strip searches, every word counted.

[holocast]

It was less that being tossed in the ocean wasn't a death sentence - it certainly would have been, from that height. The problem, rather, is with the fact that Lysandre works with manipulating people's perceptions for a living; it's incredibly easy, with the technology he'd gotten ahold of since his time in Kalos, to fake anything seen on the screens ringing the first courtroom.

His gaze meets Locke's after a moment, electric blue burning sharply; he smirks a bit, the expression casual.

He's always been fond of Locke, hideous fashion choices aside; again, a shame.

"I would offer you an apology, mon cher, but somehow I doubt you want to hear it." Despite his words, his tone is more than a bit flippant; the arrogance there can't be denied.

[mirage_diver]

"You wouldn't mean it, anyway. You said it yourself - sometimes people just need to die. Right now, you think that about us, and we think that about you. I can't see you as the type who feels very sorry for disposing of pawns you have no more use for." Especially not after he'd slugged Lysandre the way he had.

In retrospect, that was a stupider move than normal, and the only reason he was still alive was because Lysandre was still keeping up appearances as one of the captives in this game.

[holocast]

"You've got that wrong." His expression shifts when he says it, into something dark, something self-satisfied; how often had he seen that said, in all the films and recordings Enoshima had shown him when she'd taken him on as a bringer of Despair? It's ironic now, though he can't imagine that Locke would know why.

"You're not pawns of mine; you never have been. I've always been rather forthcoming about those I see as pawns."

[stitchedupbodyguard]

There's no words in the English language, no words in any language really, to describe how Veronica was currently feeling. Here she was, surviving to the end of the murder game, seeing it through to the end despite everyone else that had been lost and everything that had happened. It was almost insane how much she wanted to survive.

But at this moment, she felt like she could die right there. She didn't even know what she could say to this.

There was fear in her eyes. Her lips moved silently, looking for words that would never come.

[holocast]

He recognizes that look rather easily, really - it's the sort of expression that one gets when they realize exactly how wrong they were about something. Life. Peace. How much goodness people contain. Exactly how much you mean to one of your friends.

Or perhaps how little you mean, as the case may be. It's a bit difficult to say in this circumstance, and Lysandre's expression isn't giving much away; his eyes may be burning with a sort of cold fire they haven't held since the killing game began, but his features are impassive, almost alarmingly devoid of expression.

"Something of an unpleasant shock, I imagine," he says, the words easy. Arrogant. "It truly is unfortunate that you had to be subjected to such a thing, ma chérie."

[stitchedupbodyguard]

Somewhere, deep in the pit of Veronica's stomach, she can tell that he's lying about it being unfortunate. If anything, he had been waiting for her to figure it out.

Did he even think she would make it this far? How much of that pride had been false?

"...I don't believe it." she replied slowly, hints of shock still in her voice. "I didn't... y-you can't be..."

[holocast]

"Can't I?"

It's purely rhetorical; surely they both know that much. Any answer that one could possibly demand to that is painfully obvious by now.

"Why would I lie to you about something like this? You know my stance on liars, don't you?"

[sadisticwarfare]

He so called it.

No, seriously. Who else knew this much about the technology of this world and who else was allowed to keep a pet lion? Obviously Lysandre was behind this whole thing. Archer isn't surprised at all and merely folds his arms as he studies Lysandre for a moment. Admittedly, Lysandre asking for help murdering someone and Jumba's subsequent death certainly made it seem like Lysandre wasn't behind all this, but he should have known better. Of course the man would fake his own death. It would certainly make controlling Monobear easier if he didn't have to pretend to be one of the "students".

"I suppose I should have expected as much. Who else could be behind all this?"

...Sucking up to the mastermind? Sucking up to the mastermind.

[holocast]

Well, will you look at that. For once, it seems Archer's paranoia wasn't ill-founded.

That said, however, Lysandre doesn't seem terribly impressed at this latest attempt to get on his good side; oh, there's some fondness for the man there, certainly - one doesn't plot a murder with someone without some degree of trust there, and it's almost a shame to betray Archer's in such a way. But at the same time, it's even more a shame that things had progressed more quickly than Lysandre had planned; he'd had to abandon whatever plans they'd made for the sake of removing himself from the game, at the expense of keeping one of his personal targets in.

A mistake, perhaps, leaving the Investigator in the game. Then again, Archer had always been at a disadvantage - both technologically and intellectually, if you asked Lysandre's personal opinion. Not that Archer is stupid, per se - the man is obviously smart.

The problem has always been that Lysandre is smarter.

