she spreads her wings and takes to the skies.

[yatagarasu]

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.

Badger get!

code by cawaii

Comments

[truthsnomiracle]

...Given that it does have a panel in the way of its power switch to prevent it from being turned on or off by accident, I suppose there's no harm in that.

[yatagarasu]

[Kay moves toward the third part of the desk and picks up the headphones again. Then she puts them back onto her head, and gives Edgeworth a thumbs-up.]

[truthsnomiracle]

[Edgeworth nods, then seats himself at the computer and takes the microphone plugged into it.]

(Given her recurring, insistent requests to pick the locks of the desks despite our not having even tried to find the keys, what would constitute an order that would be both be harmless and have a chance of prompting any resistance is obvious. Now, where's the Record button?...)

[Edgeworth spots it quickly, however, and clicks it with the mouse before speaking firmly into the microphone:]

Help me search the cabin for any keys to the desks that might be present.

[Th prosecutor ends the recording, then looks for the "Impel v.3.1" filter Kay mentioned. It takes him nearly a minute, but he does locate and run it. The waveform display on the screen changes almost imperceptibly, then Edgeworth moves the mouse pointer to the Play button and stands.]

[yatagarasu]

[Kay even has her back turned away from Edgeworth so she wouldn't be tempted to try and read his lips. All outside noise has been muffled and she isn't watching him apply the filter onto whatever he has recorded, so he'll need to get her attention when he's done.]

[truthsnomiracle]

[Which Edgeworth accomplishes with a simple tap on the shoulder before stepping out of Kay's way so she can approach the computer.]

[yatagarasu]

[Kay turns around when he taps her shoulder, and lowers the headphones from her ears. Then she walks over to the computer to pick up the earphones connected to it.]

It's time to boogie!

[truthsnomiracle]

[The mouse has been left sitting on the Play button. All Kay needs to do is click...

...and what she'll hear will be exactly what Edgeworth said in what can still easily be recognized as his voice —]

Help me search the cabin for any keys to the desks that might be present.

[— but it's more confident, captivating, commanding, and convincing than a human voice can naturally manage, with a calming and comforting undertone Edgeworth normally doesn't try to include. There's no static, but it's otherwise just like how his voice sounded when she was wearing the headphones.

On the other hand, Kay's mind isn't in the receptive, suggestible state it was in before. Edgeworth's words aren't her whole world; her thoughts, defenses, and will are entirely intact. She could fight this command and might even win, even if it would be easier to just let it change her mind.]

[yatagarasu]

[Kay puts on the earphones and clicks the button. She hears the command, and her eyes widen, and she gawks at Edgeworth.]

You...you're kidding!

[She's not just referring to the fact that she won't be able to pick locks, but also to the fact that Edgeworth had to use this command, of all things. It was almost...anticlimactic, but then again, at least it wasn't her name.

Kay grits her teeth. She wants to object, but something else is pulling her to...not object, and acquiesce to his demand. Nothing wrong with that, right...?

No! Where's the thrill in that?]

But...but... [She pauses to inhale deeply.] Where's...the fun...i-in that...?

[truthsnomiracle]

[That's... a stronger reaction than Edgeworth expected, honestly, but it speaks to the potency of the internal conflict he's introduced. He's tempted to answer Kay's strained question, to try to convince her further by ordinary argument... but frankly, that would spoil the integrity of what's supposed to be a test of the strength of a single command put through the Impel filter. Any rationalizations Kay might have of following that command will need to be her own.]

[yatagarasu]

[Kay takes several deep breaths, hands firmly on the table as she tries to resist. The command is gripping her, but she is also valiantly attempting to push it away.]

This is...nnnrgh...

[She shakes her head as if clearing her mind of his words. Finally, she cries out, gripping her head with her hands, sinking into the chair.]

[truthsnomiracle]

[Kay's struggle going quite this far was not what Edgeworth had anticipated. This level of mental torment is clearly across the line, and his eyes widen in horror at what he's done. Uncertain of what else to do, he hesitantly reaches out to put a hand on Kay's shoulder.]

Kay, I...! Please be all right!

