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]

[That's what he'd said to himself, wasn't it? There, in front of his locker, as he laid his hand upon the gun, he'd told himself that this was his -

No. That's not right. He hadn't thought it was his right, because it hadn't been something he'd wished to do. He'd thought it was his duty. He'd thought that it was his duty to see that criminals didn't go unpunished; he'd thought that it was his duty, too, to avenge his father. He hadn't thought it was something he could claim, but rather something he had to.

How pathetic. It hadn't been a crime of passion he wanted to commit, after all - just a crime of obligation.]

No, I didn't.

[He lowers his gaze; his voice is quiet.]

No one ever has the right to murder, or even to intend to murder. No matter what happened.

[He's quiet a moment. Then - ]

But I hated him.

[foolproofed]

[Marty disagrees. Maybe in a perfect world, Edgeworth. But there's so much evil in the world, so much awful that he felt like everyone was practically drowning in it. No... there's plenty of times where someone has the right to murder. Marty will never think otherwise.

But he doesn't say that. It'd do no good to either of them right now, having a battle of morality. He wonders, though, what choice Edgeworth would have made. What would he have done, if faced with the choice: five innocent college kids, or seven billion people?

Yeah, Marty asked himself that before, but it's a choice he's already made. He always let the world burn.]

Can't blame you for that.

I guess now at least he's kicked the bucket, though. You didn't have to go killing him after all, since he did it so well by himself.

[Scoff. He drops his hands, standing in front of the bars, something dark in his eyes.]

You didn't have to get your hands dirty. That's good. You're clean, Edgeworth; you'll get outta here, no problem.

[jurisimpudent]

[Edgeworth's gaze is fixed on the ground, and it doesn't rise to meet Marty's. You're clean, he says, and maybe that's true. By rights, Edgeworth should be glad of all of this, shouldn't he? His father's death isn't on his hands. The man who was responsible, dead, and not by Edgeworth's doing. All they need to do is find whoever did do this, bring him to justice, and then Edgeworth can walk free and easy.

But all Edgeworth can think about is the moment in his hospital bed, when he was just nine years old, when the sad-eyed police officer told him Dad was dead, and the moment a year later when he stepped into von Karma's household and thought that now things would be all right. He feels no joy. He doesn't even feel satisfaction. He just feels...alone. Scared.

He wishes they were alive again. Both of them. He wants to press himself into the shadowed corner of the cell, and close his eyes, and when he opens them he wants to be nine again.

He finally speaks, quietly.]

If the true culprit is found. Then I'll get out of here.

[foolproofed]

[He grins, trying to be supportive. He slides his hands into his pockets and shrugs.]

Hey, of course you are.

You gotta teach me how to be a grand chess master. You're totally not getting out of that.

it's the backtag tango

[jurisimpudent]

[Edgeworth nods slowly, quietly, staring fixedly at the floor.]

I...There are others who can teach you as well. If I don't.

[His tone is quiet, but extremely earnest; he really thinks Marty's saying that because he actually wants to play.]

Also, it's - chess grandmaster. That's the term.

[foolproofed]

[He huffs, looks unimpressed with the alternative.]

See, there's why you're teaching me and not the others.

Besides, we both need the company between horrible things happening. Whether you're a pain in my ass sometimes or not. True facts, Edgeworth; you're stuck with the scrappy weed kid as a friend.

[jurisimpudent]

Oh.

[He reaches over to rub self-consciously, perhaps even defensively, at his arm, but his eyes are wide and very sad before he looks down, hiding his face. And he says, with some difficulty:]

I suppose there are...worse fates.

[foolproofed]

[He smiles.]

Now there's the spirit.

[jurisimpudent]

[Edgeworth nods. Then he looks up and says, with enormous difficulty:]

I...Thank you. I don't deserve...support like this.

[foolproofed]

Hey, man. Me neither.

But it's nice to know you got it whether you deserve it or not, right?

[jurisimpudent]

[He looks down, not answering either yes or no. Then, quietly:]

You should probably...get back to your life.

[foolproofed]

[A nod, as he turns to leave.]

Chin up, Edge.

I'll see you outta here soon.

[Still as sure of that as ever, of course.]