So, you're in a crowded courtroom, amongst a group of seven people being charged for 25 counts of murder (including 19 cops), split over 9 years. There are TV cameras on you, there are thousands of people packed into the courtroom to see what the fuss is about.
And you reveal that you're a vampire.
Vampires are myths. They don't exist. At least, that's what the humans think. You demonstrate your powers to Shift (become more appealing to your prey) and you've shown off your fangs.
And still, no one believes you.
What would you do to convince these humans that you're really a vampire? How much would it take for you to admit someone was a vampire? Anything goes, aside from slaughtering the entire court room. More deaths are okay - I just need them to do something that would convince the world that vampires exist and live 'among them'.
Help?
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~ Mythic Writing
http://www.freewebs.com/rhythempoets/mybible.htm - The new, Australian Bible
“As far as I'm concerned, the only difference between fact and what most people call fiction is about fifteen pages in the dictionary.” ~Charles de Li
51,000 / 50,000
Nov 28, 2008 - 16 51
depending on what powers vampires have in your novel, if i were the vampire i would:
- slash my own throat and not drop dead/pass out (or not even bleed? how fast is their healing ability??)
- get someone to bring in a mirror and show that i have no reflection
- demonstrate superhuman strength (break handcuffs, lift a courtroom bench with one hand etc.)
- jump to the ceiling and hang upside down (some vampires seem to have this ability)
- call in a pack of wolves/rats/spiders/other 'nasty' creature vampires are known to have affinity with, demonstrate my control (ex: 'all of you roll over and play dead. ok, now organize yourselves into a pentagram' etc.)
i think if i saw that someone do any of those things would be enough to FREAK ME OUT if i saw it happen in real life. although breaking handcuffs might not be enough to make me believe the person was a vampire... i might just convince myself they were on some really great steroids!!
really, any power that the vampire has that would be 'showy' and would contradict normal rules of human life would be good. stuff like getting burned by holy water even though it's not boiling, not dying from what should be fatal injuries, extreme strength/speed, obvious control over wild animals, etc etc.
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NANO 2008 = finished!
my interest in said novel = also finished....
204,006 / 50,000
Nov 28, 2008 - 17 06
Maybe I should list their "abilities" for better amswering? (thanks for your answers, anyway, theinsane)
Fangs extend
Sunlight is an advanced sunburn (0-30 secs, red skin. 30 secs-1min, skin blisters horribly. 5-10 min, skin starts to peel. 10-20 mins, skin starts to rub off, as though sandpaper's rushing over it. 25-30 mins, and the vampire turns into ash.)
Stakes break on the skin (knives and other things don't, though...)
Blood is congealed, so there would be no bleeding, really, unless the anticoagulent in another vampire's bite got to the blood.
Mind reading to find the most appealing shape for prey
Enough fresh blood can revive a vampire from their ashes
5 of the 7 can turn into animals (lion, bat, emu, kangaroo, goanna), so have fun with that one ^.^
Any other ideas?
----------~ Mythic Writing
http://www.freewebs.com/rhythempoets/mybible.htm - The new, Australian Bible
“As far as I'm concerned, the only difference between fact and what most people call fiction is about fifteen pages in the dictionary.” ~Charles de Li
50,646 / 50,000
Nov 28, 2008 - 19 48
"Blood is congealed, so there would be no bleeding, really, unless the anticoagulent in another vampire's bite got to the blood."
Yeah...I think the throat-slitting option may be the best. It could kinda be a problem if the vamp still feels pain like a human, but, y'know, if you're so desperate about something that you're trying to tell the whole world you're a vampire I bet you don't care.
"Mind reading to find the most appealing shape for prey"
Also, you could go one by one to everyone in the courtroom and take the shape of their first love...ooh *shiver*
65,485 / 50,000
Nov 28, 2008 - 21 05
I agree with the mind reading idea. Also, I don't know how crosses go for your guys, but that's always kind of cool/freaky on TV at least, I bet it'd be pretty weird to see someone touch a cross and it burns them. Being burned by sunlight would be good, also.
Mirrors or having people come up and try to stab you, if nothing but a stake will break the skin could also work. But I think the mind reading option is your best bet.
