exsilium | video;

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[ The video starts black. Light cuts through in sharp lines, edging in around blades of grass. No, make that fur.

Fur that gains color into browns as it shifts away from blocking the camera's eye. The rabbit hops away down the table, disappearing for a minute. Two. When it comes back in view, it appears to be wearing tiny, lens-free glasses perched precariously on its twitching nose.

The rabbit sits back on its hind legs, ears swiveling forward and paws tucking close to its chest. When it glances toward the camera, it's almost like the rabbit winks. But it couldn't have.

Could it? ]

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< Hey! Not entirely. I was considering the distance if I wanted to jump. Looks like I'd be able to manage it! Though... >

( Collette sits back, front paws still touching the surface of the table. )

< Yeah, come pick me up and take me back to my room, if you don't mind! >

( Depending on how much of a showing he'll need, she'd rather not be the first thing seen when coming through her front door. )

[ This rabbit really was communicating with him. It was difficult to believe, and some part at the back of his mind wanted to still protest that this was some manner of trick, and that Collette was simply a very talented prankster, but... that's why he'd come here, right? To prove things, one way or another. Still, though, there's a certain trace of awkwardness in his actions, as though he still can't believe this is real, or is just flustered by her suggestions.

He makes his way to the table and just stares at the rabbit for a few moments before scooping it up gently in his hands and holding it against his chest. This was ridiculous. He looks down at the bunny. ]

Why your room?

( Collette laughs, holding still against his chest. She turns one ear, disconcerted for a moment. Heartbeats are much louder to sensitive ears. )

< It's rude to invite another man into Isaac's room! >

( Her nose wrinkles in the expression she'd wear as herself. )

< Morphing's not something anyone should walk in on unprepared. >

[ Maybe he's imagining things, but this rabbit just laughed. His frown deepens. ]

How ominous. So, which one's yours?

< First door down the hall on the right. Probably the neatest one here! >

( Very neatly kept, in fact, hovering at the cusp of being spotless. Her bed has hospital-tight edges, everything put away and waiting. It's only that she's decorated the walls and surfaces with knick-knacks and colors that shows this is a lived in room, not just the same mold cleaned out for each new arrival. )

[ He finds his way to her room easily enough, pushing the door open as he tries to also push away his sense of unease. Whatever he's actually expecting, it's not what he sees - for some reason, he hadn't expected her to be so neat. Not everyone's rooms, he concluded, could be a reflection of their personalities. ]

So... [ he glances down awkwardly at the rabbit (Collette?) once more. ] Should I put you down now?

< On the bed, if you don't mind. >

( She did her best not to squirm in the meantime. )

< You should probably not watch me demorph though. I can't guarantee the safety of your stomach if you watch! >

( Nothing would ever make the process pretty -- even natural aptitudes like Cassie's didn't make it pretty, just more coordinated and less disjointedly grotesque. )

[ Without any further ado, Edgeworth places the rabbit down on the bed, grateful that he no longer has to carry it. Although relatively small, the rabbit had been deceptively heavy. All the same, he knows better than to say that aloud. The next - words? Thinkspeak? Whatever the hell one is supposed to call it gives him pause, however, and for a moment he just stares dumbly at the animal looking up at him from the bed. ]

How am I supposed to know that it's not some sort of trick if I don't watch? [ A second thought occurs to him, and he takes a step backwards, flustered. ] Ah, er, will you be decent after this 'demorph'?

[ Assuming it's even real, Miles. Surely he was just being foolish, wasn't he? ]

< Depends on if you count underwear as decent, though I've got a tank-top on, so yeah, pretty much? >

( Collette shook her head, a shake that traveled through the whole of her rabbit body, before she hops toward the middle of the bed. )

< You just remembered I warned you first! No throwing up on my floor. >

( The process begins without further ado, a jerky, spastic sudden growth of hind legs with twisting knees, ears that shrink along with her muzzle, a torso that elongates and takes on human proportions while covered in patchy rabbit fur. White appears to cover that torso as the fur pulls in, Collette's dark hair pushing out between the rabbit ears as they move toward the sides of her face. The black pad of her nose stays even as it forms human shape, her lip retaining the cleft as her teeth pull back and pop out along her gumline.

When her lips form back to normal, the arms with paws at the end complete the dizzying, repulsive transformation into human hands and fingers and nails. Collette blinks as she finishes, pushing up into a seated position and arranging her legs, waiting on Miles' reaction. )

That will never make total sense to me.

[ Wondering just what he's gotten himself into, Edgeworth takes a step back to observe this 'demorphing' process with a intense scrutiny - with the first spasm he makes a surprised noise as he flinches involuntarily, then starts to reach out towards the rabbit, as though it might need his help, but it doesn't. The process simply continues and he draws his hand back, the last movement he's capable of before he becomes too engrossed by what he's seeing, two thoughts prominent at the forefront of his mind: how is this real and if it weren't for all the crime scene photos he'd examined he might actually be sick, warning be damned. What he's seeing is disgusting, to be certain, but more importantly, how is it possible?

This desperate need to know, to be certain that this is not some sort of tremendous illusion, is one of the reasons that he forces himself to continue watching although his face pales and his hands shake. He visibly winces when her teeth come in and it's only once she's done, that he's sure she's done, that it's a girl and not some bunny sitting on the bed, he takes a shaky step towards her, too aware that the corners of his vision are beginning to fade, that he's lost the feeling in his hands. What. The. Hell. He takes a deep breath before speaking, to try and avoid any tremor of uncertainty in his tone -- ]

Collette?

[ -- and is quite unsuccessful. He's staring, he knows, mouth half-open in moronic incredulity, but he was only desensitized to some of life's horrors and what he'd just witnessed had no part in any life he was familiar with. ]

Um...

( There are many obvious reasons for his particular stance, his tone, or the expression on his face. Just to be sure it was morphing only, Collette glanced down, concluded that her tank top was decent enough on top, and her undergarments were perfectly fine for covering what important parts they did.

Arranging her legs more firmly, she made herself smile, not quite meeting Miles' eyes. Part of her is amused by how his expression is right now -- but it feels wrong to laugh. )

Yes, that's definitely my name. Toldja it was gross!

[ He closes his mouth but it just hangs open again; he feels incredibly foolish all of a sudden. Not to mention faint. ]

How...?

[ That's about as much as he can manage for now. ]

( He's not looking so great. Collette gestures to -- well, the nearest chair.

Awkward in that it's her wheelchair. )

Want to take a seat? If I try to explain, it's going to take a little time.

( Please don't faint or something she can't get to you in time to make sure there's no head trauma! )

[ He glances at the chair, the movement doing nothing to ease his nausea. Feeling to weak and too awkward to pull himself into it, he instead sits silently on the floor, eyes now back on Collette. ]

Okay, where to start...

( She straightens up, feeling odd with her own level being above his for once. )

Morphing is really achieved through the use of advanced Andalite technology. When you've been given the technology, you can acquire DNA from living subjects, and then use that DNA to create an exact copy. It uses Z-space to work, which is this whole other dimension, and it's where the mass we need to grow or lose goes to and comes from. I don't really get that part, but that's what I was told, and I don't have a better way of explaining the growing and shrinking otherwise.

Are you with me so far?

[ He nods, one hand coming up to rub at his temples. At least while sitting down he feels less like passing out, and the numbness is starting to fade. ]

I think so.

( She resettles herself again, thinking on how best to continue. In the end, blurting out the story Jake and Cassie and Marco told so much better seems like the only way. )

So that's kind of the how. I was given the the ability, along with a bunch of my friends. There're a lot of changes you go through to get from human to animal and back again. Which is the gross part you just saw.

( Um... she grins? )

That's the short version on the how. Any questions?

[ Usually, Miles Edgeworth is full of questions. However, he's had quite enough for today, so instead he just looks up at Collette with an almost rueful expression on his face and says: ]

You know, some days, I think I'm still dreaming.

( She knows what he means, both on a personal and intellectual level. Still, she laughs, a softer sound, and smiles. )

Isn't it better when we still can?

( Still can dream. )

Life's crazier than we ever thought when we first learned about the world. More amazing, too.

Yet I still find myself with a great number of good things to say about simplicity itself. [ He sighs, then, feeling strangely... put-out. Yes, that's how he'd described the emotion if he had was forced... which he isn't. Instead, he just glances at the floor. ]

There's a reason why people believe in the KISS principle.

( She admits. )

[ He scoffs slightly, still looking at the floor. ]

Indeed, but I still don't think I've heard anyone refer to it quite like that since I was in elementary school.

( She laughs, pleased he understands the acronym. )

Do you know you're the first person to have any idea what I mean when I talk about the KISS principle?

Considering that there's people here who have never seen a microwave, I'm not surprised.

Yeah, I can only imagine how weird everything here is for them when technology isn't something they've got back home.

... Miles? How would you explain a nuclear bomb to someone who has no idea what nuclear is?

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edgeworth's expression in the 1-4 chapter title art would be perf for this

... yes it would be

as it turns out i was actually thinking of the art where he picks up the gun but w/e

oh well there's also that

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