As part of her laundry assignment, Emerald had to deliver some of the dry and folded laundry to the rooms they belonged in. The deliveries were split into sections of the prison so the work would be evened out between multiple girls.
Emerald was lucky enough that day to be assigned to the same ward Mama Malachite was in.
After a full two days in prison Emerald had only caught glimpses of the woman patrolling the cells, having not yet got the chance to speak to the woman. Emerald had no idea how she was going to ask for anything from the warden, but she had to try. She needed to get a phone call in with Mercury, and to see if Mama had any tricks to help Emerald get out of the whole 'hanging' thing.
All Emerald needed to do first was complete her rounds in one of the nicer bathrooms reserved for staff. At first, she was rushing because Mama's office was the very next room in the hallway. That was until she spotted Neo walking passed the bathroom door, heading towards Mama herself. Emerald froze and pressed herself to the wall nearest the warden's office, hoping to overhear their conversation.
"Greetings, munchkin. What do you need my assistance with today?" After the friendly greeting from Malachite, there was a long pause. "Wow sweetie, are you writing a novel there?"
Emerald angrily pushed herself away from the wall. Of course, she couldn't eavesdrop, Neo was a mute! But that didn't mean she herself couldn't have a conversation with the performer.
Neo was part of Emerald's laundry rounds, and the greenette hadn't stopped by the jailcells yet. It would be an easy way to integrate into a conversation, a conversation that would be had using the corner of a crossword puzzle and the pencil that came with it that both sat in the bathroom.
Emerald rushed to grab both items then headed back to her trolley to find the clothes that belonged to Politan. When she did manage to find them, she hesitated. Not because of nervousness, but because of a pair of black velvet stockings with garters inlaid with a small red gem. Emerald fingered their soft edges for a few moments before the clacking of heels coming towards her made her snap back to reality. She hurriedly shoved the stockings under the other clothes in the trolley and spun around with other items in hand. Neo was the one approaching, her eyebrows flexed upwards in questioning.
"Hello! You haven't met me yet, I'm Emerald Sustrai. Or Black. Whichever you prefer," Emerald stuck her hand out in greeting. Neo glanced at the outstretched hand, expression never changing.
"I brought you your laundry," Emerald held out the miniature stack of clothes, the paper and pencil rested on top. "I was hoping you could give me some advice. You know, things about prison life and dealing with trials and lawyers and all of those things. Even some things about performing and whatnot, since I'm also a performer like you."
Neo pursed her lips then snatched the paper and pencil. 'What is your act?'
"Oh, well, I haven't really come up with it yet."
Neo smirked and shook her head. 'Want my advice?'
Emerald beamed. "Yes!"
After a moment of writing, Neo traded out the paper for her clothes and strode past Emerald. Emerald frowned down at the simple words spelled out in delicate printing.
'Don't touch my underwear.'
"Emerald Black?" Emerald looked up from the paper to see Malachite staring at her from the office doorway. Mama grinned cheekily. "Well, aren't you the lady I wanted to see. Step into my office." Emerald complied, subtly dropping the note onto the ground behind her.
"Come in, come in," Mama said, practically shoving Emerald through the door and into a leather chair. "I'm sure this is terrifying for you, but don't worry, you're not in any trouble." She let out a hearty laugh while slamming shut the rickety office door.
"Tell me Emerald," her hand dragged along the back of the chair as she walked around to the back of her giant wood desk, "have you found a lawyer yet?"
"No." Emerald tried her best to maintain eye contact instead of just staring at her feet.
"Perfect!" Mama clapped her large hands together in a resounding smack. "You don't want any old schmuck."
"Schmuck?"
"You heard me. No Emerald, you want only the best," Mama lit a cigarette she pulled out of her desk drawer and took a puff, filling the entire room with its musk. "You know why I'm telling you this?" Emerald shook her head. "I see a lot of potential in you, potential that goes beyond here. That is why," she pushed out of her chair, "I'm offering you a phone call."
Emerald's eyes widened, and she found herself leaning forward in anticipation. "Really?"
"Yes, for only one hundred dollars."
Emerald snapped back into her regular sitting position. "One hundred dollars?"
"It's worth it though. This lawyer? He's the best of the best," Mama nodded her head, as if agreeing with herself. "Women would kill for him. If you don't have the money to pay for him, that's understandable. I just thought I'd slide out the offer, because I really do see a lot in you. A lot of myself. Come back to me if you change my mind, remember this name:
"Roman Torchwick."
