fandomhigh | Criminal Justice [first period, Tuesday]

"Good morning," V said smoothly. "As we have been studying, our current judicial systems are rather rigorous in most cultures. However, they are, in many ways, an improvement. There are, for instance, governments that employ secret police, or have employed them in the past. These organizations rely heavily on fear - and people should not fear their governments. Governments, rather, should be afraid of their people."

"And one reason why," he said, pacing slightly as he picked up some papers to pass out, "is because of what is commonly known as the mob mentality. Years ago, it was the way justice was carried out, and even to this day, public outcry can sway an entire nation. Sometimes not for the best."

He started to pass out a pair of handouts, as well as a small card on each desk. "Today we are going to study one of the less productive, yet nonetheless historical, means of exacting justice. Three of you are 'witches' - your cards have a 'W.' The rest, you have a blank card. Your jobs are to accuse one another until you locate what you believe to be a witch, and bring him or her before me, as I am the acting judge. If you have enough evidence and have located one of the actual 'witches,' you will be awarded with one of these." V held up a box of cookies.

"And witches," he added, scanning the room. "You must do your best to blend in and deflect attention away from yourselves."

[Okay, so basically, this is a game of he-said, she-said. You say, "So and so is a witch for this reason!" And people can hop on your bandwagon, or the accused can reply. When you've gone through a reasonable amount of that, ping in the "Trials" thread and V will listen to the reasoning and give out cookies if you have one of the three "witches."

There are three people who have OOCly been contacted and asked to be "witches":

x5_alec,

once_a_king, and

bridge_carson. Naturally, your characters have no way of knowing this, so accuse whoever. And your logic for why they're a witch can be anything. I expect crack and silliness, not meanness, please. And work together, of course! I'll be around most of the day, with small patches of AFKness in the middle of the day.]

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"Parker said that you can, too," Luke shot back. "Witch."

"I'm a lab accident, not a witch."

Luke mulled that over, then smiled. "Most people think of things they don't understand as magic. Maybe 'witch' doesn't have the stigma of 'lab accident'. I'm sticking with witch."

"Uh-huh," Bridge says. "So explain the Force to me."

Bridge probably hadn't meant to, but he'd hit a sore spot for Luke. Ben's lessons had been extremely brief.

"The Force is an energy field created by all living beings," Luke recited. "It gives a Jedi his power. It surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the universe together. It's not magic. It's just invisible."

And he really hoped Bridge didn't ask for a further explanation. That was all he knew.

Bridge, on the other hand, never got any sort of lessons about his abilities at all.

And he's not exactly going to point out that energy fields aren't invisible to *him*. Because that's just the kind of thing that got people sending witch-hunts after him. Or mutant-hunts, technically.

"Invisibility is a type of magic," he *does* point out.

"So gravity's magic, then?" Luke asked, deeply skeptical.

"I understand gravity," Bridge says. "Hopefully you do too."

Luke frowned. "You said that invisibility was a type of magic. I was pointing out that you can't see gravity. I'm not stupid."

"But you and I both undersand how gravity works," Bridge says. "Which means it isn't magic from either of our perspectives."

"But you said..." Luke broke off, frustrated. "It was just an example," he said. "The Force doesn't make me a witch. Sitting on your head makes you one."

"Why?"

Luke thought this part was pretty obvious. "Because normal people don't sit on their heads," he said.

"You're from another planet," Bridge says. "How do you know what's normal for Earth people?"

"I've spent a lot of time in the common rooms. Everyone else sits on their butts."

"And what am I doing right now?" Bridge, who is sitting in his seat and *not* standing on his head, asks.

"Trying to hide your true witchy nature, obviously," Luke said.

"So's Peter Parker, then."

Luke thought about that. "No, I'm sticking with you."

"Peter *sticks to the ceiling*, dude."

"I've never seen him do it," Luke said.

"You've never seen the Force, either. But you know it's there."

Luke shrugged. "Works for me. You're both witches."

"I'm an illegal, unnatural genetic mutation, offically," Peter chimed in. "But when I sit, I tend to do it on my butt, so I can't be a witch."

"Carry on."

"Well, that definition applies to me as well," Bridge says. "And I don't *sit* on my head either. I stand. Sometimes. I sit normally, like this."

Re: S/he's a witch!

tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com - 2006-09-26 21:56 (UTC) - Expand