[RL: You got some splainin' to do - Friday, September 5, 11:00AM | Phoenix; Larry; Edgeworth]

[attorneyatlol]

Phoenix paced the apartment in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt that were supposedly his. While they did look like something he’d normally wear, he hadn’t recognized anything, and even more worrying, there was no sign of the sweater Dollie knitted him anywhere.

Sighing, he stopped in the hallway and fidgeted with the hem of his shirt. Miles (or ‘Edgeworth,’ as he evidently preferred being called) had said that Dollie was indisposed for some reason, but refused to give Phoenix any details beyond the fact that she was safe and well. It was frustrating, to say the least. Lunchtime was rapidly approaching and he would have been preparing to spend the next half hour with her under normal circumstances. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much he could do from here, especially given the fact that he didn’t know where ‘here’ was nor did he have any clue what could have possibly detained her. But Edgeworth had asked Phoenix to trust him and Phoenix did.

He stood in the hall for a moment, nervously chewing the inside of his cheek. More than ten years had passed since he last saw Miles; there were so many things he wanted to tell him and even more that he wanted to ask him, but waiting like this was a nerve-racking, necessary evil. He hoped his friend would arrive soon.

With another sigh, he went back to pacing.



((OOC: Backdated to the first day of the mental regression virus, around 11AM.))

Comments

[samuraiprosecutor]

"The result of one of the more extreme viruses," Edgeworth replied, though he shot a sidelong, warning glare to Larry. "It's not important, except as an illustration of their aftereffects. When this is over you should be left with nothing more than your memories of the event. In a few days' time everything will return to what passes for normal here."

[attorneyatlol]

“If you’re sure…” Phoenix could hardly imagine what ‘normal’ meant when he’d apparently lost several years of his life. What if he didn’t like what passed for normal? What if he snapped out of it and wished he could go back to the way things were before? Frowning, he took a look around the apartment; he’d never dreamed of having a particularly large home, but he had to admit that this place was a little small, and while it certainly wasn’t stationed in the worst part of town, it wasn’t exactly in the best part, either. He supposed it was cozy, though, and at least bigger than his dorm room.

His gaze traveled over Larry and Miles and he was once again struck by how much the latter had aged. Larry had, too, to some extent, but the laugh lines under his eyes were nothing compared to the crow’s feet and dark circles under Edgeworth’s.

“How long has it been?” he wondered aloud.

[samuraiprosecutor]

Edgeworth's gaze remained as steady as his voice. "About five years. You began your career three years ago, and we...became reacquainted shortly after."

[attorneyatlol]

“Five years,” Phoenix breathed. So he was looking at a Miles Edgeworth who had aged almost twenty years since the last time he’d seen him; the thought alone was unbelievably overwhelming and he hastily pushed it aside in favor of another. “Reacquainted? You mean… in court?”

[samuraiprosecutor]

Edgeworth gave him a curt nod, but his gaze finally faltered and dropped slowly to the side. "The first trial we both served as counsel on was also the first time we'd met since...our shared year of grade school."

[attorneyatlol]

Phoenix nodded, smiling slightly. He knew he’d made the right decision. “How did it go?”

[samuraiprosecutor]

Edgeworth's gaze flicked up to meet Wright's, traveled down to the small smile he wore, then fell away again. After a moment's hesitation he replied in a heavy tone, "Roughly. But...the end results were the best that could have been hoped for."

[attorneyatlol]

The answer wasn’t quite what he’d anticipated, but not entirely negative. It was the tone that got him. “But they were good, right?”

[samuraiprosecutor]

"They were..." Edgeworth hesitated, then suppressed a sigh. "Not entirely."

Dragging his gaze back to meet his friend's, Edgeworth pulled himself up a bit, straightening his back against the uncomfortable wooden seat. "However, the benefits outweighed any negative repercussions."

[attorneyatlol]

“Oh.” Phoenix’s smile faltered somewhat. He cast a glance in Larry’s direction; the other man seemed engrossed in the TV despite the muted sound, a fact which would’ve provided Phoenix with an opportunity to ask about those negative repercussions if he weren’t afraid of what they were. He turned his attention back to Miles. “That’s good, at least.”

