wunderkind | (no subject)

wunderkind

STUFF GOES IN HERE

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From:

doggedly

[He laughs, again, at that--a miserable little laugh, but a laugh all the same--and takes a long drag on his cigarette before he answers.]

Yeah, well, everything pales in comparison to quidditch victories. Maybe I'd better stick to my original plan for the future and just do quidditch, or I'll never end up feeling-- fulfilled.

[The walls around them are bare, but Sirius chooses a point on the wall opposite of them and stares there instead of looking around at Edgeworth, taking another drag on his cigarette. He's monumentally tired, suddenly, and he reaches up to rub his hand over his eyes, sucking in a breath that's more than a little ragged.]

Merlin. I'm tired of waiting here. When the hell are they going to tell us what's going on and what we've got to do.

[The sooner he knows, the sooner he can start to work out what's in store for him, what options he's got for the future. Slim to none, probably. He doesn't think that with any self-pity: it's a fact, that's all.]

From:

jurisimpudent

When they know, I suppose.

[Edgeworth is quiet a moment. What are the possibilities before them? A trial is one possibility, to show that they're being fair, and either a conviction (if the Ministry feels it has a great deal to prove) or an acquittal (if it wants to publicly distance itself from the Death Eaters). Another possibility is letting them go; that's not out of the question, since the two of them could cause quite a mess for the Ministry and this would just wash away the mess. That they'll be killed in this room is a third possibility, if Voldemort survives, or if his followers wrest control of the case from the honest...

Miles doesn't even want to consider the last as a possibility. But as Sirius had said, those days ago - the Ministry isn't pure. Not like Miles would like it to be.]

You can go to sleep.

[He says that to Sirius, a bit quiet.]

I can keep watch. Until something happens. I'll wake you.

From:

doggedly

[He laughs again, quietly, pushes his hand over his eyes again with a long exhale.]

Yeah. D'you think you could sleep, right now?

[The door is still shut when he opens his eyes, much as he wishes it weren't. Someone needs to just come along and tell them what to do, right now--better than this endless fucking waiting.]

Exploding snap?

[It's a joke, really. One of the first real ones he's made, to Edgeworth, and he doesn't look over at him when he says it, but it's there anyways.]

From:

jurisimpudent

[And Edgeworth can hear that joke in his voice. It's strange to hear the humor in Sirius' voice - not because he's not heard it before; many times he's heard it, though it was always cruel, mocking, jeering. Just quiet good humor, a pointless thoughtless joke born of boredom, is...

Nice.

So Edgeworth offers a quietly sardonic suggestion of his own:]

Gin rummy?

[And he offers a little smile. It's an aggressively Muggle game, a game Sirius Black has probably never heard of before, but Sirius will probably get the joke. And they're long past the point where Miles feels defensive about how he grew up.]

Though unfortunately, I don't have any cards with me. Twenty questions, perhaps?

From:

doggedly

[And again, despite himself, Sirius laughs, a little. Because he does get the joke, actually, in that he doesn't have a bloody clue what gin rummy could possibly mean, and like hell he'd play it if he did.]

You mean it's got a name like that and there's not even any drinking involved? Muggle games are miserable things.

[He jams the heel of his boot against the floor and grinds it gently back and forth, letting out another exhale of smoke.]

And your alternate suggestion isn't much better. Beast, vegetable, or-- what's the other. Mineral.

From:

jurisimpudent

Animal, vegetable, or mineral. "Beast vegetable mineral" has the wrong rhythm altogether.

[But that correction is gentle. There's a strange, easy sort of rhythm to speaking about nonsense with Sirius Black. Edgeworth's outlook with regards to talk is usually rather Puritan: a conversation ought to have a point, a use, or else it's frivolous and thereby useless. But simply sitting and chatting mindlessly with Sirius is oddly nice. Even in these circumstances - or perhaps particularly in these circumstances.]

And you'll forgive us our naming conventions, I hope; we haven't anything spectacular, so we have to rely on our imaginations. Not like wizards, who last engaged their imaginations in the fourteenth century.

[And then he leans back and says, idly:]

Vegetable.

From:

doggedly

Sorry we can't be as imaginative as you and your rhythms. I suppose we try to make up for it with, y'know. Magic, and things. Explosions. Games that aren't played with plain boring cards.

[Wizarding superiority is unquestioned--even if in this context, it's the superiority of wizarding games, and mostly (mostly) meant as a joke.

And this is so stupid, all of this is so stupid--but it's also a distraction, better than anything else at the moment, and so Sirius takes another drag on his cigarette and asks:]

Wizard or muggle vegetable?

From:

jurisimpudent

[Edgeworth's answer is surprisingly easy and surprisingly casual. He knows that comparing the muggle and wizarding worlds might lead to interpersonal ugliness once again, but at the moment, at the very least, he's brave enough to risk it.]

Objects can never be boring. Only the people who fail to use them in an interesting way.

[He leans back in his seat, settling the back of his head against the wall.]

Both.

From:

doggedly

[He glances over at Edgeworth at that, mildly. Really, that's what this glance says. They're not really going to argue this now, are they, because that would probably be a mistake.]

I'm not boring.

[It lacks the snarl it might have had before. And anyway, he's playing stupid Twenty Questions, isn't he. Surely that's testament enough to what he's game for.]

Has it got a flower?

From:

jurisimpudent

[Edgeworth's glance is equally mild.]

Then you'd enjoy the game.

[Simple as that. No questioning, and a moment later:]

No, it hasn't.

From:

doggedly

[He snorts, dismissively, like: we'll see. But he hasn't stopped playing yet, for lack of anything better to do, and--maybe a little--for the sake of his pride. He doesn't lose. He certainly doesn't lose muggle games.]

Used in potions?

From:

jurisimpudent

[And Edgeworth shakes his head.]

No.

From:

doggedly

[He nods, absently. Right.]

Used for decoration? And only decoration, not like-- y'know, food, or anything.

From:

jurisimpudent

[He shakes his head at once.]

No.

From:

doggedly

[He's beginning to lose a bit of patience with the game, but at the same time, his determination to win at it outweighs that--at least for now--]

So, used for food?

From:

jurisimpudent

[A nod of confirmation.]

That's correct.

From:

doggedly

[He taps his foot against the floor, considering.]

Usually cooked?

From:

jurisimpudent

[Edgeworth nods encouragingly.]

Almost always. It can theoretically be eaten raw, but rarely is.

From:

doggedly

[Well, that doesn't actually... help. Seeing as Sirius hasn't cooked a meal in his life. He squints, considering.]

Is it green?

From:

jurisimpudent

On the outside.

From:

doggedly

[At that, he stares over at Edgeworth, suspiciously.]

What.

From:

jurisimpudent

[Edgeworth looks back.]

What do you mean, what. It's green on the outside. The inside isn't green. Honestly.

From:

doggedly

[He snorts.]

Really! Thank you. And what the hell is like that, that's what. You're not cheating at this, are you? If the answer is some riddle, that counts as bloody cheating--

From:

jurisimpudent

Cheating - A vegetable that's green on the outside but white on the inside. That's not precisely ambiguous. Cheating - I do beg your pardon!

From:

doggedly

[He scoffs, disgusted.]

Well, it might have been! Half the time these answers are just--idiotic riddles--

Look, you don't need to get so shirty about it, all right, if it's not cheating and it's not a riddle then you've nothing to worry about, yeah? Calm down. I can't think of a bloody vegetable like that, but I'll take your word for it.