My mind is running wild about how Sharik's trial could have went, how I imagined Sharik’s lowest point:
When you said the guards assigned to Sharik for the trial are ones Akida trusts: Were they officers from the station who work with Akida, and were they friends with him or they don't know him that well, only regular coworkers and no more than that? Or, if they were instead workers at that courthouse only, how do they know Akida, and are they also friends with him or only acquaintances? (I'm also reminded of another question I've had for a while: Who was Akida's former friend who tried to urge him to have Sharik put in juvenile prison?)
I don't know much about courtroom procedure + courthouse protocol, but I had a good feeling that in the hours leading up to the trial and after it ended, Sharik was kept from talking to his family and friends, not even getting to see them; it's the same on the other end with neither Sharik's friends or family being allowed to see him in private. The closest he'd have to their company is them being present during the trial and looking at him, but not once saying a word. Sharik would effectively have been alone all that time - before, during, and after the trial - with only his thoughts for company, save for the guards who wouldn't talk to him anyway due to courthouse rules and their jobs. (The only exception would be if the guards, who know his father and are trusted by him, felt sympathy/empathy for him and chose to break protocol to offer words of comfort and assurance to him. Was Denzel and/or Rokuro, or anyone like them, assigned as Sharik's guards by any chance?)
Sharik would have been wondering nonstop about why he killed those carnivores in such a way, how he could do such a thing, if there was a better way to protect his friends that night, if he could ever be forgiven, and if he could ever move past it and live normally again. But most of all, he’d silently wish for someone -anyone- he could talk to. Sharik could've been so overwhelmed with all the feelings he’s had since the incident and nervous about how he should behave in court that he'd be silent all the way, only speaking when spoken to by others.
In any case, whether Sharik was being driven to the courthouse, sitting in a waiting room awaiting his trial to begin, or driven away after it ended, he would have been left quietly crying alone after buckling under fear, guilt, sadness, and despair he's felt ever since his rampage that fateful night. And if he wasn't crying, he would have blankly stared into space as though he had just given up on everything, all without ever saying a word. I wouldn't be surprised if Sharik suffered juvenile depression during that time up until the present.
I felt like it might have taken a few days for the trial to be arranged and set up, so I imagined that while Sharik waited for trial day to arrive, he was temporarily incarcerated by police. I can see him being in a holding cell at the station, staying there all day and every day since his arrest until trial day - it’s not prison, but it probably came close. He would have been visited by his father at every given chance since he's a police officer, even helping him get through the days and prepare him for the trial itself.
(Remember this though? -> [https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FdXaxL-XwAYHUKX?format=jpg&name=orig] Did Sharik have an episode like that during the wait?)
Besides Sharik being held at the precinct until the trial, I thought that apart from anti-carnivore restraints being mandatory for Sharik, they also had to be put on him by others - in this case, the available officers at the station. For starters, Akida is likely not among them, as he would not have had the heart to put such degrading equipment on his own son - but of course, there’s nothing he can do to prevent it at this point. So on trial day, in the hours before going to the courthouse, I imagine Akida can only stand by as his fellow officers are attaching the restraints all over Sharik’s body, perhaps watching for a short while until it becomes too much that he looks away. (If the sight was bad enough for him, he might have snuck away somewhere private to cry.) There’s a chance that some of the officers putting on Sharik’s restraints were sympathetic to him and his father - like Denzel and Rokuro (Were Denzel and Rokuro among them?). But on the other hand, there's also the chance that any officers who didn’t like Sharik were involved too. I could see those officers being less than gentle with Sharik, placing the restraints onto his body a little too forcefully and/or fastening them harder than necessary that makes Sharik feel that they’re too tight.
Could you see the guards/officers who watched Sharik during his trial and escorted him to and from the courthouse + courtroom keeping electroshock weapons with them, such as stun batons or electric cattle prods? You imagine that a sympathetic guard would feel reluctant to keep one handy despite it being necessary, even hoping that it would never have to be used?
As for the muzzle Sharik wore as part of his restraints: Do you see it being a normal grated one like what Legoshi wore when with Gouhin + what Riz wore in juvenile prison, or the kind specifically made for equines? (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muzzle_(mouth_guard)#Equine_muzzles ) What if it were a specialized one, designed to not only prevent biting but also keep the wearer from speaking at times, holding their mouth shut - maybe like an adjustable knob/tab on the side that can tighten or loosen its grip on the jaw? (Such a muzzle could be adjusted by a guard when ordered by the court’s presiding judge, ensuring that unless Sharik is being spoken to, such as during cross-examinations, he remains silent and never speaks out of turn in any circumstance, whether entering the courthouse and awaiting the trial, while the trial is in session, waiting between jury deliberations, or when leaving after the trial ends.)
Of course those carnivores who attacked Sharik and the Pack that night would have families! And when relatives are involved, there is going to be skewed perspectives and moral myopia, as in not caring why the incident happened or who was really at fault/who started it.
I briefly had the idea that some members of those families would accost Sharik with harmful words while he was escorted out of the courthouse after the trial, words assigning blame and labeling him a monster that gave their loved ones more than they deserved. They might have made subtle jabs at the restraints he wore with malicious jokes or sarcastic compliments. However, I decided that was unlikely since such verbal aggression would be prohibited in the courthouse. I also thought of them possibly frightening/startling Sharik - at least sizing him up and/or making him flinch a little - when they saw him in his restraints as a small bit of payback, but I also deemed such intimidation unlikely. The most they would probably do is silently give him death stares, angrily glare at him the entire time.
I imagined that the retribution they sought against Sharik would have been juvenile prison, perhaps with some certain family members going further by calling for life imprisonment or even the death penalty! I also imagined that when Sharik was sentenced to rehabilitation, the carnivores’ families were outraged, bemoaning the notion that the court was biased in Sharik's favor because he was an herbivore.
FYI: Sharik not being sentenced to prison would be considered a miracle by his defense team because in real-life Japan, the conviction rate/likelihood of a guilty verdict is around 99%.
If any of the carnivores’ family members are bitter enough about the final verdict (and they most likely will), I wouldn’t be surprised if they resort to ‘cursing’ Sharik with the straw doll ritual. In case you don’t know, this ritual - called “Ushi no toki mairi” (丑の時参り) or “Ushi no koku mairi” (丑の刻参り) - is an individually practiced ritual designed to cast a curse on any person of choice; the name translates as “ox-hour shrine-visit”. It involves a little handheld doll made of straw called a “wara ningyō” (藁人形: “straw doll”) meant to represent the person being targeted for the curse - other elements may be combined with the doll, like physical parts of the target themselves (ex: hair) or objects more abstractly connected (ex: a photo of the target, a piece of paper with the target’s name written on it), plus a hammer and nail. The one casting the curse visits an available Shinto shrine/temple between 1 AM to 3 AM, which is considered ‘the hour of the Ox’, and goes to a tree that grows on the shrine grounds called a “shinboku” (神木: “sacred tree”). There, the caster would take the straw doll + other target-related elements and nail them together into the tree itself, using the hammer and nail to do so. Most importantly, the ritual is done privately in secret - no one except for whoever’s casting the curse can be around when it happens and there must be no witnesses to the act - otherwise, things can go wrong.
For more information, see these: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ushi_no_toki_mairi https://yokai.com/ushinokokumairi/ https://yokai.com/waraningyou/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ox_(zodiac)#Hour_of_the_Ox https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinboku https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinto_shrine
BTW: I finally understood why Alejandro was present at the trial - he was a witness. (And I'll bet the same applied to the rest of the Pack too)
Well, to start on a good note: yes, they are friends of Akida, since he was ensured his son would be escorted by officers of his utmost trust. As for the traitor, it is going to be a herbivore that is closely related to zebras, and the first friend Akida made since the start of his police career in Japan.
Yeah, he would be completely isolated due to the blood on his hands. Such solitude would harm him quite a lot. Even though he would like to be alone under normal circumstances, the fact he is denied any sort of warm embrace or comfort would damage his psyquie greatly, this might result on him being such an introvert on the future outside of his friend group, but not to the level of shyness Alejandro has. For the guards assigned to him, I can fortunately confirm that Denzel and Rokuro were 2 of his escorts. There are going to be another 2, but one would be far kinder than the other.
• There's no doubt about that, he would be overwhelmed by those thoughts about the massacre, what could he have done differently and the isolation, but the worst part would be his PTSD, you can expect him to not be able to sleep well, as was the case on the first chapter. And to top it off, he may also see the "ghosts" of the ones he has killed.
• Hmm, I'm not sure which one of these would he experience during the waiting for the trial, but it may be more likely he breaks down crying, both before and even during the trial, and when he is not spoken to, the thousand yard stare would be printed on his face. Haven't considered the depression until now, but he would have definitely experienced it during his first 2 weeks on the hospital, meaning he would take therapies and perhaps some antidepressants for a while due to his severe case.
I was adding that to the chapter when you mentioned that, yes, he would try to be there for him as much as possible, but even that would not be enough to lighten the pain on his wounded heart. And you caught me there, I was precisely adding that into the chapter.
He may be a hardened veteran, but I would not discard the possibility of him crying over watching Sharik being restrained like that and that he is unable to stop it. I was thinking one of the officers securing him may try to help him feel a bit better with some customized mittens, perhaps some that are more akin to cooking mittens or adorned with something relaxing and cute (not saying who would do this cause spoiler), but as for the other guard assign to him, yeah, he would make him hurt while putting them on.
• They will no doubt be equipped with them, but the sympathetic ones would hope dearly to not have to use them. The ones not sympathetic would just be on stand by and ready when the need arises.
• Well, for starters, it would be a regular horse muzzle, but for the function of keeping him shut... it may not be necessary. Sharik will have a hard time talking regardless, so it would be a denied request for anyone who suggested it (you can expect a certain bison to be annoyed by that).
Yeah, they will not be lenient to the poor herbivore at all, they would have death stares and, while not allowed, have for sure they will throw insults at him anyways, they would be too entitled on their grief to even show respect unless ordered to.
• That point of them suggesting those 2 destinies actually ties to a question Sharik will make on the 4th chapter, for one of them is the one he fears he would get. Even if the court wasn't biased for the young colt (which, for the most part, is not), they would not even care and accuse the judge of such things.
Well, the outcome of the trial is already evident, so you can already see it was a miracle, but he would get a very good lawyer, that's for sure.
Hmm, that idea of the curse sounds quite tempting, it may serve as a setup for future events I am planning, like when Alika and him have their own encounter on a night under the full moon, the time Bludgeon will return with a savage vengeance, and another, more violent event. Man, I sometimes scare myself with the ideas that come into my mind.
On a final note, and considering that the curiosity may be there, here is a part of what Sharik's roar sounds like when his curse detonates:
From what you said so far, I know that Akida felt heartbreak from seeing Sharik be restrained for trial day. No doubt he felt that way because his son's dignity was taken away from him despite him being just a kid (Being literally paraded in front of his loved ones, his victims' families, and an extra mass of strangers in the courtroom -chained and muzzled like a mindless lesser creature- would deal a devastating blow to his self-esteem), but I wonder: Did the sight of Sharik in his bound state also remind Akida of the captive herbivores he rescued from the Wukong Clan? If that's true, it could add more context as to why the officers binding Sharik looked so upsetting to Akida - it contributes to his fear of Sharik potentially suffering the same fate as those victims ever since finding out he was just like them! (And he learned that the hard way by seeing the results of his son's actions firsthand) Plus, Sharik's bound state could also provide clues to what those kidnapped herbivores went through because of the Wukong - they would've been bound, silenced, broken/injured, drained + weak, naked, and violated for sure!
I also had another frightening thought, one involving Akida's ex-friend: I already know that ex-friend's opinion of Sharik, given that his attempt to persuade Akida to send him to prison was what ended their friendship. I imagined that he could very well be the kind of person to deal out his own personal 'justice' on offenders who get on his bad side, and in this case, Sharik would be that offender. I was just thinking about the possibility that he could have abused Sharik, either during the days before the trial or after Sharik's nonguilty verdict was passed (especially while Sharik was still wearing his restraints, as he would have gone after him before the restraints were removed). It might have gone further with him inciting other officers who felt the same as him -negative towards Sharik- to join him in 'punishing' Sharik, as in tormenting him for his crimes. The abuse may be left to the imagination, but it may at least entail Sharik getting beat up (punching and kicking, use of weapons - blunt or electroshock) and/or verbal + psychological threats/degradation...and potentially the use of 'touching' where one shouldn't...
If Sharik ended up on the receiving end of these assaults, he might end up just taking it instead of defending himself for two reasons: One - when not under the curse, he's normally not a violent person. Two - at that point in time, he still felt guilty over his rampage, so he would have felt that whatever punishments he got were completely deserved.
Just so you know, I'm not saying that this should happen. These are just my thoughts. If it turns out that none of this is true, that's fine with me too.
Slightly unrelated question: When Akida found Sharik in the alley just after his rampage, did you envision Akida being the officer who arrested Sharik? (Even though comforting Sharik was all Akida wanted to do, he knew he still had to do his duty as a police officer and thus cuff his son, as much as he didn't want to...) Or did Akida hesitate, not having the heart to do it, which then led to another officer (or several more) stepping in and putting Sharik under arrest instead?
Most definitely will, and you can expect his most hot-headed friend to openly protest against this degrading trearment (you may know which one that may be). Yes, the way he was restrained and paraded in front of everyone would definitely match the way those herbivores were treated by those evil apes.
That is a very dark possibility, and I may include the verbal degradation and, to an extent, also the physical one, perhaps in the way of shoving forcefully or a bit more, I will see what I can do with that.
He did after calming Sharik down enough, handcuffs and all, but of course, Akida didn't act like if he was a true criminal, he did whatever he could at the time to comfort Sharik after his trauma, which included giving him some comfort food in the form of pastries (Sharik's fangs double as his sweet tooths). Even with this, he understood what needed to be done, and Sharik agreed without opposition, resulting in him being imprisoned at the station, but not a dedicated jail.
Just in case you're really focused on accurate portrayals of real-world settings, I just thought I'd help you out in regards to writing the trial by showing you what a typical courtroom in Japan looks like. I hope I don't seem nitpicky, but I'll just leave these links here for reference: ⬇️
I also got you video links related to court situations, though all the ones I have are fictional and my likelihood of finding videos of real-life Japanese court trials was second to none. But moving on, I hope these videos will not only give you an idea of how the Japanese legal system typically works and what their institutions look like, but also expand on what Sharik may have gone through under it + how he and the others involved with him were affected. Here they are below: ⬇️
Visits and interrogations/questionings in jail + police station
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