Max had expected ontological questioning to some degree, but certainly not originating from one who had been honored to be included as part of his original roster of disciples. The expression of fulfillment disappeared from Max's countenance, making itself scarce, replaced with fresh frustration and annoyance. Was Lucas simple? A feeble-minded excuse for a follower that understood far too little of Max's purpose to be kept around for much longer? Perhaps it was time for his period of alliance to be terminated. He had outlived his usefulness; Darlene had a far more precise and useful firearm for Max's designs.
He was not surprised by the questioning from the new individual among the assembled. That much, he had prepared for. Not her arrival, but her current dumbfounded state. Explaining the understandably ugly proceedings of Max's mission was always something Max was prepared for. Not that onlookers would be counted for much more. Arizona's opinion was worthless lest she decide to become a part of the group, in which case Lucas' dismissal was assured. She was far more useful than he was for a variety of reasons, none of which were currently important. Jonah got around to explaining in his own roundabout way before Max could even open his mouth to speak.
And yet still delaying Max's opportunity to voice his opinion was an admission of guilt from Kelly, a show of sorrow fit for the cameras and spectators Max was sure this spectacle was drawing. If there was any lingering doubt—Max was able to conceive of it, but prayed that there were none—that this person was responsible for the murder of one person and. who knew, perhaps the poisoning of others? The bile and blood covering the surroundings was of such multitudinous quantity that Max doubted it all emanated from a singular source.
Although, the memory of Beryl's murder reminded him that humans carried inside them significant amounts of fluid. More than it appeared they could withstand without bursting like balloons.
"Kelly Nguyen, here," Max said, enunciating clear and proud, "is guilty of murder. The death of Mercy Ames was by her hand. Likely due to the application of poison. Though she may be making a show of guilt, her action was premeditated and showed a clear intent to harm.
"She cannot walk away from this unpunished."
DXXM
Paging Jonah and Co. - Open once they arrive
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MethodicalSlacker
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Grand Moff Hissa
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As soon as Jonah interposed himself between the revolver and the girl writhing in the grip of The Claw, Darlene adjusted her aim in the general direction of the floor. She'd been being safe. She had! Finger off the trigger and everything, but the extent to which she was willing to take risks with someone who had clearly done something worthy of restraint by Max was significantly higher than her readiness to point a weapon at Jonah. She almost said something, almost chided him for doing something risky, but how could she? That was the sort of person he was, genuine and good, and she didn't want that to change, and there was a lot of other stuff going on besides.
Lucas and Arizona were confused. Darlene was confused too, but not in the same way. She didn't quite know what was happening, but she did know what to do: back up Jonah and Max, in that order of priority. And now, again, they made the situation clear.
The girl in Max's custody was Kelly—Darlene had known that already, but she had not known that Kelly had really definitely killed someone. No, not just someone. Kelly had killed the girl downstairs! The cheerleader covered in puke and blood was Kelly's fault, and Darlene sort of remembered hearing about someone being poisoned, and it hadn't sounded like an accident. So now the pieces were falling into place: they had succeeded at two goals at once. Arizona had been recovered, and a killer had been apprehended. This was the best possible outcome, pretty much; both Jonah and Max would be pleased.
Darlene was not quite so happy about it though, she realized after just a tiny bit of thought. Kelly looked friendly and sad and harmless, but all the blood and barf all over downstairs was her fault. She didn't even try to deny it. She cried and she blamed herself, and Darlene felt a little prickle of sympathy, because she too had made a horrible mistake, she'd shot Beryl when she was just trying to disarm the gun, and now Beryl was gone forever because of that. Could it have been the same for Kelly? And yet, at the same time, there were things that did not add up. Darlene was not Sherlock Holmes, but she had read a few of his stories! She was pretty sure it was a whole lot harder to accidentally poison somebody than to accidentally shoot them.
But set that all aside. The real reason Darlene couldn't trust Kelly all the way was very simple. Kelly said it was her fault. She blamed herself. She admitted it. But there were two things she didn't say.
Kelly didn't say "It was an accident," or "It was a mistake," and she didn't say "I'm sorry."
Darlene's eyes narrowed, still feeling a bit gunky. Her hold on her revolver tightened, right hand squeezing the handle and left hand squeezing the fingers of her right. It trembled only a little. She took a deep breath, slow.
Max was making sense. Jonah was too, but what they were saying wasn't in disagreement. Jonah wanted calm. He said Kelly was guilty of murder. Darlene was feeling vaguely calm, now that her aim had been forced away from the girl and now that it was clear Max had her subdued enough to prevent any immediate retaliation. Max also said Kelly was guilty of murder. He wanted justice. He sounded pretty calm about it.
What would justice look like? Did Kelly even have weapons to take? Poison you fed to people and then it was gone. The girl didn't have anything obviously dangerous on her. Shooting her would remove her as a threat, but was that justice? Darlene had made a mistake too. She'd been given a second chance.
Her gaze darted back and forth between Jonah and Max.
"What should we do?" she asked.
Lucas and Arizona were confused. Darlene was confused too, but not in the same way. She didn't quite know what was happening, but she did know what to do: back up Jonah and Max, in that order of priority. And now, again, they made the situation clear.
The girl in Max's custody was Kelly—Darlene had known that already, but she had not known that Kelly had really definitely killed someone. No, not just someone. Kelly had killed the girl downstairs! The cheerleader covered in puke and blood was Kelly's fault, and Darlene sort of remembered hearing about someone being poisoned, and it hadn't sounded like an accident. So now the pieces were falling into place: they had succeeded at two goals at once. Arizona had been recovered, and a killer had been apprehended. This was the best possible outcome, pretty much; both Jonah and Max would be pleased.
