[hr][center][color=f49ac2][h1]Owen Childs[/h1][/color][/center][hr]

For what it’s worth, Owen tried his best to keep himself from pushing too many of Tahlia’s buttons during their internment. Perhaps it would’ve saved him from the doldrums of waiting forever for word from Pseudo about their upcoming trial, but he rather avoid dealing with the explosive aftermath since they were stuck sharing a room together. Or maybe it was because he could see Tahlia’s icy-cool demeanor cracking, and he rather not be the one to shatter her illusion of strength. They needed that, after all.  He needed that. He himself could only pretend to be strong so much. Then again, maybe he was just trying to avoid that entire can of worms. For the team shrink, he did spend an awful amount of time trying to not talk about their problems.

Still, all things considered, surely the others could forgive him for seeming distracted. Most of the time he wondered about Benji’s fate, excluding the times him and Tahlia were focusing on creating some kind of plan for presenting their case. Of course, without knowing their crime, each of their conversations rarely bore any fruit, although he figured that they both silently agreed on the goal of not getting the final handful of humanity added to the extinction list. Although would it really be such a bad thing? Now that it was confirmed that they weren’t the only life in the universe, it only made the insignificance of their entire existence that much greater. A dark thought, perhaps, but it took some weight off of their responsibility if he [i]pretended[/i] that the outcome didn’t bother him. Because it really did bother him; most nights he pretended to be asleep. He doubted that he fooled Tahlia.

However, one night he did fall fast asleep, only to awake on a train heading towards their trial. Owen might’ve enjoyed the view after recovering from the initial confusion if not for his struggle with the butterflies in his stomach; despite their preparation, he realized that he was not ready to preach humanity’s case in front of a bunch of other species. He should’ve just been honest and say that humanity had no monarch and prayed that the Principality would spare them out of pity and keep them as some sort of rare oddities. ‘Come look at the humans, completely unable to take care of themselves. Aren’t they just pathetic?’ God, he was going to be sick.

He managed to keep himself in one piece, however, as he followed Pseudo, standing aside Tahlia with Yaz and Echo on their flanks. He had to at least try to play it off as if he was some kind of leader, now, since he had done screwed up and accidentally taken one-half of the title. Somehow, someway, he felt that Echo was to blame for him speaking up in the first place, but that was neither here nor there. He continued to try to act unfazed as they proceeded into the room where they would be judged, although perhaps a better word for how he really appeared would be nonplussed. 

Owen was gawking so much that he almost missed Pseudo’s cue to bow, bending his knee after a noticeable hesitation that ideally would paint his as arrogant instead of simply dumbfounded. Owen smiled with slight embarrassment before he set his face in stone; he had to play it cool. Act the part. Look confident. Be strong. All that sort of garbage. For a second, he did stand taller, his arms clasped behind his back as if he had nothing to hide. He almost looked regal, even. And then Pseudo opened his damn mouth and ruined whatever appearance of calmness Owen had managed to only momentarily grasp.

At least he laughed when Rend appeared instead of cursing or shouting or running like he wanted to, his head shaking at the absolute perfectness of the situation. Of course, of course things would go like this. Owen figured that it would’ve been a bit of a cruel mercy to keep Rend alive after what he had done, but he never thought that the one it would’ve been cruel to would be him and not Rend. He smiled with some guilt at being so amused by the rather unfortunate turn of event—and there was no question that Rend claiming to be their leader was anything but unfortunate. He moved his hand up to cover his face, watching with a mixture of shock and bemusement as Rend rambled on.

[color=009496]"You can't stop me next time,"[/color] said Tahlia. 

[color=f49ac2]“Won’t stop me from trying,”[/color] said Owen. It was the truth. Even though he knew it would be easy to think that it would’ve been better to have let Rend die in the first place, he knew it wouldn’t have been right. He knew he would never have let it happen, not if he had any say in it. And if Tahlia ever did get the opportunity to put her hands on Rend again, he would be there to try and stop her. Was it for her sake, for Rend’s, or for his? Hell, he didn’t even know anymore.

All he knew right now was that he had better start talking. Actually, no, that wasn’t true. It would’ve been smarter to just let Yaz and Echo step behind the person they thought should be in charge without saying anything, because even Owen would bet that they wouldn’t choose Rend. He knew right now that he better just keep his tongue in his mouth before he said something that got him in trouble. However, something about the appearance of Rend had turned his nerves and jitters into something else. Now? Hell, now he just wanted to start talking, screw the outcome.

So he did.

[color=f49ac2]“C’mon old man, we all know that you can never get enough of yourself,”[/color] said Owen. [color=f49ac2]“But we thank you for thinking about the rest of us, for once.”[/color] He paused, and then looked at Psuedo. [color=f49ac2]“I...I don’t even get why he’s here, really. This man threatened us and attempted to kill Tahlia. The fact that he’s allowed to stand here, let alone to even be considered our leader, is laughable. He isn’t one of us. He was our prisoner. He wasn’t even supposed to be on our ship. It’s…”[/color] 

He was pacing, now. Owen realized what the something else was: it was anger. He should’ve just stayed quiet.

[color=f49ac2]“It’s freaking ridiculous that this is even happening. Like, did y’all wait to revive this old bastard before giving him the same spiel you gave us? Is Benji gonna come in here claiming he’s also a king or something? You sure human’s aren’t still running the show? Because I was kinda hoping that our species was the only kind that would allow for something this stupid to even be considered. Like, seriously, you guys, are you guys fucking idiots?”[/color]

He had gotten louder. He turned again towards Psuedo.

[color=f49ac2]“Don’t add that last part,”[/color] he said, and then threw his hands up. [color=f49ac2]“Actually, screw it, do. Go ahead.”[/color] He pointed at Rend. [color=f49ac2]“Clearly they’re okay with listening to assholes. Translate carefully, Psuedo. Rend. Is. Not. Fucking. Part. Of. Our. Colony. Just—”[/color] 

[color=f49ac2]“Just do what they say,”[/color] he said quietly to Yaz and Echo with a defeated sigh; he should’ve stayed quiet. [color=f49ac2]“Do whatever you think’s right. Somehow I doubt it’s gonna matter now.”[/color]