Penalty by Ignorance

[Existentially Odd]

He had to put a little thought into it, because he was certain the other probably had exact times and dates written down before him.

"I ran into Mandy on the street - literally - eight nights ago.  Tonight is the eighth, to be clear.  I met Ben six nights ago," he finished demurely, uncertain as to whether this information was damning or exonerating; probably neither.  It was merely factual.

[Trillian]

Halen looked up and gave a slow blink to Kerr.  "Six nights, and you\'ve drunk from Ben three times, I would say that constitutes a pet relationship by your own admission."  His eyes narrowed, not seeing Kerr in a particularly favourable light.
 
After a moment of shifting the papers back in line and closing the folder, Halen clasped his hands together by linking his fingers so he could stare at Kerr for a moment, then unclasped them and reached to press the button on his right, beneath the table, that held an intercom.
 
"Send the woman in."
 
Halen gestured for Kerr to take a seat.  "Over there."

[Existentially Odd]

Kerr\'s shoulders - normally so straight and proud - stooped as he was criticised.  He wanted to demand to know what was about to be asked of Mandy, to beg that nothing he\'d said (about her being emotional and idealistic, in particular) would be repeated, but he wasn\'t game.  He took a step towards the chair that had been indicated and it was at that moment that another horrible though occurred to him.  Swiftly, he faced his judge once more.

"Ben\'s going to be brought here too, isn\'t he?" he gasped.

[Trillian]

"Sit down!" Halen\'s voice boomed, filling the large room and bouncing off the walls. It was a commanding voice, an impatient voice, and belied Halen\'s aura of calm.
 
He chose to answer the question once Kerr sat. "Of course Ben will be brought here. Did you think there would be no consequence for your actions? Ben and Mandy are mortal beings, you had no right to interfere with their knowledge of our world. Hope that I am merciful, Kerr Galvin, and that your crimes will not fall heavy upon their heads."
 
His eyes slitted. "If you speak during the questioning of either Mandy or Ben, you will not be doing them or yourself any favours."

[Existentially Odd]

Kerr swayed slightly when he was yelled at, then hastily moved to the seat that had been pointed out.  He nodded obediently when told that he would do best to hold his tongue in Mandy and Ben\'s presences, already dreading the questioning of his two companions.  He hoped that the judge would make allowances for their mortality, for their ignorance.

He swallowed an invisible lump in his throat as the elegant doors opposite him opened and Mandy entered nervously.

[MementoMori]

Shortly after Mandy entered, the vampire Oligarch, Declan, arrived. He smoothly entered the large conference room, giving a slight nod of respect to the luminary before he took a seat. He had indeed received Halen\'s message and came as quickly as he could. The message had caught his interest simply because of who had been caught, one of Lazarus\'s acolytes.
 
His eyes drifted over to Kerr and Mandy before looking back at the Luminary. Now things were about to get very interesting.

[Mandy]

Mandy blinked fiercely as she was urged to enter a vast, ovular shaped room; her limbs trembling despite all efforts to remain collected. She couldn`t help but be afraid...

 The chamber was empty (from what she could see), all save for a dark haired man sitting opposite her at a most unusual table. She shuffled toward him, stepping into a soft halo of light and tucked her hands nervously behind her back. What was it that this person wanted from her? What were these rules Kerr had been talking about back in the car? Where was Kerr?

No sooner had the thought materialized in her mind, then she`d spotted him through the dim, sitting stiffly at her immediate left. She became alerted to his presence upon hearing someone else entering the room from behind. How quickly her curious eyes turned to follow the newcomer; his eventual choice of seating leading her gaze - in turn - to Kerr. An instant wave of relief filled her upon locating him, but her joy was to be shortlived - the gears in her mind grinding to life in order to process the facts as she now knew them. An inquisition. A trial? A hearing regarding Kerr.  But...she`d known of no rules before? At least not any regarding whether or not a person was allowed to confess being of a supernatural nature to one who was not.

   She swallowed, shifting awkwardly from one leg to another and licked at her dry lips. Hopefully, she didn`t look too atrocious after having cried within the recent hour. If her make-up were running and her face were covered in bright-red splotches, she doubted that anyone would take anything she had to say very seriously.

Hmmm... what did she have to say? She stared nervously at the man behind the table.

  "Who... who are you?"

[Trillian]

He watched first the woman enter and then his Oligarch of Vampires, Declan. He nodded acknowledgement to the other, a sign of greeting and respect.
 
Halen ignored the question put to him, his blazing eyes taking in every aspect of her demeanour, from her compliant body language to the bewildered look in her eyes.
 
"Mandy Lynn," he addressed her, so that she knew he knew her name even if she did not know his, "you are present for the hearing of Kerr Galvin and are to answer questions regarding his character." Halen folded his hands before him and managed a tiny smile that was not all that comforting. "I wish to know when it was he divulged knowledge to you, when he told you about himself."
 
It was very carefully phrased.

[Mandy]

Mandy hesitated, caught slightly off guard when the man behind the table did not offer her the courtesy a name - but managed to recovered her equilibrium quite nicely by the last. So, this was how Kerr`s \'day in court\' was to be then? They were to ask the questions and she was to obediently answer...

"you are present for the hearing of Kerr Galvin and are to answer questions regarding his character."

She lifted a brow as she suddenly came to the realisation that, every single word she said pertaining to Kerr - from that moment on - could possibly hold lingering effects; either for him - or against him. Her statements would need to be carefully evaluated and chosen with care, lest she inadvertently incriminate the one she cared for most in the world. She wouldn`t be able to live with herself if she accidentally be-smudged him at something so seemingly important.