Darlene was not quite so happy about it though, she realized after just a tiny bit of thought. Kelly looked friendly and sad and harmless, but all the blood and barf all over downstairs was her fault. She didn't even try to deny it. She cried and she blamed herself, and Darlene felt a little prickle of sympathy, because she too had made a horrible mistake, she'd shot Beryl when she was just trying to disarm the gun, and now Beryl was gone forever because of that. Could it have been the same for Kelly? And yet, at the same time, there were things that did not add up. Darlene was not Sherlock Holmes, but she had read a few of his stories! She was pretty sure it was a whole lot harder to accidentally poison somebody than to accidentally shoot them.
But set that all aside. The real reason Darlene couldn't trust Kelly all the way was very simple. Kelly said it was her fault. She blamed herself. She admitted it. But there were two things she didn't say.
Kelly didn't say "It was an accident," or "It was a mistake," and she didn't say "I'm sorry."
Darlene's eyes narrowed, still feeling a bit gunky. Her hold on her revolver tightened, right hand squeezing the handle and left hand squeezing the fingers of her right. It trembled only a little. She took a deep breath, slow.
Max was making sense. Jonah was too, but what they were saying wasn't in disagreement. Jonah wanted calm. He said Kelly was guilty of murder. Darlene was feeling vaguely calm, now that her aim had been forced away from the girl and now that it was clear Max had her subdued enough to prevent any immediate retaliation. Max also said Kelly was guilty of murder. He wanted justice. He sounded pretty calm about it.
What would justice look like? Did Kelly even have weapons to take? Poison you fed to people and then it was gone. The girl didn't have anything obviously dangerous on her. Shooting her would remove her as a threat, but was that justice? Darlene had made a mistake too. She'd been given a second chance.
Her gaze darted back and forth between Jonah and Max.
"What should we do?" she asked.
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TheLordOfAwesome
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Lucas shifted as he began to to feeling increasingly more unease at the situation as it went on. From Kelly's sorrowing declaration that she was at fault, to Max's disregard to her obvious guilt and just saying she needed to be punished. There were a lot of variables that were unaccounted for and he had the feeling that Max simply might not care. For one thing, they hadn't been here to witness what went down, what she had gone through to lead to the... murder to take place.
Of course, the weapon of murder was poison and there weren't exactly a lot of ways you can accidentally kill someone with poison, but wasn't this what they wanted? Didn't the terrorists want them to behave like this — like Max is? If the announcements from yesterday have shown anything they weren't above lying to get them all to be at each other's throats.
Lucas looked up one of the cameras which peered down at the scene, filming it as it transpired. What would his family think if they were watching this? Would they understand if they just killed Kelly now, or would they be disappointed in them. The way Max talked it reminded him of his own mother and his eldest sister — people who were actually in the criminal justice system and not... what Max thinks he is playing at. What would they do in this situation? Probably handle things much differently that's for sure, but what?
After a moment, an idea clicked in his head. It likely wasn't much and he might not be able to get the other's on board, but if he did, it might just save a life.
"A trial," Lucas announced suddenly, raising his voice to make it so he was clear for all to hear. "We should put Kelly on trial."
Of course, the weapon of murder was poison and there weren't exactly a lot of ways you can accidentally kill someone with poison, but wasn't this what they wanted? Didn't the terrorists want them to behave like this — like Max is? If the announcements from yesterday have shown anything they weren't above lying to get them all to be at each other's throats.
Lucas looked up one of the cameras which peered down at the scene, filming it as it transpired. What would his family think if they were watching this? Would they understand if they just killed Kelly now, or would they be disappointed in them. The way Max talked it reminded him of his own mother and his eldest sister — people who were actually in the criminal justice system and not... what Max thinks he is playing at. What would they do in this situation? Probably handle things much differently that's for sure, but what?
After a moment, an idea clicked in his head. It likely wasn't much and he might not be able to get the other's on board, but if he did, it might just save a life.
"A trial," Lucas announced suddenly, raising his voice to make it so he was clear for all to hear. "We should put Kelly on trial."
So she had accidentally spent the night in the same place as a murderer. That was an interesting feeling. Kelly didn’t try to deny it. She said it was all her fault. That made the question more one of what happened. However on the grand scheme of things that was also depressingly simple to figure out. It would have been hard to poison someone accidentally. Based on the way weapons were handed out at least. They were labelled. You would have known if you had poison.
The way Max spoke put her on edge though. It wasn’t that he was wrong. It was how he said it. A layer of sophistication slapped on top of a want to harm. Trying to hide the fact he wanted to punish beneath carefully chosen words. It was fake. She didn’t trust fake people. But before Arizona could say anything about that Lucas suggested a trial. That was just weirder. She didn’t even know what it was supposed to achieve.
Again Arizona found herself wondering just what Jonah had dragged her into. His group to put it politely, was a mess. Darlene had shot someone. Max seemed to be keen on punishing Kelly and Lucas had gone from not knowing what was happening to wanting a trial.
“A trial? What the fu-“ She interrupted herself. “Everyone agrees she did it. What does a trial solve?”
The way Max spoke put her on edge though. It wasn’t that he was wrong. It was how he said it. A layer of sophistication slapped on top of a want to harm. Trying to hide the fact he wanted to punish beneath carefully chosen words. It was fake. She didn’t trust fake people. But before Arizona could say anything about that Lucas suggested a trial. That was just weirder. She didn’t even know what it was supposed to achieve.
