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On Trial- Bonus Part
Warning- Mentions of whipping near the end.
This takes place during Cassandra’s stay at the island prison, between her “treatments”. Shout out if you notice a particular tin…
@twotangledsisters and @frozenwolftemplar I think you might like to see this.
Cassandra sat on the rickety chair in Madame’s office, her hands bound, her head low.
Madame walked in, her skirts gliding elegantly across the floor. She sat down at her desk.
“Head up.”
Cassandra did so immediately.
“I received your request to have some books in your cell.”
“Yes, I would like something to pass the time.”
“The point of this prison is to make the prisoners reflect on their actions. Books would provide a distraction from your reflection.”
“I reflect on my actions every single day-“
“Hm. If that’s true, you’ll be out of here very soon.”
Her hand came to rest on a small tin. She stroked her thumb across it, thinking for a moment.
“Look,” she continued, “I understand that you’re new and getting used to everything. You’re probably very used to having lots to do, having been a maid.”
“Lady in waiting,” Cassandra corrected.
“Maid,” Madame smirked, “so, I suppose I could make an exception just this once.”
Cassandra face lit up.
“Thank you-“
“I wasn’t finished. The floor in main hall needs a good scrub, the dishes need cleaning as Madeline has her morning off and I need my ten o clock cup of tea. That should be plenty to take your mind off of things.”
Cassandra’s heart sank.
“Why the face? You wanted something to do and I’ve given you something! You’re not entitled to pick and choose.”
“Of course, Madame.”
“Aren’t you going to thank me?”
“Thank you…”
“Thank you, Madame!” Madame snapped.
“Thank you, Madame.”
When Cassandra saw how large the main hall floor was, she very nearly fainted.
“You have two hours to finish this floor. If you’re not done in those two hours, you’ll be severely punished. Do you understand?”
“Yes, Madame,” she said quickly.
“Good. Down on your hands and knees, then.”
Cassandra found herself getting tired very quickly. She’d never been so tired. She hadn’t slept at all for the past three days and she was never given much to eat.
She paused, taking a moment to catch her breath. The floor seemed bigger than any floor in the castle, she felt dizzy looking at it.
“Back to work,” her guard said, sternly.
Cassandra reached for the brush again and tried to keep going.
She began listing off her favourite weapons in her head to pass the time. She then began softly humming to herself.
“Quiet 789!” The guard yelled.
Cassandra stopped immediately.
Her body was beginning to tremble and she was barely halfway through.
“Can I take a break?” She asked the guard, politely.
“No. No breaks permitted.”
“But-“
“Don’t argue back. Scrub.”
She went back to scrubbing, switching hands.
By the time Madame came back, Cassandra had managed to make the wretched floor sparkle.
“Good. Very good.”
Cassandra smiled slightly. Maybe this was the key to Madame’s good side? If she was on her good side then perhaps she would stop the asylum “treatments”?
“What are you smiling about? You’re not done yet!”
Apparently not.
“You can serve my tea next.”
“Tea?”
“Yes. Do you know what that is?”
Cassandra frowned at her.
“Of course I do.”
“Then get up and make it!”
The guard dragged Cassandra to her feet and lead her to the kitchen.
A dainty china tea set was displayed in a glass cabinet, in the corner of the room.
The guard brought the set over to Cassandra and ordered her to put the kettle over the stove.
She struggled to lift the heavy kettle, her hands trembling, which worried her once it was filled with hot liquid.
The guard noticed and reluctantly helped her pour it into the cup and pot.
She gently arranged the tray, reciting the Lady-in-Waiting test instructions under her breath.
Once she was finished, she picked up the tray and carried it into Madame’s office.
The china began to clink together. She tried to steady her still shaking hands.
Her whole body began to tremble, desperate for rest.
The tray slipped from her grip. She delved down to catch it but she was too late.
There was a horrible smashing sound. Madame began to scream.
Cassandra was trying to catch her breath, taking in the scene.
“I’m so sorry, my hands, they were shaking and I-“
“I’m sorry!” She mocked, “sorry won’t pay for my china or my rug, will it?”
Cassandra looked down and noticed a dark tea stain on the soft, pale rug.
She thought back to the exposition of sciences, Varian and the chemical compound he’d used to remove stains and tried to remember the exact ingredients he’d told her.
“Rock salt and barley grass! It’ll ease the stain.”
“And where are you going to get those?”
“I-“
“Precisely. Guards, take her to the chamber. I want her punished.”
