paixaorpg | OSNAPS [Open]

Entry tags:

OSNAPS [Open]

Character(s): Miles, Dias, Hojo
Content: One of the most devastating things of his life--Miles is suddenly dirt. Poor.
Setting: Morem o Lisboa in Muspelheim
Time: Early Saturday morning
Warnings: None, except for Dias might be hella pissed...

This couldn't be real. Surely this must be some sort of sick, twisted nightmare and he'd awaken in the elevator at the Prosecutor's Office any minute now.

Aaaany minute now.

Okay. So maybe it wasn't a dream. But this surely couldn't be real.

"There must be some mistake," Edgeworth managed to utter at the woman behind the desk. "I had almost half a million dollars in that account." He, of course, conviniently decided to leave out the part that he'd used the card multiple times--it wasn't lying, that was for sure. Just like how using a supposedly 'void' card here wasn't stealing.

"I'm sorry, sir, but this card here says you have nothing in your account," the woman said, shaking her head and putting the card back up on the counter where he rested his arms. He stared at it a moment, slackjawed and feeling a stab of betrayal--he wasn't exactly sure how a bank card could betray him, but it obviously had.

So this is what it was like to be broke. He'd heard Gumshoe talk about it constantly--"Oh man, pal! Whatta great setup you've got here! I wish I had the money to afford digs like this!" "My steak lunch is missing!! That took HALF of what was left of my paycheck to buy!!!" -- but Edgeworth never thought he'd ever have to fall into poverty.

He glanced over his shoulder at the suddenly very tall mercenary and swallowed. Miles never thought he'd have to face an angry fighter that he owed five thousand dollars because he needed him to go to a castle to save his friend from 4th Grade's 'sidekick.'

First time for everything. Unfortunately, he could've done without this rather new and life-threatening experience.

The attorney turned, trying to look as unshaken as he could (he couldn't hide the paleness of his features), and said, very quietly, "I'm sorry, but it appears that... I have no money."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Dias, with his arms folded over his chest and a scowl on his face, definitely made for a menacing figure. But the truth of the matter was that, although he very much wanted to explode, or possibly to haul off and punch Edgeworth in the face as he'd been itching to do ever since his earlier smugness, he found that he was more resigned than infuriated. For one thing, he HAD been doing his best to anticipate the worst, which softened the blow somewhat...and for another, he just couldn't convince himself that Edgeworth had deliberately meant to cheat him after seeing how shaken he was by the news that his mysterious little card was no good. Dias might not have been an expert judge of actors, but the way the lawyer looked now - pale and vaguely stunned, as if his entire world had fallen out from beneath him...

Even if Dias hadn't recognized the expression, some things just couldn't be faked.

"So I hear," he replied, somewhat wearily. The entire job had been a complete waste of time, then - and he was going to have to explain to Al and the others that he hadn't made them any money after all. That would be pleasant... "What do you intend to do about it?"

Hojo was lurking behind the two other men, looking vaguely smug. Really, he should have known something like this would happen.

"Well, you could get me a healer and put the lab back together, maybe find me three new specimens, so the whole mission is reversed. That's as good as a refund, right?" He tilted his head, trying not to smirk too much.

Miles gave Hojo an almost murderous glance (just in case looks could kill) before turning rather hopelessly back to Dias. He opened and closed his mouth, trying to speak but instead looking more like a fish out of water.

Edgeworth straightened and ran a hand through his hair, trying to regain his composure, and went to speak again.

"...Sir?" The woman behind the desk asked rather timidly. "How will you be paying for your rooms, since your card is void?"

The Prosecutor turned to look at the woman, donning that sad, stricken look again before leaning heavily on the counter, looking significantly paler than before (if that were even possible). He glanced back up at the now-monstrous-looking mercenary and drew a long breath before speaking again.

"...I feel ill."

Dias studied Edgeworth for a moment, then glanced at Hojo - no help there; the scientist seemed almost amused by the predicament. Then he looked at the woman behind the counter (if it were a man, Dias might have tried bullying him, but intimidating women was something he generally preferred to avoid) before looking back at the increasingly pale Edgeworth again. The lawyer looked like he was going to be sick...which was understandable, given that Dias had suspected from first meeting him that he was the type of man who relied heavily on money, and lots of it.

And now he had no money at all, and either he or all the people he hired would be suffering for it to make up for the price of the rooms.

...Damn it.

Dias still had quite a bit of fol left over from his last job, money he'd planned on drawing out to be divided between him and his companions. But there had been that advertisement by that woman Morrigan...and she had said that he could name his price, if he was interested...and he was probably the only man among them with both the money and the inclination to cover Edgeworth's debt.

Of course, this meant he'd have to take the job with Morrigan, which he'd hoped to be able to avoid...but he didn't have much choice.

"I'll pay," he said flatly, stepping up beside Edgeworth. "How much does he owe?" It was Cecille's influence, he decided, bringing out his better nature against his own better judgment. It had to be.

