ArchivedLogs:Little Fanfare

Little Fanfare
Dramatis Personae Jax, Steve, Tian-shin
In Absentia	2017-06-10 "The 'it' is pretty unconstitutional. I hope."
Location <NYC> Hall of Justice - Harbor Commons - Lower East Side
The room is plain, by the standards of this house. The walls are a very neutral pale rose, decorated here and there with Chinese calligraphy and sumi-e scrolls. Two banks of tall bookshelves line the wall near the door, lined with many legal texts, Chinese wu-xia novels, and magical girl mangas. A chest of drawers sits across from them. A small altar occupies one corner, featuring a brass statue of the Buddha flanked by delicate glass lotus tealight holder, a bowl of sand before it for an incense holder. An L-shaped desk has been placed beside the large window such that the person sitting at it may choose to face the window or the two comfortable chairs on the other side of the desk's longer wing. A loft above the door hosts the bed and a startling quantity of large, fluffy cushions in various shades of pink with cute cartoon animals on them. The sleeping area looks as though it must belong to a completely different person than the one residing below it. Though the blazing heat of the day has faded a great deal, the sunlight streaming in through the window is still warm and summer-sharp. The air inside is cool enough, and smells faintly of sandalwood incense and the savory fried rice being prepared downstairs. Tian-shin herself is seated at the desk, her hair pinned up in an impeccable bun, her pink linen blouse and knee-length grey skirt immaculate. She adjusts her thin-framed glasses delicately, pushing them back up onto the bridge of her nose as she looks up from the fat manila folder open before her. "All the paperwork is in order, anyway--/still/ in order. The date they gave me was July 31th, but I can request another if that isn't convenient for you." Her eyes dart to one of the monitors. "I'll also need to enter a plea, of course." Jax is dressed in plain knee-length denim shorts, a strappy asymmetrically cut sunshine-yellow tank, bare feet. His hair is a metallic ombre rainbow, growing steadily more unkempt as he brushes his fingers through it (not for the first time.) "Yeah. Right, yeah, of course." There's a distance to his voice; his gaze is fixed out the window where he stands nearby it. "Right, I -- that -- hasn't changed, I guess." Kind of flat. Steve is sitting across from Tian-shin, though he looks like he might rather stand, his restlessness held in check only by main force of will. He wears a white t-shirt with cartoon animals (mostly dogs, with a few cats and the odd bird or snake) huddled under a bright red banner that reads 'A New Leash on Life!', worn blue jeans, and scuffed combat boots. His shield hangs from its harness, hooked to the back of his chair. He glances at Jax. Frowns. Looks back at Tian-shin. "It's been a while, so I'm not /completely/ clear on this, but...pleading not guilty is likely to lead to conviction here, right?" Tian-shin nods, looking neither surprised nor distressed. "Conviction is all but certain, since Jax unambiguously broke the law by using his powers in public, though a prison sentence at this point seems unlikely. If the verdict is reviewed and found wanting by a higher court, however, the law itself can be overturned. Which /is/ the plan, as I understand it." She types something on her keyboard and looks to Jax again. "I support you fully, but I must remind you that is not the only option. They're offering an exceptionally generous deal--all but throwing the case out, in effect. If convicting you on this was going to look bad /before/ your detention, it looks simply /ridiculous/ now." "Yeah I mean I definitely /did/ it that ain't a question just --" Jax shrugs. "The 'it' is pretty unconstitutional. I hope." One arm crosses tightly across his chest, fingers wrapping firm across the opposite biceps. "You really think it ain't so likely I'll be back in jail? Because I --" This cuts off, Jax's head shaking quick. "Just been kinda a ride already." Quieter, murmured. "It seems to me what's 'constitutional' is almost as much subject to fashion as what laws get passed to begin with." Steve's fingers drum quietly on the padded armrest of his chair, his pale blue eyes skipping aside to study Jax. "And fearing mutants is certainly in fashion." Tian-shin removes her glasses and takes out a cloth to wipe down the lenses. "I can't make any promises about sentencing, obviously, but the vibe I got when I went in was that the DA's office wants this done quickly and with as little fanfare as possible. I don't think they want you to go to prison, because if nothing else, that will garner a lot more press than they want on this." She sighs and replaces her glasses. "Even if they do give you time, it will not be much--90 days at the most--though I know that must be cold comfort." Jax's fingers continue squeezing and relaxing, squeezing and relaxing against his upper arm. He nods slowly as Tian-shin speaks, beginning to pace between window and door. His steps hitch momentarily -- fingers squeezing tighter in their grip -- and he shakes his head rapidly before resuming his pacing. "July 31. What do I gotta do before then?" Steve half-turns in his seat, watches Jax pace. His lips press together tightly and his brows wrinkle, but he says nothing. Looks back at Tian-shin for the answer to the other man's question. Tian-shin blows out a long stream of air. "We should go over the case in detail again and prepare for your testimony--both of yours, really. Prepare yourself and your family for another media storm." She neatens the edges of the stack of papers in the open folder, though it looked quite perfect in its alignment already. "I'll check and see if we need to make any amendments to the witness list and statements. If so, I'll clear those with you, as well, but otherwise I can handle that side of things. What else..." She looks up at the ceiling for a moment. "Oh! Get fitted for a suit, if you haven't acquired another since the fire." "Right." Jax's brows crease deeply. He stops his pacing, this time leaning back against the door with a heavy exhale, a heavy slump of shoulders. "Right, yeah, I should -- my kids are kinda used to this by now." This sounds glum. Straightening, eye opening a little wider, he looks at Tian-shin -- looks down to his outfit. In a blink it has changed, shorts and tank top rippling and shifting into a trim and well-fitted dark blue business suit. "What's wrong with this one?" Steve finally rises to go to Jax, when the other man slumps back against the door. He comes up short, though, at the rapid costume change. Strokes his chin and considers the suit. "It looks fine to /me/," he allows. "But maybe I'm unduly charmed by its delicious irony." Tian-shin blinks. "I suppose..." She tilts her head slightly. "If it wouldn't be exhausting for you to keep that going all day, I cannot find fault with it. But the judge /probably/ won't find the irony nearly so delicious, if it were discovered during the course of the trial. It's your choice, and, for what it's worth..." She gives a faint smile as she closes the folder, "...it looks great on you."