knightsoflegend | chicago ♔ i wish you could see

[ rafael manages to keep an impressively blank face as he walks into the courtroom, but maybe it has something to do with being dead inside. there are lots of people craning their neck to get a good look at the pop star, and the guards also usher in all of his ensemble to have seats along the bench as he moves up to sit with jaka and burt at the defendant table.

the judge enters next, and when she takes her customary position, she calls to order the people of chicago vs. rafael giovanni, and gestures for the prosecution to make their opening remarks. ]

[Arianna gets up when indicated, smoothing her business suit down in front of her, and moving to face the jury. As she speaks, she sounds calm and collected, even entirely reasonable (diplomacy 37).]

Rafael Giovanni was a star on the rise. An up and coming record deal with Burt Becksworth's agency. A live concert event set to be broadcast around the world. He had the world at his fingertips, and all of it was cut short by a madman who tried to hurt the woman he loved, and her tragic death as he tried to protect her.

[A pause.]

Or - at least that is now the defense will present it. There is no denying that Rafael Giovanni shot Eterna Jade as she was being held hostage by Roger James. But the state intends to prove that the death of Eterna Jade was no accident. The prosecution will prove that this was a deliberate plan, crafted by Giovanni himself as well as his manager, Burt Becksworth - a man notorious for doing whatever it takes to keep his artists in the public eye.

We have the evidence to show Giovanni meeting with the mysterious man who took Eterna Jade hostage. Over the next few days we will show you that this unfortunate death is not the tragedy it is painted to be. It was a cold blooded, calculated murder.

You'll see that the only verdict is guilty.

[And with that, she'll return to her seat, waiting for the defense to present their case.]

[ with a 31 bluff check, rafael manages to keep an incredibly impressive poker face, and so does burt as he glances back over his shoulders to count how many cameras are visible. yep. ]

[ a tiny smirk plays across the corner of the dark elf's lips as she sits, as if jaka knows something she doesn't - or is dismissing her credibility as amusing. either way, he smoothly draws to his own feet, and stalks around the table with a deliberate, even pace, turning to survey the jury, and then look back at rafael. ]

The prosecution paints a truly interesting portrait of intrigue, almost as romantic in its appeal as the idea of a pair of lovers torn apart by tragedy. However, what the defense seeks to present are facts, not melodrama, and the grim reality underlying this very unique case has little to do with either honor or greed.

[ he paces across the floor, indicating rafael ] I wish that I could paint our defendant as the dashing hero, rushing to the defense of an innocent woman. But the truth is much darker, much more complex, and much further-reaching than any could have guessed. We're dealing with a man whose already fragile psyche was pushed to the limits when he discovered the truth about the woman he had held as an angel in his eyes, a truth his conscious mind was not equipped to handle. A truth that drove him off the brink of sanity, causing him to be responsible for her death - in a moment of temporary insanity that indicates a diseased and fractured mind that can be healed, not the cunning, calculating greed of a would-be murderer seeking the fast track to fame.

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, [ he turns to them with an oily smile, and spreads his hands ] Mr. Giovanni sits here before you today to prove himself a victim of temporary insanity, the only sensible verdict in a case which I imagine will shock many people sitting here today. [ his 42 diplomacy check certainly leaves a lingering sense of suspense and mystery in the air. rafael's brows are furrowed as he watches the lawyer, but he doesn't betray whatever he's thinking as the drow comes around to have a seat, indicating the other lawyer. ] Prosecution may call its first witness. [ and with that smug air, he has a seat next to burt, who casts him an inscrutable look ]

[Insanity defense. Lovely. Arianna simply gets up and moves on because she isn't really surprised.]

The prosecution calls Officer Grant Morrison to the stand.

[ a familiar looking mustached man in his fifties with a bit of a donut belly toddles forward, looking even less impressive in civilian clothes than he ever did with a uniform one. he looks even more frazzled than on the big night in question, but he gruffly goes through the swearing in process, and his eyes cast across the onlookers with obvious recognition before he looks back to the lawyer. ] Evening.

[She smiles a bit before, taking a step forward.]

Evening Officer Morrison. Could you take us through the events of the night in question?

[ he sighs, and scratches his head, looking a little bit exhausted at even thinking about it all. ] Night of, we got a call from security at the concert hall, and they dispatched officers as soon as they could, but by the time they got there, the whole mess had already gone down. 'Course, the whole thing was televised too, but we hadn't had a chance to check the tapes yet, so they brought a whole mess of people down for questioning, and arrested three people. Giovanni, who'd shot the girl, Descant, who'd pulled a gun onstage and threatened to shoot Giovanni, and Archer, the one who took down Roger James. I wasn't on scene when they made any of the arrests, but they also brought in a bunch of witnesses, some of 'em who'd gotten themselves involved with things directly, and others who had just showed up along with those people.

It was a long night. Stories didn't quite line up right, one maniac tried to swallow a cyanide pill, some other psycho slipped in off the street with the others somehow as a prank... I had to deal with some very insubordinate witnesses on top of all that. By the end of the night, I couldn't take it anymore. Stormed off and turned in my badge the next day.

[It's a hard life, dealing with people like this. Arianna heads back to the table and picks up the small remote that goes with the screen in the room.]

The prosecution would like to present Exhibit A, the footage mentioned from the night in question.

[ the tape that plays is high quality tv-broadcast footage, interspersed between several angles, and begins with rafael and jade onstage singing 'For Always' together. he looks every bit shocked and entranced by her appearance, and even now in the audience, rafael shifts uncomfortably, obviously finding it difficult to watch.

the two of them circle each other and draw closer, like magnets, smiling at each other fools in love, holding hands, and when the song ends, kissing passionately and then embracing. just as they finally draw apart, the screen goes dark, as the power cuts out.

the cameras roll again, then the generator lights flick on, the stage now shrouded in smoke. not long after a horrible screeching noise of feedback floods the arena.

when the smoke clears, rafael is standing mid-stage, guns drawn and pointed at roger james, who has a gun jammed up under jade's throat. james tightens the weapon against her struggles and shouts: ]

NOBODY MAKES A GODDAMNED MOVE.

[ james mutters something else to jade but the mics are blown out and it doesn't pick up on the tape, although he clearly yanks on her wrist, causing her pain. suddenly myri and finnick are visible cutting through the ever-clearing-out crowd, as the girl stops and says something with determination. The only audible part is: ] Let her go.

[ james responds, making an encouraging motion towards myri, when archer walks out onto stage, hands help up, a gun dangling off one finger. he's loud enough to be heard perfectly clearly: ] Hey... Buddy. Let's talk this out, ok? If it's the girl you want, I know plenty of great hookers - I'll call them all up. My treat.

[ james lifts his gun instantly to aim it at archer, shouting: ] I SAID NOBODY MOVE. [ he looks back to myri and demands: ] Show me.

[ myri's calm response is audible: ] We can all get what we want tonight. I hid it back stage. For safe keeping. Let the girl go and I'll show you where. [ suddenly violet surges out behind archer, one hand at the necklace at her throat. the mic doesn't pick up much of what she says beside: ] You can let her go now.

[ james looks caged, glancing between all the encroaching figures as muffled sounds of combat occur in the pause off one of the wings. his gun wavers from archer to myri to violet and he angrily says: ] Let her go? Let her go? You don't get it. I'm taking the girl and the necklace. So put it down nice and easy, and maybe I won't take you too.

[ rafael and jade make eye contact and a moment of silent communication passes between them. rafael's expression is hard, but she smiles slightly and nods at him. her hands surge up abruptly trying to break away, as rafael raises his guns, but james catches her and slams her body tightly in front of his, where it catches all four bullets. a loud scream of "NO!" emanates from the audience and then Archer's yelling: ] God Dammit Rafael, Watch where you're shooting! [ archer drops his pistols and pulls out a sawed-off shotgun, pointing it at james. ] Eat shit, cockbag! [ the blow sends james staggering backwards, as rafael's arms drop to his side, as he stares dumbly at jade as she collapses to the floor. there's another yell from the audience: ] Rafael!

[ mark moves out onto the stage next, stepping in front of violet and raising a gun to take a crack shot at james as well. james strikes the back wall of the stage and takes a shot at archer. myri clambers up onto the stage and throws herself down by jade, placing her hands over the wound. her hands glow a visible light blue. violet joins her soon after, putting a hand on top of myri's.

buffy comes running out of the other wing moments later, snap-kicking james in the face, and archer runs up, putting a boot on his chest and lowering his shotgun at the man's face. ] You got blood on my $5,000 Suit, you son of a bitch!

[ his blast eradicates james' face, blood spewing everywhere. des walks onto stage from the same direction buffy came from, and levels a gun at rafael, saying something inaudible with an unpleasant smirk. rafael drags his gaze away from jade to stare at him, and then he drops his guns and spreads his palms open dramatically. suddenly des' gun is shot right out of his hand from the audience. violet leans down to kiss jade's cheek and put something around her neck that she removes from her own. des looks up towards some unseen audience member and bitches: ] That's what you hit? Really? Sonuvabitch. [ and picks up his gun again. rafael marches closer to him as he's bent over, and grabs des' wrist, lofting the gun barrel up to his own heart. however, archer chucks his shotgun at des, striking him hard in the ribcage and knocking him on the ground, and mark goes to grab him by the collar and yank archer away. buffy approaches myri, who looks between everyone on stage sadly.

