Day 57: Sun Room

[bodhiandspirit]

It figured that night would end before Rita and Taura could progress any further. Rita wasn't particularly disappointed to wake up abruptly, as they had reached a dead end. Really, the institute was doing them a favor by bringing them back to the starting point, where they could regroup.

What she didn't appreciate was the loss of valuable time,

Comments

[the_prosecutor]

[orz definitely some assumptions being made here.]

The night before had been more than a little emotionally and physically taxing than Edgeworth had hoped for, but all things considered, he had to admit that an altercation with a human was by far an easier thing to cope with rather than some supernatural creature...but stranger yet was the realization that, as he turned over to look up at the sterile lighting of the room, he couldn't remember actually going to sleep. That same sense of airy confusion and displacement overcame him - same as his first day, though this time dampened by his slight knowledge of what was going on - and the prosecutor did the best he could to stifle it. It was another day - he had to be prepared for anything, and he didn't have time to obsess over the small details just yet.

The clothes were a separate shock altogether.

Once Edgeworth was coherent enough to make sense of his outfit, his brow furrowed in displeasure as he smoothed his hand over the material of his shirt. Well...this was both better and worse than the military uniform, and despite how much he hated the shirt he had been given the day prior, at least it didn't make him feel like...like a patient.

Shaking his head and moving his legs over the side of the bed, Edgeworth stretched as a nurse entered his room, and at first he said nothing as he scrutinized her, his mind wandering to the soldiers he had dealt with the day before.

Is she...? the thought trailed off as the nurse cleared her throat, tersely offering to take him to the chapel, and if not, the sun room for the duration for the morning before breakfast. Edgeworth had never been a terribly religious man, and his upbringing hadn't swayed him one way or the other when it came to which religion suited him...and after being put in a situation like this, Edgeworth didn't exactly feel up to praising any sort of deity. It didn't take long for him to answer, and it took even less time for the nurse to nod and lead him out of the room, the pair of them wordlessly moving to the Sun Room before she went about her business.

There were several patients milling about in the room already, but the prosecutor wasn't feeling especially talkative. His throat ached from all the lengthy discussions he'd had the day before (perhaps coupled with a few exclamations he had made during the latter part of the night) and he instead decided to make himself comfortable on a large, comfortable looking sofa in the corner of the room...only to find that, once he approached it, that it was occupied by a certain ghost from his previous nighttime adventures.

Him, Edgeworth thought with a small amount of trepidation. As much as Edgeworth hadn't reached a verdict on what he thought of Niikura, he didn't think there would be any harm in addressing him now - after all, he had several questions he wanted to ask, and he was mostly curious as to how Phoenix had even gotten himself tangled up with a kid like him.

"Would I be interrupting your rest if I addressed you?" he asked pointedly as he rounded the couch, passing by a round, long table before taking a seat on the sofa facing opposite of Niikura. Not looking regretful in the least - Edgeworth tended to approach situations with individuals like Niikura with a certain amount of sincere insincerity - he continued on, adding an brief addendum to his question. "If so, do forgive me."

[oneman_onekill]

Niikura's brain wasn't functioning on a high enough setting for him to hear exactly what had been asked of him, but it did at least register that someone was speaking to him. "Nnnnghuhwha...?" Not the most dignified way to enter into a conversation, but he had never made it a habit of always presenting his best side even if he didn't feel up to it. Too much work.

The teen sat up, scratching the back of his head, and squinted at the man seated across from him. "Who...what's--oh, you." Oh, you. The guy that Phoenix had brought along yesterday. What was his name? "'Edgeworth', right?" He'd asked him a question too - what was it again? Something about interrupting...

...whatever. "Sorry, I'm a real mess right now--not like ya could blame me, right? Heh. Anyway, what's up?" He too hadn't reached any sort of conclusion about the man he'd suddenly found himself working with last night, no thanks to circumstances, but it had seemed like Edgeworth was more level-headed than his friend - and if he wasn't, he faked it really well.

[the_prosecutor]

Tilting his head slightly, Edgeworth couldn't help but feel somewhat distracted by the amount of similarities Niikura shared with Phoenix - his hair, his strange eyebrows, and that odd idiosyncrasy of rubbing the back of his head - and the prosecutor felt himself wondering if Phoenix had resembled him even more as a teenager. Even so, his attitude certainly wasn't anywhere close to Phoenix in similarity - something Edgeworth found both refreshing and unnerving.

"You certainly did have a lot on your plate last night, though it seems like what you're missing is rest and not a trip to the infirmary," he commented, crossing his legs as he let his hands sit idly in his lap. "I suppose I was wondering how you were holding up after all was said and done."

[oneman_onekill]

Just suppose? Pretty cold. If he were feeling more like his usual self, he might have been tempted to needle Edgeworth on that point just to see how far he could push him; Niikura settled for a rough laugh instead. "Trust me, I've had it a lot worse before. This" - he gestured broadly - "is just the usual collection of scrapes an' bruises. Nah, right now all I want is some food--did I mention I hate Sundays? Only two meals instead of three...really sucks, y'know?"

At this point, he would have been tempted to lace his hands behind his head like he usually did, but his arms were still too sore to do so. Damn those human limitations. "So, how're ya likin' it 'round here? Feelin' settled? Hate to break it to ya, but days 'round here ain't half as excitin' as yesterday's little field trip. Guess that's better, though: ease into it, be a bystander for a bit instead of gettin' dropped straight into everything like your friend..."

Yes, it was true: all one had to do to get Niikura to perk up was talk at him, because he'd talk right back and then some. There were some exceptions, but none of them applied to just shooting the breeze.

[the_prosecutor]

"I can't say that I'm aware of the circumstances of his arrival," Edgeworth said, his index finger lightly tapping against his knee as he watched Niikura with no little amount of scrutiny. "Though to be frank with you I could do without all of the 'excitement'." After a day like the one Edgeworth had had, he was almost looking forward to the downtime - it allowed for him to do his research at his leisure, and he was certain it would be a little easier to loosen some tongues if they were in a more relaxed setting. "...and after the treatment that you received last night, I would think that you would be grateful for the short reprieve."

[oneman_onekill]

"It is nice, but ya know the 'nurses', they're not just gonna let me bum around. It's hard to relax with 'em breathin' over your shoulder, especially when you're some dinky class like C." He looked down and realized that there was a gold star sticker on his shirt. What the hell was that for? Niikura frowned at it and then turned his attention back to Edgeworth.

"And Phoenix didn't tell ya about his first nighttime adventure? Can't say I blame him, 'cause it wasn't pretty. I think he arrived last, last night 'cause when he ran into me literally then, he didn't know a damn thing about what crawls around here when it gets dark." He shrugged. "So I gave him The Talk and then some live examples showed up so we had to beat some wholesale ass--wasn't as easy as I make it sound, though."

The teen leaned in and pointed to a fading bruise on his forehead. "See this? Friendly fire." His irritation hadn't necessarily faded as well, but at least the stupid, gaudy bandage was gone. "And then afterwards he barfed--not on me, thankfully."

[the_prosecutor]

"...yes, well, I would say that's par for the course with Wright," Edgeworth said dryly, even while a vague hint of amusement hit him at just how characteristic Phoenix's arrival appeared to be. In comparison, his first day had been rather uneventful - well, as uneventful as things seemed to go at the institute, in any case - and some part of him began to wonder just how Phoenix had managed to befriend someone that he had made such an...interesting impact on.

"He's reliable, certainly, but he appears to be the antithesis of the idea of 'self-preservation'. I only managed to find him because he decided not to follow the convenient trail of light from his flashlight and instead he apparently focused on anything else that wasn't directly in front of him." And it wasn't the only time that night Phoenix had decided to walk into him or something less important in the darkness, but that went without saying.

[oneman_onekill]

Man, what did it take to ruffle this guy's feathers? Not that he was actively trying to do that--it just surprised him, that was all.

"That so? Huh." Niikura sat back, corner of his mouth tugging upward. He couldn't say he was very good at self-preservation either. "So how many messes have ya had to pull him out of back in Los Angeles?" He could only imagine how much hot water Phoenix was capable of landing himself in. "I'm guessin' quite a few if how we met's his usual M.O."

[the_prosecutor]

Edgeworth let out a breath, and it was clear for a few moments that he was thinking over his answer with a certain amount of reluctance. "...a fair amount," he said vaguely, his fingertips drumming over his knee. "To say nothing of our...unique history, you could say that there is a slight chance that he might have attempted to run across a burning bridge once in the past couple months." I would rather not live through that experience again, Edgeworth thought bitterly. "Though I can say with some confidence that it was probably his most dangerous stunt to date."

[oneman_onekill]

Niikura's eyebrows raised. "Seriously?" Running across a burning bridge...wow. That took some real guts. Or some stupidity. The two often went hand in hand, he'd found. "Okay, that sounds legitimately crazy--and I'm guessin' he wasn't totally trashed or anything at the time either." Phoenix didn't seem the type...at least, he didn't think he was the type. First impressions could be awfully deceiving.

He paused and then tilted his head to the side questioningly. "By the way, kinda off topic, but just out of curiosity, does somebody have somethin' against you guys? Los Angeles law enforcement, I mean. 'Cause, no offense or anything, but there's a ton of ya here and it's kinda weird."

[the_prosecutor]

Niikura's question opened up a rather lengthy, awkward silence as Edgeworth considered the facts. There...really wasn't much in the way of a simple answer, and even if Edgeworth had worked in tandem with the Los Angeles Police Department, he did know several individuals in various positions that still had a rather large grudge against him. No... he reasoned almost immediately, if this were some sort of targeted operation, there would have been no reason to bring Ema Skye.

"...not especially," he finally answered, his arms moving to cross over his chest. "I've barely spent any length of time in Los Angeles for the past two years, and I was abducted while aboard a plane. I can't imagine that anyone in the police force could have the sort of sway to accomplish such a task."

Pausing for a moment, Edgeworth's expression seemed to shift, his eyes holding Niikura's in something of an obvious effort to pick up something. The question seemed somewhat targeted - not at Edgeworth and Phoenix themselves, though, but at a way of thinking that told Edgeworth more than a little bit about how Niikura's mind worked. "...would there be someone out there with something against you, Niikura?"

[oneman_onekill]

While he was aboard a plane? Wow, Landel--er, Aguilar sure had his ways. Not even Niikura could claim that he'd managed to snatch someone off a plane, presuming Edgeworth meant that it had happened while the plane was in the air. If it had been on the ground, that would have been another story.

"--but outside the police force?" he asked. Inside, there was no way; it didn't make sense to bring both Badd and Gant here, not when (in Niikura's mind) they were clearly on different "sides"--and from different times! Not even the things that were supposed to make sense were spared in this puzzle. "That's what I'd suspect, if I were lookin' from your position, although I can't think of anyone who'd have that kinda power anyway--'cept for whoever's runnin' this place, I guess."

Then Edgeworth took his turn at asking questions, and Niikura's eyes narrowed as he abandoned his usual vivacity. "Aye, I'll admit it, there's a lot of people out there who'd have somethin' against me." He shrugged and smiled, and the brief, serious moment passed. "Ehhh but it's not like any of them could really do somethin' like this to me either. So I guess at the end of the day, it's still a mystery."

[the_prosecutor]

Edgeworth seemed to consider Niikura's question for a moment, though he didn't appear to be having any luck in producing a helpful answer. He knew several influential people, naturally, and he had definitely made more than enough enemies along the way - but nothing explained why all of them were there, from Ema Skye to individuals claiming to come from different worlds altogether.

