mitochondriaaya | Oh those lovely lawsuits

"Yeah, not really seeing a situation where I'll need it." she snorted and leaned back to strap in. "Drive Raoul!"

"Onwards, m'lady." Braig agrees. Dilan slips his hand over Aya's and murmurs, "It'll be fine, love."

"Or we'll fail utterly and I'll end up in jail somehow." she knew that wasn't possible at all, but...but! Yes, she was back to tense. "You guys will visit right?"

"You're not going to jail." they chorus as Braig pulls up at the courthouse. "I'll meet the two of you inside."

"I'm going to jail." she muttered under her breath as she slid out of the car and smoothed her skirt. The girl they were suing was no longer in a cast but she wore a prominent arm brace and was talking, loudly, to her friends and lawyer across the hall.

"She came with her whole class!" she squeaked.

"Don't worry about it." Dilan says quietly as he leads her to her place. Which happens to be just in front of a dapper older gentleman, blonde hair just going silvery, whose face is e-ver-y-where on posters and magazines. Ansem's wife is next to him, and she rises to give Aya a gentle cheek-kiss before settling back down.

Aya gave Mr. and Mrs. Ansem quick hugs before she perched on the edge of her chair. "Dilan...I'm going to be sick." she said very, very seriously. That said she pasted a small smile on and folded her hands in her lap. The very picture of a well behaved twelve-year-old.

Judging by how dramatic the initial testimony ended up being it was going to be a long, long trial.

"No, you aren't." Dilan says, crouching down next to her for a last hug. "You're going to take a deep, deep breath, you're going to tell the truth, and you're going to be fine." he kisses her forehead and settles down next to Ansem, saving a seat for Braig. Braig's parents are on the other side of the Ansems.

Aya took the prescribed deep breath and held until she saw spots. It helped, a little. What helped more was the anger that started to grow during the other girl's testimony. It was righteous, indignant anger about how the girl was coloring the events. It made Aya sick for an entirely different reason...and it served to put some more iron in her spine. She took the stand with determination instead of fear, and she spoke with her customary, forthright honesty.

She'd have time to shake and break down later, for now she was mad. Very, very mad...but she didn't let it show. Her lawyer was grimly pleased by her testimony...and she really didn't dare look back to the people she knew after that. She kept her face forward and her gaze steady on the judge.

The personal testimony part is...interesting, to say the least. The boys, Braig and Dilan, are quiet and polite...up to the point where the other girl's lawyer tries to imply something more salacious than really exists between them. Then they get tight, angry, and very, very quiet.

Some of the girlfriends from when Aya was a teen make passionate appeals. Braig's parents speak. Ansem and his wife offer brief commentary.

That's the part the press eats up.

Through it all Aya sat tense tight on the hard wooden bench of the courtroom. It really would have been easier if Aya had just broken the girl's other arm...especially with the smear tactics. She wouldn't have blamed the boys if they needed to get up and out after that...

The flash of cameras made her jump during the Ansem testimonies. She really hadn't been expecting them to let cameras inside the courtroom, but really, how often did things like this, with this group of character references, happen?

It was during the closing speeches, with a lot hand waving and declarations of 'dangerously deranged' that she decided she owed everyone ice cream. Everyone.

Except Dilan. He doesn't do ice cream. He does lean forwards over the divider and rest his hand on one of her shoulders, Braig doing the same thing to the other.

Dilan could have a frozen banana on a stick. She'd even spring for nuts if he wanted.

Having those hands on her shoulders was nice. It kept her in her seat instead of scrambling backward as the judge deliberated. As it was she was leaning into the boys pretty hard.

They aren't thinking about how things look. The only thing that matters is Aya, and them being there for her.

The good news is that it does make her look more vulnerable, and more in need of the support the boys are giving.

Eventually the judge decides.

She was going to hate seeing the news clippings of the trial. Hate them with a passion...and skip them in the family scrapbook. That was later though, for now...

...for now she sagged in relief as the judge decided in her favor. That was one bit of financial worry done with no matter how the other girl was shrieking.

Shrieking at the top of her lungs no less. Aya was ignoring her in favor of the slumping...and once she found her strength again she was going to hug her lawyer. The boys. Everyone.

Braig places one hand on the divider and vaults over it so that he can hug her. She needs it, he needs it.

YES SHE NEEDED IT! The girl they'd sued was getting nastier still in a courtroom, her accusations flying from lewd to horrid as she seethed. Hugging Braig meant she didn't do anything regrettable...

...and neither did he.

"Ice cream." she informed him simply.

"Yeah, babe." He says, cuddling her protectively. Dilan's expression got darker, and darker, and after a moment he says in that clear, deep voice of his, "I bet I have a pretty good case for libel right now. Slander. Whichever."

And some DAMN FINE witnesses, too.

"Slander" both Aya and the lawyer said at the same time. There was a shocked silence in the courtroom, then the girl's friend started very hurriedly ushering her out the door.

"Bastard wouldn't dare" was the parting shot...and at that Aya practically lunged at Dilan, just in case.

There is this moment in horror films where the person who has seemed like a perfectly sane, perfectly normal part of the protagonist's party suddenly turns prior to lunging strangling someone.

Dilan? Is doing that slow turn, and the application of an Aya and a Braig trying to hold him back doesn't affect it much at all.

He reaches out to pick Aya's lawyer up under each armpit and hold him in the girl's general direction, stating in a calm, clear voice;

"Sue her."

It was one thing to know, logically, that Dilan could pick her up. Really, he did it all the time in play. It was kind of a hard application of reality to realize how much more he could pick up when motivated.

At least no one was bleeding in the courtroom.

It never occurred to Aya to just let go of Dilan's arm, she just kinda...dangled. "I think she's going to need to get a job." that was the first thing that popped into her head, honest!

"Y-yes sir." the lawyer says, carefully, "You need to put me down, now. So I can start the paperwork."

The other lawyer, after a good, long look at Dilan, informs the girl that she needs a new lawyer.

Ansem starts patting Dilan's shoulder, trying to get him to set everyone down. Gently.

After a minute he does.

Aya thought it was perfectly reasonable to keep hugging Dilan's arm after her feet touched ground. "We're going to...wait a bit. Let them get away from the building before we head out." she wasn't speaking to the boys but to all those who were there to support them.

Braig, upon reaching the ground, takes the calm and considered step of kicking the back of Dilan's knees so that he sits down. Then he rests the big man's head against his shoulder and pets his hair soothingly. The rest of their little group divides between calming Dilan down and glaring at the girl.

Once he was sitting, Aya sat in Dilan's lap and started quietly babbling about the gym she'd found and decided to join near the campus. Gyms were a safe topic!

The bailiff was working on forcibly removing the enraged girl before things got even worse.

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