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trialbyselenelion · 1 year ago

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Masters of None (Prologue) - Final Act

(Tw: Discussions of Murder, Suicide, and Capital Punishment. Debates centered on Death.)

“That’s it.” A man said, getting up from his seat quickly.

He was fast, a lean man in a tacky suit and the most ridiculous dye-job I’ve seen yet. Why would anyone want to look like they had a rotten banana peel for hair, seriously?

He was fast, but Deirdre was faster. She practically glided over to him in a second and wrapped her arms around his torso, lifting him up as if he weighed nothing.

“Please take a seat Mr. Hills,” Winona said, still at her podium.

She directed Deirdre to physically take ‘Mr. Hills’ back to where he jolted from. Bernando walked over to the exit to stand guard while Deirdre did as she was instructed. Once he was placed in his audience chair, Deirdre lightly tapped the top of Mr. Hills’ head with her Paddle.

The man yelped and looked at the Executioner with bewilderment, so surprised that he didn’t even take another chance to run once she turned her back and returned to her guard point.

“We may not be able to harm you, as per the law,” Winona spoke up again. “However, that does not mean we do not know how to defuse any volatile situation. Please, listen carefully to what I will say as it will be important for your continued stay here.”

“Get to the murder part!” The patriotically appareled woman called out.

Winona coughed into her fist as a response, before continuing her message.

“I will be honest to you, Selenelion is a strange place.” Winona spoke with a deathly seriousness. “It’s almost ungovernable, it is more of a courtesy that we are allowed in here. At any moment, it may suddenly go back on our agreements to expel you all from itself without warning. This project relies on trust between all parties.”

A hand raised up from the audience.

“Yes Emma?”

“I’m sorry,” a red-haired woman in a girl scout’s uniform began. “But the way you talk about Selenelion, this place, makes it sound alive. Are they actually a person, and I just misunderstood something earlier?”

“No, Selenelion is much more than a piece of land or person.” Winona said. “As you saw with my Signature, things that couldn’t occur back where we’re all from can happen here. Strange abilities, such as the ones you're gifted, and strange landforms, like the ones you’ll see in the forest, can only exist here. It cannot meddle too much, unless for cases of intentional torture which upsets it. However, the agreement on what it can or cannot interfere with left behind a clause in your contracts.”

While Winona spoke, Bernando took his time to walk all the way to the stage after Deirdre took back her spot. He confidently walked up to Winona and both exchanged a knowing nod.

“Please pay attention to the word of Judge Vargas, as he understands the agreement the most.”

Winona took a step back to let Bernando use the podium.

“Hello,” he said with a relaxed but odd voice. “I’ll cut right to the chase, that way you guys can have some time to come to terms with what I'll say. See, when it comes to killing it’s hard to know where to draw the line. Death is already something that was hard to negotiate over, as Selenelion didn’t really understand human mortality and all that.”

“What does that even mean?” A pale young man wearing a cat-shaped beanie asked benignly.

“Trust me, you’d only have more questions if I answered that.” Bernando said, shrugging. “See, killing is already something humans have trouble conceptualizing. If a murder can be justified, should it be punished? What about accidental deaths, from bad luck or a misfire? Is suicide like, murdering yourself? Eventually an agreement was made between our Council Leaders and Selenelion.”

Bernando paused to take in a deep breath, eyes closed as he inhaled and exhaled with renewed purpose. He then opened his eyes and gave the audience a focused look.

“If someone ever dies in Selenelion, the town must come together and discover the truth behind their death. Not only that, but if a culprit exists and is considered ‘guilty’, town majority will decide whether to punish or release them for their actions. This resulted in the creation of The Grimmstown Vote.”

He took a few steps back, clasping his hands together. Once his back touched the curtains behind him, he pulled his hands apart - swinging his arms open as if he was about to give the audience an imaginary hug - and from his palms emerged light.

“Projection!” Bernando shouted, causing the light emitting from his hands to warp and reform.

As if it was a pond rippling from a rock being thrown into it, the white light from his hands slowed its changes until it became a perfect square image. Much like an old school projector, Bernando displayed an entire ‘video’ to the audience, with crisp quality despite being projected on pure air, once again leaving the crowd awestruck over the blatant display of the supernatural.