"Oh, this is just beautiful," Hojo said with a soft chuckle. "Aren't we lucky that we found such a kind-hearted mercenary to travel with us? Going out and risking himself in such dangerous circumstances and then paying for things after he's been cheated." It was all really too funny; either that or Riku had hit him in the head one two many times and he was a bit more insane. It was difficult to tell. "Tell me, are you always this... hospitable?"

When the mercenary neglected to answer Hojo, Miles took it upon himself to respond to the scientist. He folded his arms irritably over his chest, drumming all his fingers on his elbow now to expel his adrenaline.

"You should be thankful you find yourself within such hospitable company, Mr. Hojo. If you weren't--" Edgeworth made a pointed glance at the wound in his shoulder. "--you'd have alot worse than that." He brushed at the denim jacket he'd borrowed from Cid (borrowed? More like had thrown in his face) and sighed, looking at Dias.

"I'm terribly sorry you have to pay," he said, clearing his throat. "You can be sure you'll get every penny of what I owe you..." Miled trailed off, trying to think of how he'd ever be able to raise that much money. "...Sometime in the future. And if you ever need representation in court, please don't hesitate to call me."

Dias had chosen not to answer Hojo for a reason, that reason being that there was no answer he could give that would sound sane. There was no way to explain that he hadn't wanted to disappoint the spirit of his dead sister without sounding like a lunatic, and Hojo at least thought little enough of him already.

Edgeworth, however, had finally reversed policy on him, or so it seemed - at least if his speaking up in Dias' defense meant anything. Of course, considering that he was paying off the man's debt for him, Edgeworth probably just wanted to keep Dias in his unexpectedly generous mood...

"Forget about it," Dias muttered, giving up his five thousand fol (or the equivalent in Miles' money) as entirely lost. From Miles' description of what a lawyer did, he couldn't imagine the man would find any call in Paixao for his particular talents...and he didn't seem to possess many other talents that could earn him any money at all, much less as much as he'd need to repay Dias. "I need the money faster than you could possibly get it to me, and I should have another job soon." He raked a hand through his hair, dragging his bangs away from his face for a moment. "...I don't know what I'm going to tell my companions, though."

Hojo shot a glare in Miles's direction. "Doctor Hojo, if you please," he said flatly, an a way that conveyed more of an order than a reminder.

"...I don't know what I'm going to tell my companions, though."

"Tell them the truth. Tell them you were lied to, and that you were too nice to just leave the one who lied to you to deal with his debt alone. Really, while it's sort of pathetic, they can't very well fault you." A perfectly brilliant way to deal with it, in Hojo's opinion.

Miles smirked weakly, still paled and trembling slightly from the adrenaline.

"I know full well what your title is, Hojo. And I can assure you that I will be the one apologizing to his companions. Though--" he put his hands on his hips and glared at Hojo. "I'm not so sure why I don't make you pay for the room."

Hojo's lip curled. "Because you know very well I can't," he spat. "I have very little money myself, hardly enough to cover a place like this, and what I do have is going to go towards fixing my shoulder. I say we just leave now." He didn't care who heard him. Really, he highly doubted anyone from the hotel could stop them if Dias was at all inclined to help.

"It's so comforting to know that we have so much in common, Hojo," Miles said, sneering at Hojo in a similar fashion. His patience was stretched to the limit with this rather recalcitrant, annoying excuse for a scientist. He was getting rather keen to the idea of shooting him again to shut him up--

He shuddered, remembering how the injury looked last night. It wouldn't do to even joke about that.

The prosecutor frowned in distaste at Hojo's suggestion--had this man no morals at all?

"I, personally, do not wish to be thrown in jail," Edgeworth said, folding his arms again. "Though it seems that you enjoy getting yourself into trouble. Do you make this a habit where you come from? Or do they even have laws there?"

"Enough," Dias growled, in a voice that might not necessarily demand obedience but that, at least, strongly recommended it. "Since I'm the one paying, I think I'll decide what we do." Turning back to the rather intimidated girl at the counter, he pulled out what fol he had and handed over what she'd requested, sometime between Miles' and Hojo's snippy comments...leaving him with much less to spare than he liked. But there wasn't much he could do about that now.

That taken care of, he turned his attention to Miles. Dias was too irritated with the scientist at the moment to acknowledge him. "I don't know if we'd have to worry in any case. I don't know about you, but I haven't seen any sign of law enforcement since we got here. I don't know if they have jails here, much less guards to haul us to one."

Miles blinked, letting Dias's statement set in before he began to pale.

No law enforcement? How on earth did this city manage to survive without collapsing into a heap of chaotic anarchy? Edgeworth shuddered out the very idea of this place lacking any sort of judicial system or police squad.

"Reguardless of whether or not there are authorities here, just because we can do something doesn't mean we should," Miles said irritably, tapping his finger against his elbow once again. "Of course--" He glared pointedly at Hojo. "--It's obvious that some of us don't have any morals to speak of."

Hojo just scowled, standing up a bit straighter so he could look down his nose at the irritating attourney. "I'm a scientist," he said, sounding snide. "My specialty is information, not morality. I leave nonsense like that to the lawyers."

Dias was thoroughly fed up with both Miles and Hojo, who seemed more intent on bitching at each other than they did about worrying about their next move despite the fact that they were both broke in a strange city. The swordsman reflected - as he did quite frequently - that the phrase 'common sense' was and had perhaps always been an oxymoron, given how exceedingly rare it was to find a person who possessed it.

