Subject to Scrutiny ((58))

[amanika]

Tantomile's eyes flicked over to the door when Munkustrap entered. She'd been wondering when he was going to show up, initially being somewhat surprised to not find Myre's attourney present, but this was going to be a long night anyway so rather than stopping to question the matter she'd pressed ahead. It was often easier to interview alone anyway, now she rather hoped Myre wouldn't be stilted in his response by the presence of another.

"Good evening Mr Hollister." she arched an eyebrow at where he had chosen to stand but didn't comment further, instead turning back to Brachan and her notes. "What stopped you from drawing?"

[qualapec]

His eyes went cold and guarded. "There was an accident."

[amanika]

Tantomile's eyes flicked to Munkustrap again, quickly assessing if he was the cause of Brachan closing up, or simply the subject matter. However, rather than dwelling on it she pressed on.

"Would you like to talk to me about the accident?"

[Meadowlark]

Munkus considered whether or not the answer to that could damage anything in the case should it be overheard. Determining it couldn't, he kept his mouth shut.

[qualapec]

"I've had a few in my life." Brachen's fur was bristling at the thought of the first, too horrible to think about, his paws straining unconsciously against the cuffs. "The last one..." he trailed off, tilted his head up to expose the thin scar on his neck, "was an unfortunate encounter with some ignorant southerners with brains fried by moonshine."

[amanika]

Tantomile took in the body language as Myre spoke, and even had to stop herself from starting a little at the sight of the scar, she'd half noticed it before, but not the serverity. She was silent for a moment, making some more notes as she composed herself somewhat. Before finally saying, "And after the accident, things got worse? The noises? And the painting wasn't enough perhaps?"

[qualapec]

"I couldn't paint anymore. I can't even describe how things got worse. Not noises just...I started blacking out. I've always been able to control myself, but now everything feels like an attack to me and it sends me over the edge." Brachen tried to keep the shame from his voice - he'd been a hitter. Cats had once shivered and cowered at his name...and now this was all that was left of him, some quivering lump of fur at the mercy of the authorities, too far gone to even concoct an alibi or hide the evidence of his crimes.

[amanika]

Tantomile considered this for a moment, she knew Hollister likely didn't want a confession out of the other cat, and it seemed at this rate, if she persued a certain line of enquiry, it wouldn't be hard to get one. For the moment, she changed tack, the route to the muders lay clear enough in one direction, she'd rather instead find the point of mental unstability.

"What was life like before the accident? How were things different?"

[qualapec]

Brachen had to consider his words carefully. "I had the fantasies, but not the motivation. I'd always controlled it." Not entirely true, it was more that he'd always let it out in controlled settings, but it was mostly true.

[amanika]

"When did these 'fantasies' start? Tantomile was still making notes at an alarming rate. She knew she only had a limited time with Brachan and she had a feeling Hollister would want her fully leigible and conclusive report first thing tomorrow.

[qualapec]

Brachen bristled, taken aback by the question even though he should have expected it. "After my family died - my parents and my sister. I don't want to talk about it."

[amanika]

Tantomile kept scribbling, before going back to underline a few statements, it looked as if she'd found a triggering event. "It might help you if you do." she coaxed, if nothing else, it gave Hollister something to play on the jury's sympathies with, though she doubted it really cancelled anything out in the long run. Still, a little more information would help her report's credability, "How old were you when this happened?"

[Meadowlark]

Munkustrap's ears flickered back and he tensed. He was weighing the pros and cons of this being pursued. He might be able to use it on the jury, but it might also cause an outburst in the here and now that, if called upon to testify, an officer could use to attest to Myre's violence.

[amanika]

Tantomile's focus at present was on Myre, she didn't want to unsettle him with too many glances at Hollister, though she had far from forgotten the laywer's presence. She trusted him to stop them if this went where he didn't want it to. Besides, her opinion was supposed to be neutural, but she had already steered the conversation away from topics that might have made things harder for the defence. Still, there was so much here, she could probably see Brachan on a regular basis for years and still have only half explored the psyche presented before her. So in that regard, each line of questioning was one of half a dozen she could have chosen to persue.

[qualapec]

Brachen met her eyes. He'd never talked about it with anycat really, except Mac. His pain was something that had always been his and his alone, something to give with trust and affection (again, only one cat). Something shifted in him. "You do with brains what I'm accused of doing - you try to crack cats open and see what makes them tick, trying to find what makes cats normal and what makes them off, you sift through the blood and bones and beg for answers but you just tear things apart because you don't have the exact tools." He was softly yelling by the end, he thought, straining lightly against the cuffs.