Did the above character commit a crime?

Marvin keenly listens in on Samhael's story, eyes closed and head hung low, then eventually shakes his head slowly and sighs.

"People get hurt. It's only a part of your nature. Emotions get the best of you and you end up doing stupid... irrational... things. But do I believe that such actions define a person? No. It seems that you have grown to regret what you've done to your friend, and just the manner in which you address him and your own guilt proves that you were a different man at the time of this incident. So, do I think that you've committed a crime?

"... No, I would say that you are innocent. As long as you have learned your place since then, no ill will should come of you. Growth of character and intellect should be encouraged, after all -- not stunted for the sake of some lazily sentenced punishment."

"I have been hurt many times... as is fairly obvious from the scars littered around my body, and the nearly complete incapacitation of my right arm. But none have hurt me more than the old alchemist who used to be my mentor. Since I'd become his apprentice, I'd put all my trust in him. He was like a father to me just as much as he was a mentor. But that damn man liked to test his potions on me -- and the ingredients in those damn potions got me addicted. Like drugs, I was hooked. I suffered so badly from consuming those materials... but finally, one day, using the power of the potions that he himself had gotten me addicted to, I killed him. I killed the alchemist.

"Now, am I really in the wrong for killing this man? After what he did to me, to ruin my life? I've suffered every day since I've been with him, mostly in silence, as he deteriorated whatever I had left of myself to begin with. I saved myself and ended an abuser. Is it a crime for me to have saved my own life in this circumstance, and it is a crime that I do not regret the fatality I enacted?"

"Well... I don't think I have enough information here," they said simply, twirling a bit of hair nervously as their eyes flickered from one side to the other, never really pausing to rest on the stranger. "I mean, really, you could have just... talked to him about it, you know what I mean? Did you try that? I think murder is... a bit far, honestly." Their tail-tip twitched and their heterochromatic gaze softened just a bit, melting enough to give way to the tightly tucked away empathy, hard exterior dripping away like soft caramel as they sighed softly. "However, I know what it's like to be in a situation with someone you love and trust and can't seem to escape. From an outsider's perspective, it's not totally rational, I'll say that. But I do know when you're in that spot, rationality is harder to come by. So why I think in terms of legality in any place, you've committed a crime. On moral grounds though, that's rather grey... I'd be reluctant to give you any sort of sentencing." Seeming satisfied with their answer, they cleared their throat a bit to shift the subject to themselves and their acts of wrongdoing.

-

"As for me, well..." they tilted their head downwards a bit, blowing at a piece of hair that fell in time with the movement. They offered a half-hearted smile at the silly action and straightened their posture. "I've never really done... bad stuff, I mean, one of my biggest fears is incarceration. I used to be a very bad person, manipulative and quite the liar, but..." they cocked their head to one side, their jaw set. They looked rather defensive, though the guilt in their eyes was the waving white flag. "That was then. While morally I did some awful things... the legality of it is clean." They waved their hand dismissively as if that would clear the air of the uncomfortable thought that had been struggling to take coherence as the words stumbled out of their mouth. "I smoke weed, if that's anything." They gave a short laugh. "The law would raise an eyebrow and have a ready argument, at least here, so go for that one."

Chris returns her own patient smile, and by the end of Phoenix's confession, it's tinted with amusement. "Well," she says, straightening up, "it's certainly not illegal everywhere. And more importantly... I don't think it's so morally wrong. Certainly not the best, but quite harmless, especially as far as crimes go." She pauses and, seeing Phoenix was not quite prepared to address the rest of their 'stuff,' simply keeps her smile and advises, "The harm something does is something I, at least, would consider over legal expectations." She holds up a finger a bit admonishingly. "That being said... if you smoke anywhere near me, expect a swift eviction."