Behind the projection I saw Winona walking up to Bernando, placing a hand on his shoulder. She whispered something to him, and perhaps this had something to do with how his voice became magnified out of nowhere.

“The Town Vote has three sides.” He said. The image display began by displaying a cartoon image, mostly composed of clip-art like backgrounds and Chibi characters, depicting a witch, a sheep, and a wolf. “These are the Wolves, the Sheep, and The Witch.”

The image rippled again, once it cleared up it displayed a purple humanoid figure with no features, like a pictogram you’d find on a bathroom door. The ‘Person’ was on their back, a red splotch marking their torso. “When a Townsperson dies, the town will hold an investigation to find The Witch - The culprit behind this death or group of deaths.”

Once more the image changed, now displaying the Wolf in a hat Sherlock Holmes would wear, and the sheep.

“All townsfolk besides the Victim and the Town Council will be sorted as either a Wolf or Sheep. Wolves are the investigators, a team of townspeople who are not the Witch/Witches who will use their skills and the equipment we lend them to uncover as much of the truth as possible. The Sheep are made up of every other innocent townie, they will act as both a suspect pool and jury.”

“Black Sheep are a group of Sheep who either witnessed the crime, are related to it, took part in the events leading up to it, or are otherwise persons of interest. White Sheep are townspeople with no connection to the crime, and thus, do not need to be present for the investigation or trial period. Amongst the Black Sheep is The Witch, whose identity is already known to Selenelion.”

As Bernando spoke the images became animated to help elaborate on what everyone was being told.

“After the investigation, which is over once Selenelion decides it is, we will have a trial period. Selenelion will act as a neutral party, while we Council Members will act as translators for it to ensure that the trials go over as smoothly as possible. Selenelion will already know who the culprit is, and exactly how the killing was accomplished. Whether it’s homicide, suicide, or accidental, the truth must be uncovered if you wish the culprit to face any justice.”

The projector now displays the Witch’s pictogram, now with a devilish smirk on its face.

“There will be two votes, one to determine who is The Witch, and another to determine if they deserve a punishment. The punishment is, well, banishment.”

The projector then showed an animated scene of the Witch character being swallowed up by a pitch black hole, falling endlessly in eternal darkness before blinking out of existence.

I felt a shiver go down my spine, despite having no clear idea on what banishment foretold.

“However, Selenelion has decided for itself that some murders can be justified. But only those that are successful.”

You could feel a pin drop with how quiet the crowd got. Trepidation flooded the room as the situation took a turn I’m sure nobody expected.

“If the innocents of the town fail, and the culprit succeeds, the culprit will be granted a reward for evading justice despite everything being stacked against them. Success for the culprit can mean one of three things.”

“First, if an incorrect culprit is chosen for the first vote. Second, if the Innocent Party fails prematurely during the trial or investigation period. Or thirdly, because the town as a united front voted to spare the correctly deduced culprit from any punishment.”

“Projector off.” Bernando said, voice back to normal, and just like that, the light emitting from his hands shrunk down to nothing as if its plug was pulled.

“We’ve written these details down in your personal journals, so you can check them out later for yourself.” Bernando continued. “After all, this stuff’s probably a lot to take in. But thankfully, this is all hypothetical. Selenelion agreed to not hold a trial if any death occurs due to natural causes or old age, anything inevitable ya’ know? Now back to my girl Winona.”

Bernando then left the podium, and Winona retook her place behind the podium.

“Yes, thank you Judge Vargas.” Winona then turned her gaze to the audience. “Now that that has been discussed, please leave this building with two things in mind as I end our town introduction.”

She smiled, much like a worried mother would. “First, please live to your fullest. This town does not exist to be a prison or death pit, it is merely a potential future for all of humankind. None of your signatures were made to cause harm, and the Grimmstown Vote is only a final measure for a worst-case scenario. Secondly, though it may be tempting, please understand that an attempt on someone's life for the slim possibility of winning a reward is foolish. The Wolves will be given any resource they need to uncover the truth, and it’s very unlikely you can convince so many people to release you as an innocent if you are found out as the culprit. The reward is not worth the mark it will leave on your soul.”

A hand then raised up. It was the guy in the trenchcoat, the one a few seats away from me in the same row.

“Yeah, I’d like to know what the reward actually is.” He asked bluntly. “Can’t tease us like that and just not elaborate, I’m curious ‘bout what your town considers a good prize for gettin' away with murder.”