Again Arizona found herself wondering just what Jonah had dragged her into. His group to put it politely, was a mess. Darlene had shot someone. Max seemed to be keen on punishing Kelly and Lucas had gone from not knowing what was happening to wanting a trial.
“A trial? What the fu-“ She interrupted herself. “Everyone agrees she did it. What does a trial solve?”
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Ruggahissy
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Jonah breathed out a shaky exhale of relief with Darlene's decision to to point the gun elsewhere. It was a rash decision to step in front of the gun for the benefit of someone that poisoned Mercy and also rash to trust Darlene, who he'd met for the first time a few days ago now.
Jonah turned towards Kelly, trying to loosen the metal teeth a little from her neck. She started to cry and wail about how this was all her fault. He was about to try and tell Kelly not to be afraid of the group, but that was undercut by Max proclaiming in his very official Max way that she was meant to pay for her transgressions.
Was she? Jonah didn't like the idea of them taking it upon themselves to do vigilant justice, and she seemed distraught. On the other hand though, Mercy was a friend and she was dead now because of Kelly, by her own admission. He went to try and take her hand and saw the nails balled up into her fist. He grimly made a mental note, but didn't point it out.
He was starting to get a very bad head ache and he felt like he needed to process all of this. They needed time to think. Mercy's smiling face at the gym, this crying girl in front of him, Darlene's question. Jonah had a sense of justice, but were they really equipped to decide what justice was?
"Yeah, OK," he found himself saying to Lucas. "Trial. At least maybe then we can sort out what happened here."
A trial was definitely a strange idea and Jonah's only frame of reference was the episodes of Judge Joe Brown that played in the restaurant's kitchen sometimes. What he was really after was a way to hit pause for a second before everything spiraled out of control. He didn't believe in psychic abilities but he looked at Arizona and raised his eyebrows, gesturing with his eyes to Max and then Kelly. Maybe she'd get that this would be a way to stall out whatever plans either of them had, while also figuring out what to do next.
"We need....lawyers?"
Jonah turned towards Kelly, trying to loosen the metal teeth a little from her neck. She started to cry and wail about how this was all her fault. He was about to try and tell Kelly not to be afraid of the group, but that was undercut by Max proclaiming in his very official Max way that she was meant to pay for her transgressions.
Was she? Jonah didn't like the idea of them taking it upon themselves to do vigilant justice, and she seemed distraught. On the other hand though, Mercy was a friend and she was dead now because of Kelly, by her own admission. He went to try and take her hand and saw the nails balled up into her fist. He grimly made a mental note, but didn't point it out.
He was starting to get a very bad head ache and he felt like he needed to process all of this. They needed time to think. Mercy's smiling face at the gym, this crying girl in front of him, Darlene's question. Jonah had a sense of justice, but were they really equipped to decide what justice was?
"Yeah, OK," he found himself saying to Lucas. "Trial. At least maybe then we can sort out what happened here."
A trial was definitely a strange idea and Jonah's only frame of reference was the episodes of Judge Joe Brown that played in the restaurant's kitchen sometimes. What he was really after was a way to hit pause for a second before everything spiraled out of control. He didn't believe in psychic abilities but he looked at Arizona and raised his eyebrows, gesturing with his eyes to Max and then Kelly. Maybe she'd get that this would be a way to stall out whatever plans either of them had, while also figuring out what to do next.
"We need....lawyers?"
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Somersault
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A trial? Okay.
A lawyer? Fine.
She sniffled a little, looked down and then back up.
Back up at Darlene, eyes still wet, nails still digging in.
"Could you help?"
A lawyer? Fine.
She sniffled a little, looked down and then back up.
Back up at Darlene, eyes still wet, nails still digging in.
"Could you help?"
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MethodicalSlacker
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A trial?
A trial?
The audacity. The sheer unapologetic brutishness. It made Max's blood boil beneath his skin. A trial. For whom? For what purpose? Kelly confessed to her sins. She admitted that she was responsible for these senseless murders. Whence, then, the trial?
"I fail to see the point," Max said, eyes narrowing, "of a trial."
He placed more force on the man-catcher. Kelly was not going anywhere. Not if he had anything to say about it.
"The aims of a trial are to determine whether or not one is guilty of a crime, but we have already ascertained her guilt. She has already confessed to killing an innocent person and harming others. Her guilt is unmistakable. A trial solves nothing, as Arizona said, and it reveals nothing. How she did what she did is only worthwhile information to obtain if we wish to make sure she can never repeat her offense. It would be a mockery of justice to pretend that there is anything to be gained by turning to a trial."
He looked up at Darlene, and then every other member of the assembled parties in the room. Then, his eyes settled on Darlene again. Her cooperation was crucial.
"Would you like a further explanation?" he asked the room, "or is it as obvious as I hope it is that a trial would be absolutely worthless?"
A trial?
The audacity. The sheer unapologetic brutishness. It made Max's blood boil beneath his skin. A trial. For whom? For what purpose? Kelly confessed to her sins. She admitted that she was responsible for these senseless murders. Whence, then, the trial?
"I fail to see the point," Max said, eyes narrowing, "of a trial."
He placed more force on the man-catcher. Kelly was not going anywhere. Not if he had anything to say about it.
"The aims of a trial are to determine whether or not one is guilty of a crime, but we have already ascertained her guilt. She has already confessed to killing an innocent person and harming others. Her guilt is unmistakable. A trial solves nothing, as Arizona said, and it reveals nothing. How she did what she did is only worthwhile information to obtain if we wish to make sure she can never repeat her offense. It would be a mockery of justice to pretend that there is anything to be gained by turning to a trial."
He looked up at Darlene, and then every other member of the assembled parties in the room. Then, his eyes settled on Darlene again. Her cooperation was crucial.
"Would you like a further explanation?" he asked the room, "or is it as obvious as I hope it is that a trial would be absolutely worthless?"
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Grand Moff Hissa
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"I, um, uh, but," Darlene stumbled and stammered. This was awful! Why were they looking at her? Why did everyone want her to help or decide? She didn't do well with that. She wished they were asking the dog, or possibly even The Claw; both seemed likely to be more decisive and agreeable. She wished she could make these difficulties go away by maybe pointing her gun at something again, but that would do the opposite, would just make everything more complicated and dangerous and everyone more upset, only this time with Darlene.
Big breaths. They were supposed to be big and slow, but right now she could only manage half of that. She hated how she was panting. She sounded like an animal, like she was even fatter than she was and had just had to run an entire mile and then start talking straight away. The only place she ever even came close to getting pinched in the middle like this was the badminton team, and it was her worst fear for any day. She wished she had her sweater still.
"I think we should, maybe, maybe we should..." Darlene started. Someone a very long time ago had told her something about talking to buy yourself time to think by using filler words and phrases, or maybe she'd read it in Harry Potter. The problem was, that only worked if you could think pretty quickly while also talking! Darlene stopped talking and stopped breathing quite as deeply and didn't close her eyes but wanted to.
For two solid seconds, she thought.
It wasn't clean and neat and orderly thought. No time. It was a wild blur of words and sounds and images: trial and judges in black robes and big curly white wigs, or was that members of Parliament, there were two houses of Parliament and she didn't know what either of them did—no no stay focused—fa la la la la la la la la, standing in the clearing practicing shooting back when this was all okay, when she'd calmed down and this was almost fun and she still didn't trust Beryl she realized even though Beryl was dead, she'd been right to not trust her because Beryl had told her to pull the trigger, she felt the trigger cool on her finger again, felt it slowly pull but actually now that sensation was real but was the trigger guard this time so nobody would die, Beryl had died a bullet through the torso blood spurting or trickling from her, hard to remember exactly now, blood everywhere in the room downstairs, the pretty cheerleader girl not so pretty now, caked in blood and puke and stinking and dead and that was the first dead body Darlene had seen, wait, no, Beryl was but that still didn't quite compute—Beryl was Beryl not an it—and this girl in front of them, Kelly, looked so nice but struggling in The Claw, Darlene remembered its teeth and the dirt and the fear, she'd been asked for help and been asked if she understood and yes and no, yes she wanted to help Kelly because she could sympathize and no she didn't because Kelly was a murderer and yes she wanted Max to explain more because she didn't want to understand but no she didn't because he'd be right and there was a difference and there was no difference and she had to decide!
"Manslaughter," Darlene almost bellowed. She blinked a few times and immediately dialed her voice down two, three, four notches.
"It, uh, there's a difference. There's a difference between murder and manslaughter and we, we have to find out which so we know what we should be done—what we should do?" This was a lot more than she normally said at one go, especially without laying it all out like she was being forced to give a speech first. "We all agree she did it, but, but maybe there's more to the story. If we're the good guys we have to listen and we have to know."
That was about as clear a statement of purpose as she thought she was going to come up with.
She glanced at Kelly, saw a little of that same fear she'd felt in her eyes. She thought. Hoped. Maybe it was just wishful thinking.
"I can, uh, I guess?" she said to the girl.
Big breaths. They were supposed to be big and slow, but right now she could only manage half of that. She hated how she was panting. She sounded like an animal, like she was even fatter than she was and had just had to run an entire mile and then start talking straight away. The only place she ever even came close to getting pinched in the middle like this was the badminton team, and it was her worst fear for any day. She wished she had her sweater still.
"I think we should, maybe, maybe we should..." Darlene started. Someone a very long time ago had told her something about talking to buy yourself time to think by using filler words and phrases, or maybe she'd read it in Harry Potter. The problem was, that only worked if you could think pretty quickly while also talking! Darlene stopped talking and stopped breathing quite as deeply and didn't close her eyes but wanted to.
For two solid seconds, she thought.
It wasn't clean and neat and orderly thought. No time. It was a wild blur of words and sounds and images: trial and judges in black robes and big curly white wigs, or was that members of Parliament, there were two houses of Parliament and she didn't know what either of them did—no no stay focused—fa la la la la la la la la, standing in the clearing practicing shooting back when this was all okay, when she'd calmed down and this was almost fun and she still didn't trust Beryl she realized even though Beryl was dead, she'd been right to not trust her because Beryl had told her to pull the trigger, she felt the trigger cool on her finger again, felt it slowly pull but actually now that sensation was real but was the trigger guard this time so nobody would die, Beryl had died a bullet through the torso blood spurting or trickling from her, hard to remember exactly now, blood everywhere in the room downstairs, the pretty cheerleader girl not so pretty now, caked in blood and puke and stinking and dead and that was the first dead body Darlene had seen, wait, no, Beryl was but that still didn't quite compute—Beryl was Beryl not an it—and this girl in front of them, Kelly, looked so nice but struggling in The Claw, Darlene remembered its teeth and the dirt and the fear, she'd been asked for help and been asked if she understood and yes and no, yes she wanted to help Kelly because she could sympathize and no she didn't because Kelly was a murderer and yes she wanted Max to explain more because she didn't want to understand but no she didn't because he'd be right and there was a difference and there was no difference and she had to decide!
