[all Edgeworths, all the time.]

[prosecutory]

[You are on a cruise ship - to be more exact, in a hall adorned with paintings of various historical scenes (many of them groundbreaking moments in legal history), a giant crystal chandelier and polished walls and stairs. This could be a dining hall, but there aren't too many tables. Not only that, there are shelves full of books against one wall with detailed dog bookends. And instead of a grand buffet, there is a wide selection of...tea. Tea from every corner of the world, tea you never thought existed, iced tea...and no, no teabags. That stuff does not exist. >_>

You are also most likely wearing a pink/wine-red/burgundy suit and a white cravat, unless you're from some other universe or timeline, because those things tend to happen a lot. The fourth wall doesn't exist here, really. Maybe you came from what we call the canon timeline, or some other world you got shipped to. In any case, you're here right now.

Have a nice day...Miles Edgeworth. Oh, and feel free to explore the rest of the fancy ship. Maybe you're going to some foreign country to study more legal systems, or maybe you're on your way to ~choose death~. Whatever. Don't be surprised to see other Edgeworths with you.

...

GENTLEMEN AND GENTLEMEN, I GIVE YOU...THE EDGEWORTH PARTY.] 

Comments

[prosecutory]

[He clears his throat, and manages to look at the cufflinks instead. Well, this day just got weirder.]

N-no, I haven't.

[truthsnomiracle]

Hm. A pity.

[He can't help but be somewhat amused, though...]

I suppose that you've been so absorbed in your studies that you've failed to notice where you now are -- not that I can't relate, for obvious reasons.

[prosecutory]

We are on a cruise ship, are we not?

...

And not just any cruise ship.

[Oh, he knew something was going on. He just didn't think...it was like this.]

[truthsnomiracle]

Am I the first of our company that you've noticed?

[Seriously, other self, take a look around the room...]

1/2

[prosecutory]

[He glances up from his work. Honestly, so there were two of them on the same ship - ]

[prosecutory]

[...okay, not just two of them, apparently.

This day just got weirder again...but even though he's clearly surprised, it quickly ebbs away into a more dignified expression of oh-whoa-didn't-notice-that. Because he's seen his share of weird.]

I...I see what you mean.

[truthsnomiracle]

This clearly differs from the last time I saw another of myself. I'm reminded of the concept of parallel universes rather than of hostile self-aspects.

[Apparently this Edgeworth's seen some weird stuff himself.]

[prosecutory]

When did you see another version of yourself?

[He calms down eventually, surprise giving way to curiosity.]

[truthsnomiracle]

The night following the day when I first awoke on the island of Prospero. [Edgeworth eyes those books for a moment.] ...It would, technically speaking, be more properly termed as an embodied self-aspect.

[prosecutory]

An embodied self-aspect...a part of you, then, and not another you? [He closes the black book with the white skull.]

[truthsnomiracle]

Indeed. At the time of my arrival, apparently kidnappees had been experiencing attacks by denied aspects of themselves in such forms for well over a week. Acceptance of the truths they laid bare was the key to their defeat... however difficult such acceptance might have been.

[prosecutory]

...why did they attack? [Were they mad over being denied or something?]

[truthsnomiracle]

By my understanding, most attacked only verbally until directly denied, as in my own case. Unfortunately, we have little idea how it is that they gained such autonomy to begin with, only that the phenomenon differed from the usual sort that happens as the moon waxes.

[prosecutory]

A repressed aspect of yourself that only attacks further upon denial, and is only defeated upon acceptance.

...Clever, I must admit.

[truthsnomiracle]

"Clever"?! I suppose it's simple to trivialize from an outside perspective.

[prosecutory]

It is rather comparable to an extreme form of psychological therapy.

Assuming, of course, that you do indeed accept this part of yourself instead of simply denying it to defeat it.

[truthsnomiracle]

I did, though not unaided. The one who held it at bay asked a crucial question whose answer was vital to my acceptance of the truth.

AGH "denying" was supposed to be "admitting" or something like that /headdesk

[prosecutory]

What sort of question was it, if I may?

You were tired and I was still waking up, I guess..

[truthsnomiracle]

...What motive Father would have to lie.

...timezones.

[prosecutory]

...

Ah...of course.

[truthsnomiracle]

[That expression is obvious enough, other-him.]

I presume that you already realize what it is I speak of.

[prosecutory]

[A slow but sure nod. Yes. Obviously. What else could he add?]

[truthsnomiracle]

[In the interest of changing the subject to one more comfortable to... well, both of him, this Edgeworth glances down at the books again.]

You appear to have found yourself facing rather unusual situations as well.

[prosecutory]

I may not need to confront repressed aspects of myself, but I certainly need to confront strange worlds and even stranger powers granted to me.

[Thank you, other self.]

[truthsnomiracle]

A plurality of them?

[prosecutory]

Correct.

[truthsnomiracle]

I've found myself in only one other world, though I too have been granted a power in the process.

[prosecutory]

What sort of power?

Of course, this begs the question of whether

[truthsnomiracle]

...An explanation would make little sense without context. I suppose I could simply make use of it without explanation, but I can't predict whether it would be visible to you as it would be to other kidnappees or invisible as it would be to a native -- to say nothing of the open question of the difficulty of summoning it here and now.

[prosecutory]

Then try your best to explain.

[truthsnomiracle]

It will sound absurd, but very well.

Everyone kidnapped from across space and time to the island of Prospero finds themselves with both the ability to perceive and operate within a so-called "Dark Hour" at midnight that's apparently unique to that world... and the potential to awaken the ability to summon what's called a "Persona" -- a self-aspect with a typically mythological form and powers suited for combat with the monstrous "Shadows" that fill the island during that time.

[prosecutory]

[He listens attentively, not saying a word, taking it all in as best as he could.]

...And do you gain this power upon accepting that certain aspect of yourself?

Oh hey, didn't expect a new reply to this one!

[truthsnomiracle]

No; the incident in question happened but once, and to my knowledge no one obtained their Persona in this way. Given that I chose to focus on investigating the hotel rather than that one-time lunar event, however, it is possible that this event was the necessary stressor for someone and I simply didn't hear of it.

Typically, one's Persona awakens in a life-or-death situation or other highly stressful circumstance. In my own case, Forneus awakened in the midst of a heated philosophical argument.

The bottom of my inbox is mostly memes and musebox tags.

[prosecutory]

It was stressful enough to awaken your power?

[truthsnomiracle]

It was with someone who believed there to be no need for a bookstore to reflect the progress and values of modern civilization, merely those of his own time in order to glorify himself and belittle what mankind achieved in his absence.