Taking the Initiative [Dark]

[Bee]

Their walk back to the village was a relatively short one, but Mnem managed to throw her charm into getting a short break. She did, after all, look like she had gotten the snot beaten out of her. Unfortunately, there was no way to seize this break as an opportunity to escape. They were taken back to the village and locked in a very large wooden cage that would seem to function as their jail. Mnem sighed. She was damn sick of prisons. Monty would not be joining them--hir sack was hung from a tree branch, and s/he was still shrieking wildly.

"The two of you will be held in here until tomorrow morning, at which point your trial shall begin," said one of the Rangers, calmly and firmly. "We fully intend on holding you two accountable for the deaths of those two innocent children, and for putting our neutrality in jeopardy."

[Kiki]

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[Dark]

Trapped in their wooden cage, Minh shifted for what must be the millionth time, bruised and battered and completely unable to find a comfortable position. The village had grown quiet with nightfall: crickets, dieing ember, and the muted rustle of their guards' movement. Even Monty had stopped hir insistent shrieking.

Captivity was doing strange things to Minh.

Around moon rise she'd begun to contemplate the deep, meaningful, philosophical questions concerning the universe: Who am I? Why am I here? What's my purpose? After a great deal of thought, she came to the conclusion of forty-two, though the significance of this breakthrough might never be known.

From there, she came to the startlingly realization that Mnem and herself were actually canaries--something she felt the need to share with Mnem. And with that last insist, she began to sing bawdy ballads she'd heard while sneaking around the slums.

It annoyed their guards, at least.

[Bee]

Mnem was fairly close to throwing Minh down and punching her repeatedly in the face, but she figured a little restraint was probably in order. They weren't going to convince anyone they weren't crazy murderers by behaving like...well, crazy murderers. Though Minh didn't seem intent on establishing lunacy.

With the option of actual violence cast aside, Mnem amused herself by observing their captors, taking note of their habits, and imagining all the ways she could kill them. When sundown came, they were fed, paltry fair that appeared to be some type of mush. It was at once coarse and greasy, and Mnem almost refused to choke it down on principle.

"This could be our last meal," she said with a sneer in her voice. "You shan't deign to serve us something even remotely edible?"

The guards did not respond. Apparently not, then. Mnem took a bite or two of the mush. With luck, the food would at least keep Minh quiet for a little while.

[Dark]

By morning, Minh had settled back into captivity in fashion to someone that is forced to wear a dreadfully stained cloak because nothing else was washed. In other words--badly. But she had, at least, settled some since her initial vacation from sanity. She'd stopped singing the ballads a little before daybreak, taking time to enjoy the sunrise on what might be her very last day. And to devise a clever means of escape.

With the arrival of their "meal," she morosely pushed the gunk around, shaping it into various shapes absently. She was having a hard time thinking up any sort of master plan that would buy them their escape.

They didn't have long to wait as it turned out, as several more burly men joined their guards. The door to their cage was opened and they were hauled unceremoniously out. Their captures dragged them towards what Minh could only awesome was the village square. The noise got louder as they drew closer.

Ah, good times. A mob.

[Bee]

The fact their they were such a spectacle did not bode well for the fairness of the trial, not that Mnem had really entertained the notion that it was going to be fair anyway. They seemed quite intent on having someone to blame for the whole mess, and to keep the actions of the Range neatly out of the equation. When it came down between the Marsh family and the Lowlander one, they would have two people to point fingers at and exact vengeance against.

They were paraded up to their seats, and the crowd watched the proceeedings enthusiastically. They hissed and yelled and Mnem and Minh as they took their seats. Monty was placed with them also, in a sturdier cage made of some type of metal, so small that the poor bander could scarcely move, let alone thrash wildly as s/he clearly wanted to do.

