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relicsongmel · 1 month

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The dubious nature of Iris' name (and what it means)

Sister Iris Fey Hawthorne of Hazakura Temple finds herself in a rather peculiar situation for the Ace Attorney franchise in the fact that she is one of very few characters without a canonical last name. Of course, this hasn't stopped fans from assigning her one—for the purposes of tagging and categorization (or simply to distinguish her from Iris Wilson from The Great Ace Attorney series, because "Iris Ace Attorney" is no longer specific enough), every Ace Attorney fan seems to have a different answer as to what they call her, whether it be Iris Hawthorne, Iris Fey, Iris of Hazakura Temple, or simply Sister Iris. This confusion is understandable given the lack of a clear answer in canon as to what her legal last name is as well as her unusual upbringing; what with being raised in Kurain Village as a Fey, taken away by her father as a Hawthorne, and then sent to Hazakura Temple to become a nun. However, before we delve further into Iris herself, there's something a bit unusual (that I don't often see acknowledged within the fandom) that I'd like to bring up—that being, that this name drama not only affects Iris, but her twin sister Dahlia as well.

Simply put, Dahlia Hawthorne being named Dahlia Hawthorne doesn't make much sense when you think about it. Dahlia was born to Morgan Fey, the then-leader of the matriarchal line of spirit mediums of the Kurain Channeling Tradition. As such, it's safe to assume that she and her twin sister were also given this name upon their birth—so why, then, does she have her father's (or possibly her stepmother's—it's unclear) last name when we meet her in-game? Children generally do not have their last names changed when their parent remarries, so what's the deal? This strange situation makes slightly more sense when you remember that much of Trials and Tribulations builds up to the reveal that Dahlia and Iris are Morgan Fey's daughters; as such, Dahlia appearing in Chapter 1 and introducing herself as "Dahlia Fey" would be a MASSIVE spoiler for the events to come.

As for an in-universe explanation, we obviously aren't given one, but we are given a bit of insight from Dahlia (while disguised as Iris) regarding their father's perspective on leaving Kurain Village:

"He hated the place. He said it was a hick dive, and that he had no reason to stay there."

I think it's not an unreasonable stretch to say that their father wanted nothing more to do with the Fey clan after its reputation had been destroyed post-DL-6, and likely went to great efforts to separate himself (and his daughters) from anything that reminded him of it. With this in mind, who's to say he didn't have the twins' name changed? Now, obviously whether this affected Iris herself is still up for debate—it's possible she had already been sent away to Hazakura before this had all happened. But given that Dahlia implies Iris had only been sent away after their father's second marriage, I find it more likely that her name was changed beforehand. That said, it's still just a headcanon based on my personal preferences—I like the idea of Iris having the last name "Hawthorne" because I think the association with the Hawthorne effect (in which one modifies their behavior in response to being watched) fits her really well, but I don't disagree with those who choose to use other names for her because there are good arguments to be made there as well.

However. However. The intrigue behind Iris' name doesn't even end there. We hear from Sister Bikini very early in Bridge to the Turnabout that it's Hazakura Temple tradition for nuns to choose a "temple" name—meaning that even Iris' given name might not be her real one. I hesitate a bit on this idea considering her name already pairs up nicely with Dahlia’s due to the shared flower theming (and Iris having a lack of respect for acolyte tradition in that regard would give her an interesting resemblance to her mother which I REALLY like), but if it is true it creates another fascinating bit of symbolism—Iris’ first name is a lie. A facade. Which fits in with her lying about her identity to Phoenix for 8 months and her general tendency to put up a front of whoever the person she's talking to wants her to be—whether that be Dahlia's obedient co-conspirator, Bikini's sweet and good-natured daughter figure, or Godot's accomplice and the scapegoat he can use to protect Maya. And neither of the common last names given to her by fandom accurately reflect/show the full picture of who she is either. Fey is what she was born as—but that name comes with a whole host of burdens and generational trauma that she likely does her best to distance herself from considering her tendency to run away from conflict like she did with the fake kidnapping and the aftermath of Doug Swallow's murder (she’s a lot like her aunt in that regard). Hawthorne ties her to the sister she so dearly loves—but also weighs her down due to her sister’s crimes, her role in said crimes, and the family she was sent away from against her will (even if it ended up being better for her) before it tragically fell apart. Neither one truly fits—the Iris name debacle is a perfect representation of the identity crisis of her character and that is nothing short of beautiful to me.

