#jinxie danger

[printinkling]

motherhuman

WHY must we do the working

your jinxie does not dream of labor

#printinkling #jinxie danger #tortie #tortie cat #inkling fursquad #inkling #office goblin #officecat #artist life #we do not dream of labor

[inari-zaheer]

May I request an ekko x reader where he and reader used to he friends with all of the gang from before episode 3 and they had crushes on each other but reader went with jinx and silco and instead of him and jinx fighting on the bridge he and reader fight and when hes about to punch her like in the show and he pauses a bomb goes off and reader covers him and gets hurt and when he wakes up he takes her back to the hideout and helps her and maybe they can confess?

Thank you for the request!

Stay Here With Me

Pairing:Ekko x Reader

Word Count:1245

A/N:Just so you guys know I don’t hate Vi, this is just a pov from a side of the history that saw the facts from a different angle😊

—————————————

Sometimes you thought about the life you had before.

When things even being harder for you then they were right now, they just seemed simpler somehow.

You were known in the Undercity as one of the kids that were adopted by Vander but after the fatidic day got under Silco's wing, just like Jinx.

The day of the factory explosion always came back on your mind, it was the day that everything had changed on your life, after Vi had abandoned Jinx you two became just like sisters, being trained by his goons and causing chaos around the city while growing up until he thought you were old enough to deal with serious stuff.

You could say that the two of you had a good life in material terms, Silco wasn’t necesarily a very affectionate person all the time and he definately wasn’t that much of a good person either but he always made sure you had almost everything you wanted when the two of you were kids.

But there was something that no mattered the money, nor power, you could never have it.

It was him. Ekko. Your childhood love and now worse enemy, that after the conflict near the sewers you just couldn't stop thinking about.

You always remembered your times with him when you were younger with joy, the days Vander would make stew and call him and Benzo over for dinner, when you guys would spy and gossip above the ceiling on Benzo's shop and the moments where youd be thinking about a future together.

But it was a long forgotten future that you quickly snapped out of as Jinx waved her hand in front of your face "Helloooo, Earth to Y/N! Come on monkey it's almost night already, we have to be at the bridge." She said walking to the exit of her lair where you were helping her with modifying the firelights.

Following her thru the lanes till the bridge you could not help but feel anxious, of course you trusted Jinx inventions, but you didn't know what kind of fire power that piltie that was with them had on the other side, but upon your arrival it looked like they should be the scared ones as the policeman you swore you saw multiple times in Silco's office threatened them.

Jinx mumbled something to herself as she activated the firelights, a beutifully dangerous explosion happened while you saw Vi running to the other side of the bridge again.

"Come on monkey, let's get that stupid gem already" She gracefully made her way to the ground and got the bag where the Hextec was secured and you quickly followed suit, but your worries came back as you clearly saw that something had bothered Jinx "Hey Jinxie, are you oka..." You didn’t even get to finish as she's opening fire against Vi and the piltie.

The both of you seemed to be more prepared for the conflict, but what you didn't expect was to see him sprinting towards your direction with a hoverboard in full speed.

Even with all the noise that came from the fallen exploded flys the only thing you could hear was the ticking of that stupid clock that Ekko always had with him, you guys looked at each other, it was almost funny, seriously? Having a fight like this? It almost looked like you were children again, playing with cardboard swords and paint guns, it could't be more fucking nostalgic.

But things got serious fast as Ekko managed to hit Jinx with all his strength, you quickly went to her rescue, not seeing the bomb she had promptly armed beside them, only to feel a heavy weight pushing you and losing conciousness.

---------------------------------

When you woke up you didn't recognize your surroundings but still felt a stinging pain in your torso as you tried to get up

"God i really thought I had lost you for real" That voice, that voice you had wished to hear everyday in the past and now just left you more confused that you already was, he quickly made his way towards you "You were too hurt after the explosion, but we thankfully could..."

"Get the fuck away from me" You tried ignoring the pain as much as you could while trying to get away from the boy "Where the hell am I? Are the new firelight thing kidnapping now? Where's Jinx?!"

"You need to calm dow Y/N your bandages will..." "I don't care! What have you done to my sister?!" You searched with your eyes for anything in the room that could be used against him, but they clearly thought this through

"What have WE done to her? She was the one that tried to shoot her sister in the first place, she was the one setting that damn bomb!" You could be angrier at him at this point "Oh that traitor? She stopped being Jinx's sister the moment she left us!"

"But she didn't-Shit! I should've listened to Scar ya know, should have let you die in the explosion instead of bringing you here, how come you just can't figure who is the real villain here?! Or have Jinx made you as fucking crazy as her-" "Oh don't you even dare saying a word abo-" You made a run to try and attack him but your legs failed as the pain was now unbearable

"Oh shit i warned you" He rapidly embraced you as to not let you fall, your first instinct was to wrap you arms around his neck for support but tried to free yourself the moment you noticed it only for Ekko to just hold you closer "Why can’t you just..."

All your prepared fit soon ended the moment you locked eyes with him, it wasn’t like anything you ever did with him, not every glare you ever gave him even behind his mask could even compare to this, no one has ever looked so deep into you eyes, into your soul like he was doing right now.

As inapropriate for the moment as it was, Ekko could not hold himself but to do something he wanted to do since he acknowledged his feelings for you, with you still in his armas he kissed you, a long waited moment for the both of you, it was filled with all the feelings you had for each other as the both of you tried to be as close as possible, and even then Ekko had the care to be gentle as to not hurt you, he was caring

After the kiss you just stared at each other, not exactly wanting to part ways but not knowing what to do either, it's not like you weren’t fighting before "You know i'm right about it, right? You don’t have to go back to them, they didn’t saw me taking you away from the bridge, forget about them and lets just be together here until you get better" He stated almost desperately at the thought of losing you to their side again

"Ekko you now I can’t just leave Jinx there..." Fearing he might regret this later he answered "Well...you don’t necessarily have to..." Your face immediately light up upon his statement "But only after you’re better! It’s still dangerous for you to be out there like this"

Knowing you would not scape Ekkos worries about you, you simply pecked his lips again "Deal, my boy saviour"

#ekko x reader #ekko arcane #arcane x reader #arcane fanfic #ekko #ekko fanfic

[richardsphere]

My conclusive overall review of RWBY Vol 9

Now that my feelings on the finale have had half a day to settle. I feel it is time to give my opinion on the season overall instead of just the finale on its own.

The new cast of characters is also somewhat wanting. While one-off characters Jinxy, Herb and the King fulfill their purposes perfectly well. some crucial characters important to the seasons overall narrative (Cat, Lewis, Alyx and Little) were with all either one-note (little), Hollow shells of plot serving to sell a future spin-off book(Lewis and Alyx). The cat was fine though, and fulfilled its purpose well.  For the first half,  Volume 9 suffers from a major disconnect as the plot relies on the characters familiarity with the fairytale. which makes it sort of unsatisfying to watch cause we have no idea how the fairytale even went. As a result we spend half the season wandering around, seemingly aimlessly, while neither characters nor audience have a clue what they are doing besides vaguely advertising an RT’s eventual spin-off book release.  Sort of like the early Sherlock Holmes books, where the plot is moved by sherlock but we only have Wattsons’ knowledge of events to guide us through. Its a clueless mystery with no fulfillment to it. Then moving into the later-half of the season, Where the show attempts to handle difficult topics and, in true RWBY style doesnt always handle it well. While the eventual handliing of ruby’s self-acceptance issues is in the finale is good . The decision to have Jaune’s problems of self-worth be solved by “yes you werent the hero, but would you like to be one now?” leaves a bad taste in my mouth. It feels like its trying to say “Ruby, your impostor syndrome was a bad thing, you should learn to accept yourself for who you are. You’re actually fine as is dont worry about it you are good enough”. meanwhile to Jaune the tree’s messaging is: “yes you’re right, you do suck major ass. and while we dont have any tips on how to improve yourself as a personi can put you in the right time and place to be usefull for just this once because your woodshell happens to be above the cat RN.” and now for  the origami-paperes elephant in the room. The race of little star-shaped Alexanders-the-Great, who commit mass ennui-motivated suicides because they ran out of acre to conquer and/or decorate, and are portrayed as right for taking the easy way out of their boredom. Now i’ve had someone respond to me on an earlier post about the stars, that they believed the stars were meant to be an allegory for people with terrible wasting diseases that leave them frail and in terminal misery, and the process of them making the difficult choice of euthenasia, as well as the difficult path of a family member to come to acceptance with that choice. Which is a heavy, nuanced and important topic that I do not want to make light of in the slightest. So please take no offense when i say that; While I could see the space in which people with those experiences could project themselves into Jaune’s struggle with Penny’s death. I cant actually see that as being the actual situation facing the paperstars themselves. Because the way the stars explain their problem to RWBY is verry much one of boredom and listlessness rather then any state of terminal misery of which only death could possibly grant relief. So the star-subplot either tried to tackle euthenasia and missed the mark by a mile due to framing issues (which is dangerous), or it just said “Remember suicide is an acceptable cure for boredom” which is actively evil. as messages go. Add onto that the fact that, in the long term their solution doesnt actually work, as they’ll redecorate the acre with gems instead of paper. Run out of acre to decorate again like they did the first time and have find a new way to kill themselves again and this subplot fails critically. And because the latter half of the plot is trying to tie 3-or more such heavy topics together in quick succession all together (Ruby’s attempted suicide, Jaune’s grief over Euthenising Penny, Ruby’s self-worth issues, Jaune’s sisiphean hell, Jaune’s self-worth over failing Alyx) the toxic messaging given by the stars subplot spreads across the adjacent plots like a malignant viral infection. Tainting all of them with a “pro-suicide” undertone that i can only hope was never RT’s intention. Top that all off with a the rather unsatisfying finale, focussed more on loredumping then tying together or resolving the seasons emotional beats and I can only say that, Despite its promise for the tone of the series going forward by presenting hope as an actual thing instead of a mere nebulous concept, This season was in my opinion nonetheless, the worst season of the series so far.

