estoria | Where are we? What the hell is going on? [closed]

Entry tags:

Where are we? What the hell is going on? [closed]

Who:

chiefdefense
When: IC 07.08/OOC 01.10 Backdated
Where: A cafe in the shopping district
What: Someone's got a lot of e'splainin' to do...
Rating/Warning: None!

[Mia has had a few days to sit on and mull over the information Athena so helpfully provided for her just after she arrived, and after waiting to see if Phoenix would bring it up himself, she's decided that it's high time to get the bit between her teeth and try to get to the bottom of things herself.

So, after a quick phone call to Phoenix and arranging a meeting time and place, Mia finds herself sitting at a table having ordered a pot of coffee for two and some biscotti with a badly folded copy of The Cerealia Times stuffed into her purse. Instead, she's flicking through a glossy teen magazine, doing some research on what the kids are into these days.

Don't blame her. Suddenly finding oneself alive and surrounded by teenage girls puts a lot of pressure on a woman approaching 30 who's been out of the loop for three years.

She takes a sip of her coffee- white with one sugar- and glances up each time the bell on the door jangles to check to see if it's Phoenix.]

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[Eventually, the jangling is indeed Phoenix. He's in his normal wardrobe - normal for his time period at least - and he wears a bright smile as he enters. Honestly, it feels so good to see Mia again.

But it's nerve-wracking, too. Something in him is worrying about how this conversation could go. It's been so long since I talked to her. Not since that incident... So much has changed since then. Will she be able to accept what I've become and what I've done?

Still, he looks cheery for the most part, and he waves to her as he approaches her table.]

Good afternoon, Chief! [Now that she's alive, he'll be perpetually unsure of what he should refer to her as.]

[The jangling is almost as cheerful as her former protege, which Mia's very pleased to see. She waves as he approaches, offering him a smile in return and gesturing for him to take a seat across from her.]

Hi Phoenix, how's it going? I figured this would be better way to catch up than squashing you like last time.

Coffee?

[Now he looks a little nervous, recalling that incident, and he scratches at his head.]

R-right! I'm glad. I know that it must not have made for the breast first impression...

[His face goes pale for a moment and he waves his hand in denial.]

Best! Best impression! But, um, things have been going well. And... Right, I think I could really go for a coffee right now.

[He sinks into the empty seat in defeat.]

[Mia's already picking up the coffee pot to pour him a cup when he makes his fumble. Her hand stills for a second, her face completely impassive as she continues to pour his drink.

Then she smirks as she hands it over to him.]

Don't be such a boob, Phoenix.

[Mia, please let me live this down...

He sheepishly accepts the mug and nurses it for a moment while he glances at her. He does feel bad and awkward about it, but at least she doesn't seem to be angry.]

Right. Sorry, why don't we just... forget the whole thing...?

...How have you been, Mia? Seting in alright...?

[She laughs at your suffering Phoenix, that's the kind of friend she is. But she laughs with love.]

You missed a golden opportunity to ask me to 'forget about tit' but alright. Let's draw a line through it.

[She takes a sip from her coffee and rests her cup on the table top.]

I'm adjusting, I guess. Being alive again's a novelty that I wasn't expecting I'd have to deal with, but it's giving me a chance to catch up on things.

A lot of things.

[There's a meaningful pause.]

Dad.

[With friends like these....

Phoenix made the mistake of starting to drink his coffee while Mia was speaking. The whole 'golden opportunity' bit is followed by Phoenix turning red and sputtering to prevent a spit-take.]

[But then he calms down and scratches at his neck as he processes Mia's comment.]

I'm glad that you're adjusting. [It can't be easy. But it must be great to be alive again, too.]

'Dad'? Oh... So, you heard about Trucy, huh?

I did. I was a bit confused at first, I wondered how you'd managed to keep a little girl secret from me for all these years, but then I found out she was adopted and that cleared it up. Geez, you really do have a thing for collecting waifs and strays, don't you?

[Can't you tell she's proud of you, Phoenix?]

And Athena seems like a sweet kid too.

[Even with all the teasing, he can tell. He smiles proudly, but he's nervous. He doesn't want to risk losing her pride.

There's so much she doesn't know about... Those are just the good parts.]

I guess that I somehow wound up with that habit. Who knows? Maybe I picked it up from someone who would even give a chance to a lovesick young fool in a pink sweater.

I'm proud of Athena, too, of course. She's come a long way and accomplished a lot so quickly.

But.... [His expression gets more serious.] That's all just part of the story. There's a lot more to it.