Emerald paused. If Mama had so much faith in her… "The best, you say?"
Mama nodded again, a lopsided grin covering her face. "The best."
Hovering behind Mama's shoulder was a stage not unlike the one before. It was lined with cells filled with women singing in a murmur, all in prison wear.
"We want Roman. Where is Roman. Give us Roman."
"I don't have all of the money currently, but I'll make a down-payment before I can get a hold of my husband to bring the rest. Plus, some extra for future transactions. Is that alright with you?"
"Alright? Honey, that's perfectly fine. I won't even charge extra, in fact, I'll exempt you from the laundry duty." Mama winked, the smile never leaving her face. "That's how much I like you."
After calling Mercury at his work and convincing him to send her the one hundred dollars, Emerald was sent away from the office with nothing but a newspaper clip to show who she was going to be working with. She shoved it into her uniform pocket.
When arriving back to her cell, she immediately pulled it out, studying the article.
Above the newspaper heading was a large picture of Neo Politan mid-sign with a solemn expression, and a man standing beside her who seemed to be comforting the 'damsel.' According to the article, that was Roman Torchwick. Reading the article itself, Emerald couldn't help but tear up a little. Even with a bitch of a client like Neo, Roman made it clear through his words what a sympathetic person Neo was. She made missteps, but also triumphs, unfortunately driven to extreme measures by her family and the society around her. Emerald felt like she finally understood the harsh mute. She also understood Torchwick.
"R-O-M-A-N. We're all his." The women slowly unbuttoned their garb, revealing sparkling two pieces underneath. "And oh, what luck," their voices rang loudly, "because here he is."
The stage behind them lit up and revealed a multi-coloured set of stairs as the cells disappeared. Standing atop was a silhouette of a man in a top-hat getting his shoes shined.
Understood that he was the man who would save her.
"Ladies and gentlemen, presenting the silver-tonged prince of the courtrooms: the one, the only, Roman Torchwick!"
According to the paper Neo was having another press meet at Cook County in only a few days. That was time enough to prepare.
The reporters surrounded Neo, cameras flashing enough to give Emerald a headache, even from behind the mosh. It was amusing watching the reporters shout out more complaints towards Neo's apparently slow interpreter than actual questions. Not amusing enough to distract Emerald from the fact that Roman wasn't there yet. She paced by the bars, until suddenly, he burst into the prison with another mob of reporters behind him. For a brief moment all Emerald could note was:
His hair was orange.
The man with the top-hat disappeared as the light flared up, revealing the shoe shiner as Torchwick. Trumpets sang as he waved to the crowd, the scantily clad girls surrounding him on the stairwell.
"Mr. Torchwick? Excuse me? Mr. Torchwick? Mr. Torckwick!" After calling his name multiple times, Roman Torchwick finally noticed Emerald. He waved the reporters down the hall to the stairwell Neo was taking the interview on. He kept moving though, causing Emerald to have to speed-walk to keep up with his unfairly long stride.
"Torchwick, sir, I'm Emerald Black. Or Sustrai. I don't know which one Mama Malachite used in reference, but I'm the girl she phoned you about? She told me you'd defend me in court." Emerald tried her best to not make that phrase sound like a question.
"I remember you, yes."
"I don't care about expensive things, cashmere coats, diamond rings. No, no, not me. All I care about is love."
The girls chimed in. "That's what he's here for!"
"I was hoping we could discuss our deal further. Just so I know what I'm getting out of it, you know? I mean, now that I've hired you—"
"Roman Torchwick!" Emerald bit back a swear as Robyn Hill hustled over to them. Roman briefly paused for the newcomer.
Roman and the feather-donned girls began a synchronized dance down the lighted stairs as Roman continued his verse.
"I don't care for wearing silk cravats, ruby studs, satin spats. Don't mean a thing."
"Listen sir, I have a solid alibi and you know it. You also know what my story could do. It could make tides, put both of our names on billboards. We could start a revolution!"
"I'm not in the business of revolutions and playtime fantasies, Robyn. The real world and its consequences aren't as easily shaped as you think." Roman continued on his set pace from earlier, Robyn and Emerald following closely.