[samuraiprosecutor]

Edgeworth nodded, giving his companion a noncommittal 'hmm' in response before falling silent. There was more to be said--the questions were almost painted across Wright's face--but Edgeworth wasn't going to be the one to broach such subjects, not if it wasn't necessary. Wright would remember the answers on his own, soon enough.

[probablythebutz.livejournal.com]

As the room fell quiet again and a commercial interrupted his latest distraction (the one cop on that soap opera had been pretty cute—not as cute as Megumi, of course), Larry cast a sidelong glance at his friends. They’d been talking quietly for some time, but now they looked uncomfortable, which caused Larry to shift in his seat. “What are you guys talking about?”

[attorneyatlol]

The interruption gave Phoenix a start, but he was surprisingly grateful for the diversion and quickly turned to Larry with renewed optimism. “Oh, Miles—” A pause, and then his eyes briefly flicked to the man sitting across from him. “—er, Edgeworth was just giving me a quick overview of my trials, that’s all.”

[samuraiprosecutor]

The slip caused Edgeworth to tense and cast a sidelong glance at Wright. When he found his friend looking back at him, he quickly turned a warning glare on Larry instead.

[probablythebutz.livejournal.com]

“Yeah?” Ignoring the holes Edgey was burning into the side of his head, Larry grinned and cocked an eyebrow; it sounded kinda boring, but he knew how to make it more interesting. “Did he tell you about mine?”

[attorneyatlol]

Phoenix frowned, considering his friend’s words for a moment. Larry didn’t really mean what he thought he meant, did he? “…Yours?”

[probablythebutz.livejournal.com]

His grin grew impossibly wider. “Yeah, man,” he boasted, perhaps looking a bit too proud for someone who’d stood on trial for murder. “The most important one. Your first!”

[attorneyatlol]

For a moment, all Phoenix could do was blink. Slowly, he turned his head, looking to Edgeworth for confirmation.

[samuraiprosecutor]

Edgeworth responded with a deceptively casual shrug. "Larry wasn't the only associate you defended during your career, but he was your first. He managed to embroil himself in a murder three years ago."

[attorneyatlol]

“Murder!?” To say that took Phoenix by surprise would have been an understatement. Immediately his wide-eyed, slack-jawed attention whipped back to Larry as he all but yelled, “You were on trial for murder!?”

[probablythebutz.livejournal.com]

Larry’s back straightened defensively. “Hey, don’t judge me! It’s not like I did it or anything. Besides,” he added, turning his own warning glare on Edgey. “I’m not the only one in here…”

[samuraiprosecutor]

Edgeworth's glare intensified, though he interrupted it with another wary glance at Wright. After a pointed pause he addressed Butz in a dangerously calm tone. "How many of Wright's trials have you been involved with, to date? I recall his first, and the extraordinary testimony you gave in his most recent..."

[probablythebutz.livejournal.com]

The caustic tone did little to faze Larry. Instead, he simply folded his arms and gave it some honest thought. “Well, there was the first one, like you said… and the last one—it was pretty extraordinary, wasn’t it? And before that there was the one where my boss got killed… oh!” He turned back to Edgey, his grin dripping with absolute smugness as he said, “And we can’t forget the winning testimony I gave at your trial, of course!”

[attorneyatlol]

Phoenix watched the exchange like a tennis match. If weren’t for the iffy subject matter, it almost would have been nostalgic. How many times had he found himself in the middle of their heated, often trivial, arguments as children, either trying to persuade them to stop or inadvertently making it worse by being swayed one way or the other? Too many times to count, that was for sure. He smiled slightly, stifling the chuckle that was bubbling in his chest.

…All right, maybe it was a little nostalgic.

The pleasant thought didn’t last long, however, as Larry’s last comment drew Phoenix back into the present. He turned his wide-eyed look on Edgeworth, frowning. “Miles?”

[samuraiprosecutor]

Shock flashed over his features at Larry's words, only to be replaced by a venomous stare. An angry heat suffused his chest, but Wright's soft question dampened it with a speed that was almost surprising. Resigned, he turned to meet his friend's gaze then hesitated, his brows furrowing at the concern he found there.

His voice was gratifyingly steady when he finally responded. "You were there for many of your friends...when you were needed."