[RL 9: 'Tis the Season to be Jolly - Edgeworth, Phoenix]

[samuraiprosecutor]

((OOC: Taking place Christmas Eve night.))

The apartment was mercifully quiet that late at night. If he listened carefully he could hear Sigi's soft breathing from his place on the floor (stretched out between the ottoman and the armchair, below the bridge of Miles' legs). The air was warm and suffused with patchouli, comfortable without being thick, and Ten Little Indians lay open in his left hand. The tableau should have been a relaxed one, and indeed on any other night it might have been.

Being that it was Christmas Eve, however, the book was held loosely, carelessly, his eyes moving across the pages only every once in a while. The half-empty cup of tea sitting on the table beside him had long ago cooled, forgotten in favor of the wine beside it (filled twice and also half-empty), and the patchouli was mingling with the smokey scent of a neighbor's wood-burning fireplace (yet another memory - sweet, sharp, and raw).

Sigi raised his head and stared at the door. Edgeworth ignored the reaction (just neighbors in the hall, returning from a holiday party) until Sigi shot to his feet, suddenly enough to bump Edgeworth's legs nearly off the ottoman. "Sigi, nein!" The dog quailed, his tail dropping and ears swiveling back, but he turned his attention to the door after glancing only briefly at his master.

Miles hadn't made it to his feet before the knock sounded through the room, and he crossed the foyer quickly. A frown tugged at his lips: it was well past the hours in which errant party guests might be expected to come knocking at the wrong doors. His brows furrowed in confusion as he swung open the door.

Comments

[attorneyatlol]

While he'd hoped against outright dismissal, an open invitation was not something Phoenix had expected. His shoes suddenly felt glued to the carpet when he tried to move forward, and he fixed Edgeworth with an uncertain gaze as if the prosecutor would suddenly come to his senses and slam the door in his face.

[samuraiprosecutor]

Wright's expression was laughable. Edgeworth caught himself before he could react with anything less dignified than another smirk. Without any more encouragement for Wright he crossed to the liquor cabinet, leaving the door open behind him. The bottle he set on the counter; he opened the cabinet, drew out another large rounded wine glass and a clean cloth to wipe it with.

When he glanced at the door he noticed Sigi was still standing in front of it, staring intently (and perhaps tensely) at their unexpected visitor.

[attorneyatlol]

Phoenix followed Edgeworth's retreating form with his gaze, suddenly struck by how surreal the moment was. When was the last time they'd done anything together? Post-trial celebrations hardly counted, not with the amount of people who attended and how little time they actually spent together. And then it had occurred to Phoenix...

Seventeen years.

It wasn't the first time he'd thought about it (not by a long shot), but it was the first time he could recall it weighing so heavily on his mind, so much so that it almost made him dizzy. He shook his head.

Drawing a deep breath to cement his resolve, he took a few, tentative steps inside... coming to an abrupt halt just passed the entryway as a large, long-coated dog came into view.

Phoenix swallowed. He was never a fan of big dogs. "Oh, hey. Sigi, right?"

[samuraiprosecutor]

Something twisted strangely in Edgeworth's stomach as Phoenix took his first tentative steps into the apartment, and his hand froze momentarily in the glass. He chided himself; it wasn't the first time he'd had someone in his apartment - wasn't even the first time Wright had been in his apartment - but he couldn't shake the slight feeling of unease. When Wright changed the subject it was a welcomed out.

"Yes. Short for Sieghard." Had he mentioned that in his journal? He frowned almost imperceptibly, covering with a sharp command. "Sigi, sitz." Sigi sat in front of Wright, still staring fixedly at him.

[attorneyatlol]

Phoenix blinked, unable to look away, and Sigi steadily held his gaze. It must have been Phoenix’s imagination (as the idea was utterly ridiculous in itself), but it felt like the dog was attempting to stare into his soul and not doing a bad job of it. He cleared his throat. “Um, I don’t… I don’t think he wants me to come in…”

[samuraiprosecutor]

'Scared of dogs? Or just of Sigi?' Edgeworth folded the cloth and replaced it in the drawer. With his back to Wright he allowed himself a brief, slightly predatory grin, smoothed out by the time he'd turned back to the door. "Nonsense. He seems quite...taken with you." His expression and tone were carefully neutral, but amusement glinted in his eyes.

[attorneyatlol]

“Taken with the idea of eating me, maybe,” Phoenix mumbled. Despite the tense atmosphere lingering between himself and Sigi (or, Phoenix considered, because of it), the overall unease blanketing the room thinned out, and he allowed himself a few more steps inside before gently closing the door behind him. Not once did his wary gaze wander from the intense eyes of the dog.

[samuraiprosecutor]

Edgeworth watched the scene from the corner of his eye as he carried the glass over to the armchair, his amusement growing with every second of Wright's trepidation. Fortunately Sigi was very well-trained and Wright was in no real danger...but Wright didn't have to know that just yet. "You should show him you're...friendly," he commented as he poured wine into Wright's glass then refilled his own. "Why don't you pet him?"

The smirk he gave Wright as he held up the glass for him was both a challenge and teasing.