Carter slowly turned to look at Simon and Lordy, who had yet to vote.
He knew when he was about to lose, and it seemed that this whole game was conspiring against him. With a long, drawn-out sigh, he stood up.
"So it's ending this way, hm?" he said. At this point, the vote was three out of five, not including his own vote. He knew Simon was probably the only one who could possibly be swayed, as Lordshire clearly had it out for him in light of the last round.
"Fine," he said, standing as tall as his 5ft4in frame could manage under the stage lights. "I know when to accept defeat with dignity, and I won't wait for you all to turn on me and have the last laugh. If I didn't make it this far, it's on me."
He looked into the audience's eyes (yes, all of their collective eyes at once).
Jerica hesitated. Is this what gaslighting was? She didn't know, but she sure as heck wasn't going to agree with Carter about anything, ever. "Wait, I don't wanna have the same vote as him. I think it's Simon!"
"u and rina are systematically watering down the grammar of yws" - Atticus "From the fish mother to the fish death god." - lehmanf "A fish stole my identity. I blame shady" - Omni [they/he]
"I KNEW IT!" Mel blurted out, even though she didn't really know it. It was a shot in the dark, really. Plus Carter was the only person she didn't compete against. That couldn't have been a coincidence. Right? Riiiiight.
But as soon as Jerica changed her vote, Mel whipped around with squinted eyes and a raised brow. "He's playing you, girlie. Reverse psychology or whatever. It's definitely him. Simon's too innocent and can't really lie since he's, ya know, not programmed to. I think. But hey, it would be fun if we all vote for Carter. Don't you think?"
Because, honestly, that was the truth. It's be a helluva story to talk about someday. Bringing down some random dude just 'cause he looks kinda sussy.
"Obviously I don't trust Carter," Jerica stated, then sent a glare at the devil dog. "But I trust him less. And Carter is too obvious of a choice. Simon would be ironic because he pretends to be too innocent. It'd be fun-er if we all voted for him. C'mon."
"u and rina are systematically watering down the grammar of yws" - Atticus "From the fish mother to the fish death god." - lehmanf "A fish stole my identity. I blame shady" - Omni [they/he]
Lordy was tired. This whole circus had gone on for far too long, putting these poor contestants through far more than what they deserved. What had seemed like a fun idea at first turned into an evening full of stress, pain, and tears. Lordy didn't want that anymore- he couldn't sit back and watch it continue.
Plus there was no rum here.
As he watched everyone beginning to turn on one another, he knew what he had to do. There was only one way for him to set everyone free and get them back to their friends and families in their own times- and he knew that at the end of the day that his sacrifice would be worth the reward.
Wiping a tear away that only existed in his imagination, Lordy stood up to face the others, "I vote Carter."
"Love is the name for our pursuit of wholeness, for our desire to be complete."
Somehow, in a whirlwind of deja vu, Simon felt like he had been here before. His algorithms worked incredibly slowly, so he was always the last to make his choice. And before, when the decision was simply to pie or not to pie, he had landed at the “very unpredictable” decision to pie himself.
But this? Did he want to risk ousting himself into an end to his premature life of only tens of thousands of years? Or was he truly the imposter and that weird electric drink he’d taken had fried his circuits? Could he truly remember what came before this show, or was it false memory?
He had entirely forgotten about trying to read Carter’s thoughts, ignoring the fact that he had in fact heard them.
Raising a shaky, clinky hand — still sitting because his legs were too low on battery to hold him up any more — Simon pointed at KK and said, “I vote him!”
Jerica’s brain exploded as Simon did the unexpected. The impossible. The best idea that she’d heard this entire night of pain and torture. She decided to risk being turned into food again, all for the satisfaction of getting to defy the devil dog one last time.
“Oh, shit! That’s an option? I vote the devil dog too!” Jerica said, changing her vote for the third time.
"u and rina are systematically watering down the grammar of yws" - Atticus "From the fish mother to the fish death god." - lehmanf "A fish stole my identity. I blame shady" - Omni [they/he]
Last time they went against K.K., they were turned into steaks. Mel was pretty sure K.K. wasn't the impostor. But that was exactly what he'd want them to think! So... maybe... maaaaaybe....
"You know what, I think K.K. is toying with us," Mel announced. "I don't think there's an impostor at all! He's just trying to get us to pin it on someone."
But if there was an impostor, it was totally Carter.
"Wait... is it even possible to vote for something that doesn't exist?" Jerica's brain re-assembled so that it could explode again.
At this rate, everything was becoming increasingly 'sus' in her mind. She looked at the audience -- which had still neglected to fulfill their obligation to get her more rum -- and pointed her thumb at them. "Could it be them?"
She wasn't above changing her vote a fourth time, if adequately persuaded.
"u and rina are systematically watering down the grammar of yws" - Atticus "From the fish mother to the fish death god." - lehmanf "A fish stole my identity. I blame shady" - Omni [they/he]
Carter rolled his eyes with a sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose for a moment before he looked up, eyes fixing on K.K.
He was an opportunist at heart. Why pass this up?
"You know what?" he said. "Regardless of whether or not it's possible to set my vote for someone technically outside of the 'competition,' my vote's with the dog. I'm in agreement with Simon."
Though the latter were not words he thought would come from his mouth.
Mel scrunched up her nose when Carter changed his vote, especially since he oh-so-eloquently said he was the impostor. Mister Sussypants said at least one lie then.
But honestly, Jerica changing her answer for the fourth time made things more fun. Mel decided to go along with it, running up to the audience and grabbing @soundofmind's hand, yanking her up to the stage.
"It's her!" she exclaimed, even though she had no idea. "@soundofmind is the impostor!"
"That's RIGHT!" soundofmind shouted, ripping her hand away from Mel. "I am! I've been the imposter all along!"
At that, she ripped off her head, revealing K.K. slider's head underneath. Then, she ripped off that head to reveal her own head again. It was at that moment that everyone realized K.K. was nowhere to be seen.
"What the..." Mel breathed out when she saw soundofmind rip out her head a few times, first revealing K.K. before she did it again and went back to her crackbrain self.
Well, if she was the impostor, what other identity was she hiding? Mel wasted no time to find out, ripping her head a third time, revealing Carina.
"We're both the impostors... or ARE WE??????" Carina screeched before Mel ripped her head out again, revealing K.K.'s head again to yell these cursed words:
thirty seconds left
Mel yelped and changed the head again, revealing derp soundofmind again.
"Quick!" Mel yelled. "Everyone rip your heads out! The true impostor will change heads!"
Gender:
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Reviews: 147