... And Justice For All

[John Murphy]

"Bring out the girl, Bellamy!" His throat was raw from the rope, from his strained and desperate begging but he didn't care to spare it now. Anger seared through every hoarse word as he demanded the girl be handed over to him. "Bring the girl out, now!" Furious at the crowd, at the girl, her protectors, his would-be executioner. Everyone save a small few who had bothered to brave any attempt to stop the offense from taking place. To stop them all from killing him. For nothing.

For nothing!

Now they gathered around him once more, deadly silent as he called for justice. Cowards. His gaze darted from one to another as he paced, all of them guilty aside from those who stood closest to him. Back and forth he stepped, while seeking out the most bloodthirsty among them as far as he could see... faces that had called for his death with such twisted glee that he would never forget who they were. Or which delinquent had done what... tied the noose, tightened it around his neck...

"Hey, you want to build a society, princess?" His voice cracked a little more, chest burning with each breath to fuel it, but he continued to spit out the words with vehement ferocity regardless. They had to give the girl over, they had to... that was justice. What he would do once he had a hold of the brat he hadn't decided, and although flashes of a vicious retaliation had raced through his mind, every such thought had been directed to each of those culpable for what they had done to him. "Let's build a society... " And this forcing him to wait, to shout his insistance for an immediate and brutal answer to this crime against him. An answer that so few appeared to think was necessary. This was their law? This was their justice? Then he would have his own.

"Bring her out!"

Thalia Tait

[Thalia Tait]

"MURPHY!"

A shout loud and clear across a sea of silence. There was a shuffling in the crowd before Thalia was able to get through to the front. Finally! Sure everyone had been a teeming massive mob before, but now everyone was as immovable as trees. And why was no one saying anything?! An apology, a word of concern, a word of protest, anything! Anything was better than silence! She was almost out of breath from the tension that was in thick in the air. But no matter how confused and anxious everything was, one thing was clear in her mind: Murphy should be sitting somewhere receiving medical attention, not rampaging about!

"You shouldn't be shouting with that kind of damage around your throat!" though for some reason she was shouting at him, almost scolding him, trying to move around one of the few who stood by Murphy's side. Every time she stepped to one side, there was a scowling taller boy who blocked her way. She huffed at the boy who's name she didn't know. Truthfully, she hadn't really enjoyed this gang bullying others, actually going out of her way to avoid them for the most part, but this was different. This was Murphy. And this was serious. "Just a little while ago you were almost hanged!" she reminded him sternly, peering around mister bodyguard, "You need to be looked at quickly, not shouting and pumping more blood into weakened vessels." 

Thalia was finally able to scramble around one of his body guard, giving the taller boy a very molten glower. But when she looked at Murphy her expression changed. It was more of deep concern than anger. Worry that had her deep eyes locked on him, examining his visible beaten and bruised wounds, and her brow knitted up. "You need to be looked at before you go on a crusade," she continued, "What if you are seriously hurt and all this yelling really does kill you? You'd really let that happen?"

Thalia, willowy and rather unimpressive looking, gestured for him to come with her, wild dark hair falling over her shoulder as she tilted her head to the side and implored him with her eyes to follow her. Yelling for the death of a murderer was one thing, but when that murderer ended up being a little girl people got confused. And it wouldn't help Murphy's case for him to press the matter in such a delicate and tense time. Him clamoring for death would only make him out to be the bad guy and tip the scale in favor of the real murderer.

"I know you're angry," she spoke a bit quieter, softer, turning her tone into something like a ripe blackberry sweetness, all natural and cajoling, begging him to at least put it aside for now, "But you aren't going to get any justice if you end push it and end up in a worse state than now." Her eyes went to the tent, narrowed then went back to Murphy and his hand full of friends.

"You're friends can keep an eye on the tent and make sure she doesn't skip out before justice is served," Thalia offered gently, "Let me at least make sure you aren't going to die from the ordeal you were put through." Her eyes sharply looked at the silence masses of faces which were now starting to become a bit more red in shame. She, like most of the Delinquents, had spoken to almost every single one of these people in the time they had been on Earth. Perhaps she could remember everyone's name, but she knew who was dangerous, who was not truly a criminal, and that almost everyone single one of them should be seriously considering something more productive to do than to join up into a murderous mob. Of course, she wasn't the best choice in persons to be casting shame-on-you glares...

Thalia wasn't a part of any big group of people but she wasn't one of the 'leader' types either. She was their food handler and sometimes was able to help them figure out how to build things. Mostly things out of scraps and pieces lying around. And she always tried to make sure everyone was not only satisfied and full at the end of every meal, but that if they were feeling under the weather, something could be done about it. Perhaps she was no Clarke, but she had lived with a sick person for most of her life. She could take care of small things with herbal remedies that she knew of or, if she couldn't handle it herself, direct them to be seen by Clarke.

But she did he best for the delinquents, finding it sort of ironic that she disliked doing almost the same thing back on the Ark. Down here she felt just a bit more valued with a group of supposed-criminals. Well, she was also a supposed criminal, so that somehow fit her in the group. But...trying to kill one of their own? Even someone who had gotten a bit overly arrogant in his position among them and done some less than nice things... It didn't change the fact that Murphy was still one of them. And he was not guilty. Though everyone was so stressed and desired a scapegoat for those tensions that they had been more than willing to act before thinking... Murphy didn't deserve to have all of it taken out on him.

