ataraxion | SIX: video

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SIX: video

[The feed comes on to show Taylor looking pretty annoyed, a sharp frown pinching her brows even as something a little more weary lingers in her eyes. Her tone, when she starts speaking, still comes out strong, more authoritative than might be remembered from her before. Her first real announcement as Head of Security, she's keeping her shoulders set and her gaze level.]

I was thinking that this was basic fucking common sense, but seeing as some of you seem to need someone to actually say this shit, I'm gonna lay it out for you.

You don't kill each other, you don't assault each other, you don't steal each other's belongings and you don't damage each other's belongings.

[A pause, making sure those sit clearly before she carries on.]

There is a security team here, we're active and we will take action to enforce these basic rules and rights if we see or are informed of them being broken. Each infraction will be dealt with individually, so don't ask me for a blanket 'what will you do if'. SEC's here to keep everyone safe, not to control your lives. Most of you know the kind of shit we've had to deal with here - if you don't, you should've read about it. It's bigger and it's nastier than this kind of sniping, so calm the fuck down and stop fucking with each other already.

[A moment, keeping the same hard expression before she seems to relax slightly, looking away at something off camera and then back again.]

Personal request: if there's anyone that can do tattooing or just art shit, drop me a message. [A slight motion of her shoulders, almost a shrug.] Been doing them myself, but I want these somewhere I can't get at. Can show you how to do it bare-bones, if you don't know.

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Why did you spend eleven years studying law.

[And now his expression becomes...uncomfortable.]

Because it was necessary in order to begin my...practice of said law. You should do as well to ask a doctor why he spent so long studying medicine.

Yeah, so?

[Expectant expression, Edgeworth. You don't knock her off track that easily.]

So nothing. I studied so I could practice law. I don't know what else you're looking for.

[But his discomfort is clearly increasing.]

Why did you want to practice law? Thought it sounded cool? Nice wage? Eleven years is a long fucking time.

[She'd know. Kind of strange he'd been doing that as long as she'd been at the Academy, but she doesn't think on it too hard.]

[He looks down. Still no less uncomfortable.]

Because I wanted to put an end to the victimization of innocent people by criminals. As best I could.

So you wanted to help people.

[He hesitates.]

I...suppose so. That's - a sentimental way to put it, but yes.

[Taylor looks at the screen for a moment, then shrugs.]

That's all I've gotta know.

[He looks up, his brows furrowed. He's not much less comfortable.]

Why do you want to know?

Told you. Any system's gonna have some fucked up in it. Doesn't mean the people working in it are dirty.

[He shakes his head, pressing his lips together.]

Back home, the crime rate used to be...terrible. This was back before even my - [He stops himself, frustrated and confused by his unguarded tongue.] Even most people of my acquaintance started practicing. We had a backlog of cases that lasted for...months. Up to nine months. Such was the inefficiency of our system.

In January of 1991, a criminal who'd been released on bail was waiting a full year to go to trial. He took advantage of this to find out from his defense attorney the identity of all of the witnesses in his trial, and he killed every one of them. No evidence against him; he got off free. A month later, another criminal sees how well that works and does the same. This is why the law was changed, to push trials through quickly. So that this can't happen.

You think just because the system I believe in has teeth it is evil?

There's no such thing as evil. There's just people. And a system that limited can be abused just as easy as what you just told me.

And I'm from 2011. That never happened.

[Sharply:]

So either I'm a liar, ignorant, or we come from different worlds. Which do you think is most likely the case?

[Her expression very clearly says: oh, for fuck's sake.]

Yeah, I totally meant that we were from the same world and you were just making all this shit up. I was saying it never happened in my world.

[Which does cut through his anger a little bit - he's too used to being called a liar.]

Do you think it couldn't?

I think if it was going to, it would have already. Crime rates were going down, last I heard. [A shrug.] Doesn't mean they can't go up again.

[He shakes his head.]

And they went down for us in the eighties, as well. Everyone during that time, I've been told, was hailing the new and bright and peaceful future marked by our economic and cultural hegemony. Then the economic bubble burst; crime rates skyrocketed, and we had no power to stop that crime because of the toothless laws that reform-minded fools had put in place. And so every day it was someone new, standing trial for robbing and murdering an entire family. And every day it was someone new escaping justice.

We'd just hit a global recession. Worst since the Great Depression, they were saying.

[A frown, thinking about how he'd said it started in 1991.]

I say 9/11, it mean anything to you? Iraq? Afghanistan?

Of course Iraq and Afghanistan are familiar; I'm well acquainted with geography. Do the numbers refer to the emergency code?

[She considers not telling him. He didn't need to know about it. But knowing him, if she tried to avoid answering, he'd just press her anyway.]

September Eleventh 2001, nineteen terrorists hijacked four planes. Two of them were flown into the twin towers - World Trade Center, New York. Took them out, completely. One was flown into the Pentagon. The fourth crashed in a field after the passengers tried to fight back against the terrorists. Approximately 3,000 people died.

The terrorists were from an Islamist militant group called al-Qaeda. Iraq and Afghanistan are the wars that followed.

Edited 2012-10-08 16:06 (UTC)

[A pause. His face shows a flash of grief before he looks away from the camera. Then, very quietly:]

Oh. I, ah - no. That...didn't happen.

Yeah, I figured you'd remember if it had.

[Maybe half a joke, but the smile that goes with it is very slight and brief.]

Kind of weird, thinking about how things are different. Got no way of knowing what pushed it one way or the other. Butterflies and all that shit.

Of - [He cuts himself off, shaking his head.] No; to ask why it is significant is foolish, of course. But is it of particular significance to you? This event? Or are you merely using it as a benchmark to measure the difference between us?

Think I'm using it. It shaped everything for a good while, still does. New laws were written, way airlines operate, international security measures. The economy, 'cause war always hits that somehow.

Kind of like your court case.

video; encryption 95%

jurisimpudent - 2012-10-08 16:42 (UTC) - Expand

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