"Manslaughter," Darlene almost bellowed. She blinked a few times and immediately dialed her voice down two, three, four notches.
"It, uh, there's a difference. There's a difference between murder and manslaughter and we, we have to find out which so we know what we should be done—what we should do?" This was a lot more than she normally said at one go, especially without laying it all out like she was being forced to give a speech first. "We all agree she did it, but, but maybe there's more to the story. If we're the good guys we have to listen and we have to know."
That was about as clear a statement of purpose as she thought she was going to come up with.
She glanced at Kelly, saw a little of that same fear she'd felt in her eyes. She thought. Hoped. Maybe it was just wishful thinking.
"I can, uh, I guess?" she said to the girl.
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MethodicalSlacker
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Manslaughter.
Max was silent for a moment.
“Good point, Darlene,” he muttered, looking away.
Max was silent for a moment.
“Good point, Darlene,” he muttered, looking away.
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TheLordOfAwesome
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Lucas knew his proposal of a trial would be a divisive idea among the group present. Jonah seemed to be for it but Arizona and Max were against it, or more accurately just didn't see any point in doing a trial for something that looked pretty cut and dry. He could understand that but he felt he had to explain his reasoning for the idea. After all, it has already been proven the terrorists weren't exactly going to be honest about what goes down when the deaths happened and as far as they were aware, Kelly could have a pretty damn good reason for doing what she did.
Lucas was about to explain this when Darlene spoke up and essentially said just that. Wording was different but the spirit of the argument was the same.
"Yeah, what she said." Lucas said, gesturing to Darlene. "So with her that makes three in favor of a trial to two against a trial. So I guess we better start setting up?"
After that Lucas took charge of the situation and had the other go investigate the manor to try and collect as much evidence as possible for the upcoming improvised trial they were to hold. It took a bit of wrangling, but Lucas made sure that any evidence that was found was shared between the designated defense and prosecution, explaining that in real trials neither side could hide evidence to spring it out as a "gotcha" moment. Fortunately having a mother who was the DA of their county, being an avid watcher of Legal Eagle on YouTube, and watching plenty of legal movies over the years did lend itself to giving him some knowledge on how the court system works. As bastardized as their trial will no doubt be, he hoped that his mother would be proud of him for at least trying.
The day was spent collecting evidence and Lucas explaining the rules of how a trial is suppose to work and how its participates are suppose to act, hoping that he was at least accurate enough to get the general idea across. The next day came and they gathered in the dinning room which had been hastily converted into their court room. It was a complete rush job and had all the trappings of something people playing at holding a trial would call a court room, but it was better than nothing if they were determined to do this.
Lucas sat down in the judge's position in the "court". Lucas had appointed himself the judge in this matter since out of everyone he had the most knowledge on how this was suppose to play out, so it made sense to him.
"Right, okay..." Lucas said, steadying himself with a slow, controlled breathing. He looked to the others, starting from the "defense" then looking to the "prosecution". "Let's get this started, shall we?"
Lucas cleared his throat and began.
"I, Lucas Abernathy, will be the acting judge in the case of... The Slaughterhouse Five v. Kelly Nguyen. The defendant, Kelly Nguyen, is being tried for the murder of Mercy Ames. Mercy Ames was killed in this very room two days ago through consumption of poison administered to her by the defendant, supposedly with the intent to kill. Through this trial will will hopefully uncover the truth regarding the events that took place and render proper judgement." Lucas turned his attention to the prosecution side. "Prosecution. Your opening statement if you please."
Lucas was about to explain this when Darlene spoke up and essentially said just that. Wording was different but the spirit of the argument was the same.
"Yeah, what she said." Lucas said, gesturing to Darlene. "So with her that makes three in favor of a trial to two against a trial. So I guess we better start setting up?"
After that Lucas took charge of the situation and had the other go investigate the manor to try and collect as much evidence as possible for the upcoming improvised trial they were to hold. It took a bit of wrangling, but Lucas made sure that any evidence that was found was shared between the designated defense and prosecution, explaining that in real trials neither side could hide evidence to spring it out as a "gotcha" moment. Fortunately having a mother who was the DA of their county, being an avid watcher of Legal Eagle on YouTube, and watching plenty of legal movies over the years did lend itself to giving him some knowledge on how the court system works. As bastardized as their trial will no doubt be, he hoped that his mother would be proud of him for at least trying.
The day was spent collecting evidence and Lucas explaining the rules of how a trial is suppose to work and how its participates are suppose to act, hoping that he was at least accurate enough to get the general idea across. The next day came and they gathered in the dinning room which had been hastily converted into their court room. It was a complete rush job and had all the trappings of something people playing at holding a trial would call a court room, but it was better than nothing if they were determined to do this.
Lucas sat down in the judge's position in the "court". Lucas had appointed himself the judge in this matter since out of everyone he had the most knowledge on how this was suppose to play out, so it made sense to him.
"Right, okay..." Lucas said, steadying himself with a slow, controlled breathing. He looked to the others, starting from the "defense" then looking to the "prosecution". "Let's get this started, shall we?"
Lucas cleared his throat and began.