All eyes turned towards him, but he stood his ground as if nobody else existed in the room but the person he was questioning.

Winona in turn, simply frowned.

“A wish, anything within Selenelion’s capabilities.” Winona said ominously. “A single wish, nothing more. Thank you for your time, our meeting has concluded.”

Without another word, Winona turned her back from us and disappeared behind the stage’s curtains.

I heard the rolling of a pair of skate’s wheels and saw the other members of the council, including Chenzira, leave through the front exit.

With everything that just happened, things simply turned quiet. How does someone even react to this situation?

Not only were we supposedly kidnapped with consent, but superpowers and living towns (If that was even what Winona was implying?) also existed. Winona mentioned these all being part of a project, something about Paradise being regained, but it sounds more like we were all led into a brand-new type of hell.

Some people got up from their seats and left without a word, or even any sign that they were disturbed by what had happened. That eventually inspired the more skittish and shaken members to dash right after them.

Anywhere else must’ve felt like a better alternative to just staying in the Town Hall.

It trickled down to only a few people remaining, mostly those in my row and a few others who seem to have taken the news semi-decently. Or maybe they were all still processing it and would run out in hysteria once they caught up to what happened.

“Hey kid, you’re stickin’ 'round?” The man in the trench coat asked me. He stayed in his seat, leaning back with his arms propping up the back of his head.

I made an odd noise. “Huh?”

“Someone has to stay behind and tell Sleepin’ Beauty everythin'.” He said, his eyes darting over to the red head in our row who was still sleeping.

Wait…

“What the?!” I blurted out. “Have they been sleeping through the whole thing?!”

“Yep.” The man in the trench coat and the girl in the cloak said in unison.

“Fucker’s been asleep through the whole thing, hah!” The lady in the Liberty Crown shouted from a far away row. “Can’t blame ‘em, shit got boring ‘till the murder part.”

“How could you say that?” The Girl Scout, Emma, from earlier shouted from her own seat. She had previously been deep in thought before hearing the commotion.

“I have a feeling you cannot make her feel ashamed,” a dark-skinned man wearing a toga-like outfit stated, approaching the area I sat in. He never spoke during the speech, but kept a pensive look throughout, brow furrowing whenever a bombshell was dropped.

“Hah!” The woman in question responded. “Let’s be honest, it doesn’t fucking matter why we’re here if there’s only one thing we gotta do to get out.”

“You seriously don’t mean that do you?” Emma asked, looking disturbed. “I mean, we don’t even know if this wish business is actually real or not…”

“Sure it’s real, you saw the shit those fuckers did in front of your damn face right?” The unabashed woman replied. “We were brought here to kill each other, and more importantly, get away with it. No ifs, ands, or buts. And I’ll be damned if I’m gonna get caught off guard by a bunch of knobs wearing whatever. Watch, I’ll win, or my name isn’t Gigi Wesson!”

“...Gigi Wesson, that’s your name?” The man in the trenchcoat asked.

“Yep!”

“Right, I get it now.” He said contemplatively. “Famous bank robber Gigi Wesson, Most Wanted person alive without a bodycount in the thousands?”

“Sheesh, you’d think nobody ever snatched those old papers before the tightwads in Washington got hit by me!” Gigi laughed. “Yep, guess you’re a cop or somethin’ huh? Looking to get that big fat reward?”

“Private Investigator actually.” He said. “Eddy Visconti, P.I.; and I’m not sure I have any reward to claim if we’re not even in America. Or Earth for that matter.”

He held up a journal he pulled out from his trench coat's pocket, on it in gold lettering, much like my own, was his name. Followed immediately by the words “Town Private Eye” under it.

“Hah, so you’re not even a real pig?” Gigi exclaimed. “You’re just the greasy tofu alternative or some shit? Least my stupid title sounds cool, Check it!”

She then pulled out her own Journal, and from it I could see the words “Town Larcenist” written under her name.

“Larcenist?” I asked out loud.

“Special way of saying ‘thief’.” The girl in the cloak explained.

“...Thief?” Someone muttered sluggishly.

I looked over to the person who slept through the whole meeting (Seriously, how did they accomplish that with all the commotion?) now stirring, blinking wearily.

They lazily surveyed the room before settling on a spot on the ceiling to keep their eyes on.

