himagsikan | she spreads her wings and takes to the skies.

[Kay swims away from the fake coral and forward, stopping to glance over her shoulder at him. Boy, he's really taking this merman thing seriously - no, that's just the choker messing with his brain right now.]

Yeah, you could say that. I hope you're keeping track of your minutes, by the way.

[It hasn't been THAT long, Kay.]

[Given that it's potentially a matter of life and death for him to own up to this one...]

Unfortunately, I neglected to check the time before putting the choker on. Furthermore, my sense of how long I was singing is... hazy.

[Fortunately, it hasn't been longer than five minutes so far in total so far.]

[Kay thinks for a moment, and remembers one way to gauge the time. Of course.

She checks her phone. The video is still running. As much as it's tempting to make a joke that 29 minutes and 30 seconds have already passed...nope, not a good idea. Kay will cut him some slack.]

Don't worry, I started up a video on my phone at about the same time you dropped into the water. It's only been a few minutes.

Might be useful to go over this entire thing all over again when you're back to being human.

Gkk — you've been recording this?! (So that's why she's wearing her cellphone around her neck!)

[Apparently, Edgeworth is unused enough to the idea of cellphones having cameras ~~as of years ago~~ that it didn't occur to him that that's what Kay was doing.]

[She nods vigorously.]

It's for a good cause! Don't you think it'd help to look at this when the choker isn't messing with your head?

Now are you just gonna stand there, or are we gonna have some fun?

Point taken. I merely insist that you don't distribute the video. It will only confuse matters except in very specific circumstances.

I'm hardly "standing", Kay, and "fun" has little to do with it, but if you have any ideas concerning how I can grow to understand my current form better, I'm willing to listen.

Aw, okay, okay. [Kay lets go of the phone with an exaggerated sigh, letting it hang around her neck again.]

Try swimming a much longer distance and see how much faster you can go. Compare it with how you swim as a human.

[Without comment, the prosecutor takes Kay's advice, swimming out to the far end of the lagoon at a speed faster than his current default but not taxing — a speed that's still faster than his human swimming speed by a hair. He then puts effort into "sprinting" from one end of the lagoon to the other. As he accelerates for the latter portion of the test, Edgeworth presses his arms to his sides, streamlining himself and allowing his tail to do most of the work rather than supplementing it with upper-body strokes like at slower speeds. Once he reaches the far end, he makes a wide U-turn, lets himself glide to a slower speed, then paddles to a stop while catching his breath.]

[She remains floating where she is, watching him intently, occasionally cheering him on in between strokes and egging him to go faster. Kay follows him with her gaze as he paddles to a stop, then approaches him.]

Cool, huh? Didn't swimming suddenly become so much easier? And you were already pretty good to begin with!

...Now you can try jumping out and showing off some more!

Perhaps more importantly, it would be no challenge for a merperson to outpace a human in the water if they so chose.

[As for breaching, the idea of doing it just to show off doesn't appeal to him, but the idea does beg a question...]

Given my reflexive actions when I entered the water, is there anything that one must do to prevent one's mode of breathing from changing when one does such a thing? Would holding one's breath upon nearing the surface suffice, for example?

[Kay already knew that much from the double life she leads.

That question is quickly answered, however.]

You could, but not for long. It's enough for a jump, though.

[Edgeworth nods.]

I'm left to wonder why it is that we're able to breathe air at all in the first place — and for that matter, why our songs affect humans when we don't even live in the same environment.

Edited (Typo) 2014-12-05 09:00 (UTC)

[She shrugs, gazing up at the surface.]

Who knows? There are a lot of things about merpeople even we merpeople don't know.

But you definitely learned one thing - once you go back to being a human, you might want to go swimming regularly so you can go faster!

[Kay clenches her hands into fists and pumps them into the air - or rather, water.]

Are there no palaeontologists among merpeople? (Could their mindsets be so backward as to continue to believe in some form of creationism?)

As for the matter of swimming, if anything this proves that no matter how hard I may try, learning to swim for speed as a human would be a futile endeavor for the purpose it might theoretically serve. Certainly I should work to increase my endurance, however.

There are a lot of myths, but no actual evidence of why we evolved this way. Kinda like...why people have an appendix.

And...oh, yeah, that's a good idea. You'd have to work on everything else that isn't speed, then?

Hmph. I've heard that recent research suggests that the appendix may simply have a function that modern civilized environments make redundant, though it has yet to be decisively proven.

As for the matter of merperson origins, I find the idea that there's no evidence whatsoever rather hard to believe. The evidence concerning human origins may suffer from some glaring omissions, but we've deduced quite a bit from what's there. As for your mythology, I suspect that would be as useless to understanding the real world as the human old wives' tales about merpeople having an obsession with human souls.

Well, don't look at me, the myths didn't start with me.

[She glances away briefly, pouting.]

To return to more relevant topics and answer your question, however, aside from becoming more comfortable with holding my breath, it seems as though any human who means to interact extensively with merpeople would do well to become used to swimming for long periods of time. It may prove necessary for me swim while burdened as well; I should look into some form of waterproof backpack or the like so that all my limbs will be free.

[Kay grins, impressed at how Edgeworth is thinking this through.]

There you go again, thinking of everything! [From the way she says it, she thinks it's a good thing, at least.] A pack around your waist would be lighter, but it'd fit less stuff.

Plus, I can coach you on all of that! [She leans in closely and whispers as if others are listening in, like, IDK, THE FISH??] I help with the swim team at school 'cause it's kinda unfair if I actually join it as an athlete.

[Edgeworth raises an eyebrow at that.]

Are they aware of that reason?

Some of my friends, yeah. One of the teachers is a major superstitious freak and bought my story, so I think she counts.

[Kay folds her arms across her chest and looks a bit more thoughtful.]

Even if no one knew, I'd know it's unfair 'cause even though I'm not pure mermaid, I've been around the water for a lot of my life.

Given your openness, it's a wonder that the truth isn't better-known in a general sense, at least locally.

[Edgeworth swims away at a more normal pace, trying different orientations and even doing a barrel roll at one point.]

Now try a jump! Or a somersault! Or both!

[She's enjoying this display way too much.]

Then try what you're doing now when you're back to being a human!

Open Post: The Kay Faraday Edition
This is my permanent Kay Faraday open post. Spam me with prompts, picture prompts, AUs, and the like. Indicate canon point or universe when necessary. Please note that I don't do slash, smut, anything sexual or anything overly and excessively violent.
Canon	Future AU
Choose a canon point, any canon point! Even from AAI2, why not.	7-8 years later, AJ/DD era. Prosecutor who studied under Miles Edgeworth. Still hyper and makes thief jokes. Still the Yatagarasu.
Somarium	Mask or Menace
Lived with Edgeworth and Stitch. Recruited Ema, Trucy and Maya into the Yatagarasu. 19 years old. Had college plans.	Can command and talk to crows, replicate voices and sounds perfectly, and use Charter Magic. Juror for Teen Court.

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2/2, and I feel that final sentence merits an apology...

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