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4ragon · 4 years ago

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I'm not the original anonymous but I would extremely want to see that essay about Apollo's trust issues.

Also since I just finished Spirit of Justice, do you think Lamiroir ever told Trucy/Apollo about her and if so what would be their reactions?

Let’s see if I can write this up without crying again like I did on twitter.

So a while ago a friend of mine asked me why I liked Apollo, and I really couldn’t put my finger on it. I knew he was my favorite, but unlike Simon Blackquill, I hadn’t done that deep dive into figuring out why. I’d always just sort of loved him, and was never able to pinpoint the part that made me care about him so much. It drove me crazy, too, I love rambling about characters that I love, and I love writing from Apollo’s perspective more than anything. So why did I love him? Why did I care about him?

Well. I figured it out. I figured out my answer.

I think there are two things that characterize Apollo more than anything. One: He has trust issues. He genuinely believes that the people around him don’t give a shit about him. Especially after being betrayed multiple times in that first trial, he truly and deeply believes that the people around him are only trying to hurt him and is too scared to really believe that they care about him.

And two: He cares so much about the people around him that he constantly helps them anyway.

So like. And I won’t tag her because I don’t think she’d appreciate it, but I was watching the laquilasse AA4 stream last night, and the entire opening of Turnabout Corner is so striking to me, especially right after the end of Turnabout Trump. At the end of Turnabout Trump, Apollo’s trust and belief in Phoenix is finally and thoroughly shattered, and Apollo lashes out, punching Phoenix in the face. And for good reason! That was a huge breach of trust! Apollo literally did the exact thing that got Phoenix disbarred, namely present evidence that wasn’t real. Sure, they never exactly claimed it was the real deal, but Apollo didn’t even know it was faked, he just trusted Phoenix and this new piece of evidence and it almost fucked him over. It did sort of fuck him over, he did lose his job and his Mentor.

And then, Phoenix calls him and says that they’re in trouble, and Apollo doesn’t even question it, of course he shows up to help.

Like. You can feel how much he mistrusts Trucy on their first meeting, in everything he does and says. Especially when Trucy and Phoenix are in the same room, he’s actively thinking about how he doesn’t ‘buy their act’ when Phoenix is calling Trucy daughter-ly nicknames. And then, in a way, he’s kind of right? They guilt him into essentially being their errand boy, and I feel like they’re constantly and loudly using him throughout so much of the game.

And Apollo was there anyway. Apollo doesn’t even trust them and he’s still there the first instant Phoenix says he needs his help.

Like you can loudly do and say whatever you want and crush his dreams and betray his trust, and despite everything, there’s always that part of Apollo that desperately needs to help anyone who asks him. He can’t even bring himself to trust them, and he’s still crawling back the moment someone needs him, ready to let them disappoint him over again.

Like this struck me about Apollo from the moment I played AA4, but he’s so lonely? And desperate for connection? He cares so much about a world that has always and consistently never cared about him, and he just keeps caring and keeps caring even as that starry-eyed naivete is ripped away. And I feel like he just wants someone to care about him back, but never really able to believe that they do, because they never really seem to, because every time he allows himself to trust it’s just thrown back in his face so horribly.

Here��s an interesting thing I noticed: in Turnabout Trump, there’s a really interesting line. Phoenix has accused Kristoph of being the murderer, the extra person in the room. Kristoph takes the stand and claims to have witnessed the moment Phoenix committed the murder. And this exchange happens:

Apollo: There must have been someone else there at the moment of the crime!

Kristoph: Justice... I just said I saw no one. Not a soul.

Apollo: B-But, that goes against what Mr. Wright said!

Kristoph: Ah yes, this mysterious "fourth person"... ...who would conveniently be the "real killer", I suppose.

And this is well past the point where Phoenix has accused Kristoph of being that person. There’s no possibility at this point that they’re both innocent, it’s either one or the other. And Apollo is still so desperately trying to find a way for them both to be innocent, basically saying, “Just give me a fourth person and I’ll believe you.” And then Kristoph turned out to be a monster, and then Phoenix turned out to have betrayed Apollo from the start, and as far as Apollo is ever aware, none of the care from either of these men was ever real. He trusted, and he suffered the consequences.

But again. He’s still there. Someone pointed out a while ago, but Apollo stays. Apollo shows up to the Wright Talent Agency under false pretenses, and he complains and hems and haws, and he still stays. Why?

Phoenix and Trucy loudly manipulate him into working their case. They’re perfectly happy to flaunt that they’re basically tricking him. And he stays. Why?

Because Apollo can’t trust them, but he wants to so fucking bad. He doesn’t even seem to like Phoenix that much, but he wants that connection so fucking bad. He cares about them so much and he doesn’t believe for a second that they extend that feeling back at him, and he’s compelled to stay anyway.

He knows Trucy is practically using him, and he’s a sobbing mess when he thinks she was kidnapped for a few minutes. He’s cynical and mean and it’s all just to cover up the fact that he loves all these people around him with all his heart and they never once pay it back. And he comes back anyway. He’s like a fucking loyal dog that is never given enough affection and so he’s constantly trying harder and harder to earn that love while never believing he’ll ever really get it.

(Shit nope crying again)

It’s just so sad. And this is all without adding anything from the 3D games. The 3D games do build on this theme in one way or another, but from the get go, this is who Apollo is. A caring young man who is constantly punished for caring and yet can’t stop caring anyway.

We see it again in the 3D games. And I think part of why I don’t enjoy DD as much as SoJ is that DD doesn’t capture this mistrust the same way. It’s so surface level, that sense of betrayal and mistrust and anger he gets consumed by in that final case. And the worst part is it doesn’t have to be! There’s already that foundation! Apollo has been hurt already a million times. The only person he’s ever been able to trust, the only lifeline that’s kept him above water since he was a child, was Clay Terran, and now that was taken from him because he DARED to trust someone new. That’s so fucking compelling! But we never get that! We never get to see how Apollo is feeling. We get that he’s convinced Athena did the murder, but never really get into the Why, into the What This Means for Apollo.

It’s a bit better in SoJ. We see how far he’s come in terms of trusting people when he trusts in Trucy wholly and immediately in case two. And then, conversely, we see his mistrust and hurt when they introduce Dhurke into the mix. Apollo refuses point blank to believe that Dhurke had come to visit him, that Dhurke cared about him. Apollo demands to know why Dhurke was there, what Dhurke wanted, how Dhurke was going to use him. He’s been able to slowly start building that trust with people like Trucy, but he still cannot let himself trust again when Dhurke had already betrayed that trust.

I said it before, but as much as I hate the slapdash ways in which Capcom keeps throwing backstory at this boy, I love what the backstories are, because they build on this angry, cynical, lonely young man I care about so much. He’s been hurt and abandoned and used and betrayed since he was young, and being good never truly paid off for so long, but he kept doing it, he kept being good, he kept caring about people because he couldn’t help it, and kept hoping that maybe they could care back. And eventually I think it does start paying off for him. People do start caring about him. And I feel like it takes until around SoJ for him to start really believing that the people around him might care about him too.

Also congrats on finishing SoJ! Since there’s a very good chance that they might be announcing AA7 soon, I...hope? fear? expect? that they’ll touch on this then. However, I also worry that they’re going to botch it up so hard.

I know what I want to happen. I want Trucy to be angry. I want her to be angry at Lamiroir and Phoenix. She is constantly putting on a mask to try to make the people she loves happy, and I feel like this is a reasonable breaking point. After all, this is kind of the one thing that Phoenix hasn’t been honest with her about. She had a brother right there, and knew the whole time?! She had a mother there the whole time?! And no one bothered to tell her?! I think she’d be heartbroken, and I think she deserves to be angry. She’s been through so much, and they never give her time to really grieve or be upset.

I think Apollo would be ecstatic and angry at the same time. All he’s ever wanted was family, and now he does! He already loved Trucy, and thought Lamiroir was amazing, so I think he would be so happy to have that family back in his life. On the flip side, I do think he’d be angry at Phoenix, particularly for keeping it to himself before Lamiroir came into the picture, but I think if they talked it out, Apollo would come around to it and be able to forgive Phoenix.

#ace attorney #apollo justice #it's time to cry about apollo again god help me #spoilers #ace attorney spoilers #aa4-6spoilers #i love this boy so much I don't know if this does it justice #meta

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rivalsforlife · 3 years ago

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Do you have anything you wished was different from Ace Attorney canon?

Hello I'm finally slowly starting to get around to answering some of these! Sorry for the wait.

Uh this ask got super long so a basic summary of it: narumitsu being canon in a well-written way would be nice even though I don't think it would ever happen, I stand by not bringing back Phoenix as a main protagonist in DD, and I'd also want to rewrite all of SOJ so that Apollo goes to Khura'in in place of Phoenix, to have more interesting character stuff going on.

So the longer answer is this:

Aside from some of the actually problematic stuff that I don't feel qualified to talk about, story-wise, I answered a sort of similar question about a year ago here. I have changed my opinions a little bit since then, particularly with regards to the canonicity of narumitsu... because while I do love narumitsu I feel like I don't trust Ace Attorney to actually do it properly. After all if this past November has taught us anything "making a ship canon" could actually be quite undesirable and I have no desire to see Phoenix and/or Edgeworth sent to superhell. (I literally know nothing else about supernatural sorry about that.)

If capcom were somehow able to make narumitsu canon but in an unobtrusive way and as a natural progression of the storyline, like oh hey, the court record profile for Miles Edgeworth's Obligatory Last-Case Appearance has Phoenix mention they're dating, and maybe there's a few lines suggesting they live with each other, but it's not like... taking the entire story to force them together and otherwise does not change the way they interact with each other and butcher one or both of their characterizations in the process? I'd definitely be happy about that. Not gonna lie even if they made narumitsu canon in the most terrible way possible I'd have a "holy shit I can't believe they did that it's the best day of my life" kind of moment before I could think about it critically. But I honestly see no chance of them ever actually making narumitsu canon, so that's quite unrealistic to hope for anyways.

Aside from that in that other ask I talked about basically the premise of an Apollo trilogy and not bringing back Phoenix as the main protagonist in DD, and I still stand by that, buuut in my other ask I did touch on making SOJ a different game where Apollo goes to Khura'in instead of Phoenix - and you know what I'm going to take some time to actually talk about my dream version of SOJ because there were a lot of little things about the one we got that I didn't like. And it's going to be very long. So it's under a cut.

SO yeah I talked about it a bit in the other ask. I think that Phoenix going to Khura'in is a rather weak idea both externally and in-universe. In one of the interviews, too lazy to find which one, Phoenix basically goes to Khura'in because the writers couldn't figure out how to challenge him anymore. ... And then they don't actually challenge him at all. Because oh well now we're going to this new country where they KILL DEFENSE ATTORNEYS WHO LOSE and then it's supposed to be *shocking* that Phoenix would risk his life for a kid or his best friend. you know the guy who ran across a burning bridge to save his best friend. you know the guy who got punched in the face, nearly killed by the mafia, and tazed trying to save his clients. This doesn't tell me anything new about Phoenix's character. His whole travel in Khura'in doesn't tell me anything new about Phoenix's character. Basically the only reason he's there is to see Maya - Maya who theoretically would be returning home in about two weeks. Maya who was still in her training for two more weeks when Phoenix visited so he wouldn't be able to see her anyways. ... And in the meantime Trucy had the biggest show of her life that was going to be on TV and Phoenix wasn't there for it. And of course Phoenix didn't return home after Trucy was accused of murder (yes he couldn't be there for the trial, but he definitely could have for the emotional support afterwards) and instead just sits for two weeks in Khura'in doing literally nothing after Ahlbi's trial.

(And yes I know about the anime prologue that has Phoenix think Maya's in danger... but that's not strictly canon since it's never mentioned in game, isn't technically a part of the game, and even still, why wouldn't he go home after knowing that Maya's safe and that Trucy had been ACCUSED OF MURDER. Honestly that's what makes me angriest about this whole thing is that it makes Phoenix out to be a terrible dad. We really don't need any more takes like that, especially not from canon.)

And what about Apollo, you may ask? Well, given case 5 of SOJ, Apollo actually has a personal link to Khura'in and ends up staying there afterwards... after being there for like a day or two. I should note here that it has been a while since I went through SOJ in its entirety so I am fuzzy on many of the details. But both through what I remember and some conversations with people who actually played the game recently, the motivation for Apollo to actually stay in Khura'in isn't that great. It mainly seemed like guilt about his dead dad who he hadn't been in contact with for years and had completely written off until a few days ago but oh he died and then went to go visit him so... better take up the law office!

If Apollo had gone to Khura'in in place of Phoenix and spent more time there, reconnecting with his childhood home and actually getting passionate seeing how corrupt the legal system is there (even though we have a corrupt legal system at home) and being driven to fix it, that would make for a stronger story, I think. The Khura'in plot is more personally focused around Apollo than it is Phoenix. Phoenix's connection to Khura'in is through Maya, but Maya doesn't really have much of a connection to it aside from "it's where spirit channeling is from and she trains there". But Apollo, I guess, grew up there. So it's so strange to me that they force all of Apollo's connection to Khura'in in the last case while Phoenix is running around doing who-knows-what for the rest of the game. Phoenix spends more time getting to know the state of Khura'in and the Defiant Dragons and case 3's whole thing but he isn't the one who in the end decides to sit down and fix it; that's all on Apollo. It almost feels like they forced one of the two plots in to everything. And it was probably conceived as a Phoenix story that they needed to fit Apollo into last minute because oops he's supposed to be a protagonist too.

Some other strengths to Apollo going to Khura'in include that it would shake up the character dynamics a bit. Instead of Phoenix defending Maya, it's Apollo defending Maya, and that's a particularly interesting thing to look at in the context of Khura'in's "we kill defense attorneys" system. Of course, Phoenix would risk his life to save Maya, 100%, every time. But what about Apollo, who hasn't met Maya, who only knows her as "Mr. Wright's former assistant" - would he risk his life for her? And I feel like Maya would argue more against him defending her because of that. "We're strangers, you don't know me, you don't have to risk your life defending me." (Sidenote that I was always upset that Maya didn't protest much when Phoenix offered to defend her, knowing his life was at risk - sure she knows him better and knows he's always been able to get her out of these situations, but at the same time, the fact that there was no "what about your daughter?" conversation sucks. I really wish SOJ wouldn't have like. completely forgotten about the phoenix-trucy father-daughterisms.)

Let's say Apollo goes to Khura'in. Phoenix stays at home. Phoenix gets a call from Apollo that's basically "uhh hi Mr. Wright you know your friend Maya, she's been arrested for murder, if I defend her and I lose we're both dead," then you can tie in to that moment in 6-2 where Phoenix (who can't make it in time for the trial!) believes in Apollo and his skills as an attorney, not just to save Maya's life, but also his own. It ties in a bit more to the overall challenge of defending someone at the risk of your own life. Again, Phoenix would have very few hesitations, if any, risking his life to defend Maya. Apollo may have more defending a stranger at the risk of his own life.

Then if you can actually have Apollo and Maya talk together that would be neat - Maya can tell him embarrassing stories about Phoenix's rookie days, for instance. Their dynamic would be quite a bit different from Phoenix and Maya's, and that would be an interesting thing to see, unlike what we have in SOJ where all of Maya's substantial interactions are with characters she already knows or brand new characters.

(It would also be pretty neat to know more spirit channeling politics and dive in more to Maya's perspective on Khura'in and also her role as upcoming Master of the Kurain Channeling Technique and where she plans to lead the village in the future and also reconcile with her family's bloody legacy, but I'm not quite sure how to fit that in right now.)

And how about Phoenix, back home in Japanifornia? Evidently he'd end up being in charge of defending Trucy. Now, I did love the siblingsisms in canon 6-2, but I feel like there is still potential for Phoenix defending Trucy. All of Apollo Justice has a bunch of good moments between Apollo and Trucy, and she's co-counsel on all his trials, but we've never had any substantial Phoenix and Trucy investigation or co-counsel moments. I feel like AU 6-2 would be a great opportunity to dive more into Phoenix and Trucy's relationship and how it may have changed after Phoenix got his badge back. Plus, Phoenix being "the only one who knows how she really feels on the inside", he'd have unique insider knowledge into some of the Gramarye stuff that comes up in the case and Trucy's personal connection to the Gramaryes, which Apollo knows a bit of, but Phoenix knows more of. ... Or at least, should know more of, given that he raised Trucy for nine years at this point and they're very close, and Phoenix knows her better than anyone else does, even if capcom has forgotten this.

... Of course having Athena defend the case would also be great because more Athena spotlight is never a bad thing, but it's hard to come up with a reason why Phoenix wouldn't be there to defend her. And doing more switcheroos in terms of role in the plot is a bit beyond the scope of what I have in mind right now. Sorry Athena.

Aside from that, Athena still gets Storyteller, Apollo still heads Turnabout Revolution, and Phoenix still gets the DLC case. Apollo stays in Khura'in in the end with a bit more to his motivations. Rather than it just being about carrying on Dhurke's legacy, it's also something Apollo is passionate about after all he witnessed here. While we're at it I'd still rework a lot of Turnabout Revolution to make it so that Phoenix genuinely believes in Atishon because that makes for sooo much more interesting of a plot and actual character development on Phoenix's part than "Maya was kidnapped again and Phoenix is only wrong when he has no other choice", but that'd require some more detail and this post is long enough already.

And in terms of other details that need to be sorted out, there's the question of why Apollo would need to go to Khura'in in the first place. I'd probably say something to do with Dhurke. Maybe he comes back a bit earlier - actually alive, maybe, though crossing borders would be a bit of a challenge, or he reaches out to Apollo remotely somehow and Apollo goes to yell in his face about abandoning him (or at least that's what he thinks he wants.) Then we could have some more Dhurke and Apollo bonding time, potentially? Idk, if you switch up Phoenix and Apollo you're pretty much writing a whole new game and obviously I have not worked out all the details, but I think if Capcom had tried to go with this route from the outset they'd have a stronger game. At least stronger character motivations.

So... yeah. Those are my opinions. If you read through this whole thing I'm very impressed because it got very long!

#asks #soj spoilers #aa6 spoilers

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sunset-peril · 2 years ago

Text

Ashes Remain - Chapter Three - Silent and Hospitalized

December 16th, 2027

3:35pm

Hickfield Clinic

~~~~

He didn't want to talk. Especially after hearing about Athena. He just muttered "I told her to go." before closing his eyes. He let Trucy talk to him for a while, but didn’t talk back. After Pearl got out of school, the Wrights went back to the agency. It was Apollo's idea, Athena was still on the table.

He waited in a vicious cycle for hours: jamming the button at his bedside that would grant him morphine, laying flat against his back sleeplessly, listening to that infernal clock which sounded like the bomb’s ticking, thinking about Athena being just as awake as he on an operating table.

The nurse came in every so often to check on him, his IV, and to reapply burn cream to his wounds. “Your girlfriend still isn’t here?” She’d ask every time she came in, which completed the cycle. No matter how softly she spoke, or how often she pulled a heartbeat check for him,

It felt like Clay all over again.

~~~~

December 16th, 2027

5:10pm

Hickfield Clinic

~~~~

He’d given up on paying attention, everything hurt so much. He was just going to close his eyes until he passed out.

That’s when he heard it.

It started as the normal cracking open of the door, then he heard squeaking of some kind.

And then he heard her. He heard her whimper, and he was fully alert.

“Oh, you hear her, Mr. Justice?” He saw another nurse, brown curled hair tumbling off her face. “Your ears are sharp, that’s good for her.”

What? Athena’s ears are better than mine!

“What do you mean? What happened to her?”

“Well, Mr. Justice… she may have gone deaf.”

What?!

“We couldn’t get her to respond to sound, and she hit her head really hard… we’re just thankful right now that she made it through, and that she’s not blind.”

Athena’s magic was in her ears, what would life with a deaf Thena be like? She would lose the part of her that made her so perceptive. He couldn’t tell her how fine she was! Athena was such a peppy person, filled with words and music. If that was gone now, what would she be?

“We’re currently letting her recover from surgery before we evaluate her for deafness. She’s artificially deaf now. We gave her something like anti-hearing aids. Like the main function of regular aids is to turn the world up, these turn it down. She’s basically on mute until it's time for evaluation.” Another nurse wheeled a gurney up, with Athena laying in obvious pain. Wiring wrapped around her ears and head, several IVs running into different places. Yet, when her blurry eyes saw Apollo, they sparkled. The nurse wheeling her in took her hand to his mouth and mouthed ‘You see him?’ slowly.

How odd, was Apollo’s initial thought. Would this be how they communicated now? To surpass the sign barrier?

Athena smiled and reached out barely, thin hand trembling while an IV ran just beneath her elbow.

They kept her close for the time, and Apollo practiced her new way of speaking. He had to say his words out loud to get his mouth to move right, he’d never thought the ever-listening Athena would be facing deafness. They mostly just stared at each other, she was still impaired from the surgery and whatever anesthesia had affected her. Finally, after a while of soaking each other in, she grabbed his hand.

“You okay, Pollo?”

“Yeah, yeah. I’m fine. I’m fine!”

Her silent giggle was frightening. “Of course you’re fine, Pollo. That ‘fine’ of yours…” She tipped his hand over and kissed him gently.

He took the chance to snatch her face, she leaned into his hand.

“It will be okay…” She mouthed into his hand. “I don’t need my ears to know you're afraid.”

“Even if you don’t need them, I want you to have them. I love your voice, Thena.”

“I love yours too. And this lip talking thing won’t be forever, even if my ears never come back. We can use Widget!”

“Heh, take yourself easy, Thena. You just came out of surgery.”

“Yeah, yeah I did.”

“How you feelin, tiger? The nurses said they couldn’t get you under.”

“Oh, that’s something I hope I never do again. It wasn’t my first time in neurosurgery, but I think I’d be feeling a lot better if they could have gotten me down.”

“You’ve had brain surgery before?”

“Heh, you’re drugged, Apollo. I’ve shown you my scar before. You made me promise I wasn’t going to die on you.”

He rubbed his horns. “I have? Sorry, tiger. Have I told you how pretty you are today? Because you’re so pretty…”

She blushed profusely. “Oh!” His hand slipped from her lips. “I’m not that pretty… not today.”

“You’re always pretty. The day since we’ve met, you’ve been pretty.”

“Okay, Justice. Now I know you’re drugged. You’re never this sappy.”

“I’m sorry, okay?!” He forgot to hold her hand to his lips, and his words were lost. Sighing, he brought her hand back. “I’m sorry… I should have come home… I guess… I dunno what I was thinking!”

“Pollo…” She gave the softest smile. “I forgive you. May I get some rest now?”

“Of course, Thena, tiger.” He was finally able to use his voice for real. “She’s tired. Can you put her to bed, or something?”

“Of course.” They both initiated contact with Athena, the man on her gurney and the woman now talking to her. “We’ll take you to your bed now, Doctor Cykes.”

Athena shook her head. “Miss Cykes please. Someone… else is Doctor Cykes.”

“Ah, okay, Miss Cykes. Let’s go.”

She blew him a kiss as they wheeled her to the bed on the other side of the curtain.

They called the Wrights back after she was settled, and got Aura from the waiting room so she could see her niece. She didn’t pay any attention to him, silently pulling back the curtain and going behind.

The Wrights, Pearl in tow, arrived about twenty minutes later. “Polly!” Trucy ran over to him. “We heard Thena’s out of surgery! Is she okay?”

“She’s, uh… something alright.”

“Mr. Apollo,” Pearl bit her lip. “Something’s wrong with Ms. Athena?”

“Um… well… she might be… deaf.”

Phoenix’s jaw hit the floor. “Deaf?!”

“They’re waiting until she recovers a little from the head trauma before running her through a hearing test. Since it's sudden, they’ve been having us practice a form of lip reading, just in case. Thena says if her ears are really gone, she’ll set up a program for us to communicate easier. But since it's a temporary diagnosis until she’s healed, this is where we stand.”

“So is she currently deaf, Mr. Apollo? They’re seeing if her hearing will come back?”

“They don’t know at all, she has a special pair of hearing aids that force her to be deaf. They put them in after the surgical team couldn’t get her to respond with sound.”

“That’s terrifying for Athena, not knowing if she’ll ever hear again.”

“She’s asleep right now, and her aunt’s got a bit of a monopoly on the space right now. Otherwise, I’d suggest seeing her.”

“How’s she look, Polly?”

“Still like my tiger, hair’s a little messy, she’s got a few different IVs here and there, but she’s still beautiful.”

“Ah, how beautiful! It’s like a fairytale! Like Mr. Nick and Mystic Maya, you and Athena are meant to be!”

Phoenix turned redder than the suit Apollo had once been wearing, Apollo himself began laughing until there was too much friction on his burns, when he jammed his morphine button. Trucy gave loud approval.

“Shut up over there!” Aura snapped from the curtain. “Some of us are actually having a crisis!”

“So-uh, so there’s no way we can accidentally wake Athena up?”

“Nope.”

Aura hogged all of Athena’s bedside for an hour more, then darted down to the detention center. After she left, the nurses let the others in. She was still knocked out cold, finally feeling the effect of her anesthesia, but due to her deaf state her visitors were able to talk like she was awake.

“Hey, Athena. You’re hanging on pretty well. We, uh, saw your papers from seven years ago. If you ever… want to talk about it… ah look at me. You might never hear again and here I am asking if you want to talk about your deepest problems. I’m proud of you, though.”

“I’m here for you all the way, Thena! Whatever I need to do to make you more comfortable after all this, I’ll do it!”

Pearl leaned closer to Athena. “Mr. Nick and Trucy covered most of it, so let me say: Mr. Apollo wants you to get well more than anyone else! He was just telling us how beautiful he thinks you are!”

“Objection! Let me spill my own thoughts!”

Everyone erupted into laughter over Apollo’s extreme embarrassment for something everyone knew well.

They left shortly after Trucy pat Apollo’s unburned head and wished him luck with his healing.

Having Athena back in the room with him, where he could hear her heartbeat, made his wounds feel much better. He wished she was in his arms, snoozing to his heartbeat while he breathed in her scent that was so overwhelmingly Athena. But with their wounds, that was an impossible wish.

“Hey… Pollo?” Her tiny voice peeped long after dark, finally her voice after an afternoon of silence.

He instantly beeped a nurse to help her converse. “What do you need, Tiger?” He had them transfer from his lips to hers. They needed a better system.

“...Do you remember when we first met? What did you think of me?”

“You… were amazing, Athena. Incredibly unexpected, but amazing.”

“Could you tell me about it, please?”

“Haha, of course, Tiger. But I’m not going to be that mean to the nurse. Let them grab my phone for me and I can text you through Widget.”

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astrologista · 4 years ago

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Gavin Bros. Analysis

here be spoilers for apollo justice (aa4)

There are already a bunch of posts all about AA:AJ and just what the heck was behind Kristoph Gavin’s Psychelocks. What were his motivations? Why did he do what he did? As fragmented as the story is surrounding the Gavin brothers, and as much as I wish the source material had rounded out their characters a little more, I believe the game actually tells you pretty much everything there is to know about this case rather succinctly. Don’t worry as I will use evidence to back up my claims...

It is notably interesting that Kristoph’s Psychelocks only come up when Phoenix asks him point blank why he killed Zak Gramarye. This is the one question that Kristoph consistently refuses to answer directly, both in Solitary Cell 13 and in his testimony at his trial. Coincidentally, this is also the main question that he ever gets asked that speaks to his emotions or state of mind. Kristoph has a really good logical answer for basically all of the evidence-based questions. But, it’s also not a coincidence that Apollo has the presence of mind to note - “why not bring up the motive from the start? unless it was a battle he thought he might lose...”

This establishes pretty clearly that Kristoph is going to have a vested interest in keeping all questioning solidly focused on the material evidence at hand such as the postage stamp, the nail polish, and reasons why he cannot be directly connected to those objects. The law provides plenty of escape hatches and loopholes for Kristoph to exploit, which he does, providing him with the legal basis to be able to escape punishment due to the inability for anyone to prove his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. This is not surprising as being a very successful defense attorney is literally his job and he happens to be extremely competent at it.

This kind of person is scary if you meet them in real life because they can always seem to wriggle out of anything you try to pin on them. Kristoph is a grand master at doing this, quite possibly as good as they come in the AA universe.

Here’s the rub. Apollo brings up that Kristoph wants to avoid bringing the conversation into motives and state of mind questions, why? Because “it’s a battle he thinks he might lose”. Every single time this topic comes up, Kristoph deflects the question. This also is indicated by the five black Psychelocks that come up when Phoenix asks him point blank why he killed Zak. So from this we can gather that the game is drilling it in pretty well that Kristoph’s motivations are a sore spot for him and possibly the one chink in his armor.

Because the material evidence cannot prove anything for or against Kristoph’s guilt, in a typical case like this the police would hope for the holy grail - a full confession and admission of guilt. Kristoph is much too cool of a customer to fall into any traps, no doubt he was questioned very rigorously after being arrested, but all he even had to do was invoke his right to remain silent regarding his motives or simply claim that he killed Zak just ‘cause y’know, being evil is fun. Once he confessed to killing Zak, though, the police probably didn’t care all that much to probe into his thoughts and motivations really, if he did it, he did it and he’s going to spend a stint in jail either way.

Phoenix sees through this, however. In Solitary Cell 13 he does NOT allow Kristoph to drop or evade the question. That is why we get as far as even seeing the black Psychelocks at all. If we can’t know the motive, why bother to have this scene in the game?

Quite simply we can now understand that Kristoph’s motive for killing is something emotional. It is not something that he’s going to divulge casually, but it is also probably something that he is worried about divulging UNCONSCIOUSLY which is why he constantly tries to steer conversations away from it, instead deflecting to discuss the evidence or the emotional state of other people in the room. Consider that Kristoph’s reputation is PREDICATED on him being “the Coolest Defense in the West”. His identity is based on his successful suppression of emotions in court. This is not to say he shows no emotion or is some kind of monotone emotionless husk. He has a rather dry sense of humor. He banters with Apollo. He banters with Phoenix. He isn’t as uptight as some portrayals would have you believe (”life is to be taken easy”). When it comes to surface topics, Kristoph is an open book. He’s not as terse as you would believe, but rather kind of poetic and loquacious and conversational (to his downfall in 4-1). You get the feeling that he would be a very good conversationalist. But only for surface topics. Try to dig a little deeper and he will very neatly deflect your efforts.

How can we hope to understand a character who by definition does not have any interest in talking about his innermost neuroses? The reason why people still discuss the Gavin brothers and Turnabout Succession so much is that, while a very satisfying and intense case, it is unlike a lot of other AA cases in that you come away from it with a LOT of open ended questions. You don’t feel the same feeling of closure as you would get from the DL-6 case, where it feels like you finally understand all the facts of the case and all of the character motivations come to light making you go “oh! THAT MAKES SENSE!” you understand why von karma killed gregory, and everything comes together nicely in the end. Turnabout Succession is kind of a rarity in that it does not do that. By the end, you feel like you clearly understand the case, but you do not have a crystal clear view of the root cause of the motivations behind it.

In Kristoph’s final testimony he does shed a little bit of light on his motivations for his crimes. The issue that he has is mainly centered around his dismissal by Zak Gramarye as his representation. And, his subsequent replacement with Phoenix Wright, an attorney he perceives to be low-class and sub-par. Kristoph then states “these men shamed me, and I could not forgive that.” This is as close to an answer as to why he went to such lengths to get Phoenix disbarred as we are likely to get. Disproportionate retribution is the name of the game. It seems as if, if there’s one thing Kristoph cannot tolerate, it’s being looked down upon by someone that he perceives as inferior to him. Kristoph has extremely polarized notions of who should get to practice law, who is acceptable and who is categorized under “ignorant swine soiling the courts”. He makes very, very clear that he has nothing but disdain for common people, common wisdom, and any use of emotion or feelings in deciding verdicts.

So the particular manner in which Phoenix sought to bring him down with the jury system was a very deliberate masterstroke to Kristoph’s pride. That much we can establish. But again, motive. The game goes out of its way to tell you that whomever defended Zak would be “famous beyond belief” and, presumably also, rich. They would get a lot of very high-profile clients and cases sent their way after successfully defending the uber-famous magician Zak Gramarye.

Taking all of this into account, right. Is it possible that everything Kristoph did has its roots in one very simple source, the root of all evil?

Money.

Taking a step back for a moment, consider Klavier. Why does Klavier perform in a rock band? “Because I want Frauleins to look at me when I walk down the street.” I feel like people really want to believe that both Kristoph and Klavier are super deep characters and have all this deep lore and hidden backstory. Maybe they do. Most AA characters do. But consider this. What if they’re both so deep, they’re actually just shallow? Yes, that shallow?

Given how much AA:AJ focuses on the Gavins, which is really not that much, this concept seems difficult to swallow. Is there really more to the story based on what the game gives us? If there is, how would we piece it together?

One major hint the game gives you about Kristoph (and, if this is insignificant, then you have to really wonder why they bother to bring it up at all) takes place directly after seeing Kristoph’s black Psychelocks in Solitary Cell 13. He starts doing his nails. Phoenix says “I know appearances are a big thing with you”. Kristoph says “You know what I say? One cannot live a beautiful life without beautiful nails.”

I feel that this statement is important because it is probably about as deep of a look as we are ever going to get at how shallow Kristoph Gavin really is. He hopes you will believe that he’s playing 12-dimensional chess with some kind of fucked up backstory and motive going, but the truth is, he’s no chessmaster. Based on what the game gives you, there’s really only one motivation for everything that makes sense.

Kristoph killed Zak, Drew and attempted to kill Vera to cover his tracks. He had to do everything he could to make sure no one talked about the forgery. He had to stalk people like Spark and keep Phoenix very close (the epitome of keep your friends close keep your enemies closer). There’s nothing really debatable about those facts because they are all discussed in the game.

What about the root cause? Revenge, of course, for Phoenix stealing away the chance for Kristoph to defend Zak.

Why was defending Zak so important to Kristoph? To become rich and famous.

So wait. Why does Kristoph need to be rich and famous?

As it is, Kristoph appears to be very affluent and well off. There is no real reason directly given in the game as to why he would need such prestige and fame other than that it feeds his massive ego and superiority complex. So that’s a big part of it, no debate there.

But why would the excessive monetary gains that would be secured off of the Gramarye case be so appealing to Kristoph? We’ll re-examine this in a little bit.

In Daryan Crescend’s case, Phoenix tells Apollo “every man has an igniter. find his and set it off”.

What is Kristoph’s igniter?

I mean some people would say Phoenix Wright is Kristoph’s igniter based on his breakdown. But, I think more of that trial was contrived by Phoenix than we tend to notice.

I think Klavier is Kristoph’s igniter.

The final trial in Turnabout Succession would not have been able to succeed without Lamiroir, without the jury system, without Phoenix pulling the strings, without Trucy, without Apollo, and most especially without Klavier. Removing any of these elements from the scenario would immediately give Kristoph a massive advantage in allowing him to manipulate the courtroom. Can you imagine Payne trying to prosecute Kristoph?

No. Klavier was the only one who could confront Kristoph successfully.

The final trial had to be contrived in such a way as to put maximal pressure on Kristoph to increase the chances that he would slip up or, more likely, that an element of randomness and/or emotion would become introduced. Phoenix sets up Klavier as the prosecutor for this trial for a good reason - remember, Phoenix tells Apollo point blank that he (Phoenix) is pulling all of the strings for the Misham trial, so whatever happens is entirely his responsibility.

It must have been difficult for Phoenix to entrust Klavier, the person who sealed his fate, with such an important task. But realistically, he didn’t really have a choice. Klavier’s disclosure of Kristoph’s visit to the prosecutor’s office is the glue that holds together the entire case against Kristoph Gavin. Notice that Kristoph never really does anything to keep Klavier out of the public eye or otherwise silence him (up until the very end at least). If I knew there was someone walking around giving press interviews and practicing as a prosecutor who knew something really incriminating about me, I would want them swept away or snuffed out asap - I mean, Kristoph has already poisoned Drew and Vera who were unlikely to tattle on him at best; Drew couldn’t even identify him! What Klavier has on him is much, much more damning dirt. Either Kristoph really loves and trusts his brother or is convinced that he can control Klavier to the point where Klavier would never dare tell anyone about that visit or wouldn’t want to. Probably both are true.

The interesting thing about this dynamic is that this is really the only time where we see both Gavin brothers together in one room, as well. Something about being in proximity changes both of their behaviors. Klavier becomes hyper-alert and nervous in Kristoph’s presence, a marked change from his usually easy demeanor. Klavier’s presence causes Kristoph to make several mistakes, which end up costing him the case.

So all of these things needed to happen, and they needed to happen simultaneously for Phoenix to succeed. Getting back to my theory on Kristoph, we can see from what’s said in the game a few things - he really, REALLY wanted to be the one to benefit from defending Zak Gramarye (a trial he knew he would win against his brother using forged evidence), the presence of Klavier is his undoing in court, and his appearances are very, very important to him.

I honestly think the real reason Kristoph was so salty about losing out on the Gramarye trial fame and money is that he didn’t just want to be affluent or well-to-do. He wanted to be excessively, filthy rich.

If you look at Solitary Cell 13 you will see that Kristoph likes very much to surround himself with many nice things. He likes tasteful decorations and furniture. He enjoys literature, music, art, that weird rose he keeps in a vase, and he has a dog named Vongole. “First rate in all things, accept nothing less.”

To have such top of the line items, Kristoph must not only be rich, he must be like top 1% rich. He has to have the absolute best of everything. This is why he needs money. Without these things, what separates him from the ignorant swine he so despises? This is why Kristoph needed money.

Nowhere is this highlighted more than with the Ariadoney nail polish. I think it’s mentioned a couple of times that the Ariadoney is absolutely the best possible nail polish that you can buy. It’s very, very expensive and is manufactured in extremely limited quantities (this is discussed during Kristoph’s testimony). If Kristoph is this fixated on something as simple as a bottle of nail polish, you can almost imagine the absolutely ludicrous costs of every other item that he uses or owns, not limited to his home, his car, fine foods and wine, his expensive hobbies, possibly traveling etc etc etc etc. I just know this fool shops at Whole Foods, because I can’t see him buying groceries at the Costco. It makes a lot of sense as to why he is single as well. Kristoph Gavin would end up being an expensive habit to any partner who would have him - I wouldn’t want to share a bank account or credit line with him. He needs Gucci to keep him happy. No bootlegs here.

Point is, Kristoph Gavin has an addiction to the finer things in life and he will NOT settle for second rate products. He will have what he wants and he will do basically anything to maintain his lifestyle at its current elite level at the expense of his own morality and soul. Sadly enough I feel like that might be as deep as it gets with him. That’s a really pathetic motive to have and makes me hate him a lot more, but it’s so fucked up I can’t look away.

Consider also the most important thing to Kristoph of all - his appearance. It costs money to keep yourself up and this seems to be the one area that Kristoph might end up pouring the most money into. The top of the line suit, the white shoes, the perfect tan, the platinum blonde hair so immaculately coiffed, the fact that his skin is virtually perfect and the fact that his face is near-identical to Klavier’s despite being some 8 or 9 years older. Most normal people would have some kind of facial imperfection pop up at some point, a wrinkle, a pock mark, something. And that’s when you realize... that Kristoph Gavin has most likely had work done. Like, on his face to make it stay youthful. He’s just that vain and probably also despises watching Klavier stay young and pretty while he’s just aging. Fillers? Botox? Collagen treaments? Something more invasive? No one knows, but all I’m saying is that Klavier’s character description goes out of its way to describe Klavier as “the spitting image of Kristoph Gavin”. Vera notices the extreme resemblance right away. There can certainly be genetic basis for two brothers looking alike, but compare that to how Mia and Maya look “alike”, or Lana and Ema, both of whom have a similar age gap to Kristoph and Klavier. You would realize that Kristoph and Klavier seem to have somewhat of a more obvious resemblance despite the age difference. So this isn’t just possible anymore, this is actually likely. I don’t think the game implies that Kristoph has undergone plastic surgery or anything, so I’m keeping this in the realms of headcanon for now. But it would make perfect sense as yet another reason as to why Kristoph Gavin needs cold cash. He needs to look flawless and he needs access to the absolutely most top of the line treatments and practitioners, continually. And as he continues to age, he needs to get more and more aggressive, more and more products, more and more retouching with those age reversal creams and foundations and stabilizers. That adds up, cost-wise, very very fast, especially if you want top of the line EVERYTHING, and Kristoph does indeed. It is very clear that settling for any less would be completely unacceptable to him.

All of this money, it has to come from somewhere. Being a posh defense lawyer will bring in some money, sure, but nothing near what Kristoph is going to need to live his beautiful life. Winning the Gramarye trial would have probably bought him enough prestige, clients and monetary gains to support himself off of law for the rest of his life. It does make a lot of sense that he would be incensed after losing that chance.

There is one more unexplored possibility as to why Kristoph had to be the one to win the Gramarye trial, though, and it ties into the money issue as well. This was supposed to be a fair match, after all, brother to brother. Klavier’s first case, in fact. It was supposed to be Kristoph vs. Klavier, and Kristoph wanted to make sure that he would be the one to win. Only Zak and Phoenix ruined that chance - a once in a lifetime chance, actually, for Kristoph to go up against his brother on Klavier’s very first day.

Klavier was the prosecutor of the Gramarye trial. It was his very first case. What could Kristoph have to gain by being the one to trounce 17-year-old Klavier in court on his first day on the job?

Well, not much, other than it would have been a huge crushing blow to Klavier psychologically.

There’s a comic floating around by someone, I think zarla-s, where Kristoph wins the Gramarye trial and is discussing his win with Klavier afterwards. Kristoph is smug and hopes Klavier will be humbled by his impressive win, but Klavier is unperturbed by his loss, happy for his brother and insists he’ll win next time.

As cute as this is, somehow I don’t think that’s exactly how it would go down.

Klavier has actively shown how nervous / anxious / upset Kristoph’s mere presence makes him in a courtroom setting. Based on this, it’s not unfair to say that losing to Kristoph IN PARTICULAR on Klavier’s very first case would have been a devastating psychological blow that could technically end Klavier’s prosecutor career before it even began. There is a lot on the line with the Gramarye trial, don’t forget the praise and adulation that Klavier gained by winning it. So other than all of the fame, adulation, money and pride Kristoph would have gained by rigging and winning the Gramarye trial, there is another dimension that he was also robbed of - the ability to ruin his brother’s law career. Losing to another attorney like Phoenix or anyone else would not be enough to do the job. It would have to and could only be Kristoph’s doing.

What reason could Kristoph have for wanting Klavier’s law career to come to an end?

Well, Klavier does have another job. As a rock star.

Wildly popular rock stars make a lot of money, many many many times more than even a celebrity defense attorney could dream to make.

The Gavinners had multiple albums go platinum. They sold out shows all over the country, I believe, possibly all over the world. They are a brand. They are profitable. Klavier is profitable.

With how much Kristoph depends on and uses Klavier, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that Kristoph gets to take a big cut of Klavier’s earnings from his music career. For all we know, Kristoph could have been responsible for assembling and filing many of the Gavinners’ early contracts and legal paperwork. The rights to songs, record deals, merchandising - this is a lot of stuff. I’d say it’d be pretty hard to believe that Kristoph did not have his hooks into the Gavinners from day one. If he handled contracts, he could have written in loopholes that would give him a huge cut of any earnings resulting from Klavier’s band, the Gavinners.

Now I know what you’re thinking, Klavier himself is a legal prodigy. He could have easily read through anything Kristoph prepared and refused to sign on the dotted line if he found anything amiss or hidden in the fine print. What if Kristoph’s legal control of Klavier started much earlier than that? Depending on when Klavier started in the entertainment business, which could have been a very early age, Kristoph could have had plenty of time and opportunity to secure access to any of Klavier’s future earnings, especially if their parents were out of the picture.

If you think Kristoph has nothing to do with the Gavinners, think about it. One of their songs is literally called “Atroquinine, My Love”. They are a brand. They are marketed specifically to teeny boppers. They’re not squeaky clean mainstream pop like the Jonas Brothers or anything, but they are marketable. The advertising, the way they dress, the way Klavier says he’s tired of the youthful angst scene, the fact that Klavier only gives Apollo and Trucy a 20% discount on concert tickets. I’m just saying a lot of it could end up being contrived, perhaps by a certain someone with an ulterior motive. It seems really, really weird and coincidental that the band broke up right after AA4 too. Klavier seems like he’s really dedicated to his art, and to music. This much is clear in the way he reverently talks about Lamiroir, how he teared up at her song, even the Guitars’ Serenade seems like a very different song than what the Gavinners would typically do, and it only debuts after Kristoph is already in jail.

It makes you wonder if there might be a little something more going on here. If Kristoph had it set up to where he could get access to Klavier’s assets, which almost certainly dwarf his own by several times, then he had every reason to want to crush Klavier in court. He had to be the one to face Klavier in the Gramarye trial and win, causing Klavier to end his prosecutor dreams - and do what?

Go back on the road, put everything into his music career and become a workhorse for Kristoph’s ambitions.

Putting Klavier full time on the Gavinners would have solved all of Kristoph’s monetary worries for good. He could skim everything off the top and finally live the beautiful life of his dreams, the life he needed to have and couldn’t do without. Most importantly, he could keep up appearances and always look continually young and attractive.

Until we learn otherwise, I think that that is really all that was behind Kristoph’s black Psychelocks. Just a narcissistic, vain, preening loser masquerading as some mastermind villain when, in the end, that’s not really what he cared about being. He cared about painting his nails in a luxurious mansion surrounded by piles of money in a big Scrooge McDuck money vault, and laughing maniacally at anyone who ever thought that there was anything more to it.

#gavin brothers #kristoph gavin #klavier gavin #ace attorney: apollo justice #black psychelocks #these guys drove me a little crazy #because it took me awhile to figure out what they were all about #and then i was like oh. wow. thats really kind of all there is to it #not that i dont enjoy the au ideas where theres like a deeper reason behind everything #but what material there is of them doesnt give us much of anything to work with #and this is the only theory i can think of that best accounts for everything in the simplest way #man i didnt want to like these fuckers at first but they are gd interesting #it's pretty fun to try to fill in the blanks #and by all means all interpretations are valid im not saying this is the only one

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gracereadstoomanybooks · 4 years ago

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answering questions I’ve been asked on TikTok✨

QUESTION: how did you get into reading?

So, when I was in middle school (many moons ago) we had this thing called AR Testing. Basically, you read a book and take a test on it—the questions were things that happened in the book, it was really simple. If you got a good grade, you got points. The more points you earned, the more eligible you were for the reading party at the end of each semester. Me, being the nerd I am, got top of my class because I went through 8th grade level books like it was nothing. The librarian at my school brought me books from the high school to read since everything was easy for me, and alas, my addiction began. And now that I have adult money, it’s a true addiction. Also, telling my father “I’m bored” and his response being, “go read a book or something” so thanks dad.

QUESTION: what’s one book you ALWAYS recommend to people?

This one is tough because I’ve read THOUSANDS of books, but if I had to choose one, it would probably be Confess by Colleen Hoover. I fell in love with her work in high school when I first read Ugly Love, but Confess is the type of book that pulls at your heart strings, y’all. It has everything people love: humor, sexual tension, drama, love. GO BUY THE DAMN BOOK. Or honestly any book by Colleen Hoover—she’s a fucking amazing author.

QUESTION: outside of making TikToks, what do you do for a living?

I currently work at a restaurant and hate every second of it. If anyone tells you to become a server, DONT. It’s not worth the hassle, I promise you. Sure, you can make decent money but the amount of rude customers and shitty tips you receive each shift is very disheartening. If you really need a job, do anything BUT work in the food industry.

QUESTION: what’s your wattpad story about?

First question: which one? I have about 30 drafts sitting there waiting to be posted. But, I’m going to assume you’re talking about the Harry Styles fan fiction I’ve been working on for the past 4 years and haven’t had the courage to post. I’ll tell you a little about it: Elaine Aldridge is forced into a betrothal to a man she’s never met & loathes. She goes to his court and realizes things aren’t what they truly seem. And the guard her future husband sticks on her??? None other than Mr. Harry Styles. Add in some magic & deaths and you’ve got my story— The First Prince. (Honestly, that’s an extremely shitty description so if you wanna check it out go to my wattpad account)

QUESTION: how old are you?

Ahem. . . twenty-one.

QUESTION: what is your dream career?

Being a published author and having people rave about my books. That’s all. Or, an editor for a publishing company. Imagine reading all day and being paid for it🤩

QUESTION: what was your least favorite read of 2020?

I already KNOW I’m gonna get shit for this but....... the wicked king. YALL I LITERALLY COULDNT GET THROUGH IT IM SO SORRY, I STILL HAVENT FINISHED IT

QUESTION: current favorite author?

Sarah. J. Maas. I don’t know what it is about her writing style, but it’s addicting. Throne of Glass is hands down the best series I’ve ever read. A Court of Thorns and Roses is the first book I’ve EVER reread. Her stories truly suck you in and hold onto you—you get lost so easily in her writing and it’s like once you’re done with a series, nothing will compare. Or, at least that’s how I felt after finishing Kingdom of Ash. Honorable mentions: Jennifer L. Armentrout, Penelope Douglas, L.J Shen, Elle Kennedy and Kennedy Fox.

QUESTION: any recommendations/tips to give to a new reader?

I’ve always given this advice to people who want to get into reading: find what you like and start with that. If you like romance, I’ve got a list for you to choose from. Mystery? Another list. Sci-fi? I GOT YOU. Fantasy? Yes! Sports fiction? It might take me a second but I’ll find you a book. Nonfiction? I’m zero help in that category, honestly. The point of the matter is that you’re never going to enjoy a book if you aren’t interested in the underlying topics.

QUESTION: do you ever find yourself comparing your life to fictional life?

Yes. All the time. I daydream about being apart of the Inner Circle and living in Terrasen with Aelin and Rowan. I think about what it would be like to have real powers and a mate. It drives my boyfriend crazy—but he loves me anyway.

QUESTION: what are your most anticipated books of 2021?

Here’s a list:

A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas

The Crown of Gilded Bones by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Gods and Monsters by Shelby Mahurin

Crescent City 2 (Untitled) by Sarah J. Maas

A Vow So Bold and Deadly by Brigid Kemmerer (I just ordered this one & it arrives tomorrow)

Blessed Monsters by Emily A. Duncan

QUESTION: why did you start a Tumblr?

Honestly, I used to love tumblr when I was in grade school (way too young to be on here then but what else is new). I like having an extra space to get my questions and comments out without having to compress it into a 60 second video for TikTok to see. Tumblr is a good place to blog & post things like this.

QUESTION: what’s your favorite song right now?

I’ve listened to Carry You by Novo Amor every day for the past two months and I cry each time.

QUESTION: why write Harry Styles fan fiction?

Simple: I love Harry Styles. I’ve been a fan of him and One Direction since they were on X FACTOR. Read that again. X. Factor. I used to watch their performances on YouTube before WMYB even came out. Of course, I love all of the 1D boys but I was always a Harry gal. And I look up to him in a way—I’ve read things about people wishing they knew him personally and honestly? I would never want to meet him. I like the version of him I’ve cooked up in my brain over the past 10 years. I like the symbiotic relationship I have with his music. Fine Line is a ✨masterpiece✨. HS1 is a ✨work of art✨.

now, some topics I’ve been asked way too many times and want to finally get to:

QUESTION: political views?

the saying “anyone but trump” has been in my brain for the past four years. No, I’m not a republican. No, I’m not a democrat. I like to think of myself as a progressive (ahem, liberal) Did I vote for a democratic candidate? Yes, and I’d do it again and again until the US isn’t one of the worst countries—I’m sorry, businesses— to be apart of. I wanted Bernie but got Biden, and I’m alright with that. And my girl Kamala🥳

QUESTION: how did you feel about the BLM protests?

I went to multiple BLM protests and donated a lot of funds to BLM & other organizations. It’s 2021, people... stop being fucking RACIST. And don’t be afraid to call racist people out! Black Lives Matter, even if no one is posting about it anymore.

QUESTION: thoughts on abortion?

your body your choice, queen! not my uterus, not my problem.

QUESTION: there was a comment on an old video of yours talking about r*pe, why did you delete the comment?

I made a video when I first started my account on TikTok about reading in public and feeling “turned on” by it. Go watch it if you don’t know what I’m talking about. BUT, some ignorant male decided to comment and say “this is how girls get r*ped”. Whew. So. I deleted the comment because ....

I am a victim of sexual assault. Along with a lot of other women. 1 in 5 women have been victims of sexual assault. Talking about being r*ped isn’t funny.

No one else needed to see his comment. I reported it immediately and his account was shut down.

I never got justice for what happened to me, and the fact that some random male—who had never even met me or seen me before my video showed up on his FYP—had the nerve to comment that? Unacceptable.

this question isn’t as controversial but

QUESTION: what’s the best way to get out of a toxic relationship?

okay, let me just start off by saying that the people around you who love and support you are going to be your backbone. Leaving a toxic situation is hard, and every situation is different, but my best piece of advice to offer you is don’t be afraid to ask for help. Your loved ones are going to be there for you when you need them, even if you don’t believe they will. If you explain what’s happening, someone you know and love will drop whatever it is their doing to make sure you get out safely. good luck my babes.

now, back to our regularly scheduled program:

QUESTION: any tips on making tiktoks?

Literally none. I post what I think is funny and relatable and if anyone agrees, I’m satisfied. Even if it’s one view, it’s good enough for me. So I guess my one tip is to not base your life off of an app and followers.

QUESTION: favorite Harry Styles fanfic?

DONT MAKE ME CHOOSE. Duplicity is up there, along with Stall 1&2, and Kiwi. After? Absolutely not.

QUESTION: favorite WEBTOON?

y’all already KNOW. LORE OLYMPUS BY USEDBANDAID. Rachel is a genius and I have reread the series a million times. Hades is my soulmate and Apollo can rot in the fiery pits of the Underworld. also, if we’re talking about other webcomics, reading Walk on Water on mangadex...🤫

QUESTION: favorite movie?

Howls Moving Castle. I will be getting my “a heart is a heavy burden” tattoo very very soon.

QUESTION: I read your Elain theory on tumblr, can you explain a little more?

I thought I was pretty straightforward but I’ll say it again: she is always the “good” one and it’s too suspicious. SJM has already given one Archeron sister a happy ending, Nesta’s is obviously inevitable, but Elain? She has too many options for a happy ending. Lucien, who is her “mate”. Azriel, who is intrigued by her slightly. Her human guy—I don’t remember his name—who is disgusted that she’s not human anymore. Or, alone, planting flowers all day. BUT! My point is that she’s not truly happy. She was forced into the Cauldron just like Nesta. She was ripped away from the life she loved so dearly and didn’t want to give up. The man she was going to marry now hates her guts because she’s a High Fae. She has the perfect set up for a villain plot line and I’m all here for it.

well, that’s all I feel like doing tonight. hope you enjoyed my little q&a! be kind, and talk to you later! byeeee!

#a court of silver flames #acotar #harry styles #one direction #sarah j maas #throne of glass #wattpad #tiktok #elain archeron #howls moving castle #lore olympus #q&a time #walk on water #persephone #lore olympus hades

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turnaboutimagines · 5 years ago

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Angst Gremlin here (although this request really isn't angst) Apollo, Dick, Miles, Phoenix (and or Simon/Nahyuta's) reaction to noticing someone following/stalking (Possible yandere or serial killer) the reader? (I kinda feel like they should have stalked the reader for awhile) How would they handle the situation? Or a reaction to the reader being attacked?

Putting this one under a readmore to be safe!Characters: Apollo Justice, Dick Gumshoe, Miles Edgeworth, Phoenix Wright, Simon Blackquill, and Nahyuta SahdmadhiContent Warning: Stalking and mentions of the reader being physically assaulted. Stalking is usually done by someone the victim knows in some capacity, so I went more from that angle.Also a little spoiler warning for a reference to a major plot point in AAI2 for Miles’s. It’s incredibly short, vague, and doesn’t have any specific details, but if you want to remain entirely spoiler free for the last act you may wanna pass on his.

Apollo Justice.

Apollo’s endured a great deal of loss, so this is something he takes incredibly seriously right from the get-go after you tell him. He sensed that there was something making you tense, but this certainly isn’t what he was expecting.

Would make the most of his working relationship with Klavier to draw it to the prosecutor’s office’s attention and get some help in going through all the legal motions to get you the help you need.

While he doesn’t want to infringe upon your freedom and feels guilty, he’s going to insist he walks or bikes you wherever you need to go. Even if he’s really busy, he’s going to take the time to make sure you are safe.

Does what he can to help improve the privacy and safety of your house, too.

He’s going to be very stubborn about making sure you have someone you trust around to keep you safe at all times. Even if it’s not him, he wants you to have friends over or just... somebody you can trust.

He’ll send you a lot of check-in texts over the course of the day whenever he can’t be with you.

If you were attacked, he’d be beside himself and wouldn’t leave your side if he could help it. A lot of tears are shed between the both of you.

He puts his trust in Klavier that whoever did this to you is going to get the punishment that they deserve.

It takes a while after for him to feel like everything’s fine again.

Dick Gumshoe.

Dick’s not going to be letting you out of his sight until this guy’s locked up. He’s quick to get Mr. Edgeworth on board and get you set up for a restraining order.

When your stalker violates it, it quickly turns into a criminal case and he’s very insistent on being on the case—he wants to make this arrest himself.

As much as he doesn’t want to use his gun, he’s sure to keep it on him. He’s got an excellent aim and he’s not about to let any harm come your way.

Insists that he should drive you to and from places in his jalopy, it’s not like he has a personal car anyways, but he hopes that making it clear that you’re close with a member of the police will help.

Is extra cuddly with you and does everything he can to try and cheer you up and keep your spirits high while the investigation continues.

He’ll even loan you his favorite, lucky coat if it helps you feel safer or more secure whenever he’s at work. You need it more than he does right now and he trusts you with it.

If you’re attacked, he’d be incredibly harsh on himself because he feels like he failed to protect you. He’s a mess.

He’s not going to leave your side, either, but it takes a lot of reassurance from both you and Mr. Edgeworth to console him.

Afterward, he’s going to be very overprotective of you for a while after. You mean the world to him.

Miles Edgeworth.

Miles is no stranger to having a stalker, but the nature of yours is highly concerning to him and he’s going to immediately launch into helping you get a restraining order. Helping you file it, himself, and collecting any evidence of potential violations afterward.

It quickly becomes a criminal case and he handles the investigation himself. Even if he’s not assigned to it, this may be another instance of an illegal investigation from him.

In the meantime, he’d be very supportive of you participating in some self-defense classes and will even join you (in fact, he insists that he should).

Does what he can to help you focus on other things and will invite you to spend the night more often over at his place. Even if it’s just to cuddle.

He’s subtle about it, but all of these things ensure that you’re close at hand and in a secure location to give you both some peace of mind.

He’s working himself ragged to get this mess sorted out, but he makes sure you’re informed of all he’s doing every step of the way.

If you’re attacked, he’s going to throw everything he has into the investigation. He will not rest until the arrest is made… the only time he rests, at all, is when he visits you.

He’s very much a mother hen toward you, doting on you in his own way. He’s just thankful you’re alive.

Phoenix Wright.

Phoenix is highly concerned and does what he can to notify the police and help you file any necessary reports. He does the paperwork for you and is a huge moral support, especially when the stalker continues to violate it and stay off the grid.

Despite the smile puts on, he’s incredibly worried for your safety and is ready to do anything in his power to keep you safe.

Does everything he can to keep you close and to also keep your mind off of things. You’re more liable to end up spoiled during this time period.

He’s always got at least one arm around you and he will be very encouraging of you staying over at his place or him coming over to yours.

It’s times like these that make him wish that he had a proper car and driver’s license, his bike is hardly ideal but

And you better believe that he is fully ready to put himself in harm’s way at any moment to buy you time to get out of there or, ideally, to harm your stalker and buy enough time for the police to arrive so they can be apprehended in the act.

If you’re attacked, he’ll feel terrible that he wasn’t there when you needed him the most.

He’s going to be even clingier than he has been lately

He has Edgeworth fill him in on what’s going on with the investigation, but unless you ask he’ll keep that to himself. You’ve been through enough as it is.

Simon Blackquill.

He seems perfectly calm and collected on the outside, but on the inside he is seething. And continues to the bolder and bolder your stalker grows as they continue to violate your restraining order.

He knows the particular type of stalker you have, he talked with a particularly despicable one while he was in prison.

He does what he can to engage your stalker in a rather one-sided game of psychological warfare, doing things like sharpening his swords where he knows your stalker is likely to see him.

You’re going to have a sword or two in easy to grab places around your house and he teaches you how to wield them.

Taka’s usually with you during this period of time, providing you both comfort and protection.

He’ll have it set up so you know how to care for his beloved bird and can keep him as a companion overnight when Simon isn’t able to be with you.

If you’re attacked, he’s going to be equal parts guilt and rage. Clearly, he failed you as both a prosecutor and a partner to allow this to happen… especially if you were together before the UR-1, as he’s put you through enough suffering as it is.

He terrifies the nursing staff tending to you, but he rarely (if ever) lets go of your hand.

And he’s going to be especially vicious during any interrogations the creep’s going to be put through.

Nahyuta Sahdmadhi.

He is incredibly alarmed by this revelation and uses his position to investigate this case himself, along with providing you with the customary legal protections in Khura’in for someone in your position. Of course, it doesn’t deter your stalker.

His father trained him in how to detect when he’s being followed (knowledge that has served him well over the years), he passes that knowledge onto you.

He also shows you all the Defiant Dragon hiding spots and secret passages that he knows of when he’s confident the two of you are not being followed.

And he will train you in some basic martial arts sparring techniques and, if you demonstrate adequate spiritual potential, how to wield prayer beads as he does.

For your psychological well-being, he encourages you to meditate and will treat you to some of your favorite food as often as he can.

He always lends you a sympathetic ear

When he senses that you’re being watched, he’ll walk closer to you and place a hand on the small of your back.

If you’re attacked, he will pray to the Holy Mother for your well-being until it is confirmed that you will be okay. He brings you flowers each day, but he is hellbent on capturing them before you are discharged from the medic’s.

He will pursue this foul foe and ensure that due justice is swiftly dealt to keep you out of harm’s way. He will not abide by anyone harming his loved ones.

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gaysneeg · 4 years ago

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ALRIGHT SO THIRD GAME. FIRST CASE FLASHBACK CASE YOU BECOME BIG TIDDY MENTOR ON HER SECOND CASE

she's defending a 20 year old phoenix wright who's been accused of murdering his girlfriend's ex (also he looks like this and i think you need to know)

she proves his innocence and his girlfriend's (dahlia hawthorne) guilt. apparently not only did she kill the guy, she ALSO poisoned tit's ex boyfriend, landing him in a coma

so phoenix latches to tit like a lost puppy bc he is just a little man, and she takes him under her wing and teaches him more law stuff (he switches from talking ab hour sad he is about dahlia to why he wants to go to law school SO FAST it's hilarious)

so boom flash back to the present, phoenix and co are facing off against a new prosecutor, godot, who seemingly has some kind of history with phoenix?? he hates the man's guts, but never explains why. he also has an eye mask for some reason and he can't see the color red

so they continue on, solving another couple cases, then BOOM FLASHBACK CASE AGAIN

it's big tiddie's first case !! she and her assistant/boyfriend probably are facing off against 20yo edgeworth (who is like a huge bitch) to prove this one guy's innocence. they interrogate this witness, melissa, and then prove that her true identity is dahlia hawthorne. they almost catch her as the murderer, but before they can their client drinks poison she gave him in order to off himself bc he didn't want to live without her, and the case closes

then it pans out to phoenix (in a hospital bed??) reading the file on that case, CUE FINAL CASE BABEYYYYY

so maya and pearls are trying to convince phoenix to take them to this spirit channeling mountain where they can train, and he really doesn't want to (mans hates the cold) but he agrees after he sees a familiar face in the paper. ✨✨✨✨dahlia fucking hawthorne somehow ✨✨✨✨

so they go to the mountain, and everything is going great. and then someone fucking dies. maya is on one half of the mountain alone (the only thing connecting the two is a bridge) and after this lady is discovered dead the head nun sends phoenix to the bridge to call the cops (he doesn't have his phone and there's a landline)

so he goes to the bridge, only to find out that it was STRUCK BY LIGHTNING AND IT'S ON FIRE. he tells a guy sleeping nearby to call the cops, AND RUNS ACROSS THE BURYING BRIDGE bc hey man thats his basically little sister over there

and then of course it collapses bc it's a burning bridge nick, you dumbass, and he falls into the freezing river below. the cops arrive, he's taken to the hospital, and the guy nearby (he's nick's childhood friend but like he does not matter so i haven't mentioned him) calls edgey, who is currently in fucking germany, and tells him the situation

of course he calls a goddamn private jet and gets there asap, finds out what's going on with the case from the detective (the dahlia lookalike was accused and detained) and then visits nick in the hospital. he has literally no injuries but a really bad cold bc of course, he's phoenix wright. he tells edgey to take the case in his stead and uncover the truth, and then hands over his badge

THAT'S RIGHT PLAYABLE PROTAGONIST EDGEY

so he agrees and goes on, and bc he has magic prosecutor power he arranges a trial with a judge who doesn't know him, and franziska on prosecution because she won't rat him out. so they go though the first day alright, and after that phoenix takes over even though he has a 103° fever💛

they open up the other side of the mountain, but when they're looking for maya they deadass can't find her??? and there's this one room that's completely locked off with these magic spirit locks that they have the not? dahlia work on opening

and im gonna skim a little bc this case makes my brain hurt but they open the door notdahlia flees bc edgey passes out, they find her but she's acting weird, maya is still gone and there are more locks, godot shows back up out of nowhere, pearls goes missing for a bit, they find out the victim is maya's supposedly dead mom, then they go to court again

nick kicks ass and takes names and finds out that the reason notdahlia was acting weird is because when she ran away actual dahlia, channeled by maya, took her place and hid her in the cave. plot twist!!! they're twins!! so pearl channels tiddy and her and phoenix bully dahlia out of maya's body

they think things are over but then godot accuses maya of killing the lady (oh yeah there was a murder everyone forgot) as dahlia, but nick proves her innocent and they find out he killed her, bc SHE was the one channeling dahlia, who tried to kill maya to get revenge on tiddy (yeah this shit is convoluted)

why did he do this??? BECAUSE HE WAS TIDDYS EX BOYFRIEND THAT GOT PUT IN A COMA AND THEN WOKE UP ONLY FOR HER TO BE DEAD, AND HE BLAMES NICK FOR IT BUT AFTER SEEING THE CHANNELED TIDDY BEING PROUD OF NICK HE DECIDES THAT HE'S NOT TOO BAD AND CONFESSES

so then he's detained, everyone cries a little, and then they go out to dinner

there's a couple fun spin off games after this, and then you get hit in the gut with pain in game 4💛 (apollo justice my beloved)

how do you remember so much about games story woah. I play a game and forget most of the plot within 30 minutes, I swear.

#ask #bones my beloved

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sevi007 · 4 years ago

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Second part of “Turnabout Succession” ramblings! It’s all over the place, I’m very sorry – I jumped in between the past-present-cases so much, I got confused while writing these notes down. XD

* So this whole uh – MASON System? Yes? This thing was WILD. What an interesting idea, both as a mechanic, as well as story-wise. I thought I would have to finish the past investigations first, and then the presents ones, but in truth, I had to jump in-between to finish one after the other. Heck, I could take evidence from the present to the past and back again! I was really mind-blown about this bit. It was a bit lengthy, okay, but super fun to puzzle it altogether, and really FEEL how Phoenix was trying over the last seven year to find the truth, and all of it. Wow. Really genius bit here!

* Listen. Zak Gramarye? I’m honestly not sure if I like him, as a person. Not as a character – he’s a great character! But, like the rest of the Gramarye troupe, he’s actually a bit of an asshole. Magnifi is easy to say why – he used the “death” of his own daughter to get leverage over his disciples, that’s pretty ugly. Valant tried to frame his friend and partner for a murder neither of them was responsible for, just to get the stage rights. But Zak? Zak just kind of jumped everything on Phoenix AND left him there to suffer consequences alone while he went into hiding, is shown to hit a so called “friend” – Brushel – in the face multiple times, just kind of “dumps” his eight-year-old daughter without making sure that Phoenix would take her in (he just ASSUMED), he never even kept informed about how Valant is doing and thus never heard that his former partner was unofficially being accused of murder because HE had vanished in the middle of court… I could go on.

Listen, as a character and magician? Super cool. As a person? Not so much. I honestly couldn’t warm up to him if he was a real person and I was meant to interact with him. The whole Gramarye troupe is pretty dark, actually, deep down.

* Glad that Apollo finally got to know everything he needed to know. I LOVE Phoenix, you all know I do, but I was actually a little pissed with him that he let Apollo go into cases related to his past again and again without telling him very important parts. Again and again, Apollo was caught off guard and had to force his way through cases. I understand that part of it was because the Jurist System was not yet active – but in “Turnabout Succession”, the Jurist System was being used, Phoenix was on the way of getting Kristoph down, and he STILL waited until AFTER Vera was poisoned to tell Apollo everything. I don’t understand this decision, and I was glad when Apollo finally got everything he needed to win this.

* Kristoph actually makes me sick. HE’s an amazing character, good villain, but he literally makes me sick. His reason, especially. Everything – everyone – had to suffer so much because a) wanted to win cases and b) was so hurt in his pride when Phoenix got picked over him that he destroyed his career, his life, made his own brother an unwilling accomplice in this, had an innocent nearly considered guilty, killed a man and (nearly) the man’s daughter… I cannot even summarize it all, it’s too much. And over what? Hurt pride.

He probably got the most laughable motif out of the entire series, and he did SO MUCH damage. It’s ridiculous. (On that note, it’s very similar to von Karma’s motif, but Kristoph nearly overtook him in evil here.)

* I absolutely loved two of the “good” characters in this last showdown. First of: Trucy. She knew – somehow – or figured out that Shadi was her Daddy, and instead of hesitating or asking anything, she was like “What is it, Apollo? Keep going! We can talk later!”. Goddammit, that girl is fifteen, and I know that deep down she is hurting (even Phoenix said it) but she was so awesome, from start to finish. As supportive and mature yet childlike as any other of the supporting characters. I was really proud of her right then and there. You’re doing amazing, sweetheart!

And second of – Klavier. The moment he realized what had happened, without a single moment of hesitation, insecurity or denial, he was like “GET HIM APOLLO!” and went out of his way to give Apollo hints to bring Kristoph down. His own brother. It would have only been normal for him to try and deny the truth, at first, but he hounded after it instead, ignored all threats Kristoph threw at him, and did his outmost to clear up his own “mistake” from seven years ago. I was a little awestruck, I’m gonna be honest. Klavier quickly got very likeable for me from the first second on, but this was just to top it all of “yeah he’s great”.

* I mean the entire last trial was such a volley of evidence, testimonies and shouts of encouragement from the side, I was on the edge of my seat, and my hands shivering. When the breakdown of Kristoph came, I was cheering in victory. It was great. XD

* On the note of Klavier - I would really love for Phoenix and Klavier to have a post-trial talk. The moment Klavier realized the evidence was not forged by Phoenix, but Kristoph, he must have realized that he had basically part in Phoenix’ disbarment when the man was in fact, innocent. He must have felt horrible. I really would have loved to see a talk between the two men – because I don’t think Phoenix holds a grudge against the younger man, but Klavier might feel bad about it, and needs to hear that.

* God the sound I made when I realized the hand I was using to select “guilty” or “Not guilty” was Lamiroir’s… that was so well-made. It was still the player’s decision, but we saw through her eyes – gave me chills. Really great!

* APOLLO AND TRUCY ARE SIBLINGS! Listen I thought they are related, alright, but I was gonna be happy with like – dunno, cousins. Like Maya and Pearl! But now I’m just delighted they are actually siblings. And LAMIROIR IS THEIR MUM! Gosh. Gosh when I said “her face-model looks like Trucy’s” I was kind of joking here? XD I was… not fully expecting this. Jokingly dreaming it up, yeh, but not really expecting it. How cool! I’m super happy with this.

Honestly guys? This was easily one of my favorite cases so far. Right up there with “Bridge to the Turnabout” – though that one had a lot of found family and teamwork, and y’all know I’m WEAK to that, so that one is my favorite so far. But Apollo Justice was AT LEAST as fun as the original trilogy – some of the extra gameplay mechanics even better, like the fingerprints or the finding of tells – and I loved the new characters as much as the old ones. (Though I miss some of the old ones, as well.) I had fun playing from beginning to end, and was so excited about the story… wow. They just keep bringing out one great game after the other, eh?

Dual Destinies is next (I think? Yes). I’m VERY excited to start that one – I had seen it once, on stream, as a kid, but I couldn’t buy it back then… kept dreaming about it though, for almost 12 years or so. This is like a childhood dream coming true, so I’m double excited for it!

#sevi plays apollo justice

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cherrysweather · 4 years ago

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hi :D! can I request scenario (or headcanon if easier) of apollo asking out the reader? Maybe the whole office is tired of them not asking each other out after having to deal with their tension. And I love your blog by the way! Sorry for my English :,P

Hi Anon uwu I see that you’re all thirsty with Apollo around here XD I actually find scenarios easier, but I’m so slow with them- So, sorry for the long wait (almost a month, I’m sO SORRY), but here it is uwu (Hope you’ll like it <3) -------------------------------

Apollo Justice asking you out:

The trial ended but Apollo almost lost the case because of the distraction that has afflicted him for days now

“WHAT. IS. YOUR. PROBLEM?!?!” Athena shook his shoulders with tears in her eyes "I’ve felt the heart in my throat more than once today! What do you have these days?!" She was stopped by Apollo, trying to calm himself down.

“I-I’m sorry, I didn’t want to make you feel like that, I don’t know what’s up wit-” He was interrupted by the noise of the hall’s doors opening.

“Next time you should take something to concentrate and calm yourself down Apollo; otherwise, who will give a lead to them?” He sighed looking at the figure at his side; the one who’s messing Apollo’s head.

“Instead! The way he solved this case really thrilled me, congratulations!” As they smiled, the red-suited lawyer’s face became as red as his clothes

“I-I didn’t do anything special, I only did what I had to” He rushed out the tribunal, hiding his face and starting to return to the office with his feet to ignore the annoying voices of those around him.

For some days, Apollo decided not to take any case to be sure not to do more damage like last time. During this break time he made up his mind; he tried to understand what was wrong with him, slowly understanding that the “what” was, in reality, a “who”. It’s been less than a year since their new colleague joined the agency as an apprentice and recently, even if he knew it, something within prevented him from taking that step forward that would make him make peace with himself; probably because of his inexperience or the fear of being rejected.

“Listen. Go to them with some flowers or any kind of gift you think they may like and tell them! Or... you can take them out for dinner! A date at the beach? Go watch a film with them!” Asking advice to Athena was the worst idea possible.

Apollo started to help them with the preparations for their first case, taking advantage of it to learn to know them better and to gain some confidence in speaking with them. “To understand if a witness is lying, you must learn even just the basics of the art of bluffing! With that, you can also confuse momentarily the accusation and gain time to better reflect if, in the end, the objection leads you to nothing” Whenever he talks about his work, he became so excited with anyone he talks to.

“Ok! So, I must confuse the court if I have some doubts on my argument” They took notes on his advice like a real student.

“W-Well, maybe not the whole court”.

In the end, Athena came with them in court to help with her psychological skills.

“Remember, you’re fine! You and Athena will do great in there!” Phoenix had already taken them away from those two screaming eagles, patting on their shoulders to support them as they entered the courtroom.

“Athena was thinking of going out to dinner together when the verdict will be given and she specifically said that you can’t miss it; you’ll have your chance of asking “your distraction” to go out with you”

Apollo had to contain himself since they were among the public, but he was so close to throwing something to Athena. Even if the last days he finally gained the courage and confidence to talk freely with them, he still had problems with his emotions towards them. Someone will probably die that night.

At the end of the trial, luckily, the verdict was given and also thanks to Athena’s help, it was a “Not Guilty” one.

So, It’s dinner time! The happiness in Athena’s face is adorable. The fear, anxiety, and stomach cramps from the nervous were witnessed by the greenish face of Apollo. Phoenix had to sit between the two to prevent Apollo from stabbing Athena as a revenge for this

“Come on Polly! It will be fun” Athena tried to reassure him, but his head was completely somewhere else, trying to figure out where he was, why he was there and how he got there.

“So.. How I did today? I followed all the tips Apollo gave me last days” Luckily someone broke the silence and as soon as Apollo heard his name, he came back to the real world, remembering everything and feeling the impulse to answer that phrase with the first positive words that came to his mind.

“O-Of course you did great even if the case was simple”

“Don’t mind him, he’s saying things like that just because, with you, he’s the only one who didn’t have a simple case in the agency, not to minimize your efforts” Athena was playing the role of that friend who helps you whenever you say or do something questionable

“...I didn’t mean that”

“W-Well, even if it wasn’t simple, the ability and the courage both Apollo and Mr. Wright had to frame someone like Kristoph Gavin, made that case iconic for beginners like me; it showed all the knowled-”

“Wow, looks like Apollo has a new fan!” As Athena spoke, the faces of the two interested turned red, which made Apollo not so distant from a living version of a painting by Picasso since he already was green.

“I-I’m not! I mean, I have no preference since you’re all talented lawyers in this agency an-”

“Oh god, can you all please eat before it became ice?” Thanks, Phoenix.

During all the dinner, those two stole glances to each other, adding more red tones on their faces whenever their eyes met. Between laughter and stories of the previous cases, the evening flew away and those two weren’t going to step away easily from each other; after they started to speak like normal people, nothing and no one dared to stop them, so they continued to talk even out the restaurant.

“So, I heard that Apollo is such a gentleman that he proposed to bring you back home; am I right?”

“I didn’t say nothing but, if both of them have a heavy butt, it is my pleasure to drive you back home even if the back seat of my bicycle isn’t the most comfortable thing in the world” He tried to act cool, but inside he was panicking, hoping for a yes.

“It’s ok for me, the important is that is ok for you Apollo”

“I’ll never forgive myself if something happens to you so, get on” As they left, also Phoenix and Athena got their way home on Phoenix’s bicycle. Apollo opened his mouth only to ask indications for their home, using the remaining time to think about how to vocalize what he felt to finally free himself from this burden.

“It’s this one, you can stop” They got off and took their stuff “Thank you so much for giving me a ride” That last tired smile they painted on their lips, killed him. So much that he couldn’t answer their thanks. “I-I wanted to say something to you but... I guess you’re tired too, so don’t worry, I’ll tell you tomorrow at the office” They hoped for an answer, but all they could see was an ice statue of Apollo “G-Goodnight then”. As they walked toward the door, something waked him up

“W-WAit!” He fell on the ground with the bicycle, getting up and going toward them at the speed of light, almost bumping into them.

“W-What is i-”

“Wait! I-I have to tell you something too, it is now or never, and if I don’t do it I’ll probably die” He tried to catch his breath, but his heart wouldn’t stop beating like a drum.

“Tell me everything, I’m here” They tried to calm him even if they probably were more worried than him, gently patting on his shoulders to reassure him.

“Just, please don’t think I’m some kind of dumbass for acting like this” he gently took their hands in his, looking down to avoid more embarrassment. “I like you. I liked you since the day I saw you for the first time but I only started to understand and accept it some months ago and, these months I could felt that something was happening inside me since I was always distracted, thinking about you, so I was thinking if you wanted to go somewhere together if you wan-” As he looked up, he saw two big teary eyes in front of him, feeling his heart collapse for a moment “Hey! Why are you crying? You can also say no to me, I won’t feel offended or anything, p-please don’t cry!” He squeezed their hands trying to understand what he did wrong to make them feel like that, but their only response was a tight hug for him.

Their head rested on his chest and they freed their hands from his to bring them on his back, holding his jacket with all of their strength. “This is exactly what I wanted to tell you but, you’ve been braver than me I guess” They smiled to reassure him they were in the best mood of their entire life “Of course we can go somewhere together, I would love that too” They wiped the tears away from their eyes, looking at him to have answers

“Y-You would? Really??” You could see smoke coming out of both his ears and head from how heat he was emanating at that moment “I-I mean, I’m perfectly fine with that” He also smiled, feeling a lot lighter inside, but trembling with emotions on the outside.

They took the situation in her hands, literally, taking his face with them and pushing it towards them to reach his lips with theirs.

WARNING WARNING WARNING

A volcano is about to erupt

It took him around two minutes of small kisses to calm himself down, feeling happiness instead of fear and embarrassment in every spot of his body. “S-So-”

“Don’t say anything, we’ll talk about it tomorrow” They probably wanted to kill him

“T-Tomorrow?”

“It’s late and we need to be at the office on time tomorrow” They cuddled his cheeks, laughing at his mortified face

“I guess you’re right. We also need to be efficient tomorrow, I should go” Hesitating, he freed their hands and turned towards the bicycle, still on the ground, to lift it.

“Thanks for today, from the trial to now and also for the days when you taught me everything I needed to know to win”

“I just did what I had to” He got on the bicycle again and turned back to wave his hand at them before the road for home.

“'Night and please be careful on the street! Love you!” They was just trying to mess up with him, and it worked since Apollo fell again from the bicycle for the sudden attack to the heart.

“A-Apollo!” Someone must save that poor boy for good this time.

Please.

#ace attorney #apollo justice #apollo justice x reader #ace attorney imagines #apollo justice ace attorney

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lesbianmarth · 4 years ago

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it’s been a while since i posted about aa but i just finished soj in its entirety tonight. here’s my new list so far

i still have to give thoughts on cases 4 5 and dlc so that’ll be under a cut. spoilers!

6-4: this was such a filler case, almost shamefully so. i don’t know why they thought they could manage to do this in the 4th case when every game with 5 cases has been pretty consistent about making the 4th case plot relevant, sometimes literally just a preamble to case 5. so yeah i think this one was kinda ass

the two things it had going for it: one, athena. in 6-2 i actually got confused about why i ever liked her, because in that case she felt like she was just acting the part of the Peppy Teen Girl With a Rowdy Streak that makes up almost every assistant character. But then as SOON as she started bantering with Simon in 6-4 i was like “oh, THAT’S why i liked her!” was nice to take control of her again.

two, uendo toneido. while i don’t think you can say the DID was portrayed with quite the necessary respect or kindness, it was handled better than i’ve seen other media handle it-- at least it’s not completely demonized. other people have written more on that in better detail so i’m not really the judge, but the basic point is that this witness was mad fun to read, and even the dumb jokes like the changing number of floor cushions were entertaining. thus why this case is in the “hard carried by one side character” tier.

especially since there was like nothing else going on. no connection to the main plot, only two other characters besides uendo, and for some reason the clown tits girl was here instead of the magic show case (and to be honest, she wasn’t enjoyable for me even BEFORE she did the standard aa female villain thing and changed her speech pattern as soon as she fell under suspicion). just a weird, nothing case stuck right around the point aa games usually enter endgame. And especially weird because...

6-5 part 1: inexplicably there are two separate cases in the final chapter and each gets one day of investigation and trial. such a weird setup, and it really shouldn’t work... but i think it kinda barely does. barely. it would still have been better to split it into case 4 and case 5 though.

i have a hard time articulating much on the first case bc it sort of blends together for me. the main thing is that the concept of it being a civil case where apollo and phoenix face off is really good. it was a good change of pace, even though you knew it was gonna be a murder somehow anyway. sarge was reasonably nice, i guess, paul atishon had some good animations and quirks (my favorite being when he tries to just walk away from the stand to avoid answering a question), and the logic of the actual murder was good enough.

but i especially got those strong “oh this is a FINAL case!” vibes during the segment in the cave, and that added so much to it even if not much of it was relevant in the first half of the case. the adventure feel reminded me of some of the (out of context bc i still havent played it) scenes i know from 3-5, which is a good association to invoke imo. and it did a lot to give apollo and dhurke time to bond.

speaking of which, dhurke, holy shit. what a KING. i don’t think i’ve ever liked a dad character in ace attorney this much. he’s so genuine and like down to earth that it’s impossible not to start liking him and believe how much he cares for his sons. the bit where he rescued apollo from the cave flood... i felt it in my heart

6-5 part 2: let me just get this out of the way: ga’ran sucks. her design after she goes full evil is so bad, she’s so malicious that it’s immediately obvious she’s going to be the culprit, her breakdown is ridiculous and just embarrassing to watch, and inga had already established way more charisma as a villain when he did the “those were orders of execution actually” bit in 6-3. with that said,

i actually liked it for the most part. the spirit channeling stuff was excellent imo-- they probably use it to similar or greater effect in 3-5 but as someone who again has not played that, i was surprised and almost impressed by how well it was applied. maya was relevant for something! it feels like it’s been ages!

rayfa was a little underutilized, i think-- her moment of determination where she stops letting ga’ran have control over her was alright but it fell flat bc it didn’t have any weight during the moment. i kept hoping she would like, wordlessly take of her shawl and do the little verbal preamble to the divination seance while ga’ran kept yelling at her to stop, but no, the script can’t be good like that, i guess. and since she didn’t get to be the investigation assistant for long, none of her charm in that role carried through.

but DHURKE!! oh my god! in a game almost devoid of emotional impact, his involvement in this case really hit. the way they painstakingly animated his death, the scene where he makes a promise with maya, and then the weight of knowing in hindsight that everything he did in the first part of the case was after he’d already died and just wanted to see his son again before passing on for real....... it hurt. i felt something during that section. this case would also be hard carried by him if not for the fact that i really liked the murder bits.

amara was good too--liked how they made her suspiciously serene and accentuated it with the lightning strikes to make her look like a hidden murderer character about to reveal herself, only to walk it back and confirm she was being forced to act that way. i thought it worked. nahyuta was boring though, i’m sorry-- i get the motivation with having to be a bastard bc his sister and mom were basically held hostage, but the only time i found him compelling in that mess was the bit where he removed his one fingerless glove and revealed he still has the dragon tattoo. that was it. athena was also completely unused the whole case (not even a single mood matrix? really?) and trucy one again went without any role of importance.

the ending also... yknow, a friend said they had to end it this way bc they never figured out what they were going to do with apollo (since following up on what they started in aa4 clearly wasn’t an option???) and just threw him on a bus to get rid of him. i agree with that-- he really feels thrown to the side, and with that i think trucy’s officially stranded with no hope of any character advancement. and the way they ended the game with phoenix and lamiroir deciding “yeah, maybe NOW we should finally tell those two they’re related” honestly felt insulting lol

but maybe the dlc case will let things go out on a high note...?!

6-6: it was okay.

it would’ve worked pretty well as a filler case in an older aa-- honestly i think it’d be one of the better filler cases, certainly worth replacing the shitty ones like 2-3 or 3-3 or, hey, 6-4. but whether i’d say it was worth paying for... eh.

the time travel conceit was done well enough, i think. the way they tied it back to sorin and pierce’s backstories was nice, and the twist about having two receptions was good, although they needed to treat that as a real twist with much more gravity. when the truth comes out it just feels like “oh of course that’s what happened” rather than a big surprise worthy of the Confessing the Truth theme. it’s sort of important because the case becomes a lot less interesting when you take out the time travel element.

far as characters are concerned, i think they needed more side characters to sell the whole thing-- another sprocket family member or another servant of the household. it felt a little limited-- sorin and pierce are pretty good witnesses and i like their quirks and their secrets, but the only alive woman (ellen) has very few traits and no connection to the deeper story of the case, so she falls really flat. the old aa characters didn’t add much- maya and edgeworth were just there for fanservice, ema didn’t get to do much other than acknowledge for the first time in years that she’s a big edgeworth fan, and larry is annoying as hell like he always is.

and oh my god i actually forgot while i was writing that, how they put in athena and trucy but only used them for brief slapstick where trucy would try to set athena on fire and shit. again-- no mood matrix? couldn’t even try once to fit those two characters into something?

i did like pierce’s transformation into his surgeon form though-- that was really cool. loved him doing surgery on a robot, taking xrays of the lawyers, and his breakdown was fantastic-- he would make a really good culprit if they didn’t whiff the last bit of pathos at the end. i don’t think he should’ve been aiming for revenge on sorin; it would have hurt much more if he was still loyal to the guy and never intended for him to be in danger, but the final “why’d you do it?” talk in the trial just felt flat and one-note, much like the one in 6-4.

... so that’s spirit of justice! not a super positive experience but i’m happy to say it’s done. as much as i want to go and replay dgs, i think when i do go back to ace attorney i’ll be replaying the trilogy for the first time since high school

#ace attorney #aa playthrough

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thesibyllinebooks · 4 years ago

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The New Yorkers (Part 25)

Percy felt sick to his stomach as he looked at the lake. It was a sickly, bright green color. Chiron had explained the water was growing more and more toxic by the day. Luckily, the campers in the infirmary would be fine. But Percy couldn’t help but think about all the fish, plants, and naiads that were uprooted or worse, killed. It made him hate Zeus. It also made him hate his father a tiny bit for putting the aquatic life in jeopardy.

Annabeth squeezed his hand in sympathy. The look on her face was equally pained. “We’ll fix all this,” she whispered sincerely. Then louder, she said to Chiron, “this is ridiculous. And the smell, that can’t be healthy either.” The lake smelled like a vat of toxic waste. Fumes rose in spirals of curling green smoke.

The centaur nodded. “We’ve tried everything we can. The Demeter and Apollo children have been working overtime to discover a cure. But as you both know, godly curses are sometimes irreversible.” They kept walking. Percy looked around the grounds. He and Annabeth had revisited multiple times over the years. The camp more or less looked the same as it did when he’d been a camper there years ago. He remembered the much better times he had at camp- training with his friends, singing around the campfire, strawberry picking, kissing Annabeth at the bottom of the now poisoned lake... Not all of the memories were wonderful, though. They’d had to fight to defend that camp with their lives on more than one occasion. Percy had lost friends on those very grounds. He hated to think that more lives would be lost.

“But we can’t just let this happen,” Annabeth persisted. “I mean, I can’t imagine how sick you are of the gods acting like this. They’ve left you to babysit their kids for millennia.” Annabeth had spent half her life at Camp Half-Blood. Growing up, Chiron was the closest thing to a father she’d ever had. Chiron had done more to turn her into the person she was than either of her parents had.

“Train them,” Chiron corrected her. “Though sometimes, there isn’t much of a difference.”

As they walked to the Big House, a couple campers waved at them. Percy was sure there wasn’t a single camper who hadn’t heard of him or Annabeth. He hated the celebrity status. After all, he’d just done his duty as a demigod, if it could even be called that. He hated to think any of the campers would put themselves in harm’s way just to live up to his reputation, especially if the oncoming war became a reality. None of it was worth it.

Chiron’s hooves clopped on the wooden porch. “I’m not going to beat around the bush any longer,” he said. “I know the two of you are here because you refuse to heed your parents’ advice and stay out of this.”

“How can we?” Annabeth responded, her expression turning dark. “We know what it’s like to be used by the gods. We’re not letting that happen to anyone else.” Percy nodded in agreement.

Chiron gestured for them to take the conversation inside. “Yes, which is understandable, but you’re retired. You know how it is. There’s an entire new generation of demigods-”

“They’re kids,” Percy interrupted. He knew what it felt like to be a child at the whim of the gods. He didn’t wish it on his worst enemy, who coincidentally, were the gods at the moment.

“Quite a few demigods don’t even make it to your age,” Chiron continued. “That’s a blessing in itself. That you and Percy can be safe and happy-”

“My mother took that happiness away from me. You know how I felt my entire life. You know I felt like no one loved me. She didn’t care, and she let me feel that way again all because she didn’t want me to jump into her war. She didn’t have a problem with it before,” Annabeth insisted.

A look of sympathy crossed Chiron’s face. “But she was correct. Even I’d be a fool to act like you wouldn’t do anything for Percy,” Chiron said. “I’ve witnessed it for years.”

“That doesn’t make it right,” Percy stepped in. “That’s our choice to make, not the gods’.” He looked to Annabeth. The fierce determination in her eyes was there. He nodded to her, letting her know it was time to share her plan with Chiron.

“Chiron, I have a request,” Annabeth said. “It’s going to sound stupid but hear me out.”

Chiron looked like he wanted to sigh out of exhaustion. “Yes?”

“Move my siblings out of the Athena cabin,” Annabeth said. “There doesn’t need to be a Cabin Six anymore. They can stay in the Hermes cabin or the Ares cabin- or let them choose, it really doesn’t matter.”

Chiron’s eyebrows furrowed. His tail twitched like it was swatting an imaginary fly. “For what purpose?” he asked.

“No more reverence to Athena,” Annabeth said firmly. “That’s where her center of power is strongest at camp. There shouldn’t be any more offerings to her at dinner, or to Zeus. No more using her battle strategies- the Ares kids have plenty-”

“Annabeth, fading the essence of a god isn’t easy work,” Chiron said simply. “Especially the two most prominent gods in the pantheon. It’s risky as well. Incurring the wrath of the gods could be dangerous.”

“It’ll be less dangerous the weaker they become,” Percy reasoned. “Annabeth and I went to Olympus. We asked them ourselves. They aren’t backing down. This is the only way to keep the campers safe.”

The campers didn’t pay much homage to Zeus on a regular basis and with Jason and Thalia gone, his cabin was empty. But still, he was the King of the Gods, which held a good bit of weight. The Athena kids would be the bigger problem. Athena had multiple children at camp, and they revered their mother fiercely, maybe even more than Annabeth had at that age.

“Just let me talk to them,” Annabeth said. “Everyone deserves a choice. This is what I feel like needs to be done but if they disagree, I’ll hear them out. I promise.” In truth, Annabeth hoped to all the gods (except Athena and Zeus) that her siblings wouldn’t argue. They were smart and logical, like her. If she explained the imminent danger they were in, they would have to understand, wouldn’t they? She hoped their fear of their mother didn’t outweigh their reasoning or self-preservation.

Chiron was silent for a long while. It was hard to tell what he was thinking. It was probably something along the lines of how sick and tired he was of the gods’ antics and involving their children.

“Frank is getting in touch with the praetors at Camp Jupiter. They’re going to empty out the temple to Jupiter. The Minerva temple well...” Percy trailed off. It was no secret that Athena was basically chopped liver to the Romans. At least that would make their work easier on that front.

“This is dangerous,” Chiron repeated. “But it’s not my job to put the campers at any further risk.

“Is that a yes?” Annabeth asked. If Percy squinted, he could see the tiniest bit of hope in her eyes. Percy couldn’t imagine making the decision to do the same to Poseidon. But, he was way closer to his father. Annabeth appeared determine to erase her mother at all costs. He wouldn’t dare ask, but he wondered how much of it was out of desire to prevent the war, and how much of it was personal.

Chiron waved his hand dismissively. “I’ll allow you to talk to them, not coerce them. If they agree, we’ll bring it up to the rest of the camp.”

“That’s great,” Percy said to Annabeth. “Thanks, Chiron.”

Chiron nodded solemnly. “I’ll call an emergency meeting with Cabin Six. As dangerous and unprecedented as this is, I’d expect nothing less from you.”

“Of course,” Annabeth agreed. Her mind was already going a mile a minute, ready to convince her siblings to do what was necessary. After all, Athena may have been able to take Annabeth’s memory, but she couldn’t take any of their powers or skill away from them. The best she could do was remover her essence from any enchanted objects she blessed them with. And, other than her Yankees Cap which didn’t work anyway, Annabeth didn’t know of any. Athena could kill them, though. However, the weaker she became, the less likely that would be.

Annabeth tried to decide the best route to convince her siblings. After all, only the majority of them would have to vote to cut ties with their mother. As long as she could get through to the counselor, her younger sister Sophia, hopefully the rest of the siblings would fall in line. Hopefully, they wouldn’t say one thing and then turn around an pray to their mother. That would certainly throw a wrench in her plans.

“Stay with me?” Annabeth asked Percy. Even though he didn’t like talking to people much, his demeanor was a lot calmer, which would be necessary during such a tense conversation.

Percy nodded as if to say, duh. “Where else would I go?” he questioned. Annabeth smiled dumbly. Sometimes, she thought she was an idiot to forget that Percy would never willingly leave her side.

Chiron looked between the two of them. The tiniest of smiles spread across his face. “Great, I’ll call them in now. And Annabeth? It’s admirable that you would make such a sacrifice in order to help the Camp.”

It wasn’t much of a sacrifice to Annabeth. After years of enduring her mother’s apathy, it felt a lot more like justice.

#the new yorkers #percy jackson #heroes of olympus #camp halfblood #annabeth chase #percabeth #rick riordan #pjo fanfic #au

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sparklyjojos · 4 years ago

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CARNIVAL DAY recaps [12/13]

Today’s recap: Explanations and more explanations, or: confronting Tsukumo Jaki, the tale of two brothers (ft. very important underwear), Seiryoin’s true identity, and wordplay upon wordplay upon wordplay.

Time passes in the Sanctuary. After Ajiro recovers, he and Hyouma talk a lot about their relations. [Basically they throw compliments at each other and it’s heartwarming.]

Now that Ajiro turned out to be okay, Hyouma wonders if they can save other people considered dead or missing. He makes a list of every important person [which I’m pretty sure is just Seiryoin’s way of reminding us what happened to all these characters].

The dead: Matsuo Tenmei (a JDC employee), Fuyuu Kasumi, Mito Muramasa, John Morse, Suzukaze Unomaru, Drexel Uryakov, Hazuma Kuroo, Sado Kutou, Ryuuguu Jounosuke, Fuumonji Jouka, Tierra, Silva (the old woman), Tsukumo Juku, Desert Colosseum, Ronely Queen, Ushiwaka Gigolo, Firannu Meirunesia, Somedaring Amagoi (probably?), the Dot who looked like Yuu.

The missing: Tousen Yomiko, Yakuma Suzume (the real one), Kirika Mai, Yuiga Dokuson, Sarutobi Shinobu, Manji Tawawa.

The living: Ajiro Souji, Yaiba Somahito, Tsukumo Nemu, Hikimiya Yuuya, Amagi Hyouma, Christmas Mizuno, Kakuusan Kanke, Ryuuguu Otohime, Diana Hosey, Zerofini Roi, Inugami Yasha, BOKU, Hanto Maimu & Kuraimu, Tanna Sazen, Endou Naoto (White), Ryuuou (Black), Joyeeta, Fabian, Pacha Palermo, Theodore Hosey, Aleksandr Uryakov, Lemuria Sullivan, Rudolf Strauss, the Dot that looks like Unomaru.

A pretty depressing list to look at. Maybe they can find someone who’s missing? Real Yakuma was probably made unfindable by Jaki. Experts have been searching for Yomiko and other detectives from the Robo-Ship for months now and found nothing. Dokuson disappeared of his own volition, and as Hyouma knew well, there was no stopping this guy once he set his mind to something. Probably they wouldn’t find Sarutobi either, or that Tawawa lady Hyouma doesn’t know a lot about. As for Kirika, it looks to Hyouma like she had an important reason to temporarily withdraw, and that “suicide letter” was a trick to allow her to disappear for now.

If they can’t find the missing people, maybe they can check if someone considered dead isn’t actually alive?—and with that thought, Hyouma sets his eyes on “Saburou”, the Dot who looks like Unomaru. Sure, RISE told them that entire story about Unomaru escaping the Sanctuary and dying in riots in Jakarta, but maybe it was actually the imposter who died?

To test his theory, Hyouma plays Uno with “Saburou” for a good three days. (It’s weird that you can order Uno cards through the Sanctuary's conveyor belt system, but hey, not complaining). He introduces a household rule that instead of “uno”, they have to yell “ooo-one!” [a part of Unomaru’s pre-asskicking catchphrase that we last heard like a thousand and a half pages ago, in the Cape of Good Hope chapter].

While they’re playing, Hyouma explains that Unomaru (if it is him) has nothing to fear, because this whole thing about “Ra” punishing the Dots has to be a lie. Instead, every Dot has a bomb in their head that automatically detonates if they get too flustered—but Hyouma has good reasons to believe this doesn’t apply to Unomaru.

After three days of playing, “Saburou” says their usual “...ooo-one!” and puts his next-to-last card down. Then he slowly recalls the other lines— “...people live to solve mysteries…”—and by the time he finishes his badass catchphrase, JDC detective Suzukaze Unomaru finally remembers who he truly is.

Hyouma explains why he thought Black’s statement about Unomaru dying was suspicious. First of all, Black claimed Unomaru had been snatched from the ship, brainwashed for a full month (two weeks of failure and two weeks of “let’s do this instead”), then sent with other Dots to the Loch Ness case. However, the cases by the Cape of Good Hope (September 14th) and Loch Ness (October 12th) didn’t have a full month between them. Small, but still a contradiction.

Unomaru admits he was very lucky the first brainwashing failed; had it succeeded, he would probably have been manipulated into dying in Jakarta instead of the imposter.

How did Hyouma know Unomaru didn’t have a bomb planted inside him? First, he didn’t explode like the rest of the Dots in the Earth House. Second, it was in RISE’s interest that neither him nor the imposter should have bombs; RISE wanted to use specifically one of them in the Borobudur case, which would be hard if they accidentally blew themselves up beforehand.

The bombs explode when detecting signs of high stress, which is why the Dots are brainwashed to keep their cool at all times… except for when they’re speaking against RISE. The explosions can probably also be triggered at the time of Billion Killer cases if there’s a need for three bodies.

Now that Hyouma proved Unomaru was Unomaru, he hopes Black Rook is actually their good old friend Ryuuguu Jounosuke. Black already did things that seemed like he was subconsciously trying to give the detectives hints—like making that mistake about time, or putting Uno cards into the computer order line-up…

...and as Hyouma is talking about it with Unomaru, he realizes that Black and White have sneaked into the room behind him. Black says that actually, he himself is no longer so sure about who he is, and his memories still refuse to come back. White says they should all get to the meeting room for yet another round of explanations.

Everyone is already waiting for them at the table [Ajiro too], except for Nemu. She shows up a bit later with two new people: a person in a bull mask and silver clothes, and a hunched old woman with a hood over her face.

Nemu says she discovered another way out of the Moonbow Palace. Its tower leads all the way up to the surface—and to the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. When Nemu went there, this masked person had been already waiting for her, and then they were both led back to the Sanctuary by the old lady, who Nemu recognized as the “soul of Pytia” she had talked with once. (So that’s where “Pytia” was disappearing to—a secret passage under the temple floor.)

The old woman points to the masked person and says that even though that man wears the mask, he’s not RS. The masked person says that there’s no further need for this masquerade.

The old woman takes the hood off—and reveals himself as Lemuria Sullivan.

The bull mask person also unmasks themselves, and—everyone’s greeted by the devilish smile of Yuiga Dokuson.

Then Dokuson says that White should remove his mask too, because how else will everyone be able to see that he’s Endou Masato, or “Yakuma Suzume”, or “Endou Naoto”, or “Lord Enma”, or “Tsukumo Jaki”, or whichever other name he prefers?

White pulls down his mask, and though he still looks like Endou Naoto, glasses and all, he admits he is the man they once knew as “Yakuma Suzume”.

Dokuson explains that this man, Endou Masato, just loves killing people and disguising himself as them with the help of plastic surgery. He had thirty-nine different identities until now, including “Yakuma Suzume” and “Amagi Hyouma”.

Endou Masato corrects him that it’s forty-two identities, thank you, then says that hey, all people need some variation in their lives and he has yet to find anything as fun as disguises, can you blame him? And he doesn’t always kill the person he impersonates, sometimes he just locks them up, commits a bunch of crimes in their name, and then releases them back to vengeful society. Now that the human race is about to be destroyed, he chose the face of his older brother Naoto, the real White Rook, to end with. You know how when Hyouma arrived in the Sanctuary, he saw both “Yakuma” and White Rook together? That was the last time anyone saw the real White / Naoto, as right afterwards Masato murdered him and took his place.

Dokuson comments that there sure were a lot of imposters in the Crime Olympics, and the mastermind behind it all was this here Endou Masato / Tsukumo Jaki, for whom this entire chaos was more than welcome. The more everyone was confused about who’s real and who’s not, the more they wouldn’t focus on White. If not for Dokuson, the detectives would never guess the truth. Dokuson states very dramatically that his mission is to stop Jaki’s actions.

Jaki admits that the Billion Killer cases have been technically stopped thanks to Dokuson, but they no longer need them this close to the great finale, as no one can possibly stop the destruction of humanity, and what is Dokuson even going to do with Jaki, kill him?

Dokuson will not kill him, because he can see that Jaki clearly isn’t afraid of death, and it’d be hard to pull out information from a corpse. Jaki’s actually fine with telling Dokuson everything—but it looks like they both need to give the others a whole lot of explanations first.

First of all: Tsukumo Jaki, Lemuria Sullivan, and Yuiga Dokuson are all in the first group of Akuren, their numbers being respectively 664, 665 and 666. Jaki got into the first group quickly because of his “splendid achievements”, while Sullivan and Dokuson graduated from lower groups.

We should stress once more that Akuren is not quite an organization, but a dark information network that a chosen list of people can access to find pretty much any secret data possible (except for anything about the top guys from the first group, of course). Dokuson learned a lot about the Pure Ultimate Evil guys’ plans from there.

The evil guys have been trying to kill everyone on Earth including themselves for a very long time now, which often went down in history as major wars, including the two World Wars / the first two Crime Olympics. Finally, they planned a third one that was supposed to last for seven months starting July 1999.

Akuren’s partner in crime was supposed to be an organization called R CURE, but in reality they attempted to keep the world in harmony (according to their own sense of “justice according to the majority”, which called for the human race surviving). RISE was created to follow in R CURE’s footsteps and make sure humanity isn’t destroyed.

RISE managed to hurry the planned 1999 Crime Olympics to start in 1996 instead—which also meant the event would last longer, so the daily death toll would be lower and there would be more time to act. Akuren saw through their plans, but pretended not to notice for now, because RISE were the ones with the Billion Killer, Alive, and the Cosmic Bomb. And so RISE pretended they wanted to kill everyone while actually trying to find a way to let humanity continue.

Trying to gain advantage over RISE, Akuren sent out Tsukumo Jaki to breathe down their necks. It was actually a sort of a tradition; since about three centuries ago, R CURE was always supervised by someone from Akuren’s first group, who they called Ten no Jaki (天の邪鬼). Incidentally, that name became the origin of an identically written term amanojaku (a kind of a demon). That “Ten no” part was later omitted, with the successive supervisors called simply “the second Jaki”, “the third Jaki”, and so on, up to the current “ninety-ninth Jaki”. The current Jaki knew that RISE’s plan would include a detective called Tsukumo Juku, so just for the sake of symbolism he slightly changed his own title so it would be read “Tsukumo Jaki”.

Akuren and Jaki have so much power over RISE that RS is honestly nothing more than a political puppet manipulated as they please. RS is quite deluded as to his own superiority, believes that Jaki is fully loyal to him, and no one would be able to convince him otherwise.

While Jaki was busy supervising RISE, Dokuson managed to get his name into the first group of Akuren, simultaneously working with DOLL and JDC to save humanity (out of his own self-interest, of course) and aiming to confront Jaki. He gathered a lot of information thanks to Akuren’s network, though still didn’t know as much as Jaki or Sullivan. (Then again, Jaki and Sullivan didn’t know everything about RISE either.)

Jaki has deftly manipulated both RISE and Akuren into a situation where the destruction of humanity can no longer be stopped. Jaki doesn’t really care that he’s going to die too; it’s enough for him to see humanity in despair. He’s the sort of guy who just loves to torture and kill someone’s family in front of them, to take away everything they love before finishing them off, and this cruelty is how he made it to the first group of Akuren so fast. Not that he would ever pay attention to some uninteresting small fries instead of strong, worthy opponents. He believes the strongest people are the ones willing to endanger their lives, who don’t have anything to lose. And since Jaki considers Dokuson to be one such formidable foe, he’s willing to tell him a bit about a method to save humanity.

On August 10th, a strong explosive will be used on the Moon to push it slightly out of orbit, and the Earth’s gravity will do the rest. The explosive in question is actually in the Sanctuary right now, installed in that giant column in the middle, which is set to automatically shoot out like a rocket to the Moon when the time comes.

There’s only one person who can possibly stop it, and they’re right there—as he says this, Jaki points to Black Rook.

But is that man actually Black Rook, or is he the detective Ryuuguu Jounosuke? Black himself is extremely confused and repeats that he thinks he remembers being Black Rook, but any details are escaping him.

Jaki states that neither him nor the previous White brainwashed Black, so this confusion must just be an aftereffect of Alive. He claims he’s telling the truth when he says that the man right there is Ryuuou / Black Rook and not the original Ryuuguu Jounosuke. Sorry, everyone, but no convenient plot twist is going to happen here.

But Otohime thinks Jaki’s lying, as she has a logical basis to think Black is Jounosuke. The only reason she hasn’t said anything until now was because she believed he would snap out of it on his own.

Jaki seems surprised and says that oh dear, perhaps he should have expected that Otohime would meddle into his plans, considering he had already heard about her, the eighth S-detective—well, so far only a candidate for the eighth S-detective, the one who surpassed even her detective brother in reasoning skills.

Otohime denies her talent, but her friends rush in with reassurance. (Except for Dokuson, who of course states they should make HIM the eighth S-detective instead, which makes everyone else laugh and leads to Hyouma and Dokuson bickering, and Jaki kind of lost control over the room at this point, honestly).

But back to the point. Otohime warns that it’s a little embarrassing, but her definite proof is—underwear. One time when she was alone with Black in the Dragon’s Center, she asked him if he was wearing black briefs. Black answered that no, he had gray boxers on, what of it? Pressed for more explanations, he said that although he woke up from Alive wearing white trunks—which was also the only kind of underwear he found in his room later—he ordered gray boxers through the computer system.

The point of this story might not be obvious, but as Jounosuke’s older sister, Otohime knows that after a certain point in his childhood he would insist on wearing only a very specific kind of underwear—black briefs.

Then why the gray boxers? Perhaps someone who’s subconsciously a mixture of Jounosuke and Black wouldn’t choose something that only one of these men is supposed to like (black briefs or white trunks), but take a third option in-between (gray boxers). Or maybe Jounosuke subconsciously wanted black briefs, but Sanctuary didn’t have any available, so he settled on the next best thing.

Jaki admits that it’s an interesting theory. While Otohime isn’t exactly wrong, she’s not completely right either. See, Jaki had already told them the truth: the man standing there is Ryuuou / Black Rook, and not the original Ryuuguu Jounosuke.

Let’s repeat that statement in a way they can understand. The man over there is Ryuuou and Black Rook. He is also the JDC detective known as Ryuuguu Jounosuke. However, he isn’t the original Ryuuguu Jounosuke.

The detective they know is the clone.

Jaki starts a long tale about the two brothers.

For simplicity’s sake, let’s call the original man born in 1968 (the one who’s dead) “Ryuuguu”, and the clone born in 1971 (the JDC detective) “Jounosuke”.

Ryuuguu spent the first three years of life travelling with his parents all over the world in order to naturally pick up foreign accents, which was necessary for his future role of Black Rook. However, he suffered from childhood claustrophobia, and if it persisted into adulthood, it would make life in the Sanctuary impossible for him.

That flaw was fixed with his clone Jounosuke, who was brought up in the Sanctuary from the start. This prevented the development of claustrophobia, but limited the time he spent with foreigners and the outside world in general, so he ended up a little worse with languages than Ryuuguu. Still, he was enough of a language genius that he would fit the role of Black Rook.

However, there was a… problem with Jounosuke. No one knew whether it was a side-effect of cloning, or the influence of his environment, or what, but Jounosuke had never once cried, not even as a baby. It’s like he was always instinctually showing just happiness; even when hungry or in pain, he would keep smiling to the point everyone else found it eerie. It’s not that being happy and hopeful was a flaw, but RISE wasn’t sure whether Jounosuke would fit the serious role of Black Rook responsible for the fate of humanity. All attempts at “correcting” the boy’s personality failed. Preschool age Jounosuke still seemed free of any negative thoughts, as if some vital human part was missing from him.

In the end, RISE decided to take the gamble and switch the two boys around. Ryuuguu was taken back into the Sanctuary, while Jounosuke started a new life with his family in the outside world. The switch happened in 1977, when Otohime was twelve, Ryuuguu was nine, and Jounosuke was six. Since Jounosuke was still so young, it was easy to brainwash him into believing he’d been living in his family’s house since birth, with fake memories seeming perfectly real and all the knowledge of the Sanctuary repressed. Otohime didn’t notice the switch, as it happened while her parents and brother were on yet another long trip.

Ryuuguu had at this point in life grown out of his childhood fears, and without any brainwashing accepted his role in the Sanctuary with no complaint. He inherited the name “Ryuuou” from his brother and worked hard as Black Rook.

Meanwhile, Jounosuke had to integrate into the outside society full of new, surprising things. His overly positive thinking slowly evened out into a full spectrum of emotions, and in the end he grew up to be a sensitive young man and a wonderful JDC detective.

But even though the switch had been successful, it didn’t mean the two brothers changed completely. Ryuuguu was still yearning for wide open spaces of the outside world, and perhaps the choice of white underwear was a subconscious act of quiet rebellion against the black uniform that symbolized his confinement. Jounosuke went into the opposite direction, subconscious nostalgia for his childhood in the Sanctuary making him love closed spaces and black clothes to the point he would feel upset unless he wore all black.

Jounosuke was also left with a whole plethora of other eccentricities.

As a child he had lived mainly among the Dots, who weren’t allowed to have any personal identifying traits, so he didn’t really understand the concept of dividing people into genders. But then the outside world turned out to be quite preoccupied with acting like people of different genders were completely different beings. Perplexed Jounosuke had to get used to this social rule somehow, and so he on purpose started adding gendered suffixes to everyone’s name.

Though Jounosouke had his memories blocked, he still instinctively understood that there were two of him, and to subconsciously affirm that he was now “the real one”, he would always talk about himself in third person, “Ryuuguu”.

His love for languages obviously came from his childhood, and so did his personality that seemed always cheerful and full of love.

His talent for breaking machines came from the fact that he was trained to control various machinery of the Sanctuary. It might sound counterintuitive, but when you really think about it, breaking any device instantly requires a whole lot of mechanical knowledge and skill. Brainwashed Jounosuke was subconsciously trying to protect the Sanctuary’s secrets and avoid being found out as ex-Master, so he broke everything he touched as if to say “look how awful I am with machines, I can’t possibly be that guy”.

Let’s talk about the Master’s role a bit. As we know, all the Sanctuary’s Machines are robots, who are programmed to only react to the voice of “Ryuuguu Jounosuke” (either brother would do).

When the Sanctuary was completed in 1971, the next twenty seven years worth of cruise plans had already been programmed into the system. Even if something happened to the Master, the Sanctuary would keep moving along with the Crime Olympics plan, including automatically shooting out the Cosmic Bomb explosive on August 10th 1997. Only the Master would be able to abort this program in some secret way. Unfortunately, only the older brother Ryuuguu knew how to do it, and he’s gone now.

When he was still alive, Ryuuguu was told by RS (but actually by Jaki pulling the strings behind the scenes) that he was destined to die in a certain number of days. Trying to avoid his fate, Ryuuguu decided to perform yet another switch with his brother.

Preparations required Ryuuguu to infect Jounosuke with the Alive virus at the right time. This could be done with use of the virus vector, white powder known as Godust—from “God Dust”, as in “will degrade even a god into dust”.

Incidentally, Tamei Madoka’s last words were a hint about Alive; when she said “Godust… Alive… sh…”, she was trying to say “sugar”. RISE spread Alive so fast by putting Godust into commercially sold sugar, and the miraculous disappearance of the disease was achieved by spreading the vaccine the same way.

Jounosuke was infected when he was in the Parisian cafe with Nemu and Hikimiya (that waiter who died was one of RISE, by the way).

When Jounosuke later went to Peru and finally developed serious symptoms, Ryuuguu sneaked into the hospital and performed a switch with some help from White Rook (who was back then the actual Doctor / Naoto, not disguised Jaki / Masato). Jounosuke was taken to the Sanctuary and given the vaccine, but was still kept asleep.

With that out of the way, Ryuuguu was free to impersonate his brother, keeping distance from Christmas so he wouldn’t notice anything. Ryuuguu made a pretty bold move by taking advantage of Jouka’s feelings for Jounosuke and proposing to her. It seemed awful to trick someone like that, but when he continued to drop hints that he wasn’t the Jounosuke she knew, Jouka seemed to still love him for who he was, and he ended up developing feelings for her. Ryuuguu became trapped between the hope of love and the despair of possible death.

In a tragic irony, Ryuuguu ended up dying in the plane crash on the destined day specifically because of his efforts to avoid fate. Just like Jounosuke, he subconsciously developed an anti-talent for machines to avoid being found out as the Master. But unlike experienced Jounosouke, Ryuuguu didn’t pay enough attention and unwittingly broke the plane engine during the checkup. When the plane was about to crash later, he realized he wouldn’t be able to use a parachute either, as he would just break the activation device. No matter how much he tried to run, his fate was to die. (“So this is fate…” he said. “Nothing can save you from it… Ryuuguu Jounosuke dies here…”)

Now for the reason why Jounosuke acted like Black Rook when he woke up… Back when the brothers switched in the hospital in Peru, Ryuuguu only had to say a few right words to convince Jounosuke to “return” to being the Master. Feverish Jounosuke was so vulnerable to suggestion that his mind pulled his hidden memories back to the forefront of consciousness. He still had all those memories of being a JDC detective, but became convinced that those events actually happened to his brother, and he had just been observing them through cameras.

Jounosuke didn’t notice anything wrong until he realized he didn’t remember the way to stop the Cosmic Bomb. He tried to ask White about his identity, but White (who was already Jaki) wouldn’t give him a straightforward answer.

...at least not until now. As Jaki’s finishing the story, Black Rook slowly remembers who he is and takes off the mask.

“I am…” he starts. “I see… I am—no, Ryuuguu is the JDC detective Ryuuguu Jounosuke!”

All the detectives are overwhelmed with joy at the return of their friend, but Jaki isn’t done explaining things quite yet.

Fuumonji Jouka was certain that “Ryuuguu Jounosuke” was two people and wanted to investigate the matter in full. She was also intrigued by the mystery of the two Ryuusuis (Dakushoin and Seiryoin), and thought that maybe the two “Ryuuguu Jounosukes” had something to do with them.

Before the JDC explosion, Jouka opened the sealed envelope from Dakushoin she’d been holding onto since right after Geneijo, and found Another Joker inside. This title seemed like it predicted her detective nickname; Another Joker sounded like anata Jouka (“you’re Jouka”). The D-name Fuumonji Jouka was given to her by Jounosuke. Thinking about this, she noticed that Dakushoin’s handwriting was quite similar to Jounosuke’s, and she recalled the two understanding each other well back in Genejio. Was there a deeper connection between the two men? Despite Dokuson’s warnings, Jouka kept investigating, got too close to the truth, and ended up murdered.

Let’s finally explain the very confusing pen names and writers. We came to the conclusion that the pen name “Dakushoin Ryuusui” was used by Tamei Madoka, while “Minase Nagisa” was her brother Tamei Hidetaka—except that Hidetaka wasn’t actually a writer. Everything he “wrote” (including works published under the name “Minase Nagisa”) was actually the work of a third person, who would later write Cosmic and Joker as “Seiryoin Ryuusui”.

That mysterious third writer was the original Ryuuguu.

Ryuuguu would send a manuscript to Hidetaka, who would send it to Madoka, who would publish it under the name “Minase Nagisa” (so the publishing company thought Nagisa was Madoka). Madoka’s own works would be sent to her brother Hidetaka, who would publish them as “Dakushoin Ryuusui”.

Tamei Hidetaka had been chosen as the one pretending to be the writer specifically because his sensibilities were similar to Ryuuguu’s. This incidentally meant that Hidetaka would quickly become genuine friends with Jounosuke, who as a clone had a lot in common with Ryuuguu.

That other person in Geneijo who resembled Tamei Hidetaka a lot, Employee D / Kanai Hidetaka, was RISE’s Dog. His similarity to Tamei in both looks and name caused the detectives to easily remember him. This was important to RISE, as later on they would send Employee D to China with a message that would force Inugami Yasha to return to Japan.

Maybe the old legend about seeing your doppelganger and dying held some merit; Ryuuguu died soon after switching with Jounosuke, Employee D after meeting Tamei Hidetaka.

RISE had to orchestrate a lot of things for their plan to work. Ajiro’s trusted mentor Shiranui Zenzou was a Dog, and it was due to his strong encouragement that Ajiro created Nihon Tantei Club after the Ajiro Family Murder Case. That case and the Saimon Family Murder Case guaranteed that the “main cast” all met each other: Ajiro, Shiranui, Hyouma, Juku, Nemu, Jounosuke, Otohime… RISE paid particular attention to developing Tsukumo Juku. Solving the Geneijo Murder Case let him become an S-detective, and the Locked Room Lord case gave him international trust and fame.

As it was said multiple times, RISE pretended to follow the plan of destroying humanity, but they actually wanted the Crime Olympics to be solved in the middle in order to save the human race. They didn’t think the other six S-detectives would be able to solve it, though. The only ray of hope was Tsukumo Juku, but then Jaki saw through RISE’s secret plan and had Juku assassinated.

(Jaki says that Geneijo and Locked Room Lord cases had a whole lot of other meanings too, but that’d be too long to explain in detail, so let’s just go back to Ryuuguu and the writers.)

We explained that Ryuuguu effectively used a chain of two writers to hide behind. At the same time, he also prepared to become “Seiryoin Ryuusui”. As a RISE executive, he had knowledge of what the big cases would look like and could describe them in Cosmic and Joker. He even planned on writing an entry about the Crime Olympics, Carnival, but untimely death put a stop to his plans.

Aside from his writings, Ryuuguu left two other things behind with help of White (the real one).

The first thing was someone who would continue his work in chronicling all the events as “Seiryoin”. They chose a suitable man called Nakamoto Hiroya, brainwashed him, and delivered him to JDC’s doorstep as a perfect candidate for the next “Seiryoin Ryuusui”. Even if both Ryuuguu and White died (which they did), Nakamoto would continue writing.

The other thing Ryuuguu left was his and Jouka’s child.

Aware that he might not be able to avoid death, Ryuuguu wanted to at least pass on life. A few days before his fate would be decided, he told Jouka that he had left his semen with a trusted doctor, and that in case of his death he’d like her to use it to have their child, or at least find someone who would carry the child instead. The doctor in question was of course White Rook / Endou Naoto, who at that time pretended to be Hanto Maimu’s doctor “Shindou Masato”.

After Ryuuguu’s death, Jouka talked to “doctor Shindou Masato”, but still hesitated on whether she wanted to carry the child herself. In the end, she had her eggs retrieved and said she’d decide later, but before she could make up her mind, she was murdered.

White decided to use Ryuuguu’s and Jouka’s cells for in vitro fertilization anyway. The surrogate mother would be Ryuuguu’s own mother Kaguya.

By the way, Kaguya is right now waiting for them all in Heaven / El Dorado. (And it would take really long to explain El Dorado, so let’s leave the topic for later.)

That would be it for the explanations for now.

Ajiro thanks Dokuson for taking care of JDC in his absence. Dokuson answers that no thanks are needed, because he was doing it out of his own interest anyway. Also, a man as great as Ajiro doesn’t have to address Dokuson per -san. And also, Dokuson has simply borrowed the JDC representative’s chair for a moment, but its rightful owner has always been Ajiro.

Ajiro doesn’t want to relegate the responsibility over ending the Crime Olympics to anyone else, but Dokuson tells him he shouldn’t feel responsible for something he can’t stop. He can’t help much with the Cosmic Bomb, and the Billion Killer is more of an unstoppable force of nature than a tangible enemy you could fight.

Ajiro announces he’s going to suspend JDC activities for now, then spend possibly the last month he has somewhere. Dokuson offers his help, but Ajiro firmly says that he has to go back to JDC by himself and doesn’t want to risk the lives of anyone else.

A few days later, the Sanctuary approaches Japan to both let Ajiro leave and to pick up the last few guests: Yasha, BOKU, Nakamoto Hiroya, and Strong J Outa. (They will get Kanke when they get to Easter Island later.). Ajiro entrusts the fate of humanity to Jounosuke and leaves.

Now that Jounosuke is back to his machine-breaking self, Jaki warns him against touching anything in Dragon’s Center. Jounosuke can still command the Machines with his voice, and RISE even has advanced voice-changers that would allow others to also give directions. However, major orders like diverting the Sanctuary from its pre-programmed path would have to be confirmed by a hand scan, which would involve a lot of touching.

The entire Sanctuary is full of hand-scan panels and other devices, so Jounosuke gets Jaki to work as his hands and (just in case) voice to command everything. (Jaki doesn’t fear death, but agrees it’d be pretty stupid to accidentally drown on the way to El Dorado). They register two rooms as belonging to Christmas, so that Jounosuke can live in one with Christmas opening the door and ordering food for him.

Jounosuke tries to simply order the Machines to stop the Cosmic Bomb, but they just shake their heads. He asks one of them questions and learns that if he hypothetically did touch and mess up the computers, the system would notice something was wrong, and the explosive would be automatically shot to the Moon. (Cue everyone looking at Jounosuke like he’s a mad bomber and telling him to PLEASE not touch anything.)

The Billion Killer cases have stopped, but the detectives keep hearing about strange incidents in the world outside. Tasmania smashes into mainland Australia. Hong Kong is out of power and on fire. On July 5th—the day they drop off Ajiro in Japan—the legendary continent Mu shows up and causes the Carnival Wave. On July 12th, a dragon shows up around the Marianas, flies to Easter Island, topples the Moai statues, and disappears underwater. (This dragon’s existence is likely easy to explain, considering RISE’s various weird vehicles.)

After the dragon case, RISE has now gathered everyone they wanted in the Sanctuary, in order of appearance: Unomaru, Jounosuke, Otohime, Nemu, Christmas, Hyouma, Diana, Maimu & Kuraimu, Yaiba, Yasha, BOKU, Strong J Outa, Nakamoto, and Kanke. The fourteen people not counting the baby all fit perfectly at the round table (there’s thirteen chairs, but Otohime has her wheelchair). It feels like this “new” guest list had been planned from the start.

Once everyone shared their experiences with others, new theories were made.

Kanke told them about how nine skulls of the Billion Killer were left on the beach during the dragon case. Counting from the very beginning of the Crime Olympics, we had forty-three skulls (from JDC explosion to Mount Roraima), then a break, and then these nine. Together it made fifty-two, the number of weeks in a year.

Christmas remembered the dying message a tourist left on the Easter Island beach in the first Moai case [from the very beginning of Carnival]: a crude drawing of a bird and the letters NAS. This could refer to the Nazca condor, but perhaps it was also a message that the dragon would attack the island much later?

Jounosuke deciphers NAS as possibly meaning “New Attack Submarine”, which could be tied to the Robo-Ship… but more likely to the Sanctuary—perhaps the victim was trying to say they saw it at the moment of the attack? This made sense, considering that Christmas got to the scene incredibly quickly, but still didn’t run into any Dots. They had to have already retreated back to the Sanctuary, so it had to be nearby during the case. Perhaps when the Dots were dropping off the skull, they said something about the future case with a flying dragon, and the one tourist who was still clinging to life overheard it and drew a picture to warn people.

Back to the nine skulls, they were found all facing the same direction. That’s not all, the original skull left on the beach after the first Moai case was also turned the same way. Jounosuke (very carefully) uses the computers in Dragon’s Center to gather data on how all the other skulls were positioned—at least those that weren’t moved by people, washed off by water etc., which leaves him twenty-six to work with, half of the total. Some like the Mount Everest one seem to point out not only a flat direction, but also altitude / depth.

It quickly turns out that rather than finding a single point on Earth that all these skulls were looking at, they need to find what they were looking away from: the bottom of the Mariana Trench.

Jounosuke still can’t think of a way to stop the Cosmic Bomb. He tries to pull more information from the computers, but it looks like Jaki had erased a lot of data. Having run out of easy solutions, Jounosuke finally turns to his own reasoning—searching for clues in words.

Jounosuke gathers everyone to tell them what he found in the oldest clue of the Crime Olympics: Another Joker and the bonanzagram within it. As we remember, Jounosuke had already solved the bonanzagram and realized an anagram of the twenty-eight letters he got would create the phrase Hanzai gorin sugu koko de kaimaku, “the Crime Olympics will start here soon”.

But now Jounosuke realized it wasn’t the only perfect anagram that could be made using the provided letters. In fact, he found fifty, all of them clues about things that already happened or that would happen. Whether or not the original Ryuuguu who wrote Another Joker intended to put in all these anagrams, they certainly made sense to his clone.

Most the anagrams were vague, symbolic and convoluted, so even though Jounosuke thought they all had their meaning, he picked “the best ten” to explain. [He still encourages others to hunt for clues by picking keywords like a person’s name or a place and trying to make the other letters fit around it in an anagram. It feels like the author is challenging the reader, too. Note that a specific romanization is used, so Ji = Zi, Shi = Si, Fu = Hu etc., and long vowels are most often ignored.]

Jounosuke’s Ten Anagrams:

1. KORI NO ZIMEN HA KUDO GAU GA SIKAKU

[氷の地面は空洞・ギャウが死角]

— “[At] the ground of ice, a cave / gjá is a blindspot”

The “ground of ice” is Iceland. Gjá is an Icelandic term meaning giant fissures created by earthquakes, much like the one that hosted Shangri-La.

2. KODAI MOZI R GENGO KAKUSANAI KUHU

[古代文字R言語、隠さない工夫]

— “Ancient letters R language, not-hidden scheme [or figuring out something]”

Jounosuke isn’t sure why R language would be ancient, considering it’s so similar to modern Japanese, but the second part must refer to how it allows for figuring out secrets hidden in Japanese.

3. KAKU DE ZINRUI SAIGO HAKKAGU MOON

[核で人類最後、発火具・MOON]

— “With nuclear [weapons] the last of humanity, firing tool [weapon]: Moon”

This one’s obvious: a nuclear explosion will cause the Moon to fall and destroy humanity.

4. AEGI NOMU ZINKO DRUG HAKAIKOSAKU

[喘ぎ、飲む人工ドラッグ破壊工作]

— “[Inhalable?], drink[able] man-made drug[-related] subversive activities”

The “man-made drug” is Godust, which RISE was secretly mixing into sugar.

5. AKUREN HA DAIZIN KOKKA MO SUGU GOI

[悪連は大臣・国家もすぐ合意]

— “Akuren [has] agreement [with] ministers, countries”

Akuren has frightening influence behind the scenes to the point they can control countries.

