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[forensicks]

[Walter has recorded a video message from the point of view of someone who has just come through the door into his cabin and sees Walter at his desk in the chair turned around to face the viewer. He gives a little salute-wave.]

Didn't get me. But nice try.

Comments

[forensicks]

"Thanks, but that won't be necessary," Walter says, timed a bit like he was reacting to the mention of Edwin specifically.

[abrightboy]

“Okay. Well. I spoke to Justine about the assault. She was insufferable. So I followed up with John about it. He hadn’t talked to her about it and her Warden is in a coma, but he says he left him a message and promises he’ll follow up,” Malcolm tells him.

[forensicks]

"...I see." He finds the account that John didn't talk about it kinda strange. "Insufferable how? She didn't threaten *you*, did she?"

[abrightboy]

"Threaten? No. She told me that I'm a disgusting loser that everyone hates, but the problem with that sort of barb is that as soon as you know even one person definitely likes you? It loses all its oomph. Anyway. She said my tiny human brain is incapable of understanding what she wanted your blood for and you know what? I don't really care what she wanted it for. That doesn't mean she gets to just take it. Or threaten you. That's not okay," Malcolm says matter of factly.

[forensicks]

"... Jesus," Walter says. He had braced his elbow on the table, bending to place his brow against his hand. He looks up at Malcolm, a little shaded. "Do you remember that hair... post... thing?"

[abrightboy]

"Of course. But we worked that out," Malcolm replies. "I even asked her to make jewelry for my wedding." A beat. "Of course, I had to cancel that order after our chat."

[forensicks]

"I appreciate the solidarity," Walter says hesitantly.

Then: "I actually talked to her back then. And Sebastian. It amounted to, hair jewelry is totally normal, it has nothing to do with COVID, Malcolm is just being a jerk."

He holds up a finger. "But then she brought it up again during the attack."

[abrightboy]

“By saying what?” Malcolm asks.

[forensicks]

Walter tilts his head a bit, thinking about how Malcolm described her as so lofty in her ideas. "Basically, she did what she felt she had to do for her cause, but she didn't hate my entire guts, I had helped her with Monsieur Bright the one time."

[abrightboy]

“You helped her with me? How did you do that?” Malcolm asks.

[forensicks]

Walter slightly frowns at Malcolm. "I guess I didn't help you two get along. More like she felt better or learned something?"

He shrugs. "Anyway, I was still really mad at you back then. But I didn't literally mean that you did something worse than a stab. This is sure putting that into perspective."

[abrightboy]

“No, but… what did you do that she considered ‘help’ with me?” Malcolm asks.

[forensicks]

"...I just told you. It was like a five minute conversation, man."

[abrightboy]

"Oh. Okay. Sorry." He pauses. "You can have the hot chocolate," he assures Walter. "I just put it in the thermos so it wouldn't get cold." He takes a sip of tea. "Anyway, considering she did basically what you did - hurt someone to make an offering to a friend they thought was wronged by that person - I'm not going to let this get dropped just because her Warden is in a coma. As soon as someone is responsible for her again, I expect to see something happening or I'll be looking to find out why it's not."

[forensicks]

Walter takes the thermos. He rubs his hands along it for a moment. Then he furrows his brow at Malcolm, sincerely surprised. "Wait, you think this is going to be fair? Like, equal?"

[abrightboy]

"If assaulting someone because they're less important than your objective is wrong for you, it's wrong for her," Malcolm says matter of factly.

[forensicks]

"Yeah, but the barge isn't fair," Walter says confidently. "If it were, you wouldn't be waiting for her warden to do something about it."

[abrightboy]

"Her Warden is the only one that can. But that doesn't mean we can't work together to make sure that justice is served," Malcolm tells him. "Just because the system doesn't have fairness built in to it doesn't mean that we can't work to ensure it ourselves."

[forensicks]

"Her warden is the only one that can wish consequences," Walter points out. "The people here could work out some system to make her get a time out or something, you know, like normal humans back on earth do, if you still remember that being a thing. But that's not the law in Italy. The culture is based around what the warden comes up with, and you might well not agree with it."

[abrightboy]

"Maybe. I can't make us live somewhere else, Walter. But I can pursue this issue until something is done because she can't be allowed to just skate, okay? And I just wanted to keep you in the loop about it, in case you thought she was going to skate."

[forensicks]

"You can live somewhere else," Walter wheedles. He takes the hot cocoa and busies himself with it for a minute.

"Of course she's going to skate. John obviously invited this on some level; there's no way anything serious is going to happen."

[abrightboy]

"John invited it...... like Misty invited it?" Malcolm clarifies.

[forensicks]

"No," Walter says. "He told me Astarion was the only other person who knew, and he showed me that he never told anyone the name of the culprit. But his intrusive thoughts of hurting me were also very strong, and he wasn't surprised that Justine found out. Either he's lying to me, or he's lying to himself."

[abrightboy]

"Or Astarion told her," Malcolm points out. "Or she figured it out. And it's possible that neither of those things surprised him. But it doesn't even matter, because he's not her Warden. He can't override what her Warden decides for her. Trust that as something I know."

[forensicks]

"Sure, he can't force the warden not to do something severe," Walter says with a frown, "but he sure can contribute to the social environment that would make it a slap on the wrist."