“Welcome to the wakin' world kid,” Eddy spoke to little avail, the now awake sleeper taking several seconds to even turn their head towards the P.I.

“Is this…home?” They asked slowly. “Is this…the market?”

“Huh?” Emma looked concerned. “Are you okay? Do you need medical attention or something?”

“Hospital…bad.” They said in response, looking at the seat next to her rather than the actual person questioning them.

“What, did Mophead get a concussion or something?” Gigi asked. “You, what’s-your-name, With the sash - you got a badge in nursing?”

“My name is Emma Maas, and it's first aid." She responded, pulling up the part of her sash that held the appropriate badge. "It's a completely different thing from nursing, I'm just a Girl Scout Leader. The Town's only one apparently."

"Only one?" The girl in the cloak questioned.

"Yeah, I sorta just asked the guy in the poncho about the whole title thing when he came to pick me up." Emma elaborated. "Apparently, every title is one of a kind, regardless of skill set.I’m the best Girl Scout Leader here, so even if anyone else in this place had that job they wouldn’t be the Town GSL.”

“I guess that makes sense, one of those badges of yours is for archery right?” The red hooded girl asked.

“Yeah.” Emma answered.

“I’m the Town Archer, so I guess I’m better at it than you?” She said, pulling her own journal out of her cloak. On it was the name Ivy Sampson, and it indeed described her as the Town Archer.

“What is this fucking show and tell?” Gigi asked nobody in particular.

“Show…and tell?” The drowsy person from earlier said, looking at everyone making noise over books.

That’s probably why they took their own journal out, though they held it backwards.

“Turn it around kid.” Eddy instructed them, and they listened.

Now that I could read the cover, I could see that their name was Angel Ramos and their title was Town…Stockbroker.

“No fuckin’ way.” Gigi said, narrowing her eyes behind her sunglasses.

“Wait Angel are you serious-”

“Un-Hell.” Angel said, interrupting Emma.

“Sorry, Angel, are you really a Stockbroker?”

“Stocks…good.” They drawled out. “Bull good. Bear bad. Market good. Crash bad.”

“Well, I’d feel left out if I didn’t introduce myself either.” The man dressed like a Greek emperor said, chuckling as he took out his journal. “Name’s Odias Megalos, I am blessed to be your Town Philosopher. But feel free to call me Oz.”

“Sure, oh great and powerful one, weren’t we just talking about murder a while ago before firecrotch derailed the conversation?” Gigi spat. “What’s with this stupid ass sharing sesh-”

“My name’s PJ by the way.” I said quickly.

'Mostly because I got the feeling that Gigi would intrude upon me if I tried to introduce myself after her spiel.' I thought.

“Hi...” Angel responded.

“Wh-okay I’m out of here.” Gigi said defeated, she promptly got up from her seat and left the town hall.

“Finally.” Emma muttered.

“We cannot ignore the fact that she’s correct.” Ivy said seriously. “It’s dangerous to let our guards down just because of how…strange, everything is.”

Oz agreed. “It is quite the conundrum. There is too much detail placed in the construction of the clause, as they call it. After all, while the subject could be brought up naturally, how it would lead to such a conclusion as Winona retold us boggles the mind. Especially in terms of there being a reward.”

“And a wish at that,” I suddenly joined the conversation. I flinched as eyes turned towards me, but relaxed as I realized that everyone was just interested in what I had to say.

“Yeah, if it weren’t for the literal superpowers in full display I would’ve thought they were just fucking with us.” Eddy said. “But that shit Winona pulled, quieting us, I actually felt that.”

“It was like I was drowning, but not, at the same time.” Emma quietly agreed.

“It would be one thing if they actually encouraged us to kill each other, but it’s weird how much they’re pushing the idea that we don’t need to.” I said, scratching the back of my head. “I mean, we apparently all agreed to coming here and just forgot. They probably said that so we wouldn’t want to leave, but then the wish threw everything out to the wayside.”

Eddy jumped onto my train of thought. “With a wish, in theory, anyone who wanted to leave this place would just need to kill someone to get out. I mean, they said it’s not as easy it sounds, so maybe they’re just hoping that it’d be too daunting of a task for anyone to take on.”