6. AKU NO DR KOHAI KAONAKI SUZUME GIG

[悪のドクター後輩、顔なき雀ギグ]

— “Evil Dr kouhai [junior employee], the faceless Suzume[’s] gig”

“Faceless Suzume” is of course Endou Masato, who right now is the “evil doctor-kouhai” (as he killed the older “senpai”, his brother Naoto). A “gig” refers to the impersonation.

7. HIGAN MU UKI DOKURO SIKAKE GA NAZO

[悲願（彼岸？）、ムー浮き髑髏、仕掛けが謎]

— “Higan (?), Mu floating skull, the trick is a mystery”

Higan can have many meanings (“nirvana”? “One’s dearest wish”? “Budda’s vow to save humanity?”), but Jounosuke can’t figure out what it would mean in this context. “Mu floating” means the mysterious continent showing up, and the trick behind it is still unknown. The mention of the skull hints there’s a connection between the Billion Killer and the Mu case (was it actually a Billion Killer case?).

8. IKAKU USA HIKOKI GENZO DRAGON UMA

[威嚇USA飛行機、幻像ドラゴンUMA]

— “A threatening USA plane, phantom dragon UMA”

“UMA” can mean a horse in Japanese (possibly connected to Another Joker?), but it’s also the abbreviation for Unidentified Mysterious Animal. What that “threatening USA plane” is isn’t that clear. The “phantom dragon UMA” must be referring to what was spotted by the Marianas and Easter Island, so it probably was just a plane or another vehicle shaped like a dragon.

9. GOD NG MARIANA KAIKOU HE SUZUKI OK

[探偵神NG、マリアナ海溝へ鈴木OK]

— “GOD NG, to Mariana Trench Suzuki OK”

GOD NG doesn’t exactly tell them a lot, but Jounosuke was able to pull some meaning out of it. “GOD” might refer to Tsukumo Juku, the God of Detectives. NG is a colloquial Japanese abbreviation for “NO GOOD” (not allowed, unacceptable), so perhaps “GOD NO GOOD” refers to Juku having been murdered. “Suzuki” is probably the editor detective Cappuccino Knob Suzuki (who apparently loves to say OK a lot), and the Mariana Trench is the location of El Dorado.

10. GUZO SAIMON GA DNA KEIKAKU HURIKO

[偶像・彩紋がDNA計画不履行]

— “Saimon the [religious] idol [has?] not fulfilled the DNA plan” [or his plan was not fulfilled???]

Jounosuke has no idea what on earth this could mean. (Another of the fifty anagrams said “the past of the Saimon Family [Murder Case?] is a mystery”, but that’s not very helpful.) The one thing he can decipher is that “Saimon the idol” doesn’t mean Juku (whose birth family name was Saimon), but his father Ryuusui. The magician’s name showing up here probably hints at his Miraculous Illusions having been stolen and used for the Billion Killer cases. But what on earth would the “DNA plan” refer to?… Here’s hoping this and many other mysteries will be explained very soon.

And so our detectives head to El Dorado, and the battle for humanity’s survival is slowly nearing its end.

[>>>NEXT PART>>>]

#sparkly reads carnival day #maijo and jdc stuff #this is the moment that made me believe seiryoin sold his soul to satan for wordplay skills #how on earth do you even come up with something this convoluted. dang

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wardencommanderrodimiss · 5 years ago

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Witches, Chapter 21: post-trial wrap-up. No, seriously, finally, it’s over. It’s been....3000 years....

[Seelie of Kurain Chapter Masterlist] [ao3]

[Witches Chapter Masterlist] [ao3]

----

It’s all there, on the record, to end the case, to make the next trial go smoother: the victim, Jack Shipley, slipped and fell and Rimes couldn’t pull him back to safety; Orla and Sasha did nothing wrong, and neither did Ora, a year ago. Azura Summers’ death was a heart attack. Two accidental deaths, and Rimes trying to get revenge on the wrong orca for something that never needed to be avenged. All this pain and agony, all because the victim wanted to keep it a secret that there were two orcas.

It never needed to happen this way.

Sometimes Phoenix thinks it’s easier to deal with cases where one of the parties involved was actively a malicious murderer. Because it hurts, god does it hurt, if the victim or killer is someone that they knew, loved, trusted, and Phoenix has both been the one in pain and the one trying to console his clients, but at least there’s a feeling that justice was served. Someone got what they deserved, in the end.

No one deserved this nightmare.

The court officers don’t escort Rimes out right away; Sasha, out of the defendant’s chair, out of suspicion, hurries forward to speak with him. He doesn’t even seem to notice her approaching. He might not have blinked since Phoenix told him about Azura’s heart condition, since Rimes himself realized that everything he did just hurt innocent people, and demanded to know why Phoenix couldn’t just let him be called a murderer and punished as such. Yeah, he’s criminally liable for a lot, and everyone here knows it, the judge has even said it, but - he did not want to kill Jack Shipley, and that still means something. Rimes doesn’t deserve a death penalty like Rimes seems to think he deserves.

“Hey, Marlon,” Sasha says. He jumps, slamming his shin into the witness stand. He really didn’t notice her. “When this is all done, y’know - served out your sentence and rehabilitation - you’d better come back to the aquarium, you hear?”

“But…” He doesn’t even say anything else. He lets everything that’s happened in the past half an hour stand for itself.

“We’re pirates, remember? Cap’n Orla’s Swashbucklers! A pirate crew’s not gonna care about criminal records in hiring!” She seems to be deliberately missing the point. Rimes doesn’t say anything else. “Hey. Marlon. That whole, um, hulking out thing - you didn’t - that wasn’t some kind of catastrophic deal, right? You - you okay?”

And of course he isn’t, not in the broad scheme of things, and of course Sasha isn’t okay in that sense either, but she only means one thing and that’s the thing that Phoenix has been wondering, and Blackquill has already been escorted out of the courtroom but Taka is perched just off to the side, listening in too. What did he bargain away, thinking he’d gained something useful?

Rimes slumps until his forehead hits the witness stand. “Had’ta give up being a vegetarian,” he mumbles.

“Wait,” Athena says, “do you mean you had to give up meat or you had to—”

“I was a vegetarian.” Rimes doesn’t lift his head. The way he’s doubled over hurts Phoenix’s back and neck by proxy. “But I have to eat meat now.”

Whether he was a vegetarian for personal or religious reasons, or health reasons, or something as simple as he thought raw meat was gross to look at and hated cooking with it and had to functionally become a vegetarian (like Phoenix his first year having a kitchen except takeout sushi isn’t vegetarian and ramen and pizza aren’t a healthy vegetarian diet) - whatever it was, going back to meat in the diet is some sort of sacrifice. And that so often is the cornerstone of a deal: a sacrifice. Giving something up. A name, a soul, a skill, a principle, some cash for an all-you-can-eat buffet—

And it could’ve been so, so much worse for Rimes. He’s lucky.

“I made the deal for strength,” he adds, still hunched over, like his spine has been wrenched out of him and replaced with jelly. “I thought - I thought I could be strong enough then to help. But I wasn’t strong enough to hang onto the captain, and all the rest - physical strength didn’t matter. Didn’t help me at all.”

Which, Phoenix wouldn’t be surprised if whichever fae gave him the magatama knew that it wouldn’t. It’s a human thing - and a fae thing, it’s a people thing, to not know what would actually help. What they really need, versus what they think they need.

Sasha steps around the witness stand and pulls Rimes around into a hug, his head slumped down onto her shoulder instead of the stand now. Phoenix hears, and thinks he isn’t supposed to, Rimes’ ragged repeated “I’m sorry”s and “It’s my fault”s.

“Yeah and you’re still my friend, y’know that,” Sasha says.

The magatama slips from Rimes’ hand and hits the floor, shattering with a sound like it’s made of glass. Rimes shudders and trembles and his whole body shrinks, back down to the man he was before.

“You never cease to surprise me.”

Down the hall, at the top of the stairs, Athena is excitedly introducing Sasha to Trucy, and re-introducing Sasha and Apollo. Taka is long gone. And Edgeworth stands next to Phoenix, arms folded, drumming his fingers, and Phoenix can’t tell if he’s angry or begrudgingly impressed or wholeheartedly impressed. “So when Blackquill came to you to tell you that he was going to prosecute an orca, did you regret lengthening his leash at that point?”

Edgeworth shakes his head. “Prosecutor Blackquill was with me at the time. We were discussing - a case.” If it was Blackquill’s case specifically, Phoenix thinks he would have said that, but this just sounds like there’s even more, other cases, behind the scenes, above the security clearance of absolutely anyone. “And then I have a call from Detective Fulbright that he has a case that may be able to go to trial, and Prosecutor Blackquill is of course interested in that.” He shakes his head a second time. “If you think Blackquill is a thorn in your side in court, believe me, he is just as much of one to be outside of it.”

“That sounds consistent with what I’ve seen.” Phoenix glances around again to be sure that the hawk isn’t anywhere around. “Wait, you met with him - at your office? One-on-one? Without Fulbright around?”

“Yes, I have. Several armed officers on the other side of the door, of course - Detective Gumshoe stringently insists—”

“Good,” Phoenix interrupts. He should buy Gumshoe dinner for that. Someone has to keep Edgeworth’s dumb ass in one piece. “And Blackquill knows he’d still be rotting only in prison if not for you, right? And that if he—”

Edgeworth’s pale eyes flicker sideways at Phoenix. “Your concern is appreciated and entirely unwarranted and unnecessary. Prosecutor Blackquill, assuredly, has nothing against me, unlike certain others who you spent significant one-on-one time with.”

Oh. There it is. That gulf always between them, sometimes near closed and then it yawns, and they are here and here is further apart. “Good,” Phoenix repeats, more faintly than before. “Is there anything new you can tell me about him that would help?”

“Unfortunately not. He’s very stubborn in regards to his own murder case - as I said, a thorn in my side.”

“And maybe an ache in your head and a pain in your ass, too?”

Even if Edgeworth is, maybe not mad at him, but frustrated enough with him to bring up Kristoph, Phoenix is pleased to know that he can still make him snort in amusement. “I’m in particular agreement with His Honor about your need to watch your language.”

“Just in court though, right?”

“No.” Edgeworth turns his head to fully affix a glare on him, and Phoenix wilts. “In general. I can only imagine that good things would come of you choosing to fully speak and act like the lawyer that you are.”

The lawyer that he hasn’t been for eight years. The lawyer that Edgeworth pushed him to be, again. “All else aside,” Edgeworth adds, “such as and especially the orca, and that you are an utterly ridiculous man lacking a modicum of good sense and decorum—”

“That’s a lot to throw aside.”

Edgeworth ignores him. “—I am happy to see you standing in court again. You deserve this.”

“I—?” Are you sure? Do I really? After everything I’ve done? Everything that you know I am?

“You do,” Edgeworth says. “And I look forward to seeing what you do next, so long as you do not decide that you will - try and outdo yourself in finding a more outlandish defendant.”

“Hey, if they show up at my office, who am I to turn away clients? It’s not like I’ve ever had enough work to really be choosy with it. You’d said that yourself plenty of times.”

“Though I can’t say I expected an orca to be the logical conclusion of your manner of conducting business.”

They’re an Anything Agency. This was the place they were going to end up. “Would you think better or worse of me if I tell you I didn’t know the client was an orca at first, until we got to the aquarium and Ms Buckler introduced us to said orca?”

“You went all the way out to meet the client without having asked such basic information as name or species - yes, that does sound exactly like you.” He doesn’t answer whether that’s better or worse, just makes it clear that he knows Phoenix well enough to not be surprised. The more Phoenix thinks about it, the more he’s surprised that he didn’t ever get himself into a situation like this before. Maybe it could be said that there’s a lesson here, but he thinks he’s going to deliberately not learn it. “And the fact that from that, you pulled two victories, and cleared up the truth of a guilty man who was nevertheless not guilty of murder - also, very much like you.”

“You don’t need to flatter me,” Phoenix says. “I’m already on board to help you out with whatever, remember?”

He knows it isn’t flattery - or if it is, it isn’t hollow, because Edgeworth doesn’t say anything he doesn’t mean - but he’s still locked into deflect, deflect. Edgeworth knows how much Phoenix feels he doesn’t belong here. He’s not going to address it straight-out - that’s not his style, that’s not their styles, but he knows, and he still thinks that this is exactly where Phoenix does belong.

The one word he wants to say, thanks, sticks his throat shut, but he hopes Edgeworth knows anyway.

“Hey, Boss! Hi, Mr Edgeworth!” Athena waves them over. “Boss, Sasha wants us to come back to the aquarium one last time so Orla can thank us in person, too! And we should probably pick up Pearly, right?”

Not that Pearl is limited in her movements in a way that necessitates them picking her up in a car, but if she’s still hanging around the aquarium, she’d probably be happy to see them and come back to the office with them. “Sounds like a plan,” he says. “Catch up with you later, Edgeworth.” He gives his friend a solid thwack on the shoulder.

“I can give Trucy and Mr Justice a lift back to your office, then,” Edgeworth says. Trucy beams; Apollo, terror-stricken, glances between Edgeworth and Trucy and seems to resign himself to whatever this fate is. Phoenix would like for Apollo to get to know Edgeworth better, but can’t blame him for the fear. Edgeworth’s scary even before he got the title Chief Prosecutor to cement it.

“Oh, Prosecutor Edgeworth,” Athena says. “There’s something I wanted to ask you - can I email you later?”

“Ah - of course.” Edgeworth still glances at Phoenix, raising an eyebrow, doubtlessly wondering what question she has that she isn’t going to the nearest adult in her life, the one right next to her. Probably something about cars or Europe or any of the other gaps in Phoenix’s life experience, something that she figures he’s too much of a mess to have an answer to. Maybe it’s something about Phoenix’s badge, the losing of it, that she wants to know without tipping Phoenix to the fact that she’s digging into his ugly past like this. Or maybe it’s the what the hell about Blackquill she wants to know. There are lots of questions it could be.

Phoenix shrugs back at Edgeworth. It’s sort of like they’re co-parenting another daughter. No real way around that now, and Phoenix follows her out of the courthouse as she hurtles herself down the stairs.

They arrive back in the orca pool room in time to catch the middle-end of a lecture Dr Crab is giving Sasha about taking her health seriously and taking it easy until her condition is fully, properly managed. She sits at the edge of the pool, patting Orla’s nose, her hair soaking wet, like she just jumped straight into the pool upon her return. “I was thinking Orla and I would put on a mini show for you when you got here,” Sasha says to Athena, “but that’s obviously not happening.”

“I’m inclined to agree with the doctor,” Phoenix says.

“He’s a vet, not a people-doctor!” Sasha protests. Jokingly? It sounds like a joke.

“And you, Miss Selkie, are as much seal as you are human.”

“Not at the same time!” She stands up, careful with her footing, no doubt thinking about the victim slipping and falling to his death. “But, really. Phoenix, Athena, I cannot ever thank you enough, and your office, and Pearl, too.” Sasha waves at Pearl, who is sitting with Rifle and the penguin chick, Sniper, over by the wall. “All of you! Thank you, thank you, for what you did for me, and Orla, and the aquarium, for everyone. You found us the truth, you got us closure - made me realize this guy isn’t so bad after all!” She elbows Dr Crab.

“Not sure I’m happy about that one.” Crab steps away from her second nudge.

“You really helped us out a ton, Pearls,” Phoenix says. “Definitely couldn’t have done this all without you.”

“Oh, it was nothing!” She starts to cover her face with her hands and decides to duck behind Rifle instead. “I’m sure you could have won without me, Mr Nick!”

He could have, yes - but not to this same end. He couldn’t have proven Rimes was trying to save Shipley in the end; he wouldn’t have had the time or patience to plaster fingerprinting powder over everything. But he’s not one to look a gift debt-forgiveness in the mouth, either, so he doesn’t point that out. Dr Crab’s eyes narrow, wondering, no doubt, how Phoenix got such a tricky, powerful faery to like him so much that she writes off all this investigation and assistance as nothing. What he had to lose to gain that. Phoenix shrugs back at him, and they watch Sasha and Athena head over to Pearl, Sasha animatedly explaining something to Athena and half holding her back from charging down Rifle.

“And thanks for spilling almost all of the aquarium’s secrets like that,” Dr Crab adds dryly.

“I’m only a little sorry,” Phoenix says. Better to be honest.

Dr Crab waves dismissively. “You said you would, and I was prepared for that. I’m almost glad I’ve got less to hide now. That writer lady, now that she’s not crusading after Orla anymore, said to me that she thinks that the aquarium’s in the right with the TORPEDO, and the law’s wrong, and she’d take up our case to advocate for its legality.” He grins, just slightly. “So we might be able to wiggle free of any serious consequences.”

“That’s—” Phoenix pauses to think over what he was about to say. “Speaking as a lawyer, I shouldn’t say that’s good, but I’m glad to hear that anyway.”

“I’m pretty good at keeping secrets, so don’t worry, I won’t go blabbing on you.” Phoenix laughs awkwardly, while Dr Crab’s face doesn’t twitch. He seems very serious. “Though, speaking of secrets, buddy, if you can keep your mouth shut when you don’t have a case hinging on it, I’ve got to tell you, there’s one thing you didn’t get quite right, back in that courtroom, and I wasn’t about to go correcting you on it.”

There’s a tanuki standing in front of Apollo, saying very similar words, and the blood left both Apollo and Athena’s faces, and if Apollo had vomited right in Filch’s face it wouldn’t have been much of a surprise. But Phoenix - Phoenix doesn’t know what he feels. Not this time. Dr Crab, unlike Filch, didn’t perjure himself willy-nilly all through this trial. If he held something back—

“Go on,” Phoenix says. His voice is strangled even to his own ears. Crab gives him a curious and suspicious once-over.

“The calendar with the meeting with Jack, seven am at the orca pool - that’s mine, yeah, and I did go to that meeting to wait for him, yeah. But.” His silence might be dramatic, or a last assessment of whether Phoenix is trustworthy, and he adds, “That meant the orca pool at Supermarine Aquarium, not here.”

“The Supermarine Aquarium?” Phoenix repeats. “That’s the dolphin therapy place, right?” Athena explained animal-assisted therapy, and that aquarium across town in particular, sometime last evening, while they compiled their last investigatory information, but Phoenix checked out mentally in the middle of it. And something about an open-ocean marine sanctuary too, for whales that had been rescued from bad conditions at other institutions but couldn’t live fully on their own in the wild. He has no idea what relevance Athena thought that had. She just likes to talk about whales. “I didn’t even know they had an orca.”

“They don’t,” Dr Crab says. “They’re just harboring her for us.” It doesn’t click right away. Crab goes on. “When I told you about how I’d fake Orla’s death if I had to - I have full confidence I’d be able to, because Jack and I already did it once. Ora’s been living there the last year - we tried to send her into the wild, but she didn’t want to leave Orla, and Orla didn’t want to leave us, and we couldn’t exactly just have an orca hanging out around in the harbor for everyone to keep running into.”

“And that’s why you and the owner were making those mysterious payments,” Phoenix says faintly. DePlume had some wild ideas about conspiracy involving that, but she couldn’t dream this up.

“Yep. Couldn’t exactly force that on the Supermarine’s budget, since she’s our orca, so we’ve been paying them for all her food and care. And orcas eat a lot.”

“I’d believe it,” Phoenix says, still thinking of someone else, someone who eats a lot and puts a serious strain on his wallet when she does.

“Since you’ve proven now that Ora was innocent all along, I figure we’ll bring her back here sooner rather than later,” Dr Crab says. “Not that I know how to budget and run an aquarium, and Sasha doesn’t, either. It’ll be a hell of a learning curve with Jack gone, but I don’t plan on going anywhere - but for now, I think it’d be better if you didn’t go saying anything about what I just told you.”

“Don’t worry,” Phoenix says. “I’ve been told I’m very good at keeping secrets.”

The bitter bend to the words would be hard to miss, but Dr Crab doesn’t move a muscle in his face. “Good. Hey, Sasha,” he calls over to her. “I’ve got my rounds to make and check in on the rest of the animals. Don’t do anything crazy as soon as I turn my back.” To Phoenix, he adds, “You seem to garner some sort of respect among young women in their early twenties, apparently, so I’m tasking you with making sure Sasha doesn’t start trying to show off.”

The average age is more like late teens, and the amount of actual “respect” he gets is up for strenuous debate. “Guess you have to be some sort of a crazy show-off to go get a job working with orcas when you’re a selkie.”

Dr Crab huffs. “Azura wasn’t like that. And I think your one in yellow is contributing to the feedback loop.”

“Athena’s got a - competitive spirit, yeah.”

“I don’t suppose I’ll be lucky enough that this is the last I see of you,” Dr Crab says. “Sasha’s keen on giving all your crew lifetime tickets, if we don’t run our place into the ground figuring out the management side.”

“I learned to run a law office on the fly,” Phoenix says. “Not really the same, but best of luck to you. And thanks for all your help, Dr Crab. I appreciate you being mostly honest.”

Dr Crab snorts, casting one glance back at Sasha and Orla, and he leaves.

Hell of a fortuitous thing, the doctor’s name. Herman Crab, marine veterinarian, weirdly cool with sea witches and selkies and fae. Phoenix doesn’t think names as given determine a trajectory in life, but the fae pick them deliberately. Courtney comes to mind. Or humans who escape the Twilight Realm and aren’t sure how they’re supposed to call themselves other than after what they are or what they do. Eldoon’s father comes to mind. (He wonders how Thalassa got her name.)

But like hell he’d ever ask. Azura‘s story was something Sasha asked, something relevant to all their questions. Case closed. Phoenix isn’t going to cast around trying to find someone with a more fucked-up story than his own. No one wins in that kind of game.

“Hey, Boss!” Athena calls. “Come feed Orla with us!” She and Pearl and Sasha take turns grabbing a fish from a bucket and tossing it to the orca. Phoenix watches her snap her jaws, full of bright white sharp teeth she doesn’t need to use because she just swallows these little fish whole. Thinks of someone else with a mouth full of teeth, not taking the time to chew. Wants to say no thanks. He could tell his girls it’s time to leave and head back to the office.

“All right, fine,” he says, and Sasha springs up with a fish ready to drop in his hands. “What do I do?”

Trucy is very quiet after Prosecutor Edgeworth leaves them back at the office. Apollo asks her if she’s okay and when she says “yeah” she doesn’t even manage to infuse it with her usual mask of cheer, and her fingers twitch red when she says it, her hand flitting up toward her diamond brooch and stopping. It would be easy to call her on it and she knows it, but there’s an unspoken social contract that has slowly coalesced between them all to let little things slide. Athena going quiet and staring off into space or furiously dragging legal textbooks off the shelves and paging through them; Trucy staring at the portrait of her father above the piano or at Phoenix’s desk and the bottom drawer there; Phoenix poking his head into whatever room the rest of them are gathered in if there’s a sudden silence like he’s afraid something happened, or several moments Apollo watched him studying for the Bar where he’d put his head in his hands and dig his hands through his hair about to pull it out. Apollo doesn’t know what makes Athena tick but the others he knows too well, and they let each other have breathing room.

Close to an hour later - it’s past five but Apollo doesn’t want to leave until Trucy has some company - she comes back and hops up onto Phoenix’s desk. “This is the first time Daddy’s been a lawyer since he’s been my daddy,” she says. “It’s his first trial that I’ve ever seen.” She unclips her cape from around her shoulders and tosses it into what looks like empty air, but it falls draped solidly over a wisp. “I was there for his - his last one, but he wasn’t my daddy then, and I was only paying attention to my other daddy to make a diversion for him to escape if he needed it.”

Apollo nods, silently.

“You know something, now, Apollo? I’ve been here half my life now. I’ve been Trucy Wright just a bit longer than I was Trucy Enigmar, and I’m gonna be Trucy Wright for the rest of my life and it’s only gonna be longer and longer now. And I love Daddy and I don’t want to be anywhere else but it’s…”

“Still weird?” Apollo asks. She nods. “I get that.” When he was sixteen it would’ve been about half his life away from Khura’in, except he didn’t have another loving father to ease the sting. Trucy was luckier.

“Did you ever have somewhere you stayed enough to miss it?” she asks. And then hastily she adds, “Never mind, you don’t have to talk if you don’t wanna.” He must have shown panic on his face, panic or pain, but those don’t narrow the answer to her question down. Panic and pain are responses that fit either meaning, that he spent his whole life never setting roots down to have a home, or he’ll spend the rest of his life aching for somewhere long gone. “You’re welcome to stay here forever, you know! You’re like family now!”