#rwby vol 9 #rwby #rwby spoiler tag #rwby spoilers #tw suicide #tw suicidal ideation #tw self harm #tw self worth #tw euthanasia #rwby critical

[citadelofmythoughts]

The Golden Knight

So this is just a quick fic to get the angst out of my system. I know it’s rough and I might go back later and flesh it out more but for now this is it.

It’s a AU where it wasn’t Jaune who wound up being stuck in the Ever After for years, it was Yang so yes, there’s some Bee angst but some hopefulness too

We were all falling apart with despair and worry as Ruby carried us in her cloak through the bustling market. We’d found Jaune, who we didn’t even know had fallen, recovered his shield from Jinxy, fought the Red Prince in a board game and gotten shrunken for our trouble.

But none of this had gotten us any closer to getting home. The worst part was that there had been no sign of Yang. I hadn’t given up hope, not yet, but like Ruby, I was losing it more every day.

I was starting to feel like no hope was better than false.

The Curious Cat had brought us here in the hopes of finding all the ingredients needed for a Growgurt Parfait. Which should return Jaune, Weiss and I to normal size again.

Ruby and Little went off to the third level of the market for a specific ingredient. while the rest of us rode the cat to gather the rest 

“Blake, are you all right?” Weiss asked as she gently laid a hand on my shoulder.

“Sure…I…no. No, I’m not. What if, what if we don’t find Yang? What if she’s not here? What if she’s actually….” my throat closed up, I couldn’t make myself say the word and give up my last shred of hope of ever seeing her again.

Weiss impulsively pulled me into an embrace. “It hasn’t been that long, I haven’t given up hope and neither should you. I know you’ve never given up on her, so don’t start now.” She smiled. “You two are meant to be together.”

My eyes widened. “You know?”

She made a disgusted noise. “Pffft! I’m neither blind nor deaf. I’ve known Yang has been in love with you since Haven.”

Jaune turned to us. “I know too, Blake and I also know that if there is a way, Yang will find you.

”I felt my eyes burning. “Thanks guys.”

“Still concerned about your missing friend?” Curious Cat asked. “If she fell, she is here somewhere. Although perhaps not as you knew her.”

That alarmed me more than it probably should have.

Before I could ask what they meant. We were heading back to meet up with Ruby.“Ruby? Who are you talking to?” Curious Cat inquired after we found her. “Did you retrieve the nose hair?”

Ruby looked a little dazed and abashed. “Um…er not just yet.”

“Ruby, come on!” Weiss said in annoyance. “We’ve got everything else.”

“I uh, I’m sorry…” she said awkwardly and I winced at how disconsolate she sounded.

“Hey, look is that the Teapot Lady?” Jaune said, pointing at a nearby stall.

We all looked in the indicated direction and…yes that was indeed a lady, who was also very obviously a teapot.

Curious Cat leaped on to her table and started…er looking for the last item we needed and by looking I mean knocking items off the table.

The rest of us were distracted by a sudden fireworks display. “Oh wow, a festival!” Jaune said excitedly

Just as the Cat found what we needed, the fireworks started spelling out “DANGER” and the crowd yelled about a Jabberwalker.

The Teapot Lady started sucking up all her wares into her…um…body. “No wait!” Ruby yelled. “We need those Leprechaun nose hairs!”

“No time!” she replied. Suddenly Ruby pulled her emblem off of her outfit and showed it to the vendor. “Here! I’ll give you this. It carries a mother’s promise!”

She agreed and sucked the emblem right out of Ruby’s hand. “Take it!” she said as she ran away.

The three of us leaped out of the basket. “What’s a Jabberwalker?” I asked.

“A truly terrible creature.” and the Cat looked frightened for the first time since we met them. “If it eats one of us, we do not ascend.”

“How do you make the parfait thing?” asked Jaune.

The Cat opened the container of hairs it was holding. “Toss everything in here!”

As Ruby compiled the parfait took shape. “Be careful” The Cat cautioned. “Eat too much and we’ll have to shrink you back down and that’s a completely different potion.” We all ran to the parfait and gulped down a handful of the magical concoction. I could feel myself grow but it wasn’t enough, we were toddler-sized.

“It’s not enough!” Weiss yelled but before we could eat more the Jabberwalker was on us and Ruby carried us and the parfait away from danger but not quickly enough. The creature’s tail struck her and we fell to the ground as the parfait sailed through the air and hit the monster in the face.

“No!” Weiss yelled as we saw the Jabberwalker increase in size. Ruby picked us up and ran with the monster hot on her heels, but the Curious Cat had somehow controlled one of the other creatures of the marketplace and they flew into the Jabberwalker 

“Go! Your friends need to get big again or we’re Jabberwalker dinner!” the Cat yelled and Ruby tried to get us to the fallen parfait but once again the fiend was in our way then we heard the galloping of some kind of beast and we saw a giant dog being ridden by someone in golden armor. It wasn’t The Rusted Knight, this armor gleamed like the sun.

The knight and their steed knocked the Jabberwalker off their feet which was the opening Ruby needed. She got us to the spilled parfait and we ate enough to return to our full size.

Weiss stopped the creature from reaching the Knight with one of her Gravity Glyphs and I stopped it from hitting her with its tail by trapping it with Gambol Shroud. She then lifted the monster in the air as I leaped and shoved it down towards where Jaune was standing, ready to impale it with his sword but something unexpected happened. 

The Golden Knight leaped from their mount and as the Jabberwalker plummeted they struck it with a mighty blow and it disintegrated into a shower of sparkles.I gasped at the familiarity of it. “Neo?”

We heard more growls and saw multiple Jabberwalkers approaching.

“There’s only supposed to be one!” Curious Cat exclaimed. “Run!” said the Golden Knight and the voice sounded distinctly female, even muffled under the helmet. “This way!” and we all followed…her?

They led us to a chamber at the top of the marketplace and the Knight walked over to their steed and petted it affectionately. “Good boy, Zwei.”

Ruby gasped and so did I. “Zwei?”

The knight removed her helmet, revealing long, flowing golden locks with just a few streaks of gray. “You’re not supposed to be here.” she said wearily as she turned to face us. “But it’s still good to see you, Sis, Weiss….Blake” and I heard her voice crack with emotion.She looked tired, battleworn, her face had a scar just above her right eye. She was older, at least by twenty or so years but those lilac eyes were still as beautiful as I remembered.“YANG!” I yelled as I ran into her arms. 

She held me tightly as I felt her body shuddering from convulsive sobs. “I never thought I’d see you, any of you ever again. It’s been years.”

“For us it’s probably been a day since we fell, Yang.” Jaune said.

Ruby walked over and hugged Yang too. “I’m so happy you’re alive. I was so scared that..”

Yang smiled fondly at her, now much younger sister. “We’ve got a lot to catch up on. C’mon.” and gestured down to an open area where we could sit and talk.

Hours later most of the group had fallen asleep due to exhaustion but I couldn’t and went to find Yang. I didn’t have to go far, she was brushing her canine steed.“Hey.” I said softly.

“Hey yourself. You should be asleep.”

“I can’t. I need to talk to you.”

She sighed and sat on the ground and motioned me to join her.“What do you want to talk about?”

“What the hell do you think I want to talk about? Us, Yang.”

She looked stricken and stared at her feet. “Blake, I’m…old enough to be your mother.”

I gently put my hands on both sides of her face and directed those lilac eyes at mine. “But you're not my mother. You’re Yang. MY Yang. I thought I’d lost you forever and I’ll be damned if I let a couple of decades difference take you away from me.”

“Blake, I….dammit. I can’t pretend. I thought that maybe you all thought I’d died. Hell, I thought that for the longest time but no matter what, not a day went by where I didn’t see your face, hear your laugh, long for your smile. Gods, I missed you so much!” and she laid her face in her hands and sobbed. 