“Alas, we come to the true problem at hand.” Oz commented. “Humans are contradictory creatures, tell them not to do something too much and they’ll do it just to prove it to themselves. It’s very likely that there are some amongst our fellow prisoners that have never considered harming another human being before this day, but now the seeds have been planted in their mind with a built-in motive as well.”

“Am I going to die?” Angel asked as if they were a student who’s turn it was to read, completely unperturbed by the conversation.

“...Probably.” Ivy responded bluntly.

“Of course not, don’t say that!” Emma said, trying to avoid upsetting the unphased stockbroker.

“Oh…did I do something wrong?” Angel asked.

“Nah, but I feel like it’ll take a while to explain the basic gist of what’s goin’ on.” Eddy said. “Heck, I’m still not too sure about some of what happened today. Or maybe I just don’t wanna think about it for too long.”

“It is a lot to take in.” Emma lamented. “But we shouldn’t fall into despair over it, I mean, there has to be some way out of this place, right?”

“Maybe, not everything the ‘Council’ said has to be the truth.” Ivy contributed. “But if they were telling the truth, the problem is that we’re nowhere near our home planet, let alone wherever you guys live.”

“Yes, if we are in a new realm - say a planet or dimension - it would be difficult to leave without technology or magical prowess we have not seen yet.” Oz said, pouting. “We very well could be trapped here, and must simply comply with a peaceful existence in this town until our final days.”

“Can we?” I asked anxiously. “I mean, I don’t want to stay here forever. A lot of people probably don’t.”

“Which is why we need to be united on this,” Emma suddenly said. “I mean, maybe if we all join together we can find a way around it, right?”

“If you can even get anyone to buddy up, not like we’re working with a democracy here.” Ivy rebutted. “Our Council was elected by someone else, and working together means working with our Town Larcenist, remember?”

“Maybe she can see some reason?” Oz suggested.

“You saw her just now, I don’t think someone on the run would like to stay imprisoned anywhere, let alone on another world.” Ivy said. “Our best bet is to get everyone together besides her, and even then, we have a slim chance of figuring out how to escape.”

‘If there even is one.’ I couldn’t help but think.

“Escape…Shares in danger?” Angel asked/muttered.

“...Can someone explain to him what’s going on?” Ivy asked offhandedly.

Oz raised his hand. “I’ll do my best, though I’m afraid I can only retell what has been spoken.”

“I’m checkin' out the town.” Eddy said, getting up from his seat.

“Really?” Emma asked.

“No reason not to, I’m thinkin’ we’ll be here for a while.” Eddy offered that as his explanation. “The town’s pretty big, so it’s probably best if we see how our needs are gettin' met. I mean, I spotted restaurants and the like, they gotta have some staff, right?”

“I was already exploring the town, but Taro eventually caught up to me and dragged me over here.” Ivy stated. “I’d like to finish surveying the place on my own.”

They then both stepped into the aisle to make their way out of the building.

“I think I’ll go check out the town too.” I said, looking over to the other three in the building.

Oz was focused on his explanation to Angel, who barely reacted outside of the occasional raising of their eyelids.

“I think I’ll stay here; I have something to check out myself.” Emma said esoterically.

“Really?” I asked.

“Nothing too much, but I was curious about how the stage works.” She replied.

I nodded before making my way over to the exit.

As I reach the double doors, the events earlier today finally hit me.

Holy Shit. What the hell did I just get into?

Hell, did I even get myself into this? Not like I can remember anything.

And I mean anything, after this constant string of info bombs, I slowly began to realize that something’s been wrong long before I left that motel room.

Besides my name, I had no idea who I was.

Heck, PJ Talbot just sounded familiar enough to possibly be my name. I was just called that and immediately accepted it. Chenzira could’ve given me someone else’s journal, but I guess it’s my now.

Well PJ Talbot, it’s not like you can lay claim on a name. Let’s try you out, and maybe I can BS my way through this mess.

I took a deep breath and pushed open the double doors, leaving the Town Hall into a brand-new world.

Paradise Regained?

Hell Uncovered?

Or something else entirely?

All I knew was that this was Grimmstown, Selenelion; and I’m just a visitor.

For how long? Probably until the day I die. Hopefully not because someone wanted some vague ‘wish,’ but who knows.

Definitely not me.

And probably nobody else.

If only I knew what would await us in just a few weeks...

Prologue End

Grimmstown, Population of: 33