trans_9 | Open (Council) House [Open to every single person here!]

[OOC: ...uh, let's assume he mentioned Mai being attacked in that first bit. I can't go back and edit.]

Kang bit back a sigh.

"You did give us your input, Mai, and we did consider it when we made our decision. Unfortunately, because of the nature of our arrival on this ship, incidents that include history from other worlds can very easily devolve into a he said, she said argument, and we have no clear proof one way or the other who is correct. We would rather give crewmembers the benefit of the doubt.

"We have heard from Aang as well, and we would speak with Zuko regarding the matter, but he is currently affected by the time loss."

Edited 2011-05-10 05:07 (UTC)

"You did hear from me, but I'm not sure I made myself truly understood if this is the decision you've come to," Aang said, standing up himself, and striding forward, staff in hand.

"Providing her doctors, making sure her mental needs are attended to, such a level of compassion is what I hoped to see come from the Council, but why are my warnings about the dangers of releasing her being ignored?"

"So you're saying you spoke with Mai and Aang, but are ignoring me and Sokka, and not even bothering to wait for Zuko to get better."

This was sounding less and less plausible by the moment.

"Not that I don't get the 'he said she said' business, but what about the actual turn of events, where she twice attacked people with no provocation? And you're saying you could make the decision without consulting all of us, just a few? How exactly is that fair?"

"You're stupid and your rules are stupid. I don't care if it's supposed to be 'fair' to people arriving from other worlds. There's at least three or four of us telling you that she's a psychopath. But hey, I guess we wouldn't want her to feel judge or anything, right? When she ends up hurting someone - probably someone I care about - I'll be sure to drop a little thank you note to all of you."

Mai's eyes were narrowed into a vicious glare, but her voice stayed cool and even, even if her anger was radiating off of her.

"Letting her out is a mistake. Letting her live is a bigger one."

"I am very sorry that this event happened at all, and that perhaps many negative memories pertaining to Azula have resurfaced as a result of her waking up on this ship.

"The Council does not plan on being lured into a false sense of security, and we have and will always keep your warnings and opinions in mind, just as we do with every member aboard this ship. On top of her relationship to you and your friends, I believe it is safe to assume that Azula, upon waking up was also confused about her new and sudden situation. Now that she is more aware of these things, she has had time to stop, think and rationalize things through properly. Now that she is aware of her circumstance, she will not lash out or seek to attack, as she knows that she will not be given another chance to avoid punishment.

"We would also like for you to please report to us, if there are signs of any oncoming problems or possible attacks against you from her. We will never ignore your warnings, Aang, but we cannot simply keep her confined because of one incident, especially when there were many other reasons for her impulsive actions."

"We don't know when Zuko will be able to rationally talk with us about this matter, and we needed to ensure that it was dealt with in a timely fashion. We don't like leaving people sitting in the brig for unnecessarily long periods of time." Kang said to Kaya. "As for Sokka and yourself, you were witnesses to the attacks. You did not get attacked yourselves. Security gave us copies of your statements, and those were taken into consideration."

His wings rustled slightly as he turned to address Aang. "While we agree that she does present a danger, we feel that appointing a parole officer who will watch over her and make sure she does not cause others harm is better for her mental health than keeping her under lock and key. And, as Councilor Dhianeila has said, if you see any signs of problems, we do want you to inform us so that we'll know if further action needs to be taken."

"The problem with Azula is that there will be no signs. There will be no proof beforehand. If she attacks us--or anyone else on this ship--it'll either come as a complete surprise because of her current state of irrationality, or it will come as a complete surprise because of careful planning."

Perhaps somewhat dramatically, he shrugged his robes off his shoulders, turned around and gestured to the hideous scar on his back.

"Just as this came as a surprise."

Shrugging his robes up, he turned back, "She was in a special hospital for her mental health back home. She attacked people here. It's understandable that you'd not consider her actions criminal, but not considering them a sign of her danger to others is extremely unwise."

"Confused? Well, we were all confused, Councilor. And I didn't even have the benefit of a group of people telling me what was going on when I woke up. I still didn't attack anyone. You're so caught up in this 'judge not' attitude that you're ignoring the fact that she wants to kill Zuko and I! I'm telling you right now that she's going to attack us again at some point, so you shouldn't be letting her out at all."

She squeezed the knife-hilt in her hand until her knuckles went white.

"I'll take care of this myself if you won't. I'm not going to give her a chance to plan all of our deaths."

