Council plotting re: A-Qing case and Wester's broadcast

[tinkerheart]

This is an attempt to make discussion/plotting for everyone involved a little more organized. I'd try to be as clear as I can so we avoid any confusion but kick me if I start sounding mean...

For this to work, I think we need to stick to at least some structure. There are several things that need discussing for the Council members as such. For this reason, please reply to Council topics only if your character is a Council member.
This is not me trying to keep people out. This is only so that we don't get derailed and overwhelmed (Council is not smol on its own).
I make a separate comment for throwing ideas if your character is not on the Council.

And since it involves their characters, I'd like to ask Elle for A-Qing (spikelet), Tohma for Xue Yang (xue_yang) and for Doom for Wester (bloomingdespite) to comment on any and all topics as they please.

For sake of clarity, Anything our Modly One (Katy) says overrules any Council decision of course.

STATUS Updates
- Xue Yang is in coma, in Medical car. Under guard. Curufin proposed he can guard him.
- Wester - As per Hope's comment here Wester is in custody in Quiet room that was webbed shut by Peter. Will require guard.
- Here is comment with suggestions what is needed for a successful trial

-A-Qing is under Turk protection and staying with Reno, Sven and Ran at 6-E

Comments

Council - opt-out

[tinkerheart]

Your character is on the Council but doesn't want to take part in any of this.

Council - reactions

[tinkerheart]

Appalled, indifferent, impressed? I don't know.

Re: Council - reactions

[unfavorableinstigation]

Nita missed out on this! Her opinion can be ignored, at least until upcoming platform and someone catches her up on everything.

But yes, 'appalled' is most accurate for her - that Wester went about this without telling anyone is going to be her sticking point (though that is not to say she thinks Xue Yang is entirely sympathetic - guy's gonna need to be on watch/get a psych eval before anything else can be done for his trial, mind.)

She knows what it's like to do something dangerous and assume the burden of it all for herself, but confronting someone potentially mentally unstable and breaking them further goes against all kinds of things in her book.

[blue_ice]

Kaiba is probably the most torn about this, as he has a personal connection to Wester, though he doesn't know the exact nature of it yet.

First, killing kids is always horrible. That's not in question, and deserves to be dealt with, the primary priority being everyone's safety.

He's confident that Xue Yang will recover, but concerned about what exactly that means, because after his coma he kinda became fixated on revenge instead of healing. The healing came much later. That means security team.

At the same time he's also confident Wester isn't a bad person and isn't about to go on a judgment spree, they just lost control. But everyone's terrified, and that needs to be addressed.

And some trial notes: during the two trials, he'll describe exactly what a penalty coma is like and the possible side effects to watch out for, so they can fully understand what happened.

Re: Council - reactions

[sweetnessandfight]

Sarai is...very angry about all this. The need for a council has always been a contention point, and now this? The voices that clamor that there's no need for a council on this train are only going to get louder. That's bad enough, but suddenly anyone can just do vigilante justice, and that's fine? (Obviously not, but.)

Or, now, there's going to be a vicious cycle, because the council can't let Wester slide on this, either. The council was going to handle Xue Yang and his actions, but now it's a pretty moot point. Double jeopardy is wrong in his case, but Wester cannot be allowed to get away with what he did, either. And if he lost control once, obviously he's not in control in Sarai's mind, and is a dangerous unknown party.

[so_dark_a_road]

Curufin is certainly appalled and distressed. Appalled at the murder, and appalled at the method of revenge. Distressed at both.

He doesn't know Wester very well, and he wonders if Wester did this on purpose, or was possessed by the Atem entity without knowing and without consent. Tony mentioned this last possibility.

As for the murderer, so far, Curufin's volunteered to be one of the ones who keeps an eye on Xue Yang in the Medical Coach, and he definitely wants to talk to him when he wakes up. Curufin has made a sincere effort to befriend Xue Yang, starting at the platform, and he did it for complex reasons. The most relevant is that Curufin himself has a terrible history in his own world, and as he says, he has a fair amount of darkness in his own being. Because of this, he understands Xue Yang better than a lot of people would. He wants to help him. He believes that change is possible, but probably not without supporters who care.

Curufin's psychic abilities are somewhat specialized, but if the Council wants someone to make an attempt to wake Xue Yang, Curufin is volunteering to try.

[luckybucky]

Bucky is extremely appalled by the broadcast and will be in favor of at least some kind of punishment for it. He's not so much concerned with the vigilante justice aspect, since he's been doing something similar for the last couple of years in his own world.

In terms of the murder itself, he has a lot of Questions about that before he's willing weigh in on whether Xue Yang should've been punished more/at all/if he's even actually guilty.

Re: Council - reactions

[mtsilver_conquor]

Appalled for one and also Afraid, though she will convincingly lie out her butt about the reason why. (She is by the laws of her world a criminal/traitor and Eva sees no reason anyone needs to know that.)

She's going to be pushing for some kind of punishment re: the vigilante act, though she also wants to try and solve this as peacefully as possible.

As for Xue Yang... she's going to be rather /shrug/ about it all in the end. Her world's morals re: mental torture as a punishment for murder are shining through.

That said, her main view is 'What's done is done, and they need to focus on it not happening again, and they also need to fix it so people aren't afraid.'

[marriedanidiot]

Nerdanel is most appalled not so much by the punishment, although she is dislikes that too, but action without the rule of law. There was no trial, no hearing, no offer of reconciliation or option for redress, and that she cannot abide.

Council - actual discussion plotting

[tinkerheart]

There are several things to figure out here:

- what will be Council's decission to the murder itself?
- what will be Council's decission to the vigilante justice AND broadcasting of it?

