#my point is phoenix wright does in fact have the character of a lawyer and is conventionally good at his job fucking fight me

[cloverthirteen]

Was Ace Attorney made as a satire on Japan’s legal system? -- An analysis

I wouldn’t really call myself an Ace Attorney fan--I’ve never played any of the games, the closest I’ve come being watching other people’s let’s plays. I do like reading about the series on wikis and interacting with fan content for it, though, so I do know a fair amount about it.

One thing I see being said pretty often by fans is that the series was intended as a satire/parody of the Japanese legal system, which is why the courts are ridiculously biased towards the prosecution, prosecutors often care more about perfect win records more than putting actual guilty people behind bars, etc. If you’re familiar with this, you’ve probably heard of Japan’s 99% conviction rate. This interpretation of the games and the way they work definitely makes sense.

But after hearing this many times I eventually noticed something. There isn’t a single actual source (creator statement, interview, etc.) that backs up this claim. Every time I see someone online say “the series creator made Ace Attorney to parody Japan’s actual legal system” there is never a link to an interview or anything that proves their statement correct. If someone has an actual, verified source from Shu Takumi or someone else who had significant involvement with the series, please prove me wrong and show it to me. But according to all of the creator’s statement’s I’ve read, there’s no evidence of the series being an intentional parody.

So, what do we know about the creation of the Ace Attorney series? Well, it was created by Shu Takumi, who wrote and directed the first three games. After working on the dinosaur survival horror game Dino Crisis for Capcom, he was given the opportunity to make any kind of game he wanted. He really wanted to make mystery and adventure games, and from that came Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney.

MC: Before developing Ace Attorney you worked on Dino Crisis. How does one go from dinosaur survival horror to virtual courtrooms?

ST: Dino Crisis was the brainchild of my then boss, Resident Evil creator, Shinji Mikami. Working on his projects taught me not only how to make games, but also how to think about them. After Dino Crisis 2 wrapped, Mr Mikami gave me six months in which to create any kind of game I wanted.

I was still pretty wet behind the ears, but as I'd originally joined Capcom with a desire to create mystery and adventure games, this was a huge chance for me to make my mark as a creator. In the end it took a team of seven 10 months to produce the first GBA Ace Attorney title. Having the freedom to create exactly the kind of game I wanted was amazing and it was a real pleasure to work on that project.

MC: Can you remember when the idea of Ace Attorney first came to you? How did your bosses respond to the idea of a lawyer-based adventure game when you first described it to them?

ST: It was in 2000 when Mr Mikami said I could make my own game and my original idea was a fairly typical adventure with a detective as the main character. Most mystery adventures have the player choose from a number of different dialogue options for their character in order to progress the story, but I wanted a new gameplay style that enabled players to deduce for themselves what was happening, rather than just selecting canned responses. I developed this into the concept of facing off against the suspect in a crime and exposing the contradictions in their statements.

I was sure my new idea would be a fun and original take on the genre, so I started to revise the main character, since a detective would be too traditional for such an original concept. I asked myself, "What kind of professional would face off against a suspect and expose their contradictory statements?" The answer, of course, was a lawyer and so the Ace Attorney concept was born.

(source, from an interview on the making of the series)

Takumi’s original concept for the game involved Phoenix as not a defense lawyer, but as a detective. The gameplay was to consist of “facing off against the suspect of a crime and finding the contradictions in their statements.” However, Takumi eventually realized that taking apart contradictions wasn’t really a detective’s job, and decided to change the protagonist to a lawyer and the setting to a courtroom instead. And thus, the game’s concept was finalized.

Janet: As you know, “Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy” is coming out world-wide this winter, and as I was brainstorming what to write about for this week’s blog, I remembered your tweets from 2010.

Takumi: Tweets from 2010?

Janet: …Well, it was a long time ago…

Takumi: ???

Janet: I-It’s OK if you don’t remember…

Takumi: …Oh, THOSE! Yes!

Janet: I remember reading them and being shocked by how different the original draft of the game’s story was – how Phoenix wasn’t even a lawyer, but a private eye!

Takumi: Yes, AA was originally supposed to be a detective game, so naturally, Phoenix was to be a private eye. But then, one day, I made a startling realization: the gameplay concept I was going for was for players to enjoy finding and taking contradictions apart, but that was hardly related to investigating or detective work at all. In that moment, I had it – I realized that the main setting for the game should be the courtroom.

Janet: That’s quite the jump, but you know, I can’t imagine this series being anything else at this point. 

(source, from an interview by Janet Hsu about the game’s early development)

During the development for the game, Takumi actually knew very little about the intricacies of the legal system--and in fact, he’s been very transparent about that fact in interviews. There’s even a story he talks about in a blog post where he was asked “shouldn’t we do some research on law before we make this game?” and agonized over it for a bit before deciding that being accurate about courtroom processes wasn’t important--what was important was that the game made the trials exciting and fun.

November, 2000. The characters were coming together, and I was working desperately on my first scenario (the current Turnabout Sisters). One day, I was asked about the one thing I didn’t want to be asked about.

“Mr. Takumi. Don’t we need to do some research on law?”

The knowledge I have about the law, pretty amounts to the one fact that in Japan we have the Roppō Zensho ('Complete Book of The Six Major Legal Codes').

“Don’t bother with that. This is a detective game. “

It should have been over with this one line, but…

“But this isn’t a detective game, it’s a lawyer game!”

“If it’s not going to be realistic, I don’t see why this should be about trials.”

“People who play this might get wrong knowledge from the game!”

“We might get sued by the Bar Association!”

“They’ll start complaining!”

…Gyakuten Saiban (Ace Attorney GBA) is simply a “mystery game.”　“Being realistic” is not what is important. What’s important is emphasizing, and recreating the unique “atmosphere” and “tension” of the courtroom. That is why the judge uses a gavel, even though no judge uses that, and why Naruhodō shouts "Objection!" even though nobody does that either.　This game does not need a “realistic courtroom”!

Chasing the true murderer down to the end, and then getting applauded for that in the courtroom. That feeling of thrill and excitement. It was only by February of the following year when we finally manage to recreate that in the game. The couple of months after this had happened, we looked around, got lost and troubled our minds in search for the answer of the big question of “How do we make a trial into a game?”.  Fall was passing by, and the cold winter was close upon us.

(source, from an archived blog post by Takumi)

So, realism and knowledge of law wasn’t important to Takumi during the development of the series. But there’s also the fact that Takumi has actually personally denied that the Ace Attorney series was an intentional satire or criticism of the court system at any point. In fact, according to a blog post (done as if Phoenix and Maya were reading the column and commenting on it), he actually dislikes people seeing his work this way, as he never intended the games to have any big political statements.

A major prerequisite for Gyakuten Saiban is it’s so simple “even my mother could play it”.  So there is only one point at the core of the game: “Seeing through lies”.

Naruhodō: It wasn’t even supposed to be a game about the trials at first. Mayoi: Eh! Really?! Naruhodō: “Simple” is basically all this game is about, according to TakuShū. Mayoi: What do you mean? Naruhodō: He didn’t want to add all kinds of elements for the player to think about, like alibis, tricks or about the culprit. It’d just confuse them. Mayoi: Really. Naruhodō: Basically, you can proceed in the game if you just think about where the contradiction is. He figured that with that, the controls of the game could also stay simple. Mayoi: But, but, why the trials then? Naruhodō: “A story about a detective seeing through lies” wouldn’t be any different from the other games out there. So that’s why he decided to have someone whose job is seeing through lies as the protagonist. Mayoi: So a defense attorney. Naruhodō: Occasionally  TakuShū sees magazines introducing the game as “a work that dared to take on the theme of trials”, and that actually hurts him. Mayoi: He never meant to be something as big as that…. 

(source, from the mentioned blog post)

Ultimately I see how easy it is, if you know a good amount about both Ace Attorney and Japan’s legal system, to come to the conclusion that the games were made as a dig against the latter. However, somewhere along the line, people apparently stopped seeing this as merely a theory and instead as a definite fact. Now, that doesn’t mean that the theory is entirely unfounded--given that Takumi focused only on making trials interesting and fun in the games, you could say that the games work as an light, comedic parody, not meant to make any political statements. And hey, maybe there’s something I missed--maybe there were other people working on the series who did have significant knowledge of law and wrote some parts of the games as intentional satire of the system. Again, if anyone has evidence of this, don’t hesitate to provide it. But with what I know, I don’t think going “well actually” to people who point out the ridiculousness and unfairness of Ace Attorney’s court system is necessary. It’s simply that way to make the games more fun.

#ace attorney #phoenix wright #this was actually kind of fun to research and write! #kinda felt like i was making a statement in a courtroom...

[4ragon]

Can't speak for anyone else but I for one would love an incoherent rant about the dark age of the law plotline

Alright buckle up kiddos.

So I have a lot of complaints with Dual Destinies as a whole. It’s a poorly paced mess, the final confrontation was deeply underwhelming, it has all these weird “Gotcha” moments where they put in the most bizarre, logic breaking plot twists and then undo them within ten minutes completely for shock value. And yet, despite all of these issues, there is nothing in this world that pisses me off more than the words “The Dark Age of the Law.”

I hate the Dark Age of the Law subplot more than literally any other thing in Ace Attorney. It is a complete failure of a story in literally every possible way. It not only doesn’t work within the context of Dual Destinies, it also completely flies in the face of everything we understand about the original trilogy! It!!!! Sucks!!!!

But no. That was too coherent. I think we should break this down.

First I’m going to start on a macro level. The Dark Age of the Law is the clearest indication to me that the writers of Dual Destinies never played another Ace Attorney game. They treat this Dark Age of the Law thing like this big bad, this shiny new toy, this never before seen wonder, but??? Corruption has been a CENTRAL part of every single AA game since game one!! Since case 2 even!!!

The Dark Age of the Law is this whole idea that people have lost their trust in the court system. And what do they site as the catalyst for this breaking of trust? Phoenix Wright’s disbarment and Simon Blackquill’s arrest.

And okay. Phoenix Wright’s disbarment is a reasonable one. Phoenix was sort of known for being this paragon of truth and justice, this man willing to do what it took to find the truth and protect people in need. His name being smeared through the mud could very well shake up the foundations of trust that the people had in the court system.

But Simon Blackquill? Simon FUCKING Blackquill shook up people’s faith in the court system?? Simon Blackquill is the reason that people are convinced that the entire system is full of lies and deceit? SIMON CONFESSED!! He didn’t even do anything corrupt!! He murdered a woman, sure, but he then immediately lets everyone know “Yes, I super did this murder. No one else.” And they treat it like it’s this big turning point??

LANA SKYE!! You guys remember Lana Skye? The Chief Prosecutor at the time, who was accused of murder, and who still went to prison for doing like a million other crimes after being blackmailed by the chief of police.

SPEAKING OF WHICH the fucking CHIEF OF POLICE was a murderous monster who blackmailed people and also murdered. Did that have no effect on people’s trust in the courts?

Manfred von Karma? Never lost a case in 40 years, literally everyone talked about how he and Miles were KNOWN to be corrupt? Also, you know, murdered a man in cold blood?

Blaise Debeste??? Chairman of the fucking ETHICS BOARD???????? Like!!! That’s some deep fucking corruption right there!!!! And he constantly talks about the mysterious disappearances around him of people who disagreed with him, does that not shake your faith?!

In Turnabout Sisters, as early as case 1-2, Redd White calls up the Chief Prosecutor (who also is not Lana, just to be clear) and demands his complicitness in covering up his own crimes. That’s how central corruption is to the entirety of Ace Attorney.

And you’re going to look me in the fucking EYES and tell me Simon Blackquill, some 21 year old nobody with no power or influence, who theoretically stabbed a woman and made no effort to cover that up, is the reason the courts have lost the faith of the people? You have the NERVE??? the AUDACITY??? the fucking GALL????? to tell me that SIMON is what caused this? The system was never trustworthy, and if it was, what the FUCK did Simon have to do with changing that???

Horrible. Terrible. Disgusting.

BUT

Let’s pretend for a moment that Dual Destinies existed in a vacuum. First Ace Attorney game you’ve ever played. Never touched another one in your life. If you were unfamiliar with the world that Ace Attorney has already spent six games establishing, does the Dark Age of the Law subplot hold up?

No. No it doesn’t.

So as I’ve said a million times before, it was clear that Dual Destinies should not have tried to juggle three protagonists. It just didn’t work. They learned their lesson and booted Athena out of that protagonist title in SoJ, and as much as I hated that decision, it was at least a much stronger overarching story for it.

Now. There were three main throughlines in Dual Destinies. Athena’s story centered on introducing her, of course, but it also was about her struggle to save a friend who needed saving from the law and also himself. It was very AA1 in that way.

Apollo’s story was a little harder to outline, because a lot of it is saved for the last couple of cases, but it’s really about his relationship with Athena. Coming to trust her, his trust in her being shaken, struggling to overcome that, grief, loss, yadda yadda, and I have my criticisms of how it’s handled, but that’s the gist of it.

And Phoenix needed a story. So they made up this stupid fucking bullshit garbage and dumped it in his lap and said “Here you go, best friend! Our dear money maker! This is what you’re working with!” And then they proceeded to use it to beat the shit out of Phoenix until he started spitting out dollar bills.

Okay no sorry I have no idea what the fuck I just said but liSTEN

The Dark Age of the Law storyline was clearly supposed to have some significant thematic relevance to the story, given how hard they were hammering it into us in case three. It was supposed to mean something, and I think it was supposed to mean something to Phoenix in particular. After all, he and Miles won’t stop TALKING ABOUT IT GOD MAKE THEM SHUT UP

The Dark Age of the Law subplot had nothing to do with that final case. Remove it, and nothing changes, because, again, Simon had nothing to do with the corruption in the first place, and the Phantom certainly had nothing to do with corruption. It’s so surface level. “Uh oh, people don’t like the courts. If you can solve this unrelated crime, everything will be fixed.” And then he does (also Athena should’ve been the one to win the case, but that’s a different problem) and nothing ever comes of it, other than “Hooray, you fixed the corruption!” He didn’t??? Miles what the fuck are you talking about????

If they had woven in the corruption throughout the story somehow, maybe it would’ve found some way to be impactful? But it was a floundering, half-thought-out subplot in an already bloated game that failed to give any meaning or help anyone develop as a character. Hell, it kept falling out of relevancy and only popped in to rear its head when the writers remembered it existed and decided to have yet another person remind us that THIS IS IMPORTANT GUYS NO REALLY.

Like! Okay. What if they tied it more to AA4? I mean Phoenix’s disbarment and subsequent return could’ve actually affected the plot. Have people actively mistrust Phoenix or something. Or maybe have it affect anyone in any way. Sure it divides the fucking high schoolers for that mess of a “power of friendship” storyline, but so could a plot about, I don’t know, electing a homecoming queen or something. It affected Athena for one case, but what did that even teach her other than “Trust your gut, sweetie, don’t do lawyer crimes!” Phoenix didn’t have an arc in this game, and he shouldn’t have had to, unless it was coming to grips with the fact that he was never going to get those 7 years of his life back and the smears against his character were always going to linger. But they didn’t do that, they just needed him in there for brand recognition.

I can handle a lot of bullshit in these bullshit lawyer games. That’s part of the appeal. But unlike most of the other bullshit, this particular threat was unsatisfying, meandering, and unnecessary.

#ace attorney #dual destinies #i love dual destinies guys really #but if miles says dark age of the law one more time #also was this coherent at all? #j #spoilers #meta

[queen-ofsunflowers]

DadWorth AU: Part 3 (Justice For All)

Justice for All has to be one of the angstier parts of this AU, right up there with some ideas I have for Apollo Justice. Especially considering the whole Miles “chooses death” thing. So, let’s dive into it!

< Part 2 | Part 4 >

Reunion, and Turnabout

Things fast forward a couple of months after the end of Rise from the Ashes. Gumshoe’s been taking care of Kay since Miles kind of fucked off. He’s been doing his best, and so are Sebastian and Klavier -- who have been trying to cheer up their third musketeer ever since they found out what happened. But Kay is miserable.

So, now summer break is here for her, Gumshoe decides to take her out to the mountains for the day to get out in nature and hopefully get her mind off of things. Even if it is for a little while.

However, that plan is totally ruined when he gets a call about a murder nearby. He’s the only detective in the area, so they have to go down to Kurain Village to check it out. And that’s where they run into Phoenix for the first time since the end of Rise. Both he and Kay are not doing well in the aftermath of that case, and neither are really sure what to do around each other. Needless to say, the whole interaction is awkward.

Gumshoe does not pick up on this. He asks Phoenix if he could keep an eye on Kay while he takes care of the investigation. After some hesitation and deliberation, Phoenix agrees. So Kay becomes his partner button and Phoenix finally get to interact one-on-one with each other during the investigation for Reunion.

This is the first time they get to do this, since they were either with Maya or Ema on previous cases. It’s still a bit awkward, but when Phoenix finds out that she’s studying to be a defense attorney, things get a little bit easier as they find common ground.

Phoenix unknowingly starting to settle into a mentor role? Yes.

Kay is super turned off by Morgan Fey (getting chills up her spine and a faint memory of Dahlia Hawthorne -- she saw the Fawles trial. Phoenix also gets the same vibes from her.) And is surprisingly good with Pearl.

Her reaction to learning that Franziska is the prosecutor for this case catches Phoenix’s attention. Kay hasn’t heard from Franziska outside of a few text messages to check in on her over the past few months, so the fact that she’s in the country and Kay’s only finding out about it now makes her wonder what’s going on.

Kay goes to meet with Maya at the detention center with Phoenix, and kind of gets overly excited when she sees that Maya is channeling Mia because if you remember, she looked up Mia. Mia was an idol for her. So getting to meet her -- even if it is through spirit channeling -- is the highlight of her week.

And then we get to the trial. Phoenix asks Kay if she wants to stand co-counsel and Kay immediately jumps at the chance to say yes. So this is technically her first trial (she’s excited for it, but a little bit sad that Miles isn’t there to see her). Franziska, on the other hand, is surprised that Kay is standing at the defense’s bench with Phoenix Wright, leading to a lot of things including seeing Kay as a traitor (reason why will be explained later.)

So, Kay stands in for Pearl as co-counsel. As a result, her spirit channeling abilities are not revealed until much later. In the second trial day, she’s not present due to Gumshoe’s intervention and keeping her busy (something which Pearl agrees to so long as Kay and Phoenix get Maya a Not Guilty).

The investigation moments are full of small bonding moments between Phoenix and Kay as they get to know each other a bit better.

So, Team Wright-Faraday get a Not Guilty verdict as promised. Kay’s super proud of herself for managing to do this and it puts her on cloud nine. Franziska only believes that Phoenix won because he had a semi-competent co-counsel with him (Aunt Fran starting to show that she’s proud of Kay a little bit, but is still incredibly pissed that she lost.) Overall, she isn’t sure how to feel about Kay in that moment, and it all comes down to one simple reason:

This is the first time Kay has smiled in months. Everyone who knows her is relieved to see it back.

After the case is closed, Maya does thank Kay for helping and Kay in return does try to cheer her up after the whole “morgan stabbed maya in the back” thing starts to settle in. Am I saying Maya and Kay friendship? Maya and Kay friendship. It starts here.

So, things are starting to look a little bit better for Kay.

The Lost Turnabout

It’s not... Kay’s not involved in this one. Teenage shenanigans happen here as the new school year at Themis starts up.

The first day of school is always pretty easy, but it gets pretty depressing for Kay when one of her professors decides a good idea to break the ice by talking about some of the more ridiculous things that have happened in court cases. It gets the class laughing, and isn’t a bad idea...

Unfortunately for Kay, though, the professor also brings up a certain defense attorney cross-examining a parrot. The memory of that trial brings up a whole lot of feelings for Kay and she just kind of falls quiet for the rest of the day.

But luckily, Klavier and Sebastian have known Kay for a year now, and they realize something’s wrong. So they (primarily Klavier, since he instigates the whole thing) decide to do something about it and distract her. Here is where teenage shenanigans come about.

Just wholesome fun with what is slowly becoming a favorite chaotic trio that ends with everyone collapsed on a couch with an old movie playing in the background. ...and possibly a few appearances from other characters. Who knows?

Kay only finds out about Phoenix’s trial after the fact from Maya, and she’s not sure whether to be impressed that Phoenix managed to do all that with amnesia or laugh about it. She decides to do both.

Turnabout Big Top

It all starts with Phoenix going from ace attorney to ace babysitter as he’s in charge of four teenagers and one small child. Over the past few months, he’s gotten acquainted with Klavier and Sebastian as well, especially after the trio used the Wright & Co. Law Offices as their own personal hangout spot to get homework done and hide out when needed (thank you Kay).

The only reason Kay is brought on as co-counsel for this case is because a: its winter break so she doesn’t have school to worry about and b: the time frame is the same as when Miles was arrested the year prior. If Phoenix is having a rough time, then so is Kay. Especially since this will also be her first birthday since the whole incident. She’s also at Wright & Co. for the same reason when Maya calls up with the case.

This case is not the best distraction for Kay, but at least its something. Lesson learned: as a lawyer, you gotta take the good with the frustrating. Things get worse with Franziska prosecuting again. Kay still doesn’t get what’s up with her and why she’s still getting called a traitor.

The boys are also in on this case because why not, though they don’t stand as co-counsel but rather just help with the investigation. Because we all know that Kristoph and Blaise wouldn’t agree to them standing on the defense’s side, one more than the other.

Kay openly admitting to getting a headache while trying to figure out what the heck is actually going on during the first trial day. She grew up with the Master of Logic himself, so trying to make sense of this without all the information is making her head run in circles. But she’s not going to give up.

It’s revealed when Franziska confronts Phoenix & Co. outside of the lodging house later that day that the reason Franziska calls Kay a traitor is that she deliberately is siding with the man responsible for Miles’s “death”, something that she never thought Kay would do.

Kay never blames Phoenix for what happened to Miles. She mostly blames Gant (and von Karma somewhat) for it. They were the ones who pushed him, not Phoenix. So, when Franziska openly blames Phoenix for what happened, Kay gets pretty pissed. 

When Phoenix and Maya continue their investigation, Kay goes to confront Franziska on that matter and just goes off. Months of bottled up emotions just kind of explode outward, and Franziska is the unfortunate target of it all. This blow-up is also the first time that Kay refers to Miles as her dad. Which hits pretty hard. Franziska starts regretting a few choices she’s made today. Klavier and Sebastian pull her away as she starts to break down.

So they just... let her cry it out in the circus’s cafeteria. They end up being the ones who find out about the incident with the lion (once Kay’s calmed down) rather that Phoenix and Maya. The story has them racing over to them, catching the duo just as they’re about to enter Acro’s room and things go about pretty much the same way they do canonically from there.

The next day is a bit hard, and its easy to pick up on the tension between Kay and Franziska here. Taking a page out of the anime, Kay, Klavier, a reluctant Sebastian and Maya recreating the crime for the entire court. She does feel bad about having to indict Acro, though, due to the circumstances surrounding everything.

Kay does a pretty good job, something which Gumshoe relays as a message to her, at the end of the trial, much to her surprise. Who else would be proud of her is something that she wants to know.

Meanwhile, Miles Edgeworth wonders how he’s going to tell his daughter that he’s still alive upon his return to the country. (and yes, he was the one who told gumshoe to tell kay that he was proud of her)

Farewell, My Turnabout

So, Kay at this point still doesn’t know that Miles is alive. He wants to get everything settled before he makes any grand reveals to anyone. He’s also still trying to figure out how to do it since that wasn’t supposed to happen. Kay wasn’t supposed to think he was dead. He told her that he was leaving, sure, but Kay was also half-asleep when he did. So, misunderstandings~

Meanwhile, Phoenix takes the girls (Maya, Pearl and Kay) to the Hero of Heroes Grand Prix. Kay’s gotten decently close to the members of Wright & Co. over the past few months, that much is clear by now.

Kay gets upset about Corrida’s murder because ya know. Jammin’ Ninja fan. She hopes that Engrade gets locked away for doing it. Maya thinks she just doesn’t like the Nickel Samurai, which isn’t that far off. Kay just doesn’t like Engarde thanks to reading Klavier’s tabloid magazines. She never gets to explain the contents of those magazines, though. Phoenix finds out about them later.

Things take a sharp turn when Maya is called to the front desk to answer her “call”. Kay goes with Maya because ya know. Buddy system. (”girls don’t let each other go anywhere alone, nick!” “*sigh* i will never understand teenagers...”)  i think. you know. where this about to go--

So, yeah. Kay gets kidnapped alongside Maya. She puts up a pretty decent fight against de Killer (look at the people she was around growing up, Kay probably does know a little self-defense), but in the end, she still gets ‘napped. And so, Phoenix has to defend Engarde or the two girls will “disappear”.

Things are made worse, as Phoenix is accosted by two teenage boys who can’t get in touch with their third musketeer who didn’t show up for school that day. He’s just trying to do his job, but Klavier and Sebastian are really stubborn and will not leave him alone.

And everything gets worse when Miles makes his grand revival. And then is made the prosecutor for this case. So, Phoenix is not having a very good week at all.

Phoenix and Gumshoe are doing the best to keep the fact that the girls are being held hostage from Edgeworth and the boys. Emphasis on try. All three know that there’s something going on, but they can’t figure out what.

Meanwhile, Kay and Maya are in a wine cellar. Kay has tried several times to break down the door, but it hasn’t worked. de Killer took their phones, so they have no way of contacting the outside. They’re screwed unless they can escape.

Maya realizes that they do have a way to contact the outside and uses her spirit channeling powers to contact Mia, and with Kay’s help manages to explain what’s going on and giving a message to Mia to give to Phoenix.

So, Pearl finally reveals her spirit channeling powers. It freaks Phoenix out at first, but he gets over it quickly because at this point, he’s kind of used to Fey Family Weirdness.

The first part of the trial goes on as pretty much the same as it did before. Afterwards, Phoenix does his best to keep the fact that the girls are kidnapped from Miles because he’s gonna flip the fuck out. And he fails. And Miles kind of does flip out.

So, de Killer and Engarde (more so de Killer because he did his research, he knows the connection with Kay that Edgeworth has) have two pawns to work with and dangle over both the prosecution and defense. And now Edgeworth has two assistants on his side: Sebastian and Klavier, who don’t want to see Kay hurt. However, as future prosecutors, they can’t do much to help Phoenix. So, they help out with the investigation (and using the excuse as this being extra credit for anyone who asks why there are two teenagers here.)

On the other side, Maya and Kay break out of the room they were locked in thanks to a card Maya finds. Things go about as well as they do canonically, but with more struggle. Kay makes a fucking mess trying to defend herself and Maya from de Killer, which will later show the police that something definitely went down here (and concerning the heck out of a good handful of people in the process).

Kay may not know the truth about the Yatagarasu yet, but she sure is acting like the Yatagarasu.

The investigation goes about as well as you expect it to. Klavier and Sebastian are doing their best, but they can’t do much since they’re still only students. And Miles is worried as hell for Kay and ends up wanting to tear Engarde apart. Klavier is right to not like Engarde, as was Kay earlier.

When the trial starts up again, you have both the prosecution, the defense and a few members of the gallery nervous as hell. Gumshoe is doing his best to find the girls, but Miles and Phoenix still need to stall for time.

They do their best, but things are going about as well as they do canonically with Edgeworth being more on edge due to Kay being in danger. And the last time he saw her was when he left. So, he wants to be able to reconcile with her.

Things go on much like they do in canon. The note, Gumshoe’s accident, etc. Mia’s with Kay, doing her best to help, but she’s not sure what more she can do because the girls are weak and tired from being held captive for so long.

More worry on both parts.

When de Killer threatens to kill Maya and Kay when Edgeworth and Phoenix press him and try to get more time, Miles is also there to beg him to leave them alone. This is also the first time that Miles openly refers to Kay as his daughter.

Not much is different there out. They manage to expose Engarde as the asshole that he is, the girls are released and Engarde is declared guilty.

The scene with Franziska at the airport and Phoenix giving Miles the whip takes place a bit earlier, as that’s where Miles goes first before going to meet with Kay. Because he’s still trying to figure out how he’s going to talk to Kay again.

Phoenix and the others meet Maya and Kay at the hospital (Kay and Maya were held captive without much food or water for about three days, and Kay has a few minor injuries from de Killer, so they do need medical attention). Maya has a tearful reunion with Mia (as channeled by Pearl), and Kay gets tackled by her friends on both sides.

And then Miles Edgeworth walks into the room a short while later and Kay does not know what to say. She thought that he was dead for over a year, and a lot of things start bubbling to the surface. She starts tearing up because she thought she would never see Miles again, and he with her.

As soon as he gets close enough, Kay hugs him and calls him stupid in a couple different ways. Miles accepts it and apologizes for making her worry. He promises not to vanish like that again, and returns the promise that Kay made in part 2: to not keep secrets from her again.

So, what they didn’t get at the end of part 2, Miles and Kay finally get at the end of JfA: a chance to actually rebuild and reconcile their relationship without anything getting in the way.

So Justice for All ends on a pretty good note.

That may be the end of Justice for All, but it’s not the end of the story. There are still more ripples to come and fun shenanigans.

#ace attorney #ace attorney au #kay faraday #dick gumshoe #phoenix wright #maya fey #pearl fey #franziska von karma #miles edgeworth #sebastian debeste #klavier gavin #dadworth au #kay edgeworth au #queen speaks

[wildfey]

Anon from yesterday back again! About the set-up, a post on twitter explained the theory much better and I gotta look up the name. The gist is that Phoenix could've proved that he was set up. He did not have the time to have a forgery done since he got the job for defending Zak only the day before. Plus the money. Instead, there is no evidence at all he even tried. Why? Because he'd seen the courts' corruption before and decided it didn't matter anymore, plus too dangerous.

(continued) You could even point at his reply to the Judge's words and wonder if Phoenix has nothing to say because he knows it's useless to argue. Hidden powers have already decided that they will attack him and try to drag him down.

okay, okay, hello again anon, good to see you back with another excellent ask.

I always think that there are two ways to look at Phoenix's disbarment:

a) that the problem was straight-up with bringing forged evidence into court, no matter what the circumstances were.

b) that the problem was that Phoenix was assumed to have created the forged evidence and bought it into court intentionally.

Ace Attorney really flips around on which of these is true in universe (it's a plot point to some extent in 1-5, 3-3, 4-1, and 4-4) but considering that Phoenix gets his badge back almost immediately after it's proved that the second wasn't the case, I'm going to assume that presenting forged evidence accidentally is either not an issue or less of an issue. This tends to be the fanon majority stance too. (It's worth noting that Edgeworth is implied to have pulled some strings irt getting Phoenix's badge back. Ymmv and so on.)

With our framework safely in place, the question arises: If Phoenix could have avoided punishment, or at least public shaming, by revealing the set-up, why wouldn't he? As you point out, the forgery doesn't make sense once you start to look into it and we know that Phoenix did put a lot of these pieces together. Hell, he could have made these arguments when Misham testified during the Gramarye trial. But he doesn't. (Warning: this is a more headcanon-y meta than my last one, because the 7yg is... a gap and we have very little concrete info on what the fuck Phoenix was up to. He got a kid, worked on jury trials, played good poker + bad piano, and had some sort of frenemyship with Kristoph. That's pretty much all we've got).

Firstly: Corruption. The AA court system is ridiculously corrupt, and at the point that Phoenix is disbarred, he becomes emblematic of this - he's a man with a history of revealing injustice - notably Von Karma & Gant, but even without them he still won some high profile cases - and once he's disbarred, it's implied that the narrative is flipped, turning him into a figurehead for that which he fought against (dark age of the law, etc). The obvious conclusion is that his disbarment was a convenient way to discredit him - powerful and corrupt figures (and in AA there are many) don't need to fear Phoenix Wright if he isn't a lawyer and his reputation is ruined. The counter argument is that Phoenix... has always done some questionable things with evidence (1-5, 2-4, and 3-3 stand out to me). But no more so than anyone else in this fucked-up universe. Either way, Phoenix has always worked in a system stacked against him, and it's very possible that he suspected there to be manoevering behind the scenes (and there was! We know Kristoph existed and was purposefully working against Phoenix.) HOWEVER, I don't believe that any of this would stop him on it's own, because it's been long established that Phoenix Wright does not give a shit about bad odds.

So, what would make him accept it? Anon, you mention danger in your ask, and I do see that as partially true - Phoenix isn't concerned about danger to himself, but he has a kid to care for. I would say, however, that especially when we come to Kristoph, as much of a bastard as he is, Phoenix had no evidence that he could be violent to the point of murder until 4-1. Before that, his influence was long-distance life ruining, rather than active threat (though long-distance life ruining is pretty scary on its own when you're raising a small child with low funds). I do see that as a cause, but one of many, and this is the point where I'd like to go back to the conversation on motivation.

I am going to make the argument here, as I did in the other answer, that Phoenix, in the 7yg and possibly elsewhere, is depressed, and that one symptom of that is a loss of motivation. It's implied by the game itself, and makes more sense than most of the alternatives.

(I won't get too personal, but the years of my life where I dressed like this... not good years lol)

My headcanon has always been that by the point that Phoenix had sorted out his guardianship of Trucy and got himself out of that initial low that came from having his life ruined, it was too late to fix his disbarment and he had to change tracks, and that's when he became interested in MASON. (Not to self-promote, but I'm realising that a lot of what I've said here is rephrased ideas from The Path Once So Clear, so if you want 15,000-ish words on the subject, it's there). Of course, when talking about Phoenix's 7yg depression, I think it's also important to mention that Phoenix in AA4 is very much implied to be putting on an act (which is pretty common in AA4 in general. Most characters in that game have both a public and private face). Being 'Beanix' - eg. the piano/poker player with no prospects who works in a shitty restaurant and takes nothing seriously - is a convenient cover while he works on the things that he doesn't want to be targeted for (and here we come back to the corruption angle).

As to how far the depression helps that act... well, that could be a whole conversation on its own. Once again, I'm very much coming into headcanon here, but I'm reminded of the phenomenon where someone with depression will deliberately exacerbate it, either as a form of self-harm or as some attempt to fit a role (artists are especially prone, due to the 'depressed artist' stereotype. I see it most in the emo scene). Beanix has always seemed to me as someone who is deliberately messing up his own life - he repeatedly provokes Apollo, essentially sabotaging their relationship, he puts himself into dangerous situations for no real reason (this is a general Phoenix trait), and despite the fact that we KNOW Maya and Edgeworth were supportive of him during this period, we never actually see them around, presumably because he's keeping them at a distance. How much of this is for the act, and how much is real?

Again, we've come very much off topic (whoops) but I see a lot of this as another aspect of Phoenix's low self worth - is there a difference between the image he projects of a man who has given up due to being disbarred, and the real Phoenix who is still actively working behind the scenes but is very obviously not doing well because he can't 'save people' - the thing which so much of his identity relies upon? I think there is, but I also think the image too often becomes the reality, and AA4 does carry this underlying theme of how wearing these masks of a public persona can affect your 'true self'.

As always, I genuinely love to see other people's takes on this, either in the tags, in reblogs, or via asks. This one is very headcanon-y, and I know there some entirely different perspectives out there, some of which I really like. (Also this one got to be heavy. Look after yourselves guys.)

#my post #ace attorney meta #Ace Attorney #Phoenix Wright #depression cw #a big one too #and minor mention of #self harm cw #Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney #replies

[inspector-montoya-fox]

let’s talk about the criminal mistreatment of Athena Cykes

Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies isn’t really big on women. They’re either dead, fully motivated by self-interest, or on the wrong side of the law. And in the wacky world of Ace Attorney, the game seriously lacks in original wacky female characters. And then there’s Athena Cykes; Phoenix’s new, cute! protégé with a brand new skill for some fresh gameplay and a seriously messed up backstory to captivate the player. Here’s the problem: that pretty much sums up Apollo’s character and reason for being introduced literally one game prior. So why introduce this new character when she wasn’t even needed?

(major spoilers ahead)

Let’s start by pointing out that, throughout Dual Destinies and Spirit of Justice, Athena only handles one case on her own. And that case (Turnabout Storyteller) is a mess, imo. We don’t get to investigate as Athena, her skills as a rookie attorney are being constantly diminished by everyone, even her client, and she relies on Blackquill to bail her out when shit hits the fan. In the original trilogy, Maya also helped out Phoenix when in need, but Phoenix was literally the main playable character, having enough cases to redeem himself after stumbling once or twice. Athena is given only one chance throughout the span of two games.

If Athena was the only new character, tackling only one case on her own would be more acceptable because, with the absence of Maya, she’d play the pivotal role of Phoenix’s assistant, aiding him. And that would actually be ideal. Imagine Athena being introduced in Dual Destinies as Phoenix’s assistant, investigating with him and providing advice during the trials. The game would wrap up nicely by having us explore the Space Centre and have her backstory unravel. That’s basically the first game’s premise: Maya is introduced in Turnabout Sisters and by Turnabout Goodbyes we explore part of her backstory (mainly Misty Fey going MIA) via Edgeworth’s trials.

What really screws up Athena’s chances of succeeding as a new character, are the other new characters, Apollo Justice and Trucy Wright. Apollo Justice was literally supposed to be a reset for the franchise. Bridge to Turnabout wrapped up all the story arcs of the trilogy in such a masterful way that there wasn’t anything more for Phoenix and Maya to do. The 7 year time jump and the introduction of Apollo were supposed to kick off a new trilogy and showcase a new era of the law, a time in which the system started failing, despite the fact that it was already messed up. I go into detail about why Apollo Justice failed in this essay no one bothered to read (yea i’m bitter, bitch) but basically, to sum up, Capcom didn’t have the balls to strip the series of its main character and due to backlash, brought him back one game after.

I 100% believe that Dual Destinies tries its hardest to be what fans wanted Apollo Justice to be. As a result, it has too much on its plate. Giving Apollo a new backstory, portraying Phoenix’s return as an attorney, trying desperately to sell the Dark Age of the Law and repeating ‘the end justifies the means’ about a million times, delivering interesting cases with interesting witnesses (at which it fails miserably, imo), all the while introducing Athena and exploring her backstory, which includes the new prosecutor and new detective, whose final twist, although unexpected, doesn’t save the game. That’s a lot, like too, too much.

What was the reason for Athena’s introduction? As I mentioned above, Apollo was literally introduced one game prior to Dual Destinies, providing the writers with countless opportunities for interesting storylines. What we got instead were interesting storylines which were never to be revisited again, e.g. Apollo and Trucy being Thalassa Gramarye’s children, and the jury system. What the fuck. Instead of progressing Apollo’s saga as a rookie attorney taken under Phoenix’s wing, he gets sidetracked for the sake of Athena, but as we soon find out, that isn’t even the case. Actually, Apollo as a new protagonist gets sacrificed for the sake of Athena, and in turn, Athena gets sacrificed for the sake of Apollo being a sidekick. Again, what the fuck.

After Apollo Justice, the games try and fail to course-correct Apollo’s character. Dual Destinies tries to shoehorn Apollo and Athena’s backstories into two cases (The Cosmic Turnabout and Turnabout for Tomorrow), while wasting such an opportunity with its first three cases (no, Turnabout Academy’s rushed exposition on Athena and Juniper’s friendship doesn’t count). And I’m being blatantly honest when I say that I literally couldn’t give less of a shit about Clay Terran and dArK Apollo with a bandage over his eye. I literally don’t care because the game doesn’t do the work in order for me to care. It just dumps a bunch of new info on Apollo and Clay’s friendship at the beginning of a trial for which there isn’t even an investigation. That’s just lazy. Instead, I’m much more interested as to why the robots at the Space Centre recognize Athena.

Athena’s backstory, although redundant and painfully familiar, is pretty interesting. Why is it redundant and painfully familiar? Because Maya Fey also lost her mother due to an incident with an upcoming prosecutor and eventually was misled into thinking she was the culprit, the truth being revealed by Phoenix at the end. Despite the similarity, the details surrounding Metis Cykes’s murder are so captivating. Aura Blackquill is introduced, a mysteriously sexy tech gyal whose dialogue on Metis seems to suggest that they were romantically involved, Blackquill’s imprisonment is explained, there’s hostages involved, and the Phantom is revealed. Turnabout for Tomorrow isn’t my favorite case but in terms of setting up Athena’s backstory, it does everything right.

I honestly love Athena. I love that we have another female attorney alongside Mia and Calisto Yew. I love that she introduces psychology into the trials. I love her yellow suit and her narration, and her moon earrings and relentlessly joyful attitude. She’s such a joy to have around. That’s why I hate how Dual Destinies handles her character, having Apollo ask her questions on who she is and what she does during The Monstrous Turnabout’s investigation and waiting until Turnabout for Tomorrow to continue her exposition. Instead, Apollo gets most of the attention. If Capcom wanted games 4-6 to be Apollo’s trilogy, they should’ve done that. Not dilute Apollo Justice by including hobo Phoenix, not introduce Athena and have Phoenix return in Dual Destinies, not do anything they did with Spirit of Justice. I really wanted Dual Destinies to be Athena’s game.