51,139 / 50,000
Nov 28, 2008 - 23 24
Well, probably, the most believable would be the shapeshifting. With an audience that big, it would be impossible to blame such a thing on anything else for all parties. Special effects would cover the t.v. audience and drugs could cover the court, but the chances of both don't mix.
If you had a patient court, the sunlight thing might work, too. Personally, though I would refuse to believe anyone who claimed to be a vampire if they said sunlight affected them. That weakness didn't come about in folklore until the movie Nosferatu and there are people out there who are allergic to sunlight.
Depending on how old your vampires are, you could bring in documented evidence of your defendents unaged state. Identical grandparents are not nearly as prevalent as the movie industry would have you believe. If they had ever been in trouble before, their fingerprints would be on record. Were they caught with DNA evidence? If so, their DNA might be a bit different from normal humans.
I don't remember the exact measurement, but there's only a certain amount of blood that a human can drink before vomitting. I doubt the same number would count for a vampire. Their lawyer could always make a call to a blood bank.
I'm just going by the Law & Order episodes, but I think the moment that your defendents claimed to be vampires, the judge would insist a shrink look them over. It would seem like they were either crazy or trying to make it look like they were. Your judge wouldn't want to sit through a trial, only for it to be overturned because none of the defendents were competant. It might be easier to convince one person then your entire audience. But other than letting the bat out of the bag, it wouldn't change anything. Vampires or not, they would still be on trial for murder.
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Nov 30, 2008 - 06 30
Completely seriously, I would not believe in vampires before scientists showed me the article proving that they were genetically different from humans. Slitting your throat could be a magic trick, calling animals special effects and so on. Vampires don't exist, that is something we KNOW, and changing that knowledge would take a lot.
----------We only offer the service. Lies sell well.
53,129 / 50,000
Nov 30, 2008 - 06 51
If the vampire could read minds, perhaps it could read the mind of the judge (or whoever it thought was the most important individual to influence) to see what it would take to convince that one individual? Then you could play with using whichever power(s) you feel are easiest for you to type that the individual could find plausible. This works even better if there are two or more people that would need to be convinced, because a) the court would find it harder to ignore several proofs than one and b) you have instant extra word count.
(Though in Mystic Writer's case, having looked at her word count so far, maybe b) isn't all that necessary...)
----------Percussus resurgio
NaNoWriMo History: 2008 - Keldostri Acaleros (Won - 53129 words)
204,006 / 50,000
Dec 1, 2008 - 01 56
It's the entire jury that needs to be convinced. I bridged the gap, but it isn't really believable.
They're convincing the jury that vampires exist in order to get an innocent verdict - After all, with the genetic abnormalities that allow the abilities to manifest rather than just magic, vampires are no longer human. They can't be called animals, or humans. So they're a brand new species that is just as intelligent as the humans. Thus, with the way the laws are written, if they convince the jury they're not human, they can't be called murderers. They may kill, but they can't be called up short for murder. The law says that a "human being terminating the life of a fellow human being" - convincing the jury they're not human would get them off on a technicality.
So, I'm still looking for good ideas to aid in re-enforcing my bridging effort ^^
EDIT: Lol I like the last one, with only one problem: The only attorney that could be convinced to not throw the case was one of the vampires. He has 3 law degrees (Uk, Us and Aus law), so it'd be kind of hard for that to work. Brilliant idea, though!
Oh, also, slightly-faster healing (reattach a hand in a little over 9 hours, completely healed), and their pain levels are almost the same as a humans, maybe a tiny bit more resilliant.
----------~ Mythic Writing
http://www.freewebs.com/rhythempoets/mybible.htm - The new, Australian Bible
“As far as I'm concerned, the only difference between fact and what most people call fiction is about fifteen pages in the dictionary.” ~Charles de Li
105,000 / 50,000
Dec 1, 2008 - 01 25
Well, you said that your vamp's skin won't be penetrated by knives or anything, just wooden stakes, in that case, it isn't your jury you need to convince, it's your defense attorney. *smiles*
Just make sure you have an enterprising and gutsy attorney, who sneaks a blade like a pocketknife into the courtroom, or hell, a sharp pen. Have him demonstrate to the jury how if he's cut, he bleeds, then have him stab suddenly with all of his strength, your defendant...in the eye. As the gasps die down, and they realize nothing is happening, demonstrate again on the attorney *since there's no cross contamination to worry about since your vamp wont be bleeding, just uncomfortable (but lets face it, not as uncomfortable as he'd be in prison)* and then not so suddenly, but very deliberately and with great effort and muscle, try to pierce through the client's eye while he holds disturbingly still. Yeah, that would be convincing, especially if you did so at the tear duct where it would be oh-so easy to pop the eye out if he was human.