#ace attorney #aa #pwaa #ace attorney trials and tribulations #aa3 spoilers #iris hawthorne #iris fey #iris of hazakura temple #dahlia hawthorne #morgan fey #sister bikini #phoenix wright #godot #meta #my meta #finally posting some of my iris meta here woohoo!!!!#if anyone has additional thoughts feel free to add #iris lovers PLEASE interact she is everything to me #local woman going feral over sister iris ace attorney for the 261478th time. more at 11

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kitwasheree · 3 months

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And Then They Were Roommates

【Summary】 : Iris, a tired college student just trying to get by his mundane, day to day life, has been having a frequent visitor. Who has been breaking into his dorm room frequently. To ransack his fridge. No one none other than Lilia Vanrouge, and Iris figures that if he's here this often, under his roof and eating his food... He might as well make him his roommate.

【Warnings】 : Mentions of alcohol, drinking.

【Word Count】 : 2.5k

【Notes】 : i know this is an art blog, but i wanted to write something for valentine's, and i didn't really want to draw a comic. forgive me if lilia comes off as ooc, i've never written something like this before, nor have i written lilia before. ty to my friends for beta'ing ily guys ♡

Part 1 | Part 2 (on the next blue moon probably)

【Tags】 : @1dont-really-know @fumoandinsanity @thehollowwriter @boopshoops @distant-velleity

Iris groaned as he heard a racket coming from his kitchen in his dorm room, eyes fluttering open in the middle of the night. He got up from his bed groggily and sighed, as if this wasn't the first time this had happened.

" It's two in the fucking morning.... " He grumbled, as he forced himself to get up.

Iris exited his room and walked into his kitchen, clicking on the light. There, at his fridge, stood Lilia Vanrouge, who had broken into his dorm room again somehow, and was currently rummaging through his fridge in the dead of night. Again. Lilia froze as the lights clicked on and his eyes narrowed to adjust to the light, before he turned to look at Iris with a sheepish grin.

Iris sighed as he pinched his forehead. He's too tired for this, he thought. This had happened before. Lilia had been breaking into his dorm room even though Iris keeps the door locked, and even then, he had checked the locks and all of them were intact, with no signs of lockpicking whatsoever, so Iris simply cannot fathom how Lilia kept getting in.

Iris gave Lilia a long, deadpan look, long purple hair dishevelled and eyebags present, having been rudely awoken in the middle of night due to a certain pink-haired someone. You’d think that after a stranger broke in, one would be shocked or panicked, but instead all Iris had was an unimpressed expression on his face. This was the third time this had happened this week. The worst part (to Iris at least) was that the red-eyed night gremlin didn’t even have any ill intent. The most he had done was mildly inconvenience him. Which also annoyed Iris. Seriously, this guy was like some sort of bat… Some… Vampire that comes into his dorm room in the dead of night, to what? Mess up his kitchen and look through his fridge?

" ...Vanrouge. Again. How did you get in? I swear, it's two in the morning...! '' Iris scowled, half-awake as he glared at the mischievous other.

“ Ah, Iris. Apologies, dear. “

Lilia said nonchalantly as he continued to rummage through Iris’s fridge, jars and bottles clinking, Iris's meticulous organisation of his fridge quickly being destroyed by one mischievous man. Iris watched with dismay as all of his condiments and ingredients got mixed up with each other.

“ I simply stopped by for a midnight snack as I felt quite peckish. I’ll be out of your hair in a jiffy, don’t worry, “ Lilia hummed as he glanced over to Iris for a moment, before turning his attention back to the fridge.

“ Oh my, tomato juice. Don’t mind if I do,“ Lilia grinned as he took a chug straight out of the carton. Iris cringed at this. There goes his hygiene.

“ …A midnight snack. At my dorm. Out of all the other people you could have chosen. And you keep coming back, too. “

Iris commented in a monotone voice, sighing as he leaned against the doorframe of the kitchen.

“ Indeed. You always have the most delicious food after all, I may have developed a taste for it. Is that a slice of cake? Oh! And a bottle of wine! Could I have a sip of that? “ Lilia chirped as he noticed the wine cabinet.

Iris glared at him even harder.

“ Do not touch my wine, “

“ How the hell did you even manage to get in!? The door is locked, and you clearly didn’t lockpick it, nor should you have a copy of my key. “ Iris asked with exasperation as he walked over and snatched the bottle of wine out of his cabinet.

He decided, fuck it, he’s already awake and too tired to deal with this, so he’ll just have a drink to ease his headache. Whether the headache was from the lack of sleep or the presence of Lilia, he didn’t know, nor did he care. Iris was rather glad that tomorrow was the weekend, that way he wouldn’t have to deal with getting to class while running on four hours of sleep. He took a swig straight from the bottle of high quality and imported wine, as per his picky tastes. He’d always been rather finicky about his wine, never settling for anything less than the best.

