FRIENDS - PART FIVE

"Bravo", Ansi said while clapping, "everything you just said, we could have heard from Tretone"

"Instead silenced the ear, so you could make a show of a basic deduction"

"Panteku, you really do sit beside yourself"

"Handler", Ansi said while the prosecutor refused to react to the provocation, "permission to have a quick word with my client?"

"Permission granted", handler allowed.

"But this will be the last of your interruptions, Ansi"

"Noted", it agreed, shifting around, to address the hysterics of its client.

"Remember to remain calm, I'm the one that has to do the heavy lifting, but I need you to remain calm, especially now that everyone will be thrown at you"

Homeless Gregor replied with a slow nod, and Ansi's foot was out the door again.

"Pep talk does no good to horses that don't drink", muttered Panteku.

"I was vainly interrupted", it quipped, "but, lets resume"

"Vary's has been dying to know the real reason you broke up with her so suddenly?"

"Too bad her question has been answered at a place where life no longer exists"

"No need to drag this out with questions", it said and paced away from him.

"Vary's", the call brought back her focus to floor, "I ask you the same question, I do everyone else"

"If given the chance to decide the fate of the accused, where would you send him, Heaven or Hell?"

Vary's breathing has been the loudest for sometime now. She was failing to control it, and was actively holding back tears.

"Man, you brought me here, in my human form, with all my emotions, and insecurities about myself still intact, and expect me to play judge"

"That's so cruel of you"

"Yes, it is"

"But if you haven't caught on, I am the devil's advocate"

"So go on then and answer"

"Or take your time, either way you'll still answer"

Vary's had lost her tongue, for it could no longer pull words from the trenches of her throat.

"Of course", Panteku adds, "you can choose to keep your silence"

"But any silence of yours is a testimony against the accused and a verdict that favours my notion"

"It is either you speak up and sit down, or stay silent and sit down", it clarified.

Vary's sat back down immediately, without so much of an utter. She avoided eye contact with everyone, from the prosecutor to the peers sitting around her, and the Homeless mortal himself. She shelfed her chin on her chest, withdrawing her gaze from the crowd.

Panteku made a poor attempt of hiding that grin, showcasing its teeth, both front and back all are much larger, thicker, and denser than the common molars.

"Well damn", it said out of its seemingly heavy and it looked back at a motionless Homeless Gregor, but his growing worry was overwhelmingly noticeable.

"Chase", Panteku called still smirking.

"I cannot keep you standing forever, is it Heaven or Hell for your so-called best friend?"

"Before I answer...am I allowed to ask him a few questions?"

"Suit yourself", Panteku replied.

"Greg"

"Remind me why we were friends?", he demanded in a shift of tone.

"Witnesses don't have the right to question an accused", Panteku highlighted more so to the court than to Homeless Gregor, "unless granted permission by the one in charge, in this case me, so no rule has been broken", it assured, and turned focus back to the accused.

"You know why we were friends", Homeless man replied, "you don't have to ask me such a question"

"I knew why, we were friends", replied Chase, "but clearly I was mistaken"

"So? Why'd you hang with me?"

"Of course", Panteku interrupted again, "the accused when questioned by another mortal can choose to remain silent and no implications will be taken"

"In the court of God, they have no duty to answer to mortals", it clarified, this time to Chase.

"It is unlike me to answer such a question", Homeless Gregor replied, "and you know that, so why ask me?"

"Unlike you", repeated Chase, "what is like and unlike you?"

"Back when we were alive, what I knew was you were incapable of using me to make yourself feel better about yourself"

"What I knew was"

"What I knew was…you were supportive, and definitely incapable of wishing my divorce on my own wedding day"

"You laughed and cursed me when I thought I had your blessings"

"And you still called me your best friend", he raised his tone of voice for the first time.

"So, you feel betrayed", instigated Panteku, "you are right on the button"

"As I have observed, people make friends for different reasons, most of the time, for argument sake, I say most and not all, even though I know the truth"

"But most of the time, it is because, there is mutual gain or something to gain from the other"

"And the accused clearly needed you to keep his pride in check", argued Panteku, as Ansi watched on.

