#Phoenix had been through a lot even before he became a lawyer

[hyperfixatinator]

I've seen headcanons of Phoenix Wright having heterochromia; either due to him being born with it or due to head trauma via fire extinguisher in AA2. They often come with headcanons of why he'd hide them with colored contacts, of course.

But I haven't heard anyone bring up the headcanon of Phoenix's eye turning blue because of Dahlia's bottle pendant.

First off, the poison Dahlia used had possible side effects including loss of pigmentation and eye damage. This is evident in Diego Armando's hair turning white and vision problems.

Fun fact: blue eyes aren't caused by blue pigmentation. In fact, they have little to no pigmentation at all. The blue we see is just light reflecting weirdly until only blue light is all we perceive from them.

Secondly, the poisoned pendant Phoenix ate in Turnabout Memories was empty at the time, but the risk of it containing leftover traces was very real. He even chewed it, raising the chances of those traces entering his system.

Diego had a significantly higher dose than Phoenix, but let's not forget Dahlia had faith that 1 contaminated pill of Cold Killer X would do the trick. Even if there was less than a drop remaining in that bottle, it had the potential to at least do some damage.

Damage that could result in the loss of pigmentation in someone's eyes.

[always-rolling-my-eyes]

I don’t know if someone’s already replied because I just saw it now but this is why people are attacking Joe:

Joe and Sophie got together in 2016, when she was 20 and he was 27. After a year of dating, they got engaged. Then, in 2019 Sophie had a big year because both the last season of Game Of Thrones and Dark Phoenix were coming out. That also came with a lot of hate, because both of those were bad but also because Daenerys stans decided to hate on Sophie because they disliked Sansa. They also created fake drama between Emília and Sophie, so she got a lot of hate. Sophie also got a lot of hate from Priyanka stans who kept comparing them.

Through all of this, Sophie mentioned having mental health issues and deleted her twitter account. She also mentioned deleting the Instagram app from her phone.

In 2019, they got married and in early 2020 there were rumors of her being pregnant. The pandemic happened and they had a child. In 2021, she did The Staircase, and then she took another break to have baby number 2. She’s now back to work on a TV show called Joan.

If I remember correctly Joe has been working and touring through a lot of this. So it seems like she had a hard time with her new found fame (she had been famous for years but she became a lot more well known in 2019) and decided to take a step back and start a family with him.

I think it’s worth mentioning that she has said that her family and friends are all in the UK and she was trying to convince Joe to move back there. This year she has been spending a lot of time in the UK, even before she started filming, so I think it’s possible she really wants to move back there.

It all seems a bit tragic to me. She has struggled with depression and an ED throughout her whole life because of GOT, and she’s spent all her 20s dating a man almost 10 years older than her, taking a step back to have his children while he kept working, living far away from her family and friends, etc. and now, when she goes back to the UK and gets back to work, his team (it had to come from there) acts like she abandoned her children and like Joe deserves a gold medal for being a father.

I’m not saying their relationship was toxic, but I do think it maybe wasn’t the healthiest for her. She’s also talked about Joe helping her with her mental health struggles, but maybe that led to some dependency that wasn’t great. Specially since he apparently broke up with her right before they got married because of her mental health. I had misunderstood that interview and I thought she was saying they had broken up for 24 hours right at the beginning of their relationship, but apparently it was right before the wedding in Las Vegas.

All in all, I think Joe shouldn’t have gotten with someone as young as her. I usually don’t mind age differences when both people are in their 20s, but I do think she was probably too young. I think he tried to help with her mental health but I don’t think it was the healthiest. I think she has given up more for him than he has for her. It’s sad that they tried to make her look bad with the divorce news.

I also fully believe the news, but I also believe they could work it out and then fans will pretend it was all fake. But I do believe they’re on the brink of divorce but still willing to work it out if possible. That’s why neither were wearing their rings but now Joe is wearing it again. I think they’re still trying to make it work but they’re also speaking to lawyers.

If they do get a divorce custody will probably get messy, since she’ll probably want to take the kids to the UK and he won’t

Sorry for all of that! I don’t know if it makes any sense!

Wow, I had no idea all of that went on between them and I actually also had no idea of their age difference, that’s a little 😬 especially when combined with her mental health issues. Definitely seems like there was an imbalance of power there (if true, just my opinion)

But it looks like Joe just filed for divorce and I agree with you, I think custody will get messy because every article / report / detail we have seen so far about this break up seems to be coming from his camp and trying to make him look good (agree with you on that completely, as if watching your own kids makes you father of the year 🙄) so he is already on the offense. I just hope their kids don’t suffer as a result of all this but unfortunately, we see how this stuff goes

Thanks for all the info, anon 💗

[awarmbowlofhomemadesoup]

AceAro Miles Edgeworth’s Platonic Crush on Phoenix Wright Headcanons

Platonic crush: the desire to be platonically intimate with someone without romantic or sexual attraction. Intensity like any kind of crushes can vary. 

In Childhood:

When they were children, Miles would often talk more about Phoenix than Larry, to the point that Ray Shields began teasing him about having a crush on Phoenix. And Miles would be like, “No?” because last time he checked he wasn’t experiencing that “heart stuff” that he sees in zany cartoons.

When they have to sit and rest somewhere, Miles would read a book with at least his knee touching Phoenix. Or if there was enough space, his back touching Phoenix’s side. No, Larry, it’s not a snuggle, now hush. (Similar to how a cat would lounge at their favorite owner’s side while casually not looking at them).

As much as he enjoyed them as the Signal Samurai trio, his favorite moments were just talking with Phoenix about anything under the sun -in the early hour before class or when they have dropped Larry home and it was just him and Phoenix. 

He often looked forward to the quiet instances that Phoenix would hold his hand while they’re walking home alone since Phoenix is more at ease with affection than he was.

Some teenagers hollered at them for it and Phoenix let go, embarrassed, while Miles was wondering why he was embarrassed when they both know it was because they were good friends. So he just stubbornly grabbed his hand again and dragged him away from those immature buffoons.

Miles was neutral when it comes to Valentines Day. But when Phoenix received a box of chocolates from a girl he likes, Miles became more aloof and disinterested. He wondered why there was no celebration for friendship. Idle time was spent on thinking what gift he would give Phoenix if there was a proper day for celebrating best friends. (Larry is also his best friend but he doesn’t have the word that distinguishes his friendship with Larry and friendship with Phoenix.)

Miles was disappointed that he was unable to find the specific term between best friend and deeper best friend. Even his father doesn’t know. Gregory Edgeworth assured him he would find it someday.

Being someone who thinks ahead, Miles knew that someday Phoenix might not prioritize and value their friendship as much as he does once Phoenix would get a girlfriend. Miles tried very hard not to think of the time they would be in middle school.

After Gregory’s death, Miles never received Phoenix’s letters as von Karma wants to isolate him from his original home. Even when Miles appreciate the song request from Phoenix dedicated to him, von Karma made it clear that sentimental relations will distract him from perfection. Plus, Miles thought it was a one time and that Phoenix probably had a girlfriend to dedicate himself to by now.

In Adulthood (Platonic Crush to Queerplatonic Attraction to QP Love):

Early Career. When Miles received college Phoenix’s letters, his first reaction was confusion. Out-of-the-blue this ghost from the past was asking him why he was being called Demon Prosecutor. Second reaction was stonewalling. There was no point delving about how a person used to make him feel. 

State vs Fey. After the trial, Miles told himself he developed an intellectual hyperfixation towards Phoenix Wright as he arranged his brand new custom chess set with the “spike-y” pawns. He was half-right. If only he wasn’t so entangled with von Karma’s opinions on “sentimental relations”.

State vs Powers. Miles’ platonic crush resurfaced somewhere after Will Powers’ case and Phoenix asking to defend him.

State vs Edgeworth. He faintly realized at the moment Phoenix had smiled at him in relief once Miles got acquitted, that Phoenix was someone he wanted in his life. If only Miles deserved so. 

Miles would never admit he finds a unique sense of enjoyment in working with cases where Phoenix had to defend. He doubted if a lot of people experience intimacy in rivalry.

State vs Skye. Unfortunately, Miles have bigger things to deal with like coming into terms with a mentor that had both raised and twisted him, struggling to find a new norm as eyes watched him, his very story available to the public, then having to face the Skye case that made him question everything he was as a prosecutor. 

It all became too much and he wasn’t thinking straight and one of those thoughts was that Phoenix was better off knowing a better person than him. 

State vs Engarde. The belief was instilled when Phoenix got mad at him for faking his own death.

After having a talk and Miles realizing that cutting people off abruptly was more of a dick move than he thought, he and Phoenix kept in touch after.

In the space he had given himself in Europe, Miles decided that aside from becoming a better lawyer, he wanted to be the friend Phoenix deserved to have in his life, with the same intimacy they had in childhood that he still couldn’t name. 

State vs Iris. Miles was pretty much neutral around Iris. If Phoenix would decide to rekindle his relationship with her (though the deception made him wrinkle his nose no matter how true Iris’ feelings were at that time), he wouldn’t care as long as he and Phoenix would still be in good terms as partners. Even if Phoenix would not put as much special connotations as he would in their partnership. That was all he could ask for after everything. 

Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth. Whenever Kay would tease him about “that man”, Miles would just look at her dryly. At this point, he should know not a lot of people would understand.

7-year Disbarment. Phoenix’s disbarment drew them closer together after Miles’ was finally able to contact him when Phoenix shut everyone out. Miles couldn’t do much being in Europe but he does what he could from flying them to Europe so that Phoenix could help him with his cases to caring for Trucy.

Their commitment for each other only grew from raising Trucy together to righting Japanifornia’s legal system. 

Miles wished he could kiss Phoenix on the forehead without making it weird. It just felt like Phoenix needed it. Comforting Phoenix with hugs and handholding, at least, was never questioned for romantic interest.

When Phoenix began to study for the bar again, Miles often enjoy Phoenix falling asleep on his shoulder. Unseen, Miles would smile before poking him awake.

He enjoys movie nights with the Wright family where Trucy and Phoenix would snuggle close and dinner/banter with Phoenix every week. 

Fantasies of sleep-snuggling with the man he admires and trusts the most and has an intense emotional-intellectual connection? Of course, he does. “So near and yet so far” has never been so painful in that one time they have to share a bed.

After Phoenix got his badge back, Miles was pretty much satisfied. His life was more stable, inner and outer, than it had ever been. Phoenix and Trucy’s life were also stable. Miles now felt more confident and comfortable in their bond and Miles would do what it takes to keep it as a part of his life.

He may have felt a little thrill when they both become comfortable enough for Phoenix to be casually affectionate with his touch -an arm around his shoulder as they laugh about something, a hand on his arm when asking about a case- it felt like back in their more carefree childhood. 

State vs Wyatt. Miles was pretty much ruffled with questions about marriage directed at him of all people. But if he has to marry someone, it might as well be someone he knew so well and trusts so much. Miles may have opted out some of his opinions in marriage but he was no longer the person who would lie to himself of who that someone would be.  

He wanted... something. He wanted a sort of exclusivity with Phoenix. The idea of Phoenix dating other people made Miles realized he wasn’t the type to share. The revelation itself was frustrating when he was neutral or repulsed of varying degrees when it comes to different romantic and sexual acts.

With a combination of finally having the words to describe what he wanted in Google Search and help with his therapist, the name of what he wanted with Phoenix was a queerplatonic relationship with a compromise on whatever would be Phoenix’s romantic/sexual needs from him. If Phoenix would have him as so. And if Phoenix wouldn’t... well, their friendship had been through a lot of things, this one event wouldn’t change it much. 

(This is from my own experiences and wants as someone in the acearo spectrum. I’m not the universal experience for acearo and it can be different for everyone else.)

[4ragon]

Gimme that Uncle Ray goodness if you're still doing character opinions 👀

You got it!

Raymond Shields is I think an important part of Miles’s development in AAI2. I do really enjoy the characters who cover up their own insecurities by joking and trying to make themselves out to not being taken seriously, and I think Ray absolutely fits into this. He’s definitely a sort of keeping his head down, just trying to get through the day kind of guy, and I think that he struggled so much after losing Gregory. It’s not quite Godot levels of self vitriol and lashing out, but there is a lot of that anger and guilt and grief bubbling just under the surface that I think AAI2 helps him at least start to work through.

I will say, just as a small note, I wish they toned down the womanizer part of him a little more? The constantly asking for hugs thing doesn’t bother me as much as it bothers some of my friends, but it does rub me the wrong way a little bit. Like it’s a joke, I think even in-game he doesn’t mean for it to be taken seriously, but it’s still a little uncomfy in places. And every once in a while he makes a joke about the girls that gets a liiiitle too close to the line.

Like. There are certain tropes in Japanese media that can really get under my skin, especially when they’re in a character that I otherwise enjoy! Like, I want to like you, but can you scale it back just a little bit? There are ways to do it tastefully. I know a lot of people who aren’t fans of Ray, and I do understand why. 

But on the flip side, I think there’s also so much depth to his character. He’s a very different defense attorney than Phoenix is, I don’t think he has any of that bright eyed optimism of naivety that so defined Phoenix in the trilogy. And you know, you can kind of tell that life hasn’t been the easiest for him. He lost his mentor, a man he looked up to and trusted, a man who helped shape him into the person he was today, and then he became responsible for trying to keep up Gregory’s spirit by running the Edgeworth Law Office. I do wonder what his life was like outside of that, if he had many other adult figures to look up to.

And like, it’s absolutely not justified, but I do think it’s interesting to look at what Raymond’s misplaced anger toward Miles meant. I think that seeing Miles A) Turn away from everything Gregory stood for to become like the man who defeated him in court just before he died, and also B) Seeing Miles be so successful at it, so successful at being a lawyer while he struggled to keep his mentor’s dream going, both really would sting for Raymond. Like, Raymond doesn’t seem like he’s necessarily rolling in accolades. Not that he’s a bad lawyer, mind you, he’s clearly very competent, but I think he’s also the kind of guy who is willing to take on those defense cases of people who have done bad things and still need someone in their corner, you know?

(Also if you have the chance, this fic was really good, it’s a really in depth character study of Miles and Raymond and I love it a lot. It’s just them walking up some stairs but it’s just very good.)