"Oh, indeed?" His words don't sound terribly concerned, though his gaze is alive. "And just how long have you suspected me, mon cher?"

[sadisticwarfare]

Wow, rude, Lysandre. He could totally take you in a battle of intellect! ...As long as it doesn't involve any sort of advanced technology, that is...

"Since we first spoke about the technology in your world, and more importantly, what you were planning on doing."

He makes his way to his podium, resting his hands on it and returning Lysandre's stare. His eyes are alive as well and Archer's smirking despite the situation he's in. He doesn't expect Lysandre to spare him, but there's something almost nice about seeing him again.

He's not sure what that says about him, but he's not questioning it.

"So what do you intend to do with us now, hmm?"

[holocast]

Lysandre doesn't break eye contact; if anything, he finds it interesting that Archer is returning it now. He's always seemed to have some sort of issue with that - but then, so does Lysandre most of the time.

Circumstances have a way of changing things like that, it seems.

"You want to know if I'm going to kill you all. Is that it?"

[awesmazings]

This....

This wasn't at all what Jimmy had been expecting. Really, when he makes his way into the room, he can't help but wonder if he's walked right into something out of his worst nightmares. He stares at the Gyarados serving as Lysandre's throne for some time, transfixed, before averting his gaze to Lysandre.

The shock is so great that he can't even manage to get a better look at the rest of the room. He just....stares at the man in clear disbelief.

"..L....Lysandre?"

[holocast]

If Lysandre is fazed at all by Jimmy's lack of ability to believe what he's seeing, it doesn't show across his features; the usual confidence in his expression has been replaced with a sort of cold, impassive arrogance, but his eyes are bright, burning with a sort of intensity they haven't held since the killing game began.

Fitting, perhaps, that that look should return now that it's coming to an end.

"It's a bit of a shock to you, isn't it?" he says in a voice just as cold as his expression; it's the sort of question offered by someone who already knows the answer. "It's unfortunate, really, that it had to come to this."

[awesmazings]

It's far more than a shock. Jimmy finds himself so numb that he can't say anything else for a moment, his eyes locked on Lysandre's as he tries to wrap his head around all of this.

"But....But you....." He whispers, taking a small step closer as his face falls further and further.

"....this....this isn't......" Everything he tries to say is broken and ends up trailing off before he can form a proper sentence. The look on his face is indication enough as to how dismayed he is by this turn of events.

[holocast]

"This isn't what, mon cher?"

When Lysandre responds there's a sense of patience to his tone, tempering the coldness without managing to eradicate it; his expression twists a bit, however, a light smirk crossing his features - it's a far cry from the usual understanding and guidance that he used to offer the boy on a regular basis. "This isn't happening? It's not real, it's not possible? Because I can assure you on all counts that it is."

assuming jumba hasn't been murdered yet or his murder was faked

[prefersevilgenius]

When Jumba sees the man on the throne, he starts to laugh. Long and hard, so hard that he's rolling around on the floor, clutching his belly by the time it's over.

"Jumba was right, then," he says, wheezing and gasping, once the laughter leaves his system. "Friend really was evil genius."

a-ok with me!

[holocast]

Well, that seems to startle him a little, actually, because goodness, what has even happened here. (Other than Not Despair. That is a massive lack of despair if he's ever seen one.) Even once he's collected himself, and Jumba has collected himself somewhat, he's still rather plainly unsure of what to do with this response, so just...let him...

...um...

"...It does seem that way, doesn't it?"

because there were two ways jumba would react and the other involved strangulation

[prefersevilgenius]

Jumba chuckles, evidently not completely done with his mirth. "Yes. It does. Jumba is not sure why he didn't realize it before. He supposes it was because little robot bear had more sense of humor, even if it was nasty humor."

He cocks his head to the side. "Jumba supposes Lysandre knows his information... was not quite true."

[holocast]

Lysandre just smirks at that, tossing his head back a bit as he does so; there's something of a less awkward topic, isn't there.

"Obviously, Doctor Jookiba, but it hardly mattered - after all, why should it, when I was in the room the entire time?"

[yourpiecenow]

Can I call not being eaten by the giant water dragon? Is that something I can do?

[ugh it's hot as hell in here]

[holocast]

No one is being eaten, ma chérie, I can assure you of that much.

[...because that would be barbaric, thank you very much]

[yourpiecenow]

Oh, yeah, you just brought the giant monsters as set dressing. A chair would just be too fucking pedestrian, right?

[holocast]

Consider them reminders of home; they're what's left of the place, and so I see no need to not have them with me.