A lot more like you being disbarred for presenting fabricated evidence you mean?

[She sits back in her seat and looks at him thoughtfully. Not judgmentally, just thoughtfully.]

And it taking you seven years to get your badge back?

Ack! Um... Yes, stuff like that.

[He bows his head, looking lightly ashamed.]

It's... it's been a long time, Mia.

I guess it has for been for you. Less so for me, I just saw you after the whole Hazakura thing.

[She watches him shrink under her gaze and then sighs, reaching across the table to put a hand on his arm.]

I get the impression that there's a lot more to this than the facts I've got. Why don't you start from the beginning and fill me in from there?

[With that soft touch, he glances at her with a small smile, weak but warm.]

It started just a few months after that, Chief. It had seemed like just another case. Just another day in the life. But... It all blew up in my face.

The case involved the mysterious death of a magician, and two magicians were the primary suspects. One of them became my client... Zak Gramayre, Trucy's true father. You might have heard of the Gramayre Troupe. [He shakes his head softly, looking into his coffee and stirring it as he recollects.]

He was an odd man from the beginning - he picked me just because I was able to beat him at a game of poker. And he wasn't helpful at all in providing details. I tried my best, and I thought I had a chance. I was up against a hotshot new prosecutor... I thought that I would defeat him just like I had done to all the other young stallions of the prosecutor's office. But... The case still took a turn for the worse. And in the end, I thought that I had no choice but to present a certain piece of evidence. Trucy had given it to me before the case began, but she did not know who she got it from.

Neither of us thought much of it at the time. But once I had presented it... That's when I was the one who was targeted. Because... It was falsified evidence.

[The Gramayre Troupe isn't a name that's immediately familiar, but considering it's a case regarding magicians, Mia shouldn't be surprised that this one had turned out to be... tricky. Even so, listening to the tale of this strange encounter with a magician who had picked Phoenix to represent him purely because of his poker skills sounds particularly suspect.

She keeps her own poker face in situ as she listens to the whole affair, finally raising her eyebrows slightly as Phoenix explains how he had come to be in receipt of the falsified evidence. There's a lecture she could give her, about how he needed to scrutinise everything and hadn't she taught him better than that? but looking at him recounting it all with such reticence leads her to hold her tongue. Of course he knows it now, there's no need to make him feel worse about it.

But there's something in what he says: I was the one who was targeted.]

So. You were set up? It was a honeytrap?

Yes, it was a... [He blinks and raises an eyebrow.]

Wait, a what-trap?! There wasn't anything sweet about it... but it was a trap alright.

It was all the work of a different defense attorney. Kristoph Gavin. All because he was jealous that Zak Gramayre had passed him over when he lost at a game of poker...

But it would be a while until I found that out. The trap had worked, and he had even gotten the forger to point me out as the person who requested the forging.

I...

[He can't look her in the eyes now. Instead, he looks into the bitter depths of his coffee.]

...I'm sorry, Mia. I couldn't turn the tables for once, and... I lost my badge...

[Set up by a jealous rival defense attorney. Mia has to make a concentrated effort not to snap and lose her temper over what he's just told her. It doesn't quite work as her coffee cup rattles when she puts it down to ball her fists on the table.]

I can't believe it.

[She speaks through gritted teeth and shakes her head.]

I can't believe that anyone could be so petty as to destroy another attorney's career just because they lost a client to them! And to use a little girl too-

[The depths of her disbelief are hard to fathom as she begins to build up steam in her reaction.]

And how could you be disbarred just like that? No one thought to launch an enquiry, or stood up for you? Where the hell was Edgeworth to fight your corner? What about Gumshoe or even Di-

[She cuts herself off. Of course Diego Armando wouldn't have been able to vouch for her protege, no matter how his opinion of him might have improved of him.]

How could they just throw you out with the trash like that, without even trying to look closer?

[He shakes his head forlornly.]

I don't know. Everyone did what they could to help, but... there was like a shifting in the law. A dark undercurrent that was taking power. Everyone started to call it the 'dark age of the law'.

[He sighs and glances up towards her. He knows it must be hard to believe, but that's all he's left with now. Admitting his false sins and how long it took to redeem himself in front of his mentor.]

I still did what I could to help from behind the scenes. Sometimes, Edgeworth had jobs for me overseas. And I learned a lot from observing the legal systems there as I did so... I tried to stay close to the courtrooms, even if I couldn't enter them directly.

[His hand then hovers over the locket attached to his suit.]

Even with all of that, I was able to keep myself busy with... with a new responsibility, too.

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