( Closed ) Stepping forward out into the day, shrugging off the dust and memory...

[fairbrook]

Who: Integra Hellsing ( fairbrook ) & Miles Edgeworth ( prosecutory )
When: IC: 6/4 - OOC: 3/10
Where: The Police Department
What: Some celibate losers have an impromptu tea party.
Rating/Warning: None!

---

( For Integra, visitors-- even during work, were rare. If there was truly a disaster on her hands, she would have already been notified, and oftentimes, preferred to work alone. Because of this, she finds the gentle rapping at her office door surprising-- to say the least. )

Ah--! ( Bewildered by the sudden course of events, it takes her a moment to find proper words. Really, who would want to visit her? ) Please, do come in!

( Your move, Edgeworth. )

Comments

[fairbrook]

( Did he say anything wrong? Not exactly. She'd misinterpreted him, and felt awful for it as a result. But really, when it boiled down to it, she didn't want to admit that after that time spent away from her own world that she was still shellshocked; that certain words or phrases could still set her off.

Still, when she speaks this time around, her tone is softer, hinting of empathy. )

I don't think many of us ever truly are. It means that-- despite the atrocities you bear witness, you are fighting to retain your humanity.

[prosecutory]

[Edgeworth shifts in his seat, relaxing and clasping his hands together on one knee. He nods slowly.]

Of course. It's so easy to lose sight of that in the legal profession, or in the battlefield. In your home world, or an entire universe away from it.

[fairbrook]

It's work that makes you want to convince yourself that you're a soldier before you are a person, I know. ( Regrettably, she's been there. ) It can be such a crippling mindset.

( She didn't want to talk about how the Round Table would call her an Iron Maiden, and that-- at times, she was still prone to believing there was some truth to it. And in a way, she didn't want to worry Edgeworth more than she already had.

However, she cannot help but remark: )

It's strange. You always used to be so reserved when I knew you before.

( Not that she's complaining or anything. To Integra, it was refreshing to see him finally embrace his softness; something which had previously been difficult for him. It was something she struggled with, as well. )

[prosecutory]

[Edgeworth just grins - actually, his grin is bordering on smirk territory - and tilts his head back. Boy, had he come that far? He most likely did. Not that he didn't like it; it was a good change. He chuckles again.]

The Miles Edgeworth you knew most likely did not have the same experiences I did. We may have been from different points in time, as well.

[That world most likely did not have a war, let alone a war wherein you had to trust your partner with your very life to fight more effectively.]

Tell me, what do you know about him? What has he told you?

[It's so surreal, talking about myself as if I were a different person. Then again, that much is true. He and I may both be the same person, but we were shaped differently, in different worlds.]

[fairbrook]

( Stunned his display, Integra spends a moment (just a moment) staring. She'd never seen him grinning like this, and once she notices, turns her head to conceal her embarrassment. )

Very little, I'm afraid. Your friend-- Mr. Wright, saw fit to fill in the blanks for me.

( She was always closer to Phoenix, truth be told, but later would come to enjoy Edgeworth's company. )

However, I recall that when fist met you, I'd been transformed back into a child. I had no memory of where I was or why, oddly enough. You unwittingly stumbled upon me crying on one of the park benches-- actually, and stopped to ask me why that was. I responded by telling you that I was lost, and that my father passed away.

( At this next part, there is a soft smile gracing her lips. )

You then said that you understood how I felt, and offered me your hand, asking if I would like to have tea with you.

( Perhaps that was why she chose to tell him the fuller story today, because he had been so kind to her before. )

It wasn't until some month later I learnt you had an adoptive sister. A ghastly woman, who attempted to whip me when I explained to her the gravity of her circumstances. ( For whatever reason, Integra doesn't mind talking smack about Franziska in front of him, or not addressing her by name... wait, "attempted"? ) Which leads me to presume Mr. von Karma was her father?

( That was never clear after she had met him, it felt like too much of a coincidence. A pity to think her his daughter, though. She actually liked him. )

[prosecutory]

[Transformed back into a child? He blinks owlishly at that part but says nothing; these different worlds were all strange. Edgeworth listens, drumming his fingers on his lap, not at all surprised that Franziska had wanted to whip Integra. Although his eyes did widen at that part and his hand twitched as if he wanted to just raise it to his forehead and groan.

Well, considering that Integra was raised to become a knight, surely she would be competent enough to dodge a whip.]

[Manfred von Karma is far more ghastly than Franziska. And Franziska can be more or less ghastly depending on what point in time she is from.]

[His expression hardly changes at her question. The truth about Manfred...was not something Integra needed to know right now.]

That's correct. I presume you met him while he was here?