1st Cup; Backdated to Jan 2 [VIDEO]

[abittertruth]

[A video.

A man in a mask. Not your general 'I'm some kind of a hero/villain/vigilante' mask, but a mask nonetheless.

Godot is positioned with his jaw resting on one fist, 'regarding' the screen through the red lights of his visor. His jaw is set firm, his mouth half a grin--but he doesn't look entirely like he's smiling. Once he's sure it's on, he removes his chin from his hand and sits back.]

Well, isn't this a fine how-do-you-do.

They sure know how to make an offer you can't refuse, don't they? Free housing, free medical... all you have to do is sign on the dotted line.

Fine then. So be it! The harsh winds of fate are cold enough to freeze a man to his very bones. They blow sharp and bitter, like the blackest dregs at the bottom of a cup of coffee.

But if your coffee is ice cold by the time you get to that bottom... you've already wasted it.

[He looks... grim. Maybe he's trying to say something with that line? Sure would help if this man spoke regular English.

Well, good luck out there.]

Comments

voice; private

[takethestairs]

[Alright, time to check the network and see if there's anything new. So far there's some weirdo newbie, drinking coffee and making overwrought metaphors - wait a goddamn minute. That level of pretension can only come from one man: Diego Armando. The mask and the awful dye job threw him off, but now that he's taken a second look, Edgeworth knows that it's him!

But what does he do now?

Edgeworth's first instinct is to ignore him, but Armando will find out his presence here sooner and later. Furthermore, he was here before, or so he heard. Is this the same Armando, though? Or is this a repeat of the situation with Herr Doppelganger?

He needs to find out what Armando knows, and more importantly, what he's willing to reveal. The last thing he needs is for him to reveal the details of that blasted case!]

Welcome back, Mr. Armando.

[His tone is cool, crisp, and professional, without a hint of the anxiety and paranoia that bubbles underneath his skin. Edgeworth would have preferred text to make him even more inscrutable, but he's not sure how much Armando can read with that damn ask of his. His voice, though, might sound just a hair higher in pitch than the last time Godot spoke with him. The pitch, however, perfectly matches what Edgeworth sounded like the last time Diego spoke to him.]

voice; private

[abittertruth]

[Miles Edgeworth's voice is just about the last voice Godot is expecting to hear. After all, the last time he heard the man speak was in a court room, during the case Godot would ever try.

The time before that--the time when Edgeworth's voice sounded like it does now--was six years ago. Six years Godot never experienced and Edgeworth has yet to. So he's got a very vague guess at whose voice he's hearing right now. It rings a bell... but which bell?

Edgeworth can't see Godot's expression at all, but he can hear his tone go flat and blunt.]

Back?

[No.]

Diego Armando died six years ago.

[takethestairs]

[Alright, so this answers two of Edgeworth's question. One, this isn't the same Diego Armando who arrived and left shortly before Edgeworth did, if his flat confusion is any indication. Two, he, like Maya and Herr Doppelganger, is from the future. But how far into the future? Six years is the bare minimum; Diego Armando could have "died" at any point.

It also raises a few other questions. What does this Armando think of him? Is he like Wright and Maya, another person who became something of a friend some point in the future? He doubts that; while there's no hostility in his voice, there's no familiarity or recognition, either. Does he not realize who he's speaking with? Or is he playing it cool and keeping his cards to his chest?

More importantly, though, what on earth happened to "kill" him? Was it a case gone bad? Another disaster on par with the Fawles trial? Or is it something else? He needs to find out as much as he can while revealing as little as possible... and still look blameless should Armando speak to anyone else about him]

Diego Armando was very much alive from what I remember. If Armando is a dead man, then who is it that I'm speaking to now?

video;

[grimreaping]

[ Kid, thankfully, is used to people speaking in coffee lingo. He even sounds a bit dryly amused when he answers. ]

How descriptive. If Juan Valdez wrote poetry, I imagine it'd sound something like that.

[abittertruth]

[One must wonder what kind of life a person can lead that you've encountered this before.]

Ah, but you forget: there's one critical difference between the two of us.

[Godot cocks his head back, flashing a sharp and crooked grin. It looks friendly enough, but it's also strangely... aggressive.]

Only one of us is real.

[grimreaping]

[ A very interesting one. ]

I'm fairly certain that's not the only difference between you, but please continue. How have you come to that conclusion?

video;

[earnedmystripes]

[HEY IT'S COFFEE GUY.

....If only Kotetsu could ever understand anything coffee guy said. He rubs at his neck.]

...Yeah. Registration's a hell of a thing.

