InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "I have seven left feet."

Bellum Anon (bellum_anon) wrote in bellumlogs,
@ 2010-05-18 10:00:00

Entry tags:

jim hawkins, meg giry, plot: riddles, rapunzel

Group F: Rapunzel, Jim Hawkins, Maid Marian, Meg Giry

The plaque on the wall says:

What an odd courthouse to find yourself at rest,
But a pirate's life is no joke, no jest,
So perhaps the three maids will find a way
To convince the jury to let him go where he may.
Maids, gentle though ye be,
Tell the lads a tale raucous to set the pirate free,
Or else let us hope he will stay afloat,
And does not fear the end of a rope.

An oversize courthouse that smells of lemon polish and hard benches. Russell is firmly behind the defendant's traditional seat, but he's chained there and there's no moving him. The doors to the courthouse are secured. Twelve shadows in the shape of men are watching Russell from their seats in the box; another shadow with a booming voice is on the bench. There is, thankfully, no prosecutor.

Any of the three women can tell any combination of twelve stories from the witness box. They don't have to be true, but they do need to be bawdy, a la The Canterbury Tales. After each tale a juror will evaporate; after the twelfth, the judge will also vanish, and Russell's chains will release. The courthouse doors will open simultaneously.

(Read comments) - (Post a new comment)

themegazord
2010-05-21 10:00 pm UTC (link)

Russell, meanwhile squirmed in his chair while he waited for the girls to hurry up and tell their tales. His cheeks were turning bright red at their stories. He was by no means a prude but at the same time it didn't mean he was in all the ways of the world's seedy underbelly. So he remained silent and waited for the girls to get rid of the spooky ghostlike creatures posing as members of a jury.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

ex_peepshows656
2010-05-22 05:57 am UTC (link)

James' smile only grew with each tale shared by the other girls. Isobel's earned a wide grin and a laugh barely disguised behind the cusp of her manicured palm - threesome, nice touch. She'd never had much luck with blonds, and worked with enough to not think very highly of them, but these two seemed alright. They certainly had a fair share of interesting stories to tell. Or, they better at least have more than one a piece if they planned on getting this alleged pirate loose from his shackles.

"Alright," she accepted the challenge of another bawdy secret to be shared, passing Isobel on the girl's way down from the witness stand. Rather than bother with taking a seat, James leaned against the stand and rolled her bluebonnet eyes toward the ceiling. "Let's see.."

"High school, senior year. I had the reputation of being quite the stuck-up little bitch. It was my second school that year, and I had no interest whatsoever in dating any of those meatheads. So, of course, I was called prude, and ice queen, and frigid, and virgin every time I turned around. And one day, on my way to my car, one of those boys actually had the balls to call me some of those names right in my face.."

James smiled sweetly, reliving the memory, "So I threw my books down and I swear he went white, thinking I was gonna punch his lights out. But I just stripped outta my clothes and ran half a mile 'round the quad in my underwear, with the sprinklers goin' full tilt. And you never saw so many jaws layin' on the ground by the time I circled back, picked up my clothes, and went on to my car like it didn't phase me a bit. Of course, I got suspended for four days and missed an English Lit final, but it was worth it." Her eyes went expectantly toward the jury box, and sure enough, another shadowy figure evaporated. She raised an eyebrow at Lady Skellington on her way down from the stand, as if to say, you're up.

With this downtime, she took a lean against the defendant's chair, examining the severity of his chains. Impressive. "Pirate, huh?" He didn't have an eyepatch or a peg leg, some pirate.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

judicatory
2010-05-22 02:33 pm UTC (link)

A critical eyebrow raised while her lips twisted to the side in amusement. Isabella had difficulty believing those sinfully red lips or fishnetted legs were ever prude and virginal, but she supposed that she wasn't the same girl she had been in high school either.

As the brunette made her way down from the witness stand, Isabella stood obligingly and took her place in the box. She felt she was starting to grow accustomed to this odd little ritual. There was a slight pause before she started her story. "I used to date an environmentalist. He was really passionate about conserving wildlife and he was one of those guys who chained himself to trees to stop people from knocking down trees," she recalled as a fond smile graced her face in memory of her former love.

"When the government tried to bulldoze a park to turn it into a parking lot, he got all up in arms and tied himself to the biggest tree on the lot. It was his birthday and I didn't think he should be spending it alone, so I stopped by to give him a present." The last word was stressed and laced with racier undertones.

"So, there I was, giving my boyfriend his birthday present while I was in my birthday suit when the bulldozers showed up." Laughter spilled out of her as she shrugged halfheartedly. "At least they left the tree alone."

Green eyes immediately turned to the jurors, where there was one less figure in the box. With a satisfied smile, Isabella hopped off the seat and joined the other members of their rambunctious little group.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

nineteen_stars
2010-05-22 10:15 pm UTC (link)

She couldn't help but giggle quietly at the stories the other two girls shared, feeling that her own adventures weren't so bad in comparison. "Not tryin' to be rude, but your stories don't surprise me," she said, pointing in James' direction, "But you? I never woulda guessed you capable of something like that!" Isobel let out another laugh and trailed up towards the stand again, and instead of taking a seat, she trailed a hand along the wooden rail, fingers tickling the smooth wood.

"I spent a lot of time traveling after I left home, and one thing led to another and I ended up on this ranch in Wyoming after this cute cowboy type picked me up and offered me a place to stay. He was real sweet, real gentlemanly and all 'yes ma'am', 'no ma'am', and given where I had come from, that kind of thing was real nice to see." She hummed for a moment, then shifted, leaning back against the railing to face the other three and the jury.

"I don't think that boy had ever been with a girl in his life judging by the look on his face when I visited him in his room one night to pay him back for giving me a place to stay. Trust me, if you've never had a guy say "yes ma'mam" while you're playin' cowgirl atop him, I recommend you give it a try, because seriously, there ain't nothing sweeter than that."

A dainty little curtsy was given and she relinquished the stand once more, passing by the defendant's stand and trailing a hand over Russell's chains before taking a seat off to the side.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

judicatory
2010-05-24 02:23 am UTC (link)

One by one, the shadowy figures disappeared with what was left of the girls' virtue as they continued to rattle off stories befitting the sort of comedy mothers and critics deemed too filthy and crass to have been released to the general public. As the judge evaporated into a wisp, there was a deafening (and welcome) clack of locks unlatching followed by a swoosh as the doors swung open, as if pushed by a phantom force.

Finally graced with the option of leaving the courtroom if she wished, Isabella turned to her fellow former captives with a smile of relief to see that the metal links holding Russell to his chair had slackened. Despite her affinity for men in chains, she was never one to leave them in their restraints and she helped Russell free himself from the chair before taking advantage of the room's gracious opportunity to leave.

Having been expecting step out into the long, somber hallways of a courthouse, Isabella was somewhat taken by surprise when she entered the lobby of Bellum Letale. "Well, I guess that's that, then," she remarked with a small sense of loss that this part of her particularly realistic dream had come to an end, but looked forward to what else her subconscious had in store for her tonight. With a slight, sideways smile of a kinship that unwittingly occurred when one experiences unnatural events with a group of strangers, Isabella, well aware by this point of the infamous stubbornness of the elevator, headed up the staircase to the sixth floor.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

(Read comments) -