Audience: Grace Monroe

[probe]

Comments

[probe]

...perhaps the "right" choice isn't the correct word, but rather the necessary one.

[alteracion]

[ well! that cuts the wind out of her sails a little, and she looks away ]

Do you think it was? Necessary?

[probe]

...you saw what happened to Tealeaf by resisting that choice. If it was the only choice to take to escape? Perhaps it was.

[alteracion]

... I guess.

[ she seems a little relieved despite the lukewarm answer, and she shakes her head and pets maus more intensely ]

Anyway, Douman tried to shoot us and apparently was mad they didn't get to kill the fake Omi, so I'm fine they're dead.

[probe]

[just. pinching the bridge of his nose and mumbling something that sounds akin to "I hate clowns."]

I've never quite understood anything about them, and I'm not sure I want to.

[alteracion]

The more I learned, the less I wanted to. [ now that she's talked shit and feels a little better, she picks up maus to place him on her own lap for maximum petting ] Anyway, Takeru's team had a choice sort of like that. Where it's... [ ... ] bad. And they all said they felt like they picked the wrong one? Molly said the same. Like a... supernatural kind of feeling.

I don't know what that means. And Gu Yun's team had one like that, I think, but I got distracted because Takeru was in theirs for some reason? And also they learned White got superpowers from a goat and that's why he has a horn.

[ which is objectively funny. ]

[probe]

[maus immediately abandons greed and goes to snuggle in grace's lap instead. therapy pup is here to help.]

The young girl. Yes, I've heard. [he makes a face regarding the information about white but they shake their head again.]

I've had a theory that these places are a test of will, but I don't have any proof yet. We've been doing as much research as we can but our results are few.

[alteracion]

Like... how far we're willing to go, maybe?

[ she's not sure she likes the answer! but it's fine because she has a dog with cute widdle paws ]

[probe]

Precisely. [he's not too fond of that answer either. maus is once again doing that thing where little dogs paw at people for pets.]

It would explain why there's no warning and why we can't see anything when you disappear.

[alteracion]

[ grace pets him with one hand and plays with his paw in the other. this is what maus gets ]

I guess it makes sense. [ unsure ] But I thought indulging the most you could or whatever was the big test.

[probe]

[maus is doing his best and letting grace do what she wants, licking her fingers.]

It's a big test, but perhaps it isn't the only one. High risks earn high rewards, generally.

[alteracion]

I was stabbed like seven times with a letter opener.

[ she does not approve of these high risks. ]

[probe]

[hm...]

While I haven't been stabbed, I have been held at gunpoint a few times, kidnapped a few times, and arrested a few times for choices I've made.

[it's not remotely the same, but.]

[alteracion]

[ i mean, those are all bad, but the one that stands out and probably shouldn't is: ]

You were arrested?

[ but greed you're a NERD ]

[probe]

[GRACE.

but there's a wry smile.]

Twice. Once for conducting an illegal investigation and once as a murder suspect.

[alteracion]

Obviously you didn't kill anyone [ she hopes ] but... how do you conduct an illegal investigation?

[probe]

I did not. I was found innocent of that murder, but I did believe I had committed another and confessed my guilt.

[...that aside.] I had given up my prosecutor's badge at the time and continued looking into a crime and assisted a...colleague in evading the police.

[please just call kay a friend you absolute lunatic.]

[alteracion]

[ well! that's a lot of trauma, but since greed is skipping past that she will to. to call them out. ]

Isn't that far to go to for a colleague? [ pets the maus tummy ] Also, it's illegal to look into a crime if you're not a cop or a lawyer?

[ sometimes you stop going to school at like 11 ]

[probe]

It's illegal to perform your own investigation, yes. [maus wiggles on his back like a good boy.]

...Kay is a friend. [FINE. GROSS.] She's about your age, actually. She appointed herself as my assistant during a few cases I was investigating prior to that incident.

[alteracion]

But you can represent yourself in court, can't you?

[ she does not entirely get the difference. i can't believe greedworth has... uno friend. pats the good boy ]

An assistant to a prosecutor. Bold choice. Why'd she become a fugitive of the law?

[probe]

It's complicated. The Prosecutorial Investigation Committee was already attempting to remove my badge so I imagine they would have done anything to get me to stay away.

[but he rolls his eyes.] Kay's a bold person. [and sometimes he misses her and wonders what she'd think of this nonsense.] She had lost her memory and was falsely accused for a murder committed. ...I knew she couldn't have been responsible, so rather than let the P.I.C revoke my badge as they intended, I gave it up myself. Kay felt responsible and fled the scene before she could be arrested.

[alteracion]

[ there's a pause as she takes all that in ]

So you were both falsely accused of murder at some point, and both of you weren't sure you weren't responsible?

[ since greed said he turned himself in and kay had amnesia ]

[probe]

Yes. Kay was accused of the murder of a defense attorney named Jill Crane who had confronted the P.I.C. about their illegal auctioning of evidence. With her memory missing, she had no way of knowing what was true until we began further investigations.

...before that, I had been accused of murdering a defense attorney named Robert Hammond. I had been framed. [there's another pause, and he only continues because he thinks it may be relevant to what she's saying.] But after we cleared my name of that trial, I asked for the court to try me for the murder of my father.

[alteracion]

[ greed won't give her his name but he will give her "i thought i killed my father", and that's a lot? that's so much? she is just staring ]

Oh. Um. Why did you...

[ she's not sure how to finish that. ask for that? think you did it? so instead she releases maus to greed because now he is the one in need of therapy dog ]

[probe]

[listen it's relevant, his name is not.]

...my memories of that time had been hazy for fifteen years. The statute of limitations had nearly run out. That's the time in which a crime can be tried. If we didn't solve it that day, the case would be closed forever.

It was necessary to solve my father's case, even if at the time I believed I would be found guilty.