Day 42, Noon: The Twin Pine Restaurant

[thatdamnedninja]

Yuffie took the long way around, practically making it a tour of the entire town. She collared--not literally, since the nurses would've thrown fits--a few random citizens along the way, asked as many inconspicuous sounding questions as possible, and then moved on. Wash, rinse, repeat. Sneaking a few covert glimpses into stores and windows

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[high_prosecutor]

At least that morning's business was done. If the elder von Karma was around, he was either hiding or avoiding Edgeworth. Both of those outcomes were acceptable, and it was a lucky turn indeed that a mutual acquaintance had been the one to witness that conversation with Franziska.

He stepped into Twin Pines, looking for a girl that fit Miss Kisaragi's description. He found her relatively quickly, bowing politely. "Miss Kisaragi, I presume?", he asked, extending a hand. "Miles Edgeworth. It's a pleasure to meet you."

[thatdamnedninja]

The place was filling up fast. Yuffie kept a casual ear out for interesting tidbits of conversation while she worked, doodled, and waited. It wasn't too long before the guy showed up. Or, at least, she was assuming that this was the guy; he was heading straight for her, after all. He was kinda tall-ish, prematurely grey, and had a serious sort of face that reminded her vaguely of Reeve. When she shook his hand, she found it smooth; whatever this guy was, he wasn't a fighter.

Yuffie grinned, nudging the chair across from her out using her foot. “Just Yuffie, okay? Like I said on the board, formality makes me sneeze. This might be a business lunch, but it doesn't have to be made of cardboard - speaking of lunch, you wanna get something while we talk?” She left out the 'I didn't eat breakfast because I was too busy puking everywhere' part.

[high_prosecutor]

First name basis already? She reminded him of one Maya Fey, who tended to be the same way about things. He smiled a little - yes, Yuffie and Maya would most likely get along fabulously. "All right. And yes, lunch sounds good."

First things first, though - tea. The moment the waitress came by, he asked for a large pot of Earl Grey, waited for the girl to order drinks, then nodded.

"All right. As I'm sure you know, there are a lot of places in the Institute that aren't mapped, but I don't necessarily think mapping them is all that needs to be done. A map can be useful, yes, but knowing what you can expect when you go there is more useful than that, most of the time. What do you think, Yuffie?"

[thatdamnedninja]

Her stomach had settled down by this point, content to stay where it was supposed to instead of trying to crawl up and out of her throat. Since Yuffie'd prefer it to keep that way, she just asked for the house lemonade. She'd have killed for something with even the vaguest of kicks to it, but she was more likely to get flying Tonberries.

But this Miles Edgeworth dude, he'd ordered tea. Yuffie couldn't help a flash of a grin.

Maybe she'd finally come to accept it; her friends were gone, were probably stuck out in this weird world, and could get dragged back to the Institute at any second. Sure, she still missed the old fart, still missed Cloud, but she couldn't keep on trying to forget them. That'd be like… like sticking forks in their eyes, or dancing on their graves. She couldn't mope around and just wait for them, either; they'd kick her ass for that, and she'd kick her ass too. Nope, the Rose of Wutai was fully capable of running this show all by herself

[high_prosecutor]

"Exactly," Miles grinned, despite himself. He took a minute to order food when the waitress came back briefly, and as soon as she was gone, he flipped open that notebook to the maps. "I've been thinking about where this project should start," he said, pointing to the first floor map. "I don't think there's anywhere on the first floor that someone hasn't explored at one point or another, and I don't think descriptions are necessary for most of the rooms there. After all, everyone's been in the rooms surrounding the Sun Room at one time or another, and the same goes for patient rooms, the courtyard, and the cafeteria. I think the only other places of interest there are the doctors' offices, and the file rooms

[thatdamnedninja]

Yuffie took a moment to order food as well; just a light salad with a dressing, since she didn't want to risk upsetting her stomach. Again. Once was enough for that morning, when she was gonna have to go through the whole hellish thing again in just a few painfully short hours. Sucked to be her, et cetera.

The waitress disappeared off again, and Yuffie nodded. "The stuff on the first floor isn't exactly rocket science," she agreed. "Maps and word of mouth should be more than enough to get people started there." The only thing that would be worth looking into, in her eyes, was a basic inventory of supplies. Nobody would want to know where they could pick up five boxes of paperclips and a half gallon of kiddy-glue, but there was some good stuff laying around. Her knives, for example. … Which she'd found on the second floor. Yeah. The point? Was very moot

[high_prosecutor]

"I agree," Edgeworth said, wrinkling his brow. "I've suspected for a while that even posting the basic information on a regular basis has been making some people angry. Devaluing the currency, as it were. I think of it as arming people, because I can tell you right now that without the basics...everyone was stumbling in the dark." He took another sip of tea, frowned and added a little more milk, then continued, stirring the tea as if he'd caught some of Yuffie's - he wouldn't call it fidgeting, so much as it was the constant need to move. Definitely like Maya. Only with rougher language."I had suspected it was less altruism and more wanting to keep knowledge for themselves behind the decision not to share what's located in certain areas," he said, putting the spoon down and pointing at the map again. "For example, I can tell you the basic layouts of the...disciplinary therapy rooms, but it's this large area here - " he paused to indicate the large blank space on the southernmost end of the second floor - "that I'm most curious about.