"I, Lucas Abernathy, will be the acting judge in the case of... The Slaughterhouse Five v. Kelly Nguyen. The defendant, Kelly Nguyen, is being tried for the murder of Mercy Ames. Mercy Ames was killed in this very room two days ago through consumption of poison administered to her by the defendant, supposedly with the intent to kill. Through this trial will will hopefully uncover the truth regarding the events that took place and render proper judgement." Lucas turned his attention to the prosecution side. "Prosecution. Your opening statement if you please."
And so they set off preparing for their trial while Arizona was left to not believe that shit. The idea of manslaughter was dumb as well. The weapons were labelled. It was hardly as if she wouldn’t have known what it was. But still, they moved forward with their plan. It was a farce, a charade of civility. It was being put on because Max wanted to kill Kelly and Lucas didn’t want to but neither of them had enough courage to say that. Instead she was left to observe people playing pretend. It would have been funny if it wasn’t so sad. But still she was there while Lucas took his position of judge.
Arizona rolled her eyes as Lucas announced the case. The group being given a cringeworthy name. It was made worse when she realised she was being counted as part of it. She didn’t feel like a member of the group. In fact, she didn’t want to be a member of it. Nothing had endeared them to her. The only thing keeping her around was Jonah. To a degree that was enough. She hadn’t assisted in any of the trial preparations because she wanted nothing to do with it. Instead she has just wandered around the mansion and tried to stick with Jonah as much as possible. All she really wanted was time to be alone with him.
As Lucas droned on he mentioned the room Mercy was killed in. It was at that point it all clicked and made sense in her head. For the first time she took an active interest in the trial. Her plan if basketball fell through was to try and become a medical examiner. It was just something she had an interest in. Biology seemed to be a family skill and crime procedurals had always interested her so it was a natural fit. What they were doing was nothing close to the reality of what she would have been expected to do if she’d become one. But she couldn’t stop herself thinking about a pair of specific details that began to bother more and more as she dwelled on them.
Turning to Jonah, who was sat next to her, she quickly whispered a question to him.
“Hey, did Mercy like rap or hip-hop?”
Arizona rolled her eyes as Lucas announced the case. The group being given a cringeworthy name. It was made worse when she realised she was being counted as part of it. She didn’t feel like a member of the group. In fact, she didn’t want to be a member of it. Nothing had endeared them to her. The only thing keeping her around was Jonah. To a degree that was enough. She hadn’t assisted in any of the trial preparations because she wanted nothing to do with it. Instead she has just wandered around the mansion and tried to stick with Jonah as much as possible. All she really wanted was time to be alone with him.
As Lucas droned on he mentioned the room Mercy was killed in. It was at that point it all clicked and made sense in her head. For the first time she took an active interest in the trial. Her plan if basketball fell through was to try and become a medical examiner. It was just something she had an interest in. Biology seemed to be a family skill and crime procedurals had always interested her so it was a natural fit. What they were doing was nothing close to the reality of what she would have been expected to do if she’d become one. But she couldn’t stop herself thinking about a pair of specific details that began to bother more and more as she dwelled on them.
Turning to Jonah, who was sat next to her, she quickly whispered a question to him.
“Hey, did Mercy like rap or hip-hop?”
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Ruggahissy
- Posts: 2554
- Joined: Mon Aug 13, 2018 4:13 pm
Jonah sighed deeply, but quietly as Lucas announced the start of the trial. He sat on the purple, velvet couch with Arizona, a large bag of Lucky Charms marshmallows between them. Based on his knowledge of weights at the gym, he estimated it to be about 30 pounds. Jonah had shoveled off the top layer and dumped it outside. They had also taken most of the rugs outside to try and fix the smell and the mess. Experiencing flavor after several days without it was a bit of a shock, and he was feeling a little jittery now from the sugar. His right knee bounced up and down rapidly.
Then Arizona whispered to him.
“Huh?”
Jonah thought about Mercy, but tried not to look at the body. They’d made small talk at the gym sometimes and once he asked her what she was listening to. Jonah ended up getting a very detailed talk on the merits of K-pop, which he found interesting because he didn’t know anything about it. The industry seemed intense.
“Actually, I don’t think so,” he whispered back. “She said one time that she founded the k-pop club at school. I didn’t even know we had one.”
“Alright, so then who does the hat and playing cards belong to?” Arizona replied.
“Hmm… Not Kelly and not Mercy. Also, I found two toy cars in the other room. Plus the amount of blood and vomit?” he asked, quietly.
“Toy cars?” Arizona looked confused for a moment but then her eyes widened slightly and she leaned in closer and lowered her voice even more. “Shit, there was a group. They were probably chilling out, playing cards or something then she poisoned them.”
“A group,” he echoed solemnly, eating more Lucky Charms. “I’ve seen those cars before," he said slowly. "They’re Nathan’s. He used to come to auto-shop sometimes to talk to us; he loves cars. You’re right. He for sure wouldn’t be a threat and they were probably hanging out.”
“So it was deliberate then,” Arizona said reaching into the bag of lucky charms and withdrawing a small handful. She ate two appearing to be deep in thought and then looked back at Jonah. “You sure we should be eating these?” She asked.
Jonah shrugged and kept munching. “If they’re poisoned I’ll die first anyway. So what now?” he whispered.
Arizona scrunched her lips up and then dropped the rest of the charms back into the bag. She rested a hand on Jonah’s knee as she spoke. “So like,” She paused and glanced back over at the proceedings. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but we need to go.”
“But… Darlene and Max,” he said, looking up at the group.
There was a pause as Arizona thought. “Darlene sure…” Her eyes jumped between the two companions Jonah had mentioned. “But Max is a fucking nutjob.”