Regardless, the one piece of good news was that Miles and Hojo, and whatever problems they had between them(a lot of them, if Dias was any judge), were no longer his problem. He'd done more for them than anyone could have expected, and as they continued to argue, he brushed past them and headed for the door leading back out onto the streets of Paixao. He'd contact Al and the others over the journals, arrange a different meeting place, since there wasn't any reason for him to hang around here any longer...

He almost made it to the door, but his conscience wasn't to be left behind that easily. After a quiet and rather blasphemous curse under his breath as he paused in the doorway, he glanced over his shoulder at Miles and Hojo. "What are you going to do now?" It was hard to tell which of them he might have been addressing the question, but given that Hojo was on his bad side, it had probably been Miles.

Edgeworth was about to throw another quip at the annoying scientist but stopped himself as Dias murmured at the two of them. Miles spoke first, not wanting Hojo to cut in with something relating to how they had blown up his lab and his life, or whatever guilt trip the taller man wanted to lay.

"I'm... not exactly sure," Miles said uneasily, looking down at the ground. "I wouldn't have worried as much before... but now..." He glanced back up at the blue-haired man. "I suppose for the moment, I can go back to Mr. Highwind's and look for work in that area."

...Jobhunting. He almost shivered at the thought.

No plan. Pretty much as Dias had suspected, but still...damn it. If Cecille had been standing just behind him, he couldn't have been more aware of the feeling of her watching him. Probably he was insane, feeling that he couldn't let down the expectations of his dead sister, but frankly his sanity didn't enter into it. He knew what he felt he had to do, and whether he was sane or not wasn't going to prevent him from doing it.

Neither was reluctance. But still...damn it!

"In a world that might very well not have a legal system of any sort, much less one that mirrors your own world's system, I doubt there's anything you're qualified to do that would earn you enough money to live on," Dias informed Miles, with his usual deficiency of tact. "But I might be able to help you."

Aggravating as it was - at least Alphonse and Yuna and Tidus were friendly, whereas Edgeworth was a pompous ass and Hojo was a conniving, amoral rat with certain bestial tendencies - Dias never really even seriously considered refusing his aid. Even if he was only doing it for Cecille...he owed it to her to go along with her wishes, or what they would likely have been had she still been alive to have wishes. It was the very least he could do for her now - it was all he could do for her.

"In a world that might very well not have a legal system of any sort, much less one that mirrors your own world's system, I doubt there's anything you're qualified to do that would earn you enough money to live on. But I might be able to help you."

Miles looked at Dias as though he'd grown a second head. Not only did the lawyer owe this man a great sum of money just for one job, but he'd also paid for their hotel and now he was offering to help them?

He wasn't sure if Dias was very kind, or very stupid. Either way, the blue-haired man looked very reluctant to offer help in the first place--so why....?

"Your help is most appreciated," Miles said, slowly, as though testing the waters to make sure the taller man wasn't going to explode if he accepted. "And I can assure you that I will be repaying you as soon as I can--I don't like being indebted to others."

Edgeworth sighed, looking out towards the doorway.

"In any case, we've got to be heading back towards Mr. Highwind's to return the buggy, and I've got to find Mr. Wright." He glanced up at Dias, cocking his head slightly. "You wouldn't have happened to see either Miss Fey or Wright....?"

"Don't worry about it," Dias muttered with a wave of one hand. "I'm already supporting three other people in your position, one more or less couldn't possibly make that much difference." It seemed as though he might have been excluding Hojo from his offer, which was...only natural, given their attitudes toward each other.

At the mention of Maya - Dias winced. There was simply no other word for it. "I did room with her for the night," he pointed out somewhat darkly. "When I left her, she was still sleeping, although she might be awake by now." Oh, hell. He hadn't even thought about the fact that further association with Miles might mean further association with the lecture-prone Maya...

Too late to worry about it now...

Miles blinked. Three others? Edgeworth didn't claim to know Dias at all, but he certainly didn't seem like the type to take charges--rather, he seemed quite the opposite. But regardless of how much of a good semeritan Dias was, Miles still couldn't help but feel guilty for... what was it called...? "Mooching."

The lawyer wrinkled his brow at Dias's response.

"We have to find them before we leave--where are you headed next?"

Hojo scowled a bit, thinking. Of course he would be excluded from this happy little group... he really would have been surprised if they'd suggested otherwise. Still, he didn't much like the thought of going off alone in a place that was proving to be less and less familiar the more he saw of it.

So, he determined, he was going to stick around whether they wanted him or not.

...Not that they had to know this right away, of course.

"Well," Dias said with a slight shrug, "if you're looking for Maya, she's probably still asleep, so looking in our room would be the first thing to do. As to where I was planning on going next..." He paused briefly. "There was someone offering work over the journals a little while ago. I wasn't interested at the time, because I thought I'd be getting paid for this job - but now I probably ought to look her up. She said I could name my price, and I'll probably need to name a pretty high one."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

OSNAPS [Open]

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject