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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]

"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."

[abrightboy]

"Well, that wouldn't be okay with me and I'm afraid I have to report that I can be a little bit of a pain it the ass," Malcolm informs him.

[forensicks]

Walter sips his cocoa with a skeptical stare.

"I know I can't stop you when you put your mind to something," he says dryly in the end.

[abrightboy]

"Do you want to stop me?" Malcolm asks him. "In this particular instance," he clarifies.

[forensicks]

"... There are circumstances where if the warden says no, I might ask you to quit," Walter admits.

[abrightboy]

"Which circumstances?" Malcolm sincerely asks. "And why?"

[forensicks]

He turns the mug in his hands, it's foam floating in a different direction. "Because if enough people start hearing arguments that I deserved worse, it might happen. I really expected more than one stab."