I wrapped my body around hers and held on as tight as I could. “I’m not going anywhere, Yang. No matter what happens, I can’t bear the thought of losing you.”

“Even as I am?” she sniffed and looked up at me, her beautiful eyes reddened from sorrow.

“You’re as beautiful as ever and even if you weren’t, I fell in love with your soul not your looks.”

Her eyes widened. “Love…?”

“Of course I love you, you idiot!” and I kissed her roughly. “I have always loved you.”

Tears were flowing down both our faces now. “I love you too, so much it hurts.” Yang said with a soft smile and returned my kiss.

#my writing #bumbleby #rwby spoilers

[graedari]

I think now’s a good as time as ever to absolutely love Wrightworth and their like 9 daughters. This is canon- no I will not be taking criticism. 

[Image ID: A digital drawing of various Ace Attorney characters. They are having a sleep-over in what appears to be the Wright-Edgeworth household. Phoenix sits to the left of the page. He is wearing a pink tanktop with a fanmade logo for “Ivy University” as well as grey sweatpants and blue socks with cat heads printed on them. His hair is pushed back with a purple cloth headband that is patterned with the Gavinners’ logo. Under his eyes are two eyebag masks. Leaning on his right shoulder over a beanbag is Rayfa. She is wearing a seafoam green hoodie and is listening to him Phoenix talk with a bored expression. On Phoenix’s left shoulder is Pearl. She is wearing a set of pink pajamas, a look of content on her face while she listening to Phoenix. Trucy is sat to Pearl’s side, holding Phoenix’ left hand in hers as she attempts to paint his nails a hot pink. She is wearing a yellow tee-shirt and black shorts, her hair braided over her shoulder. She is wearing white crew socks that has card suits decorating the tops. Leaning against her back is Athena, who is stretching her arms. She is dressed in a set of light blue GYAXA pajamas and a pair of yellow slippers. Her nails have already been painted the same shade as Phoenix’s and on her right wrist is a set of friendship bracelets. Her hair is over her shoulder in Juniper’s hands. Juniper is sat behind Athena in a peach-colored nightdress. Her hair is up in a ponytail with a blue ribbon while she braids Athena’s hair. To Juniper’s right is Vera, who is sat facing the group, her sketchbook in her lap. She is wearing a purple nightdress that has the Troupe Gramayre logo across the font. In her sketchbook she has begun to sketch Athena. Next to Vera, Pess, the family dog is laying down. Pess is depicted as a white borzoi. Behind the group seating in the front on the floor is the kitchen where Kay, Emma, and Jinxie are seating at the kitchen bar. Kay is leaning dangerously off her barstool, dressed in a teal tank top and black pajama bottoms that are patterned with teal feathers. In the stool next to her is Emma who is wearing Blue Badger themed pajamas, a red “x” having been drawn over the logo on the front. She is wearing her hair in a low ponytail and has her hand in a bag of Snakoos. To the right, Jinxie is sitting with a dark blue patterned pillow that is patterned with yellow flowers. She is wearing a long, pink, nightgown, with her hair up in a ponytail. Behind the bar, in the kitchen, is Edgworth with his back turned to all the chaos. He is wearing a maroon turtleneck and his glasses. /End ID]

#graedari doodles #ace attorney #wrightworth #narumitsu #phoenix wright #rayfa padma khura'in #pearl fey #trucy wright #athena cykes #juniper woods #junithena #vera misham #pess edgeworth #kay faraday #emma skye #jinxie tenma #miles edgeworth #digital art #lenovo tablet #krita #if anyone asks where maya is #shes def getting takeout for everyone #cause shes the cool aunt #also can you tell i gave up on the bg #cause i can #please enjoy the dysfunctional family <3 #graedari aa

[fatestouch]

Another night, another gathering, another reverie. Another glorious night of singing, dancing, drinking, and ritualistic celebration.

These nights tended to effect the followers of Dionysus in many different ways. Most of the time, there were those filled with an inexorable, near violent elation. Sometimes the elation was violent, which led to the more bloodier nights.

And then there were times where the magic and drink affected some in a far different way.

"Are some people more or less worthy of love than others?"

Dio looked over to Jinx, leaning against a tree a bit away, slightly hazy, glowing violet eyes staring down at the bottle in his hand, before his gaze moves to his patron's.

"Feelin' philosophical, Jinxie? That's a question best posited t' Eros, not me~"

"But y' have an answer."

It wasn't a question, but Dio answered anyway. "I do. If ya asked Eros, he'd say on principle that everyone is deservin' of love. And I agree. And yet..." He hums, eyes closing as he raises his hands, palm up, as if in offering.

"Love is the most dangerous emotion one can feel. It's so easily gateway to many, many dangerous things. But something so dangerous is also so necessary. Everythin' that lives and breathes and dies needs some form of love."

Opening his eyes, Dio looks to Jinx, who sits riveted. The god smiles. "Does that answer yer question?"

"Everyone needs it, but that doesn't mean everyone is worthy of it... does it?"

Dio didn't answer that, still smiling down at Jinx. "Do you have an answer, Jinx?"

Jinx hummed, tilting his head this way and that, before he takes another long drink. "Love is... new. 'side from Pa, I never had a lotta people who loved me until now. It's... still a new feelin'. It's..."

"Hm~?"

Jinx looked back up at Dio, then suddenly grinned, and began cackling.

"It's so dangerous, huh? I love being loved, and I want more... more, moremoremore...!" And then his laughter abruptly cuts off, and he slumps against the tree again. "It's dangerous... I won't take it for granted. I won't get greedy. I'll keep the love that I've been given close... so close. And I won't let it go."

"See that ya don't, kiddo. See that ya don't."

#Hex IC;; #Madness IC;; #is this anything? eh #sometimes you just need to get some convo ideas out of your head

[mean-and-rwde]

Volume 9 thoughts

[Spoilers, possibly]

[Rambling ahead]

I don't want to throw out all hope that V9 won't be absolute ""filler"", but it clashes too hard with the high emotions of the V8 finale.

If V8 was trying to be V3 (it failed), then I guess one could say V9 is like V4.

Except V4, while personally being one of my lesser-favorite volumes, does a nice bridge between the absolute chaos of the V3 finale to the V5 chaos. It's slower, a lot more dialogue heavy, and yet manages to remain somewhat true to canon without breaking it too much.

V9, however, looks to be a V1 - V2 ish theme but definitely not nearly as light hearted. I mean, they look to be in fucking wonderland (I heard it's called the Ever After, which is not much better, in my opinion). We've got talking mice among possibly other wild scenarios.

Meanwhile in Remnant (? I don't think Ever After is part of Remnant, I don't know tho):

- Atlas has become Atlantis (to quote my brother, who I guess heard it from a review somewhere?)

- Everyone who didn't fall into The Void / died when Atlas fell is now in Vacuo, the last standing kingdom.

- Vacuo is already very much struggling with what the citizens have. Now what's left of an entire kingdom has been dumped in as well.

- Salem has 2 / 4 relics needed to end the world and is on her way to Vacuo, where the last relic is being held.

- Cinder is still here. Like a damn cockroach

Side rant: I'm sorry, I just don't care for her anymore. I miss V1 - V3 Cinder, who was a legitimate threat and actually scary. Now she's an villain who is funniest when she fails. When I see her now, the sense of dread is more like "ugh this bitch again" instead of before where I was like "oh shit she's back what is she gonna do now?".

Adding her backstory in V7 (or was it V8? I literally can't remember) did nothing for me. It was way too on the nose, there was nothing subtle about it. And the song playing was basically beating the audience over the head with what was happening. It's too late to give her backstory, now it's completely unnecessary. It means nothing. And she has resorted to relying on the maiden powers in fights, makimg her fights boring and monotonous.

Also in Remnant:

- A shit ton of people fell into the void

- Penny is dead. Again. But permanently.

Meanwhile:

Our mains are in some weird wonderland like world where I'm guessing Neo somehow already has what looks like some sort of gang (in the intro, she's seen drinking tea with a bunch of shadowy people behind her).

There's also the mystery girl, who may have something to do with Ruby.

The intro hints that Ruby has become far more depressed and not nearly as hopeful as she once was. In the beginning, we see her as she transitions between her outfits over the volumes, while her emblem slowly fades.

While her team is running through various scenes, Ruby is dragging her feet, noticeably falling behind everyone else.

I hope this actually goes somewhere and makes Ruby + WBY + Jaune realize that they (especially Ruby) haven't made the best decisions as of late.

I haven't seen Episode 1, but I've heard some bits and pieces of it and I'm generally not thrilled. I know it's only the first episode, but I'm really not down for this whole wonderland shenanigans thing when the real world of Remnant is in danger of literally ending.

I don't know, it really feels like how when the White Fang arc was abruptly cut short and dropped (rip most of Blake's character). Things have gotten too heavy and too much, so the writers cut to something else entirely.

In this case, something comedic (or at least trying to be)

A / N 1: Apparently there's a con-man raccoon called Jinxy who is very... Stereotyped and racist. I have not seen this character, but from what I've heard... I don't think I want to know.

