Hades v Apollo

{if Court round == 1}
A tall man wearing a crown of skulls walks in, followed by a tall cloaked figure. Apollo's head snaps over to him, "Your honor - I would like to plead temporary insanity on behalf of the witness. No one would willingly worship that man." The judge glares at Apollo, stating, "I would appreciate if you would refrain from insulting the prosecution, Apollo. My half-brother is dating his daughter." Apollo, eyes brimming with sympathy, states, "I'm so sorry, I know it must be hard on you." The judge snaps her fingers, causing a cloth to wrap around Apollo's head, gagging his mouth. "You are now under gag order. You will be permitted to speak once it is your turn to talk." Apollo attempts to snap his fingers, but the gag stays on. He then attempts to manually remove it, once again failing to do so. The man walks over to the prosecution chair and takes a seat, the cloaked figure pulling a chair next to him and seating as well. "While I am more than happy to see that you brought your lawyer, Hades, I am going to need to ask that we can see all faces."

You see the now apparent woman pull her hood back, exposing her round face framed with wavy golden hair, eyes brown. "Very well," the judge states, "today's case is on the matter of who this cleric next to me is truly dedicated to, as evidence has been brought forth by the prosecution as to question their loyalties to the defense. The prosecution will be the rigid Hades and the defense will be the self-indulgent Apollo." Apollo shoots a glare at the judge, while Hades simply shrugs, taking the insult in stride.

"Per agreements dating back millenia between the two here today, this trial will occur over the course of five rounds. The first will be on the matter of obligation, the second on the matter of Zeus, the third on the matter of ****, the fourth on the matter of justice, and the fifth on the matter of beauty." After a moment pause, the judge continues, "let the trial begin." You feel yourself subjected to a truth spell, and find yourself unable to resist its effects. Whatever you state, it must be the truth.

The cloaked woman stands up. "I am Macaria, lawyer representing Hades today." The judge nods, willing her to continue. "When one has vowed to do something, there is generally an expectation to follow through on said vow. For example, if I were to vow to be Hades' lawyer and didn't show up to court, that would violate my vow. **** circumstances may cause interference with such, but should I have such occur, the burden is on me to either make arrangements satisfactory to the person I vowed to or to negotiate with them sufficiently in advance of the obligation such that my vow is unbroken. Though inconvenient, this process is important for the civility of society. Miss da Vecci, would you say there is any circumstance under which bypassing this process is acceptable? If so, what circumstance qualifies?"
{elseif Court round == 2}
Macaria takes her seat. "That concludes round one," the judge states. She snaps her fingers, causing the gag to disappear from Apollo. Apollo stands up, opens his mouth, but then thinks better of it and closes it again. He proceeds to close the distance between his chair and the witness stand, starting to speak. "Cecillia, you know Zeus, right? King of Olympus? What do you think of him, he's a pretty cool dude, right?" Macaria looks furious, continuously about to raise her finger or open her mouth, but then repeals her near-action. It would seem that there's something going on here, but the court rules prevent her from interjecting.
{elseif Court round == 3}
Apollo turns back to his seat, taking a seat after a short walk. "That concludes round two." Macaria stands up and, after taking a deep breath, approaches you. {if tempAlpha = true}"May I say something off the record, future sister of mine?" "You may, so long as it doesn't influence the witness on this or any future rounds." "Woman to woman, I'm going to say this once and once only." She looks you in the eyes, dead seriousness in her eyes. "Stay as far away from Zeus as you possibly can if you don't want to be hurt." She returns to her prior demeanor, ready to question you. {endif}"**** is what happens when a mortal - or god in rare cases - is unable to have their life **** sustain them any longer. If they were a resident of one of the inner planes, their soul will then proceed to traverse the astral sea until it reaches one of the outer planes." At this point, she pauses, as if for effect. "It typically goes without saying that this process is important to the natural order, however there are individuals who think that bringing the soul back to the body and resuming the process of life is well and good after several days or sometimes even longer - up to two centuries in some cases. Needless to say, this can cause chaos - both in the realm the soul went to, and on the inner plane the soul originated from. Do you condemn such efforts, Miss da Vecci?"
{elseif Court round == 4}
Macaria turns around and returns to her seat. "That concludes round three. Seriously, I should start requiring that each side bring lawyers." Apollo proceeds to stand up and walk towards you. "Cecillia, we all know that sometimes people need to be taken into custody. However, often times the justice system imposes unrighteous penalties on the individual. One solution is to attempt to implement sentences which heal the individual who was found guilty. In such solutions, for example, a thief might be required to publicly aid the community and make restitution to the person they robbed. While some may view this as letting those sentenced get off easy, the reality is that restoration is a task that requires work on the part of the guilty. Would you say you support this restorative justice, or is punitive justice what you see as good?"
{elseif Court round == 5}
Apollo returns to his seat, literally giving himself a pat on the back for his professionalism on the prior round. "That concludes round four. Macaria, please approach the witness for round five." Macaria obliges, standing as she approaches you. "Miss da Vecci, my opponent would claim that in order for something to be beautiful, its beauty must be appreciated by multiple people. However, this neglects the subjective nature of beauty. As such, my client would seek to advance the claim that beauty is instead anything that sparks joy within the individual considering the source of the prospective beauty. Which claim would you favor?"
{elseif Court round == 6}
"And that concludes the case of Hades v Apollo in the matter of the cleric to my left."{if Prosecution points > 2} "I judge Hades to have won this case. {if Prosecution points > 4}However, due to the cleric in question's total betrayal of Apollo, they are ordered to forfeit all gifts Apollo gave her on initial dedication. {elseif Prosecution points > 3}However, his new cleric is ordered to forfeit the spell Apollo granted her on initial dedication. {else}However, due to her still partial loyalty to Apollo, she may keep the spell Apollo initially granted her, although he may reclaim the boons of ability he granted her on initial dedication.{endif}{else} "I judge Apollo to have won this case. Hades is ordered to surrender all current claim to his cleric.{endif} All parties may return at once." And with that, she returns to weaving. Both Apollo and Hades, as well as Macaria, vanish from the court, although you feel that things have changed surrounding you.
{else}
Apologies, but these chapters only work well in game mode - too much chapter bloat if I separate it into the five rounds and aftermath.

Here's a teaser excerpt taken from somewhere in this chapter, however:
A tall man wearing a crown of skulls walks in, followed by a tall cloaked figure. Apollo's head snaps over to him, "Your honor - I would like to plead temporary insanity on behalf of the witness. No one would willingly worship that man." The judge glares at Apollo, stating, "I would appreciate if you would refrain from insulting the prosecution, Apollo. My half-brother is dating his daughter." Apollo, eyes brimming with sympathy, states, "I'm so sorry, I know it must be hard on you." The judge snaps her fingers, causing a cloth to wrap around Apollo's head, gagging his mouth. "You are now under gag order. You will be permitted to speak once it is your turn to talk."
{endif}