"You just said we weren't allowed to bring up things from the past," Kaya said, "but you talked to Aang, not Sokka or I, even though Aang wasn't attacked by Azula either. Not that I don't think Aang is wrong about what he says concerning Azula, but why does our opinions count less, and why is the person who was actually attacked not able to say his piece? Can't we wait until Zuko gets better since, oh, i don't know, its his sister and his wounds?"

Zetta finally pulled his feet off the table in front of him, then leaned forward to plant his palms as he spoke.

"Look. We know you all want her to stay locked up forever. Fine. What the hell are we going to hear from any of you that isn't that, basically? You've made your opinion clear, that she's beyond hope. But you're so busy yelling at us for being blind idiots you're not noticing a couple things here."

He lifted a finger. "One. You're way too close to the situation. All of you. Can't put the past aside. Can't forget it. Can't ignore it. That's in everything you've said. So, okay, what you're asking isn't just to put Azula away forever. You're saying that if enough people from the same world say a person is crazy or evil, we should forget the whole 'no past deeds' thing and lock 'em up."

He sat back in his chair, languidly, grinning. "And you guys just don't get 'evil'. Trust the demon on that one. Because yeah, you're right. She's evil. She's out for herself and what she thinks is hers. Yeah, she attacked Zuko from behind. Given the circumstances it was the --" he made quoting motions with his fingers -- "'right' thing to do. It was also stupid, but you know hindsight. And if it was to her advantage, sure, she'd probably kill all of you."

Folding his hands behind his head, he propped his feet up on the table again. "But what you don't get is that so long as we play by the rules, she will too, because it's better for her to. We let her out. Now she gets the smug joy of having used the good and nice people's rules against them. You guys don't get to enjoy your victory over her because she's free and past deeds don't count here. Now she's even more propped up and feeling superior. Get her thinking like that and she's not gonna go around sticking knives into kidneys, she's gonna lord it up and feel like she's queen of the ship." One finger stabbed out at the group abruptly as the Overlord's expression darkened. "And what you seem to be ignoring is that we're not just saying, 'Here's your freedom, here's your greatcoat and mustache to twirl, go tie Kaya to the railroad tracks'. She still gets supervision, she still gets the head-shrinking, and as long as she's running high on the 'I'm getting away with this!' train she'll go along with those and be a good little ship denizen as long as playing along works out.

"And what she doesn't know is that playing along will always work out. It's never gonna be a good idea to kill you all."

He held up his fists, opening them. The right hand burst into purple flames as he snapped the left hand shut again. "So on the one hand, we can lock her up, call into question the whole 'no judging for past deeds or on other people's say-so' thing we've got going on, and then start adding people like Zedd and Alex to the pile of villains who got here later than someone else... or you trust us to not let you get killed. Which so far we've done, despite the Ohm, rage viruses, rampaging monsters, beasts, what's-his-ass that hated Sasami, demon-possessed Vikings, and all that crap. And if you don't trust the ship, the crew, or yourselves..."

Zetta stood abruptly, arms spread so his hands were at chest height, the fingers flexed to make perfect display of his claws as he smirked. "I, Zetta, the most badass freaking Overlord and Councilor in the cosmos, have no intention of letting anyone die, at the hands of Ohm, Azula, cornmen, legendary robot Pringer X, or any such crap! And if nothing else you can trust the ego of the Overlord to make sure he backs up his intentions with actions."

"You're right about one thing," Mai replied icily, "I don't trust you to handle this, considering the wonderful job you've been doing so far. Azula only plays by the rules until she gets a chance to get what she wants. She's manipulative. And right now? She's insane. You can tell me I'm 'too close' to this when it's you and the one you care about on the line to get turned into human torches. I don't care how cautious you think you're being. I don't care how many restrictions you have on her. If she's not locked up, she'll use an opportunity to get to Zuko and I."

She folded her hands into her sleeves, knives finally vanishing. "So, yeah. Lock her up. This whole, 'Well, we can't judge people,' thing is stupid. If enough people say someone is an active threat to the crew or members of the crew? Yeah, I'd expect you to listen. But I guess that's asking a little too much of your intelligence, isn't it?"

She turned on her heel. "You're not going to listen, so I'm not going to waste anymore time. Like I said, if you people don't take care of it, I will."

A beat. "Avatar Aang? Get it through their heads. They think they're doing her some sort of kindness. They're not."

He sat back down, kicking his feet up again. "It's almost like she wasn't listening," he said in a carrying aside to the other Councilors. "Well, I'm evil and I admit it, better lock me up too."