“Wait, please! I can glue the china back together! I fixed the king’s prized vase once!”
Two burly guards seized her arms. She tried to wrench out of their grip.
“Please listen!”
Cuffs locked around her wrists and a hand clamped over her mouth.
“The chamber. Don’t let her out until this evening.”
Warm blood trickled down Cassandra’s shoulder. She whimpered under her gag.
“How many more lashings are we giving her?” The guard asked.
“Make it ten more, then take her back to her cell.”
Cassandra’s stomach flipped. She struggled in her chair.
A hand came to rest on her shoulder, stilling her.
“Count down from ten,” a guard said, softly, “come on, I’ll count with you.”
Tears rolled down her cheeks as the whip came down once more.
“One.” The guard counted.
She’s learned her lesson, Madame wrote, she won’t be asking for anything again.
He was trained in science education, and he should have been trained in law, too. For (he was beginning to see) the world is a continuous trial, arguments among adversaries in search of, (elusive, seductive) justice.
Joyce Carol Oates, from The Falls
Looey on trial for telling an especially bad joke
On Trial: New Day Rising (1999)
Danish retro-rockers On Trial inhabited a time-warp of their own devising ...
Though they formed as high schoolers in the 1980s and didn't record until the '90s, early efforts such as '91's Like This ..., '95's Seventy Kilometers of Underwater Nothingness, and '97's Head Entrance were steeped in psychedelic influences from the late '60s.
Lucky for vocalist Bo Morthen, guitarists Morten Aron and Henrik 'Hobbiten' Klitstrøm, bassist Nikolaj Lykke Nielsen, and drummer/organist Uffe 'Lorenzo Woodrose' Lorenzen, popular music's past-recycling pendulum inevitably swung back their way.
And so, '99's aptly named New Day Rising found On Trial successfully operating at the intersection of '70s-inspired stoner rock and neo-psychedelia when it arrived a quarter-century ago.
The former reflects contemporaries like Monster Magnet, Acrimony, and, to a lesser degree, Mudhoney, in the echoed vocals, swirling space rock effects, and feral, garage rock acid-fuzz abandon on songs like "Pot of Gold," "Long Time Gone," and "Cast it Aside."
The latter manifests in lysergic, organ-drenched head-nods like the cryptic "Flashin' Ghast" and "As If …," the soft-as-a-pillow, bubbling-water guitars of "Doubt" and "Sleeper," plus the exotic faux-sitar kaleidoscope of "Do You See Her."
Then there's the titanic, eleven-minute title track, whose haunting, trippy first half and concluding violent crash-landing I previously compared to The Doors' "The End" and Magnet's "Spine of God" in my now ancient All-Music Guide review.
But, as I revisit the song today, it's more than obvious that this was On Trial's tribute to The Velvet Underground's "Venus in Furs" -- but don't get too excited, because there's a lot of "fur" but not enough "Venus" here, if you catch my drift?
The album-closing "Outside the Door" was all abstract, distorted guitar chords and warped vocal effects, but couldn't distract from the fact that On Trial had really found their songwriting groove on New Day Rising.
The Danes took this to another level on 2002's Blinded by the Sun: an underrated neo-psych classic that rightfully enjoyed even better reviews (including from yours truly) than its predecessor, and much broader exposure, thanks to U.S. distribution through Tee Pee Records.
So, for a time, at least, On Trial's self-generated musical time-warp was the place to be ...
More Modern Psych & Stoner Rock: Bigelf's Cheat the Gallows, Boris' Akuma No Uta, Burning Tree's Burning Tree, Dead Meadow's Dead Meadow, Eternal Elysium's Spiritualized D, The Heads' Mao Tinitus EP, Karma to Burn's Karma to Burn, Monster Magnet's Spine of God, Mudhoney's Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge, My Sleeping Karma’s My Sleeping Karma, The Mystick Krewe of Clearlight's The Mystick Krewe of Clearlight, The Obsessed's Lunar Womb, Orange Goblin's Frequencies from Planet Ten, Screaming Trees' Uncle Anesthesia, Sleep's Holy Mountain, Sons of Otis' SpaceJumboFudge, Spirit Caravan's Dreamwheel EP, The Tea Party's Splendor Solis, Thee Hypnotics' Come Down Heavy, Trouble's Manic Frustration, Truly's Fast Stories … From Kid Coma, Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats' Blood Lust, The Wandering Midget's From the Meadows of Opium Dreams, Zen Guerrilla's Shadows On the Sun.
Behbeh