Alexander caught the look on her face, and it took him by surprise. No, he didn't think she'd want him to die, but there was a frantic urgency about her suddenly that was unexpected. Her sincerity felt heavy, and so instead of a jokey answer she got a more serious nod of confirmation. "I'm not going anywhere," he assured her, then realised what he was saying, promising to stick around on this space station instead of giving into the fantasy life inside his head. That wasn't what he meant, was it? "I've survived worse."
He turned to smile back at her, gladdened by the easy, conversational tone they could slip into despite the very strange circumstances. "Gotta dream big," he joked a little. He had been dreaming big since he'd been a child.
"Defense," he answered simply, seeming as though he was about to leave it there, but he'd been going over and over this case for months - no, he hadn't, but it felt like it. "There was a murder trial. There was 22 year old woman, Elma Sands..." he started, and then realised he probably should explain exactly what had happened to her to his 19 year old female secretary. "She was... found dead, and I was representing the main suspect, this guy Levi Weeks. He'd been in a relationship with Elma, but it was... not a match her family would've approved of, so it had all been very secretive. She told her cousin she was going to elope with him that night, left the house, next thing she was found dead. So, of course, your man Levi is looking pretty guilty here... but I don't know, I don't think he did it, you just get a feeling about someone, you know? It was all media sensation, her family just stirred up all this press against him so everyone was looking in the wrong direction. Things like he was acting weird after she turned up dead, as if you're expected to behave normally if your secret lover is murdered the night of your elopement..."
He sighed, exhausted by his own long-winded story, and also realising that his entire defense was far too graphic and he didn't want to start talking about coroner's reports and gruesome details like that. "I should write fiction novels, who knows where all this came from."