[ In Rokugan, the most heinous crimes are prosecuted by whoever happens to be around at the time. These are their stories. ] [ DUN DUN. ] [ Last time, on Law and Honor, Istvan went on trial! Today, he continues to be on trial! ] [ Hanatarou looks at nothing in particular for a moment before saying, "" ] [ Session Start! ] * Seylin looks straight at Hanatarou. "Yes, I will." She stands up and bows deeply. [ Hanatarou nods. And Seylin gets bonus points for a well- executed bow. ] We were just walking around, when Tia bumped into this gentleman here and knocked him down. It was completely an accident, though I really should have reminded Tia to be more careful beforehand. She immediately went to help him up, because in our lands it's only polite to help someone if you bump into them. But these are your lands and therefore we should respect your customs, and I wasn't fast enough to remind Tia that she shouldn't touch him. She was upset, and so was he, because to him I'm sure it looked like he was being accosted by some monster. He demanded an apology, and Takara-san tried to explain what to do to me, but I was confused and misunderstood her. Also, I was a bit upset, since the gentleman was referring to Tia as a "creature" and acting as if she were a horse or beast of burden that was improperly trained. She is not; she's a dear friend and a thinking, intelligent being, if rather like a child. However, I should have paid more attention to what Takara-san wished me to do. Istvan, meanwhile, was visibly angry and asked me to stand between himself and the gentleman. I didn't think anything of it at the time. I simply moved to do it as Takara-san was making her apology. Therefore I didn't see what Istvan did with the pick. All I saw was the earth opening up and swallowing the samurai. Immediately afterwards, Takara-san asked what Istvan had done, and he said he was looking for something in his pack to give to the samurai as a peace offering. There was a bit of discussion, then Istvan brought up the pick and said he would find the samurai. This gentleman was returned, and Takara-san gave him the explanation that Tia was the daughter of the Earth Dragon, after which he left. * Istvan has mostly been nodding along with Seylin's testimony, though his concentration seemed to be focused more on organizing his scattered notes. As Seylin finishes up, he seems to have gotten his papers in some vague semblence of order. [ Hanatarou nods, his face still neutral. ] Is there anything else you wish to know? [ Hanatarou looks straight into Seylin's eyes. "" ] * Seylin closes her eyes for a second and swallows, then opens them. "I don't believe he would have brought him back. He was denying he was involved in the first place." * Takara closes her eyes and bows her head, slightly, upon hearing Seylin's response. * HKenji blinks and can't stop a surprised look from crossing his face. * Istvan does an actual, full-fledged double-take, and stares at Seylin like she just announced her wings were made from ground up babies. * Istvan looks genuinely stunned. * Alcinoe starts at that, looking quite shocked herself. Her eyes dart from Seylin to Istvan. * Seylin looks on the verge of tears. * Steve is staring mouth agape at Seylin, unable to believe what Seylin just said. * Matsu_Seiryou looks smug again. At least, as long as Chiako isn't looking his way. [ Chikako eyes Seiryou. No looking smug allowed! ] * Matsu_Seiryou tries for vindicated? [ Chikako grudgingly allows that to pass. ] * Istvan scowls, and goes back to concentrating on his notes, scribbling quickly on a blank page. [ Hanatarou nods. "." ] I... is there anything else? [ "" ] [ Chikako eyes Sieryou in an 'any *other* questions' sort of way. ] * Takara shakes her head. * Matsu_Seiryou .... doesn't have any questions. And isn't looking at Chikako. * Istvan shakes his head, not even looking up. [ "" says Hanatarou. "" ] * Istvan practically jumps to his feet. "I very much want to defend myself, Lord Hosokawa." [ Hanatarou frowns. "" ] * Seylin, meanwhile, bows and kneels back down. She keeps her head down. * Istvan starts cycling through his notes... the frowns, crumples them up, and drops them back where he was sitting. "I have to admit I'm a little thrown off by the fact that two people I've traveled and adventured with seem to know so little about me. But that's irrelevant for now. I'm accused of attempted murder. I'm not guilty of that for two simple reasons: I never had any intention of killing that guy, and he was never in any real danger of dying." You have to understand the situation to understand why I'm not guilty. Understand that, despite her appearance, Tia is essentially a child. And understand that I think of her as the closest thing I'll ever have to a kid sister. She bumped into that guy. She wasn't paying attention, it was her mistake. She tried to help him up, which in most places is just basic common courtasy when you knock someone down. Obviously, here it was just making things worse. I understand completely why the guy was angry. * Takara watches Istvan, her hands folded. [ Chikako closes her eyes; a vein near her left temple throbs. ] * Istvan scowls. "He had every right to be angry, but the things he said to her... vile, vile insults. Calling her an animal. I got pretty damn angry myself, because he was saying these godawful things to someone I care a lot about. That's why I asked Seylin to step in front of me; my first instinct was to challenge the guy to a duel and pummel an apology out of him, but I knew that would cause all sorts of problems. At that point, Takara intervened, apologizing and practically... what's the word... prostrating herself in the dirt to emphasize how sorry she was. But he wouldn't accept the apology. Think about that. Takara is giving an apology that should have sufficed if Tia had accidentally broken some of the guy's bones, and he *still* wouldn't accept it. * Istvan takes a deep breath. "I won't lie. That made me pretty angry too. I thou- think highly of Takara, and to see this guy dismiss and embarass her like that... I still wasn't going to do anything, though, because as angry as I was, I know challenging him could cause all sorts of problems." Then he demanded, in order for him to drop the matter, that we turn Tia over to him for 'training'. *stares intently at Lord Hosokawa* Make no mistake, Lord Hosokawa. In this or any other land, he was demanding that Tia be enslaved to