#rwde #rwby critical #rwby criticism #volume 9 #volume 9 spoilers #volume 9 critical #i hate it here #i hate it i hate it i hate it #brief character bashing tbh #cinder fall critical #my thoughts #ramblings #i dont think ill actually watch this volume #it sounds that bad

[penny-nichols]

People talk about Apollo's 20 billion backstories and I agree that it gets ridiculous however. The thing about Clay is that it's not... inherently a backstory? Like. Yes it is "backstory" in this case to get Apollo involved, but just having a childhood best friend who you are still friends with would not really be backstory in most cases, it would just be "having a friend"

HOWEVER what's incredibly funny about this is that they give TWO other characters best friends. Trucy with Jinxie and Athena with Juniper. And. the thing is. THE THING IS. even though you might say that both Juniper AND Athena were new additions to the series, the case that has Juniper in it first in the timeline is ALL about how she has 2 best friends. Hugh and Robin. and they are so close that they would literally take the rap for murder if one of the others was in danger. and then Hugh and Robin never show up again.

[warrioroflondonbelow]

( @the-wonderland-jinx II Continued from here )

“Just by pure luck, really,” mumbled Richard, rubbing his heavy eyes. Besides the potential of lurking danger, which kept the Scotsman on his toes constantly, there were also the nightmares. In fact, eight out of ten times, that was what kept Richard up the most, but he wouldn’t go into detail. Not now. Didn’t feel like it. “Y’know there was a time I actually used to get eight hours of sleep? Once, only once, I actually got ten!-- Wha’ ‘bout you then? Sleepin’ any better these days?”

#//hgjkdhsgkjdsg im so sorry i just saw your reply to my meme now ;-;// #//i hope you dont mind me making this into a new post? :>// #//also Richard has missed your Jinxy <3 <3// #thewonderlandjinx #is it dangerous;v

[knightsickness]

ok, so massive spoilers for dual destinies but i need to talk about the phantom twist. it isn’t foreshadowed anywhere near enough - when it’s revealed, it’s not an ‘oh, it all makes sense now!!’ realisation, it’s just a nasty betrayal. fulbright doesn’t act weird in any way until the game has already assured the player that it’s him. any foreshadowing is so minor as to be essentially a replay bonus (e.g. jinxie freaking out when she sees him and calling him a ghost). there’s no way you could guess it unless you were just a cynic who doesn’t trust nice people on principle. anyway today im going to talk about other ways the twist could have been foreshadowed

• focus more on the fact that fulbright is ok with just unblinkingly electrocuting someone he claims to consider a good friend - this is something that stands out as potential foreshadowing of his sadism and lack of emotions in the game proper, but isn’t discussed or acknowledged as odd or worrying

• as well as this, i think that a lack of empathy could be extrapolated from his willingness to arrest on sight and complete lack of sympathy for the defendants, immediately categorising them as dangerous criminals who shouldn’t be defended, but this is implicit in game - could easily be made clearer through dialogue with apollo or asides in apollo’s narration (e.g. fulbright shrugs off tenma’s concern for jinxie as a villainous ploy, apollo thinks something like ‘that’s pretty cold-blooded...’)

• have him occasionally display an emotion that doesn’t match what he’s saying, and have apollo mentally acknowledge this (e.g. fulbright mentions how something fills him with righteous anger and apollo thinks ‘then why does he look so happy?’ or something)

• during a cross examination, have a bit in which athena mentions that he’s giving an overwhelmingly happy response regardless of what he’s saying, and wave this off as him always being happy to help justice be done. he’s a silly enough character for this and the previous point to come off as jokes until the player knows the truth

• have a recurring bit of him showing up very suddenly or in places the player doesn’t expect to see him - again, this is small enough to hit as a joke about his overzealous nature until the reveal

• it wouldn’t be hard to have a joke about him having occasional flashes of competence (e.g. correcting blackquill on the difference between a ‘spy’ and an ‘assassin’, or knowing way more about poisons than you'd expect) as a detective, foreshadowing him being both more intelligent than he lets on and potentially sinister

• have the player walk in on or overhear him getting into character (e.g. going over a peppy monologue about justice multiple times, with minor tweaks), or have him mention practicing his smile in the mirror - just something that implies a fakeness or performance of behaviour

the main reason why i feel his behaviour could have been foreshadowed better is because the game did such a good job on his character design as a twist villain. nothing about his design looks villainous until that’s what you’re looking for, and the after the reveal, with absolutely no changes in character design, suddenly the horn-shaped hair (easiest to see when he flops his head forwards), white suit (an increasingly popular villain colour, especially in parallel to an anti-hero in black), and constant gloves and sunglasses (an obvious way to communicate concealment in costume design, often associated with spies and disguises) all start to read as common villain design tropes (notably, the gloves, double-breasted suit and sunglasses specifically recall gant, another fake-nice murderous cop). with a handful of minor tweaks, a similar effect could have been created with his behaviour - everything entering a new light that makes total sense. as it is, it feels like fulbright becomes a villain the moment the game decides it needs one

#dual destinies spoilers #dd spoilers #ace attorney spoilers #ace attorney #dual destinies #aa5 #bobby fulbright #the phantom #apollo justice #aa meta #ace attorney meta

[null-is-sparing-you]

MLP Movie Theory

So I watched the new MLP movie, and I have a theory about their history. This theory is entirely based on the stereotypes in the movie. I've jotted down all stereotypes as well as what we know about them at the top for convenience.

Earth

Live in "Maritime Bay"

Smell like rotten sardines

"Lazy"

"Not the brightest crystals in the forest"

Dumb

Unicorn

Horn Lasers

Eat Earth Ponies

Can Read Minds

Live in Bridalwood (a crystal forest)

Can float things

Can see "Luminessence"

Like shiny things

Horns like razors

Tongues like tasers

Teeth like tacks

Unique Horns

Superstisious and does a whole routine when certain words are spoken

Cheaters

Pegisi

Eat Earth Ponies

Take a windigo like appearence in the Anual Show billboard

Snatch people away

Theoretically involved in the disapearence of magic

"Bad News"

Live high on a mountain (Zepher Heights)

Brutes

Eat their young

Known:

There was, at some point, an Epic Battle

Now, some of the steriotypes are clear fear mongering... but I think the ones that aren't "Eat babies" and "Sharp Teeth" may actually have their roots in things that were true.

So here's what I think happened:

After MLP FIM, the magic of the ponies only increased, until brain lasers (likely advanced illusions and rather dangerous spells) was actually a real threat. It may have been true even in cases where unicorns weren't actually wanting to harm anything.

Pegasi also would have seen their abilities increase to dangerous levels. A wingbeat may have caused them to fly way more than practical in the typical non-flying environment. This would also create problems with consensual flights. Sure, you wanted to lift your friend a certain height, but... your flight speed is a bit too fast for them, so they screamed in terror. Sure, you patched it up later with your friend... but now you have a problem bringing them to your favorite places.

So what did ponies do during this time? They moved to less dangerous ares. Unicorns would have moved to somewhere where magic can be stored and drained (crystal forest). Pegasi would have moved to cloud and mountain homes where if they were suddenly shot through the roof cause they got too excited, they would just have to glide back to where they were. Earth Pony's earth based abilities caused them to seek places where plants had just a little more trouble - the ocean.

This separation, born out of necessity, caused tensions between the groups. It's also tied to the stereotypes.

Because pegasi are constantly flying, tools to move heavy objects would be... less available. Flying is also a physical activity. As such, they became physically strong. They'd have to be - they can't use dollies to get things up, and there's no "drag someone across the floor" option if you're dealing with things in mid air.

Because Unicorns had a bit of a wild magic about them, being around a unicorn that didn't have control over their abilities yet would be... bad. Getting shocked accidentally wouldn't be a surprise. Also having their magic subconsciously cause things to go their way also wouldn't be a surprise.

As for earth ponies... well... having no magic and no wings would make a lot of tasks that much harder. Earth ponies write with their mouths, so their writings would be more minimal, and their industry would take longer to come up to speed since earth ponies had to deal with things like lifts and safety rails. As for the sardine smell... well... I would tie this to their maritime location (and potentially economy) combined with the fact that they can't levitate objects. If you gotta deal with sardines, you gotta be up close and personal.

Once the separation took place, tensions between the tribes, who are still trying to act as one, would rise. Even mundane things would cause great tension, as the distance between buildings and the standard height of rooms would have HUGELY different impact for the different races. Earlier, ponies would have seen each-other accomplishing these tasks, and would have learned to compensate for one another. Now though? That isn't happening.

So... ties would be severed. A war would break out between ponies who all need to be able to live their lives, but have conflicting needs. And with that, the magic would start to weaken.

A peace treaty would eventually be signed, and each group would symbolically take a piece of crystal. When united, the crystals could be used in a lighthouse (a building used by earth ponies for navigation, easily accessible for pegasi and receptive to Unicorn magic) for some not yet explained governmental function.