Thinking on her misdeeds, Chris's perpetually serene expression falters. She tries to smile for her listener, but it comes back more tired than calm. "I had no other choice." She shakes her head. "I shouldn't even be confessing this. It feels like a confession will make it real." Her smile, now, is fractured. "I have been tortured. Something got into the library. No, something got into me. I didn't think it was possible. And I swear, I swear on anything I still have, there was no other way to get it out. I had to give it what it wanted, I..." She looks exhausted, hollow. "I broke an oath. My sacred, singular duty as the librarian. What I was chosen for and trusted with, I- I fell apart. I don't know what else I could have done." Weak voice desperate for an answer, Chris closes her eyes.

Her words are so familiar, so much like the way he used to think, and he goes a bit pale at the memory, an expression that no doubt seems like disappointment in her. He is not fully equipped to deal with a situation of this complexity, and his silence hangs in the air for far too long. Did she not fail at her job? Isn't that a punishable offense? He abandoned his post, too, and sometimes the fear of consequence eats him alive.

"That.. is a crime." He speaks quietly, with long pauses, like he can't quite form the words. It's the first conclusion he reaches. The obvious conclusion. Still, he can't quite settle on it; it feels wrong. What was it he was told, not too long ago? "But it... hurt you first."

Petrel stands, stiff save for his shaking hands. He's only confessed his crimes to one person, the person who told him he was only misguided, that karma came for those who led him on that path. It's a justification he can grant others, but for himself? It still terrifies him, the things he did then, and the things that were done to him. But he's been asked to speak, and so he speaks. 

"I.. hurt a lot of people. Killed them. They--" At this, he corrects himself. "I was told they were... evil. Dangerous, heretic. I... don't know anymore." He does not make eye contact further. 

Brown tilted her head at the young individual, lips pursed in both sympathy and contempt at the same time. Murder, huh? That was something she wasn't new to. In fact, she remembered it all too well, but that was an entirely different story for an entirely different day. Besides, in a fit of moral consideration (always shocking when it emerged in her), she thought it inappropriate to butt in about her own feelings; besides, her case was different. She knew that all too well, all too well...

"Well, I don't know what to tell you," she replied with a shrug, "You didn't know any better, so I don't see why you judge yourself so harshly for it. Hindsight is a bitch, I know, but don't let it get to you. It's not worth it. Trust me." Her voice was laced with a hint of contempt because she literally couldn't make it not about her for more than a minute, but... She tried? Brown sighed and relaxed herself, trying to make it as if she was talking to a friend and not someone who had confessed a major crime right in front of her face. (Smooth, real smooth.)

Looking back at her hand, then at the other party, the woman continued, "It's what in the moment that counts. If you thought you were in danger at that particular moment, then that's how you felt. No more, no less. The future shouldn't color your perceptions so harshly, young man. You simply didn't have access to what you know now back then. It's really that simple." This time around, she actually sounded... Motherly? As if she was trying to reach out? Maybe in that moment, she felt vulnerable. Heavens knew how she was going to judge herself later on for it, but now... It didn't matter that much to her. She had so little to lose anyways.

With a smile that was far too pleasant for the subject at hand, Brown twirled her hand as she hummed, "What to say... What to say... It's not as if it'll matter in the end... Hm, hm, hm..." The woman chuckled to herself before letting her fingers run through her hair.

"I can't really say much, because my case is a bit on the..." she started before looking at one of her hands, "Complicated side of things." The memory of it made her laugh and wince at the same time, creating a juxtaposition that definitely came off as bizarre. However, self-consciousness was something that never particularly concerned her; that, after all, was why she found herself in hot water in the first place. But that asides...

She sighed and stated, "Well, you see.... My husband was found dead a while ago. In our house. We never really got along; he was an ass, and admittedly so was I." Brown chuckled once more. "I remember joking to him one night that if he didn't shut up, he might as well be dead by the next morning because he'd attract the attention of some assassin... I didn't exactly expect for it to happen so quickly." How nice of her. "That asides, people started thinking I was the killer, because I was furious when he gave his inheritance to our daughter - not me, mind you - and got a bit too... Social after his passing." Wait, that doesn't clarify if she did it or not? I could assume that I'm implying it, but... Ha, whatever! Almost out of nowhere, she started laughing once more.

