CW: death and body horror

Firstly spoken as a never-ending heat against a pair of wings. Witness A attests,"I swear I will set him on fire again, for you and nobody but you, so help me God." The jury is presented with Witness B and asked if they're ready, if they want this. On a thousand different planets, Witness A is seen murmuring to themselves that this is what it takes to love you the way they should, the way they can't. On my planet, Orpheus is seen singing down in Hell and the back of Witness A's throat burns with secrets that the judge tolerates but can't bear to see when the sun starts beating down. The events of this morning are recalled: "you were in the kitchen before I woke up, Your Honor, and" (here it is interjected that the right to Witness A's counsel is held) "told me quote I know I cry too much, I know I said some things, but sweetheart, try to understand that my lips were bitten raw and I took the bigger half of the blame without meaning to. End quote." I must add that I don't like myself either, but I know you'll remake me. I know it's not right to live in this half-comatose, trapped-in-the-basement state. Witness A recalls now: "the taste of a candy cane against my lips in mid-summer, wrappers crinkling against the carpeted floor, the sweet slickness of teeth pressed against toffee." When further questioned on the grounds of their statement, they reply sweet as bittersweet, sweet as heat, sweet as the taste of a gavel against wood, sweet as the taste of a sidekick who thinks they're the main character. Narcissus enters halfway through the trial and shows us all his angry little devil poking prodding filling him up with different lives. He declares his show as a magician performing for the magicless, and everyone in the courtroom claps. The unanimously chosen guilty party still lives in a fantasy.