"True. But you can't deny how big my story can be. If you're worried about having a challenge for once, the people love me enough that the jury will have to let me out. You know it."
"No Robyn, I don't. Please, bother someone else for a change." Emerald smirked as Roman sent the blonde wench packing.
"All I care about is love."
"And you," Roman stopped so suddenly Emerald stumbled ahead of him before actually stopping. Roman strode over to her, and leaned in close through the bars. "You have not hired me yet. All you got was a phone call. You still have to pay me for my actual services, which, if you're wondering, is your only ticket from death's row." Before she could reply, Roman pushed away from the bars and continued to the interview. "Five-thousand dollars is the cost. No pay, no freedom."
"Five…" Emerald stood and watched the lawyer leave, mouth agape.
"All he cares about is love!"
Mercury told Emerald to trust him. After so many years spent living with her, he knew that didn't come easy from her. Immediately being sent to jail by him probably wasn't helping with that issue. But it was alright, he had a plan that would make it worth it.
The plan was already being derailed, and Mercury couldn't decide if that was for better or for worse.
After being convinced to send over one hundred dollars to her to make her 'more comfortable' during her stay in prison, Mercury didn't expect to hear back from her until he found her a lawyer. Apparently, Emerald found one herself. One who was 'so good' she'd refuse to take anyone else.
Roman Torchwick.
Mercury had expected in the worst-case scenario, Emerald would still have to serve a few years in prison. After looking at Torchwick's track record, Mercury felt that man would actually get her out. Didn't mean he wasn't expensive though.
Mercury begrudgingly agreed to hire him, even though they'd likely have to starve on the streets. Even if they weren't conventional, he still cared about Emerald and felt bad for getting her sent to hang. Not that she would've. But that was besides the point.
After the phone call, Mercury went straight to Torchwick's personal office.
"I don't have any appointments right now." The carrottop commented from his newspaper. Across the cover was a large photo of him and one of the performers Emerald would go watch.
"That's what your assistant said." Mercury trudged across the tiger-print rug and plopped himself into a golden embroidered chair. The whole room was bigger than Mercury and Emerald's apartment, and it reeked of money.
Roman finally glanced up from his paper with a quizzical look. He eyed Mercury, who was still in a mechanics uniform. "You better not get grease smudges on my furniture."
"I'll try."
Roman tossed his newspaper onto his mahogany desk. "What do you want, kid?" He asked while pulling out a buck cigar and lighting it.
"I'm here in regards to Emerald Black."
"Black… Black… Black…oh. Sustrai?"
"She also goes by that, yes. I've come to pay for you to be her lawyer." Roman seemed interested in that.
"How noble. And who exactly are you?"
"Mercury Black."
"Husband, got it. The story of star-crossed lovers yearning to reunite, forced apart by a tragic fate ensured for them." Roman dramatically sauntered around his desk before sitting on the polished wood in front of Mercury.
Mercury's nose wrinkled. "What? No."
"Eh, we'll figure the story out later. Where's my cash?"
Mercury began to pull the rolled-up bills from his tattered coat's inner-pockets. "Here's my earnings from the past four months of work, everything in our secret stash, and the next two month's worth of rent. That's all I have that allows me to still buy groceries tonight."
Roman fingered through the bills in a hurry. "Kid, this is only three thousand dollars. Two thousand short from the payoff."
"Well, I can take out a loan. Does that work?"
"No, it needs to be an immediate payment, and there's no negotiating either."
"Well then," Mercury pried himself out of the expensive chair, prosthetics creaking, "I guess I'll just take back the two thousand and find a different lawyer." He went to take the money out of the older man's hands. Roman pulled back, nearly knocking over some exotic desk decorations in the process.
"Wait, I haven an idea. When your wife makes it big while fighting this case—and I mean when—we'll hold an auction." Roman trailed off, clearly waiting for Mercury to inquire in response. Mercury just tapped his foot against the tiled floors. "People will go so crazy for her, they'll want to buy anything she's ever touched. We'll even hold it in your apartment, let them see where it went down."
"You think that'll raise two thousand dollars?" It was Mercury's turn to eye the other man suspiciously.
"If we charge a fee upon entry, and make it a donation fund running for her? Absolutely, yes."
"So… you're hired?"
Roman grabbed another cigar from a tray on the desk, and pressed it into Mercury's hand, grinning. "Let the Mrs. know she's got herself a lawyer."