[yatagarasu]

[After crying out, Kay is suddenly still, head bowed, hands balled into fists on her lap, breathing hard. It felt so...so wrong, being told to do something, and an unseen force compelling her to obey without question. It was as if her personal space was violated, at a whole new level.

She didn't like it.]

[truthsnomiracle]

[Such a violation — consciously realized like this or not — was exactly what Edgeworth had feared in the first place, why he was weighing the options for guinea pigs so seriously before Kay volunteered, and why he was shocked and initially uncertain when she took the unthinkable step of doing so. Before Kay volunteered, he had spoken of what a violation a serious mind control device could theoretically be, and now she was obviously experiencing that in a glaring and painful way. There's no need for him to ask questions, no need for Kay to explain. Even Edgeworth has this much ability to empathize.

The prosecutor's comforting hand on Kay's shoulder tightens to a light grip as his eyes squeeze shut. ...Are those tears starting to leak out despite his best efforts?]

(Kay, I... I never meant to cause you such pain...)

[yatagarasu]

[Kay closes her eyes for a moment as she searches her mind...confirming that she has successfully fought the command and it's gone from her mind. She is no longer being compelled to bend to a will that isn't her own. In short, she's okay...and she notices Edgeworth gripping her shoulder.

Craning her neck, she looks up at him over her shoulder, a little dazed as if she had just come back down to earth. His eyes were still shut, unlike hers...wait, was he...crying? Or had he just closed his eyes a bit too hard?]

Mr. Edgeworth...?

[truthsnomiracle]

[Edgeworth's eyes open when Kay addresses him, his grip loosening but his hand not retreating just yet. The tears he squeezed out in his futile effort to hold them at bay are still making their way down his cheeks.]

Kay. Are you... all right now?

[yatagarasu]

[She lets out a soft gasp at the sight of his tears. Had she worried him enough for him to start crying? That's...amazing. And not in a good way.]

Yeah...what about you? [Kay looks concerned.]

[truthsnomiracle]

[Edgeworth stands tall and turns his head away, removing his hand from Kay's shoulder in order to grip his opposite elbow.]

...Hmph. I wasn't the one brought to harm.

[That sentence was spit rather angrily...]

[yatagarasu]

[Kay stands up and sighs, facing him.

Really, way to remind her that she's the one suffering for the sake of the truth here, but anyway.]

Well...no, but I'm okay...okay? [She blinks.]

[truthsnomiracle]

[Edgeworth continues to look away, still angry at himself and ashamed to look at Kay.]

Even if you are in fact all right now, prior to that, you clearly were not! I failed to anticipate...

[Edgeworth trails off, then hesitates. There are no further tears forthcoming, but the streaks from the single pair have yet to dry.]

This... doesn't trouble you?

[yatagarasu]

[She tilts her head to one side, trying to meet his eyes. Then she lowers her head instead.]

Not right now...but it did. [Kay knits her fingers together. It's the truth.] It's like having someone in your head who shouldn't be there...

[truthsnomiracle]

[Unfortunately, even now Edgeworth is loathe to let anyone see vulnerability or self-doubt in his eyes.]

I simply did not anticipate your struggle to throw off that influence to be so... torturous.

[yatagarasu]

That's okay...I didn't, either. [She volunteered for this, so why is Edgeworth so affected?]

It was pretty hard...and I just don't really like people forcing me to do things.

[truthsnomiracle]

[Because believe it or not, he does care about you — more so than he can fully make sense of.]

Please... accept my sincerest apologies. I hadn't imagined that no approach to testing how simply or not a command put through the filter could be resisted would be harmless.

[yatagarasu]

Mr. Edgeworth...you don't have to apologize.

[She stops knitting her fingers together, letting her arms drop to her sides.

After a moment of thought, she steps forward, opens her arms, and gives him a hug.]

[truthsnomiracle]

Gkk — mmnwngh —

[At first, Edgeworth simply freezes. On one hand, he prefers to avoid having people in his personal space at all, let alone doing anything so intimate as hugging him... but on the other, this is Kay, who's already trusted him to do more than that to her already by his measure... but on yet another hand, hasn't he already violated that trust? Why would she show affection to him so soon after that?

All in all, none of the gears in his head are fitting together right now, and it's obvious in his face and posture how much his brain is seizing up from a simple hug.]