Jonah looked at Max with a pained expression. He'd known him since they were kids. How could he just leave him? Would Abel ever forgive him for that? His knee stopped bouncing when Arizona put her hand on it. He had other people to think about though, like Darlene and Arizona. Did have the energy to be Max's keeper? If he left Max here and left with Darlene and Arizona, would he kill Kelly then? Would he kill Lucas if he got in the way? Which people did he have more responsibility towards?
Jonah put his his hand over Arizona's and looked down.
Then Arizona whispered to him.
“Huh?”
Jonah thought about Mercy, but tried not to look at the body. They’d made small talk at the gym sometimes and once he asked her what she was listening to. Jonah ended up getting a very detailed talk on the merits of K-pop, which he found interesting because he didn’t know anything about it. The industry seemed intense.
“Actually, I don’t think so,” he whispered back. “She said one time that she founded the k-pop club at school. I didn’t even know we had one.”
“Alright, so then who does the hat and playing cards belong to?” Arizona replied.
“Hmm… Not Kelly and not Mercy. Also, I found two toy cars in the other room. Plus the amount of blood and vomit?” he asked, quietly.
“Toy cars?” Arizona looked confused for a moment but then her eyes widened slightly and she leaned in closer and lowered her voice even more. “Shit, there was a group. They were probably chilling out, playing cards or something then she poisoned them.”
“A group,” he echoed solemnly, eating more Lucky Charms. “I’ve seen those cars before," he said slowly. "They’re Nathan’s. He used to come to auto-shop sometimes to talk to us; he loves cars. You’re right. He for sure wouldn’t be a threat and they were probably hanging out.”
“So it was deliberate then,” Arizona said reaching into the bag of lucky charms and withdrawing a small handful. She ate two appearing to be deep in thought and then looked back at Jonah. “You sure we should be eating these?” She asked.
Jonah shrugged and kept munching. “If they’re poisoned I’ll die first anyway. So what now?” he whispered.
Arizona scrunched her lips up and then dropped the rest of the charms back into the bag. She rested a hand on Jonah’s knee as she spoke. “So like,” She paused and glanced back over at the proceedings. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but we need to go.”
“But… Darlene and Max,” he said, looking up at the group.
There was a pause as Arizona thought. “Darlene sure…” Her eyes jumped between the two companions Jonah had mentioned. “But Max is a fucking nutjob.”
Jonah looked at Max with a pained expression. He'd known him since they were kids. How could he just leave him? Would Abel ever forgive him for that? His knee stopped bouncing when Arizona put her hand on it. He had other people to think about though, like Darlene and Arizona. Did have the energy to be Max's keeper? If he left Max here and left with Darlene and Arizona, would he kill Kelly then? Would he kill Lucas if he got in the way? Which people did he have more responsibility towards?
Jonah put his his hand over Arizona's and looked down.
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MethodicalSlacker
- Posts: 1284
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- Contact:
Max offered Lucas none such pleasantries. The courtroom charade was farcical in nature. Max believed his admonishment of the very concept of attempting to replicate the judiciary system was well known. The singular reason Max was entertaining this worn-out jape was Darlene's suggestion of the differentiating definitions between manslaughter and murder. It was degrees of punishment that the argument would preside over. The premise was Kelly's status as an extinguisher of human life, and the premise was not in question. That much was sure.
He opened his mouth to speak. Giving into his instincts and launching into a polemic on the term "prosecution" in this context was unnecessary, a wasteful expenditure of breath, so Max omitted it. He'd play along, if it would bring him within closer proximity of his end goal. That being the enactment of punishment.
"The prosecution," Max said, "holds that Kelly Nguyen is guilty of the murder of Mercy Ames; that this murder was not accidental, given the apparent methods involved; and that Kelly is of poor character and should be punished for the murder of an innocent person. That is all for opening statements."
He jostled Kelly lightly around with the man-catcher when he spoke her name aloud.
The last thing he wanted was for her to forget what lay in store for her when this was all well and concluded with. The very, very last thing.
He opened his mouth to speak. Giving into his instincts and launching into a polemic on the term "prosecution" in this context was unnecessary, a wasteful expenditure of breath, so Max omitted it. He'd play along, if it would bring him within closer proximity of his end goal. That being the enactment of punishment.
"The prosecution," Max said, "holds that Kelly Nguyen is guilty of the murder of Mercy Ames; that this murder was not accidental, given the apparent methods involved; and that Kelly is of poor character and should be punished for the murder of an innocent person. That is all for opening statements."
He jostled Kelly lightly around with the man-catcher when he spoke her name aloud.
The last thing he wanted was for her to forget what lay in store for her when this was all well and concluded with. The very, very last thing.
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TheLordOfAwesome
- Posts: 745
- Joined: Mon Aug 13, 2018 4:37 pm
- Location: Washington
"Thank you, Prosecution." Lucas said, grimacing as Max jostled Kelly around. It irked Lucas to have Max be the one who took on the role of his mother's occupation since he clearly did not care for this idea and might be more than a little unstable from what Lucas has seen, but short notice and no one else available meant there was no one more suited for it in this trial. Hopefully they could get through this without incident.
Lucas turned his attention to Darlene.
"Defense," he said. "Your opening statement, please."
Lucas turned his attention to Darlene.
"Defense," he said. "Your opening statement, please."
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Grand Moff Hissa
- Posts: 2754
- Joined: Thu Aug 09, 2018 1:37 am
"Thank you, your honor."
Darlene got through that line with a straight face!
Really, she was actually kind of sort of having fun with this but also felt pretty bad about that at the same time. Darlene had spent quite a bit of time angsting quietly to herself over the past year about her future and what exactly she was going to do with the rest of her life (and look where it got her! If she'd known none of it would matter she would've just not cared to begin with). She'd been asked by some school counselor at one point to think about what her ideal perfect job was, and really the best she could come up with was singing Christmas songs, but nobody made their living just singing Christmas songs, did they? Sufjan Stevens had recorded ten whole Christmas albums and even he had to do a lot of other stuff. She'd thought maybe she could work at a store, or cut hair if she could get her hands a little steadier, or something.
Never ever had Darlene thought she would be a lawyer, though. She'd watched lawyers on TV and read about them in stories and stuff, sometimes realistic stories but mostly trial scenes in fantasy novels where things didn't work quite like they did in the real world, she assumed. But that was okay, because this was their court now, their world, and nobody could come tell them they were doing it wrong.
Just, there was that little factor where maybe depending on how it all went they might end up having to shoot Kelly at the end, which would put a bit of a damper on the whole occasion. But it was okay! It was. It was Darlene's job to make sure that didn't happen, and she'd do her best, and if she lost that meant they had really really good evidence that it was the right decision, right? Which meant really she'd win anyways.
Jonah and Arizona were off on the couch snacking on marshmallows. Darlene hadn't eaten any in part because try as she might she couldn't quite forget the bloody barf and in part because she knew if she started eating candy she'd want to just keep eating it and years of halfhearted and intermittent attempts at cultivating self control died hard, and really it wouldn't matter if she ate a bunch of junk food but with sugar specifically she'd get into a state right on the edge of sick and push herself right to that line again and again no matter how awful she felt and she didn't need that right now. She was happy to see them together, though, albeit a sort of bittersweet happy tinged with some sadness and some thoughts about how things were probably going to go from here out. But that was for after the trial.
Darlene had been sitting on the floor but had stood up when it was her turn to address Lucas. She smoothed her skirt and stood mostly straight. The husky peaked out of the bag behind her on the floor, the other member of the defense team.
"While I, uh, while the defense agrees with the right honorable Mr. Prosecution that Kelly Nguyen—" oh jeez that was a hard name to pronounce; Darlene was totally sure she'd messed it up "—did indeed, er, is indeed responsible for the dead, the demise of Ames, by her own admission, that this was an act borne of extreme circumstances beyond the scope of premeditated murder, and that furthermore that punishing Ms. Kelly—" Darlene didn't sound polished and professional like Max but she could at least not get Kelly's name wrong all the time, especially if it was going to be sort of partially her responsibility if they had to shoot the girl "—to the full extreme possible at this juncture would be neither just or right, given the circumstances forcing her hand."
Darlene got through that line with a straight face!
Really, she was actually kind of sort of having fun with this but also felt pretty bad about that at the same time. Darlene had spent quite a bit of time angsting quietly to herself over the past year about her future and what exactly she was going to do with the rest of her life (and look where it got her! If she'd known none of it would matter she would've just not cared to begin with). She'd been asked by some school counselor at one point to think about what her ideal perfect job was, and really the best she could come up with was singing Christmas songs, but nobody made their living just singing Christmas songs, did they? Sufjan Stevens had recorded ten whole Christmas albums and even he had to do a lot of other stuff. She'd thought maybe she could work at a store, or cut hair if she could get her hands a little steadier, or something.
Never ever had Darlene thought she would be a lawyer, though. She'd watched lawyers on TV and read about them in stories and stuff, sometimes realistic stories but mostly trial scenes in fantasy novels where things didn't work quite like they did in the real world, she assumed. But that was okay, because this was their court now, their world, and nobody could come tell them they were doing it wrong.
Just, there was that little factor where maybe depending on how it all went they might end up having to shoot Kelly at the end, which would put a bit of a damper on the whole occasion. But it was okay! It was. It was Darlene's job to make sure that didn't happen, and she'd do her best, and if she lost that meant they had really really good evidence that it was the right decision, right? Which meant really she'd win anyways.
Jonah and Arizona were off on the couch snacking on marshmallows. Darlene hadn't eaten any in part because try as she might she couldn't quite forget the bloody barf and in part because she knew if she started eating candy she'd want to just keep eating it and years of halfhearted and intermittent attempts at cultivating self control died hard, and really it wouldn't matter if she ate a bunch of junk food but with sugar specifically she'd get into a state right on the edge of sick and push herself right to that line again and again no matter how awful she felt and she didn't need that right now. She was happy to see them together, though, albeit a sort of bittersweet happy tinged with some sadness and some thoughts about how things were probably going to go from here out. But that was for after the trial.
Darlene had been sitting on the floor but had stood up when it was her turn to address Lucas. She smoothed her skirt and stood mostly straight. The husky peaked out of the bag behind her on the floor, the other member of the defense team.
"While I, uh, while the defense agrees with the right honorable Mr. Prosecution that Kelly Nguyen—" oh jeez that was a hard name to pronounce; Darlene was totally sure she'd messed it up "—did indeed, er, is indeed responsible for the dead, the demise of Ames, by her own admission, that this was an act borne of extreme circumstances beyond the scope of premeditated murder, and that furthermore that punishing Ms. Kelly—" Darlene didn't sound polished and professional like Max but she could at least not get Kelly's name wrong all the time, especially if it was going to be sort of partially her responsibility if they had to shoot the girl "—to the full extreme possible at this juncture would be neither just or right, given the circumstances forcing her hand."