"So, what will it be?", the prosecutor asked, edging its' witnesses on, "do you still stand by your words, and if you still do stand by your verdict", it said.

"Who will you be sending to heaven, Homeless Gregor, or the friend you thought he was?"

"Neither of the two homes is a place of pretence"

"Every actor has already met their end, but now that the curtains are down, they'll realise their audience do not clap, they do not applaud, they inspect and judge, the face behind the mask"

"Jeez", Ansi interjected, "the mortal has already made up his mind, no need for all that extra stuff"

"For the final time", Panteku marched on, indifferent to the side comments, "at least now, Chase, you know you befriended an actor and you were his number one fan"

"Dear fan, do you still stan this man?", it continued to mock.

Chase whispered inaudibly.

"Pardon me", Panteku said, "please repeat that, some of our invisible guests have hearing problems…"

"Hell", Chase rectified, just like Vary's kept his head bowed.

Too afraid to meet Panteku's gaze, too ashamed to meet Homeless Gregor's look, he retook his seat once his words had left his mouth.

"What?"

"…Chase…really?"

"...Chase…Chase?", pleaded the Homeless man, not knowing how to react to this bombshell, he looked at Ansi. With a single nod, the advocate encouraged he maintain his composure. With that Homeless Gregor, obeyed and lowered his head again, shutting himself down.

Panteku redirected its attention to handler, and the present audience of barely animated faces, "there you have it everyone", it began.

"The testimonies from past friends, is of course invalid in eye of the court, but do consider"

"That when I began this short analysis"

"The mortal's longest friend was on his side, advocating his admission into God's peaceful garden"

"But thanks to Tretone, we got to the heart of things, and his stance slowly changed he retracted that statement"

"In favour of a home of rotten beans"

"Why?"

"Well of course, as I've already pointed out, it is because the image the witness had of his friend is not the one revealed to him in these courts"

"And while his avocation stands for peanuts in the wholegrains of this court"

"But do starkly, I plead you, do starkly remember that", it pointed in Ansi' direction, "the lawyer must proof why the mortal is worthy of Heavenly admission"

"And by what acts will that be?"

"When his own friends, a testimony of his character and a reflection of his efforts, do not stand with him?"

"Thus in addition to the charges of hypocrisy, blasphemy, and the mockery of God"

"I also want the accused to be charged with fifty-seven counts for failure to comply with a tenth commandment"

"Thou shalt not desire thy neighbour's wife, or his slaves, or his animals, or anything of thy neighbour"

"This is in reference to his friend, Chase and his wife Tatiana"

"Furthermore"

"In the series of clips we have seen and many more that I can provide"

"The accused indulged with two capital sins"

"The capital sin of pride and the capital sin of envy"

"Why should he be charged and punished for those two capital sins? Is this court's next question?"

"Tatiana is why", the prosecutor answered to its own rhetoric, and pointed to the holder of the uttered name.

"But if it is elaboration you seek"

"Vary's", it said, pointing again, "given his already negative thoughts towards a creation from the mighty one, did the accused not feel ashamed?"

"Yes, Tretone, said he did"

"And how did he reply to such humiliation?"

"He broke up with the young woman, who never truly understood why"

"Let them break up, if they do, who cares?"

"But the timing of that breakup is the main highlight of this gameplay"

"He only chose to leave that relationship, following the connection between Chase and Tatiana"

"The women that rejected him, was growing closer to his friend, and he felt inferior, he felt ashamed of himself"

"He proceeded to project that shame onto someone who had nothing to do with it; Vary's"

"To be prideful is to act out of humiliation and shy away from what you believe is humiliating"

"And when one desires something out of someone they are jealous of, envy is born"

"To be envious of someone, you first need to be discontent with yourself"

"By your own witness, the mortal was discontent with himself because of who he had"

"Vary's and not Tatiana"

"Your honour", the prosecutor said, "I once again, leave these charges in your hands"

"And if Ansi, is not ready to counter"

"I'd wish to proceed to my next batch of witnesses"

"Ansi?", the handler enquired.

"For the time being", the advocate replied, "I still choose to abstain", it answered to the surprise of the Homeless man.

"Since you wish it, Panteku, do continue"