But... the relationships would still be tense. Eventually the meetings would stop happening all together, and the tradition would be lost. Similarly, Magic would slip away.

Earth ponies would turn more and more to technologies to solve their problems. Its the most practical way. You need something lifted? Make a crane. They would also eventually move back to shore when their own magic calmed down, for better access to building supplies.

Unicorns likely turned their energy storage into pre-set spells, and compensate using the crystals around them. This ties to the jinxies - the ritual to ward them off may have been a misinterpretation of an emergency stop signal. Someone sets off, say, an old mayonnaise machine that no one knows how to maintain and actually holds ancient stinky product? YOU IMMEDIATELY BEGIN THE EMERGENCY STOP RPOCEDURES AND BEG FOR THE OFF SWITCH TO STILL WORK.

Pegasi would have had to move closer to the mountain, and begin building more hoof accessibility into their designs. The large rooms would maintain their very visible impact on the design... but you have to have elevators for those who are slowly losing their abilities. Solid ground becomes more and more of a friend as well, since no one wanted to plummet uncontrollably to their death.

And that is my proposed history of MLP A New Generation.

[printinkling]

Working on this month's map for our Patrons and Jinxie Danger decided it was break time

#printinkling #Jinxie Danger #tortie cat #tortie #office goblin #artist life #artisan #ttrpg community #cat boss #beautiful cats #cats of ttrpg #tortietude

[unexpected-nightview]

Seeing Zhang Rishan setting that picture on fire makes me think of him as a firebender and I am left wondering what type of benders the rest would be.

Nonnie. Just so you know, as soon as I saw this one, I went to @gaiahenshin to scream about this (so a lot of things have to be credited to her). Mhm.

Okay. First a little disclaimer : I haven’t watched ATLA 100% (eps here and there) so the ideas are born from what the elements “evoque”/remind me of rather than following the ATLA canon? So yeah. I’m going to mess this one but. You know. Fun times! :D

Ba Ye : waterbending. This one is mostly due to the fact that waterbending was pretty much inspired by Taichi and I know that it is heavily linked to T/Daoism. Also, Ba Ye does remind me of the water element bc it’s something that is more often than not underestimated when in fact it can be pretty dangerous? Also with the whole versability/adaptability aspect + “hiding secrets”, which can of suit him. Also, to be perfectly honest, I like the idea of Rishan and Ba Ye having opposite elements. Because I do love my clichés ksksks. Qishan : this one is a bit tricky bc on the one hand he is a Zhang, and at first I was going to propose the idea that all Zhangs are firebenders because, quoting Gaia “Zhangs are fire, flashy and burning hot, destruction and rebirth”. But then, the wheels got turned and Gaia and I came to the same conclusion : since Qishan has a mother considered an “outsider”, he could pretty much have another style of bending? Gaia proposes air since the fighting that happens in ep4 seems to give that impression, I would go with either air or earth (bc of his “solidity” and aura/temperament? not sure how to explain it ksksks). Xin Yue : earthbender. Like. No doubts about that. She kind of reminds me of Toph and, again quoting Gaia “solid and unshakable for all her mischief”. Which is absolutely spot on. She was the one doing STUFF while the others were running like headless chickens. Periodt. Yatou : waterbending, for the same reason as Ba Ye in the sense that she hides a depth and strength within herself (yeah, we are going to rescue whatever we can from that writing just saying *sideglances the script*).

Er Ye : honestly at this point I just wished the whole bending thing could allow having more than one element (not in avatar style, but...yeah). Because with him I see both air or earth bending? Air bc of his fighting style and earth well. Because I think this element was associated with the melancholic temperament? But yeah. Up to debate that one. Huo Jinxi : again. AGAIN. I’m torn. Because the Huo’s techniques strike me as “air-ish” but the clan has a heaviness to it, a certain “unmovable” vibe that reminds me of earth? Also there is the contrast of having a clan that follows a matriarchal rule, that could be seen as frail and dainty but then they are throwing boulders at their enemies... Xiao Ge : firebending for sure. Wouldn’t put it pass him to use either electricity or blue flames bc he runs hot like that. Also there could be something to be said as him having a more “destructive” bending but using it in the softest, gentles ways etc etc. Kind of making a point of fighting for his new purposes with something that he might not cherish that much? IDK. Wu Xie : air. This chaotic dumbass cannot be anything other than air (intellect, chaos, free will etc). Catch him if you can. Pangzi : I would say earth but now I’m wondering if either water or air could work with him??

#this is a collaborative work #just saying #so yeah you all can add ideas or the other characters #I'm curious to see what you all think #👀 #the mystic nine #the lost tomb #dmbj #Anonymous

[sangennaro]

last night at work I did 26 lines. 39 the night before. Seems like my pattern tends to be slogging guiltily around on the internet for 3.5 hours, then 3-4 focused on the poem. Both of those blocks often include some amount of scouring online for info on correspondences or historical details or whatever. Canto7 is now 26 stanzas and wants at least 10 more. But I highly doubt it needs as many as 20 more. We're at 2034 lines now. There's still a couple inserts necessary in the earlier cantos, but I've got them all listed on a 3/4s of a 8" page and some of those are already in the bag. Told the bookclub I hope to have a full first draft for them on the 21st. Hopefully that's not jinxy. I'm covering for a coworker who had a death in the family tonight and tomorrow, though, so even if I only work at work it's 4 more nights of Graveyard Shift Zone +1 the night right before next bookclub for a full night of rhythmic resmoothing that's prob wanting in the earlier cantis.

I'm going days at a time without looking at my twitter feed now. It's March, the real first month of the year, so I'm kinda hoping to slide into not looking at the feed at all. I'll look at the notifications. And do links when a thing comes out or w/e.

Not to sound like some kind of bad man, but it feels real dumb and dangerous to express earnest sentiments online rn. Especially for someone as bad at relating to squares and sloppy at expressing themselves as rcjk.

Havent started music for the PCC PSA yet. Haven't even pretended I was gonna start. I was set on a Nyman-alike tune but I'm a little hoping that maybe I can make a Chet~alike or Bill Evans-lite~alike work?? It would be so sweet to make tunes especially suited to my luxury graveyard shift environment. It's calling to me. It's knocking on the inside of my chest-- "make the cool nightsound ound ound oun ou"

[wardencommanderrodimiss]

Witches, Chapter 18: I hope you are enjoying these next few casefic-intensive chapters because once we are done with this orca case we are not ever spending this much time on investigations ever again. no, not even for the plot relevant ones. I am only half joking.

anyway, with the holidays over, time for regular updates again.

[Seelie of Kurain Chapter Masterlist] [ao3]

[Witches Chapter Masterlist] [ao3]

----

Pearl wants to come with Phoenix and Athena to the aquarium to help investigate, rather than stay with Trucy (and Apollo) at the office. It only surprises Phoenix a little - Pearl seems like she’s taken a liking to Athena, and definitely to the aquarium critters. 

And she and Trucy can’t possibly have more to talk about, can they? They were awake nearly the whole night talking, filling in the recent years that had passed without seeing each other. Every time he caught a bit of conversation, it was Trucy relaying the story of the cases when she stood as co-counsel to Apollo, of chasing down Tenma Taro and digging up Thalassa’s mitamah (with Apollo), of simply hanging out with Jinxie, with Vera, with Apollo. Apollo, Apollo, the ever-constant thread through the past year, and when he saw Pearl’s face she was concentrating intently, one hand closed around her own wrist. She’d figured something out, surely, made connection between the golden bangle on Apollo’s wrist and golden magic on Trucy’s that marks every Gramarye he’s ever met. But she said nothing, just waved at Phoenix when he told them he was going to bed. 

And then two hours later he saw them again to tell them to turn down the music, because Trucy was introducing Pearl to the Gavinners’ backlog and had gradually been kicking the volume up to see what she could get away with without waking Phoenix.

Teenagers.

This afternoon, he’ll be saddled with Pearl and a different particular exuberant and loud teenager, and Athena is excitedly encouraging Pearl that of course it’ll be great and helpful to have her along, and Pearl says that she doesn’t really know what she can do, besides coaxing Rifle close, and won’t she just get in the way—?

“I’ve got an idea of what you can do!” Trucy scrambles away from one of her magic-prop shelves, something tucked away behind her back. “You need to check out the blood stains at the bottom of the orca pool to make sure that the murder really happened there, right? And maybe check for more blood to see if the murder could’ve happened somewhere else that doesn’t pin the blame on Ms Buckler! I have a solution” - she giggles and Apollo rolls his eyes - “for that!” She shoves a bottle of Luminol, and several pairs of the accompanying pink-tinted glasses, at Pearl. “Here you go! One forensics kit!”

Pearl gingerly accepts the bottle, holding it like it’s either fragile or dangerous. “And don’t forget the most important part of forensics!” Trucy’s snickering increases in volume. Apollo groans. “White powder!”

“Huh?” Athena asks, as Pearl accepts the fingerprinting powder and Apollo stifles unwilling laughter in his hand, the kind of laughter when a joke is funny but the listener is so annoyed with the joke that they don’t want to laugh. Phoenix has no idea why they are both acting like this over fingerprinting powder. 

“White powder,” Trucy repeats, grinning devilishly. “Guaranteed pick-me-up for even the grumpiest detectives!”

Apollo groans. “Really, Trucy?”

Athena turns to Phoenix. “Er, Boss…?”

“Oh, fingerprinting powder,” he says. “Good idea, Trucy. Maybe that’ll help us figure out who was on scene.”

“Oh, that’s - ooh.” Athena nods, rubs the side of her neck, and looks strangely relieved. “Oh that’s what that is.”

“Great news, Apollo!” Trucy, grinning, leans toward him, and he gives her shoulder a shove to hold her back away. “You’re now not the only one who’s thought that Daddy and Ema do cocaine!”

“I never thought that!” Apollo yells. His voice ringing through the office drowns out the sound of the single Psyche-Lock that clicks into place.

“What?” Phoenix asks.

Trucy is still grinning and Apollo places his free hand over her face. His own face is turning red, red as his suit, red as the blessing marked on his skin that Phoenix sometimes Sees. “You just - you just told us to go get some white powder from the office and give it to her! And you didn’t say what it was and we couldn’t tell what it was—”

The lock shatters and a wheeze works its way up from Phoenix’s lungs. “You thought that I - I described it as ‘white powder’ because I didn’t expect either of you to know what fingerprinting powder looked like!”

“You could’ve told us what it was and what it looked like!”

Trucy wrenches herself free from her brother and tumbles over the back of the couch, laughing loudly like this is the funniest thing in the world. And okay yeah, Apollo’s mortified expression and color is pretty funny. “Yeah,” Phoenix says. “I guess I probably could’ve told you what it was.”

He’s not gonna regret that he didn’t tell either of them, though. 

“Hey, Polly, where are you going?” Trucy calls. Phoenix takes the Luminol glasses from her.

Apollo throws his hands in the air, stalking off toward the back room. “I’m going to go hide in the kitchen and hope the door disappears so that no one can follow me! Mr Wright, let me know if there’s anything you need help with for the case.”

“Sure thing.” It’s nice of him to offer to help, even when he’s being reminded of all the shit that Phoenix has said to him and put him through. He’s a good kid.

“Wait, the - oh, yeah, you said we have a magic kitchen yesterday, didn’t you?” Athena frowns, watching Apollo leave. “How does that work?” 

“Well,” Phoenix says, “the first part of it is that you stop actually questioning it.”

Magic works under certainty, after all.

-

Pearl wanders off almost immediately after they arrive at the aquarium, saying she wants to find Rifle and start “forensicking” everywhere she can. “Don’t use it all up before we get to the crime scene!” Phoenix warns, and she turns a very serious stare on him and assures him that under no circumstances will she run out of Luminol. He doesn’t question further, finds it pretty safe to assume that it will be magically regenerating because she thinks it should and needs it to. “Oh, and if you find Mr Rimes, give me a call and let me know where you are. I think we should probably question him again too.”

Athena watches her disappear through the blue gloom of the Aqua Tunnel. “I didn’t get the sense that she had a cell phone?”

“Yeah, she doesn’t.”

“So - you want her to borrow Mr Rimes’ phone or something?”

Fulbright at the orca pool, which is half-drained while Orla whistles sadly from far below, doesn’t let them wander around and trip up the police investigation. But he is amenable to answering some questions and takes all of Athena’s pointed, furious “Objections!” well in stride. She’s still pissed at him for arresting Sasha and Phoenix wonders, were Blackquill a normal prosecutor who was able to come investigate crime scenes himself, were he here now, how much would Athena be yelling at him? Her reaction to being told it was him on the case, yesterday, made Phoenix think she was afraid of him, but that wasn’t what she showed in court today. She acted more angry than afraid. 

Maybe that’s just what she does with fear: turns it into anger.

Fulbright explains to them that Sasha confirmed earlier in questioning that she was in the orca pool room at that time, doing some cleaning, the last person to use a key card until the body was found. And the last time the victim was seen was with her, arguing with her. Athena flails about with a few more distinctly unlawyerly objections and then falls sadly quiet, lets Phoenix take over. Before he ushers them out, the detective gives them some prescription medication of Sasha’s to pass along to her. Phoenix accepts it while feeling that this is horribly intrusive of them, important as it probably is for Sasha to get these. Because, sure, they said to Fulbright that they intend to represent Sasha, but he still actually has no idea whether she wants them as her lawyers. His defense got her arrested, after all. 

At the Pub O’ Danger, they find the laboratory that DePlume was loitering around unlocked, and meet the aquarium’s veterinarian, Dr Crab. There’s a certain kinship Phoenix feels with the man - he might be incredibly, uh, crabby, but he’s fallen asleep in his mess of a workspace and that is intensely relatable. He also has a penguin chick living in his hair, harassing him, like an antagonistic version of Blackquill and Taka. (As far as office environments go, better a fae ghost harassing him than a penguin, Phoenix will say.) Dr Crab wasn’t around on the day of the murder - he was over doing some business at the Supermarine Aquarium, which of course Athena knows a lot about, across the city - but the night prior he was the one who witnessed Sasha and Shipley arguing. He sends them off with that information and tells them if they find Rifle to send her back to the lab. 

Not that Phoenix knows how to direct a penguin to do something, but the point is moot when they run into DePlume first, who’s furious at them for blowing up her testimony in court today. Perks of being the boss - Athena wants a fight, so she can handle the questioning, and Phoenix can duck out of the line of fire, DePlume’s ire. Her line of ire. 

Among her other various conspiracies, they learn from her that Jack Shipley’s death came on the one-year anniversary of the orca trainer’s death, which now that they know Shipley wasn’t killed by the orca, can’t be a coincidence, can it? She also tells them that the orca song she heard, when she saw the body, is the old orca song from the show last year, which is not the song in the show Athena knows. It also can’t be the song Orla knows how to sing because Sasha said she knows exactly one song - the one Athena knows - and that still makes that orca a better musician than Phoenix. 

There is a lot afoot at this aquarium, but how it all pieces together is anyone’s game. 

On return to the orca pool, they find Pearl sitting on the edge, her feet dangling over the 65-foot drop, her sandals barely held on her toes, and her expression primly unconcerned with the prospect of falling. “The ghostly detective said that they’re done investigating here and we could look around if we wanted,” she says, springing quickly and precariously to her feet, balanced right on the edge, and Phoenix’s heart seizes up. 

He’d also be a little more worried about her epithet for Fulbright if he hadn’t been sure to assess the detective himself yesterday, which he could do then because unlike in court in April, Blackquill wasn’t around spinning everything out of control. “Because of his white clothes?” Phoenix asks, and Pearl nods. 

“He is bright, isn’t he,” she says. “But he’s also not very bright at all.”

Phoenix fails to swallow all his laughter and it emerges from his nose as a snort. 

“With Fulbright gone we can do anything!” Athena says, with blatant disregard to the police officers still guarding the scene. Phoenix makes a slashing motion across his throat; they’re going to need help, someone operating the hoist, to get down into the orca pool. (The pool that he really, really wishes wasn’t so deep.) 

They all clamber onto the ladder platform. It makes total sense that there’s a way to raise and lower people to the bottom - they have to clean the tank, after all - and Phoenix further wishes he had no idea of it because imagining the moving, before they actually even start moving, is making him sick. He squeezes his eyes shut and grips the railing for dear life. One of the girls pats him on the arm. The whole platform shudders and screeches when it halts. “Mr Nick! It’s time to start forensicking! Do we use the Luminol here?”

“Right.” Phoenix pries his eyes open and regrets it when he sees Pearl leaning half off of their little platform, over the side of the orca pool that doesn’t have any water - there’s a little divider put up in the center, and Orla floating and fweeting sadly on one side where the water is about fifteen feet deep. Pearl begins spraying the Luminol with gusto: over the floor on the drained side, over the props on the drained side, over the water side, over—

“Oops! I just got some on Orla…”

Oh, he’d thought that was on purpose. “Nothing’s happening,” Athena says, peering over the railing, and Phoenix wants to grab her by her jacket collar and pull her back, even though this fall is a survivable one. They might have proven Orla’s innocence, but the idea of Athena falling in the water with her still makes him incredibly nervous.

“We need these special glasses to see the chemical reaction,” Phoenix explains. “Here.” He offers a pair to each of them.

Pearl happily accepts, but Athena squints over them and turns them about in her hands. “That’s quite a fashion statement, huh? Doesn’t really go with…” She holds them up against her jacket and then slips them on.

They don’t go with anything, which is why no one but Ema uses them as a permanent wardrobe piece. But they do their job, showing a blue reaction over the skull rock, which must’ve been the point of impact, and on Orla herself, which is strange because while she was bleeding, it was under her hat, and she’s still wearing that hat. And if she was bleeding underwater, the blood should’ve just floated up through the water and not landed on her tail.

