Fun fact, it's theorized that part of the reason that didn't happen is that new environmental and quality of life regulations meant lead was no longer allowed in gasoline and house paint. Lead poisoning leads to heightened aggression in people of all ages, but especially children and teens, and leaded gasoline used to be the default across North America, meaning every kid who spent any appreciable amount of time sitting in traffic between 1950 and the mid '80s huffed a shitload of the stuff.
Pound the Table | An X-Men Self-Insert
- Thread starter October Daye
- Start date
- Users' Choice!
Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
- Location
- Oblivion
And that's why the prosecutor is trying to frame the kid as a "Deadly Mutant" instead of as a Kid.
- Location
- Texas
...There are no words that could accurately describe my disappointment with the justice system right now. I guess it is like my friend once told me when we were studying for a history test together: "History is like a bad party. You're sad it ever happened and upset when you have to clean up the mess left behind."
Of course, fourty years from now I fully expect the next generations to look back on our time and go, "Wow, you guys were really stupid."
Gosh darn i got really fired Up reading this
- Location
- California
Actually I can see why this case would initially be tge attempt to be hard on mutants. Pyro's powers are incredibly flashy and potentially destructive. That gives the DA a lot of fear to play up, with someone who would get a public defender normally.
Only the fact that her firm taking a few of those cases, landed this in the lap of a lawyer who cares. And is willing to play hardball to stop a client being steam rolled.
Only the fact that her firm taking a few of those cases, landed this in the lap of a lawyer who cares. And is willing to play hardball to stop a client being steam rolled.
- Location
- Colorado
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Oh 125%. It'd be a feather in both their caps for a ruling that far-reaching... And consider that even if they don't actively hate mutants, they clearly don't mind using the hate to further their own careers.
I can absolutely see why it was chosen. The actual logical fallacy being perpetuated now is sunk cost. Until Noa took the case it would have been a slam dunk. I imagine that the prosecutor and or judge are at least a little anti-mutant if not actual haters, and if their way had gone through it would have been a story about a dangerous flame throwing mutant being taken off the streets. No need to worry about his age. Noa is just doing her very best to change the optics of the case.
Not letting it go once it became obvious that this wasn't the cherry of a case that they wanted and that it would be a big problem is where he failed. He's probably been waiting for six months or more to try and find a chance to pin a mutant to the wall for a violent flashy dangerous crime. Just not a lot of crimes have been happening that fit the bill. With how hard he's been pushing to get it done fast it's clear he was up against a deadline in fining his example case.
Not letting it go once it became obvious that this wasn't the cherry of a case that they wanted and that it would be a big problem is where he failed. He's probably been waiting for six months or more to try and find a chance to pin a mutant to the wall for a violent flashy dangerous crime. Just not a lot of crimes have been happening that fit the bill. With how hard he's been pushing to get it done fast it's clear he was up against a deadline in fining his example case.
We don't need to wait forty years. I'm happy saying that today.
- Pronouns
- She/Her
This is a major issue in American criminal law, actually.
Common wisdom in the legal profession is that unless it is your absolute last resort, you do not put the defendant in a criminal case on the stand. You never, EVER want your defendant 1) under oath, and 2) forced to answer a prosecutor's questions honestly. This is the number one way that you can lose a case: once your defendant is on the stand, you cede all control over everything they say and do. You can have prepped them to hell and back, but you can't determine what they actually say on the stand. Only they can do that, and they're going to be nervous, scared, anxious, and every other negative thing under the sun up on that witness stand.
The public, though, sees a defendant not speaking in their own defense, and just... assumes they must be guilty, because they won't stand up and say "I didn't do it!"
Which is bad. It's very bad.
And Lou Young wants to ride this theory straight to the mayor's office and beyond.
Let me put it this way: the ONLY reason Noa has a chance is because she went to the crime scene and really, REALLY checked.
If Noa hadn't found that bottle, her case would have been so much weaker. It would have purely been about discrediting Mick by pointing out that 1) he didn't have any burns, and 2) he was engaging in illegal vigilantism.
Having the bottle meant she got to prove (maybe not beyond a reasonable doubt (95% certainty), since she wasn't there, but at least to a preponderance of the evidence (>50% certainty), which is all the average juror will care about) that Mick Samuelson perjured himself on the stand.
This is EXACTLY what they're trying to do. They're trying to use an inherently dangerous mutant power to set the precedent that all mutant powers are deadly weapons.
It is basically impossible to argue that the ability to scorch a brick wall so bad that it still looks freshly burnt over a week of heavy rain later is anything but a deadly weapon. Sure, it wasn't used as a deadly weapon. But similarly, my using a sword to open a beer bottle doesn't make it a bottle opener. It's still a sword.
His deadline was "having a case with so little evidence involved that it could, theoretically, be over and done with before campaign season started in mid to late August".
