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(( Eta IV is suspicious of the hooded figure... and then accusing it too! ))

Her piece of cardstock sat before her, neatly folded. One hand rested on top of it, tapping lightly. Being faced with all of these other competitors was getting pretty stressful. Things were simpler when it was just her and Harry -- even when Cho was there. They existed in a tiny little world that made sense. She could say something to Harry about Hogwarts, and he didn't look at her like she was insane. The scrutiny of the people in the room was forcing her to look at the thin veil over her sanity, the one piece of meaning that she clung to like a life raft in this impossible situation.

Logic and rationale had led her to suspect Epsilon XIII. Better him than her. Better anyone then her. Better Gamma III die even -- wait, no. That was not something that Hermione would think.

Eta IV shook her head. She reached up to try and rub her eyes, but it stopped prematurely, blocked by the protective helmet over her face. The coping mechanism showed signs of slipping, and she was not at all equipped to handle that psychological breakdown.

And then Gamma III stood up and tore her world in half.

Eta IV stood, fist clenched at her side. Gamma III had led her to peace of mind through the world of Harry Potter -- and now she was abandoning her out on this ledge. Eta IV hadn't asked her to climb up into the windmill and talk her through her existential crisis. She hadn't asked for Kate to tackle her. She hadn't asked for any of this.

Except one problem -- she had. She remembered the classroom. She remembered the words: you volunteered for this. Now, more than ever, Eta IV wished she had a weapon, or an escape hatch. The person that she had tethered herself to in this entire ordeal was now flying off the handle. So what did she want to do: go back down the rabbit hole or open her eyes to the reality?

The paper tore in her hands, falling to the floor like snow. "I'm with you," she said, hopping up onto the table beside Gamma III. "If I'm Hermione or Eta IV or someone else all together, I know that I'd rather be pulling the strings than having my own pulled. That is my logic."

Turning, she offered a hand to Alpha Two and Alpha Nine. They were the first who showed them the hooded figure might not be right. And if they all died for this?

Well. Everybody had to die sometime. At least this way she could go out with two middle fingers lofted high.

She would just have to draw strength from what she assumed to be her role model in the meantime:

(( A5 is neutral ))

Oh really now, they were going to start accusing Mr. Grim Reaper himself ...? Fiver wasn't entirely sure how good an idea THAT was, but he kept his mouth shut on the subject. That was his new policy. Don't speak up, don't draw attention ... don't even bother. It just got him killed. Tch.

((E-10 wants to change her accusation to the reaper!))

E-10 jumped again as Gamma 3 stood and roared for their attention, this time fumbling out of her chair completely and staring at the angry lady on the table from the floor. Holy s**t, she was getting real now? No more of the stupid Harry Potterness? This was more like it. She stayed sitting on the floor for now, her eyes peeking over the table and just watching. Watching and listening. Everyone was accusing the reaper now. Well, not everyone but...

But...what? What made them a traitor? That reaper couldn't read her mind. And these thoughts of hers were only because to her this was all a game, she had purposely deluded herself into believing this to be one large living game of World of Warcraft or some s**t and everyone dying wasn't really dying; the threat of it being permanent was just to give them the desire to live. The promise of victory, the threat that only thirteen of them could survive. That was what kept them going. And here they were accusing each other of all being traitors, or one person being a traitor. They were being traitors because of their instinct to survive? If they were traitors then so were animals. Didn't animals kill each other all the time? No one got in a stink when they did ******** it, they were all acting like animals themselves. No..they were worse than animals. They were scum. All they cared about was staying alive, all they cared about was getting a stupid goddamn pendant. E-10 was ready to sacrifice someone...and over what? A piece of shiny ******** jewelry? She pulled herself up to her feet, bracing herself on the table until she was standing. "She makes a good point. I'd like to change my vote. This whole time I thought I was the traitor and just wanted to find any random person to blame so that I could live. We're acting like animals. If you have the ******** nerve to pit us against each other, against total strangers who have done nothing to us, then you should show us your face you COWARD!" They couldn't take their masks off, they would die...right? She didn't want to risk that much. She definitely didn't want to risk testing if their masks really exploded.

But a hood was not a mask. A hood could be removed most certainly.

"You sound like Death Pony, trying to get us to kill each other until only one of us is left standing. I refused to kneel to a ******** pony, I'm not going to just sit here anymore while some cowardly hooded dude tells me someone in this room, possibly even me, is a traitor. You can't read my mind! You don't know me!" She picked up her paper, the one she'd written E-5's name on, and tore it up.

[A1 is accusing the reaper emotion_awesome ]

A-One had hesitated to outright accuse the hooded figure; he'd gotten the whole group attacked at the beach by going for the horse again. But it was out in the open now, and he hadn't had to start it this time. He wasn't being much of a leader right now. But he wasn't going to split this group with a dissenting opinion, especially when he thought the same thing already.

He stood. "The table's going to break," he said mildly. "We can take our stand on the floor, right?" Then he turned to the hooded figure, voice going colder. "You're the one telling us to accuse a traitor in our midst," he said. "By my thinking, that makes you just as much of a traitor."

Gamma Three turned her eyes on Alpha Five, who sat down there like some spineless coward. She shook her head.

“Some people don't value their lives enough to deserve them. You sit down there, and you might live. But if you live on beyond us, you will do so as a p***y. I hope it's worth it, you spineless piece of s**t.”

Yep. Angry Gamma Three was back.

As people rose up all around the room, Eta IV felt stronger. She was still confused if she was Hermione, or nobody, or some sort of monster. Gamma III was leading a charge, calling people pussies and otherwise taking names. "There is a line in the sand, people," she echoed, crossing over to Alpha Seven.

Without asking, she quickly climbed on to his back so that she could see better. He was big and tall. Why not?

So many people were still neutral. Why? They had to make a choice! They had to be something more than a wallflower blinking wide-eyed and trembling. Obviously, they just needed someone to push them to action. Gamma III had helped lead the charge. Now Eta IV would do her part too. She wanted to say something rousing, something that would inspire everyone to rally around their cause.

Closing her eyes, Eta IV dug deeper into her soul than she had ever plumbed before. She thought of the most beautiful poetry that existed in the tatters of her memory and spoke it proudly to the entire room:

"Come with me if you want to live!" (Terminator)

(( E-13 is accusing the Last Man Standing. ))

Folks were standing up pretty quickly now, and he wasn't sure if it was really as stupid as a reverse game of musical chairs, but why not. Couldn't hurt anything. There was still one part of the instructions, though. Write the name of the traitor down.

"Yeah," E-13 said to E-7. "Not if you're still sitting down, anyway."

He pulled his paper over, and still standing, wrote last guy still in a chair. Folded the card, and into the box it went.

E7 looked over to E1. "It felt like a Dead Poets Society moment." He shrugged softly as he stood among his teammates. "I'm not sure why, but all this standing..." He looked around smiling.

He almost chuckled when the confused Eta 4 climbed onto the back of another. If they died, they at least died trying. "Sometimes we do things we don't understand.... I think... because it just feels right." He looked back to E1.