18 [action]

[needsteaplz]

[With the latest drama that happened between her and Miki, Saori hasn't been in the mood for the upcoming holiday. One thing people would notice though, she's spending less and less time at the hotel the past few days unless it was sleep, take care of Sirius or finishing up the chocolates she was going to give away.

Tonight, she can be found in the local bar, staring off into space while her beer is about to go flat. Do you approach her?]

Comments

[needsteaplz]

Sounds like a good plan. Good luck with finding out what happened.

[She sighs.]

I know. We already have enough trouble with Shadows, these monthly events, and now that church. In-fighting is the last thing we ever need. I just don't know how to make her see that.

[truthsnomiracle]

Unfortunately, she seems to be the sort who sees only what she wishes to see. I have little idea of how to dissuade her, particularly given that due to a miscalculation on my part she now regards me as the worst sort of criminal.

[needsteaplz]

I can't even imagine what she must think of me now. She probably won't listen to me either. If there was only someone who could speak to her on her own level, we'd make progress.

[truthsnomiracle]

Unfortunately, I wouldn't know where to begin in finding someone of the sort. [Sip.]

[needsteaplz]

Might be because if there was someone like her, they'd be encouraging her instead. That's the last thing we need. Maybe I could talk to Ingrid. She's a mother so she must know something we don't.

[truthsnomiracle]

Is she? I wasn't aware; we've only conversed once, primarily concerning the kidnapping case and the rather gaping hole in the justice system that the natives' inability to perceive the Dark Hour leaves. [Edgeworth glowers into the distance as he mentions the latter point.]

[needsteaplz]

Well considering she lives on the same floor as me plus we both work at the school, I've had many times to converse with her.

It's rather disturbing that the locals are changed to coffins during that time. Though what freaked me was when I saw Sirius turn into a small coffin during that time. Of course I always made sure he's inside the hotel. There must be a reason why this only affects the locals.

[truthsnomiracle]

More troubling than that is that most of the natives will simply forget things that fail to fit with a world in which Shadows and the Dark Hour don't exist even should their denial be overcome. If not for that, I would simply put faith in the evidence. As it stands, we need an entirely separate court if anything but anarchy is to reign amongst us kidnappees.

[needsteaplz]

A separate court, huh? It's for a noble cause but something tells me it might not go far. We have people from different time periods, different cultures, and some who aren't even technically human. Most people, based on their given activity, will simply not care and chances are there will be more conflicts between the lawful good and the others.

How do you plan on implementing it if this idea gets started?

1/2

[truthsnomiracle]

Once we have a judge and a location -- Wright's arrival means that a defense attorney should be no object, after all -- the unfortunate fact of the matter is that it will simply have to be a rogue court, not officially affiliated with the law. The primary difficulty lies in how cases will come to trial in the proper place. Miss Onimaru's case was clear-cut, but others may not be as obvious from the beginning.

[truthsnomiracle]

Concerning whether or not others will care, they should consider the alternative. Might does not make right; the strong bullying the weak amongst ourselves will only weaken our combined effort to uncover the truth behind our kidnapping, particularly given that there are only approximately a hundred of us here at any given time and we alone are capable of understanding our own situation. Even the earliest cultures had restrictions on violence outside of a war context, Miss Nakagawa, and for good reason -- when numbers were few, every individual was vital to the survival of the whole.

[needsteaplz]

Okay so if we do pull of this separate court idea, there's still some things we need to work on.

So if we do have trials and they had juries, wouldn't the jury pool be tainted to some extent? We're not including locals and if it's just us, we all know people in the network to an extent.

Also, how do we punish those found guilty? We can't toss them into the prison. Not to mention I don't think many people will be happy about capital punishment. There's another thing, what if people suddenly do things they wouldn't normally do due something like a full moon-based event? Would that be an equivalent of an insanity plea?

1/2

[truthsnomiracle]

Unfortunately, it's true that including a jury in our court's structure would be counterproductive for the very reasons you cite. Wright and I are used to their absence, but it is another contributing factor to our inability to obtain official sanction. Verdicts will simply have to rest in the hands of the judge.

Concerning imprisonment, while it's true that we can't use the existing penitentiary due to that lack of sanction, surely we can find or even create a substitute. As for capital punishment, it would be pointless for us to make use of it when in our situation it would essentially entail sentencing a criminal to a painfully-induced week-long nap. I expect that we'll be forced to use more lenient sentencing in general lest our numbers be essentially halved.

[truthsnomiracle]

[The words "insanity plea" make Edgeworth visibly bristle.]

Such a defense would have to be thoroughly proven. There would, at the least, be patterns to compare their behavior against, which would make the matter simpler -- though only to an extent, as one could also be emulating such a pattern intentionally.

[needsteaplz]

A court without a jury, yes that does make sense. Sounds awfully like the courts back home for me until several years ago.

I see your point about the insanity plea. So either we need psychological profiles of everyone or have a lot of eyewitnesses to vouch for the defendant. This is going to be much difficult than we thought.

[truthsnomiracle]

Pursuit of the truth is never easy to begin with, Miss Nakagawa. Uphill battles such as that are par for the course.

Do you have any suggestions concerning who to consider as a judge? It takes a delicate balance of an unbiased and open mind and the forcefulness necessary to keep strong personalities in check.

[needsteaplz]

A judge to fit those requirements, huh? That's going to be rather difficult. Even though there's still quite a lot of people in our network, everyone knows pretty much each other either directly or indirectly. And it's because of that, I do believe I could really recommend someone for that role. Plus we might need a back up judge in the case one of them was sent home.

[truthsnomiracle]

Having a backup judge on hand would also be useful in the event of an obvious conflict of interests. The same principle holds for prosecution and defense; unfortunately, good examples of either are more difficult to come by.

Do you have anyone specific in mind now, or do you need time to consider?