rainbowfudge | picture prompt meme!

Well, I couldn't think of anyone else who could defend Iris...anyone else I could entrust her life to.

[Edgeworth glances over his shoulder, his cool mask already back in place.]

Funny -- I had assumed that you made the decision during the course of my visit to the hospital. Not only was there no guarantee that I would appear from overseas, but it would be like you to improvise in such a manner.

I made the decision as soon as I could think of her. No one could channel Mia at that time, and I...didn't know a lot of other defense attorneys.

That left you.

Hmph. As though someone would allow a person claiming to be the alleged ghost of a murdered defense attorney to take that station to begin with! Such a person would undoubtedly be considered either a rather bold liar or not of sound mind!

[Edgeworth's confidence, however, seems faked enough to someone as familiar with him as Phoenix for the denial to fall flat. Who is he trying to convince again?]

...even a cardboard badge could fool the judge, Edgeworth. Besides, a defense attorney would technically still be representing the accused.

[Pause. Edgeworth seems to have suddenly gotten defensive. Phoenix takes one step closer to him.]

By the way...she isn't just an "alleged ghost". If she were, why else would the Hazakura case unfold the way it did?

I... I don't know...

[Edgeworth turns his head away from Phoenix sharply and takes his own elbow into a death grip. To be confronted by him about that paradox of a case on the mountain leaves the prosecutor feeling cornered. Here is the man he trusts like no other, talking to him about the case whose solution conflicted with what ought to be reality -- a solution that very man is responsible for, after having apparently inadvertently thrown one of the premises on which Edgeworth built his view of reality into question. The conflict is enough to make Edgeworth want to scream.]

Edgeworth...

[Phoenix has one hand in his pocket - the pocket with the magatama in it. But he knows he wouldn't need it. Not with Edgeworth. It wasn't that the prosecutor was an open book; Phoenix knew that Edgeworth trusted him. He didn't need the magatama to know that his friend was being bothered, or what was bothering him so much. The evidence was all over their conversation.]

You were present during both trials, right? You saw the Psyche-Locks for yourself. And you saw...you saw Dahlia...

Please, Wright. It would take more than a mere flashy spectacle to convince me! That was hardly the first time it ever appeared as though the deceased stood in a court of law!

[...As for the part about the ~~Psycholocks~~ Psyche-Locks? Edgeworth's silence is rather damning, especially given the body language displayed as he gave the magatama back to Phoenix earlier...]

Objection!

[Phoenix is still far enough to point his finger safely without hitting Edgeworth's head.]

Do you really think Godot would let himself go to jail easily for a spectacle? If he wanted to get off the hook, he could've just said everything was fake!

If it was only a spectacle to you...then where's your evidence?

Edited 2013-05-11 10:12 (UTC)

OBJECTION! [And you get pointed right back at, Phoenix... though Edgeworth is definitely looking pale as he does so.] Even the evidence he was aware of leaves little room for doubt that he was the one to deal the killing blow; to dispute the allegations of... of channeling would have ultimately gained him nothing! Furthermore, he clearly had a fondness for the Fey clan; to deny what they claim to do would have offended them!

As for evidence... consider the victim's history! Am I supposed to believe that the fraud who led the police force astray seventeen years ago actually channeled someone this time?! Not to mention, if the supernatural legitimately existed, such things would be accounted for in the law, making the secrecy involved unnecessary!

[Phoenix's pointer finger wavers when he notices how pale Edgeworth looks. That wasn't like his friend at all.]

Objection! Present definitive evidence that channeling isn't real and the Feys have been using special effects all this time! Did you see any wires or lights or mirrors in court, huh? And how do you expect locks to magically appear in front of people?

[And Edgeworth's already let indication of it being tied to the same events that snowballed into the last time he didn't seem like himself slip out. After all, the events in the elevator weren't the only layer to DL-6's trauma...]

OBJECTION! Do you expect me to strip-search a young lady who rendered aid I hardly deserved to receive from her?! Or perhaps, instead, you expect me to do so to a little girl?!

[As valiant an effort as he's making to keep the illusion of confidence in his voice, though, there's desperation in his eyes as he makes this excuse...]

I never said you had to! I only asked for evidence!

[Phoenix lowers his finger; he sounds more like he's pleading than arguing now.]

[If I keep using the evidence argument against him, I don't think I'll be going anywhere. It's more like Edgeworth will keep on denying this till the day he dies...]

I-is it so important to you to keep believing in that... that cheerleading they do for you?!

[Nice projection there, Edgeworth.]

Edgeworth. [Phoenix's voice is firm, but sympathetic. Then his tone becomes quieter.]

It's more than just cheerleading. There aren't any special effects. You know that. You've seen it for yourself.

It may be said that "seeing is believing", but I argue that it takes more than seeing to truly believe.

[And Edgeworth's return to his "wrapped" pose just might be enough to give away that he knows full well that he can't escape by this route, no matter how desperately he may want to.]

...I think you've done more than see at this point. So have I.

[Phoenix looks at his best friend emphatically. He folds his arms over his chest.]

Yet can you prove that it necessarily follows from the apparent existence of the Psycho-- er, Psyche-Locks that there are such things as ghosts and the... the channeling thereof?

[Yep. Grasping.]

Edgeworth, it shows anything is possible. I never would have dreamed that I would have the power to see people's secrets, and now I investigate with it.

You still don't want to believe, do you?

Edited 2013-11-07 06:34 (UTC)

[Wright's initial choice of words seems to firm Edgeworth's resolve enough to allow him to glare properly at his friend.]

Wright, if literally anything were possible, nothing would be provable! How else do we find our way to the truth if not by eliminating the impossible?!

[As for that question... well, Phoenix's perception warps, allowing him to see and hear the rattling of chains into place and a pair of Psyche-Locks springing into existence before Edgeworth as he continues to glare silently.

...However, said Psyche-Locks look a little strange. Most of the time, the bright red locks look pristine. These, by contrast, look scratched up, as though a paint scraper had been applied to them.]

[Phoenix's eyes widen in shock, and he takes a big step back from Edgeworth when he sees the Psyche-Locks. This is the first time he has seen locks on Edgeworth...and the first time he has seen a pair look so...battered.]

T-Those locks...!

[Edgeworth grits his teeth in frustration and sighs.] (I suppose I should have seen this coming.)

Wright, are you really so easily stunned when the inevitable occurs?

[...Apparently the prosecutor has no idea what the real cause of Phoenix's shock is.]

[He shakes his head frantically, his hands tight around the magatama.]

I've never seen locks on you before, and yours look...all scratched up! They're different - I swear!

[Edgeworth still seems unsurprised that Phoenix saw locks on him... but the assertion of them being covered in scratches prompts the prosecutor to raise an eyebrow.]

And you're certain that too much exposure to... that does not addle the mind?

Do I look like someone whose mind has been addled?

[And now that I've asked it, I'm afraid to know the answer...]

(no subject)

truthsnomiracle - 2013-12-26 15:07 (UTC) - Expand