Logically, Iris knew that he should be calling the police by now to report Lilia for breaking and entering, but he considered firstly, he was too tired to deal with this, and secondly, nothing was broken. He also thought that it would be too much of a hassle, so he decided that if nothing was broken even though someone was entering, it did not count as breaking and entering, and therefore he wouldn’t need to go through the trouble.

Lilia snickered as he examined the slice of cake in the fridge with interest.

“ I do believe I’ve already told you how I got in, Iris. I just so happen to have a copy of your room key,“ He smiled as he continued to rummage through the fridge, to which Iris frowned.

“ …How did you even get that? And why do you decide to come into my dorm room out of everyone else’s? Vanrouge, I swear…! “

Iris paced around the kitchen, too dumbfounded with Lilia’s antics to genuinely be mad anymore. He supposed he was used to it at this point. Was that a good thing or a bad thing? He didn’t know, and quite frankly was too tired to think about it. It would be a problem for future Iris to think about, he supposed. He leaned against the kitchen counter next to Lilia, taking another sip of wine. Lilia seemed to have gotten his hands on a bag of potato chips — wait, he had potato chips? Iris didn’t even know where Lilia had found that. The menace crunched on the chips with a cheeky grin as he spoke.

“ Iris, dear, I break into your dorm simply because you are an interesting guy that I have yet to understand. And you also happen to have a wonderfully stocked fridge. Khee hee hee, don’t you feel rather special that I chose you? “

“ And yes, I know it’s illegal, but have a little heart, dear. It’s not as if I’ve ever stolen anything from you! “

Lilia said, as he feasted on Iris’s stolen potato chips and helped himself to Iris’s kitchen like it was a five-star buffet. Lilia seemed to not be bothered, though.

“ You are, quite literally, stealing from me right now, Vanrouge. “

“ And for the love of god, do not get crumbs all over my floor! Do you have no manners? You are lucky that I’ve gotten past trying to incapacitate you for the first two weeks that you started to break in. Otherwise I would have hit you with a baseball bat or frying pan. Again. “ Iris sighed, narrowing his eyes.

“ Ah! You are right, where are my manners? My apologies, Iris. I assure you I’ll clean up after myself. I’ll finish these chips and be out of your hair, “ Lilia gasped. He chuckled amusedly as he continued to snack, seemingly unfazed.

“ I suppose I will ignore you leeching off my groceries and instead, go back to bed, in order to forget you were even here, “ Iris retorted dryly.

“ By the way, do you have a spare toothbrush by chance? I happened to lose mine due to a little… Incident, at my house, ” Lilia admitted sheepishly as he turned to Iris. Now was the time to use his boyish charm, of course. If he just made his eyes a little bigger, maybe tremble his lip to look as pitiful and cute as possible… Truly, it worked every time, so surely his adorable face would convince Iris.

“ …What incident? Nevermind, I don’t want to know. With the way you’ve been consistently breaking into my dorm room, I simply assumed you were homeless, “ Iris said in a sarcastic tone as he rolled his eyes lightly. He took another sip of wine so that he wouldn’t be sober enough to deal with Lilia Vanrouge eventually. ‘Eventually’ would unfortunately be for a while, though. Curse his high tolerance for alcohol.

“ Why yes, my house is located in the middle of the woods. It’s quite the trek to campus, so technically, you are right to assume that I’ve been homeless here and then! I figured it’s more convenient if I simply stop by for a snack or two, and it just so happens that you have a dorm here, “

Lilia then noticed something in the trash bin. He fished out a half-finished bottle of wine, holding it up to examine it.

“ Oh my, what is this doing in the trash? “

“ Your house is what? “ Iris blinked incredulously, before giving up. He was so bewildered he could almost laugh. Almost. Maybe Lilia isn’t that much of a nuisance. It was never boring whenever Lilia showed up, an almost nice change from his mundane life, he supposed. One thing he had learnt was to not question the things Lilia would say, and to just accept it. He frowned in disgust when Lilia took out the bottle from the trash.

“ Eurgh. Why are you rummaging through my trash now? Do not drink that. It’s trash wine. “

Iris looked at the half-finished wine bottle with a repulsion like it had personally offended him, and he took it out of Lilia’s hands, tossing it out the open window carelessly. A loud ‘CRASH!’ could be heard somewhere downstairs, which probably could have killed someone and woken up his dorm mates, but judging by the lack of a scream, Iris should be free of murder charges. Even if he wasn’t, well, that would be a problem for future Iris yet again.

Lilia watched Iris toss out the bottle of perfectly good wine with shock on his face, frowning. His eyebrows raised when he heard the loud crash, quickly peering out the window, down the building, before he turned back to Iris.

