[RL with Rachel and Edgeworth] [Backdated to Saturday morning]

[immortal_vino]

Claire was an assassin. At any moment, in his life, someone could come along that might have a grudge against him. He moved in dangerous circles generally, and the fact that no person in their right mind would be dumb enough to actually attack Vino didn't mean that he didn't encounter pretty dumb people on a semi-regular basis

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[ridingfree]

Although a light sleeper herself, Rachel, too, could be lulled into a sense of security by a soft mattress and comforting warmth on either side of her. She gave only a soft murmur at the sound of her name and then snuggled closer to one of those sources of warmth.

Which, of course, just so happened to be Miles Edgeworth's back.

[samriprosecutor]

Miles Edgeworth, on the other hand, was a heavy sleeper (at least when his own mind would let him be) and generally slow to wake. He was also currently recovering from a rather stressful night of being robbed of any chances for restful sleep by a particularly worrying nightmare. As such, he barely registered either of the subtle disturbances to the peace of his bedroom. Aside from shifting back against that comforting warmth, he blissfully slept on, while a pair of piercing brown eyes peered warily at him from the darkness at the side of the bed.

[immortal_vino]

Claire looked around the darkened bedroom. Though he'd spoken Rachel's name, she hadn't really responded much, and both of the other two slept on. He slipped out of the bed cautiously, and prowled around the room curiously, uncaring of the fact that he was naked. There were more important things than worrying about his modesty.

Finally he peeked out a window and stared, his jaw dropping in fascination at the cityscape below.

Okay, it was definitely time that they wake up.

"Wow, Mr. Edgeworth," he said in a carrying voice. "You have a really nice apartment. Do you think you have a robe I could borrow?"

[ridingfree]

His voice caused Rachel to stir, her brow furrowing deeply as she began to wake. "Mm...?" What Claire said hadn't exactly registered; all she knew was that it was loud, and that fact irritated her. She'd obviously been sleeping peacefully. Didn't he have any manners?

She pushed herself up on her elbow, ready to snap at him, when it suddenly occurred to her that she wasn't on the couch anymore. She was on a bed, and she was certain it wasn't hers.

It was then that she also realized that the warmth beside her was, in fact, a body. A man's body.

She shot up from the bed, staring at the figure in horror. How on Earth had she gotten here...? Did Claire really have the audacity to have carried her? The thought made her blood boil, and she was on the verge of storming out, virus be damned, but another figure in her peripheral vision caught her attention. She looked up, only to see Claire's naked body silhouetted by moonlight.

With an audible gasp, she quickly looked away.

"What are you doing?" she demanded. And, more importantly, who

[samriprosecutor]

All the activity attracted the attention of the dog standing on Edgeworth's side of the bed. When Stanfield began to survey the room, Sigi watched him guardedly all the while, keeping close to his owner. Once the man moved away to the door, the dog followed and stopped at the foot of the bed to regard him curiously.

The jostling and noise were also enough to drag Edgeworth up from sleep. He groaned and blinked blearily at the bathroom door, registering the absence of the large, fluffy dog that should be laying on the floor beside him. Eventually he rolled over to sweep his gaze across the room, trying to determine what had woken him.

The first thing to come into his sight was the stranger looming over him in the darkness. "Jesus!" he cursed, his eyes going comically wide as he pushed himself up and back, nearly throwing himself off the bed in his effort to get away.

The second thing to come into his sight was the figure's clothed chest, which, though difficult to see in the darkness, was...obviously not the Corinthian's. His mouth

[immortal_vino]

Claire had been expecting a response of this nature, and so he kept his body turned mostly away, so that all Rachel and Edgeworth could really see was the silhouette of muscled back and ass, and not any other bits. Not that he wasn't proud of those other bits, but they would probably cause even more of an uproar.

So he was facing the window, but half-twisted, looking back at the other two. He sighed at Rachel, recognizing from her reaction that she was probably not back to normal, then grinned at Edgeworth.

"I'd be happy to, Mr. Edgeworth," he said. "If you have a robe that I could borrow. I guess it's probably in the bathroom over here?"

Now he sort of had to turn, but neither of them were looking at him anyway, so he sauntered towards the bathroom in search of a robe, or at least a towel.

[ridingfree]

Rachel kept her gaze averted, going so far as to block her view of the room with one of her hands. She supposed she should be thankful that she was at least clothed in a sweater and pants, exactly what she'd been sleeping in when she fell asleep on the couch in Claire's apartment.

Aside from the obvious, she had yet to notice anything out of the ordinary and assumed that the fabric loosely wrapped around her wrist was nothing more than the sheet, having gotten tangled around her hand. She hardly noticed it at all.

"Mr. Edgeworth...?" she asked, making no effort to look at him. She'd noticed that his torso was bare and had no desire to find out if the rest of him was, too.

This virus truly was a nightmare.

