[VIDEO] Strange things...

[objectifythis]

Uh. Alright. So I've been spending some time in the library, and I had a question for anyone further forward in time than the year 2013:

Do chickens become the dominant species on Earth? And are lizards a major political party? ...Do either of them farm pickles in what is now considered the Middle East?

[She looks mortified to even be asking.]

I swear I have a good reason for asking.

[Pause.]

Also, Godot, I need to speak with you in person at your earliest convenience.

[Yikes, that sounded cold.]

Comments

[objectifythis]

I knew you--wait, what?

[That's not what she was expecting to hear. She had figured the boat was messing with her magatama's abilities somehow, or she was out of practice, and really he'd just been pulling her leg, but--he sounds genuinely confused.]

....Look.

[She starts grabbing the books around the room and stacking them in front of him, showing dozens of cases, all after 2016--when she supposedly died--all with the names "Diego Armando" and "Mia Fey" on the defense bench.

Except the ones after 2020. Those say "Fey-Armando" after their names.]

[waitingfortoast]

[And he takes them all from her, sitting right in the empty space on the floor, absorbed in the law texts like a little boy with his favorite fantasy novel. He flips through a few pages of each case, tosses the book aside and reaches for the next one Mia's placed.

He's mumbling about the years. The years are where the logic fails. Until he remembers:]

....wait. Didn't you say that these also dictate a future where we have avian overlords?

[And pickles??]

How could you possibly take any of this for fact?

[How could he have POSSIBLY been this taken with the concept of reading his own surname hyphenated with Mia's? Enough to forget his laughing fit over replacing republicans with reptiles?]

[objectifythis]

That...wasn't in these books. Those were a separate set. History books. Unrelated.

[She assumes he's trying to deflect her from this.]

These are all consistent. The facts align with each other. And according to them, I am not dead at ALL, nor is Diego Armando.

[She waits for a moment, fiddling with her magatama. She considers charging it, but...she's not convinced it's working properly.]

So why lie?

[waitingfortoast]

I didn't.

[He looks to her, visor flickering slightly in the low light of the room. His expression hasn't changed. There's no hint of a grin. If you want to play rough and tumble, Godot's not going to pull his punches anymore.]

Diego Armando was poisoned. That was quite a while back, like I said. Around 2013.

[He picks up a book he'd cast aside, flipping backwards, into an area of the text before where Mia had started going "conspiracy theorist" with her sticky notes marking pages. He's skimming as he speaks.]

Effective poison, but not effective enough. He fell into a coma for some time.

[Ah. Terry Fawles is in this book. He flips forward a bit, falling quiet as he reads.]

...Miss Fey, how exactly did the case with Terry Fawles turn out, in the end? Care to remind me? I'm starting to wonder if the information I have varies greatly from yours.

[objectifythis]

[She winces. Why bring that up now?]

...That was my first case. It ended when Terry Fawles poisoned himself on the stand. I haven't taken a case since.

[Her voice is quiet and unnaturally even, like she's trying to keep it from cracking or faltering. It's still pretty raw.]

[waitingfortoast]

[The cocky grin makes a triumphant, if quiet return.]

Gotcha.

[He grabs a stray pen, and underlines something in the text.]

Read that bit to me, kitten.

[You cannot challenge the master of condescension and expect to win, Mia Fey.]

the joke is he IS blind

[objectifythis]

[She cringes as the pen moves across the book. This book isn't hers to mark up. Even if it were, was he blind? Couldn't he see the sticky notes???

She reads it anyway.]

"...defendant Terry Fawles attempted to drink poison but was stopped before ingestion..."

[This is new. And this is WRONG. She starts skimming and skips ahead.]

"...verdict NOT GUILTY, Terry Fawles scheduled for retrial regarding kidnapping of Dahlia Hawthorne..."

[She looks about to fall over. According to this book, she hadn't lost her first case. Her defendant hadn't committed suicide.