    "I wish to know when it was he divulged knowledge to you, when he told you about himself."

   Mandy slid her hands out from behind her back and cupped them thoughtfully together where they hung hip-level at her pelvis - a look of perplexed confusion crossing her features.

"What knowledge is it that are you referring to, sir? His name? His preference for small felines? Or his new found enjoyment of the arts?" she left it at that, wondering if her dodgy response would be received as nothing more than insolent defiance amidst this otherwise serious inquest.

[Trillian]

"Madam!" Halen roared, tiny flecks of flame drifting out of his mouth as they would float up and away from a campfire. Both of Halen\'s palms smacked against the marble table at the same time, making the sound of a sharp slap that accentuated the single word uttered. "I urge you to answer the questions asked of you as directly as possible, as though your lives depended on it! For believe me," he said, his voice now dropping to a normal speaking tone, warning her, "it does. You have one opportunity here to voice the truth. If you choose to dance around the topic, that impacts only on yourself and Kerr, not on me."

[Existentially Odd]

Kerr was already in agony, wishing to tell Mandy to stop being so fucking argumentative and just answer the damn questions - rather than asking for a name from the man (who cared who he was?  He was someone in the Oligarchy!  The vampire wished he\'d had more time to outlay some background fear to her in the car on the way over but... he hadn\'t and now he was witnessing the sickening results) - but he dared not.

He was considering speaking into her mind the second her words were out and causing him to cringe but the sight of those flames issuing from the judge\'s mouth immediately afterwards scared him shitless.  Mental communication would no doubt be frowned upon and only make things worse - he prayed silently that Mandy would start making them better by co-operating.

[Mandy]

Mandy winced slightly as the stranger bellowed, strange flickers of...what was that... Fire? Fire issuing forth from his maw. He was obviously an immortal (of some form or another) and he`d laid it all down for her now, in no uncertain terms - her very life was at stake here. She knew she should be afraid, that she should tread lightly. After all, her position was a precarious one to be sure. But surprisingly, she found that the more he attempted to intimidate...the more her stubborn side desired to prevail.

   Her hands fell apart, fingers balling into tightly formed fists hanging tautly at her sides.

   "If I am to answer your questions directly and truthfully...then I do not believe that it is unreasonable to know with whom it is that I am speaking. If I am to be honest with you...the least you can do is be honest with me..."

[Trillian]

Instead of flying into a rage, Halen breathed a soft laugh through his nose and shook his head. "Then you will die as you lived, in ignorance." Halen pressed a button wired into the table and two solum demons of Shiroan\'s clan appeared through the door, to take Mandy away.
 
He would not answer to a mortal. They were beneath him. If a mortal was humble and obedient and pleased him in this manner, he would bestow upon them his name and title. When they refused to co-operate in the face of an obviously superior being, then they would not receive anything from him. Especially not his mercy.
 
Halen was not someone that could be reasoned with. He made demands and if they were not met, he rid the world of those that couldn\'t or wouldn\'t meet them.
 
He turned to Kerr now and said: "This does not reflect well on you."
 
 
[ooc] Mandy, your character is close to being killed in roleplay, if you do not permit this to happen and your character is unlikely to apologise in your next post, PM me with a suggestion as to what can happen to her instead of death.[/ooc]

[Existentially Odd]

Kerr\'s eyes scrunched shut and his forehead drifted slowly towards the table before him, hands clenched with an iron grip between his knees. His mind was whirling, terror fluttering in his chest. Like Mandy, he\'d picked up on the comment about lives hanging in the balance, he just didn\'t understand why she didn\'t seem to care. Did she think this was a joke? He was beginning to feel ill... and he didn\'t even think that that was within the realm of possibility for him. He stopped just short of smacking his head on the hard surface before his face, staring unseeingly at the whiteness of it, shoulders tensed as he struggled not to speak, not to cry out.  He couldn\'t look at her, couldn\'t look at the judge.  He didn\'t want to see her die before him, he didn\'t want to know.  He couldn\'t bear that she was doing this, he couldn\'t process the fact that he\'d walked her down this path.
 
Stupid, stupid, stupid, you\'re fucking stupid, stupid, stupid, you\'re fucking...

[Mandy]

The fear that should have been guiding her from the start suddenly rushed through her veins at the stranger\'s words.
 
He would kill her... just like that? And all because she wanted to know his name, a common courtesy in any culture, immortal or otherwise? This fact shocked her to her very core and quite suddenly - Mandy caught the faintest glimpse of the kind of being she was dealing with. He saw her as nothing... a being of little value. So little in fact that he was prepared to do away with her just as soon as look at her.
 
She froze, eyes shifting nervously to Kerr. He was looking (as it appeared) into his lap - his profile seeming so suddenly pale... even paler than his usual preternatural tone. She could see the despair in the rigid set of his shoulders... in his notably reduced posture. And it had all been her fault... hadn`t it? Her heart hammered loudly in her ears.
 
But this was totally unfair!
 
She would rather die than let someone abduct her and muscle her around as though she was worth nothing at all!
 
Alas, this wasn`t really about her, was it? It had nothing to do with her human pride or strength or the integrity of her spirit. To be selfish now, when this was so obviously something that effected her vampiric companion - would be truly unforgivable. Forget dying... she didn`t want to let Kerr down. But sadly, to help him - would likely serve to further injure his case...
 
Wouldn`t her admission that he`d told her about his vampiric nature land him in even greater trouble?
 
Before the summoned henchmen could latch onto her arms, Mandy lowered her eyes (as though in shame) and fought back the urge to sob. "It was tonight," she surrendered bitterly into the echoing dim... unable to meet with the out-spoken stranger`s gaze.