Arrested? Moi?
OOC: Crossposted from theatrical_muse today.
Prompt 361: Have you ever been arrested? Talk about your run-ins with the law.
You do realize, those aren't the same question, right?
I've never been arrested. "Arrested" implies that someone took custody of you and brought you, unwilling, to a place where you would be tried for a crime. The Q Continuum doesn't need to arrest miscreant Q; our power depends on our connection to the Continuum, and no one who wants to remain immortal and powerful will fail to show up with bells on when the Continuum summons them, even if they kind of have a rather strong suspicion that maybe they're going to be walking into an inquisition.
Also, Picard threw me in the brig once, but I'm not sure that counts as being arrested either, because I'm pretty sure he never actually charged me with anything.
Now, I've had many, many run-ins with the law. I believe I may have mentioned a few such incidents in the past. I'm... not exactly well known for being the most law-abiding Q ever. There's also all the other assorted species who would be thrilled to put me on trial, or actually have (in absentia, since they didn't exactly have the power to arrest me, but on occasion I showed up to observe the proceedings anyway... also, to point and laugh, eat popcorn, make rude comments, and generally express how amusing I found their belief that their law could apply to a being like myself.) But I've never been arrested, since the only beings with the power to make me go anywhere against my will also have the power to tell me "Come home and explain yourself to a jury of your peers," and... well, refusing such an order has never worked out well for any other Q, so I tend to show up when they tell me.
Hmm... There is one incident that could be described as arrest, I suppose. I'd been hanging out with a bunch of losers because their leader was a charismatic, entertaining guy... at least until I figured out that he was an unmitigated sadist whose idea of "testing" lesser races consisted of torturing them to death, but by that time, it was a little too late for one particular species of his victims. I did turn on him and defeat him for the sake of the rest of the Continuum, after they'd driven off or taken into custody the rest of his pals, but the fact that I'd been involved with the guy in the first place meant I got to stand trial with him and his loser monotheistic pal (who, by the way, has still not figured out how to ask mortals for a starship without making them wonder what the hell an omnipotent being would need with one), which was... sort of like being arrested, I guess. I mean, the Q "escorted" me to a holding area to stand trial; they didn't trust me to go under my own power, which I guess counts as being arrested. But, I mean, I did go voluntarily. I wouldn't have tried to run if they had trusted me to go by myself. Just because I'd run once was no good reason to assume I'd try the same stunt again, you know.
Okay. So I guess, by the strictest of definitions, I've been arrested once. But considering how many times I've run afoul of the laws and rules of the Continuum, that's practically like never having been arrested at all.
Muse: Q
Fandom: Star Trek TNG
Note: The story of the one time Q *was* "arrested" comes from Greg Cox's "Q Continuum" trilogy, published by Pocket Books.
Prompt 361: Have you ever been arrested? Talk about your run-ins with the law.
You do realize, those aren't the same question, right?
I've never been arrested. "Arrested" implies that someone took custody of you and brought you, unwilling, to a place where you would be tried for a crime. The Q Continuum doesn't need to arrest miscreant Q; our power depends on our connection to the Continuum, and no one who wants to remain immortal and powerful will fail to show up with bells on when the Continuum summons them, even if they kind of have a rather strong suspicion that maybe they're going to be walking into an inquisition.
Also, Picard threw me in the brig once, but I'm not sure that counts as being arrested either, because I'm pretty sure he never actually charged me with anything.
Now, I've had many, many run-ins with the law. I believe I may have mentioned a few such incidents in the past. I'm... not exactly well known for being the most law-abiding Q ever. There's also all the other assorted species who would be thrilled to put me on trial, or actually have (in absentia, since they didn't exactly have the power to arrest me, but on occasion I showed up to observe the proceedings anyway... also, to point and laugh, eat popcorn, make rude comments, and generally express how amusing I found their belief that their law could apply to a being like myself.) But I've never been arrested, since the only beings with the power to make me go anywhere against my will also have the power to tell me "Come home and explain yourself to a jury of your peers," and... well, refusing such an order has never worked out well for any other Q, so I tend to show up when they tell me.
Hmm... There is one incident that could be described as arrest, I suppose. I'd been hanging out with a bunch of losers because their leader was a charismatic, entertaining guy... at least until I figured out that he was an unmitigated sadist whose idea of "testing" lesser races consisted of torturing them to death, but by that time, it was a little too late for one particular species of his victims. I did turn on him and defeat him for the sake of the rest of the Continuum, after they'd driven off or taken into custody the rest of his pals, but the fact that I'd been involved with the guy in the first place meant I got to stand trial with him and his loser monotheistic pal (who, by the way, has still not figured out how to ask mortals for a starship without making them wonder what the hell an omnipotent being would need with one), which was... sort of like being arrested, I guess. I mean, the Q "escorted" me to a holding area to stand trial; they didn't trust me to go under my own power, which I guess counts as being arrested. But, I mean, I did go voluntarily. I wouldn't have tried to run if they had trusted me to go by myself. Just because I'd run once was no good reason to assume I'd try the same stunt again, you know.
Okay. So I guess, by the strictest of definitions, I've been arrested once. But considering how many times I've run afoul of the laws and rules of the Continuum, that's practically like never having been arrested at all.
Muse: Q
Fandom: Star Trek TNG
Note: The story of the one time Q *was* "arrested" comes from Greg Cox's "Q Continuum" trilogy, published by Pocket Books.