[At least he thinks??? That's what Godot's unhappy about???? Probably????? Anyway, it's always awkward as hell introducing yourself to people you've technically met before. It's safe to say this version of Godot doesn't remember him, but he's certainly not about to tell him about his previous version and the whole 'nearly hit by a bus' incident.]

But for what it's worth, welcome to Heropa. I'm Kotetsu.

[......not that his network ID doesn't already say that but whateverrrrrrr, old-fashioned introductions are a thing.]

[abittertruth]

Heropa?

[Hell of a name.]

Sorry, never heard of it. Try Maurtia Falls.

[If it's any consolation to Kotetsu, Godot isn't showing what's got his feathers ruffled--and he's got a big sharp grin right on his face.]

omg i even knew he was in MF and said heropa faceinhands

[earnedmystripes]

[...Whoops.]

Ah. Heropa's another of the Porter cities, along with Nonah and De Chima. It's one of the more common ones to get assigned to, so I just kinda assumed.

[mightthinkthat]

Afraid of ice cold coffee, are you?

[abittertruth]

If that's all you heard... you might want to get your ears checked.

voice

[restingstitchface]

[What a poetic soul. Crane keeps his tone soft and polite and displays his intellectual plumage.]

"Of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these: it might have been."

[A pause.]

Well, life itself is pointless no matter what we make of it. That's the bitter truth, isn't it? We finish each day to be done with it and believe the next will wash us clean. It is quite fearless - but ultimately meaningless. Human beings are destined to die. We are not around afterwards to learn whether we are loved or hated. We simply stop existing. We are destined to be nothing.

[Hello. Welcome to the Jonathan Crane Happy Hour.]

[Voice]

[abittertruth]

[Oh, is that how it is?]

I wouldn't be so sure of that.

Death comes to all of us eventually. The only questions are when and how. That's why it's so important to pay attention--there's no certainty in life but the dark liquid at the bottom of your cup!

[A pause, and the--almost like a warning:]

.....but there's no pleasure or profit to be gained from drinking grounds. Drink your brew fresh and hot, or not at all.

[Godot's narrative style leans more towards the dynamic--or dramatic--but somehow, they're speaking the same language. Just... differently.]

video

[rathercommon]

[ Of all the odd characters showing up this month, this guy seems like one of the odder. So, a little tentatively: ]

Oh, I don't know. A good cup of coffee's still decent enough even when it's cold, isn't it? The flavor and experience is just different, so you've got to learn to enjoy it in a different way.

Re: video

[abittertruth]

[Not bad. Not bad at all. But:]

It takes a cold heart to stomach a cold drink. Never been my style.

Live life the way you drink it! Hot or cold... the only thing you can do is to keep it pure and black... bitter and poignant like the realities of life itself. That's all!

video;

[oceanthief]

[toaster face, meet blue girl. she stares at the screen stoically for a long time, before finally offering up what is probably meant to be a helpful suggestion despite the equally neutral tone:]

If you're cold you should probably go down to Heropa. It doesn't seem to run on the same weather pattern as the other cities.

[...you can practically hear all of Godot's pretty metaphors shooting over her head.]

[abittertruth]

[... well. One point for effort.

He can tell she missed the boat, and normally he'd be more invested in floating her a raft. But today is not normal. And unfortunately, Godot's temper shows first in his delivery and sense of humour.

Which might be able to make things more confusing rather than less.]

What, and miss out on all the free government supervision here in Maurtia Falls?

Video

[bindsthedead]

I've found that there are many things here to counter that chill with warmth. [Sabriel's leaning back in a chair, reading a book and apparently not paying total attention to what she's saying.]

But personally, I've always preferred tea to coffee.

[abittertruth]

[Godot regards the screen with a fixed grin.]

That's too bad.

[Is he talking about the tea or the temperature?]

Long before humans discovered coffee, ancient people began to brew drinks with leaves from a certain plant. Even back then, humanity looked for answers to the universe in the bottoms of their cups.

But there's no prophecy to be found there. The inside of the cup reflects one thing: the human heart.

[And so.]

[darwinatrix]

What an absurd analogy.

[abittertruth]

Life is absurd.

[And so's the rest of this place.]

video;

[marriedmedium]

If your coffee is cold, darling, you should be drinking something else!

[Sadie beams. The martini in her hand should give a pretty good idea of what she means.]

[cuff]

But hey, if it's shitty coffee in the first place, the questions gotta be does it even matter?

voice;

[nostalgiabomb]

... Yep, all of those sure were words in a sentence, Prince Vultan.

Are you auditioning for a part on Star Trek?

[abittertruth]

What, you don't like the toaster look?

Or are you just mad you couldn't understand him?]

Nope. Just trying to see what I'm doing.