Additionally, keep in mind that Noa's finding the bottle was, as I mentioned, the only reason she has a chance beyond "he-said she-said" and can conclusively cast doubt on Mick. The police detective did not find it, and because the detective didn't find it, Lou Young made the absolutely CRITICAL error of not weighing that piece of evidence as strongly as he needed to.
- Location
- A place
But we are actually allowed to own swords.
And flamethrowers. Actually according to wikipedia flamethrowers are tools and not firearms
Speaking of which wasnt the superpredator theory retracted by its author? And blamed on leaded gasoline
And proven to not work due to the fact that an actual super predatory personality runs too much of a risk of getting caught and facing legal and illegal retribution
And flamethrowers. Actually according to wikipedia flamethrowers are tools and not firearms
Speaking of which wasnt the superpredator theory retracted by its author? And blamed on leaded gasoline
And proven to not work due to the fact that an actual super predatory personality runs too much of a risk of getting caught and facing legal and illegal retribution
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- Pronouns
- She/Her
Yup to all of the above. But that's the current understanding regarding the super predator theory.
As for the 80's and 90's, though? Nope.
- Location
- Texas
I-
This is so stupid. This is an actual thing? Children were carrying weapons and purposely crippling and killing people? I'm sorry, but when I hear the words "Super Predator" I think of the damn T-rex, not a high school kid.
- Location
- Australia
- Pronouns
- She/Her
And on top of all that, this is a universe where no one raises an eyebrow at the government repeatedly building giant robots to hunt down and kill people solely because they're mutants.
- Location
- Oklahoma
tbf, they really, really, REALLY came to care whne said giant robats started killing them as well skynet style
- Location
- Australia
- Pronouns
- She/Her
And then they built more of them. And then they started turning people into human sized killer robots, because why not?
- Location
- Oklahoma
True
On an unrelated note, I'm really looking forward to seeing how Noa deals with the "God loves Man Kills" series of events.
I also wonder if her doing magic is because of her mutating abilities or if they're unrelated… So many questions so few answers
Noa Schaefer, Esquire — now in COLOR!
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Heeey, so y'all remember the post I put up a while back how I was getting a commission of my FF14 character, whose appearance Noa uses?
Any of you notice the new icon as opposed to the old one?
Well, before you get to see the full thing, some notes on the brainstorming session!
This fic's idea initially started life as a redo, then a revamp, and finally a spiritual successor of my first SI fic on SpaceBattles, Through the Mists. It was, in hindsight... not very good, bland, derivative, and right as it was about to get to something possibly different, I wrote myself into too high of a bar for me to clear at the time. However, I liked the original idea, and figured that I was older, wiser, had more experience with this particular genre of fic, and could take a stab at it again!
Problems. One, the power level of Young Justice is absurdly low compared to the eventual power level that such an SI would end up at. Two, Young Justice's third season was... nooooot great. And three, there is a real problem with having too much versatility. That problem... is that you get so caught up in wanting to bring out cool new stuff that you lose some of the focus, plan too big, and end up with plans so far in the future you can't reasonably get to them in between bringing out all the other cool stuff. (See: a large part of the reason I've had trouble going back to Lamarckian or Sympathy for the Devils...)
So, I decided to go the other direction: limit the power. And the first way I thought of doing that: take something where even I don't know all of what it's supposed to be capable of. The initial starting point for this was, again, looking back at my major gaming addiction: Final Fantasy XIV. The game is getting a new healer in its next expansion... but we don't know the gimmicks of the job. It has lasers, it has hard light shields, it has heals, but... we don't know how all it's supposed to work.
That was the starting point. But then I realized: I'm focusing too hard on the powers, and not enough on the PLOT. From there, the idea pivoted into Noa's powers being... more of an afterthought, really. A necessary consequence of her being in a particular minority (mutants), and even in a smaller subset of that one (mutants with nonhuman appearances), and into an even smaller subset of that one (mutants with nonhuman appearances who can nonetheless pass as human with their powers), which is meant to open up plot hooks and options that wouldn't have otherwise existed.
So, while FFXIV's Sage got used as the inspiration, and is the base idea for what Noa's powerset became, it's just the inspiration.
The artwork is of my actual FF14 character as the new Sage job, whose weapons are four identical floating magic foci. Now, why does that sound familiar?...
No, Noa's magic foci are not cool magitek-ish floating crystalline monoliths. They are something far more mundane and far more personal... and if you use the hints about Noa's heritage and the shape of the foci mentioned, you may be able to piece together what Noa is using as foci, and more importantly, what she can make into a focus.
Now all of this being said?
Meet, in full color this time, Ms. Noa Schaefer, Esquire.
Just... ignore the floaties.
EDIT: as for how this fic wound up being set in 80's-90'a X-Men?
Y'all can thank @FurikoMaru for that.
Any of you notice the new icon as opposed to the old one?
Well, before you get to see the full thing, some notes on the brainstorming session!
This fic's idea initially started life as a redo, then a revamp, and finally a spiritual successor of my first SI fic on SpaceBattles, Through the Mists. It was, in hindsight... not very good, bland, derivative, and right as it was about to get to something possibly different, I wrote myself into too high of a bar for me to clear at the time. However, I liked the original idea, and figured that I was older, wiser, had more experience with this particular genre of fic, and could take a stab at it again!
Problems. One, the power level of Young Justice is absurdly low compared to the eventual power level that such an SI would end up at. Two, Young Justice's third season was... nooooot great. And three, there is a real problem with having too much versatility. That problem... is that you get so caught up in wanting to bring out cool new stuff that you lose some of the focus, plan too big, and end up with plans so far in the future you can't reasonably get to them in between bringing out all the other cool stuff. (See: a large part of the reason I've had trouble going back to Lamarckian or Sympathy for the Devils...)
So, I decided to go the other direction: limit the power. And the first way I thought of doing that: take something where even I don't know all of what it's supposed to be capable of. The initial starting point for this was, again, looking back at my major gaming addiction: Final Fantasy XIV. The game is getting a new healer in its next expansion... but we don't know the gimmicks of the job. It has lasers, it has hard light shields, it has heals, but... we don't know how all it's supposed to work.
That was the starting point. But then I realized: I'm focusing too hard on the powers, and not enough on the PLOT. From there, the idea pivoted into Noa's powers being... more of an afterthought, really. A necessary consequence of her being in a particular minority (mutants), and even in a smaller subset of that one (mutants with nonhuman appearances), and into an even smaller subset of that one (mutants with nonhuman appearances who can nonetheless pass as human with their powers), which is meant to open up plot hooks and options that wouldn't have otherwise existed.
So, while FFXIV's Sage got used as the inspiration, and is the base idea for what Noa's powerset became, it's just the inspiration.
The artwork is of my actual FF14 character as the new Sage job, whose weapons are four identical floating magic foci. Now, why does that sound familiar?...
Ah, yes. Those.
No, Noa's magic foci are not cool magitek-ish floating crystalline monoliths. They are something far more mundane and far more personal... and if you use the hints about Noa's heritage and the shape of the foci mentioned, you may be able to piece together what Noa is using as foci, and more importantly, what she can make into a focus.
Now all of this being said?
Meet, in full color this time, Ms. Noa Schaefer, Esquire.
Just... ignore the floaties.
EDIT: as for how this fic wound up being set in 80's-90'a X-Men?
Y'all can thank @FurikoMaru for that.
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- Location
- Oklahoma
I'm still curious, is Noa a Scarlet witch type situation where their 'Magic' is a Mutant ability, or did they learn actual magic and its not related to their mutant ability? I'm assuming the former due to the words said in the post, but I'm still curious
- Location
- Oblivion
Yikes... I was really hoping I was wrong about that given it's actually a good, if extreme, argument...
Oh man... I bet they even have a backup plan for if it looks like the Jury is turning against them that involves a "Power Registration" based no-jail time plea deal...
Plaintiff's exhibits must be marked in numerical order starting with 1. Defendant's exhibits must be marked in alphabetical order starting with A.
- Location
- Israel
Is that a USA thing or are you "translating" from your country? Because AFAIK in israel it's A.1 A.2 A.3 etc and B.1 B.2 B.3 etc when talking about Plaintiff and Defendant exhibits. Or at least it's that way in the court case the city is trying to milk money from my father's family over something complicated relating to who owned the property when.
Yes, here in 'Merica the DA goes "1, 2, 3 ..." with sub-headings being "1a, 1b, 1c, ..."; and the defense going "A, B, C, ..." with sub-headings "A1, A2, A3, ..."
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Aha, knew I was forgetting something.
(In all fairness? It also shows that I've done most of my actual lawyering plaintiff-side!)
Once I'm more awake that's getting fixed.
edit: fixed
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I can agree completely with this. Not testifying does look bad. It's really frustrating not to get 'the other side' of the story. It was particularly bad in the case I was involved in because the victim was clearly inebriated for a good portion of the events. I say victim because the defendant was found guilty of assault rather than any of the other charges because without that clarifying testimony there was nothing but doubts about the course of events. However the assault, (verbal in this case rather battery which is physical) was corroborated by other testimony. There was enough uncertainty over other charges for reasonable doubt. Nobody in the jury was happy with that, but similarly 2/3rds of the jury wasn't willing to take that step further on the memory and word of a possibly drunk woman no matter what physical evidence existed of more serious crimes.
I absolutely commend the defense attorney for his doing a good job. I also am pretty sure his client was probably guilty of far worse, but he did manage to show enough reason for doubt to get his client free of the heavier charges. I have to say that that definitional split of Assault and Battery was really interesting because until then myself and I would say all the other Jurors conflated the two.