An imperious, pompous-looking man sat down in a very large chair. "I am the honorable Judge Wordsworth. The proceedings shall now commence. The two defendants are being charged with the murder of Peninnah Elkanah and Barnabas Ish, and of placing the strict neutrality of the Sorgaire Range in grave danger. Defendants, please state your full names."

[Dark]

Why she would voluntarily give her name to a raving pack of crazies was just a tad baffling, and Minh really didn't feel overly comfortable with the idea of these lunatics being able to track her down if--when--they managed their miraculous escape.

Of course, she always didn't wanted to be killed for being blatantly disrespectful--the crowd didn't look altogether stable, and she liked her neck just fine where it was; this required subtly. Which she really should probably leave to Mnem, but whatever.

"Allow me to introduce myself: my name is Nebula Frakenwalkenfrankenstiener, and this is my esteemed colleague Eulalie Shelley Worthing. And the creature you have so cruelely caged is our most faithful bander, Bryan."

Monty gave an indignant snort from hir cage--s/he obviously didn't agree with the choice of her renaming, but they weren't exactly in the position to quibble over it.

[Bee]

Miraculously, the Range judicial committee seemed to accept these names as true, and nodded. Mnem wondered what the hell must be wrong with their naming conventions that these pseudonyms were conisdered normal. Frakenwalkenfrankenstiener, for the love of everything holy.

"Well, then, Miss Frakenwalkenfrankenstiener and Miss Shelley Worthing--"

"Please," said Mnem, because she may as well go along with the gag that Minh had committed them to, "My dear Nebby sometimes forgets herself. I prefer it to just be Miss Shelley. My husband ran away with his slut of a secretary, you see, and it's a painful reminder."

Wordsworth pursed his mouth. "Yes, I understand, very lovely. Miss Shelley. Now, Miss Frakenwalkenfrankenstiener, Miss Shelley, the two of you are being charged with murder and endangerment of our whole region. If convicted, you will be sentenced to death, and stoned by the villagers here. You have the right to represent yourselves. You will be heard after the evidence is presented against you. Now, we will hear from a few of the witness to this most terrible crime."

[Dark]

The first "witness" was an older gentleman, entering that range of years where "distinguished" was the polite way of addressing the individual to a third party. His fur was streaked silver-gray, and he alluded an air of an individual whose words should be given heavy consideration.

His voice was a rumbling timber as he began to relay the events that had occurred, starting with Minh and Mnem deceiving the village elders that had so kindly asked for their assistance, trussing up the foolhardy youth that the elders had been so graciously been trying to reform, and chucking them over a cliff. Afterwards, they'd apparently done some sort of heathen dance and summoned demons to their aid.

Milky eyes stared somewhere off into an infinante left as he condemned them; the bastard was blind, and babbling utter nonsense. The crowd was soaking it up like a wet sponge.

Minh bit her tongue to keep from saying something she might regret, and shot a sharp glance at Mnem.

[Bee]

Mnem caught Minh's glance, sighed, and shook her head. There was nothing to do but wait.

The second witness was a terrible as the first. The fire-wielding Jack who had stopped Minh's grass attack. He testified to their evil, and went so far as to say that Monty was a conjured familiar who had sprung forth from the bowels of hell to attack them mercilessly. They had barely survived. Unfortunately, he said, head hung sadly, Barnabas and Penny had not been so lucky to live through the satanic attack.

Another witness was brought forth. Then another. And another. Mnem would swear on her favorite plants that most of them were not even at the cliff, and probably had not even really seen them in the village. They were not allowed any type of cross-examination.

When the parade of witnesses was over with, Judge Wordsworth smiled a wide, condescending smile. "Now, Miss Frakenwalkenfrankenstiener, Miss Shelley. You will be allowed to give a few words in your own defense."

Mnem stood, straight and prim, and said, "This entire lunatic trial has been an utter farce, and everyone here knows it. Penny and Barnabas killed themselves, and the gene pool is all the cleaner for it. Ordering death upon us will gain you nothing."