THIS PARTY IS OFF DA HOOK...

[implying]

[ ...So here is an overflow log for the Versailles Masquerade ball! The last one is approaching 3000 comments, which DW asks communities to try and avoid going over, so you're welcome to move your threads here if you're having issues loading the big fat log.

NEW CHARACTERS: YOU ARE STILL WELCOME TO TAG IN! Just refer back to this entry for all the pretty HTML and setting set-up and such. Set up a new root comment, or continue individual threads — whatever's easiest for y'all. ]

Comments

[whatsupcroc]

( But you don't?

Collette doesn't answer straight away. Her fingers twitch, an outward indication of the desire to fiddle with something, anything, while she comes up with an answer.

She doesn't want to be as honest as she could be. It's scary enough to know that the pain that had been all consuming, that fire from the outside in, that was how she was exiting stage left in the grand scheme of things. She's not even sure if it was the worst pain in her life; the longer away from those agonizing moments, the more firmly it's faded in memory.

Pain isn't a stranger. Neither is loss. Collette's not sure if she's been running through the gambit of grief or not, just like the counselors had told her after her mom died. "You feel angry, and you feel denial, and eventually, you feel acceptance. It doesn't mean you won't cycle through, or skip forward and skip backward in the process." She taps her fingers on her armrest once, twice, then smiles.

No need to bring other people down with something she prefers not to think about anyway. )

Me, live forever? Pfft, of course not. That'd get boring!

( Living on borrowed time? There was no time to waste in feeling sorry for yourself. )

[bratworth]

[ Edgeworth has the niggling feeling that Collette is not being completely forthcoming, but it's one of those situations where he's more or less satisfied with what he does know. Right now, he feels, isn't the time to pester about bizarre alien invasions and what not. So he lets it drop, for the most part, committing this moment to memory. ]

Quite. It would indeed. So you've nothing particular in mind?

[whatsupcroc]

Me? Oh, no, I have a whole list! I'd love to win a game of Risk, try ostrich meat, make friends with at least one person who skateboards, find a lost treasure, go skiing, get kissed, get a boyfriend...

( She trails off with a grin and shrug of her shoulders. )

You know, all the important stuff.

( To a fifteen going on sixteen year old girl. )

Driving would be kind of cool too, but you try finding a hand pedal car and a driving instructor in Exsilium!

[bratworth]

[ He nods as he listens, almost wishing that he'd had a list of things he wanted to achieve in his life. But he couldn't -- not really. To do so would be to lose sight of his goal. ]

I'd imagine that it'd be quite difficult. In any case... [ he pauses, almost, but not quite, smiling. ] ... it's good to have goals.

[whatsupcroc]

( She glances up at him sideways, grinning at his general expression. )

Yeah. Yeah, it is. So what're yours?

[bratworth]

As I said earlier...[ He shrugs. ] They're mostly related to my career.

[whatsupcroc]

Mostly means they aren't all. SO what are the ones not related to being a prosecutor lawyer guy?

[bratworth]

[ He frowns, glancing to the side at nothing in particular. ]

That's personal, wouldn't you say?

[whatsupcroc]

( She watches him, making a noise of assent under her breath. )

Why is it you really don't want to say? Goals are personal, but... they're usually the sort of personal you share with friends. Dreams are too, but those are sometimes too personal to talk about out loud.

[bratworth]

Some people are simply more private than others by nature. [ And are less accustomed to having 'friends'. ]

[whatsupcroc]

It's okay. I'm patient.

( She smiles, looking down the hall. )

If it takes a lot of time, or if it doesn't, I promise I'll still want to hear about your dreams when you're ready to talk about them.

( She knows Phillip had his dreams, and he had been only three years older than Miles last time she'd seen him. Being older and being an adult didn't mean losing everything youthful about the soul!

Even if someone tended to act like a kind of absurd older uncle most the time. )

[bratworth]

[ Still pointedly avoiding looking right at her, he answers, quietly: ]

And if I never am? What then?

[whatsupcroc]

Then you've got a friend either way.

[bratworth]

[ For a moment he's touched, but then he's annoyed. Sticking his hands in his pockets, he frowns. ]

Sometimes I wish you wouldn't say things like that.

[whatsupcroc]

( He's like a socially awkward teen who isn't a teen at all and is all grown up and prosecuting people in cosplay. )

Why's that?

sorry i just got the mental image of edgeworth running around cons judging people's cosplay now

[bratworth]

[ He shrugs, trying to appear less awkward than he feels. ]

It's best not to make promises you can't keep.

you know he'd do it and now i just want someone TO do that

[whatsupcroc]

Some things you can't help doing even when you know you can't live up to them, but wow, this so totally isn't one of those things!

should definitely happen someday tbh YOU'RE NOT THE REAL STEEL SAMURAI...

[bratworth]

Isn't it?

[whatsupcroc]

It isn't. Friendship doesn't work that way.

[bratworth]

[ Like he knows anything about friendship. ]

... If you say so.

[whatsupcroc]

( He should friendship is only the best thing in the world to save you from loneliness and to have people at your back and and and and friends! )

Yep! Between the two of us, I'm betting I've got more experience with this sort of thing.

( She gives him a thumbs up. )

You'll figure it out for yourself one day.

[bratworth]

[ And despite himself, he almost smiles. Again with the infectious cheer, Collette. ]

Again with the promises.

[whatsupcroc]

I have faith. I hear it's a cool thing to have around every once in a while.

[bratworth]

Meaning that you don't think that I have enough.

[whatsupcroc]

Or that I think yours is slower to grow. Which is cool! It's part of you being who you are.