But yes, I loved getting to see Miles and Ray reconnect. I think that Ray’s easygoing carefree attitude is a really good contrast to Miles’s very much no-nonsense approach to life, especially since Raymond seems very keen on passing at least some of it onto Miles. I think Miles really could benefit from coming to understand that worldview, that attitude toward life, and learning to respect it, you know?

But yeah, overall, I do enjoy Uncle Ray. There’s a lot of depth and care in his character.

[miraculousgemscc]

Not So Berry Extended

I was inspired to write out a few more generations for the Not So Berry Challenge! I’m currently playing it in my spare time as a Vampire Not so Berry (cause why not?) and i’m having a lot of fun playing it and watching others play through the challenge! If you’d like to see more of these or maybe another version of Not So Berry Extended but with more of the careers then please let me know!

NOTE: This hasn’t been play-tested! If whatever’s listed below is impossible to complete please let me know and i’ll make the needed changes!

Gen 11: Black

(Requires Snowy Escape, Get Famous, Parenthood)

Growing up, you always thought you had the perfect life: You had the dream house, the dream family. Until one day you found out that your mother/father/parent had a secret affair. This completely broke you and in order to cope with the news, you decided to become a rebel. I mean, don’t we all go through a rebellious phase in our lives? Your whole perspective on life went 360: you changed your sense of style, your personality, etc. all at once. At least you had the great outdoors giving you comfort during your “everlasting phase”! Your favorite season was Winter because you could ski/snowboard all day, everyday. And what about those dreams you had of becoming a famous skier/snowboarder? Well we can do that too!

Traits: Hot-Headed (give as a teenager), Active, Self-Assured

Aspiration: Extreme Sports Enthusiast

Career: Manuel Laborer, Ski/Snowboarding YouTuber (once you reach Level 10 of Ski/Snowboarding)

Rules:

Must enter “rebellious phase” either at the end of childhood or beginning of being a teenager (you don’t need PH for this, it’s just apart of storytelling) (this is when the black color of this gen. should occur)

Must get the Argumentative, Insensitive and Uncontrolled Emotions Character Value traits (PH)

Must max either the Skiing or Snowboarding skill (SE)

Must enter the Manuel Laborer job as a teenager and stay in that job

Once your able to create Snowboarding videos, you must make your money off of your videos only

Reach at least Rising Star of Celebrity level (GF)

B-Lister is preferred but since getting fame with Get Famous is hard as it is Rising Star is ok

Must move to Mt. Komorebi (SE)

Gen 12: Dark Academia

(requires Get to Work, Nifty Knitting) Your mother/father/parent was one of the most famous skier/snowboarders in Mt. Komorebi. She/He/They always encouraged you to spend your time outdoors and take in the fresh air. Yet, you preferred to spend your time indoors, curled up in bed with your tea and book in hand. You craved to enter the fictional worlds you’ve read in your books from a young age. When you entered high school, you found your love for the arts and decided that you’d become an artist. At least then you could bring the worlds you’ve read to life on a canvas! And why not have a little snack while we’re at it? You can just learn some new foods you can make through cooking books after all!

Traits: Bookworm, Creative, Art Lover

Aspiration: Painter Extraordinaire

Career: Stay-at-Home Painter, Painter career (⚠️Only if you get offered the job⚠️)

Rules:

Must complete the Painter Extraordinaire aspiration

Must max out Painting skill, Cooking or Gourmet Cooking skill and Photography skill (GTW)

Must make your money through your paintings only

if you get a call about joining the Painter career, you must accept

Must move into a “rundown” lot/apartment with only a kitchen, bathroom, and a bed (and maybe your books if you want but you can’t sell these for money)

your funds when you move out after moving into your house must be $60

(this will be enough for your painting and some extra money to spend elsewhere)

Must have a library in your house

Must have 3 kids (biological or adopted)

spouse must be employed as a Salaryperson and/or Business career (recommended if it’s game generated but you can give them either job yourself)

can only marry partner towards the end of adulthood

Must purchase Knitting Skill Book 1 from bookshelf (NK)

Gen 13: Pastel

(requires Nifty Knitting, Get To Work, Get Together) Your family was pretty stable for the most part. Sure, you may have had trouble paying the bills here and there but what mattered most is that your family was together. Even though you enjoyed your mother/father/parent’s love for Forrest Green, Rosy Brown and overall Earthy tones you felt like you needed a bit more color in your life. And by color, you mean bright and colorful. One day while going through your mother/father/parent’s library you discovered a book on knitting. Figuring your mother/father/parent spent all of their time cooking and painting anyways you decided to take the book and learn how to knit. Yet, knitting cute decor and beanies isn’t going to put food on the table and a roof over your head. Guess running your own business is going to have to wait. Oh yeah, you also have a weird obsession with the letter B...

Traits: Perfectionist, Cheerful, Childish

Aspiration: Lady/Lord of the Knits

Career: Barista (teen), Business (young adult), Business owner (adult)

Rules:

Must complete the Lady/Lord of the Knits aspiration

Must max out Knitting skill, reach required skills needed for jobs before quitting them (ex. If you need Level 3 of Charisma for the Business career but you’ve age up to an Adult, you must reach level 3 before quitting the job)

Must Donate to Charity at least once a week

Quit your career in Business and open your own business as an adult (GTW)

Must get 2/5 stars for your business

Must live in Windenburg and have your business in the Old Platz neighborhood (GT)

Must create a Knitting Club and meet your friends (GT) when you reach Level 3 of the Knitting skill

Can only have relationships with immediate family (siblings, parent(s), grandparent(s), aunts/uncles) until you create the club. Once you create the club you may make friends.

Must become good friends with club members and best friends with one of the members

Marry your partner from the Knitting Club

Must have their first and/or last name start with B (you can cheat the name if you want)

Gen 14: White (Requires Get Famous, Get Together, City Living) Living in Windenburg for most of your life, you always loved how the town was so inclusive to everything and everyone. You always found yourself vibing with the music and dancing whenever you had the chance. But you also had a passion for music, specifically rap. While browsing the internet one day you came across some videos about some kid with blue hair rapping with his friends and you immediately became obsessed. (yes, I just made a FNF reference) From that day on, you wanted to become a Triple Threat: a dancer, musician, and a producer! The world isn’t stopping anytime soon so you gotta act fast and get your dance on!

Traits: Dance Machine, Music Lover, Geek

Aspiration: Musical Genius

Career: Entertainer Rules:

Must max the Dancing skill, Media Production skill, and Guitar/Violin/Piano skill (your choosing) reach level 6 of Singing skill

Must complete the Entertainer career

Must be signed to a Record Label and release your music (GF)

Must marry someone named Keith and has the Proper trait (you may cheat the name only)

Have a boyfriend/girlfriend/partner in high school but break up with them before becoming a Young Adult

must be Hot and Cold with High School love (negative friendship, positive romance)

Have Dance Battles with your friends at least once a week

Have at least 2 Enemies (you can have more if you wish) (this doesn’t include your High School love)

Gen 15: Navy Blue

(Requires Discover University, Eco Lifestyle, Parenthood) Growing up you tend to lean towards a more sophisticated lifestyle thanks to your father. With having good role models around you and supportive parents, you were able to pursue your dreams of becoming a lawyer. Helping those in need was one of your biggest goals in life. The world right now isn’t perfect and you strive to change the world for the better. Having been the smartest kid throughout your school career, you were given the chance to jump straight into the Law career. Although you were grateful for the opportunity, you decided to continue your studies and learn as much as you could before going into Law.

Traits: Proper, Ambitious, Genius

Aspiration: Academic

Career: Law

Rules:

Must complete the Law career

Become a Private Attorney

Must max out Research and Debate, reach level 5 Logic skill, reach level 8 Charisma skill

Must complete the Whiz Kid aspiration and Academic aspiration

Must attend college for the Law career (you may disable aging while you go to college if you want)

Must get an A in school (child and teen)

Must have the Responsible and Mediator Character Value traits

Must make your neighborhood a Green neighborhood (EL)

Attend volunteer events at least once a week (PH)

Never get married, only have 1 child

(can have boyfriend/girlfriend/partner)

Must move to Britechester when you start the Law career (you can live in Britechester while attending college if you want)

Gen 16: Phoenix

(Requires Vampire) You grew up wanting more from the world besides all of the “change the world” stuff your mother/father/parent kept blabbering on about. Instead of changing the world, you wanted a change of scenery. While roaming the world trying to find your new normal you discovered the world of Forgotten Hollow. There, you met your soulmate and later the person who would eventually turn you into a vampire. As crazy as it sounds, the minute you became a Young Adult you up and left your home in Britechester and moved to Forgotten Hollow. This you thought was it! You were finally free to be yourself! Until the dreaded accident.....

Traits: Loves the Outdoors, Romantic, Erratic

Aspiration: Master Vampire

Career: none

Rules:

Must purposely burn in the sun and die

Must have no kids

Must complete Master Vampire aspiration except the, “Survive for an Additional 20 Days as a Vampire” section (you must Die by Sunlight before this reaches the full 20 Days)

Must max Vampire Lore skill and Pipe Organ skill, reach level 5 Gardening skill

Have your own garden in Forgotten Hollow and make your money through your garden only

Must unlock the Thin Skinned weakness from Vampire levels

Must immediately move out as a Young Adult to Forgotten Hollow

your partner must be a Vampire and turn you into a Vampire

And that’s it! I hope you find this as interesting as I did! :D

If your wanting more ways to spice up your gameplay, I have a save file that i’ve been working on the past couple of years! You can find it here.

[askaceattorney]

Turnabout Memories

Hello and hap’piraki, everyone!

(Whoa...  Déjà vu.)

Now that we’re finally nearing the end of this (*twitch, twitch*) year, and now that I’m preparing to step off this blog for a time, I’d like to take a moment to reminisce about all the ground we’ve covered since the day I first discovered the uniquely fun experience of Ask Ace Attorney.

It all began a few years ago when...

Oh, right -- this’ll probably be pretty lengthy, so I’ll continue below the cut.

It all began a few years ago when I discovered Ask Ace Attorney through a Google search.  I don’t remember most of the details, but when I first found out about a blog that attempts to bring video game characters to life through blog posts and the power of imagination, I thought the idea was both strange...and amazing.

I’d only recently started getting into Ace Attorney at the time (after seeing Matthew Taranto’s hilarious mashup between it and the Kirby series), so I decided to send in a few letters and see if they’d get an answer.  Sure enough, a few months later, I saw the first response to one of them!  It was a pretty exciting feeling, to say the least.

I’d share that letter response here, but unfortunately, it included my real name, so we’ll have to save it for later.  For now, here are a couple of the earliest ones from me: a deeply emotional one from Dahlia to Iris (a little far-fetched, maybe, but I CAN SEE IT HAPPENING, THE MOD), and a short, punny one from Moe to Phoenix.  Not surprisingly, I enjoyed seeing the characters react to them in ways I found believable as much as I enjoyed writing these and several other letters.  I knew the Mod (the only moderator here at the time) wasn’t affiliated with Capcom, but his character portrayals were spot-on each time, and my creative spark and love for Ace Attorney received some constant fuel for a while thanks to this blog.

And then...this happened.  For a brief moment, I thought about how fun it would be to see if I could do what the Mod had been doing for so long, but then I decided it’d probably be better to leave it in someone else’s hands.  Sure, I was a huge fan of Ace Attorney and its loveable characters, but did I really love them enough to pretend to be them on a hugely popular blog?  Naaah.

I went over the rest of that story once before, so I’ll just give a brief recap here: my friend the Modthorne won the audition to become the next de Modder, I asked her if I could join, and then it ended up just being me here, followed by Mods Paups, Kristoph, and Maya.  That’s the way we became the Ask Ace Attorney bunch.

So, when I first made my debut as the Commode Co-Mod, my only real strategy for answering letters was to emulate the Mod's style.  I honestly wondered if I could accurately portray so many different personalities in a believable way, but, with a few hiccups along the way, I somehow managed to pull it off to some degree.  I also started developing my own style and becoming less conscientious about how my portrayals looked (that definitely took some time, though), and worrying less about the blog’s popularity and overall performance review.  That, I believe, was a big part of what made both of those steadily rise over time, until we ended up reaching and surpassing 12,000 followers!  (I’m still geekin’ out about that one.)  Just relaxing and going with the flow made things a lot easier for me, and apparently helped Ask Ace Attorney reach its current level of popularity.  Something tells me that choice paid off in the end, and thank goodness.

I of course have to give credit to the popularity of Ace Attorney and its characters, as well as the Mod for giving me and the other moderators so much material to start off with, but I sure never expected my role in helping to build the Ace Attorney fandom’s strength and size to be quite this large.  Heck, just getting to create things for so many people is a huge honor, so...what can I say to that, except a huge thank you to Capcom and the Mod?

Don’t worry, I’ll get to thanking all of you in just a moment.  ; )

So, anyway, that’s all the general stuff.  Let’s talk about the highlights of the last three years, now, shall we?

My first holiday-related post was an April Fool’s Day one, so let’s start there.  We came close to hearing about Phoenix’s lawyer camp incident...

...gave a few of the characters a chance to ask some questions of their own...

...had a little run-in with some of the bad guys...

...and briefly opened the window into some characters’ minds.

We sure didn’t fool around when it came to fooling around, did we?

Then there was Halloween.  We dealt with a creeper in the darkness...

...let one of the lesser-known characters go on a brief venture beyond the fourth wall...

...let some characters switch outfits and personalities for a short while...

...and paid homage to a classic interactive cartoon by letting them give out candy.

We sure had our fill of sweets and spooks, didn’t we?

And then there was Christmas, which included some of my favorite content.  We enjoyed a musical performance by several members of the Ace Attorney cast...

...a less flattering musical performance by yours truly...

...a short play taking place in Pearls’s dreams...

...and a fan-made song parody about a non-canon (but believable) incident involving Phoenix and a reindeer.

(Sorry if that image cursed anyone for life, by the way.)

I don’t know about you, but I loved every bit of our holiday hijinks.

And of course, we can’t leave out some of the great moments that occurred on non-holidays, including Her Benevolence falling victim to a classic comedy gag...

...Pearls meeting herself from a different time period somehow...

...Apollo taking a trip to the Pokemon world in his dreams...

...Athena getting tricked into thinking she had passed on briefly...

...Trucy getting caught red-handed by Arnold Schwarzenegger himself...