"They're hypocrites," she tried again, "But they were raised by hypocrites. Don't let them turn you into something you aren't or get you killed for no reason, Murphy." Thalia approached him slowly, almost as if she were afraid he collapse at any minute. His fierce features were slopping and smooth, hinting that his natural smile might really be a smirk more often than not. But there was a certain boyishness to his face as well. Like most of them, he was still what the Arkers considered a 'kid'. He had a rough way about him, but he always has stuck by Bellamy and it seemed his friends were loyal to him. That was a pretty good sign really. Didn't most truly sour and sly people not have anyone but themselves in times of need? Thalia wondered, as she always did, if everything this person was showing was truly what laid beneath. He was probably really hurt right now. Not just physically but emotionally. Bellamy, his own friend who he had been so loyal to, had betrayed him. Sentenced him to die. And just because everyone else had wanted it too. "Let's get you looked at, alright?"

[John Murphy]

The shouting of his name halted his pacing, the only voice other than his own that had spoken up at all, and now when somebody finally had it was apparently to admonish him? Why would he be surprised? He scanned the crowd as a few started to edge aside as one of them pushed through, Murphy's gaze settling on her once she did. Ready for her to spout a defense for Charlotte; why else would she come pushing through the other delinquents to reach him? Her reprimand wasn't the one he'd anticipated. 

It gave him pause, staring at the girl as he debated whether or not she could actually be mocking him, and leaving Mbege to get in her way while he decided. Before he had, she went on. Almost hanged. Almost? The rings raw and burning at his neck begged to differ. They had hanged him. Was that what they'd grasp for now? Belittle their assault with 'almost'. Seething at the implication he intended to argue, but she went on, pushing past Murphy's friend to set herself in front of him. Still he couldn't tell if she was mocking him until her gaze shifted back his way, looking him over. There came no ridicule of his calls for Charlotte to be handed over, instead of what might have been an explosive tirade had she questioned it, her apparent care for his physical state took him aback. 

Though only momentarily, his anger raging too wildly to be doused just like that, and certainly too much to even consider stepping away from the tent where the real murderer had found refuge... for now. Murphy stayed put, glaring at the girl save a glance to Mbege who in turn looked his way, his friend's expression reflecting his own skepticism of the girl's intentions. Though now she spoke of the justice Murphy was eager for, attempting to coax him to leave Mbege and the few who were with him on guard. Another glance to his friend, offering a smirk this time, bitter as it was as he looked back her way. 

"I'll move when they bring her out here. When she gets what I got... " Again he turned towards the tent, demanding his pound of flesh as his voice raised once more. "When that little bitch gets what she deserves!" Still there was no sign of movement at the entrance of the tent, those inside hell-bent on this protection of the child. He would wait them out, resolving to breach the tent with the few at his side if he had to, though what the crowd or Bellamy, Clarke and Finn would do then he couldn't be sure. 

As the girl went on he turned back towards, the smirk reappearing only to contort to something more vicious this time, as he took a step nearer to her. "Something I'm not? Like... guilty? They already tried to kill me for no reason." Another step to bring him in close. He could feel the stinging from each cut, the scrape on his throat with every word, but the stress of the entire event was spurring him on, holding him up, and he wasn't going anywhere. "And they didn't 'almost' hang me... they just didn't finish the job."

Thalia Tait

[Thalia Tait]

Thalia looked at Murphy, his face covered in mud and blood, his throat bruised and lined. He was so angry and he must feel every thorn of pain stinging with betrayal. She knew that she would if she were in his place. True, he wasn't the easiest person to get along with, and he could be rather mean, but in the same sense all of his outbursts before had reminded her of those a child might have. A child who was angry with what little concern they had been given and so acted out to gain the attention they craved. 

This was probably just her silly interpretation, but he hadn't ever hurt anyone to her accounts. He hadn't ever tried to severely hurt anyone, just try to make them respect him. Yes, he might go about it in the wrong way, but he didn't deserve to be hanged for it. But how was she going to make him understand that she was on his side? That she was trying to work in his best interest and keep him from being labeled, quite unfairly, the antagonist in all of this.

He was wounded, betrayed and angry. All claws were out to defend himself and seek retribution. But where would a path like that lead him? Alone and hurting. Thalia looked up at him, eyes swimming with decisions to be made. But then they glided down to the blood on his cheek, the impression on his mouth from the gag, and finally resting on his neck. "Yes, they hanged you," her fingers twitched by her side, as if wanting to go to the tender place there and soothe it in anyway possible, to stay off the angry swelling injury, "And it is a very good thing that they failed. I am extremely glad they failed."

Not even a bitter smirk could dissuade her though, being as stubborn as she was. "What they tried to do wasn't any kind of justice, but pure cruelty," her voice was cooling salve to the festering tension in the air, "And no matter how many of them are punished, it won't ever be enough to make up for their actions. There is no getting rid of the guilt that they tried to kill someone innocent." Her hand did go up this time, her brows knitting with a troubled hesitation. The more he yelled to more worried she got. The feverish anger could only keep him going for so long. So...Thalia nodded once as if finalizing her decision. If no one would admit their wrong doing and show him compassion, she would. He was a victim to cruelty that came from fear and stress. Well, she would try to what she could for him then, no matter how much his bared his teeth and growled out warnings. Thalia would stand by him.

 "If you insist on staying here, so will I," she lowered her hand without ever touching him, the viciousness on his face being met with a sheepish and warm smile, "But you won't be screaming or shouting! I'm going to plaster salve on your wounds and you are going to be treated. The very least I can do is make sure the innocent party gets treated properly."

  The dark haired girl chuckled. "Bellamy, Clarke, all these guys," she gestured to everyone behind her, "They're idiots." More than a few faces twisted in reproach and offense, but this was Thalia. Not many people could take too much of what she said to heart. She was always they type to forgive and forget a little too easily. "Why put on a show for them?" She shrugged, "It's not like the kid has anywhere else to go. Out there are Grounders; no body would run away with her. She's cornered. Just take a bit to get yourself looked at and feeling better, then we can deal out proper Justice. Let it be done after we make sure you're not going to pass out."