[samriprosecutor]

It took a moment for Edgeworth to place the voice. Once he did, his frown deepened considerably. He didn't relish the thought of Stanfield, of all people, wearing his clothing, but he had to admit it was far better than the alternative. He gestured toward the bathroom.

"You could have at least kept the covers on until we had fair warning," he said churlishly.

The soft, unfamiliar voice at his side provided a (comparatively) welcome distraction. Once he was sure there wasn't any danger of seeing something he shouldn't, he opened his eyes and turned toward the woman sharing his bed. The only dim source of light in the room was behind her. No matter how hard he squinted, her features were almost impossible to make out.

"I'm sorry, Miss..."

[immortal_vino]

Claire found the robe on the back of the bathroom door and wrapped it around himself, emerging seconds later and crossing to the bed.

"You didn't really see anything," he said, rolling his eyes. "It's very dark."

He climbed back onto the enormous bed, sitting with crossed legs near the foot and looking at the other two, magenta robe clashing wildly with his hair.

"You two have talked before. Rachel Stanfield, this is Miles Edgeworth. He's a prosecutor, and he hates my guts, but he's a good man. Mr. Edgeworth, Rachel is my wife, but she doesn't remember that right now." He sobered, his eyes narrowing at the other man. "Please be nice to her, anyway. Like we talked about."

He remembered snapping at Edgeworth when Rachel had first introduced herself on the community, because he'd thought the other man was being rude.

[ridingfree]

Hoping that Claire was robed, Rachel slowly lowered her hand and glanced at him briefly before dropping her gaze to the sheets. She still didn't know the state of Mr. Edgeworth's dress and avoided looking at him.

"Just Rachel," she said, massaging the bridge of her nose. "I don't remember being married to him because it's a virus," she added, stressing the last few words. She hoped Edgeworth would pick up on the fact that Claire was the one affected; after all, they'd both informed him that their association with one another was minimal at best, hadn't they?

[samriprosecutor]

Edgeworth threw a hesitant glance over his shoulder as Stanfield reentered the room.

"I saw more than I cared to," he replied with a frown then dismissively turned his attention back to the girl.

He nodded in response to her mention of the virus...viruses, rather. At this point there was no telling how many they were dealing with. "How long have you been forced to endure his company?"

As the exchange went on, Sigi decided to reinsert himself into the conversation. He planted himself at his master's side of the bed again, stuck his head firmly into the space between him and his unwanted guest, and began licking Edgeworth's arm. Without thinking, Edgeworth reached up to gently scratch him on the side of his head.

[immortal_vino]

Claire listened to their conversation, and his attention was caught by the dog. He leaned closer, beaming, and extended his hand for Sigi to sniff. He'd always gotten along well with the animals at the circus, and adored dogs, too. This one was especially fine, as well.

"Hey," he said suddenly, though his eyes were still on the enormous dog. "What's that around your wrist, Rachel?"

[ridingfree]

"Long enough," Rachel sighed under her breath while Claire was hopefully distracted by the dog. She was about to apologize for waking up in what she assumed was Mr. Edgeworth's bed, when Claire's question threw her off.

"Hm?" She glanced at him and then looked down at her wrist, realizing it was bound by soft, gray fabric. Frowning, she began working at the knot. "Mm. It looks like some kind of scarf..."

[samriprosecutor]

The enormous dog didn't seem to have much time for Stanfield, at least not at the moment. He gave his hand a few cursory sniffs, but almost immediately after that he rose up and placed his front paws on the bed, one after the other. In a flash he'd firmly wedged himself between the two men and was curiously nuzzling the scarf tied loosely around Edgeworth's wrist.

Once he noticed it, Edgeworth had a very different reaction to said scarf.

"Goddamn this--" He tugged at it, already knowing full well there was no way to remove it, then snapped at the dog. "Platz, Sieghard! Voraus." Sigi slunk away from the bed, head down, only turning back to watch them once he'd reached the other side of the room.

After taking a moment to rub his temples, Edgeworth scowled up at the girl. "Ms. Rachel, I'm afraid you'll have to endure my company now."

[immortal_vino]

"Huh?" Claire watched them fight with the scarf, then shifted forward, closer. "You can't take it off?"

He took Rachel's hand gently, and inspected the knot, then followed the scarf with his eyes to Edgeworth's own wrist.

"There's a virus that ties people together?" he asked, bemused. "Why am I free?"

[ridingfree]

Rachel jumped at Edgeworth's unexpected reaction, offering him a wary glance before returning her attention to the knot. It didn't seem to be tied very tightly, but it didn't want to budge, either.

Perfect. Could this virus get any more ridiculous?

"People weren't kidding when they said these things caused trouble, were they," she sighed. It wasn't a question so much as confirmation to herself, possibly a hint of resignation. She glanced at Edgeworth from the corner of her eye. "I don't suppose there's any way to fix this, is there?"