...and, uh...this thing happening to Iris.

No idea what I was thinking back then.  Sometimes you just have to go with the moment.

Not to mention one letter response that received an unexpected explosion of popularity.  Edgeworth always did know how to drop a sass bomb, didn’t he?  And one moment I’ll likely never forget is the letter regarding Athena’s hair.  For the record, I thought the shorter hairstyle looked okay, but somehow I didn’t think she would feel the same way.  Make of that what you will.  X )

Of course, it wasn’t all fun times and laughter -- I ended up stepping on some toes by accident, making a few jokes in bad taste, struggling to keep a balance between blogging and the real world, and...well...

...that happened.  I don’t regret a moment of it, though, because if Ace Attorney (and life) have taught me anything, it’s that powering through the less enjoyable moments in life is what makes us stronger, and what makes the good times that much more enjoyable.

But out of all the fun, hilarious, thought-provoking, and deeply touching moments that stood out in the last three years of blogging, the one I would say I enjoyed the most is this one.  It was my first attempt at responding to a letter in character (with one of the biggest “characters” in the series, no less), but, as with many of my letter responses, it also included some of me in it -- specifically, the part where Athena tries to sound optimistic, but not too prideful.  That was the sort of attitude I wanted to have whenever I answered letters -- I wanted to keep the fun and creativity of Ace Attorney and its characters going without injecting too much of myself into it.  The series wasn’t mine, after all, and neither was the blog, so my main goal was simply to sound like the characters.

And with that in mind, let me just say this: If any of these letters (even one of them) have made you smile or laugh on an unpleasant day, made you think about things from a different perspective, or simply helped you suspend your disbelief for a moment and believe you’re actually talking to someone from a video game, then my goal has been reached.

Anyway, I didn’t mean for this to be my goodbye speech (I’m saving that for later).  What it is is a sincere thank you for the fun and creativity that I and the rest of the moderators were able to engage in with all of you, thanks to our shared love of Ace Attorney, its characters, and its unique humor and depth.  Every last piece of witty dialogue, every picture, every song, and every custom sprite (the last of which can be found here), was inspired by your creativity and willingness to participate in this imaginative collaboration work.

I hope you’ve enjoyed it at least half as much as I have.  You guys are awesome.

-The Co-Mod

[browniefox]

The Spectral Turnabout 1/?

I did it. I’m writing a lil fic for an ace attorney and paranatural crossover

oOo

Okay, Phoenix thought, I’m having a mental breakdown. That’s fine, this is fine.

To be fair, it’d been a stressful few hours. It wasn’t everyday you walked into the office and found your boss dead with her sister sitting next to her body, and then stayed there as the body became cold, the scent of blood so strong and present that at some point you stopped noticing it. To be so close to death, and of someone you knew...

Then there was the questioning after the police arrived, going over the same facts again and again and again. It dragged on for hours, caught in that system, cold and judging people staring at him. He’d been on the scene, it was natural he might've looked a bit suspicious. It was morning by the time he was let out, a weariness weighing him down from not having gotten any sleep that night. The original shock had worn off at some point, but there was still this numb disbelief. Mia… Mia was dead.

There were also the hallucinations, and what made him conclude he'd lost some marbles sometime over the night.

For the few days, Phoenix had sworn he’d been seeing things. It had started small, just flashes of pale-purple at the edges of his vision. They’d started to appear with increasing frequency, and no rest seemed to solve it. Phoenix had figured it was just stress from work.

Well, Mia’s death had officially pushed him over the edge.

Ever since the police had taken Phoenix in for questioning, the purple figures had resolved into full-blown monsters. They ran around, seeming to only occasionally care about things like doors and walls when it suited their need. Some just stayed up at the ceiling, looking down with mild interest, while others were more active. And absolutely nobody else seemed to notice them.

“What the hell?” Phoenix hissed under his breath as an odd gecko-looking thing skittered across the room, going right over his foot. He swore he’d felt the weight of it as it’d done so, and the creature had paused for half a second and looked back at him before continuing on its way. He shook his head. Just his imagination. After he talked to Maya, he’d go home and get some sleep, and if the problem persisted then he’d probably see a doctor about it…? No, he couldn’t do that, not when he was probably out of a job now! Okay, he’d just ignore the problem then. Maybe it’d go away eventually.

Maya entered the visiting room looking just as glum and sad as when Phoenix had last seen her, but that wasn’t much of a surprise.

“Oh, it’s you. The lawyer.” She said, clearly surprised at seeing him there. Phoenix nodded. She sat down in the chair on the other side of the glass. He’d followed Mia to meetings with defendants before, he was vaguely aware of how this went.

“G-good morning!” He rubbed his eyes, trying to stay awake, and also trying in vain to make the hallucinations go away. There was a particularly strong one hanging around Maya, a dark-purple mist seemingly coming off of her and falling to the floor like dry ice. All of his hallucinations seemed to carry with them some form of that mist, although the color changed from figure to figure, and there was something about Maya’s that was just… sad.

Then, suddenly, she perked up a bit, looking him over. Phoenix flinched back a bit at the sudden interest in her eyes.

“Mia didn’t tell me you were a spectral.” Maya said.

“I-, uh, I’m an a-attorney?” Phoenix corrected.

“I did know that, but you’re a spectral.” Maya insisted, brow furrowing a bit, and gestured to Phoenix. He looked around himself, trying to pinpoint what made her think the word ‘spectral’, whatever the hell that was. He was in his suit still, he’d stopped by the bathroom to make sure his hair was still in decent enough condition. His hallucination did seem to extend to himself, indigo-vapor that wasn’t really there floating off of him in spikey and nervous waves. He looked back at Maya, still very much confused.

“I- you’re, uh, I’m an attorney, and I think you might need one…?” Phoenix fumbled awkwardly. She was still looking at him oddly and it made him shift uncomfortably in his seat. The mist coming off of her started to morph and shift, and right before Phoenix’s eyes it formed the words ‘Can you read this?’

This was starting to get a bit too weird for him, but Phoenix was tired, and probably still in the denial part of the mourning process which wasn’t doing him much help, and before he knew what he was doing he’d opened his mouth and said,

“Y-yeah, how’d you do that?”

“How long have you been seeing things?!” Maya demanded, sitting forward now and close to the glass, and Phoenix flinched back.

“For a couple days, but it’s gotten really clear since sometime last night.” He admitted.  Maya gasped.

“Oh my gosh, you don’t know.” She said.

“Know what?” Phoenix was sitting forward now, because he wasn’t going crazy, except he still sort of felt like he was, and his boss was dead, and he was talking to his boss’ sister who was being accused of murdering her, and he was hallucinating but hallucinations couldn’t really be shared and Maya clearly understood what he was going through, and it had been a very long night.

“You’re a spectral.” She repeated.

And then she explained.

oOo

The details were a bit hard to take in, but Phoenix managed to grasp the gist of it - Maya had been a little quick during her explanation, but that wasn’t too surprising considering the whole ‘murder trial’ they were both preparing for.

So, he was now something called a ‘spectral’, which meant he could see spirits. Yes, ghosts did exist. No, spirits weren’t really ghosts per se. Maya and Mia were from a long line of spectrals who doubled as spirit channelers, capable of pulling ghosts from wherever ghosts went when they died and allowing them to speak through them. It was probable that he’d become a spectral due to being around Mia, but there were several factors that went into it. Colors of spectral energy - the mist he’d been seeing - didn’t mean anything he needed to worry about, and she’d promised to show him some tricks to it when the trial was over.

Actually, Maya had offered to show him some tricks before the trial, but Phoenix had insisted that they wait until she was declared ‘not guilty.’ She’d looked away from him at that moment, but Phoenix had insisted again he’d get her free.

He couldn’t let Mia down like that.

Seeing Miles in court was a shock, but in another way, Phoenix had to admit he'd badly wanted to. If only it wasn't such a high-stakes case like this. The bigger surprise was the spirit that stuck around Miles.

It looked a bit like a borzoi, but much longer to accommodate an extra pair of legs and an insanely long and fluffy tail. The back two pairs of legs were more like a bird’s instead of a dog’s, and its ears were replaced with wings. It had wrapped itself around Miles, head near one of his shoulders and then spiralling around him. A muted purple spectral energy poured from the spirit in calm and steady waves, and it kept its eyes on him.

Miles didn’t react at all to the spirit, although it seemed to be fairly in sync with him, responding to Miles’ moods and such. Phoenix wasn’t sure how normal that was. There were spirits everywhere. Not enough that any place felt crowded, but more like mice or spiders, always there somewhere. So far, though, none of them seemed overly concerned about people other than watching the trial like the rest of the spectators.

Well, again, none other than the dog-like spirit who seemed intent on hanging around Miles.

During the recess, Phoenix asked Maya about it.

“Well, sometimes a spirit will hang around somebody they find interesting, especially if that person is a spectral.” Maya told him.

“I don’t think that’s it,” Phoenix sighed, shaking his head, “Edgeworth didn’t seem like he even realized it was there. And he doesn’t have spectral energy.” The spirit had floated off of Miles when he’d left for the recess, landing on the floor and following at his feet. On his shoulders, it’d given Miles the illusion of maybe being a spectral, but separated it became clear the essence was coming only from the spirit. “Could it be the ghost of one of someone he knew?”

“No, ghosts always look like they did in life. Occasionally, they’ll have minor changes in their appearances depending on how they perceive themselves, especially if it’s been a while since they died, but I’ve never heard of one changing shape that much.” Maya shot down.

“Well, no reason to dwell on it,” Phoenix shook his head, “We need to stay focused on proving your innocence.”

oOo

Being a spectral was, surprisingly, not all that different from not being a spectral. Having magic ghost energy didn’t mean he didn’t have to pay rent, and he still needed to eat, and he couldn’t fly or anything.

Maya kept her word, and they spent most of the days in the office teaching him the ins and outs of the world he was now a part of. She was a pro, easily able to create ‘compressed spectral energy burst shots’ - or ‘spec-shots’ - while Phoenix fumbled his way through the motions. It was a bit odd at first, being taught by somebody younger than him, but Maya was a surprisingly decent teacher. She was clearly experienced in the craft, having been raised a spectral.

He found himself thinking a lot about how Mia had been one too. Some late nights, when they were eating in the office, waiting for a client, Phoenix sore from the training, they’d talk about her. Apparently, Mia had noticed that something was up with Phoenix and had suspected he might be becoming a spectral. She’d planned to talk to him about it the night of her death.

Well, the best laid plans and all that.

“So, can things really be haunted?” Phoenix asked her one day while trying to focus his energy into a specific shape. He was trying to make it look like a dog, and it more closely resembled how he used to draw them back in kindergarten.

“Oh yeah, that happens all the time. Here, I actually have a tool on me.” Maya pulled a jade green gem from somewhere in the folds of her robes. She handed it over to Phoenix, and he turned it over in his hands. It was smooth to the touch, and shaped like a teardrop or a comma with a perfect hole in it, big enough for Phoenix to fit his pinky through. “This is my magatama, and you could say that it’s ‘haunted’, although the technical word is that it’s now a tool. A spirit was injured long ago, and now they live here! They’ve been passed from Fey to Fey for years.”

“Huh.” Phoenix said. It didn’t look particularly special. He handed it back to Maya.

“You probably won’t have to worry about that, though. Tools are usually used by people who are fighting spirits and stuff!” Maya smiled.

“Yeah, I think I’ll stick to being a lawyer.” Phoenix gave a small laugh.

oOo

So, maybe Phoenix had come to the conclusion about Miles not being a spectral a bit too quickly.

[fenandfield]

the breath i’ve taken and the one i must (to go on)

Chapter: 1

Word count: 2120

Summary: Miles’ eyes watered as the colours around him swirled together and his chest burned with fire at its center. Coughing, he cursed at himself as he rolled onto his back with the taste of copper on his tongue.

It wasn’t Wright who had been poisoned… no, it was him.

(Story, authors notes, and link to read on ao3 will be under the line)

“So, I’ll see you in the morning then?” Phoenix yawned, stretching far enough backwards Miles momentarily feared he would fall out of his seat.

He hid his smirk of amusement behind a strand of his shaggy bangs as he uncrossed his legs and stood as his partner rose as well. “Of course. I’ve arranged for the good detective to meet us at the forensics lab at nine a.m sharp.” He raised an eyebrow at the other man as Phoenix struggled to find the sleeve hole of his overcoat, barely concealing his exhaustion behind dark rimmed eyes.

Miles could sympathize. This case was really taking its tolls on all of them.

“You will be there, won’t you?” Miles pressed, testing to see if Wright had actually been listening to him.

Phoenix patted down his coat pockets, nodding lazily as he went. “Uh, huh. Yep, ten-“

“Nine.”

“Nine sharp, I’ve got it, I’ve got it.”

Miles shook his head as he chuckled lightly. Turning slightly, he grabbed the black briefcase full of evidence off of his desk and passed it to the shorter man. “Take this. Somehow I doubt it should remain in one place for long.”

Their fingers brushed as Phoenix grasped the handle with a solemn nod. Both men knew the severity of the situation and its potential consequences of involvement.

It was no understatement to call the current case they were grappling, huge. A lot of people had gone missing when attempting to look into the very same matters enclosed in the briefcase, and many had even turned up dead.

Lies. Blackmail. Murder.

Deceit of all kinds.

They knew the risks they were taking, and yet the quest for truth prevailed. Together, they would dissolve the darkness and solve the heavy weight of the mystery that fogged in front of them.

“Now, it’s getting late, and you need rest.”

Phoenix flopped a hand in the air with a chuff. “Yeah, yeah. I’ll get going, and I won’t forget to tip the doorman this time.” He turned on his heel, a smile gracing his face as he made his way out of Edgeworths luxurious living space, Miles loosely following.

“You rich people,” Wright hollered from the entryway, “I swear, there’s a glaring contradiction between our salaries!”

Miles sighed and hung his head, fighting the tugging feeling on the corners of his lips. “Go home, Phoenix.”

A very smug mock salute was thrown his way and a moment later Miles heard the main door shut.

Phoenix Wright was gone.

Good.

Miles wandered into his kitchen and decided to make himself a quick cup of tea. He had a feeling he would be awake for a while yet. In truth, it was more so ‘good’ that the briefcase was gone, rather than his childhood friend.