She'd WON.]

I...I don't understand.

BADUMPTISH

[waitingfortoast]

Now you see.

[Who's the blind one, here?]

This doesn't reflect a reality I'm familiar with, either. So, it's fair to say, based on the information that I have, I still haven't lied.

[Not entirely. Not on something you'd attempt to check.]

[objectifythis]

I...No. This makes no sense.

[She reads the lines over and over, eventually sitting on the bed.]

That case was never concluded. Terry Fawles is dead and--

[Wait. Back up. What did he say a minute ago?]

Hold on. Back up. Diego Armando was poisoned? By whom?

[waitingfortoast]

[Aaaah, shit. Too much information.]

... the very same Dahlia Hawthorne of Terry Fawles fame.

keep trying mia

[objectifythis]

In 2013? You told me he died of a broken heart.

[So you DID lie!]

HE THINKS HE'S SMARTER THAN YOU, YOU'LL GET HIM EVENTUALLY

[waitingfortoast]

I told you that the poison was not very effective. He was comatose until 2017.

[Deaf AND blind, Miss Fey?]

HAH. WHAT A FOOL

[objectifythis]

At which point he died of unrelated causes? Besides, you claimed not to know much about him when clearly you do! Why take such a personal interest in this man's life if you never even met him?!

1/2

[waitingfortoast]

2/2

[waitingfortoast]

[Godot sits back a little bit, and crosses his arms. He feels a little stupid, having this conversation while sitting on the floor, but what can you do.

You know what, just because he's lost the game doesn't mean he can't have a good laugh.]

What exactly do you mean to insinuate here, Madame Attorney?

[objectifythis]

....Look. You obviously know a lot more about this than you're letting on. You know too much about me, about Mr. Armando, about my life--just. There's no way.

[She takes a second and breathes, gathering her thoughts.]

You look exactly like him. You sound exactly like him. Stars, you smell like him.

[She gives him her best Strike Fear In The Hearts of Evil glare.]

You know exactly what I'm insinuating, Mr. Armando.

[waitingfortoast]

I told you, Miss Fey.

[The smile is back, but... the spirit's not behind it anymore.]

Diego Armando was poisoned and put into a comatose state in 2013. Mia Fey died in an unrelated incident in 2016.

Armando did regain consciousness, briefly. But he died, as I've said.

In 2017. Of a broken heart.

[Put the pieces together if you're so clever, kitten.]

[objectifythis]

Cut the shit, Diego!

[Mia isn't using the magatama, but she's pretty sure she would have just shattered at least one psychelock just from her tone. She doesn't remember the last time she really yelled at someone like that.]

Stop lying to me! Do you think I'm stupid?! You look exactly like him!

[She's furious. Screaming at the top of her lungs.]

If it weren't for this RIDICULOUS mask, there would be NO WAY for you to hide it!!

[As if she's just had a brilliant idea, she jumps forward and quite literally rips the mask right off his face.]

[waitingfortoast]

[His head turns with the force of the pull, and the visor goes skittering across the floor, stopping with a soft "thunk" at Mia's night stand. He sucks in a deep breath, actually unnerved by Mia losing her patience with him. It happened, but it was such a rare thing, and her righteous fury was seldom seen outside of court.

There was normally a desk in the way, at least.

He can hear the visor clicking off in the distance with a soft hiss of steam. It was a temperamental thing, and Godot had figured out how to fix it by this point without actually seeing the damn thing. It was a necessity. Granted, it had never been physically thrown from his face more than once, and certainly not twice in the span of a month. He was able to get it working with bloody, frozen fingers last time, though, he should definitely be able to do it here.

Godot turns his head to at least give Mia a semblance of conversation, turning his milky white eyes towards where he thought she was. He was off by a good foot, at least. He quirks an eyebrow, unusually dark in contrast with his hair and eyes, and grins.]