“I don’t think we can take a picture of this, exactly,” Athena says. “I usually just have Widget scan things or snap photos but - maybe if I put the glasses lens up to my phone camera—”

“You’re going to drop it in the water if you do that,” Phoenix says.

Athena shoves her phone back in her pocket and sounds indignantly teenager-ish as she says, “Fine, I won’t try that.”

What’s he talking about? She is a teenager. 

“Can you just draw on your picture?” Pearl asks, lifting her glasses up and balancing them on top of her head. With her pink accessories, it almost does fit her fashion. “And mark the general areas that we saw the marks in?”

“Great idea, Pearly! Now let’s see here…” Athena taps Widget and projects one of its screens. 

Phoenix inches cautiously past her to look down at Orla. The orca really does seem sad. There’s no energy to her whistles today, and while she’s probably unhappy in such a small amount of water, she’s got to be smart enough to have noticed her routine is very disrupted, and Sasha isn’t around. And now a bunch of strangers, really, are crowding down into her pool and spraying around some strange liquid and—

Wait - wait, is Orla sinking? She dips beneath the surface for several seconds at a time and then bobs back up, but her flippers and tail aren’t working to propel her, and she keeps going under for slightly longer each time— “Athena! Pearls! It looks like something’s wrong with Orla!”

“What?” They both shove their way in at the railing to either side of him, leaning out much further than they need to look down. 

“Oh no,” Pearl says. “I got Luminol on her - is that why? What do we do, Mr Nick?”

“We’ve gotta go get Dr Crab!” Athena says. “Hey! Hi! Mr Police Officer Guy! Bring us back up please!”

“Where is he?” Pearl asks. “I’ll go, quick!”

“His office is by the Pub O’ Danger, where we met Ms DePlume yesterday!” Athena says. The hoist makes a long mechanical moan and jostles to life again. “But I’m a really fast runner, so when we get out of here, I’ll—”

Pearl vanishes. 

“—go,” Athena finishes. Her mouth stays hanging open, and she blinks several times in rapid succession, her eyes narrowing further each time she reopens them. “Oh, yeah, she’s - wait, Boss, don’t faery rings make flowers or mushrooms or something?” She looks down at their feet. There are no flowers now, just as there were no flowers when Pearl vanished.

“Yeah,” Phoenix says. “Unless there’s a circle already made, but there isn’t so she should have—”

He accidentally glances to the bottom of the pool, now much further away, and regrets it as vertigo kicks in, but he has the answer now, too. “Oh,” he says. “There is. The whole pool is circular.”

“Ooh, that’s clever. She’s really clever.” Athena remains on the platform, while Phoenix stumbles back onto the solid aquarium floor, away from the maw of hell, the death pit, another horrible, horrible reminder that his fear of heights is very valid. “Hang in there, Orla!” she yells down. “We’ve got help on the way!”

The wait is agony. It’s not a long walk to the lab, and Pearl and Dr Crab will only be running back one way, Pearl has to already be there, but the vet has to make rounds of the aquarium, doesn’t he? What if he isn’t there? What if—

“What’s Orla’s condition?” The doors bang open and Dr Crab barrels in, Pearl hot on his heels behind him. 

What if Phoenix is stressing himself out extra for no reason? That seems most likely! 

“She seemed - really tired? And then she started sinking. Could she be unconscious?” Whales have to sleep, and Athena talked about that somewhere in the mess of everything she talked about this morning, and Phoenix followed none of it but what he can know is that this can’t be a normal orca nap. The species wouldn’t exist if they all drowned when they slept. 

“Son of a bitch!” Crab skids to a halt as soon as he has an angle to see how little water is left in the orca pool. “Who did this?”

“You mean it’s not supposed to be drained?” Phoenix asks. “I thought it was for cleaning - or for the police investigation—”

“I sure as shit never authorized any pool draining!” Dr Crab snaps. “We’ve got another pool to put her in when we need cleaning! You, help me out here!”

“Us?” Phoenix echoes blankly. 

“No, just all the other people hanging out in this room who I guess you can see and I can’t - yes, you three! The black fabric over there, looks like a pirate flag - that’s the orca stretcher! Go get it!”

Athena and Pearl race around the pool and begin flinging props aside to dig up the stretcher. “Now, you—” Dr Crab points at Phoenix. “The hoist controls over there, get to them!” Phoenix obediently hurries over to the control box on the wall. “Lower it down part way - we’ve got to hook the stretcher on it, drop it down and get Orla on it.” 

“Won’t it be hard to get it under Orla?” Athena asks. She and Pearl are dragging the stretcher back as fast as they can, to where the winch has lowered the hooks down far enough that they would be able to attach something to it. Right, Sasha said that they can move props this way, too; the track the hooks are on leads all the way outside.

“It’s tricky, but we should be able to slide it in around her,” Dr Crab says. “It’s easier when the water level is up here and Sasha or Jack would just go in and hook it around her from the water—”

“I can do that!” Pearl says brightly, wrenching the stretcher out of Athena’s grasp. Athena, taken off-guard by the unexpected display of strength, stumbles and lands on the ground. Holding each of the stretcher poles in the middle in front of her, making a kind of canopy, Pearl runs around the edge of the pool until she stands above the side with Orla and the water, and jumps.

Athena shrieks; Dr Crab lets out a startled yell. But Pearl doesn’t fall. She floats, the stretcher puffed up like a parachute, the air itself cushioning her and easing her down, like a leaf drifting slowly down from a tree on a windless day. 

It’s fortunate that Pearl never attended school like she once wanted to, with Trucy, to learn more human subjects. Having a basic understanding of physics would really cramp her style. 

His curiosity overcoming his fear, Phoenix inches closer to the edge and peers down. Pearl lands gently on the water that turns to ice beneath her feet. She drops the stretcher in the water next to Orla and runs around her, ice appearing wherever she steps and disappearing as she raises her foot, and then the ice disappears from beneath her, sinking her into the water so that she can swim under Orla, grab the other side of the stretcher, and bring it back under her. “Lower the hooks!” she yells up, and Phoenix finally realizes again what they’re supposed to be doing and runs back over to the controls.

“That girl certainly isn’t normal,” Dr Crab mutters. His voice isn’t quite low enough for it to be said only to himself, but it is out of the range that Pearl, from the bottom of the pool, could hear. “Here, she’s got the stretcher attached. Raise it back up.”

Phoenix hits the last button to do that and approaches Dr Crab again. “You uh - why do you say that? About her—”

The question is not a good one in the slightest, but it’s something Phoenix heard a lot with Maya and Pearl and he learned to respond almost instinctively, heading off any questions about any little suspicious behaviors or appearances. Never was it something this blatant - but Dr Crab can’t know all that history behind Phoenix; all he knows is that he just asked an amazingly stupid question. “Hey, buddy?” he says and Phoenix braces himself. “You sure you’re a real lawyer? Or is this why you’ve fallen to defending orcas?”

Phoenix winces. He could’ve taken the general what are you, an idiot? question in stride, but that particular turn of phrase stings more than he expected.

The stretcher, Orla lying on it, rises up to the poolside. Pearl clings to one of the hooks that holds the stretcher, dangling in some well-meant attempt to give Orla as much room as possible. She stretches out a foot onto the floor but she’s still precariously balanced holding the stretcher, half of her body still over the far drop to the bottom of the pool. Athena rushes over and extends a hand to her to pull her to safety.

“All right, get back, all of you.” Dr Crab waves them off as Orla and her stretcher are lowered onto the floor. “Give me some space to figure out what’s wrong.” This time, his mumbling does seem like it’s only to himself. “Could she have eaten something? Gotta empty her stomach…”

Phoenix turns around and stares at the walls. He does not want to see or know how one gets the contents of an orca’s stomach back out. “Um, excuse me, Mr Doctor?” Pearl says quietly, and Phoenix hears the hesitant shuffle of her sandals across the floor. Dr Crab grunts an acknowledgement of her presence. “We were investigating the crime scene and I got some Luminol on Orla by mistake. Do you think that…?”

“What? Luminol? Nah, that stuff’s no problem. Just washes off. Orla’s condition’s got nothing to do with you, young lady.”

“O-oh.” She sounds the kind of relieved where there’s still a lot of fear left over, but one tiny little piece of it has been lessened. “And, um, I—”

“Oh that’s gross.” Athena pops up at Phoenix’s elbow, a thousand-yard stare turned on a blank stretch of wall. “I’m not really - urgh.”

“Don’t have the stomach to be an animal caretaker?” Phoenix asks, and she shudders. Apparently not.

“Listen, missy.” Dr Crab hasn’t chased Pearl off yet. “You don’t have to say anything else. Jack had a policy for aquarium staff, that he didn’t care who or what you were as long as you could do your job well and be safe doing it. And I’ll stand by that - you helped out, I don’t care about the rest, now the best way for you to keep helping is give me space to do my job.”