It’s a weird sentiment, all considered, that Apollo knows all about the Gramaryes and absolutely does not want to be a part of that, and he also knows that Phoenix is a mess masquerading as a person, and - and yet. It’s not about Apollo, and what he thinks, so much as it is something for Trucy, figuring out how to build a new family out of the ashes her old one left. The Gramaryes brought Apollo to this law office in some roundabout way, like they sent Trucy to Phoenix. Like Apollo can sometimes manage to think that if Dhurke hadn’t sent him away, he wouldn’t have been there for Clay. Or Trucy. Or anyone else.

“Um, thanks,” he says, and she beams, and though it had already been slipping away, he pushes further aside, for some other far future time, the thought of finding another law office to work at. This one case is not enough to expect he’s being pushed aside. And it would break Trucy’s heart and he doesn’t have enough friends that he can afford to do that.

“Here, come look at this,” she says, waving him over conspiratorially, the moment passed. “Daddy left this picture out on his desk. He must’ve been thinking about old times, too.”

Apollo joins her at Phoenix’s desk. “What am I looking at?”

“Uncle Larry argues a lot with Daddy and Uncle Miles about whether they look any older than they did back then,” Trucy says, holding out to him a photograph that she brought in earlier. “You can be the impartial judge!”

The three of them still wear the same colors, whenever this photo was taken. Larry shoved off behind the other two - did Apollo know that Phoenix’s flighty artist friend knew Edgeworth? - wearing an orange suit jacket thrown over what might be a t-shirt. Edgeworth, smiling, and Phoenix, with a golden badge tiny on his lapel. At least eight years ago. Then there’s a taller man in a dark green overcoat off to the right, and to the left, in front of Phoenix and Larry, a girl with long black hair and big, dark eyes, wearing robes almost identical to Pearl’s. “Who’s this?” Apollo asks.

“That’s Detective Gumshoe,” Trucy says. “He’s one of Uncle Miles’ best friends. They’ve worked together since ever. And that’s Maya, one of Daddy’s friends.”

“Is she—?”

“Yeah.” It’s easy to know the question. “I didn’t know that for a while about her, though. He didn’t say. And she didn’t come around enough for me to notice. Not like Pearly visits us.”

“No?”

Trucy shakes her head. “I met her the day I came to live with him and maybe one or two other times and then - Uncle Miles says she used to be here at the office all the time, helping Daddy with his cases and stuff.”

A fae mentor and why not a fae co-counsel too. “Maybe she got bored after he was disbarred,” Apollo suggests. That sounds fickle enough to be fae rationale.

“Pearly said they had a huge fight about him being disbarred and stopped talking so much to each other. About how he was handling it or something. I don’t know. I think Pearly said that Maya wanted to help.”

“I don’t think I’d be brave enough to give one of the - the Fair Folk, the silent treatment,” Apollo says. But he’s not sure he could brace himself well enough for the repercussions of accepting their help either, and thinking about all of those leaves him to trip and land on a euphemism for their name instead. Only some days is he brave enough to call them what they are.

“I’m not sure I would either,” Trucy admits. “But Uncle Miles talks like he and Maya got along well enough and he liked her well enough and he never sounds like he’s afraid of her when he’s always very weird about magic stuff and all of Daddy’s… everything.”

Apollo looks back down at the picture, into the face of the fae girl, her smile that looks like a human smile. “Do you think she still looks this age?” he asks. “Do the fae age like people do?” Or is their development slow the way humans growing up in their realm are?

Trucy shrugs. “Pearly seems to age the same as me, but I don’t know if she does that because she has me as a model for how people grow up, or if she actually would like that.”

There in the photo, behind the fae girl, Phoenix isn’t quite as gaunt and hollow in the face, and next to him Edgeworth isn’t wearing glasses, but though Edgeworth is smiling they both look exhausted, like they haven’t slept well in days, like they’ve been ground down to ashes. “I don’t think they look that much older,” Apollo says, tapping the picture, bringing them back to Trucy’s original question. “I mean, they look really tired there, and that’s about the same.”

“Is that what being old means?” she asks, eyes downcast, twisting her fingers together. “Perpetual tiredness?”

“Oh yeah. Once you turn twenty it’s over. It’s just wanting to constantly go back to bed.” Trucy whimpers. “Enjoy the next four years because that’s all you’ve got.”

“Nooo.”

“Oi! Apollo!” He didn’t hear the door open but there’s Athena appearing in the doorway, hollering at him. “Are you being mean to Trucy?”

“She’s always being mean to me!”

Trucy exaggerates her pout even further, fishing for sympathy, but when Phoenix follows Athena in he bursts out laughing. “Mr Nick!” Pearl scolds, and Phoenix jumps, literally jumps, away from her, avoiding her smack on the arm and knocking Athena into her desk. “You can’t be so mean to your own daughter!”

Trucy breaks into a fit of giggles. “Hey, so, Trucy, Apollo,” Athena says, hoisting herself up on her desk and dropping down behind it out of the way of Phoenix and Apollo. “Guess who’s got free lifetime admission to the shipshape aquarium now, and for friends, too!”

“Ooh, I know who you should invite.” Trucy kicks Apollo in the shin. He knows exactly the answer she has in mind.

“Vera,” he says.

“Oh you know I bet that would be fun,” Trucy says. “That’s not what I was going to say, also.”

“I know you weren’t.” He can’t really leverage himself to kick her back, so he knocks his shoulder into hers. Phoenix is giving them a weird look - not like he’s mad that Apollo is beating up on Trucy in turn. There’s nothing angry at all. Just kind of fond and kind of sad, and when he notices Apollo’s puzzled expression, his face immediately snaps back to lazy-eyed and closed off, a look Apollo’s seen less and less of in the past few months, but it’s always still there, the poker face underneath everything.

“So the answer is you and Mr Wright,” Apollo says to Athena, “because you’re the ones who defended her, right?”

“Ugh, nein, non, no, no,” Athena says. “I wouldn’t be bragging about it if you weren’t included! Sasha says everyone at the agency, and Pearly too! And whatever friends you want to bring, because I also specifically asked that too!”

Trucy kicks Apollo again. Apollo shakes his head.

“We’ll all go together sometime!” Athena says brightly. “And I was thinking, y’know, Mr Wright, I’m really glad you let me come on board here. I love working with all of you!”

“I - uh, yeah, of course.” Phoenix definitely was not prepared for that. There’s another weird look on his face, hesitation, and again he smooths it away with a bit of deliberate effort. “Glad to have you.”

“Good not to be the new kid anymore,” Apollo says with a grin, and Athena sticks her tongue out at him. “And Trucy’s probably glad to have two new kids to heckle.”

Trucy kicks him again.

“Really, anyone? Just - whenever I want to come back, I can bring anyone with me?”

“Of course! I don’t know when the Swashbuckler Spectacular will come back, with my health, or anything like that, but you all will be the first ones to know! And your whole office is welcome and anyone you want to bring along, I’ll hold the front row just for you! Because any friend of yours is a friend of mine, Athena.”

“I - yeah, of course. But - thanks. When this is all sorted out, for you guys here and me with - and everything, there’s someone who I always wanted to visit with and never got a chance.”

“Then c’mon! I’ll look forward to meeting them.”

“Y-yeah, heh, I - yeah.”

#roddy fanfics #fic: the witches of los angeles

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atlas-of-a-human-soul · 5 years ago

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Αιώνια αγάπη (DT AU), pt. 15

15/Finale: I choose you

A/N - Instead of a summary, I just wanted to thank everyone for bearing with me on this series and for all the support. I hope I did the story justice and gave you all something to look forward to in the past, to take your mind off real life even if it just for a few minutes.

Also, special thanks to @godlydolans for being Yashi in the story. Love you girl!

Word count: 3.2k

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Αιώνια αγάπη (DT Modern Greek god/frat! AU) MASTERLIST

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Apollo and Hermes spent most of the next month half out of their mind and half pretending to be fine while they spent time with the kids. One would stay with her, the other reassuring two very confused four year olds who were convinced mommy turned into a sleeping beauty or Snow White and someone needed to kiss her in order to have her back. No one could tell them otherwise. And gods and goddesses have tried. All of them did.

"They're as stubborn as their fathers." Hera smiled softly, unable to contain the light inside her heart the kids have brought back to the surface after so many centuries of complete darkness.

"Is this where you tell us this is karmic justice?" Hermes groans, rubbing his forehead as if he's trying to keep a headache at bay. He's been human so long that he forgot headaches aren't just human traits - gods have them too, he just didn't realize they came after hours of chasing two very wicked little cuties, both of them his blood in various degrees.

"She always wished us to have kids that were like us." Apollo agreed, resting his head on the bed beside Y/N, clutching her cold hand in his for some sort of comfort. It's the only way to remind himself she's still there - her heart barely beating, but the change taking over with every passing hour. He knows she's almost ready to open her eyes, completely made new - still his beautiful Y/N, just a little less fragile.

"No. But I can't say I'm not enjoying this." Hera chuckled, giving Hermes a quick pat on the back before retreating to her room, overjoyed with the fact her grandchildren are sound asleep right when it's her turn to watch them.

"I miss her." Hermes whispers, taking her free hand in his much larger one, or so he felt like it is. Lying there on the bed, Hermes forgot how small she really is for her attitude and strength always gave him an impression of a much larger, robust human being that could force anyone on their knees begging for forgiveness over something they most likely haven't even done.

"Yeah, but look. She's already more like us than mortal. She'll be with us in hours. I can feel it." Apollo kissed the back of her hand tenderly, smiling against the skin fondly.

Standing up, he sighed deeply, hating himself for having to leave her behind but ever since Poseidon's been killed, he had to return to his kingdom and take care of business. He could find time to see her and the kids every day, spend hours upon hours, but at the end of the day he had to return to his new home and face his responsibilities. He's wearing thin, but so is Hermes. After all, he has a kingdom of his own to take care of - one as complex and as torturous as death itself.

Hermes stood up as well, just as torn about leaving his love alone, but he had a job to do and his job was never-ending. After all, people die all the time and while his old job has been taken care of for now, long enough for his son to take over once he's grown, he had to take his crown and rule as Hades and he had to make amends - starting with Hecate and Yashi, two women he did wrong more than anyone else.

"Back to Atlantis, brother?" Hermes smirked, having trouble hiding the giddiness over knowing not only does Apollo have to leave and he won't be the first one she sees in case Y/N opens her eyes, but also because he was genuinely happy his brother got a throne of his own. As a man who loved adventure and sea, nature in every form, he knew Apollo would do his new job well, even the old one - until little Valerie could take over.

"You going down too?" Apollo raised an eyebrow, kissing Y/N's forehead before starting his walk back to the door, side by side with his brother. He had already claimed his trident, picking it up just before walking out.

"See you in the morning, little bro." Hermes winked, his form clouded by a gust of black smoke just as Apollo is swallowed in a water portal, each of them gone from Mount Olympus, missing a crucial moment.

The very moment she's been left alone, Y/N's eyes opened, sitting up with a strangled gasp, looking around in panic. She placed a hand on her chest, not that she needed to touch her chest to feel her heart because it pounded too strongly, too loudly for her to miss.

"I'm alive." She whispered under her breath in disbelief, pushing her legs to one side of the bed, the one closer to a mirror placed in far left corner of the room. Struggling with the dress someone had seemed fit to put on her, she grabbed fistfuls of it as she rushed toward the mirror, stepping once her image showed in the reflection.

Her hair is long, longer than it was back when she met the boys and definitely not the mom cut she did after the kids took up all her free time that she had zero time for herself and the long hair she knew Ethan and Grayson loved on her. The curls formed down the thick mane her hair had become, drawing a smile up on her lips. But then she noticed the elaborate braid crown on her head too. She places her hands on her face, admiring the way her skin is soft like silk, void of any imperfections that brought her insecurities to a torturous level. Her eyes seem bigger, brighter, no longer surrounded by dark circles, rather framed by long and voluminous lashes she envied men for because they never knew how to appreciate their god given beautiful eyelashes. And then her fingers grazed her lips, slightly more plump, pink and gentle, definitely improved in comparison to her previous small lips. Her body is curved, yet still short in stature, but she didn't care as she admired the incredibly beautiful dress that clung to her body - like melting gold on earth and a perfect fit on all her curves. Twirling, she caught the ends of her hair spark purple under the light, a little reminder she belonged to Hecate's bloodline.

Running her hands down her dress and to her waist, Y/N straightened up and lifted her chin, smiling to herself for she finally made the ultimate sacrifice to be with the ones she loves. It would be a sure way to not only spend an eternity with her two gods, but have her children grow up in safe environments, nothing they could need for she could provide them with everything. She wondered what her power is, hoping she doesn't find out by accidentally making a mess.

The Underworld

Hermes paced back and forth, trying to find the proper words as Hecate and Yashi stared at him with unyielding glares sent his way. Neither of them understood why would the new king summon them, especially with the way they left things in life, and in death.

"I've done you both wrong." He stops, turning toward them, his hands set behind his back as they looked toward one another in shock and confusion. To hear Hermes even wanted them around was a surprise, let alone hear him confess to something for that part seemed almost impossible.

"Wait. Is this some new form of torture?" Hecate interrupted, looking around wildly like something would jump out at her any moment now.

"What? No!" Hermes shook his head, stepping down from his throne in order to make himself seem more remorseful and approachable. To be perfectly honest, he did feel bad. After going over their history, he's learned exactly how badly he messed up.

After taking Yashi's virginity and her heart, she had lost the one thing that mattered back in the day. At that time, men valued a hymen more than beauty in a woman, reducing her chance of love and moving on almost to nothing. She chased him off, true, but had she let him stay he would have returned to Mount Olympus and she would have stayed a disgraced woman, alone, possibly with child and at that time it was just as bad as a death sentence. He learned she pushed him away in order to take up an offer of arranged marriage her father set up for her. A man, one much older than her who didn't care much about her not being a virgin, had requested her hand in marriage and he was willing to pay a lot of gold for her. She didn't see a way out but to accept his offer and secure her family's standing in society. Not only did she lose her maidenhood, but she also did it with a man who wasn't of her religion nor did he have money to redeem that fact - basically, no one in her family would have approved of Hermes. But this man...he was kind to her and he protected her. She loved him, but she was never in love with him. Hermes knew he robbed her of the chance to have a true love in her life and she never forgave him for having to live without it.

Hecate on the other hand married another. By force, not a choice. She married Helios, the former god of Sun and all Apollo had attained once he was of age. He was a bitter god, banished to Tartarus and his hate for Apollo is spoken of in every story ever told of him. He was anything but kind to Hecate, the former wife of his worst enemy's brother. He abused and used Hecate as he pleased over the centuries, having a single child together. She, a woman who despised cheating, turned to mortal men for love and affection, having many more kids over the centuries that allowed her bloodline on Earth to continue. But he understood why she hated him. Not only did he cheat on her even though she loved him, which he couldn't even fathom at the time. But his banishment caused her to suffer even more ever since and he didn't blame her anymore. He just wanted to find a way to help her.

"I've done terrible things, caused horrid things to happen to you and all because I was selfish and crude. I want to change this." Hermes took in a deep breath, turning to Yashi first.

"If you'd like, I can have your soul reincarnated on Earth. Give you a chance of a proper life, a great love and with no meddling from me." He offered, seeing Yashi's eyes widen with the thought of having all she longed for.

"It's the only way I can think of to repay you for all the pain I've inflicted." Honesty was never his strong side for Hermes liked to manipulate, but Yashi could tell he's being truthful. One nod on her behalf, a single clap of his hands and Yashi was gone, sent back and reborn as someone he knew would have a much better life than the one she was dealt before.

"What can you possibly give me to fix everything you've done? Cause there isn't anything you can do to undo centuries of hurt, Hermes." Hecate's spiteful tone isn't lost on him, but he knew he could help make her afterlife somewhat better.

"How about I end your marriage with Helios by sending his soul to Chaos and you can finally be free of him? I'll reunite you with your children and send Persephone to live with you on the Isle of the Blest while she's here too?" He offered, raising both eyebrows once he noticed her usual frown is erased, exchanged by absolute shock. She didn't even know he noticed how close she and Persephone were, nor how badly she longed for her children to be with her for she didn't raise any of them. After so many men screwing her over, she was ready to be far from them and just enjoy the afterlife.

"I...That...would be nice. I'd like that very much."

Atlantis

"I'm sorry, your majesty, but there has to be an earthquake on daily bases. It's a rule Mother Nature set in place a long time ago. It's to keep the humans fearful of the gods, loyal to us."

Apollo turned around swiftly, his usually calm and beautiful face now twisted in rampant rage, uncensored as he feels his mouth foam unrestrained.

"I know! But I said a minor earthquake in the middle of the Pacific! Not right on the shore of one of the greatest cities!" His thunderous voice echoed the castle, spreading throughout Atlantis. Returning to his kingdom only to find his people have decided to set a natural disaster to happen without his approval had set him off and he had already sentenced more than a dozen to do some time in the Underworld. His brother would surely find a proper way to punish them for taking lives that weren't on the list quite yet.

"There is a list of mortals who are meant to die and none of them were on there! You've put a ripple in the timeline and destroyed the butterfly effect. We have to contact Chronos to rewind time just to erase your idiotic mistake."

And he did. Apollo had managed to strike a deal with Chronos to rewind time, saving a lot of lives. He knew he'd have to take lives in his rule, some would be evil and some innocent, but it's the heaviness of his job. He's no longer just Apollo, he's the new Poseidon and he has to preserve the butterfly effect and the veil of this reality humans call life. Without it, they'd all perish. And as hard as it is, he felt comfort knowing he won't be alone in the task. He'll have a good woman to keep him company, his brothers and sisters to keep him sane and his children to keep his heart light.

Mount Olympus

On cue, a dark cloud of mist appeared at the same time as a portal made solely of water, allowing the brothers to return to their home and see their love. They expected to find her in bed, nearly screaming at the top of their lungs once they found it empty, a smooth, kind voice coming up from behind them.

"Missed me?"

They turned around instantly, taking in the way immortality had sculptured their beloved just a little differently, giving her the poise and grace every goddess possessed, but keeping the merciful look behind her sweet doe eyes.

"More than anything." They said at the same time, rushing toward her, pulling her into a soul-crushing hug, each of them pulling her closer to them, but they couldn't really hurt her anymore. Not now, not like before. She could return the hug wholeheartedly and they could truly feel her press into them, let her lilac scent rush their senses and render them slaves to her will.

Parting, she smiled up at them, still unable to get used to her enhanced vision, seeing every little line of perfection and imperfection on their bodies, appreciating their beauty even more.

"I still can't believe you drank it!" Hermes exclaimed, claiming her left hand as his.

"I was sure you'd take the kids and go back." Apollo agreed, deciding the right hand is his as he intertwined their finger.

"Why? After all, I choose you. Every time. No matter what happens, I choose you. The kids will always come first now, but if once choice gives me all four of you, why would I let it pass?" She cocked her head to the side, her lips twitching into a small smile as they both caressed her with their eyes alone.

"So, you, uh...chose us both then?" Hermes wets his lips, wondering just how difficult this will be, knowing she can't fight her heart anymore.

It's humans who have decided monogamy is the right thing. It's the humans who claim that love should be restrained and placed in one person. But love doesn't work like that. You can't choose who you love nor is there a scale that will decide who you love more. The heart can only feel, love, it knows no rules of social conduct nor does it care. And her heart, pure as it is, has fallen for both of them.

Neither of them could ask her to break it in half and dispose of the part that held one of them inside. They couldn't handle losing any piece of her, not after they thought they had lost her entirely.

"I know it's wrong." She closed her eyes, willing to defend her choice, but Apollo placed his index finger against her lips, stopping her effectively.

"It's not. Not here. Not when we both have children with you. It will be hard for us to learn to share the time we spend with you, but ultimately, we don't care. We all have a kingdom to take care of now, each of us busy at one time or another, taking care of the world's fate or our children. We'll take turns, giving the other to spend time with you." Apollo reassured her, kissing her cheek.

"So, that means", she starts, Hermes interrupting her.

"That we choose you too." He smirks when she frowns, pursing her lips. Without a warning, she huffed, her hands emitting a light blue flicker that instantly dropped both brothers to their knees at her side considering they both held onto one of her hands - like a jolt of electricity that forced its way through their bodies.

"I don't like being interrupted." Y/N corrected Hermes' behavior, smirking at the way both their eyes widened and their mouths opened.

"Holy hell, I'll follow you to the end of the world woman!" Hermes blurted out, mesmerized by her for she's finally in her full form and glory.

For the longest time, he was sure this story wouldn't have a happy ending or it wouldn't end happy for him to the very least. He had believed he was past saving, unlovable, too hateful to ever have someone like Y/N love him.

Apollo had a similar thought. He was certain he'd never know love for he never loved anyone as much as his family and himself. He was selfish and self-righteous, someone who would end up alone for all the sins he had committed. Who knew he'd find a woman to not only love him, but bear him children?

"Is it weird that I liked this?" Apollo chuckles, not nearly enough vigil after the shock to notice Valerie as she jumps at him, tackling him to the ground with a high pitched "DADDY" leaving her mouth. Henry didn't hesitate to do the same to Hermes, rendering him powerless on the marble floor, stealing glances at Y/N who had the widest, sweetest, most happiest smile on her face while she watched all the pieces of her heart before her.

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Tags: @mutuallynotmutual @lanadeldolans @xalayx @accalialionheart @gia-kerks @historyheart @heyits-claire @daddygraysonsbitch @fallinginlove-16 @lanadeldolans @beautifulfound @thearachna-kid @dinnerwiththedolans @graydolan12 @justanotherfangurl272 @dxlansfxck @godlydolans @flowery-dolan @dominatedolans @buckysjuicyplums @ethanhes @dolandolll @dolanstwintuesday @peacedolantwins

#ethan dolan #grayson dolan #dolan twins #dolan twins greek god au #apollo #hermes #ethan dolan x reader #grayson dolan x reader #ethan dolan au #grayson dolan au #greek god #Greek Mythology #GREEK GOD AU #greek gods

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