Drama Welcome to PRISON! - Now Accepting New Players!

OOC: Steph, you'll have to tell me how C5 went Glad to have you back. I like reading your posts and hope maybe once the trials start I might be reunited in the same place as Indy


IC: John Locke

Locke had the unfortunate experience of having been shot before. But that through-and-through wound was not at all like the hail of bullets seating themselves in his gut, slicing through bones all at once. He also had the unfortunate experience of recalling his own death, of the tenuous grasp on life slipping away from him. And it was for this reason that, in spite of the numerous bullet wounds in his chest and the haze darkening his vision, Locke was unusually calm. This wasn't what dying felt like. This was more like waking from a bad dream.

Sure enough, the sound of gunfire ebbed away, giving way to a peaceful silence and a comfortable humidity wrapping around him like a blanket. Exactly like waking. Locke was unsurprised buy happy to open his eyes to see the plastic sheeted ceiling of the greenhouse. Though it took him a moment to fully process his surroundings.

Sitting up, Locke looked around just to reassure himself that they were back. That he was gone. John's expression darkened for a moment as he thought about implications of the dream-like encounter. The terrifying feeling that his father still held sway over him. But he pushed those thoughts down. He'd won this time, hadn't he?

"Just a vision," Locke muttered, half to the others and half to himself. Turning so he could see both of the other men, he asked, "Are you both all right?"


IC: Benjamin Linus

In the wild spray of bullets that riddled the car and the men next to him, Ben was somehow hit with only a single shot to the gut. It took him what seemed like forever before that even occurred to him, so intent was he on trying to put himself between Alex and the gunmen at all costs. It wasn't until he turned around to face her and ask desperately, "Alex, are you all right?" that Ben realized anything was wrong.

Alex's face was pale, her eyes fixed on his abdomen. "Oh my God. Dad!" she reached out a hand toward his stomach, and only in taking her hand reassuringly did Ben feel the warm blood staining his shirt.

A deep adrenaline rush and strong protective instinct kept Ben from panicking. Instead, he pressed one hand to his side and set the other on his daughter's shoulder. "I'm fine. Don't worry about me, it's just a scratch." Noting the riddled, still bodies lying next to them, Ben's sense of urgency increased. "I'm going to get you out of here. You'll be safe, I promise."

"I'm scared, Dad," Alex confessed, eyes drifting to the lifeless bodies of Locke and Antryg.

Ben reached up a hand to physically turn her away from the sight, forcing her to look at him instead. Ben had never been very good at reassurances. He was so rarely called upon for them in his former life. Even later, with Hurley, no one would have called optimism his strong suit. But it wasn't an empty promise he'd made to Alex. He had never been more serious about a pledge in his life. Holding his daughter's gaze, Ben put all of himself into his often inscrutable, unusual blue eyes. As if charmed, Alex seemed to calm, her breathing slowing. Ben swallowed a lump in his throat that seemed to have built for years. "I lo-"

A sound like a bolt of thunder past his head cut Ben off. At the same time, Alex's neck snapped back, her head cracking hard against the car door behind her, thrown by the impact of a bullet striking her directly in the forehead. Her eyes instantly went glassy, her body slumping like a bag of sand down against the tire.

Ben's eyes were frozen wide in shock. In fact, his whole body felt like ice, even the warm bloody spot in his gut. No, he thought, in the grips of a panic that quickly began to feel like his chest was being squeezed. He couldn't breathe. No, no, no! kept repeating over and over in his head. Not again.

Ben leaned over the all-too familiar site of Alex's lifeless body, just as he had. Closing her eyes, just as h

 

IC: Antryg Windrose
The Best Little Greenhouse in Texas

"Sure. I spent an hour bleeding to death over my daughter's dead body. I'm great."

Antryg eased himself up and gazed at Ben in abject horror. The man had been trapped in that horrible situation for an hour? The wizard actually felt fortunate for suffering as many mortal wounds as he had. At least the pain had faded comparatively quickly.