I don't quite have the confetti to celebrate your accurate deductions, kitten.

[objectifythis]

I---I didn't--I'm sorr--

[She doesn't have the words. There he is, alright. Diego Armando. In all his glory.

And for once, something he was wearing wasn't just a fashion accessory.]

I...Didn't realize you're...

[She slowly goes and picks up the visor and almost hesitates giving it back to him--his face is definitely Diego's, but it's so much...older. Sadder. Heavier. She takes one of his hands and presses the visor into it.]

...I'm so sorry. I...I got carried away.

[waitingfortoast]

A man's entitled to his privacy. That's one of my rules.

[He vaguely wonders what his dumb mug looks like compared to the Armando Mia was familiar with. He can't see it without the visor.

And like hell he would consent to being photographed without it on.

The prosecutor rubs at a scar on the bridge of his nose before putting the visor back on. There's a switch nestled near where it rests over his ears. He flicks it on, and the glow returns. It falters every now and again, but, it's not even enough for him to be bothered with fixing it for now.]

Apology accepted, Mia.

[Godot speaks her proper name with soft reverence.]

[objectifythis]

I...didn't mean to go off like that.

[Yeah, she was pissed about him lying to her, but...That was way out of line.]

...Why lie, though? Why--why not just tell me who you are?

[waitingfortoast]

I'm mostly surprised you didn't get angrier sooner. I appreciate it happening between the two of us as opposed to with an audience.

[Granted, if this scene had happened in court like in his imagination, she couldn't get her hands on his damn visor.]

And, as I've said before: I haven't lied to you.

[Yet. His voice is softer, now, though, the familiar voice of her mentor, lover, whatever you wanted to call them. Diego Armando is, apparently, alive, and sitting criss-cross applesauce on the floor in front of her.]

I evaded answering, perhaps, but, to my knowledge, I still haven't lied. As to why...

[He clears his throat, and reaches for his coffee. It's still warm. Warm enough, anyway.]

... I remembered what you were like at that age. I wasn't to bring that woman up if I didn't have to. Unless you're not dealing with the panic attacks anymore?

[He was never sure if she'd gotten a handle on them before his poisoning or not.]

[objectifythis]

But...How can you say you haven't lied when you told me you were dead? You're sitting right in front of me!

[It's a metaphor, you see.]

And...not only that, but you fooled my magatama...

[She doesn't really want to comment on Dahlia, so she doesn't. She won't admit she's even having nightmares here. Or that some small part of her is almost relieved to be trapped here, away from her. ]

[waitingfortoast]

That's why you've been pursuing this so doggedly, eh? Because I confused the rock?

[He gestures vaguely at the Magatama with a lopsided, cocky grin. That's right. He fooled with the spirits from beyond... or something. Anyway, "doggedly" is probably the nicest adverb he could come up with. You have literally asked him about Diego Armando in every conversation you've had so far.]

The order of events, as I am aware of them, goes something like this:

One: Dahlia Hawthorne poisoned Diego Armando during an interview he was conducting in an attempt to gather the final pieces of the puzzle to be used against her in court.

Two: Their meeting place was fairly public, so concerned citizens were able to call for EMTs almost immediately. That woman might have called them herself. That's a detail I was never able to uncover.

Three: Though his life was saved, Armando fell comatose for five years.

Four: In 2016, you died in unrelated circumstances. I'll spare you details, again, unless you want them.

Five: In 2017, Armando regained consciousness. His first questions were, of course, after the wellbeing of his partner, Mia Fey. Considering Hawthorne had gone so far as to attempt to kill him, he could only assume Miss Fey had been next on her list. Mia Fey had survived Dahlia Hawthorne... but was, unfortunately, no longer alive.

It was there and then, that Armando died. Broken heart, as I've said. The shell of a man he left behind took on the name Godot as a working alias, for various reasons.

And, that is the man you see before you today.

[Time for a dramatic coffee sip.]