The evidence they had collected thus far had been rather… convincing for lack of a better word, and it had remained in his possession for a portion of time longer than he would care to admit.

Damn, he was getting reckless these days.

Miles slid open his kitchen drawer that contained his tea leaves and grabbed the tin that sat on top.

He felt guilty about having to send his friend out into the cold night, but for the sake of the case it was ultimately better that way. Normally, when work nights with Wright became late, he would simply offer his spare bedroom (if Phoenix hadn’t already passed out on the sofa). Yes, the mornings were slightly awkward, but the more often they occurred, the less formal they became.

It was… it was nice.

As he mused his water boiled and with steady hands he poured his tea.

Earl grey was slightly sweet tonight.

Miles loosened his cravat as he carried his drink over to his desk and leaned against it, sorting through his papers and sipping carefully at the hot liquid. Yes, the briefcase would be safe with Wright for the night. Hopefully the man would have enough sense to keep its contents under close supervision whilst it remained in his care.

And it shouldn’t be there long either. Not long enough to ripple the waters of dangerous territory. At least, that’s what he hoped.

Because if anything were to happen, well… Miles would never forgive himself.

His phone rang.

“Edgeworth here.” He ground out upon answering the call, unbothered by the private number.

Silence met him.

Miles frowned and tilted his head backwards to check at the clock hanging on the wall. It was nearly midnight. Clients who had his personal cell phone number didn’t usually call this late unless it was extremely urgent. If this were some sort of prank Miles would be nothing short of thoroughly ticked off.

“I dare say, if you have nothing to speak of then I will be ending this call promptly,” Miles ground as he set his tea cup down on the desk with an oddly shaking hand.

More silence followed and Miles rolled his eyes, ready to hang up.

And then.

A voice.

“I have evidence.” The voice was male, that was unmistakable. Other than that fact, Miles found it to be unrecognizable.

He had to swallow before he could speak, “I hope that you know that I am a prosecutor and not the police, if you have evidence regarding a case I suggest you offer it to them.”

“My testimony is something you’ll want to hear firsthand.”

He raised his eyebrows, “And why’s that?”

“Because, Miles Edgeworth, this will be the only chance you’ll have to hear it.” Miles narrowed his eyes at the statement. “I doubt a death threat will sway you, so, if you don’t want your friend Phoenix Wright to suffer more than he will, I suggest you hear me out.”

Despite the building burning sensation behind his forehead, Miles felt his blood run cold. Anyone but Wright.

The man laughed. “I’ll take your silence as an invitation to continue... You two bothersome lawyers have been collecting quite a lot of evidence against a certain corporation have you not?”

Miles’ heart was thumping wildly in his chest though he felt no surge of panic in his veins that could attribute to the cause. He was calm despite the thunder behind his ribs. Silently, he began recording the conversation.

“This is about KersTech, isn’t it…” He tried to growl but found his usually threatening demeanour rather lacklustre.

What was wrong with him?

“...correct.”

His phone beeped loudly in his ear, causing him to pull away and blink several times to clear his vision enough to read the information. Another call on the line.

Detective Gumshoe.

Out of instinct he made to switch lines.

“Answer that call and your friend gets hurt.”

Miles was frozen as the phone beeped again. He could fix this mess, he could solve this whole case if he answered the phone and talked to Gumshoe.

But, Phoenix…

He declined the call.

“Testimony…” He took the last of his tea in a mad swallow to quench his swiftly drying throat. “...now.”

“My, my, what a rush you’re in. Almost like you’re just dying to hear...” The man paused to laugh again. Miles ground his teeth at the sound. “It would seem… that I saw someone breaking into your apartment earlier this afternoon.”

He felt his face go slack, “What-“

“Yes, yes, I distinctly remember them replacing some things in the kitchen with something much more… deadly.”

No.

Miles was on his feet in a flash but his limbs were heavy and uncoordinated and he stumbled across the room, colliding with the wall and using its support to hold himself up as he scrambled to get to the kitchen, almost dropping his cellphone in the process.

“It would seem that in reality it was of course, <em>I</em> who did this but who will be none the wiser when I tell the court that it was a dark haired man in a blue suit who did it.”

Miles pulled open every drawer, every cabinet he came across, blindly tossing things aside after checking for signs of tampering and simultaneously wracking his brain to remember if Wright had eaten or drank anything while he’d been over.

He couldn’t… couldn’t remember- couldn’t think…

He couldn’t breathe.

“Where- what… what did he take… what did you give him?”

“Oh you fool.”

His world began to spin and his knees suddenly cracked sharply against the tile floor. His wrist bent awkwardly as he attempted to brace his fall, barely preventing his face from making violent contact.

Miles’ eyes watered as the colours around him swirled together and his chest burned with fire at its center. Coughing, he cursed at himself as he rolled onto his back with the taste of copper on his tongue.

It wasn’t Wright who had been poisoned… no, it was him.

Someone was laughing, heartless and cruel.

“Why…” he snarled weakly, “...are you.. t-telling me… th-this?”

“Well because… you’ll be dead in a matter of minutes, and I quite enjoy the sound of suffering.”

Harsh banging abruptly echoed from the hallway, panicked shouting accompanying it. Miles recognized the voice immediately.

“...Phoenix?”

“Now drink up. I’ll be along in a little while to clean up the mess.”

The pounding grew louder and Miles turned away from the cellphone laying limp in his palm to face the racket. His body was on fire as it spasmed and twitched and refused to obey his commands and he whined in misery.

“Edgeworth, please!”

His lungs heaved and stuttered.

“Miles, p-please! Open up…”

His back arched away from the floor as he coughed and choked on the pooling liquid in his throat. That voice… could it really be?

One final burst of noise ensued and the frantic sound of multiple pairs of running feet followed suit.

“Miles!”

Miles was utterly speechless as none other than Phoenix Wright came sprinting into his kitchen, Detective Gumshoe hot on his heels.

“Shit, n-no Miles…” Phoenix dropped to his side, motions so swift Miles couldn’t keep up with him. He didn’t even have time to protest as Wright pulled him into his lap, propping his heavy head in the crook of his elbow.

“Where the hell are those medics, Gumshoe?!” God, Wright sounded utterly terrified.

“Should be here any minute pal.”

Miles gasped at the abrupt change in position, trembling limbs uncoordinated as Phoenix gathered them close.

“Phoe… nick…” Miles struggled for words as something warm spilled from his lips, something that made Wrights eyes widen horrifically. If he was going to die here and now there were things they needed to know. “L-leaves…”

Phoenix placed a gentle hand on the side of his face. “What?” He croaked. “Leaves?”

“Did he say leaves?” That was Gumshoe.

“Yes, he said ‘leaves’.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

Miles would’ve rolled his eyes if he wasn’t currently dying from a dose of a mystery poison. Of course, his two closest friends were the most incompetent fools on the planet.

“Po-poison… leaves…”

Gumshoes brow furrowed. “He ate poisonous leaves?”

Phoenix went quiet as the two attorneys met each others gaze. Miles tried to beg him to understand, pleading with tears in his eyes but nothing could get past the barrier in his throat.

And then it clicked.

“Leaves…” Phoenix went stiff. “Dick, leaves, someone poisoned his tea leaves.”

Miles let his eyes slip shut as the conversation carried on without him. Phoenixs chest was cool against his smouldering face. Had they ever been this close before? Miles didn’t think he minded it so much.

But there was more he needed to say.

“Wright.” He mustered his voice but the loudest pitch it could reach was yet a mere whisper. It called his dear friends attention nonetheless. “T-take my phone… as evidence…”

Phoenix frowned as he shot the discarded object a glance. Whatever questions were forming in the brilliant mind of his, he didn’t ask.

“Please… tell ‘Ziska-“

“Oh stop, you dramatic idiot.” Phoenix objected rather rudely as usual. “Talking like you’re dying wh-when you’re going to be fine.” His face twitched with poorly concealed emotion as he laughed wetly.

“Nick..” Gumshoes voice was softer than he had ever heard it before. “I’ve seen this stuff before it’s… It’s Belladonna.”

Miles’ limbs were still. Phoenix shook them for him.

“You’re gonna be fine. Everything’s gonna be okay.”

The fire behind his eyes was becoming unbearable and he squirmed in Phoenix’s arms.

“Breathe Miles, please, hold on…”

Too much. It was too much.

He was drifting. Floating. Flying.

“No, no! Stay with me…”

Miles opened his eyes. Phoenix was there. With him. Holding his hand.

Wright, he was… he was crying.

Lips moving. No sound.

One thought.

One more thing to say.

I

Love

You

Authors notes: i hope you enjoyed! This was my first time writing for the ace attorney fandom, and so i hope i did these characters justice! Depending on the response i get to this, I’ll write a part two explaining how and why phoenix returned to edgeworths apartment and if our poor edgey survived or not... please let me know your thoughts!!

[carewyncromwell]

“And so...esteemed members of the Wizengamot...based on the overwhelming evidence -- the factually bankrupt, inflammatory anti-Muggle and Muggle-born leaflets sent out by the defendant’s Commission and promoted by the defendant herself; the transcripts of trials overseen by the defendant that spell out blatant corruption and unsanctioned cross-examination techniques, including having Dementors present during all trials and actively refusing to give any defendant proper legal representation; the testimony of over fifty Ministry employees, speaking to the defendant’s close working relationships with known Death Eaters and to her own willingness to overlook Wizarding Law to advance herself and her Commission’s political aims; the countless memos written in the defendant’s own hand condemning nearly a thousand people, including over a hundred children, to unjust captivity; and the defendant’s well-known reputation among her ex-students, her coworkers, and even her own family for enjoying the suffering of others and persecuting fellow wizards and witches not just for their blood, but also for suffering from medical conditions like lycanthropy and blood maledictions -- all of which the defense has offered no suitable defense for, aside from incorrectly asserting that the defendant was ‘simply following orders’ from her superiors...I think there is no question as to her guilt, or to what justice would be appropriate.

Although I -- as a private citizen of the Wizarding World -- agree with Minister Shacklebolt’s measure to remove the Dementors from Azkaban prison...I must acknowledge that if there were ever a case for a criminal from our world deserving the Dementor’s Kiss...it would be Dolores Jane Umbridge. But because we -- unlike the defendant -- have a code of honor before us that we will not break just to achieve a political objective...I believe it’s our solemn duty to ensure this basilisk in human skin never walks free again.”

~Carewyn Cromwell, prosecutor for the trial of Dolores Umbridge // January 1999

Hey guys! So I came across this awesome fashion post and was reminded of dress robes...so here we have a 25-year-old Carewyn Cromwell as the lawyer in charge of prosecuting Dolores Umbridge for her crimes during the Second Wizarding War. She got her hair cut, as you can see! In the 90′s, when the original books are set, there was a lot less of the “big hair” popular during the 80′s, and short, more modest hairstyles became more common. Think of this as a #Future!MC Challenge? 8D

More Future!Carewyn lore under the cut!

The Second Wizarding War was...difficult for Carewyn. Although she had so much baggage with Dumbledore, she agreed to join the Order of the Phoenix, but only on her own terms. Carewyn never attended any of the Order’s meetings in person, preferring to stay in touch solely through her old friends Tonks and Jae, so as to stay at an advantageous position within the Ministry without Fudge suspecting her of associating with known Dumbledore allies like Professor McGonagall or the Weasleys. Even if she wasn’t very active on the battlefield against Voldemort, Carewyn nonetheless provided quite a bit of covert support to them by silently sabotaging Fudge and the Death Eaters at the Ministry. It was a struggle to stay silent and composed in the face of the Death Eaters’ tyrannical takeover of the Ministry and persecution of Muggle-borns and political dissidents, but Carewyn knew she had to strike at the proper moment, if she had any chance of delivering a fatal blow to someone as powerful as Voldemort. This doesn’t mean it wasn’t very, very hard for her not to lash out violently in defense of the people the Muggle-Born Registration Commission hauled into court on trumped-up charges. She was able to smuggle intelligence out to other Order members who helped with rescuing some of those prisoners or protecting wanted fugitives, but Carewyn never forgave herself about the many people she was unable to help.

Meanwhile Carewyn’s brother, Jacob Cromwell -- now a rather prominent Cursebreaker and traveling magical researcher -- helped the Order by hiding Muggle-born fugitives in a secret room he’d constructed in his flat. Even though Ministry officials searched his home multiple times, Jacob’s combination of both magical and Muggle tricks kept the families in his care from being detected every single time.

When the Battle of Hogwarts began, the Minister and his entire support staff left the Ministry to either join their true master Voldemort or (in the case of Percy Weasley) join the Order. Carewyn -- realizing how dangerous it would be to leave the Ministry unprotected when Voldemort and the Death Eaters were still at the height of their magical power -- instead stayed behind, incapacitated the head of the Muggle-born Registration Commission Dolores Umbridge, put her under citizen’s arrest, and took temporary charge over the remainder of the Ministry’s staff. Carewyn sent the majority of them either home to their families or to Hogwarts as reinforcements -- the few employees who chose to stay behind then helped Carewyn with securing the Ministry against a possible assault by the Death Eaters in case they returned and with starting the process of rescuing the Muggle-borns and political enemies imprisoned in Azkaban and its related camps. By the time the Battle of Hogwarts was over, the Death Eaters had lost everything -- their leader, most of their members, and all the power they’d accrued over the Wizarding World.

After the Battle, Carewyn arrived at Hogwarts, seeking out Jacob, who’d gone to fight in her stead, as well as Percy, who at that point would’ve been the legal successor to the role of Minister. While there, she learned of the deaths of Tonks, Lupin, and Fred. The three deaths, on top of the past deaths of other dear friends like Rowan, Cedric, Kyril @kyril-hphm​, Moody, and Dobby, were too much for Carewyn to bear. Even now, years later, she resents herself for not having been able to take care of and protect her friends the way she thinks she should have.

Since Percy had resigned as Junior Undersecretary mid-battle, it was decided that an election would have to be held very quickly -- in the meantime, Kingsley Shacklebolt took on the role temporarily, with Carewyn, Arthur Weasley, and Percy serving as support. (Shacklebolt would go on to be nominated and elected Minister for several terms.) Carewyn specifically almost singlehandedly took on the task of bringing everyone who had aligned themselves with the Death Eaters to court to receive proper justice. Fortunately, unlike Barty Crouch, Sr. during the First Wizarding War, Carewyn never railroaded her defendants or lost sight of who she was getting justice for. Every time she faced an accused Death Eater or Voldemort sympathizer, Carewyn felt the presence of her friends in that courtroom with her. And when she looked into her defendants’ eyes and -- through her Legilimency -- saw no sincere love in their minds or souls, the lawyer once called “Cursebreaker Cromwell” became all the more convinced that love was the strongest magic of them all.