He was not as quick as Locke to dismiss the experience as merely "a vision." Assuming they'd all been dead to begin with, the world in which Ben had bled out over his daughter's body could be no more or less real than the world in which they found themselves now. After all, they had merely "awakened" from death into a different manifestation of death.

However, given what they'd all just been through, Antryg wasn't about to tell Locke that he had to treat their recent experience any more seriously than the other man felt a need to.

To Ben, he could think of nothing more to say than, "I'm sorry." Under the circumstances, any further attempts to offer sympathy could only be hollow.

Tag: Ben/Locke

 

IC: John Locke

"Sure. I spent an hour bleeding to death over my daughter's dead body. I'm great."

John stopped in his tracks, his expression telegraphing the surprise he felt. Glancing at Antryg, John saw the wizard's face contorting in empathy. "I'm sorry," Antryg managed to say quietly, sincerely. Though Locke could feel the understatement in it.

As his eyes drifted back to Ben, Locke was hit with a usually foreign wave of sympathy for the man. He sat, utterly dejected, staring off at nothing in particular. It was a thousand-yard stare he'd been on Ben only a few times. For some reason it disturbed him. If Benjamin Linus was bereft of confidence, who could possibly have any? The mottled bruises covering Ben's face only accentuated his pathetic state. Locke felt a natural instinct to reach out to someone in need, but was stopped by the fact that this was Ben. What did one say to someone like that to comfort him? "I'm sorry, too," he added feebly.

After a few horribly tense beats, Ben began to get up with all the grace and speed of a wounded dog. He finally turned to look at John, and the red-rimmed eyes and haunted expression were all too familiar. All of this was. Instead of thanking him, though, Ben merely droned, "Familiar, isn't it." Locke couldn't disagree, although the wrenching thought of Ben having spent an hour bleeding to death over Alex's body this time was almost too much to bear. "Maybe this is what will keep happening. Reliving this over and over. Maybe this is a better prison than I thought," Ben's voice was pained, devoid of any edge but self-loathing.

As tempting as it was to believe Ben's assessment, Locke couldn't accept it. There was something more going on. "No," John said with a slight shake of his head, "It wasn't a punishment, Ben. It was a second chance. Don't you see? We were able to make the right choices this time." The revelation came to him as he spoke the words. And wasn't it true? This time John had turned away from Anthony. This time Ben had been willing to risk himself to save Alex.

Ben fixed him with a slightly angry stare, but said nothing. But Locke was on to something. He wasn't going to give Ben an opening to reply cynically. Feeling more and more sure of this assessment, he turned to Antryg, "Is that what it was for you, too? Those guards that you killed... that was your chance, too, wasn't it? To save those people this time?" That knowing half-smile in his eyes sparked to life, the one Locke always got when he was sure of something.

TAG: Antryg

 

IC: Antryg Windrose
Greenhouse Where Nothing Ever Goes Right Kinda

"Don't you see? We were able to make the right choices this time."

Antryg folded his arms around his knobby knees--clad, once again, in his striped prison garb. He feared Locke's assessment was right.

"Is that what it was for you, too? Those guards that you killed... that was your chance, too, wasn't it? To save those people this time?"

"Oh--I saved them last time, too," Antryg said. His usual slightly-daft cheerfulness came out sounding threadbare, worn by weariness and regret. "Fyad and his family were able to take refuge in the North. They had thought to petition the Emperor to commute my sentence from death to life imprisonment, but unfortunately conflict with the Church had left their political position so tenuous that they couldn't afford to associate themselves with me. There were others, of course . . . Old Believers and others unjustly blamed for starting the Mellidane plague, whom I helped break out of prison. I like to think that at least some of them survived the purges. None of them would have been accepted as a witness before royalty, of course, and as I was locked up from that time on, I can't say how many might have lived.

"And as for making the right choice . . ." Antryg shook his head and lowered his gaze to the mossy ground. "I suppose if you consider lives to have greater value in greater numbers, I may have saved more people than I killed. But if you believe that there is a universal standard of righteousness, as the Church does, what I did was a capital crime at best, and evil at worst. I did break my vows--very solemn ones--never to use my magic for meddling in human affairs." He looked up at the other men, an expression close to pleading in his eyes. "All I can say in my own defense is that I made the only choice I could make . . . being the man I am. For good, or for ill."

Tag: Ben/Locke

 

IC: Jack Bauer

Jack watched as Shepard carefully used the sleeves of his prison jacket to slide down the side of the church and to the ground.

All right Jack, your turn!

When he was finished, Jack grabbed the rope and rapidly pulled it up. He took off his own prison jacket and carefully wrapped it around the rope, tying his hands within the thin fabric. He tied the rope around his waist and slowly began a carefully ascent directly down the side of the church. When he was at the bottom, he tugged it gently and saw Terry carefully release the rope. Jack untangled his jacket and put it back on. He gathered up the rope and then turned to find Shepard already speaking to the strange man in the hazmat suit.

I am Dark Lord Helmet.

Jack was getting tired of these strange people. First Bender the robot, then Dr. Strange and now this Dark Lord Helmet. Where were the Joes and Steves?

The strange man continued to ramble more useless nonsense.

But considering the circumstances you can call me Helmet, unless any Spaceballs show up.

Jack wasn't sure what to make of this guy. He seemed like he was trying to be intimidating but in a battle he would probably be the first guy to run for cover. Jack wasn't sure he wanted this guy anywhere near him. The helmet was a big target.

"What's the purpose of the helmet?" Jack demanded.

Tag: Helmet, Shepard

---

[b]IC: Terry McGinnis[/b]

Once Jack had slipped down, Terry unfastened the rope and let it fall. Taking a deep breath, the young Batman took another look towards the ground and found that it really didn't seem that far to fall if he lost his grip. With any luck, he'd only break half the bones in his body. That comforting thought did not leave him as he carefully climbed over the ledge of the church and wrapped his hands around the old gutter fastened to the side of the building. Without his suit and the proper equipment, there was no doubt that this was going to hurt if he wasn't quick enough.

Fortunately, Bruce Wayne had spend what had seemed to Terry as an exceptionally long time on wall ascension and climbing. Terry had been forced to climb most of the caves under Wayne Manor with very few tools. And then one day, the old man made him do it without tools. Terry could vibrantly recall the choice names he'd wanted to call his mentor as well as the feelings he had that day. But, as he always seemed to do, Bruce Wayne knew the training was necessary.

Terry wrapped his arms and legs around the drain pipe and carefully shimmied down it. Finding a nearby window ledge, he carefully swung himself over and grabbed the ledge with his fingertips. He pulled himself over several inches before swinging towards the next window where he felt his feet touch the a small ledge. Looking down to make sure it was safe, Terry released his hands and landed on the ledge, instinctively pressing his body towards the church wall. He lay flat against the church and looked down. He was only a few feet away now. He could clearly see both Jacks talking with the strange newcomer. Terry carefully crouched down on the ledge and crawled off it, holding onto the ledge only by his fingertips. Then, he released, and fell to the ground in a crouch. He lay in that position for a moment to assess any injuries. Aside from a few cuts and bruises, he was fine. He slowly stood up and walked over to join the others.

[b]Tag: Shepard, Helmet[/b]

[hr]

[b]IC: Dr.Strange[/b]

[hr]

OOC: Spiff: I'm still waiting on Cor for a House post.

 

IC: Hannibal Lecter

Hannibal felt some degree of satisfaction when the man before him appeared to be embarrassed about the entire box incident. "I can only imagine, Doctor. Once again, sorry about that? , he added as he rubbed the back of his head, obviously feeling anxious with a certain degree of guilt for having him through that. It was clear he didn?t trust Hannibal just yet, but his reaction gave him hope that in time he would be able to get inside the man?s head a little more. If anything, he was a really patient man. ?All in good time?, he thought to himself.

?I can?t give any new information, but in regards to escape, I might have an idea,? the man who called himself Pliskin continued, studying Hannibal carefully. He decided to go with the obvious reaction of surprised and hopeful, and raised his eyebrows, letting out a smile, ?Well that sounds like music to my ears, I must say?, Hannibal replied, ?I might not be a strong younger man like yourself, but if I can be of any assistance please don?t hesitate to ask?. Indeed, if he had to bite his way out of this island, well that would be an added bonus to his escape. ?We can?t go anywhere the Warden has mentioned, as he will probably have a fail safe in each of them; using a raft on the beach is too obvious, for one. Our best bet is just to stay here and investigate. To find something about this Warden first, before we make a move.? Indeed, this man might be of use. This had been his conclusion aswell, so he would give the man some credit for his logical thinking.

Hannibal?s warnings shot up when he noticed the man reaching down to his pocket, but whatever he was looking for, he didn?t find and it annoyed him. Interesting. ?Where are the other inmates? I haven?t seen them around.?, Pliskin asked. Hannibal wanted to shout that they were all probably running around like a bunch of morons trying to find an obvious way out and playing the warden?s game, but he held himself back. Instead, he shrugged and replied calmly, ?I saw a few in the dinning room area before but they ran out to explore the island I assume...that was a while ago. I chose not to follow any of them and just do some exploring here first, but I haven?t seen anything so far that might give me a clue as to who this warden is and how he accomplished getting us all here?, he added honestly. Once again, it was time to try and gain this man?s confidence a little more. Moving in a little closer he took a moment to take in the man?s scent. Even thought it wasn?t obvious, he could smell the faint smell of nicotine on him. Inwardly, he grinned. The fact that this man appeared to be a smoker told him things Pliskin probably wouldn?t even dream he knew. Yes, this might work to his advantage later on. Continuing to play his game, Hannibal looked around as if the walls themselves might be spies, and whispered, ?I find it somewhat disturbing that I haven?t seen any guards around. However this warden is watching us, he doesn?t need mere men to do it? to me that?s the most worrisome aspect of all?, he finished, ?We need to be extra careful?. Looking at the man intently, he waited for a reply.

TAG: Solid Snake.


IC: Jack Shephard

Jack watched with confusion as the man with the strange helmet spoke, his helmet slamming down, and answered in a deep voice, "I am Dark Lord Helmet." Then with another jerk the front went back up again, "But considering the circumstances you can call me Helmet, unless any Spaceballs show up." he finished in his higher voice as he fixed his glasses. ?Spaceballs??, Jack asked. Inwardly he thought to himself that the name was familiar to him? ?Wasn?t that a movie??, he thought to himself. He was about to ask, but that`s when Bauer showed up, "What's the purpose of the helmet?" , he barked. Jack tried not to laugh. Obviously, the agent wasn?t exactly amused at their new companion. But also that meant he didn?t know who he was either. That would have worried Jack, but somehow he didn?t get the sense th

 

IC: Dark Lord Helmet
Church Grounds

Several words came out at once, well several questions which was just as bad. After clinching his face up for a moment, prepared to have an outburst he calmed himself down. "What are you? Am I still surrounded by relations of Morons? The helmet is to protect my head, not to mention be intemidating and a fashion statement."

Shaking his head at his exasperation quickly had him reaching up with both hands to hold onto his helmets sides to stop the swinging motion.

"Spaceballs. . .Intergalactic space going group with an air situation on the homeworld brought about by President Scroob?" After pausing a moment making come on gestures he stepped back a bit and looked them all in the eye, "All of which I never said if he arrives."

TAG: Jack Bauer, Jack Shepherd, Terry

 

OOC: aaaand I'm back. That was a boring weekend.

I have been quite exhausted, though, so I talked to the Warden. He was amenable to starting Trials tomorrow.

*insert ominous red-eyed-skully-face here*

 

OOC: Oh man Steph, I HATE you now. HAAAAATE!!

 

OOC: keep your eye on this thread for a little announcement early evening!

Just a LITTLE announcement... nothing BIG....


like Trials.

 

OCC: it`s early evening for me already , but i guess i`ll have to wait until tomorrow to see what ur up to, cause i leave work in a few and my home pc is still on life support

I`m really curious to see how these trials will work though . I hope everyone sees everyone`s trial, talk about airing dirty laundry

 

IC Darth Vader:

My prisoner did not seem to disagree when I told him that the creature who had attacked him would not have cared to put him to use, for he said, "Well, I wasn't exactly looking for his help anyway," This sentence came into the implants within my helmet at a much lower volume than usual, indicating that they were not directed at me specifically. I still picked up every word, however.

His next words were at the normal level. "I was just doing what needed to be done to survive. I'm sure you can relate to that."

How sweet. The man was trying to find common ground with me, as if by doing so, he could raise himself to my level. It was never going to happen, of course, but it was fascinating to watch him try. One could learn a lot about one?s opponent by watching him maneuver around the obstacles placed in his path. This man?s mind had to be running a kilometer a minute, constantly trying different scenarios in his head, and discarding those that he knew had no hope of working.

The man then looked up at me for a moment. Was he debating just how much he could goad me? Was he even now regretting how far he had already gone? Finally, he said, "Speaking of which, what's your story? Why does someone like you need my help anyway?"

There was no trace of deception behind the man?s words. He truly did not know who I was. While I had been almost certain before, this finally convinced me that I was indeed a long way from the Empire and all of its trappings.

He was trying to get me to open up to him again, though. I could afford to indulge him, at least a little. ?Everyone on this island is of use to me until it is determined otherwise. You will help me escape from this place. Do not overestimate your own importance, however. If it were not you, it would be somebody else.?

I squeezed his shoulder more tightly, in order to help him crystalize his precarious position. ?As for my story . . .?

My grip slackened slightly as I continued, ?A group of insular mystics tried to overthrow the lawful government of the Republic. It was I who put a stop to their treasonous plans.?

I said no more. Let him conclude from that what he would.

TAG: Indy

 

IC as the Warden

*intercom screeches on, blaring noise throughout the prison and the island via concealed speakers*

"Good evening, inmates."

"The time of Trials has come."

"They will occur one by one. When all of have you been thoroughly tried and examined by your peers on this island, and by myself the Judge, verdicts will be handed down."

"Trials will begin with opening statements. The prosecution shall go first. That means me. There will be no lengthy speeches here, there will not even be a courtroom. Very shortly, you will see what Justice has provided for a court."

"The first defendant is Dr. HENRY JONES, Jr."

*as soon as the words leave the speakers, the island and the prison both disappear in a swirl of green and gray. A room appears, and an old man- Indiana Jones himself- is on his bed. The Warden speaks one last time, and then the trial begins.*

"We are here now at the deathbed of Dr. Jones."

OOC: And now for the twist. Yes, I'm sorry, there's a twist.

When it's the prosecution's turn to speak, the character under trial will not be controlled by his or her usual player. The control will temporarily go to another player. In this case, it will be yodaminch. Minch, if you're the only person in the world that doesn't know anything about Indiana Jones, I suggest you start doing your homework.

Once the prosecution's opening statement, in the form of whatever unsavory thing we will learn about Dr. Jones on his deathbed, is over, the defense will give its opening statement, the character under trial will go back to the control of its normal player, and that player will determine what the next "visit" shall be.

So far as I am aware, there is no existing canon depiction of Indy on his deathbed, and if there is, then add to it with dirty laundry.

I reserve the right to cancel out any unbelievable character developments. For example, if minch decides to make Indy reveal that he ate babies as a youth, I will probably tell minch to go with something else, something more like "I stole a precious artifact from an old lonely man with a cane who got to it before me", for example.

In the meantime, the trial will not be the only thing going on during these "visits." For one thing, the visiting characters, as jury, will "usually" be invisible to the character-under-trial and the characters from his/her universe. But sometimes, this invisibility will "flicker" and even just shut off. Again, I have sole power over whenever this might happen. Also, the character-under-trial is in one place only. So the Indiana Jones as being played by Steph on the island is not actually going to be there present watching his old self die, that way he cannot defend himself during the prosecution's statement.

Last but not least, there is a group "out there" that doesn't like the Warden very much, and they will be making "visits" too during the trial, with the purposes of disruption and mischief. Some of you might remember who they are, they're familiar faces.