Spirit of Justice handles Athena even worse than Dual Destinies. She is quite literally reduced to a side character and, even though we get to play her first solo case, her character gets absolutely zero development. Whereas Phoenix is reunited with Maya and resets the law in a foreign country via a revolution in which Apollo is caught in the centre of, Athena babysits Trucy (another female character who is given nothing to do). Also, Athena being sidetracked, getting turned from a new attorney to just a character without a purpose becomes so obvious when she’s literally rendered obsolete once Maya returns in Turnabout Time Traveler, during which she becomes Trucy’s lab rat... ???

I literally feel bad for Athena because she was created unreasonably but created with care nonetheless. Dual Destinies tackles too many story arcs and themes all at once, and if the writers removed some of them to focus more on Athena instead, she could have been the next Franziska: a young lawyer with drive who rises to the ranks of the best but not without her flaws. But, um, we got an Apollo Justice Lite, instead.

#yes i'm using capital letters because i'm channeling my serious ace attorney simp #not sly cooper #not sly cooper for a while now tbh #awaiting SlyFox Week for a comeback maybe? maybe even sooner idk #ace attorney #athena cykes #dual destinies

[wardencommanderrodimiss]

Witches, Chapter 20: in which I allow Phoenix to channel my frustration at how long this case took to end, make up more backstory for a character who’s dead when we meet them in an extra DLC case, and the orca case still will continue for one more chapter after this.

[Seelie of Kurain Chapter Masterlist] [ao3]

[Witches Chapter Masterlist] [ao3]

----

Blackquill is out for blood today.

Not that he wasn’t yesterday, or in April - not that this isn’t just his default state. But Phoenix simply tries to tell the judge that the defense is ready and gets attacked by the damn hawk. “Ready,” Blackquill drawls, and now Phoenix is no longer ready, and that’s how the trial starts, with some loose feathery fluff fallen on his scattered notes laid out on the bench, and talons perilously close to his eyes. 

If this is a test of Phoenix, Edgeworth seeing what he’ll put up with, the answer is “a lot”, and he’d really be glad if Edgeworth would go ahead and ban the bird.

Dr Crab is the first witness up on the stand, and though he wasn’t the intended witness for today, Blackquill gives no hint of that. But while it might not be what the prosecution wants, a chance to cross-examine Crab, on the record, all eyes of the court watching, to dig the truth out of him, is exactly what Phoenix wants. 

(Rimes is still an open question, why he’s holding back on testifying. He made clear yesterday that he wants to help Sasha, wishes they would’ve protected her better, and doesn’t trust Orla. Does he know something that he knows would further implicate Sasha and that’s what he’s refusing to say? Does he still actually believe somehow that Orla did it but he doesn’t want to be the man to damn the orca with his testimony, knowing how distraught Sasha would be? Does he know who actually did it? Did he actually do it but is he a murderer who has a conscience and still doesn’t want his friend to take the fall?)

No time to speculate on Rimes. His current suspect is the man on the witness stand, and maybe Dr Crab didn’t kill Jack Shipley, but he did try to kill Orla, didn’t he?

What do they know? Phoenix can prove that the murder happened with Orla right nearby - the Luminol reactions on her skin in places where she herself wasn’t bleeding. And he can say that could have happened at the time Dr Crab was scheduled to meet the victim at the orca pool. It could’ve been drained then too. They only have Crab’s own word that he didn’t go. And then they only have his own word that the sleeping pills that he purchased were stolen out of his laboratory. Uh huh, certainly, that’s real convenient. 

But they don’t have proof, solidly, and the burden of proof lies with the defense. Phoenix’s case that it was Dr Crab who tried to kill Orla (they’re still working their way, slowly, back to Jack Shipley’s murder) is broken by the mere possibility that someone else could have taken and used the sleeping pills. He’s not the prosecution, even if he feels like it right now. This isn’t enough for the defense. All it’s enough for is to piss Dr Crab off that he, an honorable veterinarian, is being accused of trying to kill an animal in his care. 

“Wright-dono,” Blackquill says after Dr Crab’s fury at the slander has abated, “surely you are not suggesting that the orca was drugged for fear that it as a witness would speak to the truth of the murder?” He speaks with a cold condescension that tells Phoenix he knows, yes, this is exactly what Phoenix is suggesting, but he is still going to kindly repeat this back to him to allow him to hear it from another’s mouth and thus reconsider the absolute stupidity of this statement.

Phoenix is not going to reconsider the absolute stupidity of this statement. He’s bluffed on stupider. “Orcas are very intelligent creatures,” he says. “A veterinarian would of course know this, and it’s not that much of a stretch to think that he should be concerned about what Orla might be able to indicate. Besides,” he adds, knowing that when this case is over Edgeworth is going to take the transcript and highlight this section and smack him in the face with it, “I have it on good authority that the victim, Jack Shipley, was known to be able to converse with the orca. Who’s to say—” 

Blackquill slams his hand down several times on the bench, laughing as he does, loud and ugly mirth over the clang of his cuffs also hitting the wood and the rattle of the chain. “I should have expected this of you, Wright-dono. Your students were the ones who tried to make the phantasm of a yokai out to be a very real murderer. More the fool am I to have hoped that you would be any better than stooping to claiming magic is real.” 

He hoped. Is he serious right now - he knows for a fact that Tenma Taro is very real, and he was the one who told Edgeworth that. He learned that without being physically present there, must have heard what his hawk heard, and he says magic isn’t real. He probably thinks it’s funny, wouldn’t he, to say shit he knows isn’t true knowing that it will make Phoenix sound like more of a lunatic. Knowing that Phoenix can’t actually know what he believes about anything he says, because his presence blinds Phoenix’s Sight. 

(The more he thinks about that, the more disturbed he gets. That shouldn’t happen. The Sight sees through fae glamours that a changeling might not know she has in place; the Sight gives him glimpses of a changeling who knows but is trying to deny what he is. Klavier’s disappearing act hits both sets of eyes; Pearl doesn’t seem any more out of place with one or the other. It takes his magatama for that. But Blackquill was confusing even Pearl - hiding, she said. Hiding what he is, isn’t that what she said - or did she say who? What kind of magic, or force of will, or whatever, can possibly—)

“And tell me, presuming even that the victim could commune with the orca, what then is your plan? Do you know of some ritual to bring those very truly dead back to life so that our dead man may translate the orca for us - and should you know such, please, do enlighten me as to why we shouldn’t just ask the dead man to tell us who killed him.” He’s still smirking. Phoenix hates him.

“That was just an example,” Phoenix says. “I believe the defendant has also some ability to know what the orca is communicating.”

He glances at Sasha, who looks extremely alarmed. Maybe that he’s fallen to making this point in court, or maybe she was just teasing him when she said she was translating Orla. Well. Too late to take it back now. 

“Yes, of course.” Blackquill lowers his chin, glowering at Phoenix. “We will ask the orca about the murder the defendant committed, and the defendant shall translate her testimony for us. Tell me, do you see an issue with that?”

“Er…” Yeah. Yeah, that’s an issue.

Dr Crab drums his fingers on the witness stand. “If you’re finished with this line of consideration, may I add something? Think, Mr Lawyer, that had I wanted to poison Orla - who was it that treated and saved her when you came running to say something was wrong?” He waits for a moment’s emphasis, during which time Phoenix considers that he didn’t say they were out of their minds debating talking to an orca, and then adds, “Me.”

“Well,” Phoenix says. Shit, that’s true. He could’ve just let her die, couldn’t he? “Except shouldn’t you have known what was going on with her, without Pearl having to come get you? The TORPEDO is constantly monitoring, right? It should’ve been telling you something was going on!”

“Son of a—” Dr Crab inhales and blows out his breath through gritted teeth. “Son of a gun. You really had to remember that all and bring it up, huh? You’re not as birdbrained as you look.”

“Objection.” Blackquill doesn’t have to yell to be heard; he drops the courtroom into silence no matter how quietly he speaks. Is it magic or just another trick of his terrifying presence? “The defense’s brain does not merit this disparaging comparison to birds - they are far smarter than he.”

“Hmph.” Dr Crab shakes his head. “Bird-lover, I should’ve guessed.” Taka isn’t on Blackquill’s shoulder right now, but maybe Dr Crab saw it when Blackquill spoke with him yesterday. Is Taka a jailbird too? “You and I aren’t destined for friendship then.”

Someone should give Blackquill one of those penguin calendars when this trial is over. It might brighten up his prison cell a bit. 

“My apologies, Dr Crab.” Phoenix feels like he’s interrupting something but it might be better that way, before Blackquill picks a full-on fight with a veterinarian about how smart birds on average are or aren’t. (Varies across species, surely? Crows are smart; Kay harps on that all the time, but Phoenix still wouldn’t get anything out of calling a crow to testify unless Kay was there translating. Parrots, though—) “But I did warn you yesterday that if it would help Sasha’s case, I would divulge whatever it took.”

“Back up one moment,” Blackquill cuts in. “What is this ‘TORPEDO’?”

And Phoenix’s next accusatory tangent lies dead in the water by the end of it, with Dr Crab pissed that Phoenix has announced his illegal activity in court - fair enough - and Blackquill puzzling out that yes, Dr Crab would be telling the truth when he said he didn’t get any warning data on Orla. The sensor is attached in her tank and sends sound waves through the water, but if there’s no water in the tank - or in, say, half of the tank, the half that was drained where the police found an odd-looking sensor during their investigation - then no data gets communicated. Therefore, Dr Crab doesn’t know that Orla is in trouble, and can’t come running to save her. 

Bizarre, really, to see Blackquill of all people be the one to figure out why the aquarium’s high-tech equipment was and wasn’t working the way it does. Is Phoenix projecting a little about his own technological inadequacies? Maybe. Is it also just generally shocking to see a man who talks and acts like he was dropped here straight from feudal Japan so quickly grasp what’s going on with this monitoring system that he only had explained to him three minutes ago? Yes. And is it frustrating when, by knowing that the sensor in Orla’s pool only turned off twice, during the overnight cleaning and during the police investigation, they know that the pool was never drained another time, leaving no other time that the victim could’ve been killed in the orca pool room, meaning that Sasha is the only one who could’ve killed the victim? Absolutely. 

His theory broken down by tiny inconsistencies that add up into something bigger; this is what it’s like to be the prosecution. Except by this point Phoenix is pretty sure Dr Crab didn’t actually try to kill Orla. He’s pretty sure of that even when he objects that someone did try and kill Orla, no way around it, no matter if it wasn’t Dr Crab. Two people fed Orla during the trial yesterday, when the drug would’ve gotten into her system. Sasha was one - unfortunately, because nothing can be easy - and the other was Marlon Rimes.

Not quite the place he thought this would end up, to be honest.

-

The judge calls a short recess for Rimes to be summoned, and Blackquill cuts that down to a minute and a half because Rimes is apparently already here in the courthouse. It leaves Athena enough time to say she can’t belive this, either, and Dr Crab to drop Azura’s charm, the one Rifle ate, on the defense’s bench and tell them that he certainly doesn’t want to accuse either Sasha or Marlon, but the truth is what it is and it’s up to them to figure it out, and best of luck to them. “Now I think I should’ve learned Japanese,” Athena says, holding the charm up close to her face and then wrinkling her nose and quickly pushing it away, some fishy smell remaining to bother her. From that distance she squints at the characters inked on the front. “Like I kept going back and forth on whether I wanted to, but it wasn’t as practical as the languages for countries I was studying in, and then with the Bar too—”

“Athena, you really don’t need to justify not knowing how to read Japanese.” It’s like she thinks she’s supposed to be able to do everything all at once, and she falls silent, looking at him and then back down at the charm.

“I think these are like - not supposed to be opened? Or it’s bad luck to open it or maybe I’m thinking of something else.”

“Better hold off on that, then.” Phoenix holds out his hand and she drops it in his palm and then Fulbright ushers Rimes up to the stand and that’s the end of Blackquill’s speedrun recess.

Rimes, despite being at the courthouse, apparently doesn’t know what was happening in the trial, implying that Blackquill just dropped him in a lobby and left him there and - other than the hawk attack right at the start, Phoenix hasn’t actually seen Taka around. He pictures Rimes sitting paralyzed with fear under the watchful and murderous eyes of the prosecution’s attack bird. That’s probably how it was. 

“Mr Rimes,” the judge says, probably pleased that for once he’s not the most clueless person in the courtroom. “You are under suspicion of the attempted murder of the orca.”

Phoenix decides that if it’d bad luck to fiddle with this charm, he’s already cursed enough as-is, and he might as well go ahead and do it. There’s something inside the little packet, another thin slip of paper, and he slides it out to find a small photograph, showing Rimes with his arm around the dark-haired young woman from DePlume’s book. Azura Summers, bright-eyed and alive, with an anchor-shaped orca whistle around her neck and behind her and Rimes, the orca.

Now that’s a hell of an interesting revelation, isn’t it. Phoenix sets the charm down on the bench and turns his attention to Rimes, on-stand, hollow-eyed and gone quiet at the accusation. “Fine,” he says. “If that’s already out - I’ll tell the truth.”

And he again begins to insist that Orla was the one to kill the victim.

“We proved yesterday that she didn’t!” Athena slams her fist down on the bench, then winces. “Mr Rimes, why are you lying!”

“I ain’t lying,” Rimes protests. “And that’s better for you! Sasha goes free if the orca did it, right?” 

Athena’s mouth hangs open in silent fury. Blackquill stares Phoenix down coldly, and his hawk a mirror of him but with yellow eyes instead of black. “Getting a witness to lie to get your client off the hook? That’s a low, underhanded trick, Wright-dono, even for you.”

A pit opens wide in Phoenix’s stomach. His old reputation, the one Kristoph wove for him, ever precedes him. “Prosecutor Blackquill,” he says, as evenly as he can, hoping as he does that Athena is too distracted with her own anger to notice the emotional tangle that he is caught up in. “I fought for Orla’s acquittal yesterday, and I stand by that today. Ms Buckler believes in Orla’s innocence - I would be letting her down if I saved her at the cost of someone she loves.”

Blackquill’s expression darkens further. He is a thundercloud, a shadow, a wraith, a nightmare made flesh, and for someone who doesn’t have a perfect win record and never was a picture of prosecutorial perfection, he certainly acts like one of those prosecutors who would do anything to get their win, to the cost of the person in the defendant’s seat. Out for the blood of everyone in the courtroom.

Time to prove that Phoenix is as good as his word. “Now, Mr Rimes, let’s talk about your testimony. Your claim is that the orca killed the victim by flinging him up into the air and hitting the water, which is roughly a thirty-foot fall based on the distance between the ceiling and the water. The autopsy report makes clear that the cause of death was something more around sixty feet - sixty-five feet being the depth of the orca pool. If there was still water in the pool as you said, that simply wouldn’t be possible.”

“Ah—” Rimes jerks back away from the stand. 

“That’s rather decisive, isn’t it?” the judge muses. “We’re returning to the orca not having done it, then.”

“We are,” Blackquill agrees, his eyes closed. “As I expected. I could not believe this tripe for a moment. I am grateful, Wright-dono, that you shut up this witness on my behalf. Now, the attempted murder of the orca is not the issue we are deliberating, so once again, we prove that Sasha Buckler is the only person who could have killed the victim.”

“Wait,” Rimes says. “Shit. That’s not—”

Every turn they take, Sasha is still the only one who could be the killer. The location and the card key usage record lock in that conclusion. If there’s any way for someone who isn’t Sasha to be the killer - if he turns it around, what scenario leaves the possibility for someone else to be the killer? The location would have to be somewhere that wasn’t the pool room, somewhere that anyone could access, and somewhere with a long way to fall, same as the drained pool. And somewhere that the orca was, to leave blood on her.

The show stage pool.

“Objection!” Phoenix yells it not quite sure what he’s objecting to, having missed the last thirty seconds or so of the conversation, but Blackquill stands expectant, waiting, and the judge was raising his gavel, and that’s the time when there’s no time to think, just object. “I have an objection!”

“Do you,” Blackquill asks, “or are you merely saying those words in a desperate bid for more time?” He tilts his head slightly to the side, considering Phoenix, and adds, “You appear rather sick. Best for your health if you just lie down and accept this, I’d wager.”

I’d wager. One of them in this courtroom is actually a professional gambler, and it’s not the man saying that. What the hell does he think he knows? “Consider,” Phoenix says. “What if the scene of the crime was somewhere else?”

Definitely not his strongest opening, but he’s already put it out there, so he’s got to run with it. “The prosecution’s argument is that, because only the victim and defendant entered the orca pool room when there was no water in the tank, that only the defendant could have killed him, correct?” Blackquill nods curtly. “But if the murder actually took place somewhere else, then it’s very possible that someone else who is not Sasha Buckler could have committed it.”

“Do you know where you’re taking this argument?” Athena asks quietly.

“Actually, sort of, yes.” In a sense, as long as where he’s taking this argument doesn’t immediately need evidence.

“Mr Wright, I hope you aren’t - as I recall you often doing - just bluffing, are you?” All the things that the judge could remember about Phoenix’s defenses after eight years absent from court, and this is what stuck.

“If the show stage pool was drained, it would be equally possible to fall to one’s death there,” Phoenix says. There, proof that he isn’t totally bluffing: an actual suggestion of where this hypothetical other crime scene could be. 

Blackquill rubs his chin, frowning, for several seconds, staring out into somewhere in the middle of the courtroom floor. “Wright-dono,” he says, eyes unblinking and not even moving in Phoenix’s direction, “you are a disgrace to your profession.”

“There’s a hoist for moving the orca and props between the two pools.” If he doesn’t acknowledge Blackquill’s barbs, will he eventually stop throwing them? Probably not; that never made middle school bullies stop, either. (Larry dumping a cup of dirty paint water on someone’s head was a better solution. Still probably won’t work on Blackquill.) “It wouldn’t be difficult to move a body via the same method.”

“You have no idea what you are spewing, do you?” Something snaps behind Blackquill’s eyes and he jerks his head up. “Your desperate conjecture creates an entirely new crime scene and even then you cannot follow it through to realize that your new scenario is another malformed coffin for your defense. Tell me, how is it you have deluded yourself into believing that you belong on this battlefield, in this courtroom? Have you truly begun to believe your own mad bluffs?”

The Twisted Samurai knows where to strike to draw blood, if Phoenix had anything more than ice and stone left in his veins. Of course he knows he doesn’t belong back here, but he’ll be damned if he lets Edgeworth down. That’s more important. And now that he’s here, he won’t let Sasha down. 

Blackquill raises his fists and slams them in tandem down on the bench. The whole courtroom seems to rattle with the force of the impact, and the chain between his shackles doesn’t hold up. It breaks apart, again, giving Blackquill the full use of his arms, fully preparing him to strike. (There’s something beyond disturbing about the thought that he could do this at any time and simply chooses not to. He could make a break for it from the courtroom if he really wanted. Edgeworth’s met with him one-on-one before. Blackquill could’ve killed him if he wanted to, surely. Phoenix spent seven years trying to keep Edgeworth away and safe from one murdering, magic-using lawyer, and here he was arranging this, whatever the hell this is, with a different one.)

“Well, if you think you’re so smart, then what do you think is so wrong about Mr Wright’s theory?” Athena demands. She’s a good person to have in his corner, all that energy bursting forth, making her not fearless - she shrank away from Blackquill like the rest of them - but furious enough to work past it. Even if she did ask Phoenix if he actually knew what he was arguing. Can’t exactly blame her for it.

The hoist only operates from the orca pool room, meaning that it still had to be Sasha who moved the body, as the only person who did, or could, enter. No way around it. But Sasha could have, theoretically, moved it unknowingly, when she asked for Rimes’ help hiding a prop, the skull rock. If the body was hidden in there—

“Huh,” Rimes says, turning his eyes down toward the stand. “You’re way smarter than I expected, Mr Wright.” Why does everyone keep saying that? “I thought I could hide my involvement, but, yeah, I helped Sasha move and hide the captain’s body after he died at the show pool.”

“Mr Rimes, please stop committing perjury.” Phoenix puts his head in his hands. Presuming that this isn’t more perjury, which he will presume that this is more perjury because Rimes is still saying that the orca killed the victim. 

“For once, I agree with the defense,” Blackquill says. “What did I bother putting you on the stand for, if you have nothing but nonsense for testimony!”

“It’s the truth!” Rimes protests. “I didn’t kill the captain, and Sasha didn’t either! She’s only guilty of trying to protect that damn orca! It flipped him way up in the air and he died when he hit the water.” His eyes have glazed over, obviously remembering something, but what, Phoenix can’t say if he is, as he is, assuming this is still lies. If Rimes murdered Shipley, then wouldn’t he want Sasha to take the fall? It would be easier than watching his story unravel trying to insist the orca did it. “And all the spectators screaming when his body came up, I can’t get it outta my head. Sasha and I were already gonna move the skull rock so we put his body in it to hide it; we were gonna figure out what to do in the morning. But then Ms DePlume found out, and I freaked.”

Spectators? What in hell is he talking about? It was the middle of the night. “Hm.” Athena draws a circle in the air with her gloved fingers, whipping up one of her emotional analysis screens. “I think I can take this one, Mr Wright. There’s a ton of noise I’m hearing. It’s coming up as - ah.” Having finished loading, Widget makes some horrible blaring noises and the projected display flashes between blue and red. “Completely out of control anger and sadness.”

“Can you do something with that?” Phoenix asks. She nods. “If there’s anything you can hone in on about that ‘spectators’ line—”

“That’s definitely an odd spot.” Athena scratches her chin. “And odd, inconsistent spots like that usually have something to do with it. Poke him on that and see what he says.”

He says that he made a mistake. An odd one to make, without a doubt; they’ve been talking about how this case happened during overnight cleaning for two days now, and here’s Rimes, talking like it happened in the middle of a show. “Pointing that out made some of the sadness subside,” Athena says, further pondering the screen and swiping back and forth between statements of the testimony. “I wonder if he could be mixing up one memory with another - some other incident left a deep imprint on his psyche and was similar enough that he’s recalling it now.”

The charm that belonged to Azura Summers’ boyfriend still lies on the bench, the corner of the photograph sticking out. “Mr Rimes, you didn’t happen to be in the audience at last year’s show, when the other trainer died, did you?”

“I—” Surely he must have realized that this would become a topic of contention, that someone could figure out his connection to this prior case, but Rimes appears wholly unprepared for the topic. One of his hands flits down toward his pocket. “Yes, I was in the audience, but so what?” His voice trembles as he asks. “I was just - just some other spectator.”

“No you weren’t.” Phoenix picks the charm back up and removes the picture fully from it, passing it to Athena. “Ms Azura Summers, the orca trainer who died last year, was your girlfriend.”

“H-hey! Where’d you get that charm—” There’s the reaction Phoenix wanted. Rimes doesn’t have a poker face. 

“I thought you said we weren’t going to mess with that yet,” Athena says. 

“I didn’t want you to,” Phoenix says. “I can’t get much more cursed.”

“Well, you could’ve mentioned to me that you’d—” Athena squeals and jumps backwards as Taka alights on the bench, sticking its head through the Mood Matrix. Pulling the picture close to her chest, Athena stares down the bird; it glares back, snapping its sharp little beak open and closed several times. “Wait, do you - do you want—” She slowly extends her hand, fingers curled to keep them from appearing as tempting snacks, picture offered to the hawk pinched between her thumb and fist. Taka stretches its neck out and plucks the photograph away from her, sweeping its wings wide and taking off with a gust that buffets their faces and leaves behind a few loose bits of feathery fluff.

“I’m surprised it didn’t just rip it out of your hands,” Phoenix says. 

“Must’ve been afraid he’d ruin it,” Athena says. Across the courtroom, Taka lands in front of Blackquill, holding the picture for him to examine, and then flies off to the judge. 

Rimes’ anger is easy from there: he thinks the orca killed his girlfriend. Of course he hates it. Of course he wanted to prove it to be - frame it as? - a killer. And with those loudest, most furious emotions quieted, Athena can hear that he wasn’t surprised when DePlume saw the orca finding the body in the rock. The last contradiction between Rimes’ words and feelings cleared, it’s all there: motive to hate the orca and frame her for murder, method to move the body, and a witness who they proved yesterday had been manipulated by the real killer to specifically witness the “killer” whale. And if Rimes, like he points out, doesn’t have a motive for killing Jack Shipley - well, that’s it, isn’t it? Rimes tried to kill Orla by draining the show pool, but that left room for Shipley to fall to his death. 

It’s quiet, for a moment, with Phoenix finished laying out his proposal. “Mr Rimes?” the judge prompts. “Do you have anything to say to this?”

“I wish I didn’t have to fight anyone but that orca,” Rimes says, “but I guess you’re not leaving me much choice. I’m not strong enough otherwise.” His hand returns to his pocket, but this time when he brings it back up a magatama rests in his palm, glowing faintly blue. Fingers closing around it, he brings it up to his chest. 

“Mr Rimes, wait—” Whatever he thinks he’s doing - even if he did murder Jack Shipley while trying to kill Orla - Phoenix is of the opinion that very few people deserve what the fae would put them through. Rimes isn’t one. But it’s too late, and he stands there in front of the court with light shining out between his fingers, spilling across his skin and up from under it. He flexes and his arms bulge, and his whole body with it distorts and swells so that he looks, really, nothing like the Rimes of a moment ago. His jaw and face widen; his shirt splits apart under the strain of this bodybuilder-caricature physique. If there is a murmur from the gallery whenever something interesting happens, this is a roar, and the judge, shocked like the rest of them, not even banging his gavel for order.

Blackquill recoils, but by managing to speak he’s one step ahead of the rest of them on the court floor who are struck by silence. “What the devil kind of deal did you make?” he snarls. Rimes doesn’t answer him; Blackquill’s eyes flash silver again and Taka shrieks and Phoenix is the next unfortunate prey beneath their gazes. “This entire yarn you have spun, defense, is predicated on this witness being able to manipulate the orca into acting as he wished. Answer me this, witness, before your body folds under the weight of your bad decision: can you control the orca’s actions?”

Phoenix almost misses Rimes’ answer - something about not being able to, and that Phoenix is spewing bilge, which, no, Phoenix is pretty sure he’s on the right track this time - thinking more about the way Blackquill called Rimes on the magatama. How did he get it - what did he do for it - is Blackquill concerned of what will come of that, the way Phoenix is, or is this disdain and no sympathy for a fool in over his head? It doesn’t matter, in the moment, but Phoenix is grasping for any insight at all into Blackquill’s thoughts and his own situation. There’s a lot to learn about someone else’s background based on their opinions of the fae and the like. 

The trouble is, he’s pretty sure that if he ever tried to talk to Blackquill, personally, the man would laugh him out of the detention center, and this is going to be the most insight he gets.

“Ms Buckler was the only one who knew how to issue commands to the orca, wasn’t she?” the judge asks.

“Ah,” Phoenix says. Shit. He’s got to figure out how someone else could’ve, and fast.

“How does it feel to be shown up as a lawyer by the judge?” Blackquill asks. (Pretty bad, honestly.) “Strike at me with a blade of evidence, or accept your defeat with grace, should you even know how!”

He lashes out at Phoenix with a slash of his finger, his movement no longer limited by the handcuffs. The air in the courtroom moves, pushes across a cold front, and with it, cutting through the dark that falls over Phoenix’s Sight with a silvery, icy curved blade of wind. He’s sure it isn’t solid, but it strikes him in the face, up by his temple, and still hurts. The sting that lingers is of a paper’s slice through skin, but the initial impact, the first cut, is a damn bit stronger than that. He lifts a hand and drags it through his hair there, isn’t surprised to find that some dark strands come away stuck to his skin.

There’s supposed to be reason for those handcuffs, a mundane reason and a magical reason, and yet Blackquill breaks the chain limiting him and uses magic that should be stopped by iron. Is that something to be said for the power of psychology? Magic powered by belief in it, and Blackquill perhaps tricking himself into believing that none of this can stop him. Witch, magician, fae, or something else, iron should limit him at least somewhat - unless this is him limited, and that’s an entirely new frightening thought.

Yeah, yeah, isn’t it nice that Phoenix doesn’t have any reason at all to ever be involved with Blackquill ever again after this trial is over, huh.

(Damn you, Edgeworth.)

“I’m afraid that this line of reasoning has reached a dead end,” the judge says. Rimes couldn’t frame Orla without manipulating her - how could Rimes have manipulated her? If Phoenix doesn’t have proof he at least needs some way to stall for time, some more testimony - from Sasha? If he asks Sasha to testify about Orla’s training sessions, if it was possible for someone to see or record them, if anything is written down— “Unfortunately, there seems no way for your theory to work, Mr Wright. Now—”

“Objection!”

Athena’s shout reverberates through his ears, and with that so close and so unexpected, Phoenix knows his face doesn’t put up the facade of the defense team both being on the same page. She doesn’t immediately followup with evidence or more reasoning, and he asks, “Do - do you have something to say?”

“No,” she says, staring across at Blackquill at the other bench. “But you do. You’re not done arguing - I can hear it in your heart that you’re not.” She smiles at him. When did he last say something, for her to hear? Does it not take words any longer, after the time she’s known him? Or is she just saying what she hears in her own heart, her hope for him, that the great Phoenix Wright who she admired enough to become a defense attorney won’t quit like this. “So I was speaking up for you - sometimes you need someone else to help, right?”

Someone else to speak up for him - someone else to remind him who he is. He hasn’t gotten his badge back to not fight to the end with insane and absurd suppositions. Sasha came to him for help and he won’t let her down. “Thanks, Athena,” he says, and louder calls, “Your Honor! I’m not yet finished presenting my argument!”

“Some day or another you both need to learn to give up.” Blackquill leans forward, his elbows resting on the bench. “I might prefer that to be today, now. What more can you possibly want to do? You’ve already presented a mountain of evidence and scrutinized every last piece of testimony from all of the witnesses!”

Everyone involved - DePlume, Rimes, Sasha, Crab. He could ask Sasha to testify again, buy some time to think - wait, everyone involved? Not quite. There’s a reason Sasha came to him for help, and this is batshit, this is a joke, but it saved him in a situation far more dire than this.

“No,” Phoenix says. “Not every witness. We haven’t heard from the central figure in both today and yesterday’s trials, have we?”

“Don’t tell me.” Blackquill pushes himself up straighter, the better to condescendingly glare down at the defense. Phoenix can’t help but crack a momentary grin at him. Oh, I’ll be telling you in a second.

“Wait - who have we not heard from?” the judge asks. “Prosecutor Blackquill, Mr Wright, what valuable input have you been neglecting?”

Blackquill closes his eyes. Phoenix takes a deep breath and steels himself. Nothing else for it. “The defense would like to call Orla the orca as a witness for cross-examination!”

-

“—and I hope Phoenix knows that I can’t actually understand Orla on more than a basic first-week-of-foreign-language-class level! Like ‘yes’, ‘no’, ‘it’s fine’, ‘thanks’ - I could tell you who the killer was if she could tell me but I don’t know enough vocabulary to—”

“Sasha, calm down.” Phoenix slides his phone back into his pocket. “I wasn’t expecting you to. Since you and the victim were the ones who fed Orla, she shouldn’t have interacted with Rimes much, right? But if we can get some sort of reaction from her when she sees him, that could be telling.”

“Wait, would she even recognize him the way he looks now?” Athena asks. “Bold move, Boss, at any rate.”

He can’t tell if that’s sarcasm or genuine admiration. “Well, since you spoke up for me before I’d figured out a plan, I had to work out our next step on the fly.”

“You do that off your own objections, too, though,” Athena says. 

“And I just—” He stops. He also can’t tell if that one is sarcasm or admiration and he’s going to let it all go. “Just spoke with Pearls and she’s getting the telecast set up on her end. Says Orla seems to be feeling fine.”

“Thank goodness,” Sasha says. “And thank you so much - I r-eely appreciate you not giving up on Orla.”

“Of course we wouldn’t!” Athena says brightly. “We don’t give up! Wait, do you say ‘really’ like that like to mean, like, reeling in a fishing pole?”

“What? No, it’s like eels - electric, moray, you know.”

“Ooh,” Athena says.

Sasha frowns. “I had no idea how much Marlon hated Orla. Feels like an electric eel’s gotten to me now. I can’t believe that all this time he was planning on…”

Orla didn’t kill Jack Shipley. Every new thing Phoenix proves keeps coming around to that. But Rimes - Rimes said he was sure the orca killed Jack Shipley, right? Was that what he said? What were his exact words? How had he phrased it? Phoenix doesn’t remember, but Psyche-Locks hadn’t appeared, and they probably should have, because Rimes is hiding all this and more. Consistency, consistency, Phoenix thought he had this figured out. Was it screwed up because Pearl was nearby but not with him? Where was she when he talked with DePlume? Or was he not paying attention because he had no idea that Rimes might be important? Because unlike DePlume, he didn’t act blatantly suspicious, and Phoenix didn’t give him a glance with the Sight, either. Maybe he was just too trapped in his own head to notice, too busy thinking about Maya, about humans and orcas and humans and fae, to have any room left for locks to force their way in front of his eyes. 

That seems likely. He really needs to stop considering the mirror. It only misleads.

What was it that Blackquill said to Apollo, that first day in court? To stop relying on the tricks that someone else gave him? Phoenix needs to remember that, again, himself. If nothing else, it’s a reminder. He was a lawyer before he could see Psyche-Locks. He was a lawyer and figured it out when they were misleading him. 

Locks or no, they’re reaching the end of this, and Phoenix is going to make Rimes break.

“Of course he hates the orca that killed his girlfriend.” Great, as if he didn’t need more pressure, here is DePlume, strutting into the lobby like she owns the place. “And killed her right in front of him, too!”

“I - didn’t know you were here, Ms DePlume,” Athena says, as clearly unhappy that she is here as Phoenix is. 

“Of course I am! I’ve made a vow, you see.” She looks serious. Phoenix hopes it’s not any kind of magically-binding vow. “That I will learn the truth, and report on it in my next book - whatever this truth happens to be, and even if it goes against what I last wrote about this orca.”

That is - not the response Phoenix thought she’d have, not when she was so furious yesterday to have been proven wrong. “That’s really good of you, actually,” he says, immediately regretting the “actually” that his stupid brain let go through the filter and get attached to the end of his sentence.

DePlume sniffs haughtily. “Don’t patronize me, blue boy. Patronize my books if you will anything - I may be a bestselling author, but it is still difficult to maintain a living off of that alone.” And harder, no doubt, when people like Phoenix’s daughter are pirating her books. Should he feel bad?

“No, I mean, genuinely, it’s hard for anyone to realize that they’re wrong, and to face that truth head-on, too. Having been there enough myself.” And seen that many more of his friends and clients facing the same. Sasha slid to the side out of DePlume’s war path but still thinking about Rimes, that resentment he harbored and fed until a man is dead and the aquarium staff tearing themselves and each other apart.

“I’d sure like to know that truth myself,” Dr Crab says. When did he enter? Easy to miss him when DePlume takes center stage. “Now and then, too. I was in that audience, same as Rimes, and Azura died right in front of me.”

The photo of her body presents itself in Phoenix’s mind’s eye. How they said the orca killed her but the only teeth marks were on her walkie-talkie. “What happened then, exactly, if you’re willing to tell me?”

Dr Crab shakes his head but he’s already answering as he does. “It was the middle of a show. I was usually right there for them, in case something happened - to the orca, we were prepared for. But Azura fell off its back and started thrashing around in the water, not like she was trying to swim and couldn’t, but just writhing in pain. The orca was in the middle of singing but started headbutting her, several times, before she took her in her mouth and dragged her over to the side of the pool. They’d already started ushering the crowd out, but it was so loud, people screaming - Jack and I ran over to her, and we could see her holding her chest, in obvious pain, but by the time we got there…”

She was dead, and the orca the only apparent thing involved. But a pain in her chest, a sudden death, no visible marks on her body that honestly how could they think the orca did it unless there was some very delayed bruising - and yesterday what did Apollo find out? “I don’t think the orca had anything to do with her death, either,” Phoenix says. “I think probably, when Orla was headbutting her, she was trying to check on her. In the course of our investigating, we discovered that Ms Summers suffered from a heart condition - she was taking the same medication that you do, Sasha.”

“A heart condition?” Sasha yelps. “But that - she never told me!”

“Just like I’m currently finding out that you have one,” Crab says dryly. Sasha makes a small noise of affirmation. But he looks shaken, too, and seems to be chewing over some thought for several more seconds until his head snaps to attention with a revelation. “Son of a bitch! What her family said - and that you have a condition too, Sasha, of course!” 

“Uh…” Sasha turns helplessly around to face every other person in the room. Coming up with nothing, she finally asks, “Is this about that spectacular fight with her family that you had, and what does something they said have to do with me?”

“Spectacular?” Athena repeats warily.

“The hallway around Dr Crab’s lab was practically shaking,” Sasha says. “It was when they came to - to pick up Azura’s body. I couldn’t tell what anyone was saying but boy were you all mad. It’s not like, the fun kind of way you usually think when people say ‘spectacular’, but it was loud and dramatic and bombastic.”

“They were furious with me,” Dr Crab says. “They believed that were I really a friend of Azura’s, I would’ve told her to go back home and away from this aquarium and this city. Because they mentioned the orca, naturally, but then told me it often happens that shapeshifters like her who grow up isolated from human society end up developing any number of health conditions when they try to integrate with an environment that’s so human - all of our bustle and pollution and technology and metals.” He shakes his head. “Son of a bitch, I didn’t know why they were telling me it then, but they must have known. And here you are, Sasha, another selkie with a heart condition—”

“Azura was a selkie? But - but she never told me that either!” Distressed, Sasha fiddles with the whistle around her neck and doesn’t look back at Dr Crab. 

“You’re a selkie, Sasha?” Athena asks. “You didn’t tell us that! Wait what’s a selkie. Is that the one that sings you to death?”

“Siren,” Phoenix says. “Selkie is seals.”

“Well… I guess not. But - is this why we got along so well? I can’t believe this!” Sasha pushes her bangs back and leaves them spiked partway up. “Are you sure?”

“I kept her skin on hand for her in my lab for her so yes, I’m rather sure.”

“What? Her skin?” Athena echoes, eyes wide, aghast. “Ew!”

“Her sealskin, and it looked more like a fur coat than anything,” Dr Crab says irritably. “Her family wanted it back, which was the argument I had with them. They wanted to take her home, and it’s not like she and I ever discussed what she wanted to happen if…” He shakes his head again. “Hard to think about when you’re this young. But she’d left home and made this her home for a reason and she told me that and I told them that, and I thought part of her should stay here. They left with her body, and Jack and I took her sealskin and gave it back to the ocean here. And hoped that was something she would’ve wanted.”

Sasha wipes her eyes with the back of her hand. “I bet it was,” she says. “And in my family, maybe she had different traditions, she said she was from Japan right?” - Dr Crab nods - “but my family has a funeral rite of separately interring our sealskins to the sea, so that there’s room in the empty skin for a new life to incarnate. So I think - I think Azura would’ve been happy with that.” She sniffles loudly. “And I knew Orla didn’t do it! And you were talking about putting her down!”

Dr Crab’s eyes dart toward DePlume, who has been strangely quiet - likely rattled to have been so wrong. “That was a lie,” he says, finally, reluctantly, but with Orla’s innocence established, with the aquarium already in trouble for the TORPEDO monitoring system - go ahead. Might as well spill more. “Jack and I were against such a thing from the start, no matter what she might’ve done.” Like Pearl said. That it wasn’t fair. Not for Orla. “That’s what the sleeping pills were for - if it came to it, we would drug her, pretend she was dead, and set her free.”

Is an orca smart enough to be malicious? Smart enough to realize how fragile humans are? Failing a concrete answer to that - and the fact that the victim talked with her doesn’t give an answer, because Kay talks to crows and they’re smart but enough to be punished for crimes? - Phoenix thinks that yes, that would be the right thing to do. 

An orca’s an orca. Not the fae, who tend toward conceptually understanding what humans think is moral but still erring on the side of “it’s only a crime if you’re caught”. Another reason that they established the rule of using the local human judicial body rule on their murders, because human investigators are more eyes to help catch your enemies for actions that are against the law, and there’s another fae tendency to not look ahead to consequences, like that one day all those investigating human eyes will be catching you for your crimes, too.

(And he’s not going to tell Kay that his professional legal opinion is that crows should not be sentenced for crimes. She’d be the one to figure out how to push it too far. Would Blackquill be willing to prosecute a murder of thieving crows, or does his love of birds extend past Taka and penguins?)