Interestingly, although Carewyn prosecuted all three Malfoys, she actually offered relevant evidence and testimony she came across in her own investigations to the defense attorneys assigned to Draco and Narcissa Malfoy. She never let go of her dislike for Lucius Malfoy or his wife, but perhaps because of her sympathy for Draco Malfoy’s position as well as her having met him when he was a kid, Carewyn didn’t express vocal disappointment when the Wizengamot pardoned the Malfoy family after the War. In Draco’s case specifically, Carewyn believed that he, unlike his parents, had the potential to reform himself. She even visited Draco after he was released from custody and -- reminding him of what he’d said to her before they’d parted ways so many years ago -- challenged him to a friendly duel.

Carewyn Cromwell’s name never became world-renown, but the cases she was involved in, both regarding the War and not, became her legacy. Thanks to her efforts, countless Death Eaters were arrested; victims of the Muggle-born Registration Commission received proper compensation and justice; the Statute of Secrecy was relaxed so that Muggle spouses of witches and wizards were allowed to know of their partner’s magical talent before having children with them; and the High Inquisitor position was dismantled so thoroughly that no similar position could ever be created again.

[mrjprongs]

Character Introduction

Full Name: James Fleamont Potter

Name Origin: JAMES ~ English form of the Late Latin name Iacomus, a variant of the Biblical Latin form Iacobus, from the Hebrew name Ya'aqov. Both Potter parents preferred a name they considered ‘classically and simply English’, having had traditional Indian names and more unusual English alternatives themselves; FLEAMONT   ~ named after his father who was, in turn, named for the otherwise dying out maiden name of his paternal grandmother; POTTER ~ a common surname in both muggle and wizarding Britain. It is believed the name in the wizarding world can be traced back to Linfred of Stinchcombe who was nicknamed ‘the Potterer’. However, there are also ancestors in the Potter family tree with the surname Matkari, which is Marathi for ‘pot maker’.

Nicknames: Prongs (within the Marauders); Jay (His parents call him this, despite all their talk of not wanting to give him an Indian name)

Age: 18

Birthday: 27th March

Sexuality: Tragically Heterosexual (but an enthusiastic ally to the LGBT community)

Relationship Status: Engaged

Positive Traits: Loyal; Intrepid; Resolute

Negative Traits: Callow; Self-sacrificing; Cocky

Patronus: A stag ~ It is the same as his animagus form, down to the markings.

Boggart: Lily wandless and cornered by Death Eaters

Wand Type: Mahogany and Unicorn tail, pliable

Occupation: Intern, International Magical Office of Law

Affiliation: Order of the Phoenix

Biography:

Fleamont and Euphemia Potter never thought they would have a child. Years of difficulties getting pregnant and multiple miscarriages and by the time they surpassed seventy, they had more or less given up. Even for wizards, children were rarely a possibility that late in life. They focused instead on their already flourishing careers, Fleamont in the potions industry and Euphemia as a defence lawyer. As such, the life James Fleamont Potter was born into and the way he was raised was pampered and spoiled and treated like his parents’ little miracle. Fleamont started to direct his company from home, slowly stepping further away until he sold the business completely. Euphemia kept on working, in her job as a defence lawyer, but was more choosy about the cases she took on. Both parents wanted to be home as much as possible with the child they never thought they would have.

The downside, for James, was a lack of friends his own age. The children of friends of his parents were all grown up. James passed his days pranking his dad and playing make-believe as he explored the land out the back of their house. He might not have had much in the way of friends, but when he came home at the end of the day he had dirty knees and a look of fresh-faced glee as he proudly displayed his new ‘broomstick’ to his parents ⁠— another large stick to add to the growing pile in their garden until on his sixth birthday he was given his own. From then, all games of make-believe were halted and flying was the only thing James wanted to do. It didn’t matter to him that his dad’s hip was too bad to fly with him and so there was nobody to pass a Quaffle around with. James flew and flew and he loved the feeling. He would tell anybody who would listen that he was going to be a top Quidditch player when he was older, just because he wanted to fly.

Hogwarts might have been a scary concept to some, leaving his parents for the first time and going to a place where he only knew the professors but James was just excited for the next adventure and the chance to explore a new place. Armed with his newly inherited Invisibility cloak, James boarded the Hogwarts Express, excited and absent of fear and immediately ran into another first year boy, a meeting that he would later consider history in the making. There wasn’t a friendship like that of James Potter and Sirius Black except, perhaps, the friendship of all four dormmates. The Marauders.

Where Remus kept disappearing to was a mystery James didn’t know how to let go but his reaction to finding out the truth was anticlimactic. A shrug and a well it doesn’t change anything, does it? and that was it for James. Except it wasn’t quite it because nothing ever was. He had grown up watching his mother defend the vulnerable in society and while there were things he was missing, young and naïve as he was, he knew he wanted to do whatever he could to change the world for Remus. Their lives had been opposite ends of the scale so far and James could see no justice in that. He made a vow to himself that as soon as they found a safe way to be there, Remus would spend no more Full Moons alone and that when he was old enough he would do everything he could to make life better for werewolves.

It was the start of a turning point, albeit one that would move slowly and gradually. Pranks were still the forefront of his priorities, followed closely by Quidditch, but he kept looking around and seeing injustice and it bothered him because he had no idea why. The look on Sirius’ face every time they boarded the train to go home for the holidays. Remus in the Hospital Wing after a bad Full Moon. The word Mudblood thrown around like a casual taunt. These were all things James couldn’t stand and he wanted to fix them all. He wanted to fix the sneers some of the Slytherins directed towards his friends for no good reason.   (He wanted to fix that Lily ⁠— beautiful, smart Lily ⁠— was friends with one of them and, to James, seemingly oblivious to the way he acted towards others with her parentage.)    He wanted to fix the fact that the summer between his third and fourth years was taken over by his mum going to trial against a Death Eater accusing their house-elf of killing someone. It wasn’t the first he had heard of Death Eaters but it was the first he had paid enough attention to the way his parents talked about them and really taken in what they wanted. It was just a passing comment by his dad, a scornful remark against the Dark Arts, but it stuck with James. For a boy who still tended to view the world in black and white, the Dark Arts became something that fell very much in the wrong.

Arrogant, bullying toerag. Words that rang through his mind the night before his Transfiguration OWL. The rest of his classmates were studying but James sat and re-evaluated his whole life.  (Not that he particularly needed to study for Transfiguration which was not only his best subject but the one he had spent the best part of three years doing extra studying so as to master the Animagus transformation.)  The Dark Arts were wrong and he had wanted to fix those sneers and fix the guilt inside him at all the hurt Remus had suffered from Snape’s discovery of his secret and somehow that had turned into bullying. James rankled at the word and his instinct was to defend himself but the truth was, Lily was right.   (Lily was always right. It was part of her charm.)   He had gone too far, turned into the one taking action before his victims had done anything.

In one night James’ dreams of playing Quidditch professionally seemed to have disappeared. His parents tried to ask, but James was unable to put into words what had changed. If he hadn’t wanted to, James knew he would never have to work. Family money could comfortably see him through to old age but with that money came privileges, even more than the ones attached to his blood status, as well as the potential for influence. How could he waste that away on pursuing a Quidditch career when there were people he could help? Again, Lily was right ⁠— the arrogance was outstanding.    (She really was the cleverest witch ever, possibly even more so than his mum).

The James Potter who went back to Hogwarts for his sixth year was like a new man. The growth spurt over the summer helped to solidify his newfound maturity. Quidditch had to be somewhat of a priority now that he had the captain’s badge on his chest but it was not the all-consuming obsession the school had grown to expect. He was more focused in classes, suddenly switched onto the idea that a natural intelligence might not help his ignorance about a lot of the world, and he started tutoring a few younger students in Transfiguration. There were still pranks and mischief, but they had adopted an air of being their last chance to be teenagers. Similarly, there were still Full Moons and late night excursions, even a Map to help them sneak around, but these too had changed for James. They were still about helping Remus, as they always would be, but he also kept half an eye on the Map for others potentially up to no good, so that he could stop anybody else getting hurt the way more and more muggleborns had been recently. And, when the Head Boy badge came with his seventh year booklist, less people were surprised than would have been a year earlier.

Nobody had really believed he was serious about dropping Quidditch after school until he turned down the scouts and applied for a job in the Ministry of Magic, within the Department of International Magical Law, where he hoped to one day be able to have an influence on laws governing human rights and equality. He was also amongst the first in line to sign up for the Order of the Phoenix. He might still be privileged and sheltered in comparison to his friends but James was desperate to do anything to help keep them safe.

[abluescarfonwaston]

   Fair warning, this is a lot lol

Miles finished putting on mascara and walked over to his closet.

   The only person that ever stayed over was Franzy, and he wasn't too worried about her looking through his wardrobe. The silver-haired man moved to the back of his closet and found a skirt. The light red was the same shade as the suit he wore in court. Miles zipped up the back of the skirt and adjusted it at the waist. He moved over and put on a white blouse and threw his jacket over it. Next came the hair extensions, which were, of course, the same as his hair so that it seemed more natural.

   Surprisingly, the prosecutor was almost an expert at walking in heels, but he dressed up a lot, so it became easier after a while. The media was on his back all the time; Newspapers, journalists, even Ms. Hart. "Am I that much of an anomaly?" He thought when she had approached him.

   Miles didn't like all the attention of being "The Demon Prosecutor." He cringed at the thought of it and swore he'd find a way to have it revoked.

 

  The man walked out of his room, down the hall. He walked into the foyer and rubbed Pess behind the ears. The dog wagged her tail and barked. Edgeworth walked out the door, locking it behind him.

   "The car might attract too much attention." He said to himself. Miles walked. He walked for a while, turning down roads and sidewalks. Finally he made it to the park.

   Maya was on the prowl. She was scouting some very pretty ladies to go out for a burger with.

   "That Franziska lady didn't respond!" She wailed when Nick asked what she was doing.

   "Welcome to my world, Maya." He sighed.

   Maya laughed and said "Yeah, but at least Edgeworth makes up excuses." The young spirit medium grabbed Phoenix by the wrist and pulled him over to a food truck. "Nick I'm hungry. Can you get me a burger and I pay you back later?" She said, smiling coyly.

   "I'm 90% sure that you don't even make money." Phoenix grumbled.

   "Rude." Maya said, sticking out her tongue.

   Maya turned around, fully prepared to chain herself to the food truck to get the lawyer's attention. It wasn't her fault that she was hungry. She sat down on a bench, pouting.

   The spiked lawyer rolled his eyes and turned to order a two burgers. As Phoenix had his back to the park, Maya was still a woman on a mission. She scanned the park, up and down, when a familiar almost pink caught her eye. Maya stood up, squinting at the figure a couple yards away.

  "Nick! Nick I'm going. I saw someone pretty, don't wait for me!" She called over her shoulder before breaking into a sprint to the lady. "Hi! I'm Maya, I- hold on let me catch my breath." The figure in front of her stopped abruptly. The woman turned, her bangs falling into her eyes. The lady, despite wearing heels made chasing her quite difficult.

   "Almost lost her!" Miles thought as he ran. He stopped for a moment, hobbling out of the shoes and ran even faster. People were staring. The mascera was starting to run and his lipstick got smudged when Miles wiped his face. He rounded a corner and hid behind a wall. He closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the bricks.

   "You know, that's not a very good hiding place. Are we playing tag? Don't worry, I won't tell Nick." The girl said, suddenly appearing in front of him. "Oh boy. I have some wipes if you need them."

   "That won't be necessary, thank you though. I- um, I don't know who this Nick person is, or why you approached me, what's happening?"

   "How do you change your voice like that, Mr. Edgewo-" Maya was cut off by Miles, putting his hand over her mouth.

   He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Come with me, I'll buy you lunch and we can discuss this." Edgeworth's voice had returned to it's normal rich baritone.

   "Well, I can't turn down a free meal." Maya said, after removing the hand from her face.

   Miles walked off down the road, only stopping to put the heels back on and make sure Maya was following.  She was. Miles walked into a small diner. The waiter showed them to a booth in the back. "If you would wait right here, Ms. Fey, I'll be right back." Miles walked to the restroom. "Dear God, how did this happen?" He grumbled. After having fixed his makeup, The prosecutor came back out and sat down.

   "Order anything you'd like, Ms. Fey." Edgeworth said. "Now, I know you'd probably like an explanation."

   The waiter interrupted, setting two menus on the table. "Ah thank you." He walked off, smiling.

   "Now, back to the matter at hand." Miles said, turning to the girl across the table. "I want to say immediately that this," he looked down at the skirt "isn't a hobby or something of the likes."

   "Well, I'll say this, your makeup is wonderful and the skirt fits you very well. I won't judge. But why did you dress up?" She said, tilting her head.

   "The- I'll be straightforward with you, everyone is constantly chasing after me. Everyone wants to know if I forged evidence, if rumors about me are true, it's tiring. So, I dress like a woman to throw them off my trail. Only you and Ms. Von Karma know about this. Skirts are quite comfortable though."

   "Oh my god, I know right? I've been trying get Nick to wear one for forever. You know how he is, though. He's so bullheaded."

   Miles opened his mouth to speak, but was once again interrupted by the waiter. "Are you ready to order?"

   "I'll have the burger, extra ketchup, with a side of wings and some tea." Maya said eagerly.

   "I'll just have a water." Edgeworth said. "Ms. Fey, if you wouldn't mention this to Wright, I'd greatly appreciate it."

   "Nick? Oh I'd never. You can count on my lips being sealed." Maya laughed.

   The prosecutor in disguise sighed in relief. "So, what were you and Wright doing in the park?"

   "Well, Ms. Von Karma turned me down to go eat, so I was looking for another girl to ask out. Nick was just along for the ride." Maya giggled before adding "I was going to see if you were free, you look very pretty, but it was mostly the color that caught my eye. It looked familiar, so I went to catch up with you and.... Well here we are!"