"...I can't say that there's any point in reasoning out 'why' we're here," he said after a moment. "There's no rhyme or reason as to why we were selected - nothing apparent, at any rate - and I somehow doubt that we can rationally explain away motives when we're dealing with such unbelievable matters such as monster attacks and mass brainwashing."

Although Edgeworth did accept Niikura's answer as to if anyone would want him here, he didn't ask anything further about it. If he expected a truthful answer, he seriously doubted that he would receive it now - not when Niikura barely knew him, and if he had something to hide then he certainly wouldn't flaunt it in front of a stranger.

[oneman_onekill]

No perturbed follow-up questions: interesting. Edgeworth probably thought his answer had been an evasive maneuver, which, logically, it should have been. That sort of question had been pretty personal, and no person in his right mind would flat out admit to having enemies unless he'd been talking to a very close friend. Still, he hadn't gotten much of a reaction out of a purposefully loaded response: that was a first.

"Guess not, then." Edgeworth's logic seemed sound enough, although Niikura had his own ideas regarding what they were all doing here. They all sounded too much like stuff out of a manga, though, and he wasn't sure that would get any serious, thoughtful comments out of a guy like Edgeworth. "It's frustrating, though." He looked down at the smiley face shirt and made a face.

"And I was really hopin' we were through with these--probably the one good thing that came outta Aguilar takin' over, new uniforms." He plucked dismally at the shirt. "Gray is just not my color - not that this looks flatterin' on anyone, actually." And it was probably just the uniforms that had been switched back; he was definitely pushing his luck in hoping that they'd ditched the pink glop for breakfast, lunch, and dinner too.

[the_prosecutor]

Letting out a bitterly amused breath, Edgeworth glanced down at his own uniform as well. Humiliating as it was to wear such horrid garments, they were leaps and bounds more comfortable than the military uniform had been; and in truth, Edgeworth was incredibly curious as to why their clothes had been changed once again.

Glancing back up at Niikura, Edgeworth found himself feeling stuck on one of the final things that he had said - there had been a takeover? Edgeworth assumed that the military presence here was relatively new, but he hadn't been entirely sure until then that it hadn't been a voluntary choice to allow them into the institute. Aguilar, he repeated in his mind to keep the name fresh, his expression turning thoughtful. "I can't say that I've been here long enough to develop a preference in the uniforms, though I have to agree that the colors are-"

Just then, the intercom jingle interrupted Edgeworth's words, and he stopped as he glanced upward at the ceiling. He suddenly felt like an elementary school student - intercom announcements like this were incredibly demeaning in the prosecutor's mind, and he hadn't had to deal with them after he had left his elementary school in favor of homeschooling with the von Karma's - and unsuppressed displeasure crossed Edgeworth's features as he waited for the announcements to finish.

Once they were done, the prosecutor began to stand, his gaze lowering to Niikura as the patients around them reluctantly moved from their chosen locations to what Edgeworth assumed to be the cafeteria doors. "The menu doesn't sound horrible, at least," he said, his mind moving to the horrid pink gruel he'd had to down the night before. Real food sounded heavenly, though the less than eager faces of most of the patients in the room were already beginning to hint to the prosecutor that he might not have much to look forward to.

[oneman_onekill]

Niikura's attention likewise strayed as the intercom came on. Now that he was a little more awake, he could actually pay attention to what Landel was saying--wait, that couldn't be right. Landel was out. He and Mark were in cahoots. "Hmmm..." Were they reusing a recording from a previous day? It would certainly explain all of that static at the beginning; all previous intercom messages had never had that sort of issue, at least not the ones that he'd paid attention to.

He made a face. "I wouldn't get my hopes up. No one's gonna be able to enjoy all that stuff for real unless they're whatchamacallit. The right rank." Niikura stood up with a groan as he stretched his stiff legs. "So for us, it means time for more pink oatmeal. Fun times." Dismally, he knew that he'd eat it all too.

"Anyway, nice talkin' to ya. Don't be a stranger." With a half-hearted wave, the teen limped into the slow-moving train of people making their way to the cafeteria.