[RL 34: Happy birthday to me?; Edgeworth, Mikaela, Ema, Pearl, Tyki]

[samuraiprosecutor]

Instead of the ding of the elevator, Edgeworth’s arrival at the third floor was heralded by the swish and click of the stairwell door opening and closing. The sound was followed by the soft, deliberate tread of his leather loafers on the thick carpeting as he swept down the hallway, his metal briefcase brushing against his pants as he walked and his suit jacket slung over his arm. His eyes were downcast, his expression thoughtful…until he came near enough to his apartment for the people waiting outside of it to enter his peripheral vision.

Edgeworth’s gaze shot up, and he froze in the middle of the hall, processing the presence of the three familiar figures and the reason for it. Thoughts of the quiet evening ahead—a birthday celebration that was supposed to have consisted of the two gifts he’d purchased for himself the day before, a bottle of a 100 point cabernet and a new mystery novel—fled from his mind. Only a single possibility was left; before considering the likelihood of said possibility, he found himself meeting Mikaela’s gaze and asking sharply, “Has something happened?”

Comments

[know-sacrifice.livejournal.com]

Mikaela, listening for the ding of the elevator while she waited with Pearl and the girl who'd introduced herself as Ema, missed Mr. Edgeworth's emergence from the stairwell at first. It wasn't until he came close enough that she could hear his steps that she began to turn, and then he was close enough to catch her eye and rap out that...rather unexpected question.

For a moment, she looked really confused, her brow furrowed quizzically. She shifted the box in her arms--her gift to Mr. Edgeworth, a cake from the gourmet bakery in Tranquility and the best she could do on short notice--and said, "No, nothing's happened. We're, uh... Uh." She paused, bit at her lip, and continued with determined cheer, "Happy birthday, Mr. Edgeworth!"

[makinganote.livejournal.com]

Ema'd been taking notes for a few minutes now about this apartment, not quite expecting Mr. Edgeworth, the Mr. Edgeworth to live in a place that seemed so...well, normal. An actual apartment with other people. She half suspected in the back of her head, that he lived in his office, and this was just a decoy or something. It didn't feel like...any place particularly special, no aura of frilliness and law.

Well, until she heard footsteps in the stairwell, and all of a sudden he was there. She nearly dropped her goggles, midway through trying to demonstrate how they worked. She was glad she decided to store the pen in a small box in her lab coat pocket. It took a moment for her brain to catch up to what was happening before she said, "Happy Birthday, Mr. Edgeworth!"

If her voice cracked just a little and went quiet, she'd deny it forever. For the record.

[nick-4-maya.livejournal.com]

For a while now, Pearl had been getting worried that they'd miss Mr. Edgeworth altogether - she knew that he thought work was very important, and especially with the search for Phoenix that was going on, and she also knew that he didn't seem to care much about celebrations, even his own birthday. So when she heard his footsteps, she turned with a wide smile.

Even if his question was a bit odd, it only took a few seconds of blinking before she stepped forward. She was determined for his birthday to be a good one, after all! "It's your birthday, Mr. Edgeworth!" she said, clutching the small box with the card taped messily on top of it. "A-and, we thought that we might surprise you..."

Her voice trailed off a little. Maybe that had been a bad idea?

[samuraiprosecutor]

The chorus of birthday wishes again brought his thoughts to a temporary, jarring halt. In the flash of fear he’d forgotten for a moment that it even was his birthday, and it took him several more long moments of staring to recapture his train of thought from a half a minute earlier. The concern that had tightened in his chest eased, only to be replaced by a wariness of an entirely different sort.

He glanced between the three girls, and finally found his (only slightly unsteady) voice. “I hoped everyone would have forgotten the date,” he said, cocking an eyebrow pointedly at the girls before he moved around them, reaching for the door.

He paused with his key an inch from the lock, and turned a stern glance on Mikaela.

“I trust I won’t find the entire community waiting inside for me?”

[know-sacrifice.livejournal.com]

When Mr. Edgeworth was silent for so long, Mikaela started to get worried. Was he mad at them, for showing up unannounced? She wouldn't put it past him to be annoyed, honestly; he did seem like the kind of guy who valued his privacy, but would he be mad enough at them to tell them to leave?

But no, he didn't, and that was a relief, even if his reaction was, well, less positive than she would have liked. She stepped back, giving him room to get to the door.

"God, I hope not," she blurted without thinking, not exactly expecting the question. She realized how bad that sounded a moment later, and shook her head quickly. "As far as I know," she said, "it's only us. Pearl kinda organized it, though..." She turned to the little girl. "Did anyone else say they were coming, sweetie?"

[nick-4-maya.livejournal.com]

Pearl shook her head. "No, no one else said they were going to come, so it should just be us," she answered quickly, relieved that Mr. Edgeworth hadn't seemed to get angry. She hadn't wanted to bring too many people anyway, because she knew that he didn't like that, but she hoped that he wouldn't be too cross with her now that he knew it had been Pearl's idea...

[tyki-tock.livejournal.com]

It was getting on later in the evening. Pearl was beginning to show signs of sleepiness and the cake was at least half demolished. It was at that point that the last 'guest' arrived at Edgeworth's door.

He didn't bother with buzzers or security doors. In fact, they were probably lucky he bothered with doors at all. Tyki walked up to Edgeworth's apartment door, raised his hand and knocked.

[samuraiprosecutor]

Edgeworth paused mid-sentence as the sound echoed through the apartment. For a moment his heartbeat quickened...but the expression on Sigi's face, as he walked around the couch to look at the door, was more curious than intent.

Edgeworth shot a suspicious glance at the girls (one of whom had fallen asleep).

"You took the liberty of inviting a fourth guest?"

[makinganote.livejournal.com]

Ema looked puzzled, halfway through a cup of coffee, and shook her head.

"I don't think I invited anyone else?"

[know-sacrifice.livejournal.com]

Mikaela reached out to pat Sigi as he went by, twisting carefully--she didn't want to jostle the sleeping Pearl too badly--to look curiously at the door herself. Shaking her head, she turned just as carefully back to Mr. Edgeworth. "I didn't invite anybody either," she said with a curious little frown.

[samuraiprosecutor]

The frown was matched and amplified by Edgeworth's dour look. Belatedly, he began to wonder precisely how their celebration was planned out. Even as the thought occurred to him, he knew that the community must have played a part--Mikaela's presence made that clear. The only question was in how public that part may have been.

Edgeworth rose to his feet, maneuvered his way around the ottoman and the dog standing beside it, and strode to the front door, Sigi following at his heels. Before the knock could sound again he unlocked the door and swung it open, glowering into the hallway.

The figure he found there left him momentarily speechless.

[tyki-tock.livejournal.com]

Tyki beamed as the door opened, and stepped in - around Edgeworth - without waiting for an invitation. "Good evening Edgeworth. I heard that it was your birthday, and I just thought that I might-- Oh, you have guests!"

He turned away from Edgeworth, sweeping off his hat. "Mikaela I recognize, though it's a pleasure to finally meet you in person, my dear. But these two lovely ladies, I don't know." He bows to Mikaela, and then to Ema, smiling charmingly. "Tyki Marquise - and you are?"

[samuraiprosecutor]

Edgeworth bristled at the dismissal and spun away from the still open door, following Mikk into the apartment. He crossed his arms and planted himself firmly in the man's line of sight, and Sigi joined him. Whether the dog remembered Mikk's prior visit to the apartment or was simply picking up on Edgeworth's blatant clues, his ears and head were lowered warily.

"Regardless of what may have been said on the community, this celebration isn't an open invitation," he interrupted coldly.

[makinganote.livejournal.com]

Ema blinks when someone...well, someone she hasn't met before enters. She doesn't know whether that's a good thing yet, but Mr. Edgeworth doesn't seem to like him so much. Then again, Mr. Edgeworth doesn't...seem to like a lot of people so much. And he does seem very polite, whoever this new person is, and he even has a hat. So she waves, slightly, and smiles at him, just a little.

"Um! My name's Ema--" was about as far as she got before Mr. Edgeworth interrupted with a death glare. Ema can't argue with death glares.

[know-sacrifice.livejournal.com]

Mikaela couldn't help a smile of her own when she saw who it was coming in--after all, she had no particular reason to dislike Tyki, and the wedding had been pretty awesome.

"Hiya, Mr. Marquise," she said brightly, managing not to trip over the name, bobbing her head in pleased greeting at being so gallantly recognized. "This is P--" And then she stopped, finally noticing how utterly unhappy Mr. Edgeworth seemed with this sudden arrival.

Well. That didn't seem right. She looked back and forth between the two of them, her glance quick and curious.

[tyki-tock.livejournal.com]

Tyki bowed again to Ema, ignoring Edgeworth for a moment. "I'm pleased to meet you, my dear Ema. And please, both of you, call me Tyki. I'm not used to the new last name yet, and I prefer not to be so very formal."

Then he straightened and glanced at Edgeworth, the smile not faltering for a moment. "Nothing was said on the community, so far as I saw," he said cheerfully. "But I got a message on my journal telling me it was your birthday." His smile widened faintly. "Frankly, I thought you might appreciate some company. I didn't know you would have some already - and three beautiful women as well!"

[samuraiprosecutor]

“How selfless of you to sacrifice your evening for my sake,” Edgeworth responded, sarcasm dripping from every syllable. His uninviting posture—his back stiff and his arms crossed tightly—didn’t change, only becoming, if anything, even less approachable with the deepening cold of his glare.

“Fortunately, the gesture isn’t necessary. As you can see, I already have more than enough company.”

[know-sacrifice.livejournal.com]

Oooh, this was awkward, wasn't it? Mikaela glanced back and forth between the two men, her expression guarded, not sure of what to say. It was pretty obvious that Mr. Edgeworth didn't want Tyki here, not at all, but if he'd made the effort to come out here...

It seemed ungracious to her to just kick him out, but that seemed to be what Mr. Edgeworth planned on doing. She didn't really know enough about how these two knew each other, though, to feel confident interjecting, so she just kept quiet, waiting to see what would happen.

[makinganote.livejournal.com]

Ema's seconding the awkwardness right about now. She's not entirely sure what the back story to this is, but for the moment she's going to pay attention to her notebook. She just tries to duck, hoping that no one gets kicked out. Unless he's supposed to be getting kicked out, in which case, she hopes that happens soon.

It's a very confusing place, right now, but luckily the periodic table never lets her down.

[tyki-tock.livejournal.com]

Tyki let go of his hat, which seemed to warp and vanish into thin air as he did so. He felt the awkwardness as well, and regretted it somewhat. He honestly hadn't expected an audience when he'd decided to show up unannounced at Edgeworth's door - obviously the idea that he would be welcomed was a ridiculous one and he knew that.

Too bad Edgeworth wasn't so gracious a host as to pretend to be happy for his guest's sake.

"I don't mind at all," he said cheerfully, as if unaware of Edgeworth's anger. "It was no trouble, Edgeworth. And I do apologize for getting here so late - I had to find you a present before coming, of course, and it was rather difficult to find something that I thought would meet your standards."

He reached into the air once more and made a gesture, as if performing a magic trick - oh thank you Eris, for giving him his powers back properly - and a large and heavy box materialized from thin air.

The box, containing a set of very expensive antique china cups and saucers (http://www.antiquesfromturtlerock.com/2009/06/beautiful-rare-pristine-cup-saucer-set.html) was wrapped in plain paper, but it had been done professionally and tastefully, obviously at a store.

Tyki held it out to Edgeworth. "I did remember that you were looking for these a few months ago." Perhaps this would constitute a peace offering.