   "Well that's certainly and interesting tale. I'll have to scold Franziska for not spending the day with you." He chuckled.

   Once Maya had finished eating, she stood up. "Thank you for the food, I should probably get back. Nick must be worried sick, I left in such a hurry. I guess I'll see you in court some time."

   "At least let me accompany you back to the park." He insisted.

   "Alright, come on!" Maya said, already walking out the door.

   Edgeworth caught up with the spirit medium and walked with her until they were almost a block away from the park.

   "MAYA! MAYA WHERE ARE YOU?" Phoenix's voice rang out.  Miles flinched at the voice, but Maya's head whipped around.

   "I'm over here, Nick. I'm fine." Maya called back. Phoenix ran over and hugged the girl tightly. He was almost sobbing into her shoulder.

   "Nick, what's wrong?" She asked, concerned.

   "I thought I'd lost you again. Don't run off like that, you had me scared. It- It reminded me of that case. I don't like thinking about that." He said, his voice barely a whisper. Maya rubbed his back in smal circles, attempting to calm Nick down.

   "I'm fine Phoenix, I'm okay." She said. Phoenix straightened up at the use of his name. He was so used to her nicknames, it caught him off guard.

   The lawyer wiped his eyes and pinched his nose. "Where did you even go?" He asked, bewildered.

   "I told you, I saw a lady that I thought was pretty and went to catch up with her." Maya said, pointing at Miles, who'd been silent the whole time.

   "Ah, I'm sorry you had to put up with her, she's a-" His voice trailed off as he looked at Edgeworth. "You... Hmm. You look familiar, but I can't-"

   "What's the matter, Nick?" Maya asked.

   "Where have I seen... No. I know who you look like now, gah I'm sorry, you looked like an old friend." Phoenix chuckled nervously, scratching the back of his neck. "It's almost scary how much she looks like him. That's, wow, that's like the exact same color, and your bangs-"

   Phoenix froze when he made eye contact with the steel gaze. "Miles?"

   "Surprising, isn't it?" Edgeworth said, gripping the crook of his elbow. He averted his gaze, looking over at a woman walking her dog.

   "Maya, can you pinch me?" Phoenix asked, his eyes glazing over.

   "Okay, it didn't have to be that hard. Can- Can you explain what's happening?" Nick asked, very obviously still confused.

   "Calm down, Nick. Don't be so narrow-minded. It's to throw off reporters." Maya said, exasperated.

   Phoenix's face was beggining to turn red. "Mi- Miles I'm sorry, I didn't mean to- I'm going to stop talking."

   "It's fine, Wright." Edgeworth finally released the grip on his arm and looked at the blushing attorney. "I can imagine this is quite shocking. Anyways, I'll be off." He turned to go, but Phoenix grabbed his hand.

   "Wait! Um, well, I- You look nice, Miles. You can pull it off." Phoenix let go of the other man's hand and turned, grabbed Maya and left. He hadn't moved that quickly away from anyone in a while, and he was a mess.

Miles: Everyone is constantly chasing after me. Reporters. Franziska. Wright. You literally ten minutes ago.

Maya: *Chewing her burger* Huh wonder what that’s like.

Love it Aramanna!!!!!!!!

[pitviperofdoom]

I have no self control so I made an Ace Attorney AU with dӕmons in it. Have a ficlet!

---

They’ve barely made it back out into the defendant’s lobby when Larry’s dӕmon screams and tries to tackle Phoenix’s.

Luckily, Dawn’s used to this kind of thing, and goats aren’t really built for the kind of tackling that Artemisia was attempting. She manages to get in an awkward, floppy headbutt before Dawn sort of sighs and starts circling around her. It’ll take a second, but if the usual patterns hold true, Dawn will end up sitting on her to get her to calm down. That’s usually what’s worked in the past.

“That was a close one!” Mia says cheerfully, drawing Phoenix’s attention away from the dӕmons’ antics. “I was almost ready to kiss that Not Guilty verdict goodbye.”

Phoenix winces in embarrassment. “Oh, come on…”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence, boss,” Dawn says dryly, while Artemisia performs a complicated parkour maneuver off her shoulder. The piteous bleating and clip-clop of goat hooves are almost deafening with the lobby’s acoustics.

From Mia’s shoulder, Archimedes laughs. “She’s joking,” he says, ignoring Mia’s look of betrayal.  “She’s joking, don’t worry. We knew you had it handled.”

Phoenix relaxes. “Oh, well, I guess—”

“I mean you had to have Payne handled,” Arc goes on. “If you can’t trounce the Rookie Killer, there’s no hope for you.”

“Thank… you?” Phoenix tries.

“Why is it so hard to tell a compliment from a criticism with them?” Dawn wonders, just loud enough to be heard. Mia covers her mouth elegantly against her laughter, but the pigeon dӕmon on her shoulder has no such reservations. Before Phoenix can think of a follow-up to that, Larry falls upon him in hysterics.

“Nick! Nick, what am I gonna do? My Cindy-windy’s gone, how is life worth living?”

“Larry, she was a—oh, never mind,” Dawn mutters.

It takes a minute, and some digging through the court record, but eventually Dawn sits on Artie until she stops wiggling, and Phoenix assuages Larry’s agony over whether or not his late ex-girlfriend loved him. Dawn lets Artie up off the floor and takes the last-minute headbutt to the chin like a champ, and Larry and his dӕmon finally leave. They’re definitely not getting paid for any of this.

Dawn shakes the rest of the confetti out of her fur and returns to Phoenix’s side, tail wagging like a banner. “Well, that could’ve gone a lot worse.”

“Oh, we’ve had more frustrating clients before, believe me,” Mia says, and something about her pointed smile tells Phoenix exactly which client she’s talking about. Dawn’s tail stops wagging for a moment.

“Hey, don’t knock Larry,” Phoenix retorts. “He’s part of the reason why I became a lawyer in the first place.”

Mia’s eyes widen in surprise. “My, you’ll have to tell us that story sometime,” she says. “Harry Butz, the inspiration for your legal career.”

Phoenix exchanges a glance with his dӕmon. “Well…”

“A small part,” Dawn amends. “About thirty percent of the reason, tops.”

It’s the part that’s the easiest to explain, anyway. Mia has never been shy about her opinion of cutthroat prosecutors, so how is he supposed to tell her—

how wrong it was, seeing pictures of the so-called Demon Prosecutor in news and magazines, tired and angry and weighed down with misery that nobody else seems to notice, with a dӕmon that’s said to show her claws to anyone who moves too close—

“Phoenix?” Mia’s voice brings him back to the present. “Still with us?”

“Yeah, yeah, just… thinking about things,” he says. “You’re right, I’ll have to… tell you about that.”

“Later this evening, maybe,” she says. “Why don’t we get together for dinner? You did just win your first trial, after all. I think that’s a good reason to celebrate.”

Dawn’s drooping tail springs up again and wags, like she can be any more obvious.

“Yeah, sure, sounds good,” Phoenix agrees, praying that his dӕmon won’t start prancing like she’s actually begging for a treat. Mia notices, obviously, and grins in spite of his best efforts to salvage his dignity. Sometimes there are disadvantages to having your soul walk around in the form of a fluffy white dog the size of a miniature horse.

“Phoenix?” she says.

“Yeah, Chief?”

Her amused grin softens to a more genuine smile. “Archimedes meant what he said before.”

“We really did know you could do it,” says Arc.

“To be honest, we’ve known you’d do well since you first told us you were changing your major,” Mia tells him.

Dawn’s tail wags faster. “Okay, now I know you’re fibbing,” Phoenix says. “Twenty-year-old me was an airhead.”

“Was, he says,” Mia’s dӕmon remarks.

“Archimedes,” Mia chides him. “We’re not kidding, Phoenix. It’s all in your dӕmon.”

Phoenix blinks, then exchanges another look with Dawn. “Me?” Dawn asks. “But… I was the same, back then. It’s not like…” Her voice catches. “It’s not like I noticed anything wrong with Dollie and Cassius and—”

“You believed in them,” Arc says gently. “That’s one of the most important parts of being a good defense attorney: trusting your instincts and believing in your client’s innocence.” He cocks his head to one side. “But that’s not what we’re talking about. It’s the very shape you’re in, Dawn.”

“A… dog?” Phoenix frowns. “Man, that’s not what the kids in middle school said.”

“Meh-meh-meh, Phoenix has a dog dӕmon, he’s gonna be a bellboy when he grows up,” Dawn mutters mockingly.

“Seriously, Rudy Bruzer used to throw his backpack at me and tell me to carry it for him. That thing was heavy.” Phoenix stops before he gets too deep in the teen angst of years past. “Anyway, everybody says dog dӕmons are the submissive, authority-following type, so I don’t really see your point.”

“Well, you didn’t look very submissive at the defense bench just now,” Mia points out. “And besides, I’m not talking about her being a dog. I’m talking about the kind of dog she is.” She raises an eyebrow at him. “Don’t tell me you never looked it up.”

“We never really thought about it,” Dawn admits. “I guess I kind of look like a Pyrenees?”

“Precisely.” Arc flutters down from Mia’s shoulder and lands on Dawn’s back. “A Great Pyrenees. That’s a breed from the Pyrenees Mountains between France and Spain. A guardian breed, to be exact.”

Dawn twists her head around to look at him. “So now I’m a guard dog? What does that have to do with being a lawyer?”

“Not a guard dog,” Mia says, keeping her eyes on Phoenix. “A guardian. They were bred to watch over herds and flocks in the mountains.” She tilts her head with a smile. “You have the soul of a protector, Phoenix.”

“Gentle with the lambs and fierce against the wolves,” Archimedes adds. “I can’t think of a better dӕmon for someone who defends the innocent.”

“Oh,” Phoenix says faintly. Mia’s nice enough to pretend not to notice how choked up he is. After all the dumb-dog-go-fetch comments he’s heard in every school he’s ever attended, this is the nicest thing anyone’s ever said about Dawn’s shape.

***

Hours later, he kneels on the floor of Mia’s office, choking back tears as he searches her corpse for clues. Archimedes is gone, dissolved into Dust the moment Mia’s heart stopped beating. Dawn noses her cold hand; it’s safe for his dӕmon to touch her now that she’s dead.

You were wrong, Chief, he thinks, staring blankly at the bloody name scrawled on the back of a department store receipt. I couldn’t even protect you.

[mountphoenixrp]

We have a new citizen in Mount Phoenix:

                      Melody Park, who is known by no other name,                                   a 34 year old daughter of Horus.                She is a professor and freelance private investigator.

FC NAME/GROUP: Park Minyoung | Actress CHARACTER NAME: Melody Park | Park Minyoung AGE/DATE OF BIRTH: 34 | March 4, 1986 PLACE OF BIRTH: Buffalo, New York, USA | Quantico, VA, USA OCCUPATION: Professor of Criminology & Freelance Private Investigator HEIGHT: 5’5 | 167cm WEIGHT: 140lbs | 63kg

DEFINING FEATURES:  Melody looks slim and unassuming but, underneath her poised and perfect exterior she is incredibly strong with defined muscles. She has miscellaneous scars littered along her body from her work in the FBI. The most prominent being a clean but long scar along the length of her abdomen from her sternum to just before her hips from a surgery she received when she was 25. Her only tattoo is on her left collarbone, written in perfect calligraphy is one word; Fighter. When using her powers her left eye becomes a dark grey and her right eye a deep amber gold color.

PERSONALITY: Melody spent the entirety of her twenties as an FBI Agent and university student. With an IQ of 186, the ability to read up to 25,000 words per minute, and savant tendencies, she was a perfect recruit. This left her cold, distant, calculated, and bureaucratic on the outside. However, the one thing the grueling work as a government agent never took from her was her caring and loving nature. Her moral compass is strong and she fights for what she believes in, even if that means she puts herself in danger. Melody is very passionate and kind to those closest to her, once she gets close with others she opens up very quickly and shows her goofy and silly side. That is once she knows she can trust you. She has always exuded leadership qualities and people tended to look up to her a lot growing up so, she’s grown comfortable with being a sister/maternal figure for others. Her younger brother’s especially follow her every word and cling to every single one of her actions. This has lead her to quickly offer familial support and a place in her family to those who lack the love of a sister, aunt, or mother.

HISTORY: Park Minyoung, also known as Melody Park, was born in Buffalo, New York to Park Hejin or Virginia Park. A young girl in law school, doing her best with what life handed her. In this case it was a child - the child of a god no less. Virginia went on to finish law school with the help of her parents watching Melody whenever they could and her friends babysitting her while her mother was in class. Her mother passed the bar one month after Melody’s fifth birthday. Virginia was a good lawyer and an amazing mother, never failing at the perfect work/life balance. She worked hard as a single mother to give Melody the best life they could have. Virginia was apprehensive at first about allowing Horus time with Melody, always protective of her darling daughter. She was heartbroken in her own way but, she still knew it would good for them both for Horus to be in her life somehow.

Melody was I incredibly smart and well liked as a child, being labeled a prodigy at age six due to her advanced intelligence. Despite being pushed into an advanced level and being years younger than her peers constantly, they still gravitated towards her and followed her. She always ended up having an army of older kids that were very protective of her. After Horus taught her how to use her powers, it was a struggle not to use them all the time. What kid doesn’t dream of soaring through the sky, flying with birds and feeling the wind in their hair? Add on top of that he constant need of approval from the older kids she was always surrounded with, it was hard for her not to show off to gain some points with those who didn’t automatically like her. She mastered the art of flying pretty quickly, nothing felt better to her than the rush of wind through her hair and cold air on her skin.

Life was pretty easy for Melody growing up outside of school and the expectations of her teachers. Her mother didn’t date so, it was just the two of them in their cozy home in Buffalo. Melody ran track, was captain of the swim team, and even tried her hand at soccer. If she hand’t been so young in high school, she’d have been the one all the other kids wanted to be. She wasn’t popular by any means, especially in high school. Teachers used to use her as “motivation” for the other kids, constantly comparing 16 and 17 year olds to a 12 year old can have it’s negative effects on her social circle. She compensated for their quiet disdain of her by being the kindest, sweetest, and nicest person at school. She gained even more favor from teachers and less from peers as she made a point to volunteer whenever she could. The work she did was usually for younger, under privileged kids that had much harder lives than her. Being stuck as the youngest in every group thanks to her advanced schooling lead her wanting younger siblings more than anything, so she worked as a big sister when she could.

