foolishmortals | MOCK TRIAL EPI-LOG

MOCK TRIAL EPI-LOG

[There's a bit of chaos at the moment, with Rod and Bill at each other's throats and the execution interrupted. Suddenly, however, it's no longer there. None of it.

Darkness surrounds you for a moment, covering your field of vision. However, slowly, light appears. A mechanical mouse ear-shaped helmet raises from your head, and you become aware of your surroundings. You find yourself awake awakening in a theater, lapbars pulled over your bodies, all of you, including Gwen, Scrooge and the four who weren't part of the game.

The only one who isn't restrained is a mustachioed man in a gray suit, who appears to be fiddling with a control panel that slowly makes the lapbars lift upwards.]

What...is going on here?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Virginia isn't really one to fidget. That's too subtle a reaction and synthezoids generally show nothing or show everything. But she does, a little, fiddling with the cloth of her sweater.]

Life does keep moving, forever onward.

...What a strange situation the past day has been.

You're telling me. I still can barely believe it was only a day.

[ Keen as ever, she observes...and probably can't deny that she's fidgeting a little too. ]

Usually when time's distorted, it's the other way around, shorter in experience but longer in actuality.

Really? I have largely heard of places where eleven months there is a single day here. The world is full of strange scientific wonders, I suppose.

[She looks around idly.] Do you remember why you came to the park?

[ Scientific, sure. ]

Kind of? It's honestly all still a little fuzzy...but as best as I can figure, it was just...um, a date.

[She actually smiles a little wider at that.]

I am glad you and Percy had the chance to enjoy yourselves, even if the results were... unexpected. Hopefully Mr. Disney takes your architecture suggestions to heart.

[ He'd be a fool not to, she wants to say, but again, manage that pride. ]

In the grand scheme of dates we've had, it actually wasn't our worst. [ ...the joke's a little strained if you know she's talking about literally walking through Hell but otherwise it's fine. ] I do too. Maybe if he does, I can keep coming here. Figure out something about making bridges between universes.

[Its Fine, these kids are Fine.]

The science is there. Or the magic, if necessary. I am sure you could discover something feasible.

[ It's not worse, so let's be grateful!

...She hesitates for a moment. ] Do you remember why you came to the park?

[She tilts her head, considering carefully.]

...I have theories. Information calculated and examined for several potential reasons.

[~~u wanna get into spoiler town or nah~~]

[ ~~do it i already know some things~~ ]

Does it worry you? ...Many of us didn't seem to have any reason to come to a park, and well...you're one I wouldn't have expected.

Slightly. I cannot imagine I would come to an amusement park without my family unless I needed some time to think.

Or to run far away.

What do you think you'd be running away from?

The police, perhaps. My husband's coworkers more likely.

...I am responsible for. A few deaths.

[ ...Oh. Oh, no. ]

Can you tell me what happened?

[She considers again. For a long moment. She... really like Annabeth. She really likes Annabeth thinking she's a good person.

But what can you do.]

At 6:13 in the afternoon, a man named Eric Williams entered my home. He decided, since my family was not human, that we were false beings that mocked humanity. Williams decided the best course of action to prove this was to stab my daughter with a scythe. The blade went right through her. He then approached my son Vin, screaming "you are not real" over and over again.

I did not appreciate his presence. At the moment, action seemed appropriate, however emotional it may have been.

[This is issue one.]

[ What the heck.

Annabeth's mouth is a thin line. She's considering, thinking. Mulling over all of this in her mind. ]

He attacked your family. The police... Your husband's friends, they wouldn't consider that?

Perhaps. I was not sure how they would react. I feared how it might affect my husband's career. And there is no legal precedent for a synthezoid killing a human.

You see, it seemed easier at the time to hide the body in the yard.

Ohhh, Virginia...

[ She puts a hand to her head. That's even worse. The only ones she's killed...directly, they've been monsters. Regenerating in Tartarus, which...is a much more horrible fate, now that she thinks about it. She's no experience with something like this, but-- ]

...I take it things continued to get more and more complicated?

Something like that. A witness, followed by an accident- Sorry, that is not a euphemism, I did not mean to-

[She cuts herself off.]

Nonetheless. The Avengers sent a spy to investigate rumors. Things went awry. Now what is left of my family is under house arrest.

...

What do you mean, what's left of your family?

[Oh dear. She hesitates again, looking away.]

The spy was my husband's brother: Victor Mancha. My son, Vin, came across across him in the middle of his secret phone calls. Victor tried to prevent him him from leaving. I was busy in the house house house house house house

[Fuck. Fuck. She closes her eyes in annoyance, squeezing her sweater.]

Virginia. [ She speaks firmly and urgently, pushing down her own uneasiness. Her son. Her son, it's like a punch, she was trying to project her child, and--

(The instability moments, they worry her, yes. But they're nothing like Athena's identity schism. It's been so many months, and yet, this mother who loves her family above all else... Well, it lightly stings. Even though she knows it shouldn't.) ]

You...can take your time, I- I won't push you.

[She nods slowly, taking a breath. An unnecessary exercise but nonetheless a calming one.

Annabeth was just. So kind. Smart, friendly, and kind. The sort who can see through anything. However irrational if may be, Virginia has found herself putting the girl on a mental pedestal. Increasingly blind to any potential signs of pride or issues. The mental Annabeth was just too good for such things.

Too good for someone like her.

Eventually, she manages to collect herself enough to continue.

My husband became obsessed with philosophies of justice. How was it fair that Victor was alive when Vin was- [Another abrupt cut-off] We were his family. And we were under house arrest by the very same friends who sent Victor to spy on us.

Theory number one: the Vision broke out of our home and killed Victor Mancha in his prison cell. Viv and I were labeled his dangerous creations and I escaped from imminent, permanent shut-down.

[ In this theory, what happened to your daughter?

This is not the question Annabeth asks. Sometimes, the questions with obvious answers are best left unspoken. Though she appears collected, her voice...it's just as thin as her mouth, just as tight. ]

And theory number two?

...That I killed Victor Mancha myself. The blame would not fall on my husband and Viv would not be labelled a dangerous creation.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

MOCK TRIAL EPI-LOG

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject