The Unfinished Duet, part 7

Log Info

• Title: The Unfinished Duet, part 7
• Emitter: Delilah
• Characters: Ashes, Donna, Merek, Elyanna, Delilah
• Place: A14: Noble District - Alexandrian Courtroom
• Time: Monday, November 09, 2020, 8:27 PM
• Summary: The prosecution continues their character assassination of Delilah by asking leading questions and interrupting whenever she attempts to answer in detail. The defense is allowed to draw out the circumstances, with Donna plowing through and asking things based on her experiences. Ashes attempts to duplicate the prosecutor's methods by raising items relating to the relationships between Delilah, Norrington and Bethany. She fails to follow through and interrupt Norrington as he runs his mouth. Ashes is lectured and told to stop, so she leaves the courtroom. Elyanna continues, attempting to drill down into their interactions and establish that Norrington has interferred and has an agenda. Someone sighs. The prosecutor objects again, and the Magistrate insists Norrington is above reproach and his role should not be questioned despite his manipulations.

Magestrate Daverin picks up her gavel and hammers it down hard on the little pedestal. "Order," she instructs, glaring at both the prosecution and the defenders. "I remind *all* of you that Miss Valethor's life depends on these proceedings. I will have order." She holds the gavel like a talisman, before setting it back down on the desk. A glance is given towards the halfling scribe who is dutifully writing down every word, before she looks back up to the prosecutor. "I am forced to agree with the defense," she states. "Getting angry because you pried into her intimate affairs is not the same as murdering someone. Also, you must explain how she came to know Lady Bethany liked to visit the Gilded Seahorse."

"As to the latter," The prosecutor begins immediately, with only a glance spared in the direction of the defense; his eyes meet Merek's, and hold for a moment, before he looks back up at the magistrate. "The accused had in her possession markers from the victim, for several months I'm to understand. The Gilded Seahorse provides such markers, for nobles who want money available in the area without actually carrying it; those that Delilah had were in the Seahorse script." He pauses, approaching Delilah's position once more, and clasping his hands behind his back as he walks. "Miss Valethor, please take us back to the night in Von Ironbrew's, about eight months ago, when you first confronted Lady Alenthor about the markers she owed you. At what point in the discussion did you say the words 'I'll kill you' to Lady Alenthor?"

The ashen Arvec listens to the line of questioning. Some interesting ones certainly are raised. She opens her mouth, about to speak, then decides against it. Best to let Seldan speak. Or Donna. Or Merek. Or Elyanna. Chippen might be a better choice, if he could speak. What sort of voice would a centipede have, would it be like a caterpillar, exotic and hypnotic? Perhaps something rhythmic, with rolling r's, reflective of the waves his feet make as he crawls along. Something soulful and deep, a vibration you could feel in your soul.

Oh right! The trial! Ashlee reaches into her satchel and takes out her wallet. She opens it and peers in. She's never really paid attention to the coins, or paper scripts. Tips and gifts from the family of people she's... assisted. Perhaps she has some Gilded Seahorse markers, she's never really thought about it.

By the way Donna's face goes from sullen fury to ashen dismay, the prusecution's question does indeed seem to be one that Delilah can answer. But the dismay lasts only a moment, and the brawler grips the table, again, to give herself something to do to keep from making yet another outburst.

After all, this time the Magistrate might not be so lenient.

Merek of course would pull that scarf on him while he waits, watching and listening. He nods a bit, meeting the eyes with the golden celestial gaze of his while he seems to think a bit.

Elyanna continues to observe with a quiet disdain, glancing between the paladin, and the prosecutor as the questioning continues. She glances to Donna as she sees her fingers lock around the edge of the table, and the halfbreed reaches out to lightly bump her knuckles against the woman's arm once more. She isn't sure what is going through the minds of her fellows, but imagines they were rolling over their next course of action.

Delilah takes a moment to think after that question is posed; and it's clearly not a question she's keen on, but it's hardly as if she's been keen on any of them up until this point. POssibly, not talking about her sx life is a nice change, at least.

"I..." she pauses, taking a breath and collecting herself. "Bethany was--"

"Lady Alenthor," corrects the Prosecutor.

Delilah sucks in a breath, and starts over. "Lady Alenthor threatened my sister," she explains. "Told me that things would happen to her. I overreacted. My sister and I are very prot--"

"So you admit to uttering a threat of death against the Lady Alenthor," the prosecutor interjects. "And tell us, Miss Valethor, when you spoke these words, you meant it, correct? That you were prepared to kill Lady Alenthor in cold blood. Did not your hand stray to your pistol at that moment?"

"No," replies Delilah, "It did not, and I think I should clarify--"

"Just answer the questions, Miss Valethor," The prosecutor interupts again. "Now, let us discuss--"

"No," interupts Delilah, "I really think I should get to tell the entire story, and not just the snippet that makes me look bad. Your honor, I--" she looks up at the Magistrate, but is cut off yet again, this time by Daverin. "Please restrict yourself to answering the questions, MIss Valethor. Your defense will have a chance to ask you their own questions in due course."

"Objection, Your Honor, this is leading the witness, attempting to find an answer that only works on their own ideal, let her answer the questions," Merek notes. There's a look to the Magistrate and along to the prosecutor.

The knuckle-tap does its job again, and Donna manages to squelch her indignance to nothing more than a strangled half-croak, subsiding into fuming quiet. But the prosecutor *has* done her one favor, at least; opened up an avenue for her first question.

Ashlee listens to the back and forth. The questions are clearly abusive. She doesn't comment, she doesn't react. Most things won't provoke a reaction from her. Instead, she stares. As has been observed before, she's very good at it. Nothing intimidating, nothing implied, just focus. The focus of a girl so close with death she always has an aura of it about her. A bright, white skull that covers her face, and unseen, skeletal bones on the rest of her skin. A living momento mori. Remember too, that you will die.

She watches the prosecutor and waits her turn. Life can be vibrant sometimes.

Elyanna glances to Merek as he makes his objection, then glances to the Magistrate to see if he gets rebuked for his approach. It may open a door, otherwise. She looks then to Donna on her own reaction. Hmmm.

The Magistrate holds up a single finger in Merek's direction. "You will have your chance," she affirms. "For now it is the Prosecution's turn, and they may ask any questions they wish." She settles back in her seat, picking up the gavel and toying with it absently, while she listens to the questioning going on.

"The evening at the Black Fox, when you played cards against Lady Alenthor and beat her," the Prosecutor continues, as if the interuption hadn't happened. "Did you cheat?"

"No!" replies Delilah, with the sharp tone of indignation in her voice. "I never cheat at nothin'. I've never needed to and I'd rather lose honestly."

"Admirable sentiment," concedes the Prosecutor, albeit mildly. "We'll see if that holds up while your neck is on the line. After the game, you drew your pistol, did you not?"

Delilah remains silent for a long moment after that. It's not an entirely unreasonable amount of time, but it does attract a little prompting from the Scribe, and then the Magistrate -- the question must be answered. "Yes," replies the sorcerer. "But--"

"So on seperate occasions, you not only threatened the Lady Alenthor's life, but in fact drew a lethal weapon against her," states the Prosecutor. "And on the evening when she and Knight Captain Norrington arrived in the Golden Plum to serve you with court papers, the night before she was murdered, you threatened her and put your hand on your pistol, yes?"

Delilah's shoulders slump, and she stares towards the Prosecutor. "Yes," she replies, "But I didn't draw my pistol, and I was responding to--"

"Just answering the questions will be sufficient," the Prosecutor intones. "Your honor, on three seperate occasions, the defendant admits to uttering or otherwise displaying serious threats of harm, lethal harm, against the victim. This isn't merely a singal incident of boiling blood over a gambling event gone wrong; this is a consistent, prolonged pattern of anger and aggression towards someone who, by all accounts, is not even in the defendant's league. Miss Valethor is a seasoned adventurer; Lady Alenthor was a noblewoman, unaccustomed to combat. Miss Valethor's actions cannot be characterized as anything but egregiously threatening."

Magestrate Daverin sets the gvel down, and steeples her fingers in frotn of her, while the Prosecutor's words hang in the air. "Interesting," she murmors, as her eyes rest on Delilah, watching the golden haired sorceress. "Very well." She nods towards the defenders, "You may ask your own questions."

Merek stands up, while he would take a moment to adjust his attire, then the scarf. He walks forward while he inclines to the Magistrate. He then speaks to Delilah, "Now Delilah, we have your own admittance of these things mentioned, although we weren't given context. You were led into answering to favor the prosecution. Now I ask you to answer in favor to no one, and speak of your own thoughts on these events. First, tell me why you threatened Lady Bethany, I'll remind you that you spoke of a threat to your sister. Explain in full."

The man nods a bit, then he adds, "I would like for you to explain the situation with the pistol in full as well. You stated, upon the Court, that your hand was on it."

Delilah's eyes look a bit misty as Merek approaches; and there's nothing she can do but blink rapidly a few times, as her wrists are on short enough chains that she can't reach. She sucks in a breath, and takes a moment to compose herself. "In the first instance I was asked about," she begins, "Which took place after Lady Alenthor had *finally* paid her debt to me, she told me that I could use it to buy my sister a new face and teeth after she got 'what was coming to her'." She pauses, and sucks in another breath. "And I just sort of... I can't abide threats against my sister. If she'd threatened *me* I would have just rolled my eyes."

The sorceress looks up at the Magistrate, but Daverin seems disinclined to interupt, so she continues. "At the Black Fox, after I'd beaten Lady Alenthor at cards, she tried to have her guard draw his sword against me. She was angry about losing, or something, I don't know, I was in the middle of buying a round of drinks for everyone I'd just beaten, her included. It pinched her in the wrong place, I guess. I drew my pistol in self defense."

"You did not fire though, you did not attempt to act on these when they were offered in defense of these, in months. Your Honor, if she wanted to kill the Lady, I don't think she'd have been meticulous enough to plan it for MONTHS, then to try it with all the grace of a slimy toad. Facts don't line up with her being the killer, in any way," Merek notes, nodding a bit. Then he steps back to let someone else.

As Merek steps back, Donna lunges to her feet. "Couple clarifyin' questions, if Y'Honor don't mind," she says. "D-- Delilah, I mean. First time, you said you drew in self-defense. Mind tellin' us all what happened, after that? An' after the mess when we got served, what happened when th-- Ehm. Lady Alenthor -- left?"

"After I drew my pistol? Mal an' Laddy sorted it out." Delilah shrugs her shoulders lightly. "They're... the two-headed ogre and the Black Fox's bouncer. Anyone messes around with the club or regulars, and they deal with it. He told Lady Alenthor's guard to settle down, and he politely requested that she accept the loss." She pauses, and blushes softly. "And he told me to put my gun away or I'd be kicked out for two weeks, and I don't argue with Mal or Laddy when they're doing their job."

She pauses, and shrugs her shoulders. "Well, as to the second question... I mean, when Lady Alenthor left, we just... talked about it a bit? But nothing happened. We had something to drink and eventually went to bed. I don't recall us doing anything particularly special."

Elyanna brings her hand up as Donna surgers upward, though, with the woman's opening query, she brings herself up short and simply observes the principles.

"That's right," Donna says, nodding firmly, passing the prosecutor a jaundiced eye. "Nobody argues with Mal' an' Laddie, if they're smart. An' bein' as you didn't get kicked out the Black Fox, I'm guessin' you were smarter than that. Might be as I got more questions, but, I ain't gonna take up all the time." Looking over her shoulder to Elyanna and Ashes, Donna nods, passing back around to her seat and plopping down.

Ash turns at Elyanna raises her hand and whispers, "Are you going up?" It seems like her friend won't, so the ashen Arvec moves past Silverguard Seldan. First she addresses the Magistrate, "These are relevant because the prosecution brought the names and circumstances up as evidence." Next she moves to stand facing Delilah. She looks directly at her, issues her monotone instruction. "I only need one word answers. If you can't give a precise number, over a rounded approximation will suffice. Or, 'don't know'."

She has a pen and her notepad in hand, as that will make things easier for later. The mourner has written out a long list of questions. Her gaze is unwavering, directly at the prisoner. In monotone, she rattles them off, pausing only long enough to write down a number before moving to the next one. It's such a matter-of-fact delivery, they barely seem like questions.

"How many times has Lady Velathor lost money to you."

"How many times has Lady Velathor threatened you or your sister."

"How many times has Norrington threatened you."

"How many times has Norrington tried to frame you."

"How many times has Norrington sexually made advances on you."

"How many times has Norrington had sex with Lady Velathor."

The questions cause a bit of a stir in the courtroom, but Delilah just braces herself and does her best to answer them as they are posed to her. "Just once," she begins. "She threatened my sister twice. Norrington has... never threatened me with anything he isn't legally entitled to threaten me with, like jail time." She pauses, and looks in Norrington's direction, "I suppose the next question is a matter of perspective, I mean *I* think he's tried it several times but I'm sure he'd--"

This is the moment where Norrington rises to his feet, and plants one hand on his hip while gesturing in the air with the other. "Your honor, I must protest. I am not the one on trial here, and I should not be subject to this character assassination that the goblin is attempting to try and exhonerate the defendant. I will remind the court that aside from arresting Miss Valethor, I have had no involvement in the investigation."

Daverin leans back in her seat, and glances towards the family members of Bethany, who all seem to be glaring daggers at Ashes by now. "Miss Valethor, disregard the rest of those questions," she decrees, before nodding towards Ashes. "If you have more questions, Relevant to the *defendant* and the current aspect of this case, you may continue."

"Hobgoblin." Ash says in monotone, "You're blind and within ten feet of me."

She turns back to the Magistrate. "And he lies. He delivered the court writ to her in person, with Bethany accompanying him. They have a relationship."

"The prosecution has made it clear that details are irrelevant."

Merek would lean a little to Ashlee, and notes, "We're trying to prove her innocence, anything like that will need to wait," he notes, nodding a bit. The man seems to have a little experience with the Court, while he waits along and would watch.

The ashen Arvec seems doggedly determined to speak. She weathers the glare of the family members like basalt cliffs face a sea breeze. She is reformulating her questions, with some of the objects replaces with indirect references such as 'a member of the guard'. Obvious, but not a direct attack on Norrington, and with the possibility of inflating the numbers.

Until Merek admonishes her. She turns and stares at him. Like always, her voice is monotone. Her words even and flat. "We're not in a relationship anymore, Mer-mer. You can stop undercutting me."

She stuffs her notebook into her satchel. "I'm going for a smoke. No further questions."

Ashlee strides past Delilah and out of the courtroom.

"The only relationship that exists between Lady Alenthor and I," Norrington replies, "Is that the court assigned me the task of serving her court summons to Miss Valethor. And I did strongly reccomend that the Lady not accompany me, but she insisted, and she was a noble and I am not, so she came against my advice. And that is all."

As Norrington sits down, Bethany's sister Lady Evelyn Darrion rises; with some assitance from her husband, and as she rises it becomes clear as to why. She is, in fact, several months pregnant. "I can confirm," she states, "No relationship existed between my late sister and the Knight Captain." She sucks in her breath, "She told me more than once that she felt--"

At this moment, the Magistrate raps her gavel on it's pedestal. "Order," she states. "Too many people are speaking out of turn, and it must stop." She nods to the defense. "Please ask Miss Valethor any further questions you might have."

"I'm not, it's just better suited for a different set of questioning, they won't let you otherwise," Merek then notes, then sighs when the woman begins walking along. "Apologies," then it's back to the front. Then he's watching the proceeding.

Ash has already left the courtroom. The other words go unheard.

Elyanna arches an eyebrow as Ashes takes point on the defense and... unloads. The red woman's eyebrow tics incrementally upward as the Mourner's questions come rolling out in sequence. She quirks a bit of a grin at the corner of her lips. With Norrington's outburst, she now rises, "Your honor, I submit as a matter of record that the Captain's statement about the investigation is, likewise spurious. When the Mourners were allowed to examine the crime scene, three days after the fact, it was under his personal supervision."

SHe arches an eyebrow with a quick go-between Ashes and Merek, then, with the Mourner's stormy departure, she continues, "As the accused is facing death under no small weight of his words, that the veracity of his presentation should be as much interest to this court as that of Delilah."

She steps out from the bench and approaches Delilah, "If the relationship between the Captain and the late Lady Alethor is outside the bounds of this round, then I would ask the relationship between he and yourself."

Steel eyes pan accross the courteoorm to settle on the Knight Captain, "This is not the first time this man has bound you by law, is it?"

"I object," states the Prosecutor, "The Knight Captain's statement is accurate. All investigation of substance was conducted before he was informed of Lady Alenthor's death, and overseeing a crime scene while others investigate it, does not invalidate his statement that he did not, personally, participate in said investigation."

The Magistrate contemplates for second, before nodding. "I agree," she states, nodding to the Prosecutor. "Miss Valethor, please answer the questions now."

Delilah looks at Norrington, then back to Elyanna. "Several times," she replies. "Usually for thefts that I didn't do," she adds, shifting a glare back in the Knight Captain's direction. "Once that I can think of, when my sister and I, ahem, liberated some clothes from a laundry and snuck into a noble ball. We..." She scratches the back of her head. "We did do that."

"Your honor, I object. All of the defense, save Donna, were present at the investigation by the Mourners the night the Captain resided over the scene. He interacted with us, then, stating the case was straightforward. He also confiscated the bullet Mourner Silmeria was able to dig out of the alley floor." The Keeper has an even, businesslike tone, "Is this not involvement, -direct- involvement, with the investigation, which he tries to deny? Would that not, too, lend a kernal of doubt to the affair?"

She gives Delilah a somewhat flat look at the laundry bit, but continues, anyway, "Have you interacted with the Captain in any other manner?"

She pauses, then raises a hand, "We can come back to that. The night you were presented with the writ of summons. The one that required the presence of both the Knight Captain, and the late Lady Alenthor. What was the..." she rolls her wrist a couple of times, splaying her fingers as she fishes for the words, "Purpose of it?"

Out in the hall, Ashes lights up. She stares at the smoke rising towards the ceiling. Her thoughts her own. Chippen, her familiar comes out of her satchel, crawls under her clothes and emerges and wraps around her neck. She reaches into the bag again, and clips her lizard onto her ear. The smoke curls up, and she watches silently.

Merek just sighs while he places a hand along his thick stubble.

"Please discontinue questioning the Knight Captain's conduct," states Magistrate Daverin. "As he has already protested, neither he, nor the methods of him or the guards in general, are on trial. If the matter is raised again, it will not be looked upon kindly." She leans back in her seat, and resumes toying with her gavel as she allows things to continue to unfold.

Delilah glances at Elyanna, then back up to the Magistrate. "I have played cards with Norrington twice," she states. "Once, the first time we met, and the second time just after his last attempt to get me thrown in jail." She pauses. "I cleaned him out both times. As for the writ, Lady Alenthor was upset about the resolution of our previous... encounters, and wished to sue me for slandering her."

The Prosecutor rises from his seat. "Objection," he states. "This line of questioning is not relevant, your honor. The defendant continues to answer questions about the Knight Captain, and as you have already clarified, it is not relevant. I request to regain control of the floor; and as the defense has chosen to raise the matter of the defendant's firearm, I should like to submit it for the court's inspection, if it please your honor."

Seldan has not spoken in some time.