“ Good grief, Iris! That was unnecessary, someone could have died down there. “ Lilia scolded. He pouted as he gestured out the window. “ There’s no need to toss out perfectly good wine! “

“ I disagree, if the bottle is in the trash, then it simply is trash wine. No, it is not ‘perfectly good wine’. I could practically taste the factory it was manufactured in. “ Iris shook his head in disapproval.

“ Anyways, you still have not answered me. Why do you keep breaking into my dorm room? “

“ I happen to have a soft spot for you, dear. And I’m curious on how you would react each time I show up, “ Lilia laughed as he gave Iris a soft smile, propping his face up with his hands as he leaned on the kitchen counter.

Iris stopped scowling for a moment, averting his eyes when Lilia did that. He didn’t know why he couldn’t bring himself to look at that soft smile, feeling a bit strange. Whatever, it’s nothing. Or at least that’s what he told himself.

“ You are here so often, and yet I don’t see you on campus. Or maybe it’s because I simply haven't noticed you, “ Iris commented.

“ Well, since I’m here so often, may I stay the night? It’s quite late, and as you know, my house is quite far away! “ Lilia grinned as he patted Iris on the back, to which he had an unamused expression as he glanced at Lilia.

“ Come now, it wouldn’t be so bad to have me as a houseguest. Of course, if you really don’t want to, then I’ll gladly leave, “

Lilia smiled, hoping for a yes, but his grin turned into a serious expression when he said the last part. He didn’t actually want to overstep Iris’s boundaries too much, not wanting to cross a line. If Iris really didn’t want him around, he would gladly leave. Albeit with a little sadness.

Iris sighed as he gave Lilia a very long look, pondering his decision, taking in Lilia’s appearance. He supposed that he and Lilia were acquaintances by now, with the amount of times they’ve seen each other for the past few months. And he supposed that maybe, Lilia's presence has become a welcome one, after the first few weeks of breaking in. Maybe he's even a little bit fond. And he supposed that yes, Lilia has not shown any ill will towards him, nor done any harm. And perhaps, maybe, just maybe, he could use a little company sometimes — not that he’s lonely, though.

Lilia’s face seemed to fall a bit as the silence dragged on from Iris’s lack of response, and he started to doubt himself. Maybe he really wasn’t welcomed, and that Iris didn’t care about him at all, nor had Iris started to like him at all in the first place. He could have sworn Iris liked him, though. It’s why Lilia kept coming back to see him. Did he read Iris wrong this whole time? Lilia felt hurt and guilty, but he supposed that it’s his own fault for overstaying his welcome, anyway. It was stupid of him to think that Iris would let him stay for a ‘visit’, let alone stay the night, in hindsight. Maybe it’s time for this little charade to end. Lilia shifted uncomfortably, sighing as he closed his eyes, and then he opened his mouth to speak.

“ I understand. Perhaps I have misjudged the situation. I- “

“ Alright, fine. Do what you want, just make sure not to make a mess, “ Iris interrupted, covering his face as he finally caved. He stopped taking sips from the bottle of wine, placing it back in the wine cabinet.

“ You’re here often enough, anyway, so I suppose it wouldn’t do any harm. “

Lilia immediately perked up, breaking into a wide smile. Good, good! He didn’t read him wrong after all! His adorable face and youthful energy must have worked its magic. Deep down, he’s rather relieved.

“ Thank you. I assure you, I will be on my best behaviour, “ Lilia winked. “ Think of it as a slumber party, if you will. “

“ A slumber party? Don’t get ahead of yourself, “ Iris shook his head and rolled his eyes, a grin tugging at his lips.

Iris exited the kitchen, with Lilia following behind him. He clicked the kitchen lights off, and disappeared into his room, re-emerging with fluffy blankets and pillows in his hand. Iris dumped them into Lilia’s hands, figuring that this was the least he could do for him. Lilia snickered in response as he caught the mountain of blankets and pillows. It practically covered his small stature, so much so that one would think they were looking at a walking pile of comfort.

“ Here you go, “ Iris said, figuring this was the least he could do for his impromptu houseguest.

“ Good night, Iris, “ Lilia beamed at him. “ Say, it’s not so bad having me around now, is it? “

“ I suppose not, “ Iris admitted quietly, as he walked towards his bedroom. He stopped in the hallway, and turned around for a moment, giving Lilia a small smile.

“ Good night, Lilia, “ He nodded softly, before he retreated into his bedroom, clicking the door shut behind him.

As Lilia wrapped himself in blankets on the couch, the sound of the clock ticking away into the night, he buried his warm face into the pillow.

He called me Lilia.