After graduating high school at 13 years old, she was quickly offered scholarships all over the country, to every prestigious school and Ivy League university. Melody eventually settled on Columbia as it was closest to home and she could live with her aunt while she attended. It was around this time after she left for university that her mother met and fell in love with a man named Jordan Masters. He worked as a defense attorney who also worked in Buffalo, he was known for representing those wrongly convicted and kids being tried as adults. Melody was unsure of him at first, quickly becoming protective of her mother as this was the first time she’d dated anyone since she was born. It didn’t take long though, for Melody to warm up to the man, they became fast friends. Jordan never tried to replace Horus but, he did his best to support Melody and support her and love her as his own.

This friendship between herself and her stepfather helped her discover what she wanted to do at university. Her first year she’d just been working on core classes and flying through the basic program. She knew there was no way she was putting herself through he struggle of law school like her mother so, she settled on Criminology and Psychology. Choosing to work towards a career in catching the right perpetrators and keeping innocent people out of prison. With her advanced intelligence she graduated with a PHD in both fields by the age of 22 almost 23 years old. What she didn’t know is that for her last two years before graduating, she was being watching by some of the top government agencies in the United States.

When Melody was 17, her mother gave birth to twin boys! Suddenly her one wish came true, she had younger brothers and she couldn’t have been more excited. Those little boys are her world and she loves them more than anything.

At the time of her graduation, Melody had been thinking of applying to the FBI academy and she didn’t have to think about it very long before a recruiter was at her door offering her a place in the training program. Her mother and step father were worried about Melody going into a potentially dangerous field of work but, Melody knew she was perfectly capable. She was told she was one of the youngest recruits in years but, she didn’t let it go to her head. That had been her title among peers since she started school, always the youngest to do this and the youngest to do that. Melody could not lie, the academy was hard but, it toughened her up and she learned that it was easy for people to underestimate her due to her appearance and intelligence. She didn’t look threatening or intimidating but, she could take down someone triple her size in less than 20 seconds.

She flew through her training and was instated as a probationary agent after only two years at the academy. Melody was recognized as a star recruit and was quickly placed where her quick thinking and easily underestimated appearance could be used to her advantage.

From the age of 25 to 34 years old, Melody worked for a team that specialized in undercover and international cases. She was worried about it at first but she was surprisingly good at it. Annoyingly good at it actually. In fact, she was almost too good at being under deep cover for long periods of time. Her team was investigating two large, private security firms that worked with the secret service, suspected of disorderly conduct as well as drug and human trafficking. Melody worked undercover at one of the firms for almost a year investigating them from the inside but, this is when things got messy.

Love is already complicated enough if you don’t add on top of it the threat of national security. It was cliché and she knew it, an undercover agent falling in love with someone they were charged with investigating. There was just something about her that made her forget everything she was taught and every order she was ever given. She fell head over heels for her and she also fell for Melody. Sadly, love can make you blind and foolish… Melody falling for her suspect was against every regulation in the book and it was made worse by the fact that it was discovered she was the one running the entire operation she was meant to be investigating and bringing to justice.

When her lover discovered she was a federal agent, she was out for vengeance and blood. Seeing Melody’s cover and emotional connection to her as the ultimate betrayal of their love. She ordered Melody to be killed but, the agency pulled her from the investigation before the murder attempt could be carried out. If her team members hadn’t rescued her when they hey did, she may have had to expose her divine powers to the organization as well, using her wings to escape. Thankfully, it didn’t come to that however, Melody is now in hiding from the woman she loves… Loved.

The agency wanted to put her in witness protection, to keep her and her family safe. She made sure her mother’s family was safe before she reached out to Horus for help, she didn’t want to be moved all over the US to hide from her mistakes. Horus told her of a place only demigods and gods could go to, an island off the coast of Korea. Her life of crime fighting had ground to a halt all because she fell for the wrong woman. Melody left her family in the protection of her team and the agency she was loyal to for almost a decade, knowing they couldn’t be touched as no one outside of her team knew her family.

Thus begins the new story of Melody Park, running for her life to a city where she will hopefully be untouched by her past mistakes.

PANTHEON: Egyptian CHILD OF: Horus POWERS: Natural leaders; air manipulation, falcon wing manifestation and flight (only for short periods of time, flight drains their energy quickly). STRENGTHS: Brave, Driven, Humble, Intelligent, Poised WEAKNESSES: Stubborn, Cynical, Over-Critical, Stoic, Perfectionist

[hotel-japanifornia]

HJ’s Headcanon Masterpost

Hi guys, it’s me. I decided to create a comprehensive masterpost of all the headcanons that I’ve posted so far in chronological order. I just thought it’d be a good way of organizing things. So, here we are!:

Phoenix got his attorney badge presenting habits from Mia who in turn got it from Diego who got it from Grossberg and so forth.

Miles Edgeworth learned anti stalking techniques (where you learn a person’s routine to avoid them) after AAI2 in order to counter Oldbag’s stalking. This is why Oldbag hasn’t appeared since Turnabout Ablaze.

Maya Fey enjoys making bad puns, a lot.

While most of the main cast is on either Team Ladder and Team Stepladder, Simon is an outlier as he is on neither side of the debate. That doesn’t mean that he doesn’t enjoy trolling members of one side by arguing the opposite however (i.e. telling a member of Team Ladder that it is actually a stepladder and vice versa).

After Patricia Roland was arrested for the murder of Horace Knightley and subsequently convicted, the animal therapy program she ran was still kept around. Thus, when Simon Blackquill was convicted for the murder of Metis Cykes, he was assigned a young Taka. In a sense, Taka was initially his assigned animal, but later became his closest companion over the 7 years that would follow. When he got out of prison, Blackquill managed to retain custody of Taka through the prison warden who wanted to make amends for his false conviction.

Mia Fey once saw someone riding a motorcycle and thought they looked cool. So, once she got the chance, she learned how to ride one and got one of her own. Once she passed on, Maya ended up having the motorcycle under her ownership (somehow). She never learned how to ride it, unlike her sister, but she still takes great care of it. This headcanon comes from a piece of concept art of young Mia by the way.

Maggey and Gumshoe started dating shortly after I-1. They took a few years to get married due to Gumshoe’s low salary and Maggey’s constantly changing jobs, but they were really happy together.

Bobby Fulbright was one of the police officers who worked under Detective Gumshoe. Gumshoe was endeared to the younger man’s enthusiasm and passion for justice and the two eventually became close friends. Fulbright was even the first person to congratulate Gumshoe when he made the news of his engagement to Maggey public. When Gumshoe heard that Bobby was killed and had been impersonated by an international spy, he was absolutely devastated.

When Maya said that she was getting used to having her own place in the city in 1-2, she really did mean she had her own apartment. She wanted to be closer to Mia, so Mia helped her find a relatively cheap place that was reasonably close to her. She stayed in it for the trilogy but sold it when she had to go back to Kurain to train to become the Master.

Desiree was the one who proposed to Ron.

At some unknown point after 3-5 but before the events of AJ, Maya legally adopted Pearl. She also offered Pearl the ability to be the heir to the Master of the Kurain Channeling Technique if something was to happen to her, but Pearl politely declined, saying that she was happier being a regular spirit medium.

After 3-5, Maya and Edgeworth started meeting up frequently to watch the Steel Samurai together. They formed a bond during that time and had talks about the show, the extended universe, and eventually their own personal lives. They sometimes brought Pearl, Nick, and even Trucy along to watch but it was mostly just the two of them. Sometime after SOJ, they roped Simon into watching the Steel Samurai with them and found out that the Steel Samurai was a huge obsession of his before he went to jail. 

Trucy considers Maya to be a mother-like figure and often refers to her as “Mommy”. Maya was embarrassed by the nickname when she first met Trucy, but over time, grew to become comfortable with the young magician calling her that despite her and Phoenix not being together. This is because Maya learned from Phoenix that Trucy had lost her mother at an early age and she didn’t want Trucy to grow up without a mother figure like she did. As such, Maya talked to Trucy about the more feminine matters that Phoenix wouldn’t be so willing to talk about and dotes on her the same way she dotes on Pearl.

Like Maya, Mia had a large appetite. Although she tried to tone it down during her lawyer days, she could easily eat as much as her little sister if not more so.

Despite growing up in a mountain village and living a rather sheltered life, Maya is surprisingly good at flirting with people.

(shipping hc, skip if you don’t ship) Maya only started developing feelings for Phoenix around Reunion, and Turnabout. She really appreciated his will to stand by her during 1-2 even when other people had abandoned her, but until the murder in Kurain, she had only seen him as a friend.It was during the case in Kurain that she saw how loyal Phoenix was to her. Even when she truly believed she killed someone to the point that she begged Phoenix to just leave her behind to face the guilty verdict, Phoenix still stayed loyal to her and refused to back down from proving her innocence. Because of that, Maya gained some newfound respect for the young lawyer and started to have certain feelings for him.

[that-fannerd-with-the-glasses]

Huhh so, here’s some general characterization/fun fact things for Incredibles AU!! I usually don’t post this kinda stuff but since I’m still working on chapter three, figured I might as well! 

Phoenix (36), Mr. Incredible/Bob Parr counterpart

Superpower is super strength

Superhero name is Captain Indestructible.

 Didn’t really start to realize his powers until late in high school, though he didn’t actually begin superhero work until he was in college. Mia was one of his professors and she ended up eventually catching on to his abilities and offered to be his mentor (as she’s also a super). They worked as a team together up until the point Mia was killed in a severe incident, from that point on Phoenix ended up working alone. He did end up taking Maya  under his wing since she was supposed to train with Mia before she died, though she eventually branched out on her own as well.

Was an art major, and had plans of mainly working from home as a freelance artist. 

He really does try to be a good dad, okay, and he fucking loves his kids. It’s not his fault that every job the government’s placed him sucks the life and willpower out of him. He studied art dammit, being stuck at a desk job selling insurance was his worst nightmare come true.

Was in peak shape during his hero days, but years of being hunched over at a desk and little to no exercise--not to mention poor eating habits ended up developing into a soft dad bod that he’s a tad insecure about.

Meets up with Maya once or twice during the week, they usually end up getting burgers and reminiscing about the old days together.

Tried so hard to forget about hero work and live a normal steady life with his family, but that’s easier said than done. His entire den at home is decorated with all sorts of posters and articles and lately, he’s been spending just a bit too much time in it.

He’s already blown cover on their family twice, and he’s so torn between wanting to stay put and wanting to resume hero work.

Miles (36), Elastigirl/Helen Parr counterpart

Superpower is elasticity. 

Superhero name is Flexuous. 

Has been dealing with his powers pretty much since childhood. After his parents died, he was taken in by Manfred Von Karma and trained to be his prodigy. 

He ended up breaking away from Von Karma’s teachings sometime later and tried to do hero work on his own, his first instance of this being when he and Phoenix met for the first time. For a while they actually were rivals, before becoming friends and eventually dating, and were far too amused by the media’s obsession with their supposed rivalry.

Was studying to obtain a law degree and had hopes of becoming a lawyer, but when the lawsuits started happening and superheros were all uprooted, he ended up having to abandon any hopes of having any sort of high profile career. 

Sometimes works as a legal mediator just to make a bit of extra money/put his law knowledge to good use. 

He is the true backbone of the Edgeworth-Wright household. It would be in shambles if he weren’t in charge of it, as hair pulling as such a task is. For some years he and Phoenix co-parented without a problem, but with middle age starting to settle and Phoenix delving into a midlife crisis, he’s more or less been having to manage things on his own.

Phoenix and Miles -

They formally met through a foreign language course they were both taking, though officially had actually met several times under their super personas. It didn’t take long for either of them to figure each other’s identities out, however.

By the media’s standards, Captain Indestructible and Flexuous were rivals to one another, which up until a point was true. When they started dating, however, the rivalry all became a pretense just for the public’s entertainment. Though that wasn’t to say their butting heads and bickering outside of their super suits wasn’t all real, because it very much was. 

They dated for about two years before they were engaged, but their wedding had to be put on hold due to all the lawsuits and Super-related scandals going on. 

Miles pretty much planned his and Phoenix’s wedding up to a T, which didn’t matter in the end since they couldn’t afford the venue they’d wanted. They tried to wait a while, so they could save up enough money but that didn’t work out, and thus they decided to just go ahead and have a small private ceremony at the local courthouse. 

Phoenix knows Miles will never admit it, but he’s heartbroken that they didn’t get to have the wedding they wanted, especially after all the effort he put into it. That and the venue they’d booked was where his parents had gotten married, it’d meant so much to him to have their wedding there and they didn’t get to do that. 

They made the promise to each other that someday, when they were more financially stable, that they’d renew their vows and have the ceremony they’d always wanted, however that’s easier said than done when you’re trying to pay off bills and raise three kids.

Adopted Apollo two years into their marriage, then Athena a few years after that, and just recently have adopted Trucy. 

Apollo (14), Violet Parr counterpart

Superpower is invisibility/force fields.

The oldest child of the Edgeworth-Wright family. 

Has a crush on Klavier, who’s one of the more popular students in school because of course he is.  

Struggles with having to keep his powers a secret, which in-turn causes a great deal of self doubt.

Enjoys classic literature and music. 

Is stressed 24/7. His family is weird and he just wants to be normal, please help him. 

Athena (10), Dash Parr counterpart

Superpower is super speed.

The middle child of the Edgeworth-Wright family.

Her biological mother was also a super, who was killed by an ex-villain. Something similar happened to Miles when he was young, so of course he was all for adopting her. 

She has way too much energy for her own good, and has trouble focusing on one thing at a time. Her parents have tried time and time again to find a proper outlet for her to take her energy out on, but nothing’s worked so far and has only resulted in multiple visits to the principal’s office.

She wants so badly to play sports and has begged her parents time and time again to let her try out for one of the teams, though this usually ends in disagreement. Miles will put his foot down over the fear of her having an unfair advantage due to her powers, while Phoenix wants nothing more than to let her go ahead and do it. 

She very much loves and cares for her siblings, even if she does tend to pick on Apollo sometimes. 

Trucy (11 months old), Jack Jack Parr counterpart

Superpower is transformation, but the rest of her family doesn’t know this yet shhhh. 