May Justice reign.

edit: a player asked me about this on PM... reposting the answer here...

"They just disappear from wherever they were on the island at the time of the Warden's announcement and the trial's start.

They will go right back to the same spots when Indy's trial is over. "

BTW, there will be breaks, however long or short, in between the different trials.

 

OOC: Ok then. You'll need to give me til tomorrow. Wasn't expecting this particular twist. In the mean time, are other characters allowed to do anything? For example, have they all been transported to see what's going on? Or do they continue on with their current quests?

 

EVERYONE goes to see and, eventually, when the flickering occurs, and the old friends drop in, to participate, too. Prison characters can see and talk to each other during the trial, even if the character-under-trial and the characters and things from his universe can't even detect their presence when they're well and truly invisible and undetectable.

 

OOC: I am... so confused I learn by example. I think I'll have to see it in action to know what's what. So also, the island has disappeared. Are the rest of us in a courtroom? Can we talk to each other about anything else or are we just supposed to react...?

I'm pretty bummed to not be able to play our characters in our own trials, though. Quite honestly that's much of what I was looking forward to

 

When it's time for his trial, you'll get to play Ben exclusively for the whole defense half of his trial.

The characters are all physically in the environment of the character-under-trial's universe.

In this case, the most immediate environment is the room that Indy is dying in. Or, if he died a different way according to canon, we'll modify for that.

Honestly, I spent months trying to figure out how to go about this whole trial business. Some of it I figured out in advance, and the rest I thought it would be best just to give the ball a roll and see how it went. Making it up on the fly? Yes, but sometimes that's the best way to get started. Rome wasn't built in a day.

 

OOC: Not to fill the thread with too much OOC chatter, but I think a good question is: How exactly is yodaminch controlling Indy at the beginning? Is he playing the role of the prosecutor, deciding what sins he is focusing on? And how does that entail playing Indy? Couldn't Steph as Indy just react to what is being said about him, and have you play the prosecutor and defense?

 

OOC: Yeah... if that's the case, I can't say I'm a big fan of it either. =/ I was hoping to get moving with my character after all my vacation and Solo's return, but this is another serious disruption to that. It'll seriously take away some of the "what is going on here" mystery we've been working on, if our characters remember these trial instances. No disrespect intended, though; just voicing my opinion.

 

How about this... there's a second level of invisibility reserved for the prison-incarnation of the character that's currently under trial, where he's absolutely, inviolably undetectable to the other prison characters and the characters of the trial character's universe. In that level, your Indy can inhabit and comment on the proceedings of the trial.

Although, I can't say I'm very satisfied about that concession because if this were a real trial in a real courtroom, it would be like letting the defense put on a running commentary WHILE the prosecution is active, when, you know, the defense is supposed to be absolutely silent.

So, like I said, it needs a lot of work. Trial-and-error.

But one thing I'm very against, however, is allowing players control of their signed-up characters when it's the prosecution's turn to present "life moments" in the trial. Players do, however, have exclusive control of their character(s) during every stage of the defense.

Obviously, during this stage where there's a lot of trial-and-error, perhaps we could set up a "sacrificial lamb" character to be trialed instead of Indy. This is a character many of us know, but none of us particularly care about, that isn't tooo close to our hearts. This lamb could go first... and another lamb could go second if we're still working everything out...

edit: who's the "you" Spiff is referring to? Me? Playing both of the most active, time consuming parts of the whole damn trial? Noooo way. There's going to be an even distribution of the workload.

 

OOC: Now that you put it like that, it does make sense that the prosecution should not come from the player himself, and a running commentary probably wouldn't work, at least from the character him/herself. A further level of invisibility shouldn't be necessary, nor is it desirable. The characters on trial should remain silent throughout. However, I don't understand why yodaminch would be playing Indy when he is setting up the prosecution's case? Is Indy putting himself on trial? He's making the "visits" happen himself? Wouldn't yodaminch just play a prosecutor character?

No more OOC. Sorry. No more questions. I'll just watch how it unfolds and learn from experience.