[thatdamnedninja]

"'Course it's been making people angry," Yuffie shrugged. You'd always get dissenters, people who bitched and moaned and grumbled just because they could. Gawd, she knew that well enough. Not everybody on Gaia had been grateful for the save, but some had been more outspoken--and extreme--in their protests than others. That, amongst a whole host and bunch of other things, was what she was there for. Not to crush the opposition, no way, since the W.R.O was nothing like ShinRa and never would be. But things would never start to heal if idiots with their heads stuck up their asses insisted on doing dumb stuff like (totally sucking at) infiltrating and-or blowing up various governmental buildings. "We're basically pulling the rug out from under their monopoly. I just hope they don't get the bright idea to, I dunno, resort to active sabotage."

She was an optimist. She really was. But she wasn't an idiot

[high_prosecutor]

"They haven't touched the primer posts I've been making so far," Edgeworth said, "but I suspect that the only reason that's been the case is that it makes things a little easier for them not having to distribute maps. It's one less thing to have to worry about for them." Realistically speaking, why pull the rug out from under that? No, that wasn't the problem. The problem would be everything else.

"As for everything else, we'll just have to deal with it as it comes. I honestly think, though, that if something that we put up is taken down and immediately afterward someone is hurt or attacked because of the lack of information, that kind of thing - as loath as I am to say it - can be spun in our favor. I certainly hope that isn't the case, but if it happens..." Edgeworth trailed off again, listening to the explanation. So, they're separated by a floor...interesting, that."Hm..." He tapped the pen against the table, pausing to scribble a few notes in the margins of the page. "I won't press for more details. But...I have half a mind to

[thatdamnedninja]

"The primer posts have been established for a while, right? Messing with that would be more trouble than it'd be worth." For more reason than one. "They're not gonna care about information that everybody already knows." It wasn't like they could wave a map under a newbie's face as a way of tempting them into a club, because maps were freaking everywhere.

There was another pause, this time so that she could take a look around that wasn't surreptitious or covert. The place was really filling up, and the buzz of chatter was making a good cover. Not that they were talking about anything particularly secret. Or incriminating. Yuffie's shoulders relaxed minutely, even though the conversation had taken another sharp turn down Serious Avenue -- oh god, not gonna think about any more car metaphors. "That's not exactly what I meant, but you've got a good point anyway." She blew out a long breath, dragging her fingers through her bangs to sweep them to the side. "It's already happened once already, hasn't it? Kind of. With somebody trying to

[high_prosecutor]

It was tempting to ask about the details of the brainwashing session, but only for a brief second. "No, it's..." Edgeworth paused, taking a few bites of food while mulling over the right way to respond. "I have the same personal interest in the experimental sessions as you have in the brainwashing," he said, after a moment. "That's why I won't press for details. I don't expect the procedure was pleasant, nor do I expect you to want to relive it more than you already have."

He was backtracking in the conversation just a little, wrinkling his brow again. "I remember that incident, yes. It was unpleasant, but I must say I'm impressed with how quickly it was handled. It takes a lot to come out with that kind of ability right off the bat." The thought of that ability made him close his eyes and frown, thinking of the powers he and Phoenix had both been given. Both complementary to our personalities, and both more useful in information-gathering than anything else... "I don't think most people would in that situation," he added a moment

[thatdamnedninja]

The pause didn't escape Yuffie's notice. What was-- oh. Uh. The guy had been experimented on; that explained things, a little. "I don't remember too much about how it happened," she admitted--more like offered--around a bite of salad. "Something about drills. And injections. Y'know, creepy horror movie clichés? That kind of thing. After that, it's kind of…" She waved vaguely with her bandaged right hand. "… Fuzzy, like an overstuffed plush toy on steroids. At least until I snapped to it and started kicking ass all over the sun room; I could give you a frame-by-frame recount, but I guess you don't wanna hear it." She paused. Some people might call her words nervous prattle, or inane chatter, but they'd be wrong. "Anyway. Wanna talk

[high_prosecutor]

"That sounds about par for the course," Miles said dryly, motioning with his pen. "It lines up with what I've experienced, and what I've gathered from those who are willing to talk about it. In my own case, a whole lot of drugs and a painful childhood memory," he said, dropping his voice low. He looked around to be sure no one was within earshot before continuing

[thatdamnedninja]

"Seriously. I'd complain about it being boring, but the more predictable these guys stay, the better it is for us." What was it with Landel and his drug fetish? And the paperwork fetish? And the Japan fetish? Bastard had issues. His issues had issues. She could quite happily punch him in the throat with both hands and follow it up by kicking his nose right out of the back of his head, simply -- simply because. How screwed up was it, how perfectly screwed up was it, that she could sit at a table over lunch and talk about living nightmares like they were normal?

Because after Hojo, after Sephiroth and ShinRa and waking up in Landel's Institute, that's what the nightmares were; totally. Goddamn. Normal.

Fortunately, Miles interrupted her runaway train of thought by making her choke on lemonade. Thanks, dude. Thanks a bunch. "Danger radar? Lie detector?" Remind her never to meet this 'partner', whoever he was. Yuffie and her lies were like noodles and ramen; it was a fact of life that you didn't really get one without the other. She