“I have one last thing that I can’t tell you,” Dr Crab says. “I made a promise to Jack, and I’m bound to it. But here’s a clue for the aquarium’s last secret - focus on the orca’s song.”

“Orla’s… song?” Phoenix repeats. Crab nods. “She only knows how to sing one song, right?” Crab nods again, and Sasha this time, does as well. “All right. That’s - okay.” Great. Nothing like building a case off of cryptic clues. 

DePlume should have been hearing this entire conversation, from selkies to faking an orca’s death, but she doesn’t act like she has. When she finally speaks, it’s like she’s frozen back at the very start. “I never even considered that the poor girl’s death could have been - an illness, a physical ailment.” She tugs her scarf away from the back of her neck and fans her skin. “I just want to know the truth,” she repeats. “Whether I may even say ‘just’ with all of this that you speak so openly of” - she still doesn’t give a hint whether she knows and believes them and is shocked that they would dare utter these things loudly, or whether she thinks they’re lunatics - “but I will tell you something that will help you. It is not in service to the truth for me to refrain from speaking of this.”

“Oh?” Even rattled as she is, she still has that certainty and confidence that made her such a formidable and more than that, frustrating, witness. What else does she know that they didn’t pry out of her, or that she didn’t happily admit in what seems to be an insatiable need to gossip?

“I told you that I was investigating the aquarium that day on behalf of a client, yes?” Phoenix has no idea if she did but nods anyway. “I was called out, specifically, that morning, to investigate the orca pool, by that animal keeper, Marlon Rimes.”

-

“I’ve tried to explain to Orla what’s going on and what she needs to do, but I don’t think she understands any of these lawyering words.”

The monitor that showed Orla yesterday, today once again sits on the floor near the witness stand, and its screen projected much larger, up into the air, for the court to easily see. Pearl stands with her hands clasped behind her back, half in view, watching Orla, who splashed up water at the edge of the pool and chirps contentedly. 

Even if she can understand pieces of what they say, what frame of reference would an orca have to understand what a court or testimony is? “Thanks for trying,” Phoenix says. 

“Ah, young lady there with the very cute orca, we’ve met before, have we not?” the judge asks. Despite being afraid of Orla yesterday, today he thinks she’s cute. Point to the defense. 

“You have,” Phoenix says. “That’s Pearl. She came with me to court a number of times.” And watched her mother get arrested for conspiracy and accomplice to murder on the second-ever day. Ah, memories. 

“It’s very good to see you’re doing well, Mr Your Honor!” Pearl says brightly. 

Taka screeches and makes a beeline for the judge’s head, settling gently, as it does, down on his scalp, but clearly conveying the message that there’s no time for small talk. “Ahem. Mr Wright. What is your plan for cross-examining this witness here?”

“I’m gonna ask her for testimony,” Phoenix says. “And I would also like to call Mr Rimes back up to the stand, to see if we can get any reaction from Orla. Pearl, do you have a way to see the courtroom proceedings on your end?”

“Uh - yes, one moment!” Whether that means she’s doing something with the video phone, or is popping open some one-way mirror of a faery ring, Phoenix doesn’t ask, and she doesn’t say, and a moment later her voice is fainter. “Orla, look here! At Mr Animal Keeper here!”

Orla whistles with much the same intonation as she was before, with no apparent acknowledgement of Rimes. Great, okay. More or less what Phoenix expected. What’s his plan? He doesn’t have a plan. If he can’t get something out of this, then Sasha will be found guilty. He needs to figure out how Rimes gave commands to Orla. He needs time to think about that, but the only way he can buy time is with this cross-examination. He’s letting his mouth run the show, stall for time, while his brain goes to work on an entirely different problem. 

His last bit of self-awareness tells him he sounds like an idiot, accepting an orca’s chirps as testimony while he tells her that her chirping isn’t really enough information and he’s going to need something more out of her, but better an idiot lawyer than a convicted client. “Excuse me, Orla, could you do the lifesaver trick for us, please? Or sing for us?”

She spurts a few drops of water up from her blowhole, like she’s snorting at him. “I guess if she’s only got a limited vocabulary, like Sasha does, then that doesn’t mean anything to her,” Athena says. “She’d associate the actions with the whistle, not the words.” And if she does know the words, then that means she doesn’t want to take orders from anyone but her trainer - either way, nothing Rimes could do. “But oh, isn’t she adorable!” 

Blackquill rolls his eyes. Phoenix is glad that Athena has just kept talking, trying to suss out what Orla is feeling. Whether she knows it or not, she’s stalling for him. 

Could Rimes have in some way overheard the whistle patterns and learned them? No, the training whistles aren’t within audible range; he couldn’t have. Could Azura have taught him some of Orla’s commands? Since she was a trainer, and knew them, and sent videos of training sessions to him—

The videos. 

Pearl and Athena both squeak and go silent as Blackquill slams his fists on the bench. “I have had enough of this farce of yours! You had better have an answer now, Wright-dono, else I will have Taka feast upon your treacherous tongue!”

He needs that tongue. “Then allow me to explain to this court exactly how it was that Orla was manipulated. Pearls—” He probably shouldn’t call her that in court. Not real professional of him. “Ms Fey.” Blackquill laughs, low and disbelieving, and to him it probably sounds like Phoenix is saying Ms Fae, which - Mia really phoned it in when she came up with a surname. She saved all her creativity for her defenses, Lana said at one point. “You have Mr Rimes’ video phone with you, yes?”

“Yep!”

Invasion of privacy here they come. They’ve got reasonable suspicion, right? “Would you look for any videos of any orca training sessions with Ms Summers and Orla? They’d be from more than a year ago. Especially if there’s any videos of the lifesaver trick.”

Azura would’ve had to use the whistle commands for Orla to do her trick. They can’t hear the whistle, but if the video could’ve picked it up and replayed it—

“Um.” Pearl’s voice is fainter. “I will try.”

He wishes she’d have a little more confidence about it. Maybe if she did it would have taken less than the very painfully long five minutes that they wait, Blackquill glaring all the while. Phoenix would swear that he doesn’t blink. “I found one,” Pearl says finally, and the world releases the breath it was holding, like they were caught in the moment before Psyche-Locks appear. “Do you want me to play it?”

“Throw the practice dummy in the pool first,” Phoenix says. 

Pearl runs around the pool, grabs the doll, and hurls it with the speed and trajectory of a fastball. It doesn’t arc into the pool and just noisily crashes into a wall somewhere off-camera, and she raises a hand to her face in surprise. 

Phoenix presses both his forefingers to the bridge of his nose. “Drop,” he amends. “Drop it in the pool.”

“She could probably bench press more than me,” Athena says, sounding awed. 

“She could probably bench press you,” Phoenix says. 

“Well yeah, given the average weight of a person it’s theoretically not hard to bench someone. The difficulty would come from, does the person you’re benching have enough core strength to hold themselves steady when you’re lifting them so they don’t flail and fall and kick you in the face on the way down.” Phoenix hopes that she’s only worked this out theoretically and not actually been kicked in the head trying to use a person as a barbell. 

A splash on-camera means Pearl finally got the dummy into the water. She leans over the side to watch it sink, and Orla looks at her, and after a few seconds Pearl acquises to something silently passed between them and grabs some fish from a bucket to feed her. “Okay, it’s sunk down to the bottom,” she says. “Now I play the video?”

“Yep.”

The first several moments, Phoenix fears nothing is going to happen. Then Orla dives, out of sight, and Pearl narrates the rest. “She’s going toward the dummy - she’s got it - here she comes - good girl, Orla! I don’t think she left any new bites in it!” She waves it above her head, for them to see. “What a smart girl! Here, I’ll get some more food for you!”

“Will you try one more for me?” Phoenix asks. He doesn’t like these questions, asking them phrased this way, but Pearl said she would help and this is part of it; this isn’t a separate deal. She pops her head back into view. “A video of her singing.”

“Of course!” And moments later Orla is squawking out her one song, a bit toneless and lacking rhythm, and still better than what Phoenix manages to do with a piano. 

“Isn’t she amazing?” Athena sighs in admiration. “You go, Orla!”

“Hmph.” Blackquill is not nearly so impressed, but there’s still something bordering on begrudging acknowledgement in the grunt. Maybe he’d just rather be seeing the penguin perform. “What a shock, Wright-dono, that you pulled this off. You’ve successfully proven the possibility that Marlon Rimes could have manipulated the orca - but that is, after all, only a possibility that you have not proven, and so it is just as likely that Sasha Buckler simply commanded the orca, using her own whistle, to perform the singing and lifesaver tricks. None of this rigamarole with the videos.”

The two tricks at the same time? Didn’t they talk about Orla not being able to do that? The sound of another orca song, but a different one, as much as there can be a difference in an orca chirping in something that’s close to a pattern, jars him away from the thought. Pearl just sent over Rimes’ videos, and Athena has one pulled up and playing. It shows Azura, the dark-haired selkie, kneeling next to the pool, bobbing her head to the vague melody that Orla began in response to her whistle.

No, the orca can’t do two tricks at the same time, and Dr Crab said to give thought to the song. Phoenix still doesn’t know what the latter is about, but the former, he can toss back at Blackquill. “Not just as likely,” he says.

Blackquill’s eyebrows disappear beneath his shaggy hair. “Do tell,” he says. “If you strike at me, best be prepared to follow through.”

“I’m getting to it.” This isn’t a sword fight with a samurai, no matter how Blackquill’s metaphors make it sound. In court, with evidence, Phoenix can go toe-to-toe with him. Meanwhile, his only combat experience is choreographed Shakespearian stage fights and those don’t count, he’s starting to think. 

He explains the issue, Blackquill heckling him every moment he stops to breathe for the fact that his theory is that Sasha can’t be the killer because the killer made Orla do something that’s impossible for her to do. “Better straighten out this theory of yours before I straighten you out.”

Phoenix opens his mouth. Several responses vie for space on the tip of his tongue, and in the time that “well, you are certainly allowed to try” and “yeah, that’s absolutely never going to happen” are fighting, his brain-to-mouth filter swoops in and stops him from saying anything. He closes his mouth. His silence probably makes Blackquill think he’s gotten the better of him this time, but, frankly, fuck him. (But not - okay, Phoenix is derailing this train of thought right out of the station. No puns, no pondering whether Blackquill would be attractive if he didn’t look like a dead-eyed corpse. He’s not Phoenix’s type anyway.)

“The orca’s song was probably faked,” he says finally. “Orla didn’t perform both at the same time - like I said, it’s not something she can do. The song was played over the speakers in the lobby by the tank, from this recording from a year ago. Ms DePlume said that the song she heard that day at the aquarium is the same from the Swashbuckler Spectacular show a year ago - but the song Orla sang for us just now, when Ms Fey played the video, is not that song. Marlon Rimes, who had these videos on his phone, would have been able to do this - play the lifesaver video to get Orla to bite the body, and broadcast the song to get Ms DePlume’s attention and show her that same scene she saw a year ago.”

“I ain’t exactly a tech guy,” Rimes says. “You saying I got my phone hooked up to those speakers? How?”

Ah. Well. How indeed? This would be a damned silly place for him to be stopped having come this far, though. “Not necessarily? You could’ve used your walkie-talkie. You’ve got one, same as Sasha and Jack Shipley, and those can also broadcast through the aquarium loudspeakers, right?”

Rimes fakes a laugh. That can’t mean anything good. “Sure can! Thing is - day a’fore DePlume was there and saw that murderin’ orca—” His tone of voice keeps dropping to something gravelly and more like a stereotypical pirate accent. It honestly wouldn’t surprise him if that was part of the magic woven into the magatama, just for the amusement of whatever fae made a deal with a pirate-themed aquarium employee. “Screwed up an’ broke my walkie-talkie while cleaning.”

“Are you fucking bullshitting me right now.”

He’s back in the basement of the Borscht Bowl Club, staring down seven long years of faceless challengers, and when he didn’t laugh off the ones that thought they could trick or intimidate him into losing the only reputation he had left, he dropped the thin pleasantries, dropped into the persona he mirrored from the rest of them, short-tempered and foul-mouthed card sharks, and gave a dead-eyed stare and asked what the hell they thought they were playing at. Usually his sudden change in demeanor startled them enough to give him time to regain his footing. 

But today the ground is still shifting and sliding beneath him. 

“You probably broke it on purpose, afterward, to be your stupid little flimsy alibi!” Athena is no less furious that he is, enough that she doesn’t point out the hypocrisy of the times he’s given her a gentle reminder that yelling at the prosecution and/or witnesses like that is not professional in the slightest. 

“I’d not done any such thing,” Rimes protests. “Dropped it after I was done helping Sasha with the cleaning.”

Athena makes quotation gestures in the air. “You ‘dropped’ it, huh? You got proof for that? That you dropped it and didn’t ‘drop’ it?” She’s really going in on this phrasing. 

“Proof?” Blackquill interrupts. “The burden of proof is on you, not this witness!”

It is, isn’t it? Fuck the burden of proof. Fuck everything about this. Rimes could’ve stolen someone else’s walkie-talkie and used it to broadcast the video. He could’ve used his own and broken it after the fact. It’s logical, every single bit, it’s common sense, and that doesn’t matter. They’re down to nitpicking a goddamn walkie-talkie because Rimes has no other way to defend himself: he had the means, the motive, the opportunity. He could be lying about anything and Phoenix wouldn’t know. Phoenix doesn’t know if Blackquill screws up his Psyche-Locks too but he probably does. “Mr Rimes,” Phoenix says, and he hears himself speaking louder than necessary to drown out the long, frustrated yell thrumming through the back of his skull. “I hope you realize a jury wouldn’t buy one second of this shit you’re spewing.”

“A jury,” Blackquill repeats, tonelessly, expressionlessly, and Phoenix almost has the naivety, for one flash of an instant, to think that this isn’t going to go somewhere that makes him want nothing more than to push the prosecution off the edge of an empty orca pool. “Perhaps this is the sort of situation you should have considered before you made a catastrophe of your own Jurist System, deciding you would rather it serve the cause of personal revenge than serious reform.” 

He could argue. It would be easy to argue. He could say that reform takes time, and the public doesn’t trust the legal system as it currently stands, and that makes them expectedly cautious about said legal system’s plans for fixing itself from the inside; and that Edgeworth’s careful, wants more test cases, wants to know how a prosecutor not so stringently fighting for truth as Gavin could sway a jury far off-course, wants to see how juries that Phoenix hasn’t dropped an amnesiac dead woman into act, wants to make sure they do this right instead of just trying to do something immediate, so that another twenty years down the line they don’t have to fix it again.

And it would be the most difficult thing in the world to argue, because he knew, the day of Drew Misham’s death - Phoenix knew if he did that, this is what would be said about him, now until the end of everything. He knew and he went for it and how can he argue when he knew, when he barely survived a vote the committee took on whether he should stay on it at all, when they didn’t have to vote on whether he should be stripped of his chair because that was an easy decision to of course make; and how can he argue when he said it himself, to Apollo, when the kid asked if there was any progress being made, that this is how he knows he’s perceived. “Like I was using the whole project for personal revenge.” How can he argue against this perception when he doesn’t regret a damn thing. 

And if he argued it wouldn’t matter at all, because Blackquill stacked the deck. He knows where to cut but doesn’t have any personal investment to care if there’s a lashing back. Phoenix could say anything and it won’t change Blackquill’s stance because Blackquill might not even believe what Blackquill is saying. He might not care what Phoenix did. He just knows where to get under his opponent’s skin, and this is one of Phoenix’s open wounds.

Somewhere up in the gallery there’s Edgeworth, Apollo, and are they sitting together with Trucy - do they not say anything because of her, or because Apollo’s still intimidated by Edgeworth, but do they exchange a glance, one that acknowledges and hates what Phoenix turned himself into? Does Edgeworth regret this now, watching the face-off between the two attorneys with blackened names who he’s trying to clear?

Phoenix says nothing, and Blackquill’s smirk widens,

And Athena is still furiously arguing with Rimes about who it is exactly who’s spewing bilge, the lawyers or the witness - Phoenix’s vote is on the witness for seeming to be trying to on-the-spot compose a diss track against Phoenix, stick to your day job, Rimes - like they’ve not even noticed the drama happening next to them. It means nothing to Athena, who barely knows about the Jurist System and Phoenix’s role in it, who certainly doesn’t know about where Phoenix stands at the intersection of the Mishams, Zak Gramarye, and Kristoph Gavin, because Athena doesn’t know any of them either. She just knows right here at this moment, Marlon Rimes is lying through his teeth, and she’s going to chew him out for it.

Is she accusing him of not even having broken his walkie-talkie in the first place? Bold strategy, probably not going to work out for her, but if she keeps talking Phoenix can stabilize himself and maybe figure out what’s actually happening while she’s stalling for time. He has to prove either when Rimes’ walkie-talkie broke or that he used someone else’s. If—

“Sure, I can prove t’ya that I broke my walkie-talkie - I’ve still got it with me - just not when—”

“Yes!” Phoenix slams his palm down on the bench. Athena jumps. “Please show that to the court!”

Taka swoops down and snatches the sword-shaped walkie-talkie from Rimes’ hand, whisking it off to the judge, the prosecution, and then, finally, landing and depositing it in front of the defense. Athena reaches tentatively for the walkie-talkie that the hawk remains perched on, gingerly trying to avoid its talons, and Taka opens its beak and lets out a horrible screech, right in Athena’s face, before flying off. “Damned bird,” Phoenix mutters, picking up the walkie-talkie and turning it over in his hands. Athena remains frozen for a moment longer, recoiled back from where Taka was. Then she leans over Phoenix’s arm to examine this latest piece of evidence with him.

The casing at the bottom, the part that constitutes the sword’s hilt, is cracked, some pieces of the plastic shattered off entirely. The backing to the battery casing is missing. Several large tooth marks arc across the gray blade part, also badly scuffed. “That’s a big bite,” Athena says. “Do you think it was Orla?”

Either her or Maya, and one of those looks way more likely for this case than the other. “Mr Rimes, this walkie-talkie does very much seem to be broken,” Phoenix says. “But I don’t believe it’s yours.”

The victim’s walkie-talkie has been missing since his death, missing in the photo of his body, and could easily have been broken in the fall. And his had the marks of Orla’s teeth in it, because it was Azura’s before he used it, Which means that Rimes’ actual walkie-talkie still could’ve been used, and this is the victim’s missing one, and the only person who had reason to steal the victim’s walkie-talkie would’ve been the killer trying his hardest to cover his trail. 

Right?

Phoenix says this. Rimes claims that he’s had some run-ins with Orla that ended with her biting him and his walkie-talkie both. 

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Phoenix demands.

The judge slams his gavel down. “Mr Wright! I’ve tried to be lenient on account of how long it has been since you last stood in court, but if you continue to use this sort of language I will have no choice but to penalize you!”

“Sorry. I - sorry, Your Honor.” Phoenix inhales slowly and lets all of his breath out even slower. His client is counting on him to keep a level head. Athena is counting on him to keep a level head. “Mr Rimes, it really seems remarkable to me that you, who so hated Orla and wanted to be rid of her, would never make mention of the fact that she allegedly attacked you - that seems like a worrying behavior that should have been brought to someone’s attention if it actually happened, no?”

“Enough,” Blackquill says lazily. “The witness’ litany of terrible and incomprehensible choices are not on trial here - Sasha Buckler is. Either present to me some evidence of this walkie-talkie theft you insist upon, or allow His Baldness to finally render the verdict that seals the fate of your orca trainer.”

He laughs far too hard at that for it to be anything but a ghastly pun off of Sasha’s identity. 

“Sasha’s innocent!” Rimes protests. Still, to the last, insisting on that. “Forget the orca! Let her walk the plank - just save Sasha!”

“I can’t do that, Mr Rimes.” Well - he could. That’s the thing, he could. But he’s sacrificed enough of his principles over the past years, and now that he’s here in court as a lawyer again: no more. No more of that. Sasha trusted him to get Orla found Not Guilty, and Sasha stands by that and is trusting him to stand by that while he defends her. He can’t break that trust. Fuck what anyone else thinks the truth of this case is, Phoenix is going to find the real one, and he’s going to save them both. 

“Hey, Mr Wright,” Athena says. “I - okay first I think we need to come up with our own office rap/freestyle or song or pirate theme or something so that we can—”

“Nope,” Phoenix says. “What’s the next thing?”

“I noticed something weird about the bite marks, I’m not sure that it means anything, but…” She shrugs.

“Athena, we’re at the point where we have nothing else and I will make it mean something if it doesn’t actually yet mean something. What’ve you got?”

“Ah,” she says. “Right. We’re running out of half-baked bluffs.” Ouch. She’s really punching him in the pride today. “The bite marks are different, from this walkie-talkie here to the training dummy.” She brings up a photo of the dummy to display above the walkie-talkie. "There's a tooth missing in the bite from a year ago in the walkie-talkie, but not in the dummy, and Orla's not missing any teeth, is she?"

"And you wouldn't give an orca a prosthetic tooth. Do you have anything from Ms DePlume’s book scanned in, like that picture of Azura’s body? If we look at the walkie-talkie there too—”

“On it.”

So the tooth marks are different: if there was a tooth missing from the bite marks now, on the dummy, and a full set on the walkie-talkie a year ago, that would make sense. It would mean Orla had broken a tooth over the past year. But it’s the other way around, two variations on a bite mark - and two variations on the song, too, he remembers suddenly. Dr Crab told him to think about the song. Orla only knows one, Sasha said, but the whistle command from that video a year ago now has her singing a different song than the one in the video a year ago. Two contradictions, both of them a year ago and now. Wouldn’t Sasha have said if they taught Orla a knew song and overwrote the old one? Wouldn’t that be harder than teaching her a new song with a slightly different whistle command? Wouldn’t she get confused?

Phoenix is the confused one. But this has to mean something - Dr Crab wouldn’t have pointed out the songs if it didn’t. If he takes “Orla only knows how to sing the current Swashbuckler Spectacular song, the one Athena knows” as fact, and “a year ago, the orca sang a different song, the one DePlume knows” also as fact—

—then there couldn’t be two different orcas, could there? One missing a tooth, and one not? That’s goddamn absurd, a hell of a leap he’s taking now, but it fits the facts he has to take as fact—

—and Sasha said, what feels like forever ago, but was really two days ago when they met Orla, that her name is actually Ora but she only responds to Orla. 

Because even if the aquarium was trying to pretend two orcas were one, if they were ever there in an overlapping time span, they wouldn’t both be trained to respond to the same name. It would get too confusing to refer to them by the same name.

Ora and Orla, two different orcas. 

“Shit,” he says.

“Mr Wright,” the judge warns. 

“Sorry! Sorry. Can I get a pass for just realizing something astonishing?” Something that’s going to upend half of this case, answers the remaining contradictions, and raises a thousand more questions outside of the case like “but why?” and also “but why?” 

“Was this astonishing realization of yours that I am correct and you intend to finally give up insisting on the defendant’s innocence?” Blackquill asks with a smirk.

“You’re a dick.”

Blackquill, unfazed, laughs, but Phoenix still feels a little bit better for having said it. He’s wanted to say that to most prosecutors he’s known in court at least once, and finally, he’s gone for it. “Just hit me with that penalty, Your Honor. Now, what I’ve realized is that, this entire case, we’ve been making an assumption - and why wouldn’t we, no one who works for the aquarium has said otherwise.” Because maybe they actually, physically, can’t. “But these inconsistencies we keep running into make me think - Orla we know now, and the orca at the aquarium a year ago, are not the same orca. There’s not one, but two Ora Shipleys.”

Diving right into this revelation might mean the judge forgets to issue a penalty, because Rimes is shocked, and Blackquill disbelieving, and even Athena who noticed the bite marks surprised that this is the conclusion they’ve reached - and the judge calling for order and asking how there can be two different orcas in the same breath, contributing to the disorder he’s trying to end in the same breath. Different songs, different bite marks - and when Athena pulls up videos, the Swashbuckler Spectacular aired on tv the other morning, and one of Azura’s, they can see different teeth. In the video from a year ago, the orca, as expected, has a broken tooth on the front left side. Orla has a full mouth of perfect teeth. 

“Ergo” - wait, did he really just say that, he hasn’t spoken to Edgeworth in like, a week, why’s he talking like this - “the tooth marks on this walkie-talkie cannot be from Orla, this walkie-talkie cannot be yours, and it was stolen from the victim, Jack Shipley. And the only person who would have had the opportunity to steal the walkie-talkie before the body was discovered is the culprit - is you, Marlon Rimes.”

“No!” Rimes clutches at the witness stand like it’s the only thing holding him upright, like his legs are going to give out if he doesn’t have that. “You’ve got it all wrong! It’s the orca’s fault! It’s—” He staggers. He can’t even stay upright now, doubled over the stand and clinging to it. “It’s - it’s the orca’s fault! She’s a killer!”

Phoenix remembers, again, the lack of Psyche-Locks. Rimes believes this, so strongly, that he dragged this out to its bitter end, sure that the orca killed Azura. Sure that she’s a killer, and Jack Shipley only died because he was trying to save her - might Rimes believe that’s her fault, too? Sure she deserved death, and Rimes was only trying to do what she deserved, and he wouldn’t have had to if she weren’t a killer then Jack Shipley wouldn’t have - and he’s dead and it’s her fault, right? 

(And Phoenix might be years past I did not kill Juan Corrida, can spot locks for secrets that lie beneath technical truths, but it shouldn’t surprise him that he still trips on the half-truths. It’s a fae blessing and that’s true to the fae. They’re squidgy, the locks, much like secrets and truths are. It’s like a metaphor except it’s being an actual physical issue to him. Metaphysical issue? He still hasn’t asked Pearl if she knows what the black locks mean. He’s spent enough time hung up on Kristoph.)

“She’s a - a—” Rimes slumps off the stand, sinking to the floor, leaning against its wooden bars. “Why I am still too weak to help anyone?”

That isn’t a confession yet but it’s something close, and Rimes finally done fighting, all the desperate protestations bled out of him. The judge clears his throat. “Ms Buckler,” he says. “Is Mr Wright’s claim true? Are there two orcas?”

“I, uh…” Sasha stands up from her chair, takes one step, and stops, and takes a step back toward the chair, twisting the cord of her whistle around her finger. “Well, I didn’t tell you that, Phoenix - you figured it out, so I guess I can say, yeah, there used to be two orcas at the aquarium. Ora and Orla.”

Well, shit.

“They were sisters. They were rescued by the captain when they were beached on shore” - Phoenix remembers this story, but only about Orla - “a few years back. Ora was fine, but Orla was in really bad shape and it took a long time of Dr Crab looking after her to get her back to health. And Ora didn’t want to leave her, and after they’d been here for so long, they loved the captain, they didn’t want to leave, and we kept them on at the aquarium. Ora was the one who performed in the pirate shows, since while Orla was recovering, she started learning tricks, but after - after Azura’s death a year ago, Ora was put down. The Center for Dangerous Animal Control demanded it.” She looks back down at her hands. “The captain and the doctor begged them to leave Orla alone, and then we put Orla in the pirate show, acting as Ora. But she couldn’t figure out how to sing the same song her sister did, so we had to write an entirely new one based around how she ‘sang’.”

“And why did you say nothing of there being two orcas?” Blackquill asks.

“Wouldn’t that have been an easy way to get Norma DePlume to stop coming around?” Phoenix asks. “Just tell her that there’s two orcas, and this new one is using the stage name of the old and is obviously not a killer.”

Sasha sighs. “I don’t - I don’t quite know. The captain wanted us to keep quiet about it ‘till he thought the time was right - there were only a few of us who knew about Orla, since she was never on view for the public, just a couple of us worked with her, me and Azura and the captain and Dr Crab. The captain made us, me and the doctor, swear we wouldn’t say anything. So I couldn’t say anything.” She shrugs. The magic in the swearing is obviously implied, the same way Dr Crab said he was bound and could only hint. “I think - he had to put Ora down because the CDAC wouldn’t ever get off our backs, but he knew she didn’t kill Azura and telling everyone that we had a new orca was just - admitting it? Admitting the old one killed Azura? That’s how it would’ve felt to me anyway. But the captain, he had such a presence that, some people just, even if you don’t know why they’re doing something, they’ve got such confidence and you trust them and you do what they ask because you know they’ve got reason somehow even if it’s weird? Jack was like that.”

Athena is nodding beside Phoenix and he hopes she’s not thinking of him. She probably is. 

“So Mr Rimes had no idea that there were two orcas?”

Rimes has managed to stand again, and was staring at Sasha with haunted eyes, but with attention turned back to him he slumps, his posture so collapsed that he’s again about the height he was before his transformation. “No.” His voice cracks. “How would I?”

“Was the entire reason you came to work at the Shipshape Aquarium to try and kill Orla?” Phoenix asks. 

Rimes nods. “Azura told me all the time about the other girl who worked with the orca, how much they loved that orca, and how much Azura loved this friend who was like a sister.” Sasha hastily swipes her hand across her eyes. “I couldn’t do a thing to help Azura so I thought if maybe I could make sure to protect her friend - maybe then I could live with myself. And I came here and saw Sasha trusts that orca as much as Azura did and I was so afraid—” He takes a loud, shuddering breath. “When I started bein’ sure about my plan, that next time I’d help I’d drain the pool, I was afraid I might have t’fight the orca, or pull its jaws off of someone or myself, or something and I made a deal, for strength, I thought so that this time I…”

Blackquill shakes his head. His eyes flash; maybe it’s the light and angle of his head, or maybe again they really do turn silver. “You blighted fool. And Jack Shipley discovered you as you enacted this plan, and that is why—” He tilts his head slightly to the side. “You killed him?” Frowning, he lowers his head. “Ah, of course. The note with the autopsy report. The strange bruising around the victim’s wrist that was Marlon Rimes’ handprint. Now I see - it was left during a fight with the victim.”

Rimes’ handprint, but just one, on one of the victim’s arms. Wouldn’t it make more sense to fight with two hands, that there would be some other mark? What was Rimes doing with the other hand, trying to turn the water back off, trying to grab some weapon - somehow leaving that weird single handprint on the pool ladder, that Pearl found while going wild with fingerprint powder?

“It wasn’t the orca who killed him,” Rimes says softly, like it’s a sudden final revelation even to him. “It was me. I killed him. Just give Sasha her ‘Not Guilty’ and me the death penalty. I don’t care anymore.”

Is there still a piece missing here?

“Finally accepting your defeat, I see,” Blackquill says. “Very well. You, to hell, and Your Baldness, your verdict.”

“It would seem that this very much…” The judge pauses for a moment, considering a way to describe it. “Unprecedented sequence of trials has come to a close. If there are no final objections, this court finds the defendant—”

“Wait,” Phoenix says. The courtroom goes dead, and he’s not even sure he breathes for a moment. “Not - I don’t have any objections to the verdict on Ms Buckler!” he adds hastily, assuaging the expressions of horror that appear on Sasha and Athena’s faces, and even narrow-eyes confusion on Blackquill’s. “But - but before Mr Rimes goes, I think - I think we still don’t quite have the full story yet.” And he knows how this works. If a crime is proven in the course of trying someone else, it’s that evidence that takes the new culprit to trial, that and nothing more. It’s enough to exonerate the first defendant, so it’s enough to convict the second. No further investigation needed. Rimes is confessing now; there’s all this evidence established against him. It will be open and shut, no other scenario considered, unless Phoenix does something here, now, with what he has, examines the last possible angle. 

(Or unless he takes up Rimes’ defense, which he isn’t averse to, but he might as well establish this now.)

“This new evidence the prosecution has brought still hasn’t been fully examined, and I don’t think we’ve revealed the full truth of the matter yet.”

Blackquill’s glare doesn’t lessen in the slightest. “Your client is about to be declared ‘Not Guilty’ - you have defended her and the orca both! What more can you possibly think to be doing?”

He swore that he would save both Sasha and Orla. Now, he supposes, he’s trying to save everyone. Everyone but the dead. “There’s evidence that, in the course of our investigation, we also didn’t know how it fit with anything else. Athena, can you project for the court a picture of those fingerprints Pearl found?” 

He waits a moment, gives the judge and prosecution time to examine the prints and Athena’s mock-up of how it would look to hold the ladder in that way. “This was Rimes’ handprint, grasping the ladder from above. And we also have his handprint tightly grasped around the victim’s wrist. I submit to the court the possibility that these two prints were left at the same time - that these events happened in the same time. And if Rimes, above the empty pool, were leaning out from the ladder, and holding the victim’s wrist in such a way—”

Blackquill gets it first, recoils; even his mask of condescension slips. “But that would mean that he—!”

Phoenix nods. “Yes. Marlon Rimes was trying to save the victim. This wasn’t a murder - this was an accident.”

#in this fic the amount of overarching plot arc relevance a case has is inversely proportional to how long the casefic chapters are #as this is a dlc case its chapters are all 15k and it will immediately cease to be mentioned three chapters out from its end #conversely the entirety of cosmic turnabout will be three sentences of apollo dissociating hope y'all are ready for that #fic: the witches of los angeles #roddy fanfics

[inflammatoryfandomblog]

... ah. just finished off picking away at the ace attorney trilogy for the first time. it was a pretty wild ride.

misc. rambling thoughts about the trilogy under the cut. i imagine everything here’s been discussed to death, so i have nothing new to say. 

most people would say that the first game is the best game and... i agree with that. playing it through, it was extraordinarily clear to me that the writer/designer had put their all into that game. there was a very solid arc for phoenix and edgeworth (edgeworth’s character arc, in fact, is all in the first game--by beginning of the second one, he’s a completely changed person and essentially stays this way.) 

the conclusion is extremely satisfying save for one or loose threads. the cases ramp up nicely in difficulty and in scope, and new mechanics are even added in as the game progresses--with one Big Stinker mechanic that was unduly frustrating... the “inspect evidence” mechanic.

the second game is easily the worst; half of it (the first case and the third case) is a complete farce, especially the third case. Filled with... terrible logic and terrible characters. The third case of the first game was similar in that it involved pop cultural figures in-universe, but Steel Samurai and its assorted characters added lots to the world of the games that Big Top... simply didn’t. 

i will say that unlike the “inspect evidence” mechanic, justice for all did add an actually fun and enduring mechanic: the magatama. it’s a pretty ingenious way to bring the courtroom-witness mechanic to the investigation portions of the game, saving them from being merely click-and-talk-to-people affairs. additionally, the last case of justice for all is a high point in that it introduces a new conflict for phoenix to deal with as a lawyer and it’s a major payoff of edgeworth’s character development in the first game. 

it’s really clear that unlike with the first game, the second game was holding back on elements that were introduced in the third. you know, holding back on the “good stuff” that makes the meat and bones of a story. the one loose thread left in the first game is developed+setup as a proper plot point in one case of the second game, then subsequently brushed off and... essentially becomes the plot of the third game.

which... trials + tribulations is at the midpoint between ace attorney and justice for all, in terms of quality. its “tutorial case” goes back to being a very good introduction for beginners, and it has very few big stinkers like the second game, but the only really high high it reaches is during its last case where the setup in the game pays off. 

i think out of the three, this game has the most cohesive “story” throughout its different cases, but this does mean that it also sort of puts into focus the episodic nature of the games. it’s hard to explain, but because it’s less episodic than the other games of its trilogy, the two episodic cases feel like they’re interrupting something. it feels like it’s important backstory->unrelated meh case->unrelated bad case that made me want to pour bleach into my eyes but at least it’s not Big Top->important backstory->the conclusion to the backstory in the present day.

like, the “overarching” story is okay overall, and has a lot of good touches and details (my favorite is that i immediately noticed the past version of edgeworth mirroring von karma exactly.) it’s hampered down by a few structural issues and a few localization problems (the game ... references... the harlem shake... and the milkshake bringing all the boys to the yard...) and... unfortunate... elements? to it.

the trilogy really isn’t as interconnected as people seem to think it is--because the first game is as dense as it is, most of the development happens there, and the relative paucity of its successors is noticeable especially if you experience them in very close order. it really does feel like i loved phoenix wright: ace attorney, and then i played two spinoffs of it.

#me.txt #ace attorney #begone thought

[askaceattorney]

Dear askrikkaiandhyotei,

Okay, so...  After reading these, part of me feels like this:

And the other part feels sort of like this:

I absolutely love it that you’re enjoying my essays (that goes for everyone who is, by the way), but as you’ve probably noticed, I’m not very fast with them.  I’ll gladly do each of these essays you requested if possible, but bear in mind that they’re all being delivered on a very slow train (my brain, in this case).

I’ll start with Mr. Fine himself.

When we first meet the one and only Apollo Justice, his name, fighting spirit, and trademark Chords of Steel are pretty much all he has going for him as a character.  And the fact that Phoenix Wright is now this guy...

...serves as an unfortunate distraction from us getting familiar with Apollo as well.  On top of that, we get absolutely no backstory for him in his debut game; not even what inspired him to become a lawyer.  On the plus side, his game, while definitely not as inspired as the trilogy games (and to be fair, that’s a pretty tall order), provides us with the same sort of fun plot twists and hilarious moments you’d expect from an Ace Attorney game, plus an interesting new gimmick.

Still, though...where the heck did this guy come from?  We eventually learn of his mother’s identity as well as his shared blood with Trucy, but that doesn’t tell us much.

Fast forward to Dual Destinies, where we at least get to meet one of his close childhood friends...in a kinda-sorta way.

Again, this only gives us a small glimpse into his past, but it at least lets us see a bit more of his personality and emotions -- especially when dealing with the grief of losing Clay.

I don’t remember if he even cursed before then, for that matter.

We also see him do something unusual for someone as trusting as he usually is:

He might have only known Athena for a year at this point, but it isn’t normally in his nature to accuse someone out of the blue, at least not without coming up with a possible motive for them.  Luckily, his suspicion toward Athena exists for the same reason as Phoenix’s faith in her: a desire to find the truth (which they ironically end up finding by arguing against each other).  We also get to see a more desperate face on the usually straight-faced lawyer.

It’s always interesting to see how people (even fictitious ones) behave when their emotions get to them, isn’t it?

But it wasn’t until Spirit of Justice came out that we got see where Apollo and his...spirit of justice came from.  (Heh, how about that?)

At first, he’s still the same loudmouth from before:

But then he’s called to do something a bit out of the ordinary (even for an Ace Attorney lawyer) -- defend his boss’s own daughter from a murder charge, not to mention saving the entire agency from bankruptcy, with Ratings Rajah and an army of yellow journalists against him.  When he ultimately succeeds at this, Phoenix presents him with the greatest reward he can give from overseas:

Whereas his first game left us (and Apollo) wondering if he’d learned anything at all, this game gives us a sense of fulfillment as Apollo finally graduates to “full-fledged lawyer” status.  Even better than that, it’s his own legal role model who acknowledges it.  His career couldn’t possibly go any higher, could it?

Wait a minute...who’s the kid in this picture?

Starting with Apollo’s first encounter with Nahyuta in the courtroom, the game slowly starts unpacking his backstory in Khura’in.  First we discover that he and Nahyuta have met before (much like Athena and Simon in the previous game), then we see a picture of him with his surrogate father and brother, and then...

Surprise, Apollo!  Your dad’s back from “work”!

It’s here that we finally get an explanation for why Apollo hasn’t told anyone about his past -- it turns out he was raised by a rebel on the run, who currently happens to be the most wanted man in Khura’in.

Like many estranged relationships, Dhurke and Apollo’s doesn’t start back up instantly, but as they continue working together and sharing the experiences they’ve had on their own, they gradually come to trust one another again (although the trust issues are mostly on Apollo’s side).

And then...one of the most beautiful moments I’ve seen in Apollo’s story.

During a near-death experience, Apollo is reminded of a similar experience he had as a child.  It’s here that we learn where Apollo first learned the meaning of courage, self-sacrifice, and determination.  Ever since then, he thought Dhurke had abandoned him and had decided to try to forget about him, but then...

Besides this being a touching moment between a long-separated father and son, it was incredibly heartwarming to see Dhurke demonstrating that his love for Apollo hadn’t changed a single bit since his childhood.

More importantly for this essay, though, is how easy (and touching) it is to see how much of Dhurke’s fighting spirit has rubbed off on Apollo.  Besides becoming a lawyer who’s already put up a fight for numerous defendants, he ends up facing off against one of the greatest injustices ever to occur in the Ace Attorney universe, disregarding his own boss, a queen, guns pointed at him, and even the tragic revelation of Dhurke’s death.

And on that note, we can’t talk about Apollo’s character development without mentioning his coup de gras near the end of SoJ.

Dhurke might have passed on, but his spirit of courage, determination, and (you guessed it) justice live on in Apollo, much like Mia’s spirit lives on in Phoenix.  Along with the coaching Phoenix and the gang have given him over the years, Dhurke’s determination to see justice done is ultimately what drives Apollo to finally deliver it, and deliver it he does.

One last thing worth mentioning is that we get to learn a few things about his biological father Jove in SoJ.  More than just his appearance and his career, however, we learn how, much like Dhurke, he cared more about Apollo’s life than his own, which makes for yet another touching moment.

I like to imagine that Apollo inherited that selflessness from Jove just as much as he learned it from Dhurke.

So, while he had a bit of a rough introduction to the Ace Attorney series, I have to give the writers at Capcom credit for the way they fleshed him out over time.  At first glance, he might seem like a cliche protagonist who wants to do good for the sake of doing good (and even has his own super power), but he’s the product of a good (if unusual) upbringing, solid mentoring, and witnessing injustice for too long to let it continue wherever he goes.

I’m still not sure about that hairdo of his, though.

-The Co-Mod

P.S. I’ll keep your other essay requests in mind, but there are some others I’d like to get to first, so I hope you don’t mind waiting a while for them.

#askrikkaiandhyotei #Apollo Justice #Mod Post #Co Mod #Character Essay #Mod Commentary #I'd finish these a lot sooner if I didn't get so dang wordy

[inbarfink]

I wrote a shorter jokey post about this before but here’s a more detailed explanation as to why I think Phoenix = Crowley and Miles = Aziraphale in Ace Attorney Good Omens AU

(For clarifications, I am mostly talking about Show Continuity, before the show was out I was like “Yeah OBVIOUSLY Crowley = Miles and Phoenix = Aziraphale who would think otherwise????”. After giving it some thoughts, I think with Book Continuity it can honestly go either way. Some of the elements I point out here are.... at the very least less-pronounced in the Book Continuity and can be said to ‘balance-out’ with some of the traits that point into more Crowley = Miles and Phoenix = Aziraphale, such as the Hebrew word for ‘Demon’ originally meaning..... basically a Celestial Prosecutor and Crowley presenting as the more well-off of the two and, like, owning a car. Both of which are unthinkable with Phoenix).

1. Aziraphale is the one of the two who dresses in weird outdated fashions. (And Miles even used to wear bowties as a child)

2. Crowley’s tactics when faced with life-threatning danger? Bluff, improvise, than *bluff some more*

Extremely Phoenix Energy, through that whole scene.

3. MilesEdgeworthDotJPEG

4. Can you imagine Miles Edgeworth - any version of Miles Edgeworth - slouching like that? I sure can’t. 

And yeah, I can think of.... at least one version of Phoenix Wright who would slouch like that. 

This Fucker Right Here. I’m gonna come back to it, but basically when I’m saying Crowley is Phoenix, I am very much thinking of THAT version of Phoenix. A Fallen Lawyer, if you will.

5. While both Miles and Phoenix, being lawyers - are fairly lawful trust-the-system people, Phoenix has always been the more chaotic one and more willing to bend the rules. He literally made Edgeworth ‘fill-in’ for him as a Defense Attorney once! He’s much more likely to come up with the Arrangement, like Crowley did. 

6. Damon Gant has Archangel Gabriel Energies

7. Crowley thought Aziraphale was dead, Phoenix thought Miles was dead (Although with Aziraphale it was 100% unintentional and just for a few hours, he didn’t fake his death for a year........ MILES)

8. Here’s basically What Show!Crowley Is All About: “All I ever wanted was to be good, I didn’t deserve to Fall From Grace like that. But if the Universe wants me to be the Bad Guy? Fuck it, I’ll be the Bad Guy. My Falling showed me that the System I used to serve is bad and full of holes and I might as well exploit it for all it’s worth and I’m gonna be a cool detached badass and I don’t care at all oh whooops looks like I still DO still care, A LOT” 

Which.... isn’t that much like any of Miles Edgeworth’s arcs. But DOES remind me of the arc of one Phoenix “HoboNick” Wright.

Crowley’s story of still being a Mess of self-loathing and doubts about being Fallen and the idea Aziraphale possibly helping him through that.... that checks out pretty well with the concept of Edgeworth helping Phoenix dealing with losing his badge. That’s what I think, at least.

9. And Aziraphale? Here’s Aziraphale’s story “I used to work inside this Perfection-Obsessed System and trust that it was Good and was only harming the Bad people because I had a very Black-and-White thinking of the world. I have someone who is very dear to my heart, but I constantly push away because my Black-and-White thinking painted him as my enemy- even when he was one of the only friends I had in this world. However, as my sense of right-and-wrong started to clash with the System, I realized that it’s Bad Actually. Now I prioritize Actually Doing the Right Thing even if it clashes with the System”.

Now there are some Differences, of course, but it checks out pretty well with Miles Edgeworth’s main character arc. Phoenix, in comparison, doesn’t really have that sort of relationship with the System. And Although he kinda fell into thinking about Prosecutors vs Defense Attorneys in a Black-and-White way during ‘Justice for All’, it’s not as..... iconic a Problem for him the way it is to Miles. Phoenix’s thinking was more of an immediate reaction to the grief of Miles’ fake ‘death’ and a Personal Emotional Issue, then it is an Ideological Problem, has it has been with Miles. (In a way, I see it paralleling Crowley whenever he’s like FINE YEAH I DON’T LIKE YOU EITHER ANGEL I AM GOING TO FLY OFF TO THE STARS ON MY OWN AND I WON’T EVER THINK ABOUT YOU). Phoenix was only really Like That for a year, Miles was stuck on that Prosecutors vs Defense Attorneys thing for four years, and hasn’t really fully shaken it off even post-character-development.

Yeah, put in “Clinging to flase ideas of rivalry against all common sense” as another Aziraphale\Miles comperison. Just imagine Crowley mentally responding to “I am an Angel, you are a Demon, we’re hereditary enemies!” with “(But you were filling in for my temptation qouta today!)” 

And it’s important to remember that in spite of Crowley’s “I’m gonna be a cool detached dude who doesn’t care about anything and absolutely isn’t constantly angsting about being Abandoned by God” facade, he is still the one who mostly engages and reaches out to Aziraphale and constatly considers him his ‘friend’, while AZIRAPHALE, in spite of being the cuddly-soft-Angel, is the one who’s doing most of the pushing-away. (While Crowley only pushes away when he feels betrayed and hurt by Aziraphale KINDA THE SAME AS WITH PHOENIX, who is also usually the one trying to reach out to the emotionally-closed-off Edgeworth - and only pushing him away when he’s feeling extremely hurt and betrayed like in AA2)

Okay, so in general, the idea of a Demons-and-Angels AU with Phoenix as an Angel and Miles as a Demon seems SUPER appealing. You know this sort of “Oh no I am Fallen but this beautiful Angel is like... metaphorically pulling me back up??? With his LOVE???” shit? That’s Good Overdramatic Romance Shit that’s PERFECT for Wrightworth (I mean, this is only SLIGHTLY more dramatic than how Miles talk about Phoenix in Actual Canon). 

But this isn’t really the Good Omens narrative. Like, the part of the whole point of Good Omens is that.... unlike being a ‘Demon Prosecutor’, being a Fallen Angel\Demon isn’t necessarily a mark of Bad Morality. No more bad than being a regular-non-Fallen-Angel is (Maybe it’s even a little better? Angels never really properly questioned the structure of Heaven, Hell in general is Bad - but there might be more Demons like Crowley who had legit questions about Heaven and God and ended up lumped in with Lucifer and Friends???). Yeah, Crowley learned to open up a bit, emotions-wise, and too be less cynical after being burned by both Heaven and Hell and that he can fight for Humanity... But in terms of *morality*? 

I think the more accurate way to look at Good Omens from that angle is that Crowley is pulling Aziraphale down, rather than Aziraphale pushing him up. And like....... that not being a Bad Thing. Crowley is the one who keeps asking the tough questions about Heaven and God that Aziraphale thinks about, but can’t dare to say it on his own.

Crowley is the one Aziraphale feels comfortable sharing the fact that he gave away his Flaming Sword to humanity (a fact that he has hidden from everyone else for 6000 years). Crowley is the reason Aziraphale realizes the conflict isn’t as Black and White as Heaven’s propoganda would have him believe, Crowley is the one who talked Aziraphale into trying to prevent the Apocalypse in the first place, that helped him see it as the more moral option. It’s his conflicting loyalty to both Heaven and Crowley that allowed Aziraphale to see Heaven for what it truly is. 

And if we ignore the general cultural context in which we assume Fallen Angel = Bad and Angel = Good.... This checks a lot better with Miles Edgeworth’s story arc of realizing Demon Prosecutoring was Bad and that the System he works in sometimes doesn’t give a crap about the Truth. 

#Good Omens #ace attorney #aziraphale #miles edgeworth #Crowley #phoenix wright #ineffable husbands #wrightworth

[mikumutual]

answers aa themed questions nobody asked because i’m cool and sexy

also i havent played the 5th or 6th games so

YOUR FAVOURITE…? 1. Favourite Ace Attorney game? honestly? phoenix wright ace attorney! everything’s fresh, there aren’t many weak characters, and the plot is remarkable (especially the fifth case). the whole trilogy is really good as one unit though 2. Favourite case? 1-4, 1-5, 2-4, and 3-5 are tied lol, i can’t make a decision to save my life. 2-1 is really really funny tho 3. Favourite defendant? as a defendant, lana skye. as a person, edgeworth 4. Favourite prosecutor? as a prosecutor, franziska von karma. as a person, edgeworth 5. Favourite ship? wrightworth obviously... ive probably put more thought into them over the last 3 years than any other ship 6. Favourite victim? probably mia fey or gregory edgeworth... but for non-relevant victims, neil marshall :( 7. Favourite murderer? shelly de killer, i LOVE that guy. but dee vasquez was very cool as well 8. Favourite assistant? maya fey!!!!!!!!!! but i like kay faraday a lot too (im so sorry ema) 9. Favourite witness? adrian andrews... or maybe iris? i mean i didn’t like iris but god what a person 10. Favourite quote? “It doesn't matter how many underhanded tricks a person uses... The truth will always find a way to make itself known. The only thing we can do is to fight with the knowledge we hold and everything we have. Erasing the paradoxes one by one... It's never easy... We claw and scratch for every inch. But we will always eventually reach that one single truth. This I promise you.” - Miles Edgeworth i made this one of my senior quotes :]

YOUR LEAST FAVOURITE…? 11. Least favourite Ace Attorney game? uh fucking apollo justice. literally what the hell was that 12. Least favourite case? turnabout visitor wasn’t very strong? i guess it’s fine as an intro, but it’s also wonky with the timeline of aai 13. Least favourite defendant? max galactica. he’s better in the anime though 14. Least favourite prosecutor? manfred von karma, obviously. i like every other prosecutor (who i know of) though, even winston payne is pretty funny in hindsight 15. Least favourite ship? “miles edgeworth/female oc”. there are a lot of bad ships though, mostly involving phoenix & his assistants. dont do that please 16. Least favourite victim? zak gramarye for kickstarting that shitty, shitty game 17. Least favourite murderer? again mvk... but also fucking frank sahwit LMAO 18. Least favourite assistant? i guess trucy 19. Least favourite witness? fuck everyone from turnabout big top unless it was the anime episode 20. Least favourite memory of Ace Attorney? repeatedly trying and failing to download the emulator for aai2 hbjsjhdb i eventually got it but someone had to send me the download fully pre-patched and i felt kinda useless DO YOU PREFER…? 21. Phoenix Wright or Apollo Justice? phoenix wright. fuck that “GOTCHA!” mechanic jesus christ 22. Maya Fey or Trucy Wright? maya fey. nothing personal against trucy but i just dont like aj hbjsdjhsdb also maya is really sweet and fun and she has the best sprites. she seems like she’d be a good friend, it’s too bad that she doesn’t have the time for them as a spirit medium and all :( if maya ema and kay got to hang out together itd be wild 23. Investigations or trials? trials are easier in my opinion because investigations have several things you could be doing without such a linear style, so if you miss something, you won’t really know until you wander around forever 24. College Phoenix or Hobo Phoenix? college feenie!!!!! he’s like trilogy feenie but more emotional and less witty. i like to pretend that hobo phoenix doesnt exist 25. Klavier Gavin or Kristoph Gavin? who would say kristoph 26. Ace Attorney or Ace Attorney Investigations? ace attorney but only because phoenix is in it lmao. im actually rewatching a playthrough of aai now, and playing aai2 at the same time, so while it is on the mind, i feel like the cases characters and mechanics - while loved - don’t hold up to the OGs 27. Apollo’s perceive, Phoenix’s magatama, or Athena’s Mood Matrix? i actually kinda like the mood matrix more than anything because it has a really good UI and the magatama is kinda grating. but FUCK the gotcha mechanic it is SO FUCKING STUPID and IMPOSSIBLE TO USE.  where is logic chess 28. Ace Attorney trilogy or Apollo Justice and Dual Destinies? you already know my answer to this one 29. 3D models or sprites? i do like the 3d models a lot but i like the original sprites more! imo original pixel sprites > 3D models > HD sprites. mostly bc the hd sprites are garbage (see here, here, and here) 30. Ema Skye as she is in Rise from the Ashes or Ema Skye as she is in Apollo Justice? rfta !!!!!! shes actually really nice as an assistant, esp considering the fact that we actually see her interact with her sister, which is something maya didn’t have very often. also her random appearance in aai was well appreciated by me

MISCELLANEOUS 31. Did you like what they did to Phoenix in Apollo Justice?

NO I AM SO FUCKING MAD WHY WOULD THEY DO THAT TO HIM ISN’T HE A LAWYER WHY COULD HE NOT JUST DEFEND HIMSELF FROM THE FACT THAT HE “FORGED EVIDENCE” IT WASN’T EVEN HIS IN THE FIRST PLACE SOMEBODY ELSE FORGED IT AND HE DIDN’T KNOW THAT, MANFRED VON KARMA GOT AWAY WITH A FUCKLOAD OF NONSENSE AND SO DOES EVERY OTHER LAWYER SO WHY IS IT THAT PHOENIX CAN SURVIVE EATING A POISONED GLASS NECKLACE AND GETTING HIT OVER THE HEAD WITH A FIRE EXTINGUISHER AND FALLING FROM A BURNING BRIDGE INTO A RUSHING RAVINE AND BEING HIT BY A CAR BUT HE CAN’T FUCKING DEFEND HIMSELF LIKE HE DOES IN EVERY OTHER CASE BECAUSE THAT’S THE POINT OF THE GAME AND ALSO HIS ENTIRE CHARACTER

32. Your opinion on Dai Gyakuten Saiban? haven’t played it! it looks pretty cool though

33. Do you think Dai Gyakuten Saiban and/or Miles Edgeworth Investigations 2 will get localised to the West? doubt it, since the creators have said that it won’t be. but the fan translations are pretty good, so i think it’s okay

34. Do you think Miles Edgeworth should get another Investigation-game or do you think another character deserves a spin-off? i mean he already has two, so i guess he doesn’t need another? like i love edgeworth but he’s not as fun without phoenix around. ngl i would play a franziska game. or a maya game, or any spinoff revolving around a side character. hell i’d play hotti game if it meant it took place in the trilogy era

35. Opinion on the soundtrack of the Ace Attorney-franchise? REALLY good. really really good. i love how each game of the trilogy has different composers but each track has the same theme and feel!!!

36. Do you like where the franchise is heading or did you prefer the atmosphere in the original trilogy? seriously absolutely completely prefer the trilogy. i’m sorry but the rush of youth and trust is way, way more enjoyable than whatever “i’m 35 and therefore middle aged” nonsense is happening in the 2020s

37. Capcom suddenly announces that Phoenix will no longer appear in the Ace Attorney franchise! Your reaction? He’s been replaced by Penny Nichols. Fuck you.

38. Capcom suddenly announces that the Ace Attorney franchise has ended for good! Your reaction? it was me i ended it

39. Would you like there to be another Ace Attorney/Professor Layton crossover game? i didnt play it but i really like the idea!!!!!! aa crossover games are really funny to me, i mean have you seen edgeworth in project x zone 2, lmao

40. Would you like an Ace Attorney anime? we have one now! honestly i don’t think it did a very good job of representing the cases, but it did do a good character remix of turnabout big top so that they’re not creepy anymore. they also did a really good job with the anime-specific cases, like the one on the train! it feels a lot better paced when it’s intended for that medium rather than just adapted.  also the childhood episodes made me cry

41. Opinion on anime cutscenes in Ace Attorney? like in 5 and 6? mm, the art style is kinda weird, and i don’t really like the voices, but i guess not everything can be pachinko and prozd

42. Would you want to play an Ace Attorney game where you take on the prosecutor’s role? YEAH ACTUALLY!!!!!! it might be kinda weird being on the right side of the screen though lmao

43. Do you like having DLC in Ace Attorney-games? uhhh i hate having to buy extra things, but i’ll admit that they are pretty funny

44. Opinion on Lamiroir’s storyline? i only played aj so if shes in other games idk but i thought she was fine

45. One thing you think the Ace Attorney games can improve on? stop having creepy characters please. also jesus christ if phoenix and edgeworth arent wearing rings in aa7 i will become the ceo of capcom myself

46. Capcom suddenly announces an Ace Attorney movie! Would you like it to be based on an already existing case or would you like an all new storyline? i mean the musical did a pretty good job of adapting existing cases, so it might as well be new. it would be kinda hard to balance the games’ timeline & character development without being repetitive or an au

47. Capcom suddenly announces an Ace Attorney movie! Would you prefer it being live-action, 3D animated or 2D animated? stylized 2D animation, probably? i would want it to feel more like into the spiderverse than an anime, though. in my dream ace attorney movie, they’d just need a high art budget, several plausible deniability wrightworth scenes, and prozd to voice edgeworth

48. If there could be an Ace Attorney crossover with whatever franchise you’d like, which one would you choose? (Does not need to be a video-game franchise) your turn to die is probably closest in characterization, although its premise is more “locked in a room” than the open-world investigation of aa

49. Opinion on recurring witnesses? (Wendy Oldbag, Lotta Hart, Larry Butz, etc.) honestly, i like them a lot! i don’t know why people hate them so much - i mean, i know lotta lied, and wendy is a horrible old flirt, and larry just kinda sucks all around. but they’re also pretty funny to have around! larry is a constant comic relief who reminds you how much better nick & edgey are in comparison, lotta is likeable as a general character (like in 2-4, although yeah, not remarkable), and wendy oldbag is really funny. she’s so fucking funny. none of you appreciate wendy oldbag’s quirks and you are SLEEPING ON IT!!!!!!!!!!!!

50. Do you think Dual Destinies deserved its M-rating? no idea, holy shit, it got an m-rating? i mean every game before it has had blood violence and very mild swearing, and since DD probably doesnt have anything too sexually risqué, i doubt it deserves a rating any harsher than the rest of the series

okay thanks thats all

#this was fun hbjsdsdj #yea i love the trilogy #also my theme makes all everything lowercase for some reason? so this is probably easier to read on mobile #ace attorney

[alligaytorrr-reviews]

A Retrospective on Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies

               Being someone whose online presence began in 2006, gaining a peripheral knowledge of the Ace Attorney series was unavoidable. Still, I knew relatively little for quite a while: I knew that there were attorneys, and that two of them were named Phoenix Wright and Miles Edgeworth; I knew (from the many memes) of “Objection!”; and I knew that at one point, Phoenix cross-examines a parrot. This, along with its popularity in general, was enough to give me a mild interest in the series, but not one strong enough to inspire me to ever make the effort to try it out, at least not until that effort became considerably easier with the release of a free demo for Dual Destinies on the Nintendo 3DS eShop. Everything about this demo instantly endeared the series to me: the immediately charming characters, the excellently funny writing, and the series’ hallmark rush of endorphins from uncovering a lie and watching a cornered witness squirm. I had been in the market for something new to play, as I would shortly be spending three months studying abroad and knew in my down time I’d want the comfort of sitting in bed with my 3DS, and this demo solidified Ace Attorney as that something new. Being about to leave the country, I unfortunately had no time to track down a physical copy of the then-nine-year-old first game in the series, limiting my selection to what was available through the 3DS eShop: Dual Destinies.

                Dual Destinies, being the fifth main entry in the series, is by no means an entry point. But it was mine, and I fell in love with it. My first playthrough was overwhelmingly positive. I was enamored with everything about it, completely surprised to learn that beneath the often wacky exterior, both of the characters and the plot, there was a real depth to the game. I even considered it among my top ten favorites of all time. Later in the year, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy would release on the 3DS eShop, and I would also acquire a copy of Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney. Through playing them, I would learn that this depth is the core of the series’ identity – that is, fun, lighthearted, and clever murder mysteries hiding truly emotional storytelling and excellent character arcs. I would also learn that all of those games were better at this than Dual Destinies, as my second playthrough of it was overwhelmingly unremarkable. My third playthrough, just recently completed, seemingly confirmed this and resulted in a 3,500 word critical essay exploring how the game shoots itself in the foot by attempting to do to much and succeeding at none of it. Yet, unbelievably, as I spent this time elaborating on my negative feelings, I found I had more to say about my positive ones. This doesn’t mean the game doesn’t do too much, because, oh, it does. But there’s just enough good in Dual Destinies that the end result is not one that entirely fails to succeed at what it attempts, just one that fails to capitalize fully on its potential.

               To understand Dual Destinies, it’s necessary to understand where the Ace Attorney series stood just before its release. The original trilogy of games is frequently and rightfully lauded for its stunningly well done ending, which manages to neatly wrap up major plot points and give nearly every character arc a satisfying conclusion – namely, that of main character Phoenix Wright. For all intents and purposes, Ace Attorney could have ended right there, and series creator Shu Takumi indeed intended as much. When it was decided that a new game would be produced, however, Takumi smartly breathed life into it by introducing an almost entirely new cast for what became Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney: newcomer lawyer Apollo Justice, along with a new investigation partner, detective, prosecutor, and… Phoenix Wright. Phoenix’s inclusion came at the insistence of Takumi’s colleagues and against his wishes, but I’m of the opinion that the final product works. Thanks to a seven-year timeskip, the game avoids stepping on the toes of his character arc from the original trilogy while managing to still do interesting things with him. His role as mentor to Apollo creates a fine (if not strictly necessary) through line for the series, and the overarching plot of him having been set up to lose his attorney’s badge and working to prove his innocence is a good one. Some complain that Apollo himself never really does much in the game, and this isn’t an inaccurate assessment, but a protagonist whose agency is constantly usurped by people with a better grasp of what’s going on is a great setup for interesting character development. Only, the game never really feels like it’s making that point (and, spoiler alert: Dual Destinies does nothing with that, specifically, either). Rather, the problem is not that Apollo lacks agency in and of itself, but that he lacks agency specifically because at the end of the day, this is not his game – it’s Phoenix’s.

               It’s for this reason – that Apollo Justice is not really a story about Apollo Justice – that Dual Destinies raises eyebrows with its first moments. Granted, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney is not so much about Phoenix as it is about Miles Edgeworth, but unlike Dual Destinies, its sequel, Ace Attorney: Justice for All, doesn’t immediately introduce a new playable character. This character is Athena Cykes, a fledgling attorney who stands out well enough, being more energetic and chipper than Phoenix or Apollo. The setup for this case, Turnabout Countdown, is one of the more interesting for an introductory episode: a courtroom has been bombed, Apollo’s injuries sustained in the bombing make him unable to lead the case at the last minute, and Athena is thrust into the courtroom alone with her childhood friend’s freedom on the line. The game uses the same shortcut as it has in Phoenix Wright and Apollo Justice to help the player connect with Athena (that is, making her terribly nervous) and as a whole, she’s a fine character. It’s nothing about Athena herself that causes unease – it’s the fact that her existing at all begs the question of whether or not Apollo with get justice (pardon the pun) in this game, and if Athena is doomed to suffer the same fate that he did in his debut. The game spares no time compounding these fears, as Athena, struggling in court, is soon saved by none other than Phoenix Wright, who takes over as the playable character halfway through the episode. Not even a full episode into the game, it begs the question of how it will manage to be all that it wants to be: sequel to Apollo Justice, introduction of Athena Cykes, and return of Phoenix Wright. Already, it feels like Apollo has been shoved aside for Athena, who is soon shoved aside for Phoenix. The game will eventually do interesting things with all three, but it never quite assuages the suspicion that it could’ve done better had it narrowed its focus.

               Turnabout Countdown now moves Athena into her alternate role as co-counsel (and investigation partner in later episodes), which causes the unfortunate shelving of Trucy Wright, whose relationship with Apollo after the previous game had plenty of unexplored territory that this game is uninterested in touching. For this loss, Athena offers something to gain: the Mood Matrix, this game’s new gimmick. This is a step up from Apollo’s Perceive ability as it involves some amount of critical thinking, but not much. The Mood Matrix is an admirable attempt to innovate and provide new gameplay for trial chapters, but unfortunately only seldom amounts to more difficult thought processes than “a witness wouldn’t normally feel happy when something bad is happening” and “a witness wouldn’t normally feel surprised when nothing surprising is happening.” Additionally, the explanation for how Athena makes it work is a bit goofy – it relies on her “special hearing” and “listening to a witness’ heart,” which feel like clunky ways to describe hyper empathy. Coupled with the sensory overload she’s described as having experienced as a child, it seems obvious Athena could be autistic, but the game doesn’t confirm this, which is a missed opportunity, especially when it results in such awkward ways of describing her “special ability.” The Mood Matrix has no penalty for wrong answers, so in the few instances where there’s a semblance of a challenge to these segments, a guessing game suffices, which doesn’t help it feel like any more of a worthwhile addition to the game. While on the topic of penalties, this episode provides the first opportunity to experience the excellent quality of life improvement to Game Overs, no longer bumping you back to the last save point, but simply starting over from the point where the player failed. Having to hold the B button to skip through a mountain of text you’ve already read has always been more of an annoyance than a fitting punishment. The penalty system is effectively meaningless because of this, but it can still serve as a personal measure of skill, which is ultimately for the better.

               The Monstrous Turnabout turns the clock back to show how Apollo (playable this time – a relief) and Athena first meet. Like all “filler episodes,” this provides an opportunity to enjoy some character interactions and have their personalities shine. It feels the most like it belongs in a sequel to Apollo Justice out of any episode in the game, starting with Apollo and Trucy taking a casual trip together, before Apollo is once again turned into errand boy, tasked with tracking down new hire, Athena. The fact that Phoenix has been traveling and looking out for new recruits is a nice detail that fits well with the mentor role he took on in Apollo Justice, and as Ace Attorney has always had a found family aspect to it, seeing the Wright Anything Agency expand is welcome. Plus, Apollo and Athena play off each other well, so though it’s unfortunate to see Trucy out of the spotlight, this episode is an overall win in terms of characterization. The case itself, despite featuring the novel premise of a murderous yokai, is mostly unremarkable. It, like all second episodes, begins the inclusion of investigation chapters, which are disappointingly neutered in this game. While other entries have occasionally whisked you away to your next destination, much of where to go and who to talk to was left up to the player. This game constantly ferries you around to exactly where you need to be, which may have been an attempt to streamline and avoid frustration, but ends up robbing the player of a sense that they’re leading the investigation on their own. None of this is helped by the fact that the Examine option is now restricted to only vital areas, especially a shame because all the scenes in the game are beautifully rendered and look great with the 3DS’s stereoscopic 3D turned on too. This case is also the first to show off the new Revisualization mechanic, which tends to come at the end of a case where a previous game would have had a character talk through “turning the case around” and is a fun way of adding visual flair to those moments.

              The most important contribution from this case, though, is the debut of new prosecutor, Simon Blackquill. As with every prosecutor following the first game, he’s equal parts actual character as he is gimmick. This time around, the gimmick is that Blackquill is a convicted felon, standing in court with shackles and having to rely on his pet hawk to deliver evidence and harass others in the room, as opposed to, say, a whip or a cup of coffee. It’s a fun new idea, and the moments where he inevitably breaks out of his shackles in each episode are consistently entertaining. He’s additionally accompanied by his minder and new detective for the game, Bobby Fulbright. It’s unfortunate to not have endlessly unhappy, but always amusing Ema Skye return from Apollo Justice, but Fulbright is a solid replacement. His “commitment to justice” schtick is grating, but in a good way, making him sufficiently annoying but easily enough manipulated into being valuable for the defense’s investigations.

              Now is the best time to talk about the DLC case, since after the second episode is the best time to play it. For Ace Attorney’s first foray into paid DLC, this is definitely a success. It enriches the main game, but the five episodes that comprise Dual Destinies are by all means a complete story on their own. For its price and length, it’s certainly worthwhile, especially given that Turnabout Reclaimed is the best case in Dual Destinies. It tells the story of Phoenix’s first case after regaining his attorney’s badge, so I’ll take this opportunity to say that this is a great plot point. The ending of Apollo Justice hinted that it would happen, and it just feels right to see Phoenix back in his iconic blue suit (especially with a spiffy update that helps sell his role as an older, seasoned mentor). As with everything in this game, though, it feels like a plot point that would have been better served by having more time and focus devoted to it, rather than sharing the stage with the development of two more protagonists. Ignoring that, it’s an excellent case on its own. Taking on the defense of an orca in court feels like only a logically step for Phoenix, and in an obvious callback to one of the best moments in the first game he even cross-examines the whale, though an earlier fake-out where you can either request to do the same, only to have your request shot down by the judge, or choose the correct option and have the judge express surprise that you didn’t make the request, cheapens its impact a bit. Sasha Buckler, the second defendant in the case, is the most likeable defendant in the game (besides Athena, anyway), and Marlon Rimes is the only culprit with any degree of pathos this time around. A revenge plot against a whale is a little silly, but at least it’s something, and it’s nice to see Rimes’ coworkers sympathize with his grief and welcome him back to the aquarium openly. More than the rest of the game’s episodes, it feels like it tells an impactful story on its own, something that makes for the best Ace Attorney cases. Pearl Fey also makes a return here, with welcome confirmation that she and Phoenix have remained friends over the eight years since her last appearance, but her personality is bafflingly untouched despite having last been seen as a nine-year-old. Considering the traumatic events she experienced at the end of Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations, this is disappointing. Truthfully though, exploring her character any further would have only made an already-bloated game feel even more stuffed.

              Periodically, Dual Destinies has been making references to the so-called “dark age of the law.” This is ostensibly a major plot point, but in practice is more the vague idea of a plot point. The game cites the fact that a felon is serving as a prosecutor as evidence of this “dark age,” but this fails to sell the idea well when Blackquill doesn’t particularly stand out among the series’ existing cast of equally wacky prosecutors. It also claims that Phoenix’s case at the center of Apollo Justice’s story, where he presents forged evidence, helped usher in the “dark age,” which at least means that these two games have something to do with each other, but Phoenix never appears to feel any responsibility for this until the end of the game, so it too falls flat. The only time the game actually properly shows what this “dark age” entails is during Turnabout Academy, which is the episode’s strongest point. Professor Aristotle Means, with his “the ends justify the means” preaching, feels like an embodiment of actually tangible ramifications of the “dark age.” That attorneys shamelessly forge evidence to win their cases is bad, but that Means is successfully indoctrinating high school students into his mindset shows the sorry state of the Ace Attorney world’s legal system far better.

              Means is instantly hateable, and his ideological differences with victim Constance Courte make him particularly suspect, but the writing does a good job of forcing doubt that anyone could have done it but Juniper Woods, Hugh O’Conner, or Robin Newman. The case constantly jerks you around as the three friends pile lies upon lies in their attempts to take the fall for each other. This is never as emotionally impactful as the game desperately hopes it is, but it makes for a fun case where it’s hard to find your footing, and it’s satisfying when you prove they’re all innocent and get to take down Means, the true culprit. This is chronologically the first case where Athena leads the defense, though it feels as though the themes and character beats could have been the culmination of her character arc. Means frequently sowing doubt in her that she’ll be able to save all three friends without resorting to his underhanded tactics is a fitting challenge for her as a brand new lawyer. It makes for great character development as she remains determined to do things the right way and proves her capabilities to herself when she succeeds.

              The game now moves on to its penultimate case, though in actuality The Cosmic Turnabout and the next, Turnabout for Tomorrow, are one large case cut in two. The only notable parts of The Cosmic Turnabout specifically are that it’s the second instance of a bait-and-switch where one lawyer (Apollo this time) starts out the case only to have Phoenix come along and take over, which is frustrating even if it makes sense for story reasons, and the reveal at the last minute that Athena is the only suspect that fits your argument, which is an excellently disheartening moment. Besides those points, these two episodes are best talked about as a whole. Wrapping up the game, they attempt to do nearly all of the legwork for character development, which is far from a new occurrence in Ace Attorney, but no finale has ever had three attorneys and a prosecutor to tackle all at once. Despite this, it’s a great case that, through what could only be a divine miracle, manages to do all of this to some satisfactory degree, though it begs the question yet again of what it could have accomplished if only Dual Destinies would ever stop trying to do so much. In a way, it’s a microcosm of how the game holds itself back.

              Turnabout for Tomorrow begins with an investigation chapter featuring Phoenix and daughter Trucy. This is wonderful – Phoenix has always felt like he fit the role of a dad since as early as Justice for All, but it’s nice to have this dedicated father/daughter bonding time, something that hadn’t happened yet. They eventually come upon Apollo conducting his own investigation, having taken a leave of absence from the Wright Anything Agency to pursue the killer of his friend, Clay Terran, alone due to his personal connection to the case. This is the game attempting to provide a backstory for Apollo, but for the most part, the game is content to do little more than say that Apollo did indeed have a friend named Clay, show a brief flashback of the two as middle school students, and hope that it suffices. It doesn’t, but it serves as an excuse for Apollo to potentially be at odds with Phoenix, which provides decent drama and facilitates good development later in the episode. At this point, Trucy decides to stay with Apollo because she’s worried about him, which is an appreciated reminder that the two have a meaningful relationship, even if the rest of the game doesn’t care to explore it, but it does unfortunately cut short the time Phoenix gets to spend with her.

              After this, Phoenix returns to the office alone for one of the best moments in the game. He’s lost the trust of one of his employees and his own argument in court helped implicate the other in a crime. It’s a low point, by his own account the loneliest he’s felt since the start of his career, until he finds a letter from his friend and former assistant Maya Fey, reminding him that even without anybody physically by his side, he’s not truly alone. It’s a moment that could only happen to Phoenix now, as he reminisces about years gone by and reflects on how he’s handled his role as a mentor, which is what makes it so spectacular. It feels like proof that there are still interesting things to be done with the character. The strength of this scene is dampened a bit when it turns out that Maya’s letter doubles as an excuse for Pearl to show up. Having Phoenix investigate on his own, determined to do right by his employees, could have been powerful, but Pearl is here instead, presumably for no reason other than that fans like Pearl. Soon after, another familiar face returns, in the form of Miles Edgeworth. This is more forgivable, as it makes sense that the chief prosecutor would involve himself in a case concerning an international spy, and he’s a more fittingly challenging final opponent for Phoenix than Blackquill would have been.

              The investigation ends with Athena producing five black Psyche-Locks, a moment that feels like a genuine defeat. Despite spending the game with her, she’s still a relatively new character that the player doesn’t really know too much about, and it’s hard not to question if she may have just been responsible for her mother’s murder after all. It’s a fantastic setup for the excellent trial chapters making use of Edgeworth that follow it. Somehow, after all these years Ace Attorney has never managed (perhaps intentionally) to unseat Edgeworth as the prosecutor who is most in control and confident, and the way that he constantly turns Phoenix’s logic back around to prove his own assertions creates a lot of tension between the player’s attachment to Athena and uncertainty about the truth. It’s a direct reflection of Phoenix’s feelings, and it’s times like this where the player’s and the player character’s emotions are in sync that are Ace Attorney at its finest. The focus of these chapters is an exploration of Athena’s past and her trauma, which isn’t the most nuanced, though probably best for a game that wants to stay mostly relatively lighthearted. Besides, it’s already heart wrenchingly painful to watch her have what appears to be panic attacks throughout the game. The bulk of Athena’s character development comes from this, with Phoenix helping her to overcome her trauma. It’s good enough, but for a playable character, it feels like too much of this development comes at the hands of Phoenix powering through the case to uncover the truth. It feels more befitting of a supporting character, which Athena is not.

              Prosecutor Blackquill also receives his backstory here, revealing that he intentionally accepted a false conviction for the murder of Athena’s mother in order to protect Athena as well as the evidence that would help him take down the elusive true culprit. His concern for Athena makes him an immediately more likeable person, and his method of laying in wait for seven years to take down the criminal who wronged him draws obvious parallels to Phoenix and Kristoph Gavin in Apollo Justice, which sets the stage well as the two work together in the final chapter to put an end to the “dark age of the law” that their cases ushered in. The parallel, and even Phoenix’s culpability for helping cause the “dark age,” is never elaborated on as much as it could be, but this conclusion ties together Apollo Justice and Dual Destinies with an overarching plot that works. At this point it’s also revealed that the real Bobby Fulbright is dead, and has been impersonated by the spy and murderer of Athena’s mother known as “the phantom” all along. This twist isn’t particularly impactful as it doesn’t recontextualize much about Fulbright’s behavior aside from his willingness to help the defense.

              None of this, however, comes before Apollo gets his development too. This sequence is excellent, which makes it something of a tragedy. If Apollo’s arc had been laid out more gradually and his backstory fleshed out more, rather than it all coming at the tail end of the game, this might have been even more powerful. Still, what’s there is great: this is Apollo’s moment to decide what being a lawyer means to him, and it helps to define him more clearly as a character apart from Phoenix. This is Apollo’s answer to Phoenix’s Farewell, My Turnabout from Justice for All, which is to say it pushes his beliefs to an extreme and challenges him to reexamine what he stands for. For Phoenix, his unwavering belief in his clients is put to the test when he learns that he’s defending an unquestionably guilty man, forcing him to learn to balance that belief with the pursuit of the truth. For Apollo, his endless pursuit of the truth narrows his view to the point that he doubts even his own friend’s innocence, something he shows he desperately doesn’t want with the best line in the game: “It’s fine, Mr. Wright… even a bluff would suit me just fine…” This singular moment does more for Apollo’s character than the entirety of his own game and the rest of Dual Destinies, and it’s ever so satisfying.

              It was at this point when originally writing this essay that I realized I had made a terrible, terrible mistake. I had set out to discuss every way Dual Destinies sets itself up for failure in its lofty hopes of doing more than it was capable of, yet as I went through, case-by-case, and examined what worked and what didn’t, I discovered that there was a solid story here and that each of its protagonists is developed – if only a little. Originally, I had thought Apollo got the short end of the stick, receiving only one case that didn’t contribute to any sort of character arc and a paper-thin backstory. What I didn’t see was that the game does manage to use it to facilitate some amount of meaningful growth, even if it comes at the very end of the game. I started to think that maybe Athena was the worst off, and given that she’s supposed to be a main character on par with Phoenix or Apollo, I’m inclined to maintain that view, but as a character, divorced from expectations, her story is a touching one. And as for Phoenix, the game shows that his continued relevance has value.

              With one final, fist-pumping-ly exciting triple objection from our lawyers, Dual Destinies just about reaches its end and demonstrates what the game is really about. To some extent, it’s the continuation of Apollo Justice, challenging Apollo to develop as a lawyer. To some extent, it’s the introduction of Athena Cykes, exploring who she is and how she comes to stand confidently in court. And to some extent, it’s the return of Phoenix Wright, as he learns to serve his role as mentor and right the wrongs of his past. Maybe it should have been only one of those things – a more focused story might have made bigger strides for the characters’ development. But above all, Dual Destinies is a story of all three as a team. Unlike how Apollo Justice centered Phoenix over Apollo, no one character outshines both the others this time; each character’s growth is built off their relationships with the each other. Regardless of if this was the right direction, it was the direction nonetheless. In the end, for all its unused potential, Dual Destinies is at the very least, an Ace Attorney game through and through. The themes of discovering who one is and figuring out what one stands for are as present as they’ve ever been, even if they don’t get exactly as much time and attention as they deserve. The game is overly ambitious, certainly, but it crams enough goodness to just barely make it work – that, if nothing else, is an admirable feat.

[rhiapie]

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Game Analysis

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney was released in 2001 on the Gameboy Advance and was published by both Nintendo and Capcom.

In the game, you play as Phoenix Wright, a new lawyer, gathering evidence, solving cases, typically murders, and facing off in court against prosecutors who don’t always seem to be telling the truth.

The game is in a visual novel style that has you clicking through lines of dialogue as character sprites stare at you from inside the screen showing various emotions depending on how the dialogue is playing out.

At various points throughout the game, you have to move to different places, initiate dialogue and present evidence using a section separate from the main, visual screen.

