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

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.

[blue_ice]

A-Qing anonymously told Kaiba to ask Lan WangJi for advice, so he'll ask to bring him in.

[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.

[spikelet]

BAD TAKE HI5

[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.

[aggressivelygood]

He'll definitely have Sven's help in that regard (whether he feels he needs it or not lmao).

Sven's Unpopular Opinion is that he doesn't give a shit if Xue Yang suffered for his crimes, and it might be a fitting punishment in his mind if not for the fact that he worries about Wesker's motives and finds it hugely distasteful the murder footage was broadcast so widely. ...Plus, you know, back home he's the one used to doling out Divine Justice and is struggling with what authority he has in a place without the gods.

...Buuuut once he's cooled off he'll be willing to put his own feelings aside for A-Qing's sake. Protecting her and doing damage control comes before anything else.

[sizedoesntmatter]

Considering out of everyone on the train Yugi has the most understanding of the situation and how to deal with it, he would, of course, offer to keep watch over Wester both because he still considers him a friend and for the mentioned reason above.

Re: Non-council members - ideas, suggestions

[sell_tickets]

BEcause of IRL issues I am... not as up to date as I would like to be on things, esp. given that my characters WOULD react.

We can say that Curufin and Eva both know enough about Khary that we could and probably should discuss how to keep Khary from making what Waster did look kind. Sadly they're the only ones I think who know that Khary needs to be "handled" at this point, because he might just get himself killed trying to get to the [insert the swear words of your choice here] who harmed a woman thus far believed to be innocent.

Najaran found the bloody clothes, so she also kind of might lose it if I let her have seen this, though frankly compared to most of the people furious, she's not AS much of a threat because she can't summon her really big creatures on the train AND she has Goligan to calm her down.

All of that said, a good way to redirect Khary would be to have him guard A-Quing, if the player is alright with that. Also, if the player is alright with it, Spark being a cat, will happily wander in and curl up with her for kitty therapy. (They met on the platform)

[so_dark_a_road]

Khary can also talk to Curufin. They might easily meet, since Curufn has volunteered to guard/visit Xue Yang in the Medical Coach. Ping me on Plurk if you want to plot.

[sell_tickets]

I decided to just hiatus him. Thank you.

[so_dark_a_road]

Aw, Khary! <3

more of a question?

[mimidaeia]

Just putting it here in case I miss any IC discussion log that comes up, but SXT-2 has a question she'll probably ask should there be one:

Was there any action by the Council from A-Qing's death on the 17th until Wester's post (which I assume is on the 27th judging from posts around it) If the Council wanted people not to act on the matter on their own, why didn't they say anything to that effect? That's a full 10 days of inactivity.

Re: more of a question?

[iamnotgod]

I think the only reason that didn't happen was because the main Council people were bogged down with RL/on hiatus.

That, and I didn't want my own characters (for example) hogging all the glory and finding the evidence in less than, say, five hours. =P
That sort of thinking probably kept people from collaborating as quickly as they could have.

[mimidaeia]

Ah yeah, I get that!

Was there a consensus to handwave/assume certain events happened that I missed? I only rechecked the comms and the above was what it looked like ICly, which was why my character would probably be confused about that. Sorry if that's the case!

[iamnotgod]

Not as far as I've been made aware!

It appears the coming-together-for-consensus part is only/can only happen now, while everyone's attention is pooled and not scattered.

I'd ask Curufin's and Najaran's muns, personally; I know the news made it to Tony but I do not believe anything had been planned outside of Wester's confrontation with Xue Yang in the time before the communication-shut-down event dropped.

[mimidaeia]

Mmm, I'll see!

I'm assuming SXT-2 has not been told anything between the murder and the Wester incident (and hence her response as above), but I'm gonna try to keep track of what's being discussed here in case that's no longer the case.

[tinkerheart]

I cannot speak for the entirety of the Council... but as far as I remember the things being discussed before the communication breakdown mini-event happened, there was no IC decision. Not even much of the OOC discussion apart from opinions on how different characters might react if they knew. The investigation was very much ongoing then.

This post here is exactly that, an OOC attempt to have something decided/threaded/handwaved... whatever way people want to do with it. I personally was most of the time out because of RL issues, and people were on hiatus etc too.

I think we can retroactively decide what Council did but it's also true that discussions take time. So I am not saying they did something. They could have as well been discussing it. They could have learned real late about the whole thing.

My take is that because nobody spoke with him personally about it, Fëanor learned anything happened from Wester's broadcast.

[tinkerheart]

I will update if any of this changes on the main post for better visibility.

[mimidaeia]

Yeah, I get that! The questions I mentioned above are IC, as I think SXT-2 also had the same ic experience as Feanor (heard no news between her discovery of the initial murder and this incident.)

I'm listing it here not as an ooc question, but just as a note to myself to bring this up in any IC discussion later on. I was a little worried that I might have missed something while I was mildly hiatusing, too- thanks for confirming again what the ic and ooc situations have been!

[tinkerheart]

This is what this post is for ;)

[blue_ice]

I can speak personally that Kaiba was not aware that a murder had happened at all until Wester's post. I wasn't sure what the status of the clue-finding was, as I wasn't involved.

Re: Non-council members - ideas, suggestions

[radishlobbyist]

Wen Qing offers herself to speak on the topic of Xue Yang's character.

She would also like to speak about the costs such vigilante justice has on the entire train, as it can take the attention and resources of the medically skilled people on the train away from other tasks where they are more needed. (Since when this punishment was exacted on Kaiba - and thus, the outcome to be expected - was a coma of several months plus a long recovery time both for mental health and restoring physical fitness. She's not cool with vigilantes expecting the doctors/healers on the train to shoulder this.)

[bloomingdespite]

After turning themself in to Tony, Wester will offer the following information to the council:

One, the punishment they inflicted on Xue Yang was literally directly proportional to the sin he committed. The Penalty Game created the illusion that he was getting murdered by every one of his previous victims.

Two, they intentionally flattened the amount of time the Penalty Game took as opposed to what happened to Kaiba, so the council could pass proper judgment on somebody who wasn't completely comatose.

Three, they'll apologize for publicly displaying A-Qing's murder and proclaiming themself a vigilante in front of the entire train, and they'll agree they deserve retribution for that.

Four, Wester will not apologize for what they did to Xue Yang and insist they gave him his just desserts for murdering a child, although they'll admit that they could've handled it far better.