talldarkbitter | crywolf; mia

[ Going through the halls, he doesn't know how he manages not to just stop the moment they seem to be alone enough. Thinking of all the things he's going to say get him climbing the stairs to the second floor, where he pulls the key to his room.

It's as safe as it's going to be in there. It's dusty and empty, save for two beds and a lady's mannequin, which is wearing a flowing white dress.

Suddenly, all the things he could say don't matter quite so much in that moment, when he shuts the door and simultaneously cages her by it. Not pushing, not even touching yet, just blocking her from the rest of the room. Close.

Diego swallows thickly, the hand not leaning him against the wall lifting, shaky, to brush his fingertips across her cheek. Like he's afraid they'll pass right through. ]

I didn't think I'd ever see you again... in this life.

[ "In this life." There it is again, the simple, awful truth that everyone's been dancing around. Well, almost everyone.

But Mia's a smart girl. She knows how to put the evidence together. ]

I think I understand. You woke up- you woke up after I was dead, didn't you?

[ Her eyes trace the edges of his mask, and one hand raises slowly towards it. ]

[ He doesn't move to stop her. Her question has got his mouth in the hard lines of a frown. If Mia can't trust him to give her the hard truths, who can she trust? Not Wright, the coward. ]

After you were murdered.

[ Now that he's behind closed doors, emotions fill his voice. ]

I couldn't protect you, Mia. I'm sorry.

[ He failed. They're words he's been saying to the air for so long, half hoping she was still there. And then, after some of the things he'd done, wished she wasn't.

His mask begins to smoke a little, almost like something is fussing with the electrical system. ]

Don't- [ It's too much, it's too much all at once. He failed her? After all he'd done? After all that had been done to him? ]

Take this off. I want to see you.

[ He hesitates a moment, but then he lets his hand move back from her face, reaching back to undo the mask. There's a soft hiss of servos and then the great metal plate falls off in his hand, the lights on the visor now gone dark.

He looks at her with his real eyes, still brown but much paler than that dark roast they used to be. They're a little wet. There's a pale scar across his face from where a dagger nicked across years ago.

Diego's guilt and self-loathing has built up for so long by now, he's waiting for her disgust or her pity. But she asked, and damn if he can deny her anything right now. ]

[ She gasps quietly. The scar is new, so is the way his eyes don't seem to track or focus. It's hard to speak around the lump in her throat, but she had promised herself that the next time they spoke face to face, she'd be smiling like he taught her to. Her hands reach back up for his face, thumb swiping along the discolored flesh of his scar. ]

That's a good look for you.

[ ~~Thanks, your mom technically gave it to me.~~

Despite himself, Diego gives a little huff of laughter. It's an affectionate thing, more than mirthful, if such a thing is possible. He doesn't deserve her in the least.

But that isn't going to stop him from leaning in to kiss her smiling mouth. Alive, Mia is alive. Nothing else matters. ]

[ The familiarity of this floods back into her. His coffee-dark scent, the callouses on his hands, the prick of his beard, all the sensations that she'd done her best to put out of mind- they hit her all at once, making her feel warm, head to toe.

She makes a small, involuntary noise into the kiss, her hand slipping around the back to his neck to pull him against her. Diego is here, Diego is awake, Diego is kissing her. It's not the only thing that matters, but it's pretty damn important. ]

[ AFTER SOME APPROPRIATE AMOUNT OF CRYING AND/OR MAKING OUT it's time to get down to business. just like all the other times it was time to get down to business after a lot of making out. Mia is straightening up her blazer and adjusting scarf over hickies expertly. ]

... in any case, what do you make of the situation? If we're trying to root out bad apples, there's a shiny red one that's hard to miss.

Edited 2015-03-02 08:42 (UTC)

[ It was highly inappropriate ( like most of the other times ), but Diego was feeling, for once in a long time, close to happy. Of course, he's too old for dopey smug smiles, but he's considerably more relaxed.

He sits on the bed, smoothing out his wrinkled tie and his slacks. ]

It's someone's sick game of life and death and treachery. About half of the people here are actually convicts.

Still, when it comes to who's getting picked tonight, I've only got one person in mind.

Hawthorne.

[ It isn't a question. ]

[ He taps the end of his nose. ]

We may all be doomed no matter what and it's just a matter of deciding which order we go in. It's impossible to tell this thing's motives or its goals at this moment. The clock is ticking. If we're going to possibly find a way out of here, we've got to figure out who to throw on the fire in the meantime.

[ He doesn't like it. Of course he doesn't like it. But that's how it is. ]

...

Of course, your protege is out there playing Clue.

If someone has to burn, we should make sure it's the actual witch. She has no business outside of hell anyway.

[ SHE DOESN'T MIND IT ONE BIT. Not if it's Hawthorne. ]

Protege... erm, you mean Phoenix Wright?

That's... yes.

[ His bitter heart warms a little for what she says about Dahlia. It's exactly his sentiments. ]

I guess that's after your time.

[ And his, to an extent. ]

I'm not sure what he did to win you over to training him. But it's a fact.

[ Yes well, she's still a little sore on the whole "murdered my boyfriend" thing. Certainly Armando can sympathize. ]

I'll talk to him, I know he's a good kid, but an attorney?

In any case, I won't accept that this is a hopeless situation. I won't let anything happen to you or Maya, or even Mr. Wright.

[ and after a little bit of talking in the main post Mia marches right back up to his room, kicks the door open and proceeds to put her fist right through that mannequin ]

[ and then rip the dress up ]

[ and then just like. is there a dresser in here? time to flip that.

how about a desk? yes? no? NOT UNFLIPPED THERE'S NOT.

SORRY BLACKQUILL BED, TIME FOR A FLIPPING ]

Edited 2015-03-05 04:56 (UTC)

[ then she.

straightens out her suit

shakes out her hand.

and sits down on the nearest rubble ]

Well, I'm open to ideas.

And you should know, I don't care, even if you are the "bad badgers."

Diego, be honest with me. We can find a way out of this. Together.

[ Her anger is an echo of his soul right now, which means... he's pretty calm as he watches her tornado through his and Blackquill's room. ]

That girl is dead, Mia. You wouldn't care if I had something to do with it?

[ she's trying to smile like he taught her. damn is she trying. but up here when it's just him, the mask slips more easily ]

The bad badgers didn't have "something to do with it." They were coerced into action, just like everyone down there is being coerced into picking which of us-

It's insane to keep playing along with this!

So why are we?

I'm not. I'll protect Maya however I need to, but I won't lose you either! Not when you're finally standing beside me again!

We have to take this game apart and we only have a few hours to do it in.

[ She's right, of course. ]

...

We don't know much. The badger is supposed to be a mascot of the police department. He's given us all the names of murderers and calls us by them. I'm not sure if that's any sort of a solution, though, since not all of us are innocent.

Supposedly this place is modeled after a theme park attraction in Gatewater Lake. That doesn't mean anything to me. But out of everything in this mansion, there's truly only one locked door.

Edited 2015-03-05 06:30 (UTC)

I doubt we'll have any luck trying to force it. We need to find a way to break the rules themselves.

[ Breaking rules? A man with quite a few of them for himself has to twitch a little. ]

We tried not voting yesterday. That was met with punishment.

I've been wondering about the legitimacy of that, but seeing as several people have now crossed in and out of them... It's hard to say.

Those mirrors . . . this has to be some kind of illusion. There's no way all of this is real. But how to break that illusion?

Wright's run into them enough that we can probably safely assume the mirrors can't break.

Good ol' Phoenix Wright. I'm surprised his head didn't break.

crywolf; mia

evening the 1st;

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