"As much as I'd like to keep it a mystery, just to upset people," Brown finished with a hint of melancholy, "I have to admit something... I did kill the poor bastard. He never knew it was coming, despite all the warning signs I dropped. Real funny, huh?" Almost as if to boost her own ego, she chuckled to herself. "I think it could've been prevented so easily, if he gave me a bit of the limelight... Guy wasn't as good as people think..."

Maribelle was still a stupid, dumb, idiot child, and so, the complexities of such a situation were sometimes lost on her. The way she saw it, though, if someone was bad, then they simply deserved to die-- albeit, her views on what did and did not make a person bad were dubious. If someone like Brown-- older, wiser, prettier-- told her that her husband was a wolf in sheep's clothing, a brute, a lowlife, she would believe it. It was easier for her to believe that people were evil.

And so, here she was. She sat hunched in the dark, her hands squeezed together in her lap and her eyes struggling to keep on Brown as the woman explained herself. Every now and then, she would scratch her neck.

"He deserved it." Maribelle said the moment Brown finished her story. "The, uh... Your husband deserved it, didn't he? A lot of men deserve to die. Women, too." Again, she clawed at her neck, and then at her cheek. "You saved yourself from his depravity. All people are depraved. Even you, I think."

Then, the girl paused, and laughed. There was no passion behind it as she finally met Brown's gaze. "You didn't even feel it, did you? Did you ever feel pain for killing him? No? No, no, you're too-- you're too much. I'd award you for being so open, but..." Her laugh dropped abruptly, and her tone returned to dullness. "You're a bitch, and yes, yes, I-- I will make you tea."

It's okay to kill your husband. Your husband isn't a person.

"Her name was Filomena Dragonetti." Maribelle began, "The man who guides me, he sent me to work with her. She was nice, very open, so fun, a woman of science, a biologist." She paused with a shaky breath, and chewed dumbly on her bottom lip in between her next few sentences. "She owned a zoo. I never liked it. But, what I did like was her trophy room... Who would have ever thought that the people would fall for a flying fish? Gods, she was brilliant... and the people's hides she had strung up... twins... a man with dwarfism..."

"She was a liar and a cheater. She made an example of those people. But, it never bothered me. That stuff doesn't bother me anymore. I think there's a lot worse things, yes?"

She nodded to herself, as if to affirm herself to the stranger. Then, with a lost look on her face, she looked away from them. "I don't know why I killed her. I just did. I didn't feel anything about it." she said, "I stabbed her in the stomach, after which she chased me through the path. I led her to the crocodile pit, and-- and, you know, I think you can tell what happened!" She barked out a shivering cackle, half sounding on the verge of tears. "I'd say she lasted three minutes, but... even then, I didn't feel anything. I just watched her die. Raphael fought for me, so that I wouldn't get my head cut for it. Don't know what you'd say about that. Or about her."

The son of aphrodite barely could contain his laughter. Twirling one of his black dreadlocks, he began to speak, chuckles still lining his words.
,,That´s hilarious, honey. In no way is that a crime. A harmless prank, rather. Especially since you paid the poor bastards back plenty - they lost some, they got some, and in the end, everything was fine. Innocent~"

---

,,Mh~ I´d say i´m an innocent guy myself~ But well, that isn´t for me to judge, or else i wouldn´t be here, would i? Well, one time, or more like, ten times, i got banged by a king - one with a wife and kids at home. Enjoyed it as well. We could only watch the kingdom fall apart after that, really. No matter how much the poor bastard begged and pleaded, his wife didn´t plan on taking him back any time soon. I´d always assure him that it was fine - he had me, after all - but after a while, he really got boring. Nothing he could do for me anymore, being a pretty basic guy. So i dropped him and got myself another nice fling. One more kingdom down, i say~"

Dolores nodded along to the young man's story, confused by what was going on yet nonetheless... Perfectly fine with it? It wasn't like she was completely naive to raunchy stories anyways, and his was fairly tame compared to the others she had managed to pick up from her years in Unova. There was nonetheless a lingering sense of tension in her muscles, but it was easy to attribute that to age and not any actual disgust towards the other party. She leaned back against her seat and giggled.

