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

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

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.]

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[And he knows what Edgeworth means, he knows--it's what he's always said, right, they have to have security for order--but at this price, this is ridiculous--]

I'm not just leaving you in here when you didn't do anything. I'll get your stupid file, I'll talk to Tyke--but I'm not leaving you in here.

Black, you have to.

[He looks down and says, quietly:]

It will look very bad if you don't. That door needs to be locked.

I mean permanently.

[He glares over his shoulder at the door, more so he doesn't have to look at Edgeworth than out of any rancor directed at it.]

I'll lock it, since you're a pigheaded git. But I'm not leaving you down here locked up, no matter what the hell happens.

[He hesitates, but then says:]

I don't think you would do so. Not indefinitely.

[He nods, firmly, his jaw set--and forces himself to look back at Edgeworth, transferring that glare to him instead.]

You know I think you're an idiot. Right?

[A low, choked laugh. And he says:]

Probably not incorrectly.

Definitely not incorrectly.

[He stares at Edgeworth a moment longer--and then scoffs, more to himself than anything else, and abruptly shoves off to cross to him, crouching to grab him by the shoulder again.]

Fortunately I'm not the sort that leaves idiots languishing in dungeons. It's not fair. If you're stupid enough to get yourself into this, then I'll just have to get you out again. So just-- [His grip tightens a moment; he sets his teeth together. Dammit.] Hang on.

[He nods. And then, unsteadily, he reaches out to uncertainly grab onto Sirius' sleeve, and he says, unsteadily - ]

Just...Please - promise me that if...

[He closes his eyes and swallows hard.]

If it comes down to it, I'd sooner be executed than - stay in here. I can't stay in here. All right?

[He's got an answer for that, of course he does--he's got an answer for anything--but for a second, Sirius stares numbly at Edgeworth, a ringing starting in his ears. Executed. People are killed on this ship, yeah, but not Edgeworth. And not over something like this.

It's ridiculous. All of it, it's ridiculous, but he's not going to be executed, and he wants to say that to him, to tell him with such conviction that he snaps out of this stupid misery, because-- because he didn't do it.]

You're not. [He says it brusquely, gruffly--he shifts his grip to his arm instead, both hands, grabbing hold of him and giving him a little shake.] Don't be stupid. Neither of those things are happening to you, not over this. I wouldn't let--

[Jesus, Edgeworth, what is wrong with you, he thinks, and grits his teeth.]

It's not going to happen. I'm going to work this out. I swear.

[He thinks, on the one hand, that this was why he was never supposed to have had friends. Because when you come to the end - and you always come to the end; he was always going to - they give you a look like that. Desperate and miserable. Even a man like Sirius, cheerful and energetic and full of verve, with his boyish boldness and indomitable spirit, has been brought low by his failings and his mistakes. He ought never have inflicted himself upon someone brave and true like Sirius.

And yet he doesn't know what he'd do if it weren't for Sirius' stubborn determination. He says I swear, and for a moment Edgeworth feels hope. He believes him. And that belief is like a lifeline.

And so he says, quietly, knowing this is a mistake - because it will destroy Sirius, devastate him, if he fails - ]

I believe you.

[He nods, once, quickly--and he's bad at this, he's bad at--emotions, at understanding things, at knowing what to do and when to do it, what to say and when to say it--he's always been clumsy in his gestures, stepping on toes more often than not--but whatever, he thinks, fiercely, whatever, and he shifts suddenly and grabs hold of Edgeworth in an embrace, quick and fast and hard. It's awkward--he's kneeling, Edgeworth is sitting on the floor--but that doesn't matter, nothing but doing it matters.

A second later and he pulls away, shoving his fingers through his hair as he stands up.]

Don't do anything stupid. [He says it, gruffly; he turns, his shoulders already hunched.] I'll be back later. I'll tell you what I find out.

[And Edgeworth for a moment doesn't react - and then, briefly, reaches out and hugs him back, fierce and hard and more than a little desperate, and then releases him. When he pulls back he's dragging the heels of his hands across his eyes to press back tears.

And he whispers:]

Thank you.

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

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