I hear the train a-comin / It's rollin round the bend [ooopen]

[jurisimpudent]

CHARACTERS: Edgeworth and the Murderettes
LOCATION: The brig, yar har
WARNINGS: Edgeworth is an emo asshole
SUMMARY: So Edgeworth is in the brig on his own insistence for a murder he didn't commit. Come make fun of him! Throw things! Pay $2 for a bag of peanuts to feed him!
NOTES: Can happen between the 17th and the 20th. If you can't get him to talk, present: badge.


[Edgeworth doesn't look up when people come to see him. He just keeps looking at his hands, quiet and still; he says little. Still, he hasn't put in a request for no visitors, and he won't; it's less from a desire for company than from a desire for people to be able to see he's getting no special treatment. In the brig, like any other criminal, no matter that he was until recently the one guarding it.

He's in his suit still. He looks exhausted.]

Comments

[jurisimpudent]

[He pauses, and then, silently, very slightly, shakes his head.]

[coffeeking]

[Ianto looks at him for a long moment, debating whether or not to believe him. Finally, he decides he does.]

Then they'll figure out who set you up and how. There's not a soul aboard this ship stupid enough to believe that you murdered someone in cold blood. [a pause] Or even in self-defense, really. You'd probably just let yourself get shot.

[jurisimpudent]

[There's a moment, and then Edgeworth's hand comes up to cover his face. He says, miserably, his voice cracking:]

I'm not a good person, Jones.

[coffeeking]

[Ianto outright rolls his eyes at that.]

You're one of the best people on board this ship, Edgeworth, your tendency for dramatics notwithstanding.

[jurisimpudent]

[He shakes his head miserably.]

There will be a gun with my fingerprints.

[coffeeking]

I have a gun with my fingerprints on it too. [He pulls his gun from where it's hidden at the small of his back and shows it to Edgeworth before putting it back.] See? Fingerprints. But I bet there's no gunpowder residue on your hands. Or have you been too busy sitting here moping to have anyone check?

[jurisimpudent]

[Edgeworth flinches away from the sight of that weapon, a visible reaction that ends with him looking shamefacedly at the opposite wall. He takes in a breath a moment later.]

I'm a trained investigator. I know how to remove gunshot reside. The lack of it proves nothing.

[coffeeking]

Look at you. [He shakes his head wonderingly] You can't even look at a gun without flinching and we're meant to think you're capable of shooting someone? Shooting someone, then remaining calm enough to carefully remove all trace of gunshot residue from your hands, but forgetting to remove other evidence as obvious as the fingerprints on the gun?

Why do you have to be such a bloody martyr when it's clear to everyone with a brain you didn't do this?

[jurisimpudent]

[He looks down at the ground now.]

I'm the only one with a motive. The man who was killed is -

[His voice suddenly cracks.]

Was. My - my foster-father.

[coffeeking]

[He thinks maybe he should feel more sympathy for that than he does, but Edgeworth's insistence annoys him – Edgeworth always annoys him – and there's something more here than meets the eye. Maybe something similar to Ianto's own complicated relationship with his father. So he doesn't offer his condolences.]

And how is that a motive? Did he abuse you?

[jurisimpudent]

I - no.

[He actually looks up now; his brow is furrowed. That is an unthinkable sort of thing, and even hearing the possibility raised is bizarre. His surprise at least distracts him a moment; the next, though, he's looking down again.]

I - have a motive. I - I don't want to speak any more on it.

[coffeeking]

[Ianto looks at him a few long moments and then sighs.]

I have motives for killing a lot of people, but that doesn't mean I'd really go through with it. If you want to sit there and stew in your misplaced guilt, that's fine. I won't stop you.

[He turns from the cell and starts heading back out, giving Edgeworth a little wave.]

In the meantime, the rest of us will figure out what's really going on here. Don't get too comfortable.

[jurisimpudent]

[He closes his eyes tightly and just shakes his head, saying nothing else to Ianto. It's stupid, though - even though he wants nothing more than just to be locked up and never see anyone again - even though he just wants not to have anyone find anything out, to learn of his shame - he's stupidly grateful. It's...To have someone have such faith in him is nice.]