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

[puppydogeyes]

[Of course she was going to be reluctant to arrest him. It didn't make any fucking sense.]

Just cause you're from the same place? We aren't just gonna assume shit based on association. [First stop for questioning, basic suspicion, but not enough to chuck someone into the brig. Especially in a situation like this. Edgeworth had always been a bit kneejerk, but she hadn't thought that would apply to himself.] And everyone knows you thought the sun shone out his--

[She cuts herself off, looking down. Edgeworth's mentor, and Taylor hadn't liked the guy, but that didn't mean she should talk shit about him in front of Edgeworth, especially now he was dead.]

I shouldn't have said that.

[Funny, with what she'd just said about apologies.]

[jurisimpudent]

[Edgeworth, though, just acknowledges that - and acknowledges it, uncharacteristically, with a miserable smile, twisted and bitter. Sun shone out his ass was what she was going to say - he's been exposed enough now to Tyke and her unusual mode of speech to know that turn of phrase...And it's true, isn't it? He was that enraptured and that wrong.]

Yes, well. Things change, don't they.

[puppydogeyes]

[Things change. It's the one constant in life, that - Taylor had known it, even stuck in the unchanging environment of the Academy for so long. She knows it better now, over a year on the Tranquility. She's changed. Edgeworth's changed. But hearing him say that is something else, surprising even without the circumstances. With the circumstances, it makes her frown, confusion and something like concern. The idea of this whole fit with the brig being annoying was one thing, because there was the underlying belief that it would get cleared up, and soon. But now it's evident she's missing something, something big.]

Spill. Everything, Edgeworth.

[Her tone doesn't quite make it an order, but it's clear that's the next thing he'll get if he tries to refuse.]

[jurisimpudent]

[For a moment, he considers saying no. A scant week ago, they were talking torture - but Edgeworth knows perfectly well that Tyke would never, under any circumstances, put his feet to the fire, literally or even particularly figuratively. He could shut his mouth now, close his eyes, sit down, never again say anything or do anything, and she'd never be able to pry an answer from him. Perfect silence, like willing himself out of existence, and that's not an...unwelcome thought.

But. In spite of all that's between them, despite the weight of history and anger and arguments, he owes her far better than that.

His answer is softer yet. Not the speech she was looking for, not the everything she's demanding - just four small, sad words.]

He killed my dad.

[puppydogeyes]

[It's not the answer she's expecting. Who would be expecting an answer like that? And Edgeworth seems so small with it, like it's broken all the backbone and strength in him. Because something like that would, the way he'd practically seemed to worship Manfred, and maybe Taylor couldn't relate to having any kind of good feelings towards a father, but she could switch her mother into that place and get some idea.

She drops into a crouch, suddenly, like it might help put her on a better eyeline with him where he was sitting. Like if Sirius was here and she could get the cell door open, she'd be in there with him, or sitting next to him-- something.]

When did you find out?

[Her automatic response is to ask so you killed him? But she doesn't need to ask that, because she knows the answer. Even with this. Edgeworth wouldn't. He didn't do it.]

[jurisimpudent]

This - this morning.

[He can feel the tears rising up, and so he reminds himself that he's speaking to his superior, and that this superior is Tyke; he will not, absolutely will not, allow himself to cry in front of her. There's one thing she values, and that is strength, and so even if he's an embarrassment in the physical department he's not going to be emotionally weak. No.

But he still can't help himself stumbling over his speech.]

I discovered a document from the...From a future date, when this was made known. That he murdered my father and another man, then set me up to take the blame for the latter crime. So that I would be executed, and so that he could - see it.

[A twisted, bitter, miserable smile, or a grimace.]

So as you can see, motive is clear.

[puppydogeyes]

That's fucked up.

[There's really no other way to describe it, and even then, it's an understatement. Going to those kind of lengths to destroy someone that you'd raised, that fucking worshipped you - there had to be some kind of motive behind that, to fuel it for so long, but the majority of it just had to be hatred. Had to be being batshit insane.