des shoots rafael a venomous look and says something to him, and suddenly buffy wheels an angry look on ... thin air and thrusts an arm out awkwardly. suddenly she gets caught up in staring at empty space and tears fill her eyes. archer picks up his shotgun and kicks des' gun away, moving to slap rafael and then go pick up his pistols.

it's at that point that the police flood the arena, paramedics rushing in with a stretcher to pry violet off jade's body, and moving to handcuff des, rafael, and archer. ]

Edited 2013-12-27 01:52 (UTC)

[ she might relive it on the nightly in her nightmares, but that doesn't make watching it on the television any easier. she winds up watching the jury's reactions in idle curiosity after the first few seconds. they're new and interesting, perfect distractions. ]

[She lets the video play out, before turning back to the Officer on the stand.]

Officer, for the record, could you please identify the people in this video.

Sure can. The two singing were Rafael Giovanni, the defendant, and Eterna Jade, deceased. The man holding her hostage was identified as Roger James. The girl talking in the audience, with Finnick Odair, is Mary Tanner. The man who came out to talk James down is Sterling Archer - he was one of the hosts. Second girl who came out was Violet Fiore.

After the shooting, Mark Sandazhard came out of the wing, one of Giovanni's bodyguards. The girl with the mean kick refused to give her name. The one aiming the gun at Giovanni is Desmond Descant, a P.I.

How many bodyguards did Mr. Giovanni have on scene?

2 from a private agency - Sandazhard was one, and the other admitted to being the one who shot Descant's gun out of his hand from the balcony. There were some Nova crowd bouncers on hand too.

[She holds up two fingers as she faces the jury, counting off the items as she mentions them.]

So two members of private security, the regular level of security that Nova hires to protect their artists, and Giovanni himself was armed.

Had there been any threats reported against the singer?

Nothing reported to the police, no.

So as far as you could tell, there was no reason for them to have that much firepower on hand?

[ he scratches his head, glancing over at rafael and burt ] Not a single reason. One of those things that just never added up.

[She hums contemplatively.]

Almost as though they were expecting something to happen.

[And with that, she turns to go back and take her seat.]

Your witness.

[ jaka gets to his feet, palms on the table, and slides around to pace in front of Morrison. ]

Officer Morrison. You were the policeman who interviewed Mr. Giovanni on the night of the incident as well, were you not?

[ Grant leans forward with a nod ] I was.

[ Jaka folds his hands together, index fingers extended ] As an officer of the law, I imagine you were well versed in reading people through your years of service. Putting aside the question of what Mr. Giovanni had to say that evening, can you tell the court what your impression of him was, in terms of his demeanor and general state?

[ Grant glances over to Rafael for a moment ] The defendant was almost entirely nonresponsive, honestly. He struck me as disconnected from events, as if it hadn't fully registered, or as if none of the proceedings seemed to matter to him. We could hardly get him to say a damn word, but he seemed more in shock than insubordinate about it.

[ jaka smirks slightly, glancing at the other lawyer. ] Interesting. So he did not seem to be in a normal mental state immediately following events?

[ Morrison frowns] Not sure there is a normal state to be in post homicide.

[ in her seat in the audience, gar shifts uncomfortably, worrying at her nails with her teeth unconsciously as she watches jaka warily. ]

Please answer the question, Officer.

[ Morrison looks Jaka square in the eye, nodding. ] Yeah, alright. I'd go as far as to say he wasn't all there. Seemed to mesh with the idea that he'd killed the woman he did love, whether it was an accident or no.

[ Jaka nods, satisfied, and moves up closer to him. ] And Mr. Giovanni's relationship with Eterna Jade. Some of the witnesses spoke with you about this, yes? How would you describe it from their testimonies?

[ Morrison shifts a bit, his eyes darting over to Des ] Several people went on about how mushy their romance was, how Hollywood levels of meant-to-be they seemed.

But some information surfaced that made it seem that things weren't quite as sunny as they looked on the outside. They'd been separated for some time, during which at least the girl was seeing other people.

[ Jaka pauses on the spot, turning to look out at the jury. ] So you believe that Miss Jade had secrets that she was keeping from the defendant?

[ Morrison nods slowly ] According to one testimony, she definitely was, regarding one such relationship. He claimed he knew that Giovanni was completely unaware of what went on.

[ Jaka nods curtly and returns to his seat. ] Prosecution's witness.

[ voice low, buffy turns to the others, brow furrowed. ]

Where the hell is he going with this?

[ she doesn't expect anyone to answer it, but she would like to register her distaste. ]

I thought we were trying to ix-nay the whole jealous lover routine. Isn't that bad for us? Pretty sure that was bad for us.

the trial~

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