001 ↓ [video]

[biffail]

[Larry is sitting cross-legged on his bed in his cabin, looking pretty bored. He tries to put on a grin that ends up looking more sheepish and clueless than anything, and takes one more moment of valuable transmission time to glance up at the ceiling, presumably in thought. Then he sighs, and faces his device. At least he is no longer panicking the way he was during his first few days on the ship.]

Um...hi, I guess. I'm Larry Butz, and one day I woke up in a tube with weird gunk that took forever to get out of my hair. Gum is worse, though.

[A pause. He wonders what else he should say.]

Thought I'd introduce myself since we'll be on this ship for a while. In space and all that.

...

By the way, I got a couple of questions. First, are there any art materials on board? I'm kinda bored. [As if that wasn't obvious from the fact that he has decided to lie back down, his eyes half-closing in a dazed expression.] And second, are the numbers on our arms supposed to mean something, or did we all get random ones while we were asleep?

[Because his reminds him of something. Something more than just an age, or a birthday, or any sort of date.]

Comments

[voice]

[jurisimpudent]

Do not refer to me by so ridiculous a nickname!

[voice]

[biffail]

Don't be such a stick in the mud! If you don't like it, then give me a ridiculous nickname!

[voice]

[jurisimpudent]

Don't be absurd. I most certainly will not do that.

[voice]

[biffail]

Oh, really? I dare you!

...No, I double dare you!

[voice]

[jurisimpudent]

Perhaps the intervening years have made you forget, but I do not answer to dares.

[voice]

[biffail]

You could have had a worse nickname, you know.

How 'bout you answer to this - since when have you been here?!

[voice]

[jurisimpudent]

...I'll answer in spite of the presumptuous way in which you asked that question. I have been here four months.

[voice]

[biffail]

W-wait, four months?! But I...I just saw you a few days ago!

Oh man, time is messed up again...or maybe I really just slept for a longer time in those tubes...

[voice]

[jurisimpudent]

...A few days ago? Precisely how old are you?

[voice]

[biffail]

Twenty-three.

[He pauses. His voice is tentative, almost nervous.]

You're not...twenty-four, are you?

[voice]

[jurisimpudent]

...Twenty-one.

[He scowls, crossing his arms, feeling frustrated and a little overwhelmed - and, he tells himself, simply annoyed that this is what his future holds. More damnable childhood friends.]

[voice] 1/3

[biffail]

Wh-what?!

[That brings down several revelations on Larry. One, he was now older than Edgeworth. Two, people could be pulled from every point imaginable on a time line.

And three, and most importantly...then Edgeworth wouldn't know about the case wherein he was the defendant. Where he was accused of murder.]

[voice] 2/4

[biffail]

Then you're...you weren't...you don't kn - n-never mind!

[He bites his lip, gripping his device, wondering if he was beginning to sweat. Should he tell Edgeworth? Should he warn him? Should he say what happens in the future?

Larry's head was spinning with all these questions.]

[voice]

[biffail]

T-Time is weird! Yeah!

[Oh, and he couldn't forget about the fact that Edgeworth wouldn't know how Larry helped save him from a guilty verdict. He can't play that card now...unless he sang like a bird.

So he quickly shifts the topic.]

I met people from my future, and now you're from my past...but technically, that means I'm from the future!

[voice] 4/5

[biffail]

No, wait, then where would that put everyone from my future? And shouldn't I also be from the past? From other people's pasts?

So I'm from both the past, the future, and the present...

[voice]

[biffail]

[Larry gives a yelp.]

But then that would mean three of me on this ship!

[voice] 1/3

[jurisimpudent]

[voice] 2/3

[jurisimpudent]

[voice] 3/3

[jurisimpudent]

...Mr. Butz.

[voice]

[biffail]

[That snaps him out of it.]

Don't "mister" me, Edgey! We're friends! Including my past, present and future selves!

[voice]

[jurisimpudent]

First, I acknowledge that we did have comparatively amicable relations when we were children, but I've not so much as spoken to you in over a decade. Second, stop speaking so foolishly; there is only one of you.

[voice]

[biffail]

...

A-are you saying we're not friends anymore?

[voice]

[jurisimpudent]

[He knows he should say yes, that's right, because he doesn't have time for sentiment or for friends. He knows that is the sort of thing he should say for his own dignity and for the protection of his former friends, because as he well knows it is dangerous to be associated with him. But -

He comes up with the best response he can think of.]

A foolish question. I'll not waste my time discussing such matters as those.

[voice]

[biffail]

[There is a small, choked up sound on the other end.]

Then that's a yes! You think it's not worth talking about! After all I -

[He catches himself, though, before he completes that sentence and gets into dangerous territory.]

[voice]

[jurisimpudent]

...I'm saying - [He scowls.] I'm saying that it's idiotic to talk about matters like "friendship." That is all. And I'm saying, too, that one cannot even talk of "friends" when one doesn't even know the other person, which I do not, as the intervening span of time is enough to essentially render us different people.