My experience with Phoenix Wright was definitely a good one. The game is interesting and enjoyable. It can be very easy to get stuck and not know which evidence is the correct evidence to present but the game does drop some subtle hints to help you out without completely giving the answer away.

The characters give the game a lot more life, both your friends and foes contribute to this life-filled atmosphere. You love your friends and don’t want anything terrible to happen to them and, at the same time, you want nothing more than to crush your foes in every possible way. It was the story that really influenced my enjoyment of the game. Although I did enjoy working to solve the murders and catching the real culprits, the developing relationships with individual characters and the story as a whole increased my enjoyment so much more.

What I learned most when playing the game for the first time had more to do with the impact of the story when paired with the style of gameplay. The fact that you could get such impact from a few pixelated characters and words on a screen, the amount that I and so many others cared about these little sprites. I believe a part of that has to do with those times that you do get stuck and struggle to get through certain parts, to work out how to progress and when you do, it’s a kind of achievement which makes beating the whole game itself even better. It’s a sense of accomplishment and that, along with the clever writing, gives the game that much more of an impact once you finish it.

Over time, the game has developed a rather large and passionate community, all of which are extremely passionate about the game and it’s sequels. They mostly express this passion through fan art and fan fiction. They love the game and they really aren’t afraid to show it. However, due to their passion for the game, like with all extremely passionate communities, there are some members of the community who can get a little extreme with others’ interpretations of the game.

A YouTuber, Matthew Patrick, also known as MatPat, created a theory about Phoenix Wright, stating that Phoenix could be interpreted as the villain of the game and that the Prosecutors were actually the heroes due to the way he conducts his investigations.

This theory caused some of the more extreme members of the Phoenix Wright community to be quite aggressive towards MatPat. The theory received a large amount of backlash from both MatPat’s community and the Phoenix Wright community, causing the theory to be considered a “Theory bin theory”, meaning that it is a theory that was a mistake to make.

The release and success of Ace Attorney led to the creation of numerous sequels even after the end of the original trilogy. It also created a spinoff duology about the main rival, Miles Edgeworth, a Professor Layton crossover game, an anime, a live action and a musical.

It also inspired many games with similar style and/or subject like the Danganronpa series and Hotel Dusk.

With it’s simple gameplay, intriguing characters and engaging story, Ace Attorney is a game that, when you play it, you never forget it.

Sources:

Game: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney

Ace Attorney Wiki: https://aceattorney.fandom.com/wiki/Phoenix_Wright:_Ace_Attorney

The Game Theorists: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbDGBueVyH0

[ace-attorney-headcanons]

Characterization Headcanon (Long)

Hi friends! So I wanted to cover a character analysis headcanon cause I've noticed some misconceptions about lawyers, and I thought it'd be interesting for others. Anyway, so I noticed a common characterization of Phoenix Wright and Miles Edgeworth is that Phoenix is typically poor and Miles is a lot richer. But I don't think that's true. Here's the thing...

Typically, defense attorneys make WAAAY more money that prosecutors do. An average salary for a defense attorney, with less than 10-15 years of experience, is $78,500, and they make over $130,000 a year. An international prosecutor's salary, without experience, is about $47,500 (They make about $62,000 a year). Heck, even WITH 10-15 years of experience, their salary is approximately $76,000 (about 81,000 a year). That's still less than the average salary of a "rookie attorney."

So here's what I realized. The reason why Phoenix is always complaining about his wallet is because EVERYONE goes to him to ask for money. Because he's actually pretty rich, or at least financially stable. And Phoenix, being the good person he is, can't say no to people in need and the people he cares about when they ask for money. Sure, anybody would be like, "stop eating my paycheck." But I definitely feel like he has enough to get by. And he's not the type to spend much money on himself either! He didn't bother buying an expensive suit, he doesn't own a car (I have a headcanon on why he a doesn't too) which means he doesn't spend money on gas, and he inherited Mia's office. So I imagine he'd have a lot of money leftover in savings and money for emergencies. Emergencies such as disbarment.

But here's another thing! Poker is a gambling game. Winning a professional game of poker gets you a LOT of money. Professional poker players, depending on their skill, make approximately $250,000-1,000,000 a year (some of the richest poker champions actually are millionaires). That's not accounting for the fact that Phoenix is a 7 year undefeated champion, which means he COULD EASILY make at least $1,000,000 during big matches. That's WAY MORE than what Phoenix made as an attorney. Now here's the catch! Phoenix said he DOESN'T play with money; instead he plays "just a game of wits." But, he ALSO said that people still pay him to play against him, even when he doesn't bet anything. The people that come to play against him are also very likely "millionaire professional" poker players. So he still likely makes a lot of money. Which explains why he said he was "happy where he was." Remember though, Phoenix technically worked as a piano player which means he also received a basic salary along with his poker money. Further evidence of Phoenix's financial stability is Apollo Justice. It's clear that Apollo did NOT like Phoenix's morals at the time (as proven by his punch). But Apollo STILL continued to work under Phoenix. Why? Because Apollo likes his job, had nowhere else to go, AND it pays well! Working with Phoenix gave him a great opportunity to get experience as a lawyer and to make money. Apollo, in AA4, was just trying to make a living (as evidenced by his eagerness to work.) We later see development in AA5 and AA6, where he leaves to find the truth and bring justice for Clay, and decides to stay in Khura'in to help their legal system. He stops caring about money and devotes himself to the law. Anyhow, I really truly think that Phoenix actually made quite a bit of money, contrary to what most people believe.

As for Trucy, who ALSO made money as a magician (That's approximately $43,000 a year, which is almost the same amount of money that prosecutors make), odds are, Phoenix and Trucy were fine, financially. Now, we know Trucy spends money on professional magician equipment, which varies from $5,000-$25,000. And since their agency appears to be cluttered with magic stuff, the two are very likely able to afford to spend that kind of money (Phoenix is not a irresponsible guy when it comes to Trucy either. He knows how mature and responsible she is, which is why he trusts her with finances, since she does most of the spending on magic equipment.) Since they're really not selfish people though, it'd make sense that they'd leave just enough to get by for themselves (Phoenix probably still has money in savings though). Anyway, we know Phoenix decided to come back to law for Miles' sake, which is evidence of his devotion Miles and the law. Which means he decided to go back to a smaller salary (Again, evidence that he is NOT a selfish person) for the sake of Miles and his love for his job. Which makes me wonder about his new suit. Did Miles really buy it for him? I headcanon that instead, Miles helped SHOP for it since Phoenix doesn't really care about his image (I mean for god's sake have you seen the stuff he wears?! Lmao). Miles Edgeworth, on the other hand, clearly has incredibly classy tastes, especially since he can pull of a cravat in 2028. Which is why I feel like Phoenix gets his new sense of style from Miles.

I also wanna add that on a societal standpoint, it makes sense. In this series, defense attorneys tend to get a bad rep, while prosecutors are praised more. Which is understandable, since the government is trusted a lot more in this series and prosecutors work for the government/state. But defense attorneys are likely less trusted since they're "rich" and "greedy" and can afford to forge evidence (which is why a defense scandal is more likely). This also explains while Miles' didn't receive huge repercussions for his forgery scandal. It was proven (or confessed/admitted) that he was forced to forge evidence by the CP and his mentor, and he likely didn't pay for any sort of forgery. Instead, he was probably just provided forged evidence to present. It was also less likely for a prosecutor to forge evidence anyway (which is why nobody suspected MVK). Phoenix other hand, was charged for forgery AND for presenting forged evidence. Since it was very likely for a defense attorney to pay for a forgery and there was no proof of innocence, he was disbarred.

Now I wanna cover another thing about Miles Edgeworth. He's very obviously not poor. As a kid, his father was a defense attorney, which explains why he dressed so nicely: his family was also financially stable. THEN, he is adopted by a man who CLEARLY inherited a fortune. Von Karma was very obviously born into wealth, and Miles inherited both Gregory's belongings AND a portion of Von Karma's wealth when they passed away/were arrested. Now it's obvious that Miles doesn't care much about money either though. With all his wealth, he doesn't really need to work and he can easily get a better job that pays more. But he doesn't, because he is devoted to the law, just like Phoenix. Miles became a prosecutor to "punish criminals (and himself"). He wanted to see justice be served and he would never give up his job. He really truly cares about finding the truth and convicting the right person. Which is a great test of character. Instead, he uses his money for a good public image and for his aesthetic (smart thinking!).

Also note that other prosecutors like Simon, Winston, Sebastian, and Gaspen tend to not dress very fancy. As for Franziska, VK, Chief Gaspen, Klavier, and Nahyuta, their "pompous" clothing and wealth are easily explained. The VKs inherited their fortune and Khura'ins legal system is different. Khura'in prosecutors probably get paid a lot more than prosecutors in the states. Actually, they're practically royalty. As for Klavier, he's a platinum record rockstar. Of course he dresses really "glimmerous." When considering their situations, it makes a lot of sense.

Anyway, my point is that defense attorneys make tend to make more money than prosecutors. And when it boils down to it, Miles and Phoenix are likely equally financially stable. Phoenix just spends a lot of money on others, whiles Miles spends very little money on himself for his public image.

#ace attorney #phoenix wright #miles edgeworth #apollo justice #trucy wright #wrightworth #character analysis #headcanon #i thought this was worth mentioning #sorry its so long lol

[herotheshiro]

ok i didn’t do a review of the phoenix wright trilogy but i’ll do a mini-write-up on apollo justice which i just finished earlier. this is mainly due to me looking up apollo justice/ace attorney afterwards and seeing ppl talk vaguely abt how and where the series and characters go after this... i wanted to add my 2 cents to the void of the internet i guess lol

spoilers for aa4 below

i think as a story, apollo justice is quite good but definitely a bit lacking in writing compared to the 1st trilogy. i feel like this is pretty much the common fan opinion, esp since the 1st trilogy was written all together as a 3-game-set and apollo justice has to conclude everything within 1 game. i think this game did real good at revealing info over time... i remember when they revealed the troupe gramarye poster and i was like WAIT... THAT’S SHADI SMITH... HOLD UP... personally though, i think the ending was not very strong for me -- i feel like we nailed kristoph almost a bit too easily at the end without much i guess concrete evidence linking him to everything even if basically everything was really pointing to him. [EDIT: lol ok reading summaries on aa4 and yeah apparently this is the point and why it being a jurist sys trial was so important… and the realization that he really could get nailed for the crime that he’s been paranoid abt for years made him break down at the end. Ok that makes sense I guess, I was just used to things playing out like the 1st trilogy where you would last min get decisive evidence lol] other than that, there was quite a number of loose ends that didn’t get tied up

so what happened to valant? i think the implication was that he was gonna turn himself in out of guilt even if he didn’t actually kill magnifi (sp?). and also w trucy having the rights i guess it would be complicated for the 2 of them to work that out. that whole aftermath wasn’t entirely clear to me esp since they didn’t give him a post-credits scene

so we’re not gonna get an explanation for why thalassa left her not-even-1-yo son to fend for himself? that was like my no. 1 thing i would’ve liked to get a reason for but the ending is just her being like oh yeah i remember now he’s my son and that’s it. no explanation for why she left him behind and returned to troupe gramarye w/o him. like at least a “oh it would’ve been complicated to bring a literal baby to raise back into that traveling group” would’ve sufficed, esp since we’re supposed to get the impression that lamiror is a kind woman. yet she left her damn kid behind with only a bracelet. were we just supposed to assume the explanation i gave above? i mean yes i’ve looked it up vaguely and i think we get more info on apollo’s growing up in later games but i’ve heard w very little mention of thalassa. which i mean i get, thalassa left him when he was around 1yo so he prob wouldn’t remember shit but man we never gonna get that explanation huh. it’s kinda messed up to leave this baby behind who i assume you care about; it’s another story if she didn’t want the kid and therefore didn’t care what happened to him but she left a bracelet w him which implies she does care

also the loose end of them not telling apollo and trucy they’re siblings. i’ll save this for a later paragraph though

also side note but when i was finishing the game up and before i saw the ending, i literally had a passing, very brief thought like “oh what if lamiror was actually trucy and apollo’s mom lol. what a crack thought” but then it actually happened... i mean it’s good to wrap up that mystery of lamiror’s past, plus they were insinuating so hard that maybe thalassa wasn’t actually dead lol so yeah you knew the mom was gonna pop up fr by the end

apollo himself as a character. now i’m not gonna nit-pick as much here bc he does show up again in later games w more backstory and character development as i’ve heard, but yeah he is very much a mystery character in aa4 i feel. he has basically no given history throughout the game, and the lack of detail made sense at first when you slowly started connecting the dots that he and the gramarye power were related, but then they never really shed any more light on him at the end. they really only reveal he and trucy are related just to explain why and how he has the power to perceive, not even to really indicate anything abt them as characters. i kinda forgot about this as i played the game, but i read a write-up by someone else being like “oh yeah phoenix you know his motivations as a defense attorney but apollo has basically none” and i was like yeah that’s right huh. bc the 1st trilogy reveals p early on that phoenix had a certain motivation to be a defense attorney but apollo you don’t get that, he’s just an attorney just to be an attorney i guess. which i mean is fine, you don’t always need a reason to do stuff sometimes, but it does make him a weaker character. i think maybe in the beginning they were like oh apollo respects kristoph as a lawyer but then they don’t really develop mpre  backstory there like how they met or why kristoph decided to take him on. i thought the latter was gonna be a point that was gonna come up, like maybe kristoph took apollo on as part of his large masterplan or something bc i think kristoph does mention being aware of apollo’s “power” but yeah they didn’t delve further into that. anyway i’ll go less on this bc i’ll just assume they had plans for him to show up in later games therefore they didn’t fully flesh him out here. otherwise that means they just didn’t bother on him other than him having the perceive power and having a personal relation to the whole gramarye case

how did drew misham or vera idk who painted it know abt all of apollo’s 3 cases? i thought it was gonna be like oh phoenix or kristoph saw all this coming and somehow told misham abt it who drew it but uh that didn’t happen. was that bc drew misham was following phoenix in the news and saw the stuff happening w apollo and was inspired to draw his cases? that was a dramatic reveal when apollo/trucy/ema found it out but i mean i guess it was just to show that misham was connected to them/the overall story more than just a simple jurist sys test case

the last writing thing i’ll mention is abt trucy and apollo being siblings. after the whole phoenix x maya crap in the 1st trilogy i suspected they were gonna do the same with apollo and trucy... thankfully they didn’t which was good bc i liked them a lot as a platonic duo, also since i actually thought apollo was 25yo for a while so that age gap is pretty weird too if you do it romantically. i suspected they were actually related p early on after discussing my playthrough w my sis who upon googling info said ‘lol i did say why not ship them but i will not say that anymore’ so i was like lol it’s prob bc she found out they were related or something. regardless i mean i would have suspected that anyway bc the game pushes the ‘oh this perceive power is really only seen in trucy’s family line’ so hard so it’s like not that hard to draw the line bw them, esp when they’re super vague abt apollo’s history and how he even got that bracelet in the 1st place. anyway i think it’s cute to imagine two siblings running all over town to solve shit. as expected tho, there are still ppl out there who ship them even after knowing the truth which is meh but i mean what do you expect of fandom/the internet.

although one of my biggest disappointments is the fact that apparently even in later games, the two never find out they’re siblings. i mean i guess it’s not a major plot point that NEEDS to be addressed as covered in point #3 above, but come on? their mom is literally still alive? a mom and her children reuniting and developing their family relationship again? i mean she’s been so distanced from them for so long that a family reunion would be awkward sure but zak literally made phoenix promise to tell trucy apollo was her bro so i’m surprised he never told her even before his conversation with thalassa at the end of the game. like i thought for sure they were gonna reveal their sibling relationship in aa4 but sadly my imagined revelation scene never happened

(i literally thought up a funny scene too... them seeing thalassa and both being like “MOM??” at the same time and then looking at each other in confusion before thalassa confirms that yes she is both of their moms. although this makes less sense on apollo’s part since he prob wouldn’t remember what she looks like but i mean same bracelets)

otherwise, gameplay was pretty interesting this time around. music was bopping tbh, i played aa4 right after finishing trials and tribulations and wow the music quality improvement was so obvious. the perceive thing was pretty cool and their tutorial on how to use it was super cute lol (apollo: that’s cool but i’m freaking out a little here // trucy: yeah your eyes are kinda bugging out); although absolutely hilarious on how apollo "explained” it in court... imagine a lawyer looking real hard at you and then being like ‘actually you swallowed weird when you said this therefore you’re lying’... i cannot even imagine how that sounded the 1st time to the judge and klavier... anyway i also thought the MASON technologies chapter was really interesting, w phoenix going back and forth through time and using evidence from the future for the past and vice versa. fun time traveling stuff!

ok and that’s kind of all i wanted to say i guess. i’m prob gonna try to stay in the dark on fan content stuff like i was purposely doing before playing aa... i was looking some stuff up and i was like ‘huh... i didn’t get this impression of apollo or the apollo/klavier ship when i was playing aa4...’ i don’t want to get my own opinion of these characters warped by fan content/others’ opinions so i might just take a bit of time to solidify how i feel about/characterize each of the characters before i trek out into fandom land. also it’s prob bc i haven’t played apollo’s later games since he supposedly gets more character dev later. tbh idk if i will bc to be frank i’ve been using emulators to play aa so far and i don’t think there’s a rom out for the later aa games on 3ds. i mean if there really isn’t, i’ll prob just watch a playthrough on YT so i can continue the aa story since i did like apollo as a character despite his lack of backstory.

i was considering skipping edgeworth’s games to go right to dual destinies and continue on apollo’s story/the aftermath of that game, but tbh i’m less incentivized to since i’ve heard that the story/character continuity aspect kind of goes out the window in later games (also the point abt apollo and trucy still being in the dark abt them being siblings. even though yes it wouldn’t change how they interact w each other, i would also prefer the fact to be known officially in-universe so characters don’t be freaks as apparently there are some lines in later games that are a little weird). i mean i could end up having a different opinion abt the continuity, but yeah seeing those comments did put a damper on me diving straight towards dual destinies. so i might just play edgeworth’s games first as i originally planned anyway since they were developed right after even if they take place before aa4

#hopefully i don't have to censor the series #i don't say anything controversial in this but idk. sometimes ppl just want to have beef #i'll just say i've only played aa1-4 so just keep that in mind if i say something that doesn't sound right abt apollo #gaming

[trusted-truthseekers]

Phoenix Wright and Miles Edgeworth - MBTI Types

Preface

The following is an MBTI analysis on Phoenix Wright and Miles Edgeworth, all personally typed using the cognitive functions. I don’t claim perfect accuracy, but I researched very extensively and analysed through various type perspectives, so these conclusions are made to the best of my ability. Fictional characters are generally harder to type than real people, because many different interpretations arise from their action. While the themes and narratives of this game are based on characterisation, Ace Attorney was not created around the characters per se. Writers like Takumi stated that they even tried to make Wright a “flat” malleable-protag character, so there is an ambiguous depth of motives in a majority of these characters. Therefore, you could probably make solid cases for these two being another type, and this alternate perspective is valuable because I may have missed certain details that another type could cover. My typing is done through determining each character’s “development path,” determining which major changes in their story are aligned with which function. This has lead me to conclude that Wright and Edgeworth’s character arcs are about “two idealists with differing approaches towards those very same ideals.” As another point, given that I’ve only played the Trilogy and writers will interpret characters differently for each game, this analysis will be typing these characters using evidence and arcs from the three games only. I may use some extra information from the Investigations/Gyakuten Kenji duo as well. With that said, massive post below the cut.

Contents

Phoenix Wright

MBTI Type Analysis

In-depth Function Notes

Miles Edgeworth

MBTI Type Analysis

In-depth Function Notes

Wright

INFP

Not the typing most would expect from him, but the evidence seems to lead towards this way. I had taken into account narrative elements alongside his character development to come to this conclusion.

Character Path

Wright from the get-go is a highly idealistic, principled individual, bordering on romanticism with a snarky twist. A lot of his motivations primarily come from deep feelings of what he wants for himself and others. For instance, the class trial left an impression due to it teaching him about what it means to be truly alone, so whenever he sees someone in a similar position (the defendants), Wright takes it upon himself to alleviate their suffering. The personal impact of this memory on him is further substantiated by the fact that both Larry and Edgeworth do not remember it well. He becomes a lawyer to save Edgeworth, whom he sees as being in great pain in spite of his cold, “Demon Prosecutor” persona. Wright is surprisingly protective of these deep emotions and motivations, as he does not reveal much about what he feels to others. Neither Larry nor Maya, his two closest friends at the time, know about his reasons for becoming an attorney until they confront him about it. These traits point to his introverted tendencies, namely an Fi dominant.

In order to give his emotions an outlet of expression, he relies on his extroverted functions to carry through. These are generally easier to spot in others, which can explain why he appears to be an extroverted person at first glance.

Much of his critical periods of character growth are related to learning how to utilise these extroverted functions better, due to overindulgence in his introverted ones. After getting Edgeworth acquitted on two murder cases, one of which is the DL-6 incident that scarred Edgeworth for much of his career. Wright expects him to know what to do next, because he “saved” him from his pain and suffering, but contrary to his expectations, Edgeworth leaves the country instead. This leads to some self-centred Fi indulgence, because Wright is not considering the external factors that would cause Edgeworth to act this way. Instead, he shuts Edgeworth out of his mind and continues to follow his ideal of “saving others,” getting aggressive whenever others, including his closest friends, try to pry into why he is avoiding the topic of Edgeworth. Wright decides that Edgeworth betrayed him and refuses to let go of his anger in spite of nearly a year passing, which is using Si to indulge in past feelings instead of utilising Ne to view a different perspective beyond his own Fi reaction. It is identifying these Fi-created moral beliefs that gives Wright strength to defend and save people in court, but when Edgeworth becomes the exception to being “saved,” instead of reconsidering the situation (Ne), he further indulges in his Fi emotions, making him prone to looping into Si. This eventually puts Wright in a position where he faces a confounding situation where saving one person will result in the unjustified death of another, leaving him feeling powerless and unable to help those closest to him (inferior Te fears). Thankfully, Edgeworth returns to a much dismayed Wright, and teaches him about the new insights he learned throughout the past year. Wright resists at first, exclaiming that Edgeworth “should never have returned from the dead” and continues on his way. However, after noticing how much Edgeworth is helping him, Wright reconsiders his perspective and comes to find how much he trusts Edgeworth to find the truth. This effectively enables Wright to understand about what is important to him as a lawyer, and how he can more effectively achieve his goals of saving others (clarify Fi and inferior Te development). Afterwards, T&T does not do as much to cognitively expand on Wright’s character, but it does absolve him of his past demons that he has struggled to find closure over.

Function Notes

NOTE: These function notes simply provides evidence and a more detailed description of the cognitive functions used by each character. They are not necessary for reading, since the basic information explained above will be redundant. [Move on to view Edgeworth’s MBTI Type.]

Though it may not appear to be, Wright is very much an introvert. INFPs are highly idealistic types who stick with their feelings and moral values to make decisions. As such, his use of introverted feeling (Fi) as a dominant function is a giveaway. He states that he became an attorney for two reasons: to stick up for people who have no one on their side and to save Edgeworth.

“ Edgeworth believed in me, and I believe in him. He’s in pain… And no one’s on his side. I’m the only one who knows the real Edgeworth. I’m the only one who can help him”. -1-4

His motivations comes primarily from within and are self-defined. He decides that he is the only one who believes in Edgeworth, and that is why he should save him. As for his overall attitude towards clients, he states, “I’ve been there before.” By using his own experience with feeling alone, he takes his client’s situation as his own suffering. Therefore, the reason Wright wants to defend people stems from Fi empathy, taking the feeling in as his own first, and then making a decision. Also take note how he processes the memory of the class trial. Fi is sensitive to experiences and emotions they feel, and will try to give a personal value to them so they are better able to clarify their morals and self-understanding. 

It is also seen how he likes to reflect on cases deeply moving to him, and oftentimes it results in him coming to some sort of personal judgement about humanity or himself. 

Another example on how Wright makes decisions based on how he feels is during the Engarde case in 2-4. As a lawyer, he is supposed to present his case using hard evidence and logical conclusions, so Fi has little room to be used in court, and he relies on his extroverted functions to pull him through, making him seem like one. Yet, when everything is at a loss, and he has to choose between Adrian and Maya’s lives, there is no need for evidence to make that decision.

In this situation, there aren’t external limitations upon his decision-making process, so Wright must decide based on how he would truly act. In this case, Wright shows a preference for deciding based on what’s in his heart than what is in his mind. His use of Fi as his dominant function is a very clearly shown based on the way he makes decisions.

There are two significant moments shown in the game in which Wright overindulges his Fi and fails to make any progress as a result. The most raw example is when he is the defendant to Mia’s second case and learns that his beloved Dahlia is the true culprit. Regardless of the facts, Wright is quick to protect her from this accusation. He does not care when others are put up with his irrationality; it’s only his own personal belief in her that drives him to action. This results in unhealthy exhibition of his inferior Te, in which he continues to stubbornly insist that “his Dollie” would never act in that way. He lies to make the court to act in line with his beliefs, obviously to no avail. When decisive evidence is presented to incriminate her, Wright goes as far as to hit Mia, his own attorney, and eating it to keep Dahlia from being convicted, regressing into aggression, an unhealthy use of Te assertiveness to propel an illogical “fact” (forcing Fi feelings of right/wrong as the facts). Fortunately, Mia is able to find another way to convict Dahlia, and this leaves Wright feeling heartbroken upon learning the true cruel side of “Dollie.” In spite of this, Wright does not give up on his moral value of believing in the best of others. He decides that the Dahlia on the stand is not the same as the Dollie he knows, and is able to escape an Te grip by further focusing his efforts completely to studying harder so he can save Edgeworth, whom he clearly states he believes in, thus getting back in touch with his Fi values. Unfortunately, he does not come away from the experience unscathed. It’s noted that Wright develops a more cynical, pessimistic attitude afterwards and will use sardonic remarks to express this.

What hurts Wright even more, however, is his internal struggle throughout JFA after Edgeworth “chooses death.” After spending much of his college life studying law in order to “save Edgeworth” and freeing him from his fear that he killed his own father, the confused, lost prosecutor disappears instead. This makes Wright feel “betrayed,” when in actuality what happened is Edgeworth not meeting his ideal image of him. As an Fi dominant, Wright wants to believe in the best of others, and so he expects Edgeworth to understand what he must do to move on from his “Demon Prosecutor” past. Part of this is because he hates betrayal thanks to Dahlia Hawthorne, but it is also true that Wright deeply feels that his role as an attorney is to save people who are suffering, which he outright states in 2-4. Because he couldn’t “save” Edgeworth, the dominant Fi feels violated and this brings out his darker inferior Te side. Once again, Wright lashes out against his closest friends whenever they bring up Edgeworth, and he coldly declares “all prosecutors are heartless,” which is an Fi-Te misalignment accepting (unhealthy) feelings as a fact. The inferior function in all types is bought out in times of great stress and turmoil, and during Wright’s lowest points, it is inferior Te that turns him uncharacteristically aggressive and out-of-touch with his sensitive nature.

In order to prevent himself from being too self-indulgent, what Wright needs is to step out and reimagine other possibilities and ideas, which is the role of auxiliary Ne. He utilises this in court well when a situation looks bleak until he reassesses the perspective the court has been using and “turns it around.” However, it is notable that outside of court, where it isn’t a pressing requirement to use extroverted functions, Wright can be somewhat reserved in judgement and action. Oftentimes, when he must take a client who isn’t personally related to him, he is reluctant to do so until Maya pushes him to interview them.

His most defining moment of aux. Ne development is when Edgeworth returns in JFA. He finds Wright being unable to find closure over his feelings of hurt and betrayal, alongside struggling in a moral dilemma of saving Maya or preventing an innocent from being charged. Edgeworth inspires Wright once again, offering help in the search and teaching him about the ultimate “truth” he learned while away. So, for the first time in his life, Wright forgives a person who committed a major wrong against him. He takes Edgeworth’s words to heart and uses this new idea to become more sure about his morals and principles as a lawyer.

His lowest points in his career have been addressed and explained through unhealthy use of Si, but tertiary Si is also of great help in keeping Wright in balance. He can be somewhat scattered, but while investigating for his cases, Wright has a decent eye for details and fact recall, sometimes comparing items or words of others to things he has heard before. This function in INFPs is used to keep them grounded on reality as well. Because this type can sometimes be prone to “daydreaming” or spacing out thanks to Ne. Tertiary Si allows for this type to figure out which ideas are appropriate now and which ones may not be in line with their wants. One can observe this type of behaviour in Wright when taking note of the comments he makes regarding his office. He often talks about wanting to clean up to keep things neat, occasionally scolds himself internally for getting distracted, and oftentimes acts quite self-aware and proper while dealing with clients. However, tertiary Si has an obsessive undercurrent because it does not have the same level of stability as it would in a dominant or auxiliary position. Wright is known to be fussy when it comes to cleaning the toilet, continuously scrubbing it until it “sparkles” even when Maya repeatedly tells him it’s fine, and in case 2-1, is said to meticulously rub at a cell phone because of a few dirt specks on the keys. On the other hand, he can be quite careless and overlook certain details.

Edgeworth

INTJ

He’s an archetypal INTJ. From his main struggle to small character quirks, each is reflective of an INTJ overcoming his internal conflict to ultimately become an inspiring figure, dedicated to his self-defined truth.

Character Path

He’s rational, sure and proud of his path in life. He makes sure to colour his actions with meaning and settles for nothing short of his ideals. He’s in pain, despising all criminals to make up for his own crime. He never fails to get a guilty verdict but at the cost of his moral integrity. Edgeworth is quite the complex character, the supposed “true protagonist” of Ace Attorney. Due to his traumatic experience as a child, it’s important to consider the fact that Edgeworth may have PTSD, which can make it harder to distinguish between cognitive behaviour or those affected by his psychological trauma. However, at his very core, Edgeworth is a person who aspires to achieve large ambitions in order to give his life a sense of driven purpose. In fact, it is so much so that Edgeworth has a tendency to build and define his entire identity around these ideals of who he wants to be. For an Ni-dom, this is how they best function if they can see the positive impact these ideals have on the world, but it can also lead to their most self-destructive behaviour as well.

Early on, Edgeworth expressly desires a “perfect record,” ruthless in his tactics, but after 1-4, it is revealed that his techniques are a product of not only his upbringing with von Karma, but also an attempt to shut off his emotions after his trauma. Although blocking off emotional pain is a common defense-mechanism after facing traumatic experiences, with tertiary Fi, these attempts are amplified since auxiliary Te is more likely to perceive emotions as a weakness. Edgeworth sees his emotions as “unnecessary,” yet his actions are ironically driven by feelings of insecurity and doubt. These point to Ni-Fi loop-prone tendencies, in which he attempts to justify his current path with poor moral reasoning (nobody is truly innocent, so I must get everybody “guilty”) instead of utilising his Te to correct faulty thinking. At the same time, Edgeworth also uses auxiliary Te to compensate for a lack of a meaningful Ni purpose. Under von Karma’s teachings, Edgeworth does decide to become the perfect prosecutor who puts every criminal to justice (at the expense of innocent lives), building a perfect record and seeing himself as a person who fights crime, but he is simply getting recorded results that mean nothing in the end. When he loses to Wright in 1-3, the reality of this fact starts to weigh down on him, bringing out inferior Se conflict. Everything Edgeworth has done revolves around this vision of himself being a “perfect prosecutor,” but when it becomes evident that this image is meaningless, he has no idea how to proceed in his life. Feeling “unease and uncertainty,” Edgeworth attempts to gain some semblance of control through Se, angrily telling Wright to stay away from him, deluding himself into sticking with his path, so he doesn’t have to face his problems. During 1-4, after being arrested for murder, Edgeworth eventually acknowledges and communicates his feelings of pain to Wright but has no idea how to proceed after getting an acquittal. He starts to get in touch with his tertiary Fi, recognising his actions are not in-line with his morals, but he uses it defensively as well, insisting that everyone is turning against him when he’s just trying to help instead of taking action to correct them (in 1-5).

This leads to Se grip-like behaviours, in which he becomes uncharacteristically reactionary and explosive, only for these impulses to result in failure later on. For instance, Edgeworth had a “temper tantrum” when Meekins attempted to deliver some files and decided those files were irrelevant to the case without any basis (but they turned out to be a key point and resulted in Edgeworth getting reprimanded by Chief Gant). His lower functions acting up is the result of Edgeworth lacking proper dominant Ni functioning. All of his identity was built around false standards of success, ignoring the fact that they are neither realistic nor purposeful.

Eventually, Edgeworth realises something is missing from this delusional conception, causing his carefully-built identity to fall apart. He then tells Wright that something in him has died. Unable to find a clear path for him to pursue due to feeling like he lost everything, inferior Se demands action in order to regain control over his life. Therefore, Edgeworth decides to “choose death” in order to rediscover the true meaning of his life and career. During this time of isolation, he comes to realise “in a moment of clarity” that it is the trust Wright has in his clients that allows for him to determine the truth. Edgeworth concludes that, in order to uncover the truth, there needs to be a trust in a partner or team, and draws the connection to his and Wright’s working relationship. Thus, Edgeworth’s “Great Revival” begins. He rebuilds his sense of identity and makes it his sole mission in life to uncover the truth, no matter how difficult it may be, thus getting in touch with dom Ni.

In JFA, his return home results in meeting with a broken, distraught Wright. Edgeworth realises what Wright needs is to understand the nature of trust, and where he must place that trust in order to draw out the best outcome for this high-stakes case. Throughout this case, Edgeworth’s dominant Ni shines through in the way he is perceptive about how events will take place and what Wright needs to understand in order to become a better lawyer. His newfound idealism motivates him to uncover the truth so that he may build a better world and achieve tangible progress (refining Te-Fi values in order to effectively and realistically actualise Ni visions, satisfying inferior Se needs). Although Edgeworth is sufficiently developed by the end of JFA, T&T shows further evidence of dominant Ni usage. He is quick to identify Iris, Wright, and Maya’s deeply-rooted personal struggles even without clear evidence and immediately knows the best way to resolve those issues.

Function Notes

NOTE: These function notes simply provides evidence and a more detailed description of the cognitive functions used by each character. They are not necessary for reading, since the basic information explained above will be redundant. [Go back to view Wright’s MBTI Type.]

Ni dominants want to lead their lives independently, yet also be guided by a self-conceived overarching “truth” about the world. This truth is found by their passive observation of underlying meaning and patterns in the environment around them. However, because this process is usually unconscious, it can be hard to easily spot Ni at work. In fiction, Ni would translate into a character who is perhaps driven and ambitious towards a fuzzy “vision” of what they seek to achieve, with a penchant for thinking in abstract concepts to predict future outcomes. They look for the big picture of situations and are therefore perceptive in figuring out people and systems alike. With Edgeworth, his “Ni visions” can be observed by how he tends to build up his identity around a single concept. In the first game, he mistakenly identifies himself with the “perfect prosecutor” image, trying to get every defendant convicted no matter the method. When Wright destroys his record, Edgeworth is completely lost. Infamously, he declares that thanks to Wright, he is “saddled with unnecessary feelings… unease and uncertainty” that get in his way. If there is anything that makes or breaks an Ni dominant, it is their level of certainty in their ideas of future developments, supported or thwarted by facing the reality of the situation. Edgeworth has essentially built up his entire sense of self around the concept of a “perfect win record,” and uses poor moral reasoning to justify it (nobody is truly innocent, I hate criminals after DL-6, this is my own punishment), resisting correcting a faulty belief by using tertiary Fi to stick with his unrealistic worldview, only to become less confident in himself.

When Edgeworth returns in JFA, it is his turn to guide Wright away from his faulty thinking. He does so rather cryptically, speaking with words that convey a refreshing idealism yet not giving away exactly what he is thinking.

“The answer to that… is something you will find out on your own. I have faith you will see it before the verdict is read tomorrow. But if you can’t, then you will be powerless to change the ending of this story.” -2-4

He is talking about the truth he found, of course, and it is one that he sticks with valiantly. One could even see how he has a bit of a “blind faith” towards pursuing that perfect truth.

“But we will always eventually reach that single truth. This I promise you.” -2-4

So, ultimately, Edgeworth comes back from a journey of self-discovery and reveals that he has found a refined, more honourable outlook for himself. It is one that he proudly, confidently rebuilds his self-concept around, seeing himself as a person who will carry with him the dedication to reveal the ultimate truth. No matter his role- be it a prosecutor, a stand-in defence attorney, or an investigator- this ultimate vision of what he is truly aiming for is unchanging.

Another thing this type does is look at things for underlying meaning, extracting symbols from the ordinary. Edgeworth has a tendency to talk in more abstract metaphors and is quite proud of his profound insights, which points to an Ni style of thinking.

There have also been times when the player has had access to some of Edgeworth’s hobbies out of work, namely his chessboard and the Steel Samurai. It’s interesting to take note of what makes him so interested in such things. For the chessboard, he has one custom-made to represent his courtroom battles with Wright, and when talking to witnesses, he tends to visualise his conversations as a chess match, symbolically representing his strategic style in and out of court. As for the Steel Samurai, Edgeworth gleans meaningful messages out of the pop-culture program, and it’s implied that the show feeds his interests in the concept of justice vs. injustice.

Furthermore, in case 3-5, when Edgeworth defends Iris in Wright’s stead, Franziska points out that he “looks like Phoenix Wright when he is cornered.” He then thinks:

Because right now, I am Phoenix Wright, and I am indeed cornered…!

Note that Edgeworth does not say “I am like Phoenix Wright” or that he must be like Phoenix Wright, he is saying he is Phoenix Wright. The name “Phoenix Wright” has, in Edgeworth’s eyes, transcended the man himself and becomes a symbol of everything a defence attorney must stand for. Ni users have this tendency to abstractly view physical things, adding a layer of symbolism to it so that their perceptions are less about the object itself and more about its underlying meaning.

Also, in spite of his social awkwardness, he is quite perceptive at reading other’s underlying motives. He reads Wright very well, but is also able to pinpoint the motives of people he just met, such as Iris. In 3-5, although he does not know Maya well due to his absence, Edgeworth is the first person to realise the real reason why she is so cheerful after all the tragedy that happened to her. Not even Wright could figure it out until Edgeworth gave him a hint in the right direction.

So, with an eye for observing underlying meanings and a focus on personal visions, Edgeworth is dominantly an Ni user.

Yet, Edgeworth has his lowest points, in which he isn’t able to find a meaningful vision to pursue. When this happens in the first game, the inferior function Se can be seen making way to the surface. When Wright defeats Edgeworth in court, his self-concept of being the “perfect prosecutor” is taken away from him. After this point, Edgeworth’s actions gradually become more “extreme,” getting angry and even explosive, especially towards Wright (shouting at him to leave in 1-4, deciding he can’t become a prosecutor due to not knowing what it means for him anymore in 1-5), which points to inferior Se rising in place of broken Ni. What Ni dominants need to feel confident in themselves is assurance that their actions and ideals are meaningful to them, so they tend to have very lofty goals that gives them self-fulfilment. If that goal is unrealistic, it gets to a point where being unable to get closer to realising that goal results in feeling a lack of purpose in what they want. In Edgeworth’s case, that road to the perfect prosecutor is blocked off, so he feels as if he lost everything. This eventually leads to him realising just how devoid of inner-purpose he is, so he “chooses death.”

“That’s why I left the prosecutor’s office. I felt that I couldn’t stand in a court of law until I knew what a prosecutor really was. And now, Wright… it’s your turn.” -2-4

Nothing scares an Ni-dominant more than not knowing the best decisions to strive for, so at their worst, they will revert to taking extreme action in order to find it. Sometimes, this can also result in misinterpreting the reality of a situation, looking for a future outcome or underlying meaning when there is none. Edgeworth fixates on one such outcome after the trial in 1-5, and in an attempt to prevent his supposed premonition from happening, he resorts to doing something to prevent it due to inferior Se, unintentionally giving Wright grief in the process.

In his lowest points in life, Edgeworth fails to find a meaningful direction for himself. This in turn leads to the extreme, highly reactive behaviour perpetuated by inferior Se. This is only resolved once he finds prevailing truth for himself, one which he continuously strives for no matter his role.

However idealistically Edgeworth may believe in his truth, he is not exactly the classic romantic in his pursuit of it. Thanks to his upbringing in the von Karma household, Edgeworth has had many an opportune to finely hone his use of auxiliary Te. It helps bring him utilise the objective facts of a situation, to work within a structured system, and efficiently set goals. Sometimes, however, overuse of auxiliary Te can result in Edgeworth having an absolutist or adopting a “the ends justifies the means” mindset.