The grin didn't subside, but more seriously, he added, "We, uh, probably ought to mention to Security that she's pretty much promised to kill another crew member. I love that logic, 'I'm gonna kill her because she's eeeevil and might kill someone.'"

He pitched his voice back to the room at large. "Now if anyone else wants to start yelling about it, go wild, but let me ask you something. If the people who were your enemies showed up here first and told us some stories about the things you did from their perspective, would you want us to blindly lock you up, or give you a shot? And how many of you out there have found an ally in a former enemy, or someone you didn't think you could ever work with? Not even just on the ship, but ever. Did it happen easily? Did you just wake up one day and have a hugfest?

"Evil isn't stupid. Neither is crazy. Stupid is stupid."

Well, Zetta had an... interesting way of getting his point across, Kang had to give him that. Somewhat amused, he shook his head, "I have to agree with Councilor Zetta here. If a Hero of the Lance, a Solamnic Knight, or a metallic dragon from my world had woken up on this ship before I had, more than likely, they would have been very quick to point out the things my kind and I have done in the past and wanted me immediately locked up or outright killed to 'protect' the crew simply because of that history. They wouldn't want to even give me a chance to prove that I can work with the crew."

He spotted Lord Bight in the crowd and grinned, "I speak the truth, don't I, Lord Bight? And this is why we have such a law in place, to ensure that no one is unfairly discriminated against based on past actions. I would rather give Azula the chance to prove that she can play nice instead of not giving her any chance at all, because I know that I wouldn't think it fair for the same thing to happen to me or anyone else."

"You guys are as crazy as Azula if you think this is a good idea." Sokka finally spoke up, gesturing wildly as he tried to get his point across.

"The first thing she did when she got here was try to murder a member of the crew! That's not the past, that's right now! She's dangerous to all of us! And to herself! If she tries, and, spirits forbid, succeeds, then what? Saying you guys are sorry isn't going to bring any of us back to life. The best thing to do with her is keep her locked up and provide her with the help she needs to get better, so that she can be released. I can't believe this! She's a dangerous psychopath!" He threw his hands into the air.

"We've been here awhile, we've worked with you. Aang saved the entire crew from the Nightmare King and you won't even consider that what we're saying has merit because it wouldn't be fair? This is a joke!"

Edited 2011-05-10 21:53 (UTC)

Wanda had remained silent. She had been running mazes for GLaDOS during the Council's decision on Azula and so didn't feel she could speak. However, at Zetta's outburst she covered her face with one hand.

"Councilor Zetta," She said quietly so as few people other than the self proclaimed villain would hear. "Please be quiet. You are not helping."

"No help to be had for them," he said with a shrug. "There's absolutely nothing we can say to the people that know her that'll convince them. They made that pretty clear. Right now we're explaining it to everyone else who's listening. This isn't about good, or evil, or pasts, or crazy. This is about doing what's got to be done, here and now."

"This is about what needs to be done here and now," Aang said. "I want it to be known that when it comes to Azula, we won't hesitate to take action to keep ourselves and the crew safe if they'd needed. Whatever consequences there are to that will be ones we have to face."

Not that he planned to go kill her outright. If he couldn't kill the Firelord, how could he kill Azula? But he was reconsidering stopping Mai if Azula attacked again, even if it was a consideration he was struggling deeply with. And removing her bending was an option if it came to it.

Aang bowed. "I respect your decision. I understand the spirit it was made in. I also respectfully retain the right to make a choice to break the law and face consequences if the situation calls for it. Let's hope your choice turns out to be more wise than it seems and that it doesn't come to that."

Edited 2011-05-11 00:17 (UTC)

Kaya certainly didn't respect this decision. She felt betrayed by the Council, by the people on it who she thought might actually care about their opinion, who would try to spew some nonsense about giving Azula a second chance! Why, because she didn't succeed the first time?

There was point in arguing about it now, not when these jerks had already given their say so. It sickened her to know she had voted for this, and now Azula would be on the ship, walking around. Without even so much as asking anyone who knew what she was

And forget just her as a threat...Mai might kill her, and what would that do to Zuko? So she kept quiet now, her fury evident in her expression.

Bight had watched the debate with seemingly idle regard as it went back and forth. He had seen the commotion during the meet and greet after he had been released from the pods but had thought little of it at the time. It was clear that those arguing against her had quite the history with her.

Such were the rules the council had set though and all had to abide by them, he did get a chuckle out of the so called overlord Zetta. He had something of a point though if an interesting method of delivery. When Kang spoke though he payed greater attention, he had little doubt that Kang had been referring to Crucible, he himself, when he referred to metallic dragons.