"You know, I don't think it's a crime to be like yourself," she quipped with a smile accompanied with a gentle twitch at the corner of her mouth, "I'm not one to judge when it comes to those types of livings, anyway. You seem quite happy being the way you are, and I have no reason to judge that." The older woman rubbed the back of her neck while adding, "If anything, I think it's the king's fault for allowing himself to neglect his duties, hm? It seems that as much as he cared about you, he cared too much, and..." She trailed off and started wringing her hands. "Ummmm..."

Her smile faded slightly, though, as she shifted in her seat and asked in a more hushed voice, "You didn't encourage that sort of behavior though, did you? Because if so, that's most likely an entirely different matter... It's one thing to just go along for the ride, and another to actively lead someone on like that..."

"But still, it's not illegal by any means," Dolores admitted with an awkward giggle, "It's probably just immoral at most, if I'm going to be honest. Even then, morality is... Subjective. Usually. Uhhhhh..." She trailed off before giggling once more and rubbing the back of her neck. "It's a complicated case, if I say so myself. I don't personally believe that either you or him were completely in the right, but when it comes to assessing legality and who's more at fault, I really can't say that I'd punish you with anything - even after learning that aspect of you."

Just the mention of one of her mistakes made her wince, so imagine how Dolores felt when she was asked to confess the worst thing she had ever done. Her expression clearly clouded, she spent several minutes just staring at the ground with a frown. Silence was quick to fill the air, and it was numbing. There was a point, in fact, when the quiet stopped being so... Pressing, and Dolores was able to calm down slightly. Slightly. She still felt the words jumbled in her throat - unwilling or perhaps unable to come out - as she struggled to look directly at the stranger besides her.

"I think it's less of what I did and more of what I didn't do," she weakly answered with a sigh, "If I did do anything, I know that it was done with the best of intentions... I know it sounds a bit unusual, coming from an old woman who's seen so much while working with the rich... One wonders how the corruption never settled in my bones, but it's still in my lungs..." The older woman sighed while holding her arms to herself, her palms rubbing her shoulders with an unusual amount of strength while her breathing started to become more ragged.

It was clear that she was trying to not cry when Dolores added with a whimper, "I wish I could've done more to protect the people I let get hurt. I was so scared of being fired that I did nothing. Nothing. Not when one of my closest friends decided to give his wife an 'operation' because he hated how much she loved him. Not when someone got too tipsy and almost beat someone to death. Not when..." She winced and covered her face with her hands. "My job meant so much to me, yet at the same time, it showed me how badly people can behave when given too much power. Yet I did nothing when the opportunity to help presented itself, all because I was terrified of losing my livelihood. The most I can do now is look back upon my cowardice and just... Sigh. Wonder what I could've done differently."

The confession ended there, but the noise sure didn't. Hushed sobs escaped from her throat as she tried in vain to wipe away the tears streaming down her face. She muttered under her breath, "Quail, quail," which made... Absolutely no sense, but at the same time, it wasn't like she was being that rational currently either. Right?

"No, your innocent. You were afraid to act and you at least regret it now."

 (This isn't canon, I just wanted to write about it) I hacked the internet and went into it to expose child predators and fetish artists on deviantart. Those sick bastards had to pay somehow... 

"if she was cruel and an asshole and it was in self-defense i see no reason for you to be a guilty party. who cares if she was your mom? she hurt you. she intended to hurt others, and who knows how many people she'd hurt."

"my morals may not be great, but i say you're fine. she tried to hurt your friend and you - you did what had to be done."

--

Ridley gets straight to the point.

"i killed my childhood best friend. and my adventure partners... and some other people, _{but they weren't nice to begin with}." Their words begin to waiver. "they tell me it wasn't my fault and that nothing could have been done but it was me. if i wasn't there nobody would have died. and now im stuck forever living with the guilt knowing that theres 6 people who'd be alive if i hadn't been at the wrong place at the wrong time."

"it doesn't matter what other tell me. it was my fault."

(That seems to be all Ridley is willing to disclose. They're visibly tearing up and look very upset.)