In this case, tertiary Fi steps in to help the strict Te see the moral complexities and shades of grey. Edgeworth can be surprisingly empathetic at times, by offering to cover other’s expenses or providing valuable advice. As a matter of fact, a majority of Edgeworth’s character development during the first game focuses primarily on tertiary Fi. Because he is haunted by the traumas of the DL-6 incident, and also the fact that he was raised under the strict, “perfect prosecutor” teachings of Manfred von Karma, Edgeworth turns to reaping Te accomplishments to make up for his inability to find a more personal life purpose. This makes him appear cold, ruthless, and rubs Wright (a feeling type by contrast) the wrong way, but in actuality these attempts to build a “perfect record” are caused by emotional turmoil and a hatred of criminals (lower Fi). When Edgeworth decides to aid the defence by keeping Vasquez on the stand in 1-3, it is at this point that Edgeworth realises he trusts in Wright’s judgement, so he can't let an innocent person get declared guilty when the true culprit is right there. This way, Edgeworth is getting in touch with his sense of morality which overuse of Te tries to override. In 1-4 and 1-5, Edgeworth gradually exposes his more emotionally warm side and rediscovers his moral beliefs that he’s attempted to bury.

An Ni-Fi loop dynamic oftentimes consists of a “self-centred paranoia.” They observe things from a “this impacts me me me” perspective, while lower Fi makes them feel insecure, so they often assume others are out to get them for no apparent reason.

So you’ve come to laugh at the fallen attorney? Go on, laugh! Laugh! Why aren’t you laughing?! -1-4 ~ It seems everything in this case is designed to cast doubt on me. -1-5

As a result of this self-centred focus, Ni-Fi in a loop also tends to blame themselves for a negative situation out of their control, shifting the impact of said situation solely to their own. This may then lead inferior Se to act up. They feel completely convinced that their view is the only correct outcome, and this can result in extreme or reckless action to fix it.

Concluding Notes

So, I have gone over the main character developmental arcs and explained each major portion using MBTI theory. With Wright, he ultimately wants to follow his core values and emotions, being dominant Fi. What he needs to learn to do is have a good handle on the details of each case to defend his client (tert. Si), but also learn to adopt and utilise new perspectives (aux. Ne) in order to best accomplish his goals (inf. Te). Edgeworth, the tragic character, loses his father in the DL-6 incident, and as a result is taken into a household that teaches him faulty concepts of success, in which his dominant Ni deludes him into feeding his aux. Te desires. However, this is not who he truly is, and by becoming aware of his moral fallacies (tert. Fi), he rediscovers a more meaningful life purpose and identity for himself in order to truly make real progress in the world (inf. Se).

#Miles Edgeworth #Phoenix Wright #Ace Attorney #Ace Attorney MBTI #MBTI analysis #meta

[otagamerkorin]

Turnabout to Hijink

My incredibly belated (so, so extremely belated) @aasecretsanta2017 gift for @defcnestrate! (Why it won’t let me @ you, I do not know.) I’m so sorry this took so long to get to you. (It actually was gonna to be up Monday, but my laptop decided to fuck up the formatting.) Thank you for being so patient with me. In return for the wait though, here’s a utter monstrosity of a fic! You asked for Ugly Christmas sweaters, Christmas fluff, Christmas dinner gone wrong, and this thing includes all of them. I hope you like it!

You can also read it over on AO3 here!: http://archiveofourown.org/works/13475997

(This actually takes place within an Deaths Averted AU I’ve been working on and is canonically connected to my SS fic from last year. There will be a brief  explanation of the AU under the cut, but beware, cause it contains spoilers for certain character things in Duel Destinies and Spirit of Justice. For those who don’t with to be spoiled, the fic itself is safe for the most part, nothing major spoiled, but I will bold the AU description itself so it can easily be scrolled past in case. Happy reading!)

Warning: Will contain mentions of someone’s cause of death (during a trial), guns get pointed at people and there’s a fight scene at one point.

Deaths Averted AU Explanation: 

Ok, so there’s really only two big changes between the canon AA stuff and the AU. Those two things being (WARNING HUGE SPOILERS INBOUND! IF YOU DIDN’T READ THE EARLIER WARNING AND DON’T WANNA BE SPOILED TURN BACK NOW!...OK?...OK, ONWARDS WITH AU) that Fulbright and Dhurke aren’t dead. In Fulbright’s case, the Phantom actually kept him alive in case he needed fresh DNA from him for like check ups and such. Simon realizes this after they capture Phany and they go rescue him. Once he’s out of the hospital, his job as a detective gets reinstated and he returns to being Blackquills partner. (Both professionally and in a shippy way.)(I also headcanon that during the first few months of their relationship, Blackquill did have the actual Fulbright with him, so there’s already an actual bond going there.) As for Dhurke, things get a bit weirder. Basically, when Maya started channeling him, his body was still somewhat alive, just without his soul bound to it, since he was getting close to death. So, when he put his body in the crypt, since it was specifically designed to preserve people, it ended up slowing down his vitals a ton and keeping his body alive those few days till they found him. At which point he kinda defrosted, and was rushed to the hospital when they realized the dead body was not so dead. (Mind you, Dhurke had no idea this was happening, so he was more than a little surprised to wake up again and not be in someone else’s body.)

In terms of how this connects to my previous story (which can be read right here: http://otagamerkorin.tumblr.com/post/154933722995/the-christmas-turnabout), it basically just takes place a year later. Any Athena/Blackquill implications (which were purposefully vague to begin with) from the previous fic are basically getting retconned, I view them as more of a sibling relationship anyway, but everything else is staying the same.

(There will be a few scattered mentions of someone names Terrwyn throughout this. She’s one of my AA OC’s, who is a girl Blackquill takes on as his protege, but she really has no effect on the plot.)

See authors note at the bottom for more interesting lil tidbits!

“So you see, my client couldn’t have committed the murder. Because at the time he was still drunk inside the bar, singing karaoke! And that security footage is the proof!”

Phoenix slammed a hand down on the table with a bang and for a moment the courtroom went quiet.

Then the silver haired man across the way shook his head with a confident smile.

“Wright, I believe your age is beginning to show.”

Reaching for his controller, the prosecutor began to rewind the footage displayed on the monitor nearby. The count down in the corner flew backwards, stopping just before 8 o’clock.

“Since Mr. Wright seems to be showing a spot of memory loss, let’s review shall we? Our defendant, Mr. Teatrale, arrived at the Spearmint Pub at 7:55. Once there he joined a group of revelers in the corner and began ordering drinks. Unfortunately, the angle of the camera does not allow us to see a portion of that area, so we are unable to see all that goes on there, but thanks to his chosen seat we can still see the suspect.”

Another click and the footage jumped once more, popping back to normal speed at 8:30. They watched as the casually dressed man glanced around before standing and moving off towards then corner once more, out of sight of the camera.

“We aren’t able to see exactly where Mr. Teatrale goes from here, but from the floor plan of the bar we can presume that he went into the bathroom. All other exits are visible in the tape, so if he returned we would be able to see it. Here is where things get interesting however.”

The footage ran forward, everything appearing normal, till someone suddenly ran in through the front doors at 11 sharp, inaudibly shouting and waving to gain the bars attention.

“Here is the moment where the body was discovered. The victim, Ms. Lyra Minora, was found strangled behind the restaurant, her time of death determined to be approximately 9:15. And we can all see, during this time Mr. Teatrale never returns from the bathroom. This footage, along with the open window found in the bathroom, just large enough for a slight man like our suspect to slip through, shows that there is no evidence he was inside the bar at the time of the murder!”

There was a clamor of muttering and discussion from the gallery as Edgeworth lay the controller back down with a smile, looking up at his rival. For a moment Wright merely stared at him, before suddenly crossing his arms and giving a smirk.

“You sure about that Edgeworth?” He replied and the prosecutor blinked a few times in surprise.

“W-What?”

With that the spiky haired attorney retrieved his own remote, rolling back the footage to the suspects exit to the bathroom.

“Yes, it’s true that we see the suspect leave the room. However, we also see him return!”

He paused the footage and leaned forward, pointing to a figure entering from the corner of the screen.

“There he is, plain as day!”

“...Wright, that’s a woman.”

“Nooo, that is a person in a dress. There is a big different, as you all know.” The blue dressed lawyer pointed out, holding a finger up in a matter-a-fact manner, and the prosecutor gave a huff of frustration.

“But the figure you pointed out looks nothing like our suspect!” He replied, and he was right. The new arrival’s long braid of dark red hair was a far cry from the suspects light brown, and their face looked a bit more angular and long, accented by a dose of tasteful makeup.

“Ah, Edgeworth, you forget. Mr. Teatrale is a musical theater professor. Knowing how to disguise and change one’s appearance is a part of his profession. You’d be surprised what one can do with a nice wig and some makeup skills.”

The prosecutor stood there simmering for a moment before taking a deep breathe, calming himself before he continued.

“All right, Wright. Let us suppose that the figure we see in the video is indeed the defendant. Tell me, where would he have gotten these supposed supplies? I doubt you’d just find a wig and makeup laying around in a bar’s bathroom, let alone a dress.”

“Of course not. That’s why he brought his own.”

“He did?” The judge interjected, looking simultaneously fascinated and befuddled by the whole situation.

“That he did your honor. Doesn’t it strike anyone else odd that Mr. Teatrale would bring such a large bag with him? One wouldn’t normally need a carpet bag for a night on the town. Unless they needed to bring another outfit. A dress for example.” The lawyer replied with a grin, pointing out the man’s choice of accessory in the video.

“And I’ll bet dollars to donuts, if you there to go and check the defendant’s home, you’d find that same dress hanging in his closet at this exact moment!”

He could tell that his opponent was beginning to feel the pressure by the way his knuckles went white as he clutched the table edge. He gave a little cough to clear his throat when he noticed the blue clad man watching and straightened.

“Well then, do you have any other evidence, or are you done with your foolish ramblings?” He asked, glare seemingly challenging the defense attorney to answer and Wright smirked, rising to meet the challenge.

“Oh, don’t you worry, there’s plenty more where that came from.”

He quickly riffled through the court record, giving a little sound of victory as he found the piece he needed.

“Let’s take a look at this, shall we?” He asked cheekily, bringing the new video up on the monitor.

“As luck would have it, one of the bar’s patrons that night was celebrating her birthday. One of her friends happened to take some video of the festivities. After the crime, it was submitted as evidence, but the police didn’t seem to find anything useful on it. However, they might have been looking in the wrong place. Let’s take a look see, shall we?”

The footage was blurry at first, finally clearing as the phone’s camera managed to focus.

“Happy birthday Aubrey!”

The wild haired girl grinned at the cry that went up from around the table, closing her eyes for a moment before ducking down to blow out the candles on the cake before her. Another cheer sounded from the party goers and she laughed. As another one of the celebrators began to cut the cake, a nise came from offscreen.

“Hmmm, hmmm, oh, yeah, that’s a good pitch.”

The videographer turned towards the quiet vocalizing, catching sight of a familiar green dressed figure standing atop the small karaoke stage across the room. The filmer gave a gasp and reached over to grab the birthday girls arm.

“Aub! Aub, look! Aria’s here tonight!”

The girl turned and spotted the so-named woman and her face lit up, snatching up a plate of cake and making a beeline towards the stage, the rest of the group quickly following.

“Aria, I didn’t know you were coming tonight! I would have invited you!” She exclaimed, drawing up beside the stage edge, and the figure looked down at her with a bright smile.

“Aubrey darling! So good to see you!”

She spotted the cake the girl held and her grin grew wider.

“Oh, is somebody celebrating something? I wish I’d have known, I’d have brought you something. Well then, has the birthday girl got any requests?” She asked with a coy look and the girl giggled. She leaned up to whisper something in the woman’s ear and Aria’s eyes lit up.

“Ooo, good choice.” She replied, straightening from her bend and punching a few commands into the rather hi-tech looking karaoke machine. Music began to pour from the speakers and she grinned, lifting the mic to sing.

“Where all the boys at with emotional stability?”

“Nice car, a CEO, and almost just as smart as me”

“Where all the boys at with financial security?”

“A doctor, a model, a man of possibilities.”

Her voice was clear and rich, expertly hitting the higher notes while easily dropping down to hit the lower ones as well.

“(They say!) Expectations are too high.”

“And you’ll never find a guy like that.”

“It’s driving you mad, honey.”

She swung her hips as she sang, shoulders giving a little shake along to the beat as the crowd interjected with their own lyrics.

“(They say!) That its just a waste of time.”

“Get your head out of the sky.”

“But why? (Here we go!)”

She smirked and held out a hand to the birthday girl, who gladly took it and allowed herself to be pulled up on stage. The two began to dance together to the cheers of the crowd as they sang.

“Oh I, wish I could synthesize, a picture perfect guy.”

“Oh I, oh I.”

“Six feet tall and super strong.”

“We’d always get along.”

“Alright, alright.”

“Oh, he'd pick me up at eight.”

“And not a minute late.”

“Cause I don’t like to wait, no.”

“Kind and ain’t afraid to cry, or treat his momma right

“That's right, that's what I like.”

This went on for several minutes, more people joining them on stage as they made their way through a number of songs, Aria the center of attention the whole time. She also managed to make her way through a few more drinks in the process and by the time Phoenix paused the video halfway through the 4th song, she had begun to develop a slight flush along her cheeks.

“This goes on for a while, but I think you get a good picture. As you can see from the timestamp in the corner, “Aria” and the other residents of the bar were celebrating at the estimated time of the murder.”

“Alright, so we’ve determined that this woman has an alibi at the time of the murder. How does this prove she and our defendant are one in the same? All your evidence up to this point has been mere speculation.”

“Well, if she isn’t Mr. Teatrale, then she sure is stealing his drinks.”

The prosecutor made a quiet sputtering noise, blinking quickly in befuddlement.

“W-What? What evidence is there of that? The records we recovered don’t even mention what the defendant ordered that night.”

“True, but let’s think about this. I might not be an alcohol connoisseur, but something tells me that a singer like Mr. Teatrale, especially one currently using specialty throat lozenges, would stick to smoother alcohols, like wines and ports. And if we take a look at both our videos...”

He brought up a side by side of the clips, zooming in on the two figures each reaching to pluck a glass off the tray on the table.

“We can see that both of them are the only ones at the table not drinking some form of hard liquor.”

There were loud murmurs and discussion from the gallery and he crossed his arms with a confident smirk, glancing over at Edgeworth. The one of the man’s hands that was resting on the table was clenched so hard Wright would be surprised if he wasn’t leaving nail marks in his palm, eyes narrowed in equal measures frustration and determination. He wasn’t giving up this fight just yet. Good thing Phoenix wasn’t either. He smirked, cockily leaning over his table towards the other man.

“And if that wasn’t enough to convince you, let me ask you one little thing: Where did Aria come from?”

This seemed to throw the prosecutor off guard, a flash of panic streaking across his face as the realization hit him.

“I-I don’t think I follow.”

“Take a look at the footage. We see Aria exit the bathroom. We even see her drunkenly head out with the partiers before the body discovery. But we never see her go in.”

“Yes, but the section of footage we have only starts a bit before Mr. Teatrale’s arrival. She could have gone in before the footage starts.”

“And have her hiding out in the bathroom for 2 hours with nobody noticing? I doubt it. It’s far more likely that she arrived far later, simply with a different appearance.” Wright grinned.

Edgeworth looked about ready to blow a gasket, bend low over the table, teeth grinding and sweat pouring down his face.

“Conclusive. Evidence.” He gritted out, eyes narrowed, and Wright froze.

“If you’re so confident that the defendant and this woman are one and the same, then give us some hard proof!”

“You do being up some good points Mr. Wright.” The judge chimed in, nodding his head wisely.

“But, I believe what Mr. Edgeworth says remains true. All you’ve shown us so far are coincidences. Unless you manage to show us some hard evidence of your claim, I’m afraid I’ll have to call my verdict.”

Just as it always did, the defense attorney’s mind flew into a panic. Crap, he hadn’t though this far ahead. Of course his defendant was Aria, it was obvious to all of them. But damn it, he didn’t have anything that actually proved it. Unless they put the defendant in a dress and had him sing right now there was no way to-

The man eyes lit, up, a smile snapping into place. No! He had exactly what they needed!

“Mr. Teatrale?” He called out with a smirk, and the man who’d been watching from the witness stand jumped, not expecting to be called on.

Mr. Festos Teatrale was a thin wisp of a man, tall and gangly with flyaway brown hair and wire rimmed glasses. From the moment Wright had met him, the man’s nervous disposition was fully on view, flinching away from sounds and staying quiet when he could. Defiantly not what one would expect of a professor of musical theater. In truth, the only reason the investigation had landed on him to begin with was due to his past associations with victim. One of his former students, the two had been on either end of a long running feud for several years, one that the police believed ended in her death. It hadn’t helped that a note reading “Please come to the bar at 9:00. I’d like to right our wrongs.” had been found hidden away in her jacket during the investigation.

“Y-Yes Mr. Wright?” He squeaked, rubbing his arms to calm himself.

“From what I’ve heard, you have quite the singing voice. Would you mind giving us a demonstration?” Wright asked and the smaller man looked around nervously at the gallery and guards.

“R-Right now? Just out of the blue? I’m not really warmed up or anything...”

He glanced over at Wright’s pleading look and gave a little sigh, shoulders slumping.

“But...I-I can try...”

With that he took a deep breath to calm himself and closed his eyes. He fidgeted in place for a moment before opening his mouth and beginning to sing.

“One foot in, one foot out. One moment away from shutting down. “I’m too complete to need something, for someone who’s not on my frequency.”

The courtroom stilled as they listened, and Phoenix grinned. Just as he’d though. While their client had normal, if slightly high, speaking voice, his singing voice was that of a counter-tenor, easily reaching up into the woman’s range. A perfect fit for the one on the tape. As he sang out, a little smile came to his face and he relaxed.

“So if you’ve got what it takes, then baby don’t hesitate. “Hey, just blow me away cause I’m waitin.”

He gave a few shoulder pops along to the words and across the room Edgeworth paled, instantly recognizing the motion from the video.

“Don’t need no fake promises, someone who knows who he is.”

“Someone who’s ready for this cause it’s waitin.”

“All these other boys, they’re just not enough. So talk to me, come to me, hurry up.”

“Hey baby, I’ve never been in love.”

“But I wanna be, I wanna be, so hurry up.”

He paused, opening his eyes and looking around nervously. As though a spell had been broken, the gallery began to applaud, and he blushed, grinning bashfully.

“Quite impressive Mr. Teatrale.” The judge interjected, clapping a few more times before lowering his hands.

“And I do believe you just proved Mr. Wright’s point.”

“Anything you’d like to say defendent?” Wright asked, giving the man a questioning look. The singer bit his lip, staring down at the stand for a moment before taking a deep breath.

“...Alright, yes. The woman you see in the video is me.” He admitted, looking up at the gathered eyes shyly.

“If you don’t mind me asking, how did this whole thing come about?” The Judge asked and the younger man chuckled sheepishly.

“Well, I love singing, but god I just get so nervous in front of people out in public. I thought maybe that if they didn’t know it was me, it wouldn’t be so bad. So Aria was born. Well, technically I never actually planned the name bit, the people at Wintergreen just started calling me that after a while, but I think it’s a good enough choice...plus it’s just nice to be called pretty once in a while.”

“Understandable.” The old man nodded in agreement,

“Well then, any objections from the prosecution?”

“...Fine, we’ve proved that the suspect could potentially be the person seen in this video.” Edgeworth begrudgingly admitted.

“But that still doesn’t explain the murder weapon.”

He riffled through the files on his desk and gathered a group of papers.

“According to the autopsy report, the victim was strangled with some form of cloth, leaving abrasions on her neck deep enough to draw blood, and traces of mint were found in the wound. The same type of mint found in the defendant’s specialty cough drops. In addition, Mr. Teatrale’s tie, one which he was seen wearing when he entered, was found outside the building, also containing traces of mint.”

Phoenix felt himself still, a bead of sweat running down his forehead.

“Any idea why your tie would be out there?” He asked the defendant and the man nervously shook his head.

“I-I set it on the bathroom windowsill when I was changing. I-I must have forgotten it in there when I packed up.”

Well, back to panic town it seemed. He spread his own evidence out over the table, eyes flickering over it desperately. There had to be something here. Something that would tie all of this together. He had an idea of where he needed to take this trial, but he needed something to get them there. Damn it, damn it, there had to be something!

His gaze flickered over the crime scene photo’s showing the bars exterior and paused. The photo showed the establishment back lot, where the murder had taken place, but the edge of the glowing neon sigh denoting its name was still slightly visible around the corner. Wintergreen...

Something clicked and the man grinned, snatching up the picture and looking up at his opponent.

“You’re correct about that Edgeworth, and it’s pretty solid evidence in your favor.” Wright replied with a nod and the prosecutor stared at him before giving a long, almost defeated sigh.

“But?”

“BUT, do you know where else in the vicinity mint could be found? Mint juleps. Which just so happen to be the bar signature drink.”

“...Wright, are you implying...?”

The attorney didn’t even reply, just grinned and turned to the Judge.

“Your honor, I’d like to bring Mr. Collins to the stand.”

“...Yes, yes, I believe that would be a wise idea.” The old man replied, seeming to catch onto the thread the young man was dangling.

“Bailiff, if you would please.”

Jack Collins was just as intimidating on the stand the second time around as the first, all wide shoulders and sharp lines, the silk vest and flowing shirt of his uniform impeccable. According to the records, he and his twin brother Gibson had bought and rebuilt the old bar several years back, running the small establishment nearly solo ever since. It was a job that took both class and a no-nonsense attitude, the latter of which was on fine display.

“Is there a problem gentlemen? I’ve already told you everything I know.” He asked, crossing his arms and looking out over the assembled figures in annoyance.

“Oh, just a few questions. Shouldn’t take long.” Phoenix replied and the man gave a frustrated sigh.

“Fine, but please make this quick. The longer I’m here, the longer the bar stays closed.”

“Of course. Mr. Collins, you said before that you and your brother are the only ones on staff at the restaurant currently?”

“That is correct, yes. It’s hard work, but we manage.”

“That’s very impressive. According to the court record, you are the establishment’s bartender while your brother is the cook, correct?”

“Yes. We are both able to mix drinks, but I’m sad to admit that I’ve never had much of a hand for the food side of things.”

“That’s a shame. Though I must say, you’re a very well dressed man Mr. Collins.” He continued with a smile. The witness gave him a pleasantly surprised look, while in his peripherals he could see the prosecution shoot him a slightly jealous expression that read ‘What the hell Wright?”

“Well, I certainly like to think so.” The bartender replied with a bit of a smile.

“From what you told me during the investigation, both you and you brother’s uniforms are custom tailored. That’s some nice attention to detail. Even those signature sashes you wear are commissioned.” He continued and they could practically see the man puff up with pride, a wry smile creeping cross his face.

“Right you are Mr. Wright. No two like them in the world.”

The defense attorney’s eyes seemed to flash, a smirk of his own streaking across his face. Hook line and sinker.

“No two like them hmm? Interesting.” He replied and the man’s brow furrowed.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Well, Mr. Collins, you’ve just brought up quite the interesting inconsistency.”

“Inconsistency?” The Judge questioned him.

“Oh, just a little something I noticed in the security footage.”

Snatching up his remote, he skipped through the footage on screen, stopping at a certain spot and zooming in on the establishments bar.

“Mr. Collins, that’s you in the video here, right?” He asked, pointing to the figure polishing a glass.

“...Yes...” The man replied, cocking his eyebrow in suspicion.

“Alright then, let’s see what happens.”

As they watched, a customer strode up to the bar and ordered a drink, Jack nodding and quickly setting to work. With practiced flair he began to mix ingredients and liquids, quickly producing a well-mixed cocktail. Grabbing a pair of scissors, he turned and snipped a sprig off the plant on the shelf behind him, settling it gently on the drinks surface. As he turned to set down the scissors however, his sleeve caught the glass and it tipped back over towards him. He made a grab for it, but wasn’t quite fast enough, and it clattered over, splashing the drink across the front of his uniform. He scowled and apologized to the customer, quickly making them another.

“Now, Mr. Collins, would you say the drink you made there was a mint julep?” Phoenix asked, pausing the video. The man on the stand scowled, brow furrowing deeper as he seemed to catch on.

“Well, I don’t really remember, Mr. Attorney. I made a lot of drinks that night.”

“Hmm, I can understand that. But if I’m not mistaken, that plant behind you is a wintergreen mint, correct? According to your menu, the only drink you make garnished specifically with a fresh wintergreen sprig is your signature julep.”

“...I suppose it must have been.” He growled between his teeth, staring daggers at the attorney.

“Interesting. Now then, afterwards we see you leaving the bar for a time.”

They turned once more to the screen and watched as the bartender looked down at himself and grimaced, swiping some of the liquid off before turning and walking through the door into the kitchen.

“If you don’t mind my asking, why did you leave?”

“I was covered in alcohol you idiot. I went to go clean up. Watch the tape, you can see me come back a few minutes later.” Jack replied, his voice lifting for a moment from the controlled tone he’d been keeping.

It was Edgeworth this time who took control of the footage. He sped it forward, and as they watched Jack did indeed reemerged a few minutes later.

“I don’t see how the witness changing clothes has anything to do with the case Wright.” The prosecutor declared, but the glint in his eye told the defense attorney he was secretly hiding a smile.

“Oh, it has everything to do with the case.” Wright shot back, turning back to the witness.

“Mr. Collins, you changed into fresh clothes while you were backstage?”

“Are you deaf? I just said so!” He snapped, but Wright simply smiled amicably and tilted his head.

“Then what about your sash?”

This caught the man off guard and his eyes widened, a streak of fear bolting across his expression.

“M-My sash?”

“You just told us that there only two sashes like that in the world, so you obviously wouldn’t have an extra laying around. And yet, here we see you in a fresh one. Where did you get it?”

“I-I borrowed my brothers. The rest of the outfit was clean extras we keep on hand.” If you doubt me, just watch. He came out into the main room when the body was discovered.”

Edgeworth quickly fast forwarded the footage and they saw an identical man indeed emerge from the kitchen shortly after the commotion started, dressed in a matching uniform, sans the sash. Yet the smile stayed firmly stretched cross the defense attorneys face.

“Hmm, that’s interesting, because the footage seems to say differently.”

The man froze, staring at Wright in disbelief.

“What?”

“If we look here, we can see a stain on the shirtsleeve of the bartender in the footage. The type you might get while cooking. Mr. Collins says he changed into clean clothes, and yet here’s evidence that he didn’t. Unless the shirt we see here is also his brothers. But now why would he do that, rather than just grab a new one? Unless the man in the footage isn’t our witness at all.”

“W-What are you trying to say!?” the man snarled and Phoenix slammed a hand down on the table.

“I’m saying that the man we see in the video is not our witness, but in fact his twin brother! Because at the time, the witness was outside killing the victim!”

The gallery erupted into loud discussion as the bartender smashed his fists on the stand with a roar.

“This is slander!”

“Order! Order in the court!” The Judge yelled, slamming his gavel down a number of times before the place quieted. Before the last of the voices could even fade, Edgeworth was already on the move.

“Wright, there are no rear exits from the kitchen and all the others pass by cameras! It’s the reason only one brother was brought in as a witness, it was impossible for him to have seen anything! So how do you propose that he managed to get outside?!”

“The same way we thought Mr. Teatrale did, through a window.”

“Have you gone daft Wright?! The only window in the kitchen is a sky-!”

He froze, eyes going wide, and Wright grinned.

“The skylight. On his own it of course would have been impossible to reach. But with the help of another...”

“Mr. Wright are you implying...!?” The Judge asked.

“Yes, your honor! I believe this murder was a two man affair! After helping him up through the skylight, the witness’s twin took his place at the bar to fool the cameras, while his brother met up with the victim outside!”

The witness couldn’t even reply to the accusation, too busy boiling with rage to form a single word. The judge leapt to action in his stead, eyes wide and disbelieving.

“B-But why would these twins want to kill the victim?”

“I wasn’t too sure of that myself, till something Mr. Collins said peaked my interest. When we first mentioned the victim during our investigation, he called her by her first name. That made me curious, so I asked Detective Skye to look into a few things for me.”

He gave a smile over to the girl lurking in the corner of the courtroom and she gave him a thumbs up.

“What she found was very interesting.”

He flipped open a file that had been laying off to the side, grinning as he read through it.

“A little over a year ago, Ms. Minora worked as a waitress at Wintergreen. A few months into her employment, there was a break in and a large amount of money was stolen. The alarm was never flipped and thus the brothers reportedly became convinced that Ms. Minora was the culprit, firing her and ordering a police investigation. However, the cops were unable to turn up anything to turn up anything connecting her to the crime and she was released, much to the twins’ displeasure.”

“She was a dirty little thief! Those fools may not have been able to find anything, but that doesn’t change the fact she stole from us! She deserved what she got! And I don’t care what you think, you have no proof to back you up!” The witness roared, nails biting into the wood of the stand as he raged.

“That’s where you’re wrong! The very crime scene that you set up so carefully is the last nail in your coffin!” Wright replied, shouting back with equal intensity.

“Because that skylight you’re so convinced was full proof plan?”

He threw down the crime scene photo for them all to see.

“It was left open, as we can see in this picture.”

The witness’s face went sheet white as the realization hit him, Wright’s face more confident than ever.

“If we look close, you can even see where the gutter was bent from you climbing back up. And I’ll bet if we send some forensics officers back out there, they’d find a nice fresh set of prints all over that roof.

“Y-You can’t do this! Everything was perfect! You have no-!”

Wright cut him off before he could continue, slamming down a hand with a resounding bang.

“The victim was killed with a length of fabric, that much is true, but not with a tie as we had thought. Instead she was killed with a mint soaked sash that in the struggle ended up stained with her blood. Blood that was missing from Mr. Teatrale’s tie. Blood that the culprit was unable to remove, and thus was forced to hide away somewhere inside the restaurant. And a sash that is missing from our culprit ensemble at this very moment!

He flung out a hand, pointing at the man on the stand before them.

“Jack Collins, you murdered Lyra Minora in cold blood with the help of your brother!”

The man lost it. Everyone near him quickly backed up as he began raging and throwing things about (where the hell did he even get that many tumblers and martini shakers?!), before finally collapsing to the floor in an exhausted heap, hair awry and outfit in disarray.

“Well then, if that over; Guards, arrest that man! Then send a squad to find his brother. They both will be answering for this.” The judge announced and the guards gingerly stepped over to seize him, dragging the limp culprit away between them as the old man cleared his throat.

“Well then, I believe we have a verdict to announce. Mr. Teatrale?”

The flighty man cautiously stepped back up to the stand, looking up at the man hopefully.

“I’m pleased to announce your verdict as...Not Guilty!”

Confetti exploded from the ceiling and the younger man slumped against the stand in relief. He turned to Wright with a smile, mouthing a “thank you” and the lawyer gave him a thumbs up.

“Now then, court is adjourned!”

With the bang of the man’s gavel as his que to exit stage right, the defense attorney turned and finally made his way out the door near him.

As he stepped out into the lobby and allowed the door to swing closed behind him, the lawyer gave a long relieved sigh and slumped backwards against the wood.

“Ok, that one was way too close.”

“Hey! Mr. Wright!”

He glanced up to find Athena and Trucy hurrying towards him down the hall and straightened with a smile, walking forward to meet them.

“You did great Mr. Wright!” The ginger cheered and his daughter jumped up to give him a hug.

“Yeah! I knew you’d be able to figure it all out!”

“Well, it wasn’t thaaat impressive.” He replied, rubbing the back of his neck as the teen hung off of him.

“You just need to keep calm, look at all the evidence and then just put it all together.”

“Ahh, so your normal grade of bullshit then?” Athena asked with a smirk and he shoved her playfully.’

“Watch it. I’m the one who pays you, remember?”

“Wright.”

Someone appeared at his elbow with the soft call and he looked over with a grin to find a certain prosecutor beside him.

“Miles!”

“Oh boy, here we go. Time for us to exit stage left Trucy.” Athena chimed with an amused eyeroll, giving a wave over her shoulder as she turned and started down the hall, Trucy hot on her heels.

“See you back at the office Daddy!”

Giving a wave after them, the defense lawyer felt an arm gently wrap around his waist and turned into the half-embrace, tangling his arms loosely around the taller man’s torso.

“That was impressive work in there Wright.” The prosecutor muttered and the spiky haired attorney’s smile grew even wider.

“Well, you certainly gave me a good fight.” He replied, leaning up to plant a peck at the corner of the man’s mouth. Athena gave a wolf whistle from down the hall and Phoenix grinned into the kiss as he threw a crude gesture over her shoulder at her, the man in his arms flushing a tad. He shifted over to properly press their lips together, chuckling when the man relaxed against him and clenched at the back of his jacket, then pulling back after a few moments with a smirk.

“Now then, I believe we had an agreement about if I won the trial?”

The older man gave a sigh with a hint of fondness, shaking his head.

“Very well. Where do you want to have dinner?”

Phoenix gave a cheer and released the other man, giving a little twirl of victory and earning a chuckle from the other man. The defense attorney paused as he felt something tap against his ankle and glanced down to find a letter settling on the ground beside his foot.

“Ahh, that’s right. I’d nearly forgot.” Miles murmured, reaching down to retrieve the dropped article. He dusted it off then offered it to the attorney. Still puzzled, Phoenix pealed the envelope open and drew out the nice parchment from within, eyes scanning over the printed words it bore.

Dear Mr. Phoenix Wright, You and your law office are invited to attend our annual Christmas dinner. Please feel free to bring as many guests as you wish, the more the merrier. The party will be held in the ballroom of the Gatewater Imperial Hotel on Christmas Eve. It will be a potluck, so please bring a dish to share. We hope to see you there. Sincerely, The Los Angeles Prosecution Office

“A dinner?”

“Yes, I believe after last year they decided this would be a safer bet.”

Phoenix gave a snort of laughter and tucked the letter away in his jacket, pressing another peck to the prosecutor’s cheek.

“We’d be more than happy to come.”

With that he sidled up beside the man, wrapping an arm around his waist and tugging him towards the door.

“Sooooo, about that dinner...”

His partner gave a scoff and rolled his eyes with a smile.

“Alright, what would you like?”

“That nice seafood place down by the bay. I earned that win, so I’m milkin this for all it’s worth.”

“Pfft, of course you are.”

“...Did you ever even think the defendant was guilty?”

“Oh, not for an instant.”

“Heh, you sap.”

*

As the taxi turned the corner and a familiar law office came into sight, Apollo felt his heart warm. It had been the better part of a year since he’d been here after all. He rarely had the chance to keep in touch with the others much, kept too busy helping Dhurke rebuild the justice system most days to as much as sit down and write a simple email. Hell, he hadn’t even had the chance to properly plan this holiday visit, having simply begun throwing clothes into a suitcase the instant he got the ok from the former revolution leader. He had managed to shoot Trucy a text while he had been waiting for his plane, so he hadn’t really dropping this whole thing on their heads completely out if the blue, but regardless it wasn’t the most polite of situations.

Still, etaquite was the furthest thing from his mind as the cab stopped before the office and, paying the driver, he stepped out onto the sidewalk with his luggage. As the car drove away he felt his nerves buzz with anxiety. How would they react to him after so long? A million insecurities whirled through his head and he found himself taking a deep breathe to calm himself. Well, no time like the present.

He gave a soft call as he pushed the door open and strode into the entryway.

“Hello? Is anybody-?”

He saw the flash of blue before he heard the footsteps and the door clicked shut behind him just in time for the sprinting figure to leap onto him and send him slamming back into it. The breath escaped him a huff as his bags hit the ground with a thud and his head spun for several long moments, barely registering the arms wrapped tight around him. Finally his brain seemed to reboot and the buzzing in his ears cleared enough for him to make out the muffled words coming from around his chest.

“Polly! You’re back!”

Despite his disorienting entrance, he found himself smiling and wrapping his arms tight around the magician.

“Trucy, is somebody he- Oh!”

At the voice, he glanced over to see Athena standing at the end of the hall, her face lighting up when he spotted her and rushing down the passage to join the hug.

“Apollo!”

He let out a laugh, contorting himself enough in the two’s vice grips to wrap an arm around the other girl.

“I walk through the door and already I’m in trouble. Yep, definitely in the right place.” He snickered and the two gave matching sounds of indignation.

“Ahh, and the young lawyer makes his triumphant return.”

He looked up when a shadow fell over them, grinning at the blue clothed man smiling down at him.

“I’m gone for a year and this is the welcome I get? Wow, I can certainly see you all sure missed me.” He sarcastically joked and the attorney gave a snort of laughter, reaching sown to ruffle the younger man’s hair.

“Welcome back Apollo.”

When the girls finally peeled themselves off of him, Trucy seized his hand and began to drag him down the hall.

“We’re still putting up decorations! Come on Polly, come help!”

The others followed as she pulled him through the next door into the main bit of the office, the room decked out with wreaths, garlands and lights, even sporting a small sparkling tree in the corner beside a light draped Charlie. Releasing his hand, she plucked a box of white lights off the table and dropped it into his arms.

“These need to go up on the ceiling! We’re making it look like snow!” She declared, plopping down on the couch and he affectionately rolled his eyes. With a little help from Athena he set to work draping them from the little hooks the others had screwed into the ceiling earlier, starting at one corner and slowly working his way outwards.

Ka-click

He paused to turn in the direction of the sound, instead finding Trucy still lounging away, phone now out and hands flying over the screen, tongue stuck out slightly in concentration. Shaking his head, he turned back to his task, easily slipping back into his space in the office. As the time passed, he regaled them all with the tales of his many new misadventures in law, gesturing with whichever hand was free as he lost himself in the storytelling.

“So, instead of giving me a day off to catch up on all the sleep I was missing like a normal person, instead Datz just goes “Hey, if we just pour a bunch of energy drinks in his coffee, he should be fine.” And in my exhaustion, I actually drink this monstrosity, so halfway through a trial-“

Reaching out for the next hook, he instead found empty air and glanced over to find an empty space.

“One sec, need to grab some more hooks.” He declared, handing the bundle of light to Athena and clambering odd the step-stool.

“Now, they must be around here som-“

There was a loud crash as the office door behind him was flung open and ricocheted off the wall with a bang. Giving a startled yelp, the red clothes attorney whipped around to look and froze in his tracks.

In the doorway stood an all-to-familiar figure, shaking with over-exertion and clinging to the doorframe, his normally stylish hair and clothes windblown and in complete disarray. He stood there with an incredulous expression, wheezing like he’d just run a marathon and staring at the shorter man like he couldn’t believe his eyes. He paused for just a moment, then his face screwed up in heart-wrenching relief, tears filling his eyes. With a choked sound, he threw himself into the room. Apollo had a mere second to brace himself before he was wrapped tightly in the man’s arms, a face burying into his neck amongst a muttered stream of relieved German.

“Du bist hier ... Du bist wirklich hier...”

At the sound of his voice, the situation finally hit the apprentice attorney and, his own expression twisting into tears, he clung on tight to his companion.

“I’m back Klav.”

They stayed that way for a long time, Apollo gently rocking the two of them from side to side as the taller man held him. Finally the former musician pulled back a bit, one hand sliding up to cup the attorney’s cheek. As the smaller man lean into his touch, he gave a dazzling smile and leaned down to press their lips together. Apollo gave a little sigh and practically melted against him, feeling the last piece of what he was missing slid into place.

“Oh would you two get a room?” Athena chirped, grin in her voice, and the red-clothed lawyer pulled back to fix her in a poisonous glare. His gaze softened however as the blond in his arms broke into quiet laughter, drawing his face back around to plant a soft peck on his forehead.

“Perhaps we should take the Fräulein up on her suggestion, hmm? I have plenty of free room at my place after all.”

The younger man turned red at the suggestion, sputtering as he tried to lace some words together, certainly not helped in his embarrassment by the new bout of laughter the other man broke into.

Flustered, he tried to pull back, only to have the prosecutor’s grip on him tighten. He found himself being dragged towards the couch, Trucy having just enough time to pull her lounging legs out of the way before Klavier plopped down beside her. He pulled Apollo along with him, tugging him into his lap and holding him close like an oversized stuffed animal. The attorney cocked an eyebrow at him, giving an experimental tug and finding himself firmly stuck.

“...You realize you have to let me go at some point right?”

“...No.”

He finally gave up and slumped back against the prosecutor’s chest, earning a giggle from Trucy and an exasperated sigh from Athena.

“Oh, just abandon me to the decorating. Real nice Apollo.”

“Does it look like I can help you right now?” He asked, gesturing to the man playfully nuzzling his neck.

“That sounds like a quitter talking.”

“If there was anything within reach right now I’d throw it at you.”

“Alright children, calm down.” Phoenix cheekily replied, chuckling at the dirty look the two threw him.