him in order for his honor to be satisfied. I don't know much about the laws here, but I know that, in matters of honor, samurai are given great deference. And I know that foreigners are generally given the same respect as vermin, if that much. So you can understand how seriously I took his threat to force Tia into what amounted to slavery. At that point, I knew I had to do something to stop what was going on. *droops shoulders* I should have just challenged him to a duel; I realize that now. But at the time, that didn't seem like a workable solution. Understand that, up to this point, I had never been able to use the power of my pick to move more than a few pounds of dirt at a time. But in that moment when I was trying desperately to figure out a way to stop what was going on, it flashed in my mind that I could tap into more of its power. * Istvan rubs his neck. "I don't know if it was the sentient weapon telling me that, or if it was just me getting past some mental block. But I realized I could use the pick to diffuse the situation." * Alcinoe stares holes into Istvan. Only they're not real holes, so she can't see through to the other side. * HKenji watches his mother carefully, assuming an air of readiness. My plan was simple, Lord Hosokawa. I worked as a miner in the dwarven lands for several years, and I've seen many cave-ins. I've seen with my own eyes that a man can survive without air, buried under rock, for at least a few minutes without permanent damage. My plan was simply to have the ground swollow him up, hold him undergound for less than a minute, and then bring him back up. [ Chikako was growing visibly angry throughout all that, but now seems mildly baffled. ] Once he was back above ground, I would attempt to convince him, with Takara's help, since she was the only one who could communicate to him, that Tia was a favorite of either the gods or other powerful beings, and that he had angered them by hurling vile insults at her and threatening her with slavery. My hope was that the shock of the situation would lead him to believe that, and he'd let the matter drop. * Istvan glances back at the gallery, a fresh scowl creeping across his face. "Takara, Seylin, and Patrick claim to have insight into my motives, and believe that my intention was to let him die, based on the fact that I claimed ignorance of what happened. But think about it, Lord Hosokawa. The entirety of my plan depended on the samurai, along with any onlookers, believing that his being swollowed up by the earth was the act of some vengeful higher power angered at his treatment of Tia." * Takara stares at Istvan, almost uncomprehending. Of course I was not going to stand there and say "Ha ha! Using my pick, I have caused the earth to swollow him whole!". I was putting on an act. Playing dumb. Attempting, in my clumsy way, to be sneaky. If I had not played innocent, the entire point of the whole ruse would have been defeated. Of course, since I had told Takara and the others about the powers of my pick, they immediately knew what was going on. But I thought... *looks down* ... foolishly thought, looking back, that they would pick up on what I was doing and go along. So when Takara confronted me, and asked me to use my pick to bring the samurai back up, I continued playing my role. [ Hanatarou continues to keep his face utterly neutral throughout all of this. It is nothing short of miraculous. ] I continued to claim ignorance of what had happened, but offered to use my pick to rescue the man. *droops head; looks a bit embarassed* At the time, I had been considering finding a way to attempt something like a courtship of Takara. I thought quite highly of her. So, when she asked me to save the samurai, I agreed, noting, as you've heard, that I was doing so only because of my respect for her. That... what can I say? I'm not good around people. I was trying to convey to her that I thought highly of her while continuing with a ruse I thought she had already grasped and was playing along with. I was obviously mistaken. * Takara keeps staring at Istvan. Her mouth drops open a little. She shuts it immediately. * Istvan straightens out, and looks directly at Lord Hosokawa. "In all, the samurai was underground for less than a minute. As I've said, I've seen men and dwarves buried in mine cave-ins last several times that long without air. He was never in *any* danger. I knew how long he was under, and I never would have allowed him to stay down longer than was safe. Though I very much wanted to make him eat his kimono for the things he said to Tia, and for demanding she be delivered to him as a slave, I never had any intention of killing him. Killing him would not have diffused to issue. Killing him would not have gotten Tia out of trouble. My *only* intention was to disuade him from following though on his threat to enslave Tia." * Istvan falls silent for a moment. "As any who've known me for any length of time will tell you, I'm terrible at admitting mistakes. I'm admitting one now. I am not a man of subtlety or subterfuge. I attempted both, and failed miserably. I tried to work a ruse that would fool the samurai into dropping the matter. It was a terrible idea. I realize that now." But two facts remain, Lord Hosokawa. The samurai was never in any danger of dying. And I never had *any* intention of killing the samurai. *rubs forehead* Somehow, those who know me best are convinced otherwise. I cannot begin to explain that. I can only hope that you, who barely know me at all, can look at the facts and understand that all I was attempting to do was defend someone I think of as a little sister from a samurai who demanded her enslavement. * Istvan bows deeply to Lord Hosokawa, picks up his crumpled notes, and returns to kneeling at his assigned place. [ Lord Hosokawa clears his throat. " [ "" ] [ "" ] [ "" ] [ "" ] [ "" ] ) * Istvan just shakes his head and smiles wanly. [ "" ] [ Chikako nods, and walks forward, saying "" ] * Istvan stands, and nods, before turning the the gallery. "Defend that pick with your lives. Because if you ever let it fall into the wrong hands, I swear by Moradin's beard, tankard, axe, pointy hat and favorite barstool that I will haunt you 'till your dying days and beyond." * WillS nods sadly at Istvan. * Istvan looks over at Will. "Watch out for Tia. Please." [ Chikako escorts Istvan out. When he gone, Hanatarou rises and walks from the room without a word. ] [ Session End! ]