The youngest child of the Edgeworth-Wright family.

She was an urgent emergency adoption, as well as being a closed one, so not much is known about her birth family. 

Maya (30), Frozone/Lucius Best counterpart

Superpower is telepathy/telekinesis.

Every woman in her family ended up developing these sorts of powers one way or another, so when hers started to get out of control she confided in Mia and was promised help in the matter. When she did finally arrive in the city though, Mia was dead so Phoenix took over the whole mentor thing, even if admittedly he wasn’t very good at it.

Despite everything, with Phoenix knowing next to nothing about Maya’s sort of power, he really tried his best to be of help to her and they ended up becoming close friends, even when she went off to do hero work on her own. 

After the superhero relocation program went into effect, she started work as a medium as a low key means of using her powers without giving herself away. She now owns her own small “mystic elements” type of shop where she does palm readings and the like, though nothing too drastic since a full display of her powers would give her away and have her relocated. 

Has never once been relocated come to think of it, and Phoenix is kind of jealous. It helps that she can be more subdued about her powers, while he doesn’t really have that option. 

Pearl lives with her and works in the shop as well. She ran away from home several years ago after a fight with her mother and Maya’s been looking after her ever since.

Is the cool, eccentric aunt to Phoenix and Miles’ kids. She or Pearl are their go-to whenever they need a babysitter (since they can’t actually afford one lmao). 

Franziska (33), Edna Mode counterpart

Has no superpowers. 

Works in the fashion industry, used to be responsible for a lot of super’s suits before the whole lawsuits and relocation shit went down.

The adoptive sister of Miles, who at one point was incredibly resentful towards him due to their father paying him more attention than her due to his having powers. They’ve both made peace since then, on the account that their father sucks.

Before Phoenix had met her, he was wearing his own homemade suit which she absolutely tore to shreds upon seeing. Ever since that day, he’s been low key terrified of her. 

Is essentially that wealthy lesbian aunt who likes to show off around Christmas and dump expensive presents on her nieces and nephew. 

Travels around a lot due to her job, so she’s not around often.

Dick Gumshoe (45), Rick Dicker counterpart

Has no superpowers.

Works with the whole Agency that regulates supers and what not, personally made sure that he’d be both Phoenix and Miles’ assigned case worker since he’d already known them a while.

Is doing his best in a crappy situation. Personally if you asked him, he’d be fine with supers coming out of their forced retirement but he’s not able to do much about it in his position. Regardless, he’s still a valued family friend and the kids love it when he visits.

Is married to Maggey Byrde because its what he deserves. 

Dahlia Hawthorne (32), Syndrome counterpart

Has no superpowers so to speak, but instead relies on technology invented by her family’s company.

She and Phoenix crossed paths during a supers convention, where she tried to convince him to train her as well, going on and on about how she wanted to be a hero too. But seeing as she didn’t actually have powers and wasn’t a hero herself, he turned her down.

The first attempt wasn’t the last, as she tried time and time again to get his attention and get her to train him, and each time he would refuse. He admired her efforts but the fact was, she was a civilian and even with her technology, she could be seriously hurt. 

Inadvertently foiled his attempts to sabotage a villain that ended up causing a railway explosion. She was arrested afterwards for interference with hero work, and Phoenix didn’t see her again for a long time.

Took Phoenix’s rejection very personally, and holds her public humiliation towards her arrest as his fault. 

Moved away to the island after she got out of jail and spent the next several years building up a brand new company from the ground up as part of her revenge plot. 

Iris Hawthorne (32), Mirage counterpart

Has no superpowers.

Is the twin sister of Dahlia.

She took on many of the company responsibilities until Dahlia was released from jail, then was forced into being her assistant for the new company. 

[the-hidden-writer]

A Second Chance: Chapter 4

An Ace Attorney fanfic. Read on both AO3 and FF.net!

Summary: Miles learns the identity of his “dead” mother, and the aftermath of that revelation is a tricky one. Especially when his newfound little sister is trying to turn him into a spirit medium.

AKA Miles is a Fey. Miles also doesn’t really know how to family properly.

[Chapter 1] | [Chapter 2] | [Chapter 3]

Comments make my day! :D

The Great Beverage Debate

It had been one hell of a day. Early in the morning, Maya had made a bet with Phoenix to see if he’d get a new case by noon since he was an “unstoppable famous lawyer hero” now. Or something like that. Point is, they didn’t get any new cases, and Maya won the bet. 

At first, Maya had begged to be fed fancy meals for a week. Phoenix had ended up refusing that one (his funds were slowly dying…) and agreed to clean the office’s floor instead.

He didn’t mind too much. It was oddly therapeutic. 

So when Edgeworth appeared at his door, wearing something other than his prosecutor’s suit for once, he’d been immediately taken off guard. Since his face was already flushed from scrubbing so hard, he’d hoped that he wouldn’t notice him blushing. He thinks he got away with that one.

He never saw the reveal coming. Again, he felt like an idiot for not even suspecting it a bit, but he should've taken the news a bit better. Thinking back, he might've sacred Edgeworth off with the way he reacted.

That luckily didn't happen though, and that's how he'd ended up sitting opposite the man at a small table in a café known as "Sugar & Spice". 

Since Edgeworth had offered to get the drinks, and judging by the way he had begun to sip it almost desperately, Phoenix had a suspicion that he'd ordered tea after all.

They'd walked from Wright & Co. Law Offices, barely talking to one another as he led the way. Phoenix had noticed that Edgeworth looked slightly confused when they passed more local coffee shops, which would have saved half the walking time, but he had his reasons for going the extra distance.

"Mia used to come here a lot." He said, snapping Edgeworth out of his window-gazing trance.

"She'd bring me along often enough but I'd see her in here almost every day." He continued wistfully. He missed her.

Edgeworth took another (more gentle) sip of his cup. "It would make sense." He muttered. "She used to work at Grossberg's, correct? It's probably a habit from then."

Ah, trust Edgeworth to always think one step ahead of him.

Now Phoenix was a bit stuck. When he'd offered to get coffee what felt like ages ago, he wasn't sure what he was expecting. To get to know each other better? To spend some time together? Maybe he was just being polite. It was just… seeing him appear out of nowhere like that…

"You look good." He blurted out suddenly. Edgeworth raised an eyebrow. 

"N-No, I mean," he gestured in the prosecutor's general direction, "It's nice to see you wearing something other than a suit for a change. You look great like that."

And he did. His white shirt surprisingly didn't clash against his pale skin, and his pants complimented it perfectly. And he still managed to look so professional. Honestly, he never understood work casual before now.

"Believe it or not, Wright, but I am a human being as well as a lawyer." Edgeworth said in a dry tone that betrayed how tired he actually was.

"Really?" Phoenix replied sarcastically. "I never would've guessed."

Despite his attempt to lighten the mood, Edgeworth didn't smile. In fact, his frown only deepened.

"You know Maya, don't you?"

The only problem with Miles always being ahead of him, is that Phoenix had no idea where their conversations would go.

"Um, yeah? You know her too, though."

Edgeworth shook his head. "No, I mean… you know her well. You're the living person that's closest to her." He paused, and sighed quietly. "What are her interests? Her favourite foods?"

Those were probably rhetorical questions, but Phoenix felt like it would be too awkward if he didn't answer anyway.

"Well she's way too obsessed with Steel Samurai and will eat literally anything that's edible. But she does pester me for burgers most of the time."

He could've sworn Edgeworth smiled, just for a second, but it disappeared so quickly that it was hard to tell.

"See?" He said, as if proving a point that was obvious to only him. "I should know these things! Being a brother comes with responsibilities, and I've neglected those for what, 19 years?" He groaned in frustration. "I wish this had never happened…"

Phoenix looked at him with determined but soft eyes. "You can't neglect something if you didn't know it existed." He stated firmly. "Don't bring yourself down over something you can't control."

The man just sipped his probably-tea.

“When did you find out?” He asked eventually, once Miles was reaching the end of his… British-beverage.

He just frowned, then let out a small sigh. “It was only yesterday evening, but it feels like a year ago. But no, it still hasn’t settled.”

“You told Gumshoe before me?” Phoenix teased, half-joking.

Edgeworth scoffed. “He’s the one who found out first, believe it or not. I’m…” He paused for a moment, not meeting his rival in the eyes. “I’m rather glad that it was him first.”

“Yeah, he’s good at that sort of thing. Breaking news, I mean.”

“If not for anything else.”

For the first time since leaving the office, both men laughed. Phoenix felt a stab of guilt for making fun of Gumshoe, but if Miles was even slightly happy then he was happy. He was still playing host after all, even if he wasn’t the one paying for the drinks.

"I'm sorry, I'm not the best person to talk to about sibling stuff." He admitted. “I think he has a sister? Gumshoe. You could always talk to him.”

There, he felt a bit better now. He could sleep peacefully.

“N-No, that’s alright.” Miles answered, though still sounding quite unsure. “He’s done enough already.”

“Hey, speaking of Gumshoe…” Phoenix had been meaning to bring this up since the moment it was mentioned, but knew that Edgeworth would be too prickly to answer. Hopefully the definitely-not-coffee had softened him up.

Miles waited for him to continue, but Phoenix noticed that he looked nervous. And he knew when Edgeworth was nervous, from all the time they spent as kids- not to mention in court.

“...he said something about a letter.” He finished, before hastily adding: “It sounded important.” when Miles almost broke his cup in surprise.

“I-It was nothing!” Miles spluttered.

“Yeah, sure.” Phoenix said. “And I guess this is the part where you forget that I have a magic stone that tells me when you’re hiding something?”

Sure enough, ever since Gumshoe’s… dramatic arrival back at the office, a large red psyche-lock had encased itself around Edgeworth. It wasn’t the first (when he’d used his magatama on others, he’d always notice the large number of locks surrounding his friend but never knew how to bring it up), however it was the first time he’d watch one form right before his eyes. Which meant it was purposely being hidden from him specifically, and not one of the many things that Edgeworth bottled inside of him.

He almost felt horrible after he saw the horror flash across Edgeworth’s face in that moment, and his posture suddenly became defensive. 

...Again, he knew too well what that looked like.

“Damned spiritual nonsense.”

“It’s not nonsense, and you know it.” Phoenix countered before draining the remains of his actual-coffee.

“I mean, you literally used it the other week, didn’t you?”

Edgeworth said nothing, which he took as a confirmation.

“It’s weird, right? Sometimes I wonder if Mia ever used it. I mean, she wore one around her neck, and mine had to be charged for me to be able to use it because I’m not a Fey or anything-”

“Hold on,” Miles interrupted, suddenly alert. “For you to be able to use it?”

Now Phoenix was confused. “Yeah? I think? Pearl taught me how to use it, but even then it kinda took some practise.” He smiled fondly at the memory. “Even now I still have to remind Maya that not everyone was born with spiritual powers, y’know?”

Edgeworth waited.

“Oh, you mean-”

“Just another reason I should have realised the obvious sooner.” Miles said, his tone dripping with exhaustion. “I was shocked when they appeared out of nowhere.” He scoffed. “Thought I was finally going mad.”

The excuse that Edgeworth had been working late came to Phoenix’s mind, and he felt a pang of guilt. The guy had gone through a lot, and had probably not slept, and now he was interrogating him. 

“I’m sorry for asking.” He sighed, trying his best to sound genuine. Because he was.

“No, no, it’s okay.” Said Miles, before putting down his cup and sitting up straight. 

“The letter was in the box that Detective Gumshoe found, along with those photographs. It was addressed to me, and-”

“To you?”

“Don’t interrupt, Wright. Judging by the tone of the letter and some of the specifics mentioned, it seems like it was written by Misty Fey quite soon after DL-6. It was a vaguely detailed account of her expressing her sympathies and telling me the truth about who she was, though by the way it was stored it appears she had no intention of ever sending it.”

That wasn’t what Phoenix had been expecting. Alright, so he didn’t know exactly what he was expecting, but it was not this.

“So…” He said, trying to stop his new grin from spreading, “...no forbidden love letters from your parents? Romeo And Juliet style?”

He regretted that comparison as soon as it came out of his mouth, since he had no doubt that Edgeworth would have read Shakespeare at some point. But fortunately any deeper meaning flew over his head for now, since his frown had gone. Miles still wasn’t smiling, but it was a start.

“Ever the optimist, aren’t you Wright?”

“When’s the last time you called me Phoenix?”

“I’m going to go home.” He said, avoiding the question completely. Or maybe just choosing to ignore it. Probably both.

“Oh, okay. Get some rest.” Was Phoenix’s slightly dejected reply.

“Thanks for the coffee-” 

“Thank you for the co-”

They’d both spoken at the same time. Phoenix felt the heat rushing up the back of his neck as Edgeworth’s eyes widened and he stood up from his chair and turned to leave, obviously quite embarrassed too. 

“HOLD IT!”

...and he turned again to face Phoenix, who had found a sudden determination.

He was going to expose this faker once and for all.

“You think you can fool me that easily, Miles?”

Miles looked dazed.

“Well, I know the truth. You just said ‘Thank you for the coffee’ which is polite, and I appreciate it, but you got the coffee for both of us. You’re a tea person! You’re freakin’ British! The way you sipped at it with the same look on your face, the way you carefully kept your hand on the cup until it was finished so I couldn’t see properly, the way you tried to disguise it with the amount of milk added… you ordered tea. It’s the only explanation. So TAKE THAT!”

Edgeworth was stunned, his face blank as he presumably processed the demise of his deception. 

And then he smiled. Then the smile cracked open, and Edgeworth laughed.

It had been so long since Phoenix had heard him genuinely laugh. Sure, he’d had his fair share of smug/maniacal laughs in court, but this was a soft, dorky-yet-still-classy, laugh. One so rare that Phoenix wished he could record the sound.

And it was perfect.

Once the laughter died down, Miles exhaled. “Guilty. You should really think about becoming a prosecutor, Phoenix.” He said, still smiling, as he turned on his heel and walked away.

Phoenix felt warm inside as he leaned back in his chair and watched him go. He was so happy with his win, that he completely missed exactly what Edgeworth had said to him.

...It was only when he stood up to leave himself did he notice the remains sitting inconspicuously inside of Edgeworth’s cup.

A thick, dark sludge of coffee grounds.

“Motherf-”