“Heh, chaotic as always in here, eh Nick?”

They all paused at the giggle from the doorway and turned, every face in the room lighting up at the sight of the woman in the doorway.

“Maya!” Phoenix cried with a grin, rushing over to wrap her in a hug.

“Don’t forget me!” Chirped a little voice, another shorter figure ducking out from behind the taller girl, and Phoenix’s smile grew even wider, scooping the younger medium up to join the hug.

“Pearls! What are you two doing here!?”

“Well, a little bird told us that there was gonna be a party.”

“Ah, so Ema then.”

“Yeeeep.” The tall medium replied, popping the last syllable with a smile.

“Besides, after the disaster of a holiday last time, there was no chance we were gonna miss another chance to celebrate with you.”

“Ugh, I still feel sorry about that.” The attorney replied, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.

“You came back from your training to visit and everything.”

After a moment he brightened once more, planting his hands on his hips confidently.

“Well, guess we’ll just need to make sure we don’t screw it up this time. Your timing is actually perfect by the way. We were just about to head out shopping.”

“Ah, so you got an invitation as well? I look forward to it.” Klavier chimed in from where his head lay on Apollo’s shoulder, the attorney’s hair slightly brushing his cheek as he tilted his head in a confusion.

“Ok, what the hell is this party you all keep talking about?”

“Prosecution office’s holding a dinner tomorrow. Probably thought that if they planned it this year, they wouldn’t accidently get half their best workers trapped in a snowstorm.” Athena called over from where she was stuffing decorations back in the closet.

“So, how’s a lil shopping trip sound? Shouldn’t take very long.” The blue clothed attorney asked, receiving a chorus of agreements. He nodded in satisfaction, crossing his arms with a grin.

“Alrighty then! Everybody grab your coats! A quick run to the store, then we’ll be back here celebrating in no time!”

*

“Shouldn’t take long, my ass.”

No one seemed to even notice Athena’s grumble, all too busy staring in slight horror at the building before them. What was normally a quiet shopping center had been swamped by a veritable horde of people, transforming it into a sort of holiday battle arena. A seemingly endless stream of shoppers was flowing through both sides of the entrance,

“...To be honest, we should probably have expected this.” Phoenix admitted with a defeated slump of his shoulders.

“Well, it is two days to Christmas, Heir Wright.” Klavier offered and the attorney slumped even farther with a groan.

“Yes, thank you for reminding me.”

Maya bit back a snicker at the dramatics, striding to the front of the group and taking point.

“All right everybody, enough belly-aching. Let’s get the move on. The sooner we start the sooner we can leave.” She declared, turning on her heel and starting for the entrance, the others quickly jogging to keep pace with her.

“Heh, when did you become the voice of reason?” Phoenix chuckled, an amused smile pulling at his lips and she shot him back a smirk.

“Oh trust me Nick, you haven’t seeeen crowded till you’ve been through a Kurainese festival. “

Somehow managing to slip smoothly into the stream of people, the group found themselves quickly sucked into the building. Luckily the place was larger than it appeared and so as the space widened out the crowd thinned, allowing them some room to breathe.

“Does anyone even know where we’re going?” Athena called over the din, wincing at the noise and rubbing her temples to try and ward off the coming headache. As she spoke, Phoenix fished the list out of his pocket, glancing over it.

“Well, we somehow got shouldered with the main dishes, hence lots of ingredients, so this is gonna be a bit of a trek.” He replied, handing the list over to Trucy when she leaned up to look at it.

“I’m not sure if some of these would even count as ‘main dishes’.” She replied and he gave a little snort.

“Well, I did get it from Edgeworth. Sometimes I wonder if he knows things like ‘peach incrusted flambé’ aren’t part of your average dinner lineup.”

As he spoke he glanced out over the crowd, gaze scanning over the surroundings, and suddenly paused, eyes locking on something. For a few moments his expression grew thoughtful, brow furrowing the tiniest bit, before a smile stretched over his face.

“Hmm...Hey, Maya? Mind, uh, checking out something over here with me?” He asked, nodding in the direction he’d been looking and the woman stretched up onto tiptoe to see what he was indicating. She stared for a few seconds, giving several long blinks as the gears seemingly turned in her head, before her face lit up. Without even giving a proper reply, she grabbed him by the arm and began to drag him off into the crowd, the lawyer shouting back over his shoulder to the rest of the startled group.

“Just start makin your way down the list! We’ll find you later!”

“Wait, Boss! Don’t just leave us he- Hey, watch were you’re going!” Athena exclaimed, jumping back from her pursuit to avoid being run over by someone’s cart. The middle aged, soccer mom looking woman driving it snapped around to look at them and the whole group flinched backwards. Her gaze was pure venom and boy, if looks could kill. Still cowering together as she turned her nose up at them and stalked away, the band of wayward shoppers glanced at each other in fear.

“...Everybody stay together?” Apollo proposed, met with some very vigorous nods of reply.

Trying to squeeze their ways down isles and around other shoppers proved to be a bit of a challenge, what with the 5 of them huddled together like they were trying to assimilate into one being, but they managed, slowly picking their way through the crowd. They even managed to pick up most of their ingredients along the way, marking off each item as it was gathered.

It was when they they’d begun to near the bottom that problem arose.

“Ok, says here that we need flour for some Yorksire pudding, whatever the hell that is.” Athena announced from somewhere behind Apollo’s shoulder, having been designated as the official list master at some point along the way.

“It’s a baked dish made using the juices from cooked meats Fräulein. It’s actually quite good.”

“It’s made. Using flour and meat. That’s not a pudding, that’s an atrocity.”

“Alright, enough bickering. We need to focus.” Apollo replied, giving them both a swat.

“Now let’s see, flour must be around her somewhere...”

The young attorney’s powerful eyes swept over their surroundings, scanning each shelf and nook down the long corridor, finally letting out a little “a-ha!” when at last he spotted it. There at the end of the isle, sitting on a high shelf was a bag of plain flour. And as luck would have it, it seemed to be the last one.

“Seems like our lucky day.” He chimed in, pointing it out to the rest of the group. Just as the words left his mouth he was jostled sideways as someone stepped up beside him, his head quickly turning to find the disturbance. It was another woman, this one a bit on the older side. She was staring down at a list of her own, her eyes scanning over it before looking up to glance around. After a moment her eyes also caught sight of the flour, a smile breaking over her face, and Apollo felt his hear sink. This lady seemed nice enough, but they had technically been the ones to see it first. But it was still going to feel like a bit of a jerk move on his part if he just took it. Maybe they could come to a compromise?

“Um...”

The attorney wasn’t even aware he’d spoke till it was too late, and the woman looked over at him. She glanced at his still pointed arm, the flour, the items already stowed way in the groups basket, back to the flour, then directly at Apollo himself. She stared at him for a moment, eyes slowly narrowing. Thank god for all those years of training a quick mind, because the lawyer had just enough time to process what was about to happen and push off before they were both sprinting full tilt down the aisle. Right, this was a store during the holidays, the normal rules of human decency no longer exist here. Apollo tried to keep that fact in mind as he tucked his head and ran, distantly noting the flash of blue trailing close behind him.

The woman was astonishingly swift for someone her age and she easily kept pace with Apollo as they both wove through the minefield of other shoppers. Occasionally one or the other would get caught behind a group of stragglers and fall behind, only to regain their ground as the other met a similar misfortune. It was as they were nearing the shelf that the attorney suddenly noticed a small problem with this whole scenario. The flour was on a high shelf. A shelf neither he nor the woman would be able to reach without the help of a ladder. However...

Apollo spun around and screeched to a halt just short of the shelf, lacing his hands together and bracing himself with a shout.

“Trucy!”

The blur of a girl who’d been following him planted her foot in his hands and, with a vaguely concerning creak of muscles, he flung her up high. They watched as she sailed through the air, arm outstretched. For a moment her fingers wrapped around the edge, and Apollo felt a cry of victory gathering in his throat, only for her momentum to carry her too far and have it slip from her grasp, the corner catching and tearing slightly as it tumbled from the shelf. She made a ten point landing just as the bag fell into the woman’s waiting hands. She gave a hoot, and held it high above her head in victory.

“Ha, too bad for you!” She crowed, voice one of spiteful pride, and the cries of indignation from the rest of the group masked the flash of shadow darting along the top of the shelf. Before they could do a thing however, she swiftly stuffed the object she grasped firmly into her own basket and swiftly made her retreat, disappearing around the corner before they could even think to pursue her.

“Grrr, what is wrong with that woman!?” Athena finally roared, stamping a foot on the ground as she visibly bristled.

“D-Don’t worry! I’m sure we can fix this somehow!” Pearl chimed in and Athena sighed in defeat.

“But how? This recipe specifically calls for white flour, and she just made off with the last bag!”

“Oh, you’re looking for flour? Well, isn’t this a stroke of luck.”

The group paused and looked up as the voice floated down from above them, faces lighting up as they caught sight of the source.

“Kay!”

The girl was lounged across the top of the shelf beside them like the damn Cheshire Cat, with a grin to match. One arm was supporting her head, chin settled in an open palm, while the other casually coiled around a familiar white bag, the torn corner making its identity clear.

“You wouldn’t happen to mean this lil thing?” She asked cheekily, examining it briefly before tossing it to them, leaping down after it.

“Kay, how did you get this?!”

“I’m a master thief, how do you think? Hope that old coot doesn’t mind whole wheat.” She replied, stretching and popping her back.

“You guys grabbin stuff for the party I assume?”

“Bullseye. I take it Edgeworth invited you too?” Apollo replied, carefully tucking their hard-earned prize away, and she shrugged nonchalantly.

“Well, more like I saw the invitation on his desk and invited myself, but yeah. Just gotta grab some cake mix then I’m outta this looney bin.”

“You’re facing this horde solo Fräulein? Quite the gutsy move.” Klavier complemented her and she chuckled, rubbing the back of her neck sheepishly.

“Appreciate the complement, but even I’m not that reckless. Just lost the second half of my dynamic duo in the crowd a ways back. She should show back up eventually.”

“Kay...I swear to god...I’m gonna kill you...”

The wheezing, tired voice behind them caused the group to turn, catching sight of a familiar figure bend almost in half as she tried to catch her breath.

“Ay, there you are Ema! Thought I might have lost ya for good for a bit there.” Kay cheekily chirped and the older girl’s eyes flashed with annoyance. Darting past the rest of the group, she seized the younger girl by the ear and tugged, the thief giving a little yep of pain.

“Well, you wouldn’t have lost me if you hadn’t decided that walking through the crowd was too much work and climbed off over the shelving. I’m surprised security didn’t catch you and throw you out. Oh, hi to all of you guys by the way.” She growled, pausing her tirade for a moment to greet the others.

“You better have grabbed that cake mix while you were off on your little misadventure.”

“Well I was, till I ran into these guys. So just calm down and gimme a sec.”

Pulling loose of the detectives grasp, the thief stomped off to a nearby shelf, muttering under her breath, and began examining the different types of mixes as Ema gave a sigh and rubbed her temples.

“So, Edgeworth send you along to keep her from tearing the store apart?” Apollo asked with a teasing grin and the girl made an ‘eehhhh?” hand motion.

“Sorta. I got roped into handling the prep for like half this whole party, so I’ve been having to keep track of what all people are bringing. Speaking of, how’s about you guys? Got everything you need?”

“Let’s see...”Athena muttered, smoothing out the list and scanning over it.

“Only thing left is... a goose? Well, if A Christmas Carol could pull it off, so can we. Should be over...”

She looked up at the signs hanging from the stores ceiling and gave a groan.

“...On the other side of the store.”

A wave of despair seemed to wash over the group, all slumping in exhaustion with matching groans.

“Well, no time like the present.” Klavier sighed and the 6 of them set off, Kay giving chase with a large box of black forest cake mix, shoving through the crowd and trying their best not to get flattened by the shoppers. 20 minutes and they finally had to stop and rest, having barely gotten halfway through the store. They were sweaty, sore from the numerous wayward elbows around them and beginning to feel like every step forward was two steps back.

“Ugh, this is useless!” Trucy cried, looking about ready to start pulling her hair ours.

“We’re making no progress! If we even get the goose it’s gonna be near impossible to get it back through here and Daddy is still-!”

Her frustration was cut off by a series of cries and insults beside them as someone came shoving their way through the crowd. As though the mere mention of his name were enough to summon him, Wright came popping out of the horde in front of them, expression one of vague horror. When he spotted them his expression brightened, only to turn to terror once more as the sound of someone moving through the crowd continued behind him.

“Guys, I’m so sorry. I tried to stop her.” He stammered, darting forward and partially hiding behind them.

“What? Mr. Wright what are you-?”

As though on que, Maya emerged before them, wielding a shopping bag stuffed almost to the bursting with...something.

“Uh, Mystic Maya? What is that?” Pearl asked, voice quiet and just a bit terrified as they all stared at the bags.

“A surprise!” She replied and a shiver ran down all their spines at her impish grin.

“So, what else have you guys got to do?”

“U-Uh, just gotta get the main dish.” Apollo replied, mind reeling from jumping from topic to topic. Phoenix perked up at that, smiling and crossing his arms.

“Oh, don’t worry about that. We stopped by the deli section on our way over here. One cooked goose officially ordered and ready to be delivered to the party!...Uh, guys? Are you ok?” He asked, his upbeat spirit delating in confusion as the group gave a massive sigh of relief, looking as though they’d just seen the face of God himself.

“Boss, I could kiss you right now.” Athena groaned.

“Umm, please don’t.”

“Wait, wha- Oh, never mind. Let’s just get the hell out of here.”

“Seconded!” Phoenix squeaked as the crowd began to close in around them, squeezing in from all sides. Doing their best to try and force their way through, they slowly made their way through the surging current of people, gradually advancing towards the checkout area.

“Alright everybody, almost there!” The lawyer at their head called back to them, trying his best to use his height to try and clear a path.

“Oh, wait guys my shoe is- Ah! Help!”

The groups heads whipped around just in time to see Trucy trip and stumble backwards, instantly getting caught in the flood of bodies and begin to be swept away. In an flash Phoenix jolted into action.

“Don’t worry Trucy! Daddy’s coming!” He cried before literally diving into the crown, shoving people out of the way as he disappeared after her.

“Nick!” Maya yelled, trying her best to scramble after him. The force of the crowd proved too powerful however and she quickly lost sight of his spiky hair as the sea of bodies pulled the two groups apart.

“Damn it, get out of the way!”

She tried once more, only to be more-or-less hip checked by what could only be described as yet another stereotypical PTA mom and sent flying back in to the others, almost knocking over Pearl as the woman shot them a nasty look and vanished into the swarm. Klavier shot some particularly nasty German after her as he helped the medium up, muttering angrily under his breath.

“Well now what the hell do we do!?” Athena complained, the lift in her pitch giving away her panic.

“Don’t worry, I got this.” Ema suddenly announced, rolling up her sleeves and turning to face the onslaught.

“This isn’t my first battle with holiday shoppers. It’s all in the way you present yourself. Now, shoulders back, head up, think ‘murder’ and walk.”

With that she began to quickly stride forward, face fierce and eyes blazing. Like some miracle, the crowd began to part before her like the Red Sea, people literally diving out of her path when they met her gaze. The rest of the group simply glanced at each other in surprise before quickly trailing along close behind her.

It didn’t take long to find their wayward companions. The two had taken refuge beside a display, Phoenix keeping an arm wrapped protectively around his daughter as he scanned the crowd. His eyes widened when he saw Ema marching towards him, blinking a few times in disbelief as she moved with ease through the crowd. She reached them and, without missing a beat, seized him by the jacket and began to lead everyone towards the exit.

“Ok, this little field trip has dragged on a bit too long. Time to go.”

A chorus of agreements answered her and the group practically sprinted to the checkout, shoving their items through as fast as the poor overworked cashier could deal with them in a panicked rush to get the hell out of there. The instant they hit the cool air of the parking, a sigh of relief swept through the group, most of them slumping over against the cars in joy.

“None of you guys EVER let me talk us into that again.” Phoenix groaned and Maya let out an exhausted chuckle.

“Aww it wasn’t thaaat bad Nick. Just one more thing to add to our little winter adventure, right Pearly?”

She turned to the space to her left and everyone went silent when they realized it was empty. Slowly they looked back at the store, then at each other in horror, before making a mad dash for the doors.

“Hold on Pearly! The rescue squad is on the way!”

*

“Hahahaha, less than a day into your visit and you’re already embroiled in trouble! That’s my boy!”

“Dhurke...” Apollo sighed, trying to rub away the headache forming between his eyes as he listened to the uproarious laughter on the other end of the phone.

“Aww, don’t be so glum AJ! Nothin to get the holiday season going like a wild manhunt!” Datz chimed in from the background and Apollo flopped back onto the couch in exasperation. If he’d known when he called that not only was Dhurke listening in, but Datz and Amara as well, he never would have brought the little disaster up.

“Oh, stop teasing him you two.” Said queen jokingly chided them.

“The poor boy has been through enough today as is.”

“Good, at least I have somebody on my side.” He muttered to himself.

“Besides, I’m sure that young detective will tell us aaaall about it the next time she comes to visit Nahyuta.” She continued with mischievous glee and Apollo let out a loud groan.

“Well, they certainly sound like a fun bunch. I can see why you turned out the way you did Herr Forehead.” Klavier called over from where he was making tea in the apartment’s kitchen and Dhurke made a noise of interest.

“Hmm? Is that the young man you were telling us about?”

“Uh, y-yeah, that was Kalvier.” The attorney quietly replied, cupping his had around the speaker to try and muffle the man’s booming voice. Damn these two and their impressive hearing. Too little, too late it seemed though, as the musician quirked an eyebrow, looking over at him with a grin.

“Oh, you’ve been talking about me, hmm?” He asked, moving out around the kitchen counter and striding over to lean over the back of the couch. As he did, his loose hair fell like a curtain around the two of them, faces just a breath apart. Apollo felt his own breath stop, feeling suddenly swept up in the intimacy, eyes slowly beginning to slid shut as the older man leaned in, slowly inching their lips closer and closer together...only for the blond to snatch the phone from his hands with an impish smile, quickly pulling back as the red-clothed man gave a choked noise of surprise and made snatch for it. The prosecutor danced back out of his reach, flicking the device onto speaker phone mode and leaning in.

“Well, I hope he hasn’t been telling you too many of my secrets.”

“Oh, I don’t know about that. We’ve heard quite a bit. Once he gets going, well, we don’t really have the heart to stop him.” Dhurke replied, smile evident in his voice.

“And if that picture in his wallet is anything to go by, he’s managed to net himself quite the looker! Way to go AJ!” Datz called once more, and Apollo’s eyes went wide.

“Why were you looking in my wallet?!”

Despite the embarrassment of the situation, he paused when Klavier turned to him with a touched expression, eyes soft.

“You keep a photo of me?” He asked quietly, and Apollo felt his heart warm at the happiness in his voice.

“Um, yeah, maybe...oh would you just give me the phone!” He muttered in return, face warming as he turned sheepish and made a grab for it as the blonde came close. Klavier swept down and pressed a kiss to his forehead as he pressed the phone into the attorney’s hands, pulling back with a soft whisper.

“Gott, ich liebe dich.”

Apollo froze as he let the words roll around in his head, a lovestruck grin slowly spreading across his lips. He was finally pulled from his thoughts by the voice on the phone calling his name.

“Apollo? You there son?”

“Ah, yeah! Yeah, I’m here!” He quickly replied, hearing the man give an amused noise on the other end, voice jovial as he continued.

“Well, he certainly seems like the respectable sort. You’ll have to invite him for a visit sometime soon. What kind of father would I be if I never met the man who my son will be sharing his life with?”

“D-Dhurke!” Apollo squeaked, face flushing brightly as both the old defense attorney and the blonde hovering over his shoulder broke into laughter.

“Aww, is there something you want to tell me Herr Forehead?”

“You are not helping!”

“Well, I’ve used up enough of your time. It’s about time I let you get back to business.” The king finally replied and the boy gave an audible sigh of relief. Finally an end to this embarrassment.

“Yeah, I’m sure those two have plenty of catching up to do.” Datz called and Apollo could practically hear the suggestive eyebrow wiggle in his voice, the young attorney’s face flaring red as his waistcoat.

“DATZ OH MY GOD!”

He had to wait what seemed an eternity for the laughter to settle once more, still hearing Amara and Datz trying to calm themselves in the background as Dhurke finished his chuckling and spoke once more, voice proud.

“Goodnight son.”

Apollo sighed in exasperation or what seemed the millionth time, but couldn’t help the soft smile that crept onto his face.

“Goodnight Dhurke.”

The line clicked off and the young man let out a breath, shaking his head.

“My dad is ridiculous. No, scratch that, my entire family is. That whole damn country in fact.”

“Yes, but you wouldn’t trade them in for the world, would you?” Klavier replied, nudging his head to urge him upright and settling on the couch once he was out of the way. Apollo gave an amused little huff as he was handed a warm mug, soft smile still cemented firmly on his face.

“Heh, you got me there.”

They lapsed into silence as they enjoyed their drinks, simply basking each the presence of each other. As the night went on Apollo felt himself slipping back into the routine he hadn’t even realize he missed. Finish the tea, do the dishes together, shower, keep Klavier from making out with him while he showers so they don’t both slip and die, brush his teeth, riffle through the drawers for some clothes while the blonde does his skin care regiment, find the comfiest space under the covers while he waits.

By the time the singer pulled back the other side of the comforter, Apollo had already begun to doze off, the jet-lag finally catching up with him. Flicking off the light, the two of them settled, the attorney giving a little hum and shifting closer to the chest behind him as an arm wrapped around him. The prosecutor pressed a tired kiss to his neck, nuzzling his hair with a soft whisper.

“Liebling?”

“Mmm? Yeah Klav?” He sleepily mumbled back, teetering on the very edge of sleep.

“Please tell me that photo you have isn’t a Gavineers headshot.”

“What? No! It’s something Trucy took during the party last year.”

“Oh, thank god.”

*

“So then I got into an argument for like two hours with Mr. Are’bal over which show was better, it’s Steel Samurai of course, and then he...Nick are you even listening?”

The woman sitting at the kitchen table pouted as she turned to the man standing in the kitchen, the lawyer giving a quiet laugh.

“Yes Maya, I’m listening.” He replied, keeping an eye on the small pot bubbling on the stove, stirring it occasionally as he assembled various other ingredients. He was making hot chocolate the proper way damn it, no matter how much Maya tried to convince him doing it in the microwave was easier. His reply seemed to pacify the medium and she set back off with her storytelling once more. He listened as she recounted story after story of her time abroad, everything from little happenings to grand misadventures. (“Maya. Maya please tell you didn’t actually let Datz and the Princess talk you into stealing all of Dhurke’s eyepatches and gluing googly eyes onto them.” “Hey, it managed to get Nahyuta and Apollo to laugh themselves to tears, so I don’t see the problem here.”)

Eventually the drink was finished and he carefully poured it into the oversized mugs Trucy had bought him for just such an occasion, topping them both with a frankly unhealthy amount of whipped cream and marshmallows before joining his old friend at the table.

“How have things been over here Nick? Any adventures of your own?” She asked, taking a large sip and grinning at the taste.

“Oh, with these guys around, every day’s an adventure.” He replied, rolling his eyes playfully.

“And how’s about a certain silver fox we all know? How’re things going between you two?” She asked, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively.

“Oh hush you. He’s not even that old.” He rolled his eyes, the girl snickering as he playfully shoved her face away.

“If you really must know, it’s been...good. Better than ever.”

He smiled down into his own drink, swirling it gently around in the cup.

“That court room in Khura'in wasn’t the first time I’ve almost been shot, and it probably won’t be the last, but something about it just...made us realize how much we’ve got to lose.”

He gave a little huff of a laugh, taking a sip.

“So, we’re just living one day at a time. Might as well enjoy the time we got.”

Looking over the rim of his mug, he found Maya smiling warmly at him.

“You’re such a sap Nick.”

“Oh geeze thanks.” He scoffed and she laughed.

“But I think that’s what makes all of us love you so much. You can’t help but give 120 percent all the time. Cause you just care too much not to. It’s the reason you saved me and the reason you saved him... and if there’s one thing I know for a fact, it’s that Miles loves that about you more than anything.”

Phoenix gave a chuckle, giving her a wry smile.

“Who’s the sap now?”

“Oh shut up and drink your hot chocolate.”

With a snicker, he glanced over at the living room. Trucy and Pearl had passed out on the couch together a few hours prior while binging some show (One Upon a something?), and were now collapsed in a tangle of limbs on the cushions, completely dead to the world. They were still speckled with flour and various other ingredients from the cooking spree earlier (Phoenix wasn’t looking forwards to trying  to get those out of the couch fabric), the partially completed efforts of their work waiting on the counter in preparation for being finished in the morning. It wasn’t a perfect system, but it worked.

“Heh, Netflix and Conk Out.” Phoenix muttered in response to one of his daughters especially violent snores, if only to make the woman before him make an equally ridiculous noise as she slapped both hands over her mouth and tried to muffle her laughter. He smirked at her for a moment before his smile softened, eyes going soft.

“I missed you.” He quietly breathed, the words out before he could even realize he was speaking. She didn’t even seem surprised, just smiling softly and reaching out across the table to take his hand.

“I missed you too.”

Phoenix felt his chest warm, a wide smile easing onto his face.

For once, all was right with the world and it felt as though nothing could go wrong.

Tomorrow as going to be perfect.

*

Everything was going wrong.

“Crap, crap, crap...” Phoenix muttered as he ran around the house, the words quickly becoming his personal mantra as he rushed from place to place. Not only had they all slept accidentally slept till 1 in the afternoon after chatting all night, but he’d woken up with dozen less than happy messages from Edgeworth asking where they were. Hell, they hadn’t even gotten up till Detective Gumshoe had come uh knockin in an attempt to find them. And as a reward for his kindness, the poor man was currently getting his arms stuffed with half-finished dishes and various bags of ingredients.

“Ok, just, take those out to the truck. We’ll finish them at the hotel when we get there.”

“Are you sure they’re gonna let us use their kitchen Mr. Nick?” Pearl asked from where she was hurriedly shoving part of the mess on the table into her bag, paying no mind to whether what was falling in was actually hers or not.

“Uh, yeah! I’m sure it’ll be fine Pearls!” He replied with the strained smile that immediately told them all he was bullshitting. Turning his attention back to the task at hand, he rather haphazardly dumped the last of their cold items into the cooler and slammed it shut, eyes scanning over the room.

“Got that, got that, got that, Gummy’s holdin that, goose is getting delivered, ok we’re good to go! Everybody grab your coats and get to the truck!” He shouted, dashing to grab his own from the closet, cooler in hand.

“Daddy!” Trucy chimed in and he paused in his frantic searching to glance at her.

“Huh? Uh, yes Trucy?” He asked, mind going a million miles a minute.

“You’re not wearing a shirt.”

The lawyer froze and glanced down. Huh, would you look at that. Cursing quietly, he handed the cooler to Maya and rushed to the bedroom, reappearing in record time.

“Ok, now let’s go!”

Maya bit back a snort at his appearance (shirt buttoned crookedly so one side of the collar licked his ear while the other nearly dropped off his shoulder, tie lying open over his chest, locket chain somehow tangled in his hair) and made a break for the vehicle as he looked over at the noise. Ignoring her, he snatched up his jacket and rushed to the door, suddenly freezing with a little gasp just as he cleared the threshold, eyes going wide. Spinning on his heel and shooting back inside, they could hear the sound of frantic riffling, then he was back, stuffing something into his pocket as he cleared the step and swung the door shut behind him.

“Ok, everybody ready? We’ve got a lotta dishes to prepare and it’s already...”

He let out another curse as he glanced at his phone. The party started at 6 and his display read 2:30.

“...Detective, I need a favor.”

With a police car leading the way, they got there in record time.

*

“We’re here! We’re here!” The spiky haired attorney cried as they burst through the door, immediately leaning over afterwards and wheezing as he tried in vain to get his lungs to work properly. Sprinting across a parking lot and up a grand staircase was a bit much for him at the moment. The silver haired man standing nearby jumped a bit at their entrance and turned, starting towards them.

“Wright! Where have you been?” Edgeworth exclaimed, tone both one of annoyance and worry as he drew up before the other man.

“Sorry, time...got away from us...Just gotta finish some stuff...then we’ll be...right as rain...” He replied, perking up to plant a peck on the prosecutor’s lips between his wheezes. The older man’s brows narrowed slightly in concern and he wrapped an arm around the other, leading him to a nearby table.

“Alright, alright, just sit down before you pass out.”

He settled the younger man in a chair and sat beside him, watching with a sigh as he chugged a glass of water.

“...I truly was worried about you.”

“I know. I’m sorry for scaring you.” Phoenix replied, lowering the glass and patting the prosecutor’s hand as the man turned to him with an unamused expression.

“I never said scared. But, when I send you multiple text and receive replies to none of them, you can understand my concern.”

As he spoke he went about fixing the buttons on the younger man’s shirt, flushing a bit when the younger attorney turned his head to plant a peck on his knuckles.

“I promise to make it up to you.” Phoenix replied, leaning over to kiss away the furrow in the man’s brow. The prosecutor relaxed against him, letting out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding as Phoenix nuzzled his hair.

“Hmm, we really should get to work on that food though.”

“Ah, that’s right. Very well, I’ll go ask speak with the staff about using the banquet kitch-oh.” Edgeworth moved to stand, only to pause as he glanced past Phoenix. The attorney turned in curiosity to see Pearl smiling sweetly as she spoke with a rather bashful looking bellhop, the man grinning dopily and turning to lead the others to said kitchen.

“Well, that one problem dealt with. Now, were we?” Phoenix smirked, leaning in to steal another kiss. He was stopped short by the hand Edgeworth threw up, the prosecutor giving him a stern look over it.

“No, finish your water then got get started. You can enjoy yourself once everything’s ready.”

“Hmph, killjoy.” The blue clothed man pouted, moodily sipping at his drink.

Eventually he did manage to propel himself up out of the chair, brightening as he made his way through the crowd. Apollo and Klavier having already joined in on decorating, and slipped into the small kitchen. The girls had already taken over the place, the counters littered with ingredients and a number of dishes already cooking away.

“So, you guys need any help back here?” He asked, the girls turning towards him in surprise.

“Ah, there ya are Boss! Though you might have gotten lost.” Athena chimed in. She, Blackquill and Fulbright had arrived a short time ago (Terrwyn unfortunately was stuck home with a cold, but sent her warm greetings), and the girl had immediately stolen away to the kitchen, probably trying to get a head start on tasting the dishes. Evidently she’d been roped into helping instead, if the apron around her waist and the bubbling pot she was stirring was anything to go by.

“Nah, I think we’ve got it handled over here. Maya’s over in there though, so you might wanna ask her.” She jerked her thumb towards a door off to the side and he nodded, carefully avoiding their workspace as he made his way through.

Whatever he was expecting to find when he entered the loading bay, this wasn’t it.

“So, what you up to Miss Mystic?” He asked, eyebrow cocked as he got a better look at the scene. The girl was crouched beside a large wooden crate, examining it in curiosity.

“Tryin to figure out what this thing is. They said it was delivered here earlier for us.”

“Delivered?”

“Do...Do you think it’s that goose we ordered?” She asked, cocking her head and he shrugged.

“Possibly. But why would it be in a crate?”

“Maybe to keep it fresh and warm? It comes cooked after all.”

The woman stood and began rummaging around in the drawer of a nearby cabinet, finally giving a little sound of victory and holding up a crowbar.

“Well, only one way to find out!”

As she sunk the claw into the groove of the crate, Phoenix noticed something. A series of holes were drilled in the lid, scattered evenly across the wood. As though to let air in...

His eyes went wide in realization and he leapt forward just as Maya put her weight down on the bar.

“Maya, wait!”

The lit popped loose with a crack, clattering to the floor, and they froze when they glimpsed the inside. Ever so slowly Maya laid down the crowbar and reached in, carefully picking up the contents and holding it out in front of her.

“Bwak?”

“...That’s a chicken.” Phoenix muttered, and Maya turned to him with a scowl.

“Yeah, no shit Sherlock.” She replied, before turning back to the creature in her hands with a worried look. It was a chicken all right, a big one too, it’s feathers a snowy white. It seemed remarkable calm despite having been sealed in a crate, cocking its head at them and leaning down to gently peck at Maya’s sleeve in curiosity.

“What the heck is it doing here?” She asked, voice squeaking a bit with concealed panic.

“There must have been a mix up when we ordered it.” Phoenix sighed, rubbing a hand over his face in sudden exhaustion. Just when they thought their bad luck was over.

“That seems like a pretty big mix up.” She replied with a sigh. Switching the bird over to one arm, she nudged the lid back into place and set him down. He immediately nestled down, calmly looking around at his surroundings, and Maya gave a little ‘aww’, crouching down to pet his head.

“Well, at least you’re a cute one.”

After a moment her expression darkened once more, biting her lip.

“Ok, but now what do we do? We needed a cooked goose, not a live chicken.”

“Well, we could always just...cook this one.” He offered and she looked over at him in confusion.

“What? Nick, you don’t just cook a chicken feathers and all.” She chided him and he rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, I know that. I spent a few summers on my grandpa’s farm when I was a kid. I know how to clean and de-bone a bird.”

“Yeah, but that implies you’re going to...”

They both paused and slowly turned to stare at the chicken, the creature tilting its head cutely at them and staring back with innocent eyes.

“...Nope.”

“Wait, what?” He asked, turning to the girl in confusion.

“Nope, not doin it. I’ve bonded with this creature. He’s mine now.” Maya shook her head, scooping up the chicken and hugging it to her chest.

“Wha-Maya, you can’t just take it!”

“I paid for it, so I can and will.”

“Where would you even keep it?!”

“I don’t know! The village or something!...You aren’t going to eat my pet Nick!” She replied with a stubborn glare and he gave a groan.

“Alright, fine, fine. Keep the chicken.”

She grinned and nodded in satisfaction, turning the bird and holding it out to look at her.

“Hello chicken. Your name will be...Nugget.”

Phoenix gave a sputtering sound and burst out into laughter, the absurdity of the situation finally getting to him. Maya merely stuck her tongue out at him playfully as he clung to the wall for support, hugging the chicken closer to her.

“Don’t worry Nugget, he’s just jealous.”

“Well, you two certainly seem to be having fun.”

The pair turned to the doorway to find Ema watching them, arms crossed and eyebrow cocked.

“Ah, yeeeeah, things ended up going a bit off the rails.” The attorney replied, rubbing the neck sheepishly as his giggles died down.

“We also seem to be suffering from a severe lack of cooked goose.”

“Say no more. I heard it all through the door anyway. Lucky for you, I know a place a few blocks from here that should be able to hook us up.” She replied, gesturing as though to wave away his worries and Phoenix grinned.

“Ah, that’s the Ema Skye we know and love. Always got a solution up your sleeve.”

“Well, it helps that Sis is useless when it comes to cooking meat, so we have to order in for the holidays a lot. I’ll be back in like 10. Call if you need me.”

With a flip of her hand she exited, music from the next room spilling through for a moment before the door closed.

“Well, that’s one problem on its way to being fixed. Whatcha thing, should we help go and decorate? We need to introduce everyone to Nugget after all.” Phoenix chimed in teasingly.

“Yeah yeah, laugh it up Nick.” Maya snorted, rolling her eyes. Her gaze suddenly lit up with realization and a grin broke across her face.

“Ooo, wait, I just remember something!” She chirped happily, setting Nugget down once more and turning to riffle through a bulky bag nearby. Something about it tickled Phoenixes memory and he tipped his head quizzically. Had he seen that somewhere before? A moment later she turned, arms holding a bundle of cloth and his eyes went wide with horrifying realization.

“Oh no. No, no, no. I know for a fact I hid those last night! How did you-?! ”

“C’mon Nick, time for everybody to get festive.” She sang, stalking closer to him with a positively predatory grin.

“Maya. Maya no.” He whispered fearfully and her grin grew frighteningly wide.

“Maya yes.”

She began to close in on him as Nugget watched, backing the terrified lawyer against the wall as she clutched the bundle.

Oh good god, what menace had he released upon the world?

*

The kitchen door slammed shut behind Apollo as he fled into the kitchen, leaning back against it as he tried to calm his racing heart rate. How had things gone downhill so fast? He looked down at the garment he was now wearing with a groan. It was black, woolen and tacky, with the embroidered image of a dog and the words ‘Bah Humpug!” emblazoned across his chest. It was everything he feared about Christmas themed clothing.

“Ah, so I see she got to you as well Polly?”

He looked up to find Maya and Trucy looking at him with tired amusement, both dressed in only marginally less ugly sweaters. The ginger’s read ‘Merry Christmas, ya filthy animal” and bore the image of some bizarrely buff deer, while the others was decorated with “Meowry Christmas” and a cat wearing a Santa hat.

“Yeah, she’s still out there wreaking havoc. I think some people are holed up in the bathroom, but knowing Maya, that’s not gonna stop her for long.” He replied with a shudder, still hearing the chaos going on outside. The woman had come tearing through the main room a few minutes prior, giggling manically and wielding an overstuffed Santa bag. Apollo had been the closest to the kitchen at the time and thus the first to meet her sweater-y war path, the woman stuffing it on over his head with gusto before moving on to the next victim. Once they’d realized what was happening, most of the others had scattered and run for their lives, many making the mistake of underestimating just how fast the girl could move in geta. Whoever remained was mostly likely getting stalked through the hotel by the woman and her terrible sack of garments like some Christmas-themed horror game.

“Well, not like we can do much about it now. Might as well just bid our time in here till things calm down.” Athena replied with a sigh and shrug, turning back to the pot gently simmering on the stove and giving it a stir as she reached over to tap at something on her phone. The portable speaker on the counter edge began to blare music once more, just as Apollo dimly remembered it had been during his entrance.

“I’ll take your advice! I’ll try to be more nice!”

“Really? You listening to this?” Apollo asked, giving a little laugh and cocking an eyebrow, and Athena spun around to look at him, Trucy seizing the spoon in her stead to keep it from falling.

“What, are you telling me you’ve never heard ‘Dear Evan Hansen’ before Apollo?” She replied and he rolled his eyes.

“Of course I have, who hasn’t? But seriously? This is what you cook to?”

“Oh, you’re just being a Grinch. Besides, fun is the secret ingredient in like half this stuff.” She shot back, hips swinging sassily to the beat as though to egg him on. He let out a chuckle, shaking his head and her eyes glinted playfully, her movements becoming more focused and choreographed as she began to sing along.

“Cause all that it takes is a little re-in-ven-tion!”

She bopped in place a few times before dramatically kicking out a leg, startling Apollo and making Trucy give a laugh.

“It’s easy to change if you give it your att-en-tion!”

“All you gotta do is just believe you can be who you want to be!”

She flung out an arm to point at Apollo, giving a wink and this finally drew a laugh from him, the girl giving a little fist pump of victory.

“Sincerely, Me!”

She smiled cheesily, striking a pose and jerking a thumb towards herself. Apollo gave her some rather sarcastic applause, grinning a bit in spite of himself.

“Very impressive.” He replied and she rolled her eyes. Striding over, she grabbing his hand and pulled him up from where he was leaning against the wall, dragging him towards the open space here she’d been preforming.

“Come on, your turn to dance Mr. Scrooge.” She smirked and Apollo scoffed.

“Pfft, not on your life.”

“Aw come on, have some fun Polly!”

“A-poll-o! A-poll-o!” Trucy chanted, clapping her hands, and the attorney gave a sigh of defeat, voice deadpan as he joined in with the recording.

“Dear Connor Murphy,​”

“Yes, I also miss our talks. Stop doing drugs, just try to take deep breaths and go on walks.”

Despite himself, he found his body bouncing along to the beat, smile growing even as Trucy gave a joking “Heh, no” from her perch on the counter.

“I’m sending pictures of the most amazing trees.” (“No!”)

“I’ll be obsessed with all my forest expertise!” (“Absolutely not.”)

Slipping into character, he threw out an arm to point at Athena, her eyes lighting up.

“Dude, I'm proud of you. Just keep pushing through! You're turning around, I can see!”

“Just wait and see!” She sang in reply, quickly stepping up and unexpectedly pullin him into a spin before the two launched into a series of improvised steps.

“'Cause all that it takes is a little re-in-ven-tion!”

“It’s easy to change if you give it your att-en-tion!”

“All you gotta do is just believe you can be who you want to be.”

“Sincerely, Me!”

“My brother’s hot!” Athena chimed in and Apollo gave her a horrified look as Trucy burst into laughter.