Suddenly Taylor's viciously glad the fucker's dead, that Edgeworth will never have to deal with him again. But it's his death that's led to this, Edgeworth behind bars, and even if motive is clear, that still doesn't mean he'd done it. Taylor might consider it, if she'd known a story like that. But she was a soldier, a trained killer. Edgeworth wasn't.

So she still doesn't ask. Says, instead,]

I know you didn't kill him.

[jurisimpudent]

[Why does she sound so sure? He knows that he's a vicious and hateful man - a hypocrite, someone altogether without kindness. Even if he did not complete the act, he's the sort of man who - despite all he'd said in the past - would still think to turn to violence to resolve his problems. Yet she speaks like his guilt is unthinkable, like he's someone who's good, like he's not the sort of man who idolized a murderer -

She's worked beside him for months now. She should know better.]

You - don't know that, Tyke. Not unless you were present, you do not know that.

[And worst is how grateful he feels in his coward's heart, that she is so certain. That she doesn't doubt him at all.]

[puppydogeyes]

Don't argue with me, Edgeworth.

[Bizarrely, for all of their conversations over the past months, every single time he's argued with her about something, that's the first time she's ever said that. Because this one she knows for certain, and even giving him an inch to argue it with her was a waste of time - she knows he didn't kill von Karma. She didn't need to be present to know it. She'd worked with Edgeworth for months now.

It still doesn't mean she can let him out of the brig, though. Doesn't mean she could even get him to leave. He wanted it done by the book, and she had to work with that, even if it frustrated the shit out of her. She glances around the cell briefly, a thought occurring to her as her gaze settles back on his untouched food tray.]

Where's Pess?

[jurisimpudent]

[That's - Edgeworth always thinks of Tyke as someone inimical to debate and the free exchange of ideas, but when she says that, he realizes - she's never actually told him to shut up. She's worked it around so that he's had no room to argue, and she's just ignored him and done what she wants, but never -

He falls silent, staring at her miserably. Because he, in turn, might be rude and pushy and infuriating, and he himself might want fiercely to argue with her, to correct her misconceptions about him and his despicable character, but he can't ignore a direct order.

But at least the question she asks is one he needs to answer.]

She's...in my room. I need - someone needs to take care of her. I'm sorry to add to all that you must do, but she...likes you, a great deal, and I'd sooner she suffer minimal stress. Would you be able...

[puppydogeyes]

No, I'll take her.

[Taylor shakes her head slightly, mostly at the fact he's said sorry again and the way he's acting like it's gonna be a chore. Truthfully she'd rather have Pess with her than anyone else, some possibly overprotective sense riled up by this whole thing, but if Edgeworth had left her with a friend or something Taylor wasn't going to fight about it.

She stands smoothly, because as much as she'd like to stay here and keep an eye on him, she had work to do to get him out of there, and Pess had been on her own in a closed room for a few hours now. That had to take priority. Still, she looks back at him with a slight frown.]

Eat that. [She points at the tray.] Or I'll come in there and force-feed you the next one.

[Just in case he felt like continuing to ignore it once she was gone.]

[jurisimpudent]

[He looks up, startled at the not-quite-threat; it's a good threat, though, and effective, because his grim response is at once to lower his head in acknowledgment and say:]

I shall...endeavor to spare you the difficulty.

[And to show his good will, he does pick up his fork, and he does reach over to push the food around. Doesn't eat it yet, but he's proving he's not ignoring it. And he adds, with finality:]

Thank you. For...taking care of her. I'm in your debt.

[puppydogeyes]

You're my team. No debts.

[She states it plain and steady, and doesn't wait around for an argument. He's eating - almost, anyway - and she can't do any more for him by standing around here watching him. She turns and heads back out of the brig, dogs gathering themselves and trailing along behind her.]