[blue_ice]

Kaiba votes, at the minimum, for a period of restricted movement for both of them and at least an attempt to extract apologies.

The main issue here is that we'd need characters to be the security detail. And I don't want that to bar the characters from participating in next month's mission.

[so_dark_a_road]

As to the murder victim, Curufin will suggest that Qing ought to be surrounded by people who love and care about her. Support for the victim is extremely important.

As for Xue Yang, Curufin will not support any more brutal retribution, as that would be redundant, useless, and would almost certainly guarantee that Xue Yang would fall further into the madness that a murderous mindset is. Curufin volunteers to be on the security detail mentioned by Kaiba's player, above. This is not only to keep Xue Yang out of trouble. Curufin wants to talk to him on a regular basis.

As for the vigilante actions, Curufin wants to know the facts. Did Wester invite the Atem entity, or was Wester made into an involuntary host to Atem? What should happen depends on the facts. Facts first.

Re: Council - actual discussion plotting

[mtsilver_conquor]

Eva'll be siding with Kaiba re: restricted movement, and with Curufin re: no more brutal retribution thank you very much.

As for Wester -very much want the facts.

Eva will also float the idea of psychic monitoring so they can possibly head off the spirit before it does anything like this again.

Re: Council - actual discussion plotting

[runs_on_batteries]

Tony doesn't want to take anything they just witnessed as fact until they get something to back it up. So he doesn't want to say until A-Qing confirms that Xue Yang was the murderer.

After that, he wants to find out if anyone on the train can put both Xue Yang and Wester on lock down for a while. I like the idea from Kaiba that apologies definitely need to be given. Specifically to Wester, if this thing is an uncontrolled force within them, then they need to work on finding ways to fix this or prevent future violent episodes. As in, it might not be the host's fault, but it's the host's responsibility.

Also he wants the rules of the train posted somewhere.
1) No killing or assaulting anyone.
2) No stealing.
3) No killing or hurting other people's pets.

[marriedanidiot]

Nerdanel feels there is no point pursuing XY for the murder, as to do so now would be vindictive, as he has already suffered - whether justly or unjustly is not her place to say - unless AQ wishes to pursue things further. Right of blood is hers, as the murdered party, after all.

She is VERY not impressed by either the vigilantism OR the broadcasting, both of which speak to her of a reckles disregard for the rule of law, and also one that is in itself uncaring of others and only of itself. She will want some sort of redress for that as well of a way of preventing it happening again. She never thought she'd miss having Namo around

~~ Read please ~~~

[runs_on_batteries]

Tony has Wester in 'custody'.

I'm doing a thread with them but we agreed that Tony is going to ask them to stay in a quiet room and Peter's going to web it shut. He'll probably ask for a guard too.

This is also to keep them contained while the council decides what to do.

[usernamesarecool]

The Doctor is mostly going to be silent on the matter and let them work it out among themselves. He's still mad about a little girl being killed and his sympathy for Xue Yang and is uh... pretty nonexistent. However, he does know that there are better ways to go about things and so while he understands the rage he doesn't agree with it.

He also will mention his ability to look into other people's heads if it comes down to it. But that is a last resort because it's invasive and he doesn't like doing it.

The Trial- final decision?

[blue_ice]

So in my opinion here's what we need for a successful trial.

-Definitive evidence that Xue Yang murdered A-Qing. Not everyone believes Wester's projection. Do we have that evidence?
-Character witnesses for both accused parties. Pretty sure we have that.
-Guards for both parties. We have enough volunteers for that.

At the moment the general consensus seems to be restricted or at least monitored movement, a request for apology, and psychic monitoring for both parties. How long for each?

Council - timeline

[tinkerheart]

Another couple of things to consider because I noticed reading the questions on non-council part that I'm not the only person will very little idea how the plot was progressing before Wester's transmission (for various ooc reasons :P)

Those are not essentials but mostly good to know stuff to have in one place so that everyone could have their characters react ICly to a common set of facts.

- who was investigating
- who the investigators informed first (I think it was Tony but correct me if I'm wrong)
- how much time passed before point 2 and Wester's transmissions

Non-council members - ideas, suggestions

[tinkerheart]

Your character is not on the Council but you have an idea.

[achickenformylove]

WangJi is not on the council of course, but as he is the one who handled Xue Yang's final punishment in canon, he can speak for the character of Xue Yang. And there are several on the train to verify that WangJi is a reliable source of information.

[thebiggestguy]

As an ex-council member? Dread feels that extrajudicial punishments are unacceptable, and the crime committed in damaging someone's soul is far worse than even murder. Not that murder is acceptable, but this act was greater evil. The person responsible needs to be stopped and brought to justice.

[draconite]

So Bryn's take on this is DEFINITELY a bad one lol

She disagrees with what Wester did – not because she thinks it was a bad idea, but because she doesn't think it was their business and so, not their place to step in and do something. If A-Qing had been the one to take her revenge, that would've been fine, but Wester was an unrelated party, so it isn't their right to take revenge in her place.

As far as she's concerned, A-Qing should get to decide Wester's punishment, since it's her business and everyone else should basically just butt out and leave her to it.

[theturksway]

Less an idea and just a head's up that Reno is watching over A-Qing right now and will have to be dealt with to get to her. Elle has been making the note of all A-Qing's current ICP replies are from 6-E, Reno's cabin. (Shared with Sven and Ran.) She is basically under Turk protection.

Idea for Future Offenses:

[runs_on_batteries]

Tossing out an idea for the future.

In addition to solitary confinement as punishment, what would people think about fining the person as well? They would be required to spend a certain amount of train points for something to benefit the community as a whole.