“Well, I think Detective Fulbright would agree with you on that!” She called over and now it was Athena’s to look disgusted. Apollo quickly intervening with more lyrics before the full reality of her brother and his detective getting down and dirty could sink in.

“Dear Evan Hansen,​”

“Thanks for every note you send.”

“Dear Connor Murphy,​”

“I'm just glad to be your friend.” She sang back, shaking off the thoughts. He grabbed her hand and she grinned, the two anchored together as they danced about in a series of hip swings and quick footwork.

“Our friendship goes beyond our average kind of bond!”

Now completely dedicated to the performance, they hugged each other close, before suddenly seeming to realize their position and awkwardly scooting apart.

“But not because we’re gay!”

“No, not because we’re gay!”

“Ha, that’s a lie if I’ve ever heard one!” Trucy snorted and they rolled her eyes.

“We’re close but not that way.”

“That only man that I love is my dad.”

“Pfft, which one?!” Athena chimed in, seeming unable to contain the joke, and he gave her a scowl, shoving her away playfully.

“You're getting better every day.” He sang and she grinned, shoving him back.

“I’m getting better everyday!”

They turned with mischievous twin smirks to Trucy and swooped in, dragging her off the counter and into the dance as she laughed.

“Keep getting better! Every! Daaaaaaay!” They sang, the magician joining in with them at the end. With a whoop the trio jumped along to the music, legs kicking and arms swinging wide as they went along.

“Hey hey hey hey!”

“'Cause all that it takes is a little re-in-ven-tion!

“It’s easy to change if you give it your att-en-tion!

“All you gotta do is just believe you can be who you want to be!

“Sincerely,”

They clung close together, squishing Trucy between them as they cooed jokingly before releasing her with a laugh as they crescendoed.

“Miss you dearly~.”

“Sincerely, Me.”

“Sincerely, Me!”

“Sincerely, Meeeeeeeee!”

“Sincerely, Me!”

They struck a final pose, all breathing heavily and grinning like a bunch of idiots. The music rolled to a stop just in time for them to hear an odd hissing noise and the trio turned to see the nearby pot boiling over, all three giving a squeak and making a dash for it.

“Crap, crap, Ow! Fuck!” Apollo hissed, jerking a seared finger away to suck on as he wrapped a towel around the handle and dragged it off the heat.

“Language.”

They froze at the voice and turned to see Phoenix leaning against the door of the loading area, eyebrow cocked. He too was clad in a sweater, no doubt the first of Maya’s victims, and his was the most ridiculous they’d seen so far, an entire plushy deer head mounted on the front within a wreath.

“...Boss, how much of that did you see?” Athena

“Most of it...do I even want to know?” The attorney asked, giving the tiniest of laughs as they all glanced at each other hesitantly.

“...I’m gonna take that as a no. Well, carry on with your weird musical numbers. I was just passing through.”

“Says the man who I caught listening to Rent on repeat.” Trucy laughed quietly and her father threw a hand dramatically to his chest.

“We swore never to speak of that!”

She stuck her tongue out at him playfully and he grinned, continuing on his way.

“Just try not to burn the place down.”

Slipping out into the banquet room, he found the place in slight disarray, tables pushed at weird angles and the occasional wayward item lying about on the floor. A scattering of people were attempting to right the chaos, all bearing signs of Maya’s rampage. The woman herself was nowhere to be seen however so he emerged from his hiding spot and made a beeline for the silver haired figure redoing the linen on a nearby table.

“Seem you’ve run afoul ol Mrs. Christmas spirit too huh?” He asked, snickering as he leaned around to get a look at the garment she’d chosen for the prosecutor. It read “I like to smile! Smiling’s my favorite!” and was lined hem to collar with images of trees, elfs and candy canes. It was the definition of ironic and one look at the man’s unpleased expression had the spiky haired man in tears of laughter once again. The prosecutor sighed as his partner bend over the table in conniptions, waiting till his giggles calmed down before he spoke.

“Yes, yes, laugh it up. Is the food done at least? Any stragglers should be arriving soon.”

“Yeah, for the most part. Bit of a mix up with the goose though.”

“Ah, yes. Mrs. Fey has been taking quite a bit of pride of showing off her new pet.”

“Yeah, not much I can do about that. Ema is dealing with the rest of it though...she has been gone quite a while though...”

Feeling a tickle of worry up his spine, the spiky haired attorney fished out his phone and dialed her number, frown deepening when the call went straight to her voice mail.

“She’s not answering.” He muttered, brow furrowing and his frame tightened with nervous tension. What could be keeping her? Was there an accident? Was she alright?

Noticing the other man working himself into knots, the prosecutor reached out and rubbed a hand along his shoulder to calm him, voice soft and soothing when he spoke.

“Wright, just think about this logically. I’m sure her battery just died, or something of the like. Ms. Skye is a resourceful young woman. She’ll be fine.”

Phoenix took a deep breath and let it out, feeling the tension drain from him.

“Yeah...Yeah, I’m sure you’re right.”

“Oh, finally emerged from you hidey-hole eh Nick?

They actually flinched a tad at her voice, as though expecting even more sweatery-chaos to be rained down upon them, and turned to see the triumphant prankster striding toward them. The woman of the hour was decked out in her own form of holiday torture and the most gaudy of them all, covered in a visual cacophony of lights, garland and bells, jingling quietly as she walked.

“So, I take it your mission was a success?” Phoenix questioned and she grinned.

“Yep, and I couldn’t have done it without the help of my partner!” She replied and Kay popped out from behind her, grinning equally big and carrying the now empty sack.

“...Kay, how could you?” Edgeworth whispered in betrayal and she puffed out her chest in proud defiance, putting her own sweater on display. It showed the Caped Crusader himself checking over the naughty list, Maya having crossed out one of the names and written “Yatagarasu” in its place.

“The Legendary Thief never turns down a cry for help, no matter how minor!” She declared, grinning widely.

“Also, I promised her cake.” Maya whispered to Phoenix and the man snickered.

“Very honorable of you.” He joked, ruffling the young girls hair. After a moment his expression softened and he stooped down a tad to speak to her face to face.

“Kay, can I actually talk to you alone for a minute?”

This caught the girl off guard and she tilted her head, regarding him questioningly.

“Uh, ok. Fine with me.”

Giving a nod, he quickly herded her off into a corner, leaving Maya and Edgeworth to themselves.

“Do you have any idea what’s going on there?” the prosecutor asked her as the two began to quietly converse, the medium going a shrug and an “I dunno” sort of noise. After a few moments the little thief’s face lit up, looking ecstatically over at Edgeworth for a moment before turning back to the smiling man in front of her and continuing her excited whispers. The prosecutor cocked an eye brow curiously at the exchange. What the hell did that mean? Turning slightly, he caught sight of Maya in his peripheral. She two was grinning widely with pride, and his eyes narrowed in suspicion.

“...You know something.” He muttered and her grin grew even wider as she rocked back and forth on her heels.

“Maaaaaybe.”

“I’m never going to get a straight answer out of any of you people, am I?”

“I’d bet my money on it.”

He gave a sigh as the two strolled back over, trying their best to even their expressions.

“Are you two done?” The prosecutor asked, cocking an eyebrow with a deadpan look and the two glanced at each other, almost breaking out into grins once more before stopping themselves.

“For the time being, yeah. Soooo...”

With that, the attorney flopped down into a nearby chair, Kay quickly following his lead.

“Now we just gotta wait for Ema to return and hope whoever you terrorized during your little sweater quest will eventually wander back.”

“Hey, I didn’t scare them that bad...probably.” The medium replied, dropping beside him. All Edgeworth added to the conversation was another sigh as he rubbed at the quickly growing headache in his temples.

Maya wasn’t exactly wrong as it turns out. Over the next half an hour or so, most of the party did indeed come trickling back into the room. Most were sporting tacky new apparel, while a select few had been lucky enough to avoid the woman’s war path long enough for her to run out. (And then there was Fulbright, who seemed to proudly be wearing two sweaters at once, the second Blackquill’s no doubt, by the way the samurai seemed to be keeping an eye on Maya and a hand on his sword hilt at all times.)

They were almost on their third bottle of sparkling juice when Wright phone buzzed on the table, the lawyer jumping a bit before snatching it up. He sighed in relief when he saw “Skye” flicker across the caller ID and quickly answered.

“Hey Ema! I was calling you earlier. Did you have to go to another shop or something? It’s been way longer than 10 minutes.” He jokingly chided her.

The deep laugh on the other end though, far too deep to ever come from Ema, made him freeze.

“Oh, now this is perfect.”

At the darkly amused lilt of their voice, Phoenix felt himself tense.

“W-Who is this? Why do you have Ema’s phone?”

“Ah, so her name is Ema. Pretty name for such a pesky girl.”

Phoenix bristled. He’d heard words far too similar to that during his cases and they made a cold ball of dread fall into his gut. As though on instinct he rose to his feet, the others looking over at him in confusion, his brow furrowed deep in concern and tone one of barely concealed anger when he spoke.

“Where is she? What did you do to her?

“Oh don’t worry. The little detective is fine...for now.”

A shudder went through him as his fears rang true. This was a ransom call.

“...What do you want?” He gritted out, trying his best to keep his voice even and calm.

“Ah, right to the point! I like that. What we want...is you Mr. Wright.”

“...What?” He whispered, and his look of cold shock brought Miles to his feet.

“Phoenix? What’s happening?” He asked, tone steady and concerned, but the attorney was too distracted with the voice on the other end to even register him.

“I will send you an address. Come there in the next hour, or the else.”

“What? But-”

“Bring that silver-haired fop with you as well.”

Phoenix’s blood ran cold, eyes going wide as he glanced over at Edgeworth.

“No, no, leave him out of this. Whatever this is about, he’s had no part in it.” He replied, voice shaking and fearful gaze spurning the other man closer in concern. The kidnapper’s dark chuckle sent a fresh shudder through him.

“Heh, you’d be surprised. The prosecutor comes.”

At that his fear turned to anger and he grit his teeth, phone creaking in his grip as he trembled and squeezed it.

“You bastard...”

“Oh, and if we get a single whiff of you bringing cops, the girl pays the price. You have an hour.”

“Wait-!”

The line went dead and a new wave of dread washed through him as the screen flashed with a text.

“Nick, what’s happening?” Maya beckoned him, tone panicked, and he looked up to see everyone having gathered around.

“Ema...Ema’s being held hostage.” He announced, voice shaking and a number of gasps rang out across the gathered crowd.

“What?! But why?!” Athena cried.

“I don’t know, but they want Miles and I. They said that if we come to them, they’ll release her.” He admitted and the groups faces pales.

“What?!” Gumshoe shouted, shoving to the front of the crowd and causing Phoenix to jump. He hadn’t even realized the detective had returned already, yet here he was, sweating and pale with the information.

“Pal, you can’t! I might not know a ton about ransoms, but I know a trap when I see one! And this is defiantly a trap!”

“I know that! But we can’t just leave Ema with them! If we don’t go to the address they gave me within the hour, they’re gonna...well they didn’t say what they’re gonna do, but it can’t be good!”

“Well then let’s go rescue her! Detective Gumshoe and I will call for back up and we’ll head over there right away!” Fulbright announced with a nod, reaching for his phone. Before he could dial though Phoenix grabbed him by the arm.

“No, wait! They said that if they see any cops, they’ll kill her!”

Miles gave a deep sigh beside him, settling a hand on Phoenix’s shoulder.

“Then, as much as we may hate it, we’ll have to play by their rules.”

Phoenix nodded and slipped his hand into the prosecutors, turning towards the door.

“Then, let’s go.”

Before he could even make it a step, Maya seized him by the sleeve and yanked him back.

“No! No way am I letting you go in there alone Nick! If you go, I go too.”

A chorus of voices agreed, Wright looking from face to face in concern.

“No, you guys, you can’t-”

“And why not?”

He turned to where Blackquill had drawn up beside his detective, gaze sharp and focused.

“According to you, there fiends only ever mentioned the exclusion of police, not other companions.”

“He’s not mistaken.” Edgeworth gently prodded him.

“I know you’re worried about Ema, but we must think about this strategically. We’ll have a much better chance against whatever these ruffians may be planning if we have the advantage of numbers.”

Phoenix stared at him for a moment, conflicted, before giving a long exhale.

“I hate it when you’re right.”

Shaking his head as though to clear it, he looked up with new determination in his gaze.

“Alright. Maya, Blackquill, Apollo and Klavier, you come with us. You too Athena, your hearing might be helpful. The rest of you, stay here with the detectives. If we’re not back soon, send in back up.”

“Daddy, wait! I can-!” Trucy began, stilling when Phoenix shot her a stern look.

“No, I don’t want you in danger if things go sour. Stay here and hold down the fort.”

“You as well Kay.” Edgeworth chimed in, mirroring his partners expression, and the girls glanced at each other in concern as the rescue team began to ready themselves.

Bringing up the trade-off coordinates on his phone, Phoenix jumped as a hand settled on his shoulder, turning to find Miles gazing at him with a gentle expression.

“Phoenix, calm down.”

The defense attorney blinked at him a few times, suddenly growing aware of the shudders still wracking his body. His head fell and he took a few deep breaths, staring down at the carpet as his face screwed up in worry.

“Miles...what if we can’t...?”

He trailed off as the prosecutor stroked a thumb back and forth against his neck, stepping closer to comfort the younger man.

“We’ll going to bring her home. I promise you that.”

“...God I hope you’re right.”

*

“So this is the place huh? Certainly seems sinister enough.” Apollo sneered, looking up at the building before them.

The directions had lead them out to the industrial area of town, the salty air of the nearby bay blowing in as they stood before their chose destination. It was a warehouse (because whenever was it not a warehouse in these situations?); a small one, admittedly, but still obscure and hidden away amongst all the larger buildings around. The prefect place to hide a person.

“I’ve got bad feeling about this.” Maya grimaced as she climbed out of the truck.

“Have you got any sort of plan Nick? You know, other than “Get Ema and try not to die”?”

“Umm...” The lawyer replied, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly and the woman sighed.

“Of course not.”

“In a situation like this, it would be best to stay together.” Blackquill offered and Wright nodded.

“It’s better than nothing. Now we need to-“

“Ah!”

The small cry and the thud of something hitting the road caused the group to turn, finding a familiar little magician now laying on the pavement, another small figure half leaned out of the now open trunk, frozen halfway through her attempt to stop her companions tumble. Both stowaways slowly looked up at the groups shocked faces, Trucy giving a nervous little giggle.

“Heh, hi Daddy.”

“T-Trucy! Kay! What are you doing here!?” Phoenix cried, snapping out of his stupor and rushing over to them. Kay helped her friend up and the two glanced sheepishly down at the road, biting their lips and looking at each before shrugging and facing back towards at their respective father figures.

“We...We couldn’t let you do this alone.” Trucy finally admitted, holding up a finger when Phoenix moved to speak.

“We know you two just want to try and keep us out of the crossfire, because you care. But if something does happen, we want to be here for it.”

The man stared at the two for a long moment before smiling softly.

“You two are such troublemakers. Edgeworth?”

He turned to the other man and the prosecutor gave deep sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“It’s not like we could stop them if we wanted anyway.”

The two girls gave little sounds of victory and Phoenix stood, gathering everyone up and turning once more toward the building. From what he could see, the only visible entrance seemed to be the front door. Straight into the lion’s den it was then.

“Alright, everybody stay together and keep aware of your surroundings. Let’s go.”

With that, he reached out and grabbed the doorknob.

It was unlocked and the room beyond was dim. It wasn’t a particularly large room, probably about 40 feet square, with rows of cabinets and benches cluttering the shadowed walls, a few flickering florescent bulbs casting a meager glow over its center. Across from them in the gloom, they could see a single door, both unassuming and yet also sinister. They’re footsteps seemed almost dulled by the darkness as they cleared the doorway and gingerly made their way inside.

“Athena, do you hear anything?” Phoenix breathed and the girl closed her eyes for a moment.

“Yeah, I...I think there’s something...”

Her head suddenly leaned to one side for a moment and her eyes snapped open, jerking around to look into the shadows.

“Oh, no.”

The door slammed shut behind them, cutting off what little moonlight from the street had been trickling in, and the group spun around, finding a large burly man glaring at them beside it. As they watched close to a dozen people emerged from their hiding spots in the shadows, each one easily described as a goon. As they closed in, the group huddled together, back to back as they looked frantically from man to man.

“Who are you?! Where’s Em-!?” Phoenix began, cut off by the loud creak of hinges opening.

“Alright, calm down boys. It’s not time for fun just yet.”

Turning to face the newcomer, Wright froze.

“Wha-?...Jack?”

The tall well-dressed man before them gave a chuckle as the door closed behind him, one of the baddies taking up guard in front of it as he strode toward them.

“No, I’m afraid not Mr. Wright. My brother and I do share quite the striking resemblance though don’t we?”

“Wait, you’re his...But the police...”

“They couldn’t find him.”

The growl came from between gritted teeth and they turned to find the silver haired prosecutors face stormy, eyes narrowed in fury.

“Following the trial, the police were deployed to retrieve one Gibson Collins, and yet were unable to locate him upon arrival at the brothers’ place of living. Detective Gumshoe informed me of such this morning.”

“That’s the fun thing about having no one think you’re a witness; No one thinks to keep tabs on you either.” The twin replied with a smile, his expression one of calm amusement.

“But...why would you do this?” Phoenix questioned him and the man’s smile grew a bit wider.

“Ah, that’s the question of the hour now isn’t it?”

With that he began to pace back and forth before them, the rest of his goons backing up a bit to give them some space.

“Well, you see, the bar has always been a good source of financing for we and our boys more, let’s say, ‘underground’ pastimes.” He replied, waving a hand about dramatically, and Phoenix felt a shudder of dread go through him. If what he was imply was true, they’d just leapt into a far deeper pool than they’d intended.

“So, you can see why the fact that you not only shut down the place but also locked away my brother-!”

The last bit came out a snarl, the man’s whole frame tightening in anger before he caught himself and relaxed, the mask of calm amusement sliding back into place.

“...Might make us a bit upset.”

“Alright, I get it, you’ve got a grudge. What does that have to do with Ema?” Phoenix replied, and the man gave a shrug.

“To be honest, little. Some of the boys recognized her from the trial while they were out and brought her to me. When I first saw her, oh, I was mad alright, furious even. After all, she is the one who dug up that piece of evidence for you.”

He chuckled, unfolding his hands from behind his back to gesture grandly.

“But then we realized she could serve a much more useful purpose.”

“You could use her to lure Edgeworth and the boss here.” Athena pipped up and the man grinned.

“Ooo, quite the sharp mind, that one. A perfect bullseye.”

“But what do you get out of all of this? What do you intend to accomplish by bringing us here?” Miles replied, moving Athena behind him slightly as he stepped up beside his partner. The smirk the man sent them was enough to send shivers down all their spines as he spoke.

“Oh, it’s quite simple really. I only want to keep things fair. Because of you pair, two precious things were taken from me...”

For a moment, he was a blur of movement, then suddenly the dim light was glinting off the steel of his pistol, the barrel pointed directly at the two men.

“...so I’m going to take two from you. Your lives should do.”

“...You can’t be serious.” Apollo blurted out in shock, and the man’s charming façade spilled away, his face now deathly serious.

“Oh, I’m quite serious, I assure you.”

The grin made a return performance as he cocked back the hammer, but this time it looked like it belonged to the devil himself.

“Now, I advise you gentlemen say your prayers. Hope you haven’t got any unfinished bui-”

Before he could finish the sentence, there was a resounding crack from the door behind him. It bowed outwards for a moment, the metal of the hinges screeching before finally giving way. The whole thing went flying, taking out the man standing guard next to it before hitting the ground and skidding off into a corner. As the dust cleared they all turned to see a familiar figure standing in the empty doorway, leg still raised in position.

“Ok, who’s next!?...Oh, hey, you guys actually came!...What the hell are you wearing?”

“Now is really not the time Ema!” Phoenix shot back, flushing as he suddenly remembered their outrageous state of attire.

“Wha-?! How did you get out?! We had 4 guys guarding you!” One of the lackeys squawked and the detective grinned wolfishly.

“Yeah, well now there’s 4 guys in need of some basic first aid back there. So, which of you idiots wants to join the- Ah!”

The girl gave a little cry as she was grabbed from behind, an arm wrapping around her collarbone and pinning her back against Gibson’s chest. She struggled, reeling back a leg to try and kick at him, but froze when the cold barrel of his gun pressed against her temple.

“Anyone take a single step and little miss detective here gets it!” He growled and the whole room stilled, all eyes on him. He smirked and slowly scrolled his gaze of them, eyes hopping from on frightened face to the other.

“Now then, here’s how things are going to go. Wright and the fop are going to take a little ride with me and the boys, we give the rest of you the girl, and then you never see our faces again. Doesn’t that sound nice? Now then, if you’ll just come along quietly we can get this over-“

The thug paused, eyes narrowing in confusion as he scanned once again over the group, silently mouthing numbers as he counted them.

“Wait, where’s the little witch ki-?”

He let out a startled cry as Trucy dropped onto his back from her hiding place in the rafters, grabbing at his arm and twisting the gun out of his hand.

“Ema, run! And I’m a magician damn it!” She shouted, and the other girl slipped from his grip, the captor’s face screwing up in rage as she escaped.

“Get off of me you little brat!” He growled, reaching back with his free arm and grabbing Trucy by the scruff of her neck. He hefted and she flew forward over him, slamming to the ground on her back with a choked noise of pain, all the air knocked out of her. The man ignored her, looking from side of side in a bid to spot his former prisoner.

“Damn it, where did she-?!”

A crack resounded through the air as he turned just in time to see the flash of blue before him and meet the fist coming towards his face. He toppled with a cry, clutching his likely broken nose.

“Gah! Who-!”

He looked up to see Phoenix towering over him, the man’s face wild and eyes filled with a near demonic light, his voice a rage-filled growl when he spoke.

“Don’t you dare touch my daughter.”

With that, the place descended into chaos.

Gibson dove for his gun, but like a bolt of lightning Kay was across the room, kicking it out of his reach. In a glimmer of sparks it skittered away across the floor and disappeared beneath a set of heavy cabinets. He snarled and she leapt clear of his grasp before he could get a hold on her, getting in a solid blow at his fingers with the steel toe of her boot for good measure. Edgeworth used the distraction to hoist Trucy off the floor and out of harm’s way, slipping behind Phoenix as the attorney squared off against one of the other baddies. As though on cue, more of the kidnapper’s underlings burst through the now doorless doorway, bruises and scrapes gained during Ema’s escape already beginning to show.

“Gib, we tried to grab her but- whoa, what’s happenin?!”

“Ugh, don’t just stand there you idiots! Get them!” The twin yelled and they leapt into action, joining their companions and closing in on the group.

“Wright-dono, there isn’t enough room to defend ourselves in here. We will be overrun if we don’t move now.” Blackquill muttered to him as they were herded together and he gave a nod of agreement. Fumbling behind him, he finally found the handle of the door and quietly clicked it open. He glanced around at his companions, the others quickly seeming to catch on and nodding their agreement. In a flash of speed he threw the door open and took a swing at the nearest enemy, the others following suit, before spinning on his heel, distraction in place.

‘Everybody outside!!”

They flooded through the open doorway and out into the crisp coldness of the street, the enemy faltering for just a moment under their attacks before giving chase. Maya brought up the rear, giving a choked gasp of surprise as she was seized by the back of the shirt and pulled backwards, an obnoxiously tall lackey lifting her off the ground. Her eyes narrowed and with a quiet growl she spun around, the fabric of her sweater twisting in his grip, and drove her geta into his stomach. His eyes bulged and his knees buckled, dropping to the ground and doubling over as he tried desperately not to be ill. His grip didn’t fully release however, so she simply let herself go limp, slithering out of the garment and darting away to safety.

“See, aren’t you glad I bought these damn things now!?” She shouted over to Phoenix and he rolled his eyes, reaching behind his neck and yanking his own off over his head.

“Yeah, real glad! Now just keep fighting!”

With that he balled up the garment and reeled back his arm, launching the weighty bundle at a goon who’s gotten the upper hand on Klavier, dragging the singer back towards him by the hair. The flying plushy deer head took the baddie by surprise and he reeled as he was struck in the face with the projectile, releasing the prosecutor as he stumbled back and fell. The young man shouted a bit of thankful German to Wright before delivering a firm kick to the fallen man’s head, knocking him out cold.

Looking around, Phoenix took stock of the situation. Despite the circumstances, the rag-tag team of rescuers were actually holding their own pretty damn well. Trucy had produced one of her stage swords from somewhere and teamed up with Blackquill, the two easily holding off several men at once with a series of sharp jabs and flourishes. On the other end of things, Kay and Apollo were taking a more physical approach, the girl using her speed to trip their enemies up, leaving them for Apollo to take out with all those skills he’d learned from his years in the mountains. As for Athena , she was...well, being Athena, and as he watched she grabbed a man twice her size and tossed him a good 10 feet down the street, the other baddies backing away from her as she turned in search of new targets. Even Taka was doing his part, circling and dive-bombing anyone who got too close to Ema while the girl took cover behind the truck. As he himself took down another person, Wright felt himself grin. They might just win this.

His internal celebration was cut off however by a sharp crack and he flinched as something ricochet off the light pole beside him. Turning to its origin, he found a battered Gibson nearby. He’d been partially successful in swiping away the blood dripping down his face, though it did little to hide the fact that his nose was most defiantly broken, and it only seemed to intensify the rage on his face as he pointed the pistol once more at Phoenix.

“I don’t care what else happens, you’re still going to die tonight!”

His roar sent a wave of dread through the spiky haired man, eyes flickering from place to place in search of escape as the madman took aim.

“Gibson, please. You don’t have to do thi-” The attorney began, only for his blood to run cold as the hammer clicked back once more.

“Say goodbye Mr. Lawye-”

He gagged on the last word as an elbow abruptly wrapped around his neck from behind, choking him out. Quick as the first, another arm came around and seized the hand wielding the gun, twisting it to a painful angle and forcing him to drop the weapon. He gave a hoarse cough as his throat was released, hacking and heaving as he tried to get his windpipe working once more.

“Wha-?”

The word hadn’t even left his lips before the seized arm was being twisted tight behind his back, the attackers elbow planting itself between his shoulder blades. A sharp kick to his knees and he went down like a sack of bricks, head striking the street with a crack and body stilling.

“I think not.” Edgeworth replied, rising to his feet and brushing the dirt from his sweater. He turned in Phoenix’s direction with a concerned expression, starting towards the man.

“Wright, did he-?”

He paused when he properly saw the defense attorney. If the spiky haired lawyer had looked lovestruck around him before, that his expression now was on a whole new level. His cheeks were flushed and mouth hanging slightly agape, eyes wide with awe. He even had a hand pressed over his heart and despite the dire situation Edgeworth couldn’t help but let out a little laugh.

As though the spell had been broken, the remaining minion cried out to their leader, some rushing over to check on him while others continued their own battles. Shaking his head at the chaos, the prosecutor nodded towards the brawl and looked over at his partner.

“Shall we?”

Phoenix’s face broke into a wide smirk and he pushed up his sleeves as they started once more into the fray.

“Gladly.”

They’d just reached the action and were reeling back to join in on the fun when...

“EVERYBODY FREEZE!”

The whole battle did just that, everyone turning like deer in the headlights to look at the actual headlights now illuminating the area. As they watched the cop stepped out from behind the squad car door amongst the flashing lights they’d somehow failed to notice earlier, lowering his firearm slightly as several more squad cars pulled up as well.

For lack of a better idea, Phoenix smiled and did what he did best.

“Ah, hello officer. It’s a long story...”

*

“This is not how I imagined I’d be spending Christmas Eve.”

Phoenix sent Maya a deadpan look, everything about his expression and body language just seeming to scream “really?”.

“Yes Maya, I’m sure none of us expected to be spending Christmas Eve in a jail cell.”

The girl gave a shrug the best she could considering she was currently laying upside-down on one of the benches, her legs propped up flat against the wall to form a sort of ‘L’. Across the cell from her, Blackquill gave a snort.

“Speak for yourself Wright-dono.” He rumbled with a wry grin and the attorney winced slightly at the dark humor.

When the police had arrived earlier, they’d though it a blessing, backup sent by the others. That assumption quickly died however when it was announced that they were all charged with disorderly conduct and the conflicting groups were arrested. As it turns out, a spectator had overheard the conflict from their apartment and called the cops, who arrived to the fight having spilled out into the street. He and the others had tried their best to explain the situation, Edgeworth even going as far as pulling his rank as Chief Prosecutor, but twas not to be. The officers remained just as confused about the whole thing as before and they were all promptly wheeled off to the local precinct.

They had been stuck in one of the holding areas a few hours prior, to “simmer down” they’d been told, and then more or less left to their own devices. His own group was split between two different cells, the two sharing a center wall and for the most part had submitted to their fate. (Gibson and his boys had been shoved into a different area entirely, presumably to prevent the two factions from squabbling, and Phoenix thanked the lord for small mercies.) Miles, Trucy, Kay and himself shared one, while the others were scattered around the other, some sitting or lying across the few wide wooden benches available, while others simply sat slumped against whichever available surface. The open iron bars surrounding them at least allowed for easy communication and sight of their surroundings, even if the fact that most of the lights had been switched off for the night limited the latter. The only one of them who hadn’t been locked up was Ema, who’d been taken in for questioning when she mentioned being kidnapped. That had been hours ago however, so who knew what was happening here.

“Ugh, Dhurke is gonna have a field day if he ever finds out about this.” Apollo muttered to himself, Athena chuckling and nudging him with her foot.

“Is that a challenge I hear?”

“Athena, I swear to god I will kill you myself.”

Kalvier gave a little laugh and continued stroking a hand over the younger man’s hair, the defense attorney giving a grumpy grumble and leaning over more heavily against the others thigh.

“What about you Maya? Was this enough of a winter adventure for ya?” Kay called over and the woman tapped a finger against her lips thoughtfully.

“Hmm...could have used more Steel Samurai.”

The chorus of laughter that rang through the room was soon interrupted by the creak of the nearby door opening and they turned to find two familiar faces entering, looking surprisingly chipper despite the circumstances.

“Hello! How’s everybody holding up in here?” Fulbright asked, as white and gleaming as usual in the dim light of the holding area.

“About as well as someone in holding can be.” Phoenix replied from his position leaned back against the shared bars, arms folded behind his head.

“Good to hear! Just let us know if there’s anything we can get you folks! I’d hate for you to be any more uncomfortable than necessary while you’re stuck here.” The detective cheerfully declared, eyes sweeping over the accidental prisoners. His gaze softened as he looked over at Blackquill, the samurai leaned back in one of the corners with Taka in his lap, and moved over to crouch beside him.

“Simon, are you doing alright?” He gently asked, reaching through the bars to touch his cheek, and the prosecutor sighed in mild exasperation.

“I spent 10 years behind bars, Foolbright. I believe I can handle one night.” He replied, his voice one of mock annoyance even as he leaned his head into the touch.

“I know, I know.” The detective admitted with a sigh, stroking a thumb over the man’s cheekbone.

“I just hate seeing you in here. I’m sure Wyn does too. Heh, she said she was gonna stay up all night and wait till we get home when I called to let her know earlier.”

This brought a tiny smirk to the prosecutor lips, the man giving a little huff of laughter.

“As though she doesn’t do that regularly anyway.”

“How’s about you Mr. Edgeworth?” Gumshoe asked, brow furrowing in concern.

“You doin ok?”

“I shall be fine Detective. Do you have any updates on our release?”

“Sorry pal, nada. This whole this is just a big mess, and the rest of the guys are still tryin to put together all the pieces.”

The silver haired man sighed and nodded in understanding. This section of the city was technically under the jurisdiction of the precinct they were currently trapped in, a separate one from that of their friends, creating a new legal hurtle to leap in order to sort this whole mess out. They’d been lucky the two detectives had even been allowed to help in the attempt, considering how convoluted the rules of this sort of thing tended to get.

“Well, please just inform us promptly if there’s any changes.”

“Course Mr. Edgeworth sir. Sooner we can get you guys out of here, the sooner ya can get home and celebrate the holidays.”

The door clicked open once more, an unfamiliar young man leaning out and calling for the trench-coated man.

“Ok, be there in a sec! Well, duty calls!” Gumshoe chimed, giving them all a little salute before marching off after the stranger.

It was quiet for a few minutes, the only sounds punctuating the darkness being the occasional noise from Taka and Fulbright soft whistling as he kept an eye on them. At first it was peaceful, but soon the awkward air about the scene began to get to them, Athena finally giving a loud sigh and breaking the silence.

“Well, hey, if there’s one good thing that’s come out of this whole thing, at least we can claim the title of “Most Adventurous Lawyers”, right Boss?...Boss?” she joked, cocking an eybrow when he failed to reply, seemingly lost in thought.

“...Hey, Fulbright? What time is it?” the blue clothed man suddenly asked and the detective gave a hum, fishing out his phone.

“Let’s see...says here that it’s 11:55. Almost Christmas everybody!”

The defense attorney stared up at the ceiling thoughtfully for a moment before sighing, unfolding the arms tucked behind his head and sitting up.

“Well, now’s as good a time as any, I suppose.”

Shifting up into a knelling position, he reached over and took Miles’ hand. The prosecutor made a little noise of surprise and the others turned towards them, watching as Phoenix gently held it between his own.

“Edgeworth, I’ve been meaning to say this for a long time but...thank you.”

The other man’s head tilted curiously, one side of his mouth quirking up in confused amusement.

“Thank you? For what?”

“For everything.” He replied, expression going soft.

“Without you, I‘d never have become a lawyer. I wouldn’t never have met Mia, or any of the others. I’d never have been able to save anyone. Without you, I’d never be where I am today. Who I am today. I’ve never been more thankful for anything than I am for the fact that you’re here with me...You’re everything to me.”

For a moment his face fell a bit and he released the man’s hand with a sigh, looking down at the ground with sad eyes.

“And to be honest...I’m really not sure I deserve you. That I’ll ever deserve you.”

With a half-huffed laugh, the prosecutor reached down and stroked the other lawyers hair, running his fingers through the silky strands and moving down to cup his cheek. He tilted the man’s face up to look at him, smiling softly.

“Don’t be daft Wright. You know that’s not true.”

The defense attorney gave a chuckle, gaze warm and loving as he looked up, leaning into the touch and nuzzling the man’s wrist.

“I had the feeling you’d say that.” He muttered, hand drifting down to his hip.

With that, he tugged out the item he’d been lugging around in his pocket all night, staring at it thoughtfully as he turned it over and over in his hands. The bench clattered back against the wall as Miles suddenly stood, wide eyes fixed on the small object. Something in his gaze told Phoenix the puzzle pieces were coming together and the spiky haired man took a deep breath to quiet the minuscule shaking that jittering over his frame. In, out, in out. Come on Phoenix, it’s just like being in court. No backing down now.

“So, I guess what I’m trying to ask is...”

He held his breath and flipped the little velvet box open, Miles sucking in a breath of his own as the dim light illuminated the object within.

Two hoops of gold encircled a tangle of silver filigree, polished and gleaming even in the dimness. Imbedded in the very top was a deep magenta stone, flanked on either side by smaller silvery-purple ones, each almost seeming to glow.

He waited for just a moment, hearing the various gasps echo through the holding area, before looking up at the shocked face above him, smiling gently as he gazed at the man.

“Miles Edgeworth, will you marry me?”

For a one terrible, suspenseful moment, the man simply stood and stared at him, gaze wide with shock and disbelief. Then the tiniest of smiles snuck onto his face, a quiet, relieved laugh bubbling up in his throat as bright grey eyes gleamed wetly. The next moment his knees hit the ground, Phoenix having just enough time to draw a breath before a hand again slid into his hair and their lips were slammed together.

He could barely hear the cheers around him through the pure relief buzzing through his head, grinning wide as he wrapped his arms around the prosecutor and pulled him tight against his chest. They knelt there for a long few seconds, each soaking up the presence of the other, every care in the world getting thrown out the window. Then the silver haired man gently pulled away, head dropping down to rest against the youngers chest with a teary chuckle, smile wide and brilliant.

“Of course I will, you fool.”

Planting a kiss on his crown, Phoenix reached down and took the prosecutor’s hand, stroking a thumb along the top as he wrestled the ring out of the box with the other hand, nearly dropping it a few times before he finally manage to slid it into its rightful place.

“For once, I must commend your sense of style. You picked well.” Miles chuckled, twisting his hand this way and that so the sparse light glittered off of it.

“Ha, you’d think.” Maya laughed.

“Poor Nick could barely figure out the difference between an amethyst and an emerald. Took us forever to get everything picked out. Why do you guys think we were missing for so long during that shopping trip?”

“...So much suddenly makes sense.” Athena whispered, staring up at the ceiling, eyes wide with dawning realization.

Rolling his eyes, Phoenix took his partner’s, his fiancée’s, face in his hands and swiped away the tears still rolling down his cheeks, pressing their foreheads together with a soft smile. Before he could get any further though, a shadow washed over them. Looking up, they found Kay hanging over them, having climbed the cell bars, arm outstretched and holding a sprig with white berries.

“W-Where did you even get that?” Phoenix asked, cocking his head in confusion, and Blackquill quietly chuckled, stroking a very smug looking Taka. Mile merely shook his head, lifting an eyebrow with a mildly amused look.

“So, you’ve been plotting against me as well, hmm?” He asked and the girl grinned impishly.

“Maaaaaybe~”

With a giggle, she leaned down beside him, loose hair draping around them as she whispered in his ear.

“By the way, he already asked for my blessing. Go be happy Miles.”

She planted a peck on his cheek before quickly leaning back and he stared after her, gaze softening.

“Kay...”

Whatever he was about to say was interrupted by the distant toiling of the bell tower in the distance. There was a flicker of light in the dimness as a phone was clicked on.

“Midnight, right on the dot. You know what that means.” Fulbright announced, wide grin illuminated by his screen.

“C’mon lovebirds, don’t keep us waiting.” The little thief chimed in, shaking the mistletoe cheekily. The two couldn’t help the laughter that bubbled up in their throats as the younger reeled the other back in. Their noses brushed together as he leaned in, letting out a murmur against the man’s lips.

“Merry Christmas Miles.”

“Heh...Merry Christmas Phoenix, you lovable fool.”

Sweater references-

Maya: https://mom.me/lifestyle/15860-best-ugly-christmas-sweaters-ever/item/man-ugly-christmas-sweater/

Phoenix: https://www.halloweencostumes.com/reindeer-head-ugly-christmas-sweater.html

Apollo: https://www.target.com/p/women-s-bah-humpug-long-sleeve-ugly-christmas-sweater-well-worn-juniors-black/-/A-52481902

Athena: https://www.amazon.com/Christmas-Sweater-Alone-Filthy-Animal/dp/B00AEVVQZS

Trucy: https://images.prod.meredith.com/product/ea7622bf8e9baeaeeee04071730dc38a/1510243387130/l/new-directions-cloverfield-6051-green-red-meowy-christmas-sweater

Miles: https://www.amazon.com/Festified-Smilings-Favorite-Christmas-Sweater/dp/B01EIG2OSC

Kay: https://www.80stees.com/products/naughty-list-batman-faux-ugly-christmas-sweater

Klavier: https://www.myuglychristmassweater.com/products/reindeer-vintage-80s-light-up-christmas-sweater-g513

Blackquill: https://www.belk.com/p/new-directions-penguin-with-glasses-sweater/0438593253761.html?CAWELAID=500001660011494316&c3ch=CSE&c3nid=Meredith&cm_mmc=CSE-_-Meredith-_-Women%20%3E%20Petite%20Clothing%20%3E%20Sweaters-_-0438593253761&irgwc=1

Fulbright: https://www.halloweencostumes.com/christmas-present-ugly-christmas-sweater.html

Pearl: https://www.popsugar.com/moms/photo-gallery/42696794/image/42696828/Light-Up-Reindeer-Sweater

Name puns!-

Festos Teatrale: References the descriptive title ‘festas teatrale’ (theatrical festivity) which is used for dramatic and musical works, often those of a celebratory nature.

Jack Collins: A combined reference to the Jack Rose and Brandy Coillins cocktails.

Gibson Collins: Refers to the Gibson cocktail and same as above.

Terrwyn/Wyn (Terrwyn Encontrar): A pun on the term ‘harrowing encounter’ cause of backstory stuff.

Aria's song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2Kh_XMIDPU

Festos's song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsiWOp-ImoE&t=135s

And the song that the kitchen trio sung was ‘Sincerely, Me” from ‘Dear Evan Hanson’, which is an amazing musical and you should all listen to it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOYAA13Bm9M

#aass2017 #ace attorney #wrightworth #klapollo #blackbright #There's no way in hell I'm tagging all these characters #My writing #secret santa