It would be even more effective in this scenerio if he holds the pen not like if he was stabbing, but having his palm be the only connecting point with the pen/knife/whatever, using his entire body weight to push the object into your clients brain.
Er, you might want to ask the court's endulgence, and warn the court that you would like to perform an experment but that it poses no risk to your client, so the bailif doesn't try to shoot you for attacking the accused...
If this doesn't work, and he heals at an excellerated rate, than just have your guy rip off/ bite off his own finger, put the finger back on, and watch it magically re-attatch itself....
If he doesn't heal at an accellerated rate, well..... i dont know.... have him bite off a finger anyway and then hold onto it for later to be surgically re-attatched. He won't bleed, and can even offer to pass his finger around for effect. Like i was saying, loosing a finger is better than prison...
105,000 / 50,000
Dec 1, 2008 - 12 56
Taking your edit bit into considoration, then perhaps have the lawyer hire a human fresh out of grad school. They're normally so desperate for a job that calls for more than hours of civil service, research, straight paperwork, or coffee... They'd probably be willing to bite off a finger themselves in exchange for the potentail publicity of being involved in such a monumental case. *or at least high profile what with the crazy vamp guy, c'mon, the news would eat it up: claims vampirism as defense*
Get the human to do the demonstration of the pen/knife on himself, then hand it to his boss, the vamp lawyer *any self-respecting, successful attorney wouldn't want to bloody his designer suit after all* then have mr vamp go for the eye of his client, and bite the bullet for his own defense even though the pen in the eye hurts. Depending on how long he's been vamp, then he'll know how to deal with pain. Eventually, if you live with any pain long enough, you just learn to ignore it and push through it. Look up chronic pain centers. A ripped off finger and blood-shot eye is still better than prison... Go online and look up a show called 'Heros' if you haven't seen it. They've got a girl who can't die, and regenerates frequently. Gal's been through the runner and they recently had a lovely preview for a future episode where she cuts off her own toe (despite the pain) with a pair of dull sizzors. talk about food for thought...
51,139 / 50,000
Dec 1, 2008 - 16 14
I hate to tell you, but your vampires are screwed. I just found this (http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/nsw/consol_act/ca190082/s18.html)
(a) Murder shall be taken to have been committed where the act of the accused, or thing by him or her omitted to be done, causing the death charged, was done or omitted with reckless indifference to human life, or with intent to kill or inflict grievous bodily harm upon some person, or done in an attempt to commit, or during or immediately after the commission, by the accused, or some accomplice with him or her, of a crime punishable by imprisonment for life or for 25 years.
(b) Every other punishable homicide shall be taken to be manslaughter.
There's nothing in there that says the killer has to be human. If a dog kills a person, the dog is going to be put to sleep. It doesn't matter that the dog doesn't know it's wrong to kill people, it still killed someone. If a foreigner who didn't know the laws committed a crime, the foreigner would still be put on trial. Your vampires knew the law and still killed.
I still suggest an insanity defense. They'd still be locked up, but if they could fake coming to their senses they might get out. If you insist on playing the trial out, threaten the jury. All you need is one person scared enough to vote not guilty and cause a mistrial. Before they get a chance to start the second trial, the revelation that vampires are real would cause enough trouble that the whole matter would fall to the wayside.
----------204,006 / 50,000
Dec 2, 2008 - 13 06
Thanks for that, PollyNim! I'm going to have to edit my story a bit, but it looks good ^^ Thanks so much!
And thanks to everyone for your help! You're great, really!
----------~ Mythic Writing
http://www.freewebs.com/rhythempoets/mybible.htm - The new, Australian Bible
“As far as I'm concerned, the only difference between fact and what most people call fiction is about fifteen pages in the dictionary.” ~Charles de Li