He had a point there, any of the particularly pious Solamnic's even many of his fellow Metallics would have pushed for such things against the draconian. "Many would have indeed in such a situation, not all, but many,"

"You look upset," Lex noted, speaking to Kaya.

"Strange, out of all the people here, I expected you to be the most supportive of the Council's decision."

Kaya made a scoffing noise. "I know Azula and what's she's done, Lex. And even if I didn't, she attacked two people on the ship already, one of them when their back was turned, and they're releasing her already. I'm not for keeping someone in prison forever, but you definitely don't turn over a new leaf in such a short amount of time."

Not if you were Azula, that was for sure.

Edited 2011-05-11 03:43 (UTC)

"Remember when we first met?" He raised an eyebrow at her. How long had it been since they first met? How different everything was...

"There were a lot of people, good people, supposedly, who made the same arguments about me that you and your friends made about Azula. That I was evil, that I was some monster that should be locked away forever, that by virtue of continuing to draw breath, I was a severe danger to this crew. Superboy, and those from his world were particularly adamant about that.

"You rejected that notion, and argued for me. Not because of a law, there was no constitution back then. You did it because you knew it was right thing to do, even if our first meeting wasn't the most auspicious. Because, when you looked at me, you didn't see a heartless monster who had been ruining lives for years, you just saw a man and decided that you'd get to know me before you'd judge me.

"I applauded your wisdom at the time, and now the Council is arguing for Azula the way you did for me. I'd think you'd applaud them as well. After all, if the Council had decided to lock away Azula, I'd bet you even money that there'd be a line of people saying that I should be in the cell next to her. And that Lord Zedd should be in the next cell, and then someone else, and someone else... which is how those things tend to start."

He gave her a half second to think about that before he continued.

"Or perhaps I was just an exception. Granted, I didn't set someone on fire," he only (indirectly) cost Paco his arm, "but imagine for a moment that you just woke up naked and alone, told that you lost everything that ever mattered to you, and all that's left of your world is people who you hate; and people who hate you. It doesn't excuse her actions, but I can understand them.

"But, then again, I don't see a monster when I look at Azula. Nor does anyone else, really, other than the small handful of you."

Kaya was quiet a moment. She hadn't told anyone, not even the council, what had happened that day. She hadn't even mentioned it was the same day she came out of being podded, that she was still struggling with new memories that were actually her true ones, and struggling with how Katara would have acted.

"When she first came out, I wanted her restrained, Lex. She was crazy, I already knew that, attacking Mai straight away. Before the council or ANYONE was able to throw their opinion, it was just all of us, from our world. And Mai wanted to kill her then, and I know Zuko was thinking about it. But Aang was trying to talk them out of it, and I had Mai restrained, not willing to let her go to the brig for murdering Azula. And that, Lex, is when she hit Zuko from behind."

She laughed bitterly. "I wanted to believe, so badly, that we could fix her somehow, you know? Somehow, in two years of thinking like Katara, I knew she at least wanted to give Azula that chance, and she almost kills Zuko. I could barely face Mai that day. You think I'm arguing for Azula to stay because of our past? No Lex. I'm arguing it for two reasons. One of them is her attacking us, even though we hadn't gone at her. If they want to rehabilitate, fine, but it takes longer than this."

She closed her eyes. "And the other reason is Mai will try to kill her, and I don't want that to happen. What the council decided in there was just giving me proof that what I think doesn't matter. I'm more upset they didn't bother to ask our opinion because they assumed they already knew it."

"So basically all your arguing is what gave her the opening?" He seemed quietly amused by that, oddly enough. He was about to say something else, but thought better of it, and smiled at Kaya.

"Don't be so hard on them. Or yourself. And don't make the mistake of underestimating them."

"The arguing was because they had done the very exact thing I had hope they wouldn't, which was letting Azula go, without consulting all of us or at least asking what we thought. We know Azula better than they do, and we saw Azula when she pod popped. Our opinions would be relevant, and she could just go and lie to whoever ask her question. What makes you and her different is that they already have established and said that Azula is crazy, but they're still going to have her walk through the ship. "

She sighed. "That's the problem. I DON'T underestimate them. I know what Mai is skilled at, and she thinks she'll be able to do what she's planning. She won't, not when she goes and declares that she's going to 'take care' of Azula."

As for being hard on herself, there was no way she could not be, not when everything was turning out this way and she couldn't do a thing about it.

Open (Council) House [Open to every single person here!]

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