“O-of course.” There is the sound of Pearl shuffling back, and then she’s squeezed herself in between Athena and Phoenix. “Poor Orla. I hope she’ll be all right.”

“We’ll check with Dr Crab in a minute, once he’s not so busy.”

Can this be a coincidence? The owner dead on the anniversary of the trainer’s death; the orca sick once she’s found to be a framed innocent in the owner’s death. Does someone have it out for Orla? For the whole aquarium at large? What if it’s a ghost? The ghost of the dead trainer, out for revenge on the captain who didn’t protect her from the dangerous animal they worked with, and on the animal itself?

It seems a little absurd, but a ghost wouldn’t need a key card to get in the orca pool room. The biggest problem is that ghosts are very rarely actually real ghosts, but he’ll file that thought away in case they don’t come up with anything else. Blaming magic should be a last-ditch resort, because Blackquill will probably make a show of not believing in magic or fae even though he’s undeniably something more or less than human, and Edgeworth is already going to want to wring Phoenix’s neck for taking an orca to court. They haven’t actually spoken about this, but he has to know because he signs off on everything Blackquill does, and that he hasn’t offered Phoenix congratulations yet on regaining his badge seems - telling. 

(He’ll sort it out with Edgeworth later. The case always comes first.)

“I’ve gotta go rustle up some crew members to refill the pool.” Dr Crab jolts Phoenix back to present, pressing matters. “And return to my rounds. You stay here until I get people sent over.”

“Is Orla gonna be all right?” Athena asks. 

“She’ll be fine. She’s sleeping now - bit of time out of the water won’t kill her.”

“What was wrong?” Pearl asks. Now that they’re looking back at Orla, they can see a heap of mushy half-digested fish on the floor near her. 

If Phoenix had any thoughts of being hungry left, after the traumatic heights experience of going down into the pool, they are long gone. 

“That’s none of your damn business!” The return to hostility from Dr Crab makes Pearl jump. Brave man, to know what he’s snapping at and still do it. “I don’t need to share everything with you people!” He stalks off toward the doors. 

“Wait,” Phoenix says. “If you’re going to get other staff - there’s got to be lots of people who work here, right? Sasha’s a suspect because she’s got the key card for this room and used it, but couldn’t she have let people in to help her clean?”

Dr Crab turns a withering stare on him. “We run a real skeleton crew during closing hours,” he says. “Me, Jack, Sasha, and Marlon, usually. Time frame for his death, you’re not really looking at anyone else.”

Which only gives them two other suspects. “But there’s so much aquarium!” Athena says. “How do you possibly clean it all and feed all the animals and still have time to sleep?”

“Most of the animal feeders are automated once the prep work’s done,” Dr Crab says, “I don’t sleep much because of this little shit” - he gestures at the penguin chick tucked half-asleep in his wild cloud of hair - “and the rest is none of your damn business either!”

“Sasha says the captain might’ve been a witch,” Athena calls after him. “Does that have something to do with how—”

The slam of the doors echoes loudly through the huge room. 

“I bet that’s it,” Athena says, satisfied with herself. 

“We should take a look around,” Phoenix says. “Before anyone else gets here.” Every new occurrence pushes this closer and closer to conspiracy in his mind. Dr Crab’s behavior is the tip of an iceberg in a long line of other icebergs. “And we should probably take a look at” - he presses his mouth closed over a reflexive gagging - “the contents of her stomach.”

“Oh, I’ll do that for you,” Pearl says brightly, but she slows as she approaches the fish remains, obviously not quite as cheery at the prospect as she pretends to be. She crouches down next to the pile and begins tentatively sniffing the air above it. Then she relaxes.

“Isn’t that awful?” Athena asks. “If you can smell dried blood and - whatever, isn’t a pile of fish guts just nasty?”

“It’s a very very strong smell,” Pearl says, “but it’s not as bad smelling as it looks.”

“I’ll take your word for it from over here,” Athena says. 

“It’s probably subjective,” Phoenix says. 

Pearl, still crouched, shuffles forward until her toes are nearly in the fish slush pile. For a moment she intently studies it and then her hand darts out, plunging her forefinger and thumb in and pulling back almost immediately with something colorful pinched between her fingers. “Here,” she says, dropping it in her other palm, and licking her fingers clean of partially-digested fish. 

The wave of nausea that passes over Phoenix is more like a tsunami. “Pearls…” She freezes and stares at him. “Don’t tell me Maya’s been that bad of an influence on you, too.”

“Who else has she influenced?” Pearl asks, very carefully not acknowledging the accusation leveled against her. The answer is still obvious. 

“Iris ate garbage can pizza crust,” Phoenix says. 

“Oh.” Pearl ponders that for a second, rolling whatever-it-is that she’s found around in her palm. “She didn’t always?”

“No.” Phoenix, at age twenty, dumb as he was, would not have dated a girl who ate pizza crusts out of the garbage. He had standards, but of the sort where he was still convinced that women were mythic beings incapable of grossness. Phoenix at age thirty-four is pretty sure no matter who he dates, he himself is the garbage pizza crust person in the equation. 

“Pearly, you know Iris?” Poor Athena. She’s so far out of the loop that she can’t even see it. 

“Of course I do! She’s my sister!”

“Oh! Oh, she did say something about having a sister, I think.” And that could be one of two people, depending on what she said, and surely it was Pearl, because there are some things that Iris doesn’t mention the way Phoenix doesn’t mention those same things. Knowing that doesn’t stop the momentary flinch. Maybe nothing will. Maybe time, but this much time still hasn’t been enough. The mark around his neck doesn’t fade, nor does the red in Iris’ hair. 

“So I guess it’s not that weird, Mr Wright knowing all of you,” Athena continues. “He just knows a family of you. That makes sense!”

“No,” Pearl says. “It’s still kind of weird.”

“So what did you find, Pearls?” Phoenix interrupts. He knows it’s weird. He doesn’t need Pearl divulging anything more on that front. 

She extends her hand, showing a red-and-yellow capsule with some faint writing on it, 3 Zs. “Sleeping pill” is his first thought, based on that, but he wouldn’t put it past drug companies to have it actually be something entirely different. “Huh? Some medication?” Athena asks. “Was Orla sick before this too? We should ask Dr Crab what this is for.”

It seems sort of nice - naive? - that her first thought is that it’s medication Orla is meant to have, and not someone trying to drug her. With all that’s happening he can’t count it out. “We shouldn’t,” Phoenix says. “I think he’s hiding something about what’s going on with Orla, and if we show him this he might try and take it.”

What Phoenix can say about being threatened by the mob and tazed and threatened by a different gangster and such forth is that, eventually, he sort of learned the lesson to take care in who knows what he’s investigating. 

“I wouldn’t let him!” Pearl closes her fist around the capsule and shakes her sleeves back. 

“I know, but we still don’t want to go around starting fights.” There is no reason for them to try and explain how the aquarium’s veterinarian ended up smacked through two concrete walls if they don’t have to. “We can ask for Apollo’s help when we get back to the office.”

“Or I can just go now!” 

Without waiting for a response - though Phoenix does call after her, “Yeah, sure thing!” - Pearl races around the pool to the far side where the pile of props has been scattered into more a field of props, and the marker to play volleyball with Orla is painted on the floor. It’s an yellow circle, with two orange footprints inside of it; Pearl bounds into the circle and vanishes, not all at once, but as her body passes into the line of the circle. It’s a sight he never really gets used to. 

He hopes Pearl explains where the capsule was found so Apollo can take appropriate precautions, like finding gloves - Phoenix is pretty sure there’s got to be a box of rubber gloves that Ema dropped off at some point - or a plastic bag or not putting his hands anywhere near his face because they plucked it out of orca puke. He should have told her to be sure to mention that. She probably won’t mention that. Ah well. Apollo, and Trucy if she joins in, should be fine. Orca barf probably won’t kill them. 

Probably.

“What’s taking her so long?” It’s not even been a minute, he’s pretty sure, and already Athena is antsy, hopping back and forth foot to foot, ready, now that there’s nothing more they can help Orla with, to head out and investigate the next place. 

“She probably scared the hell out of Apollo and Trucy and has to calm them down before she can explain,” Phoenix says. 

“Apollo probably screamed so loud and when she gets back she won’t be able to hear.” Athena giggles. 

After another minute or two, Pearl reappears, rubbing the side of her head. “Did you scare them?” Phoenix calls over.

“Shh!” Athena hisses. “Orla’s sleeping!” 

Pearl trots back over, her finger held to her lips, shushing him as well, but once she is less than a foot away she says, “Yes. They both shout very loudly.”

“Yeah.” Trucy’s a singer, among everything else she tries to do in her spare time, and Apollo is just loud, and they both probably have their mother’s lungs. Not that Thalassa has ever screamed at him, because he figures she’s probably like a banshee in that if she ever screams at him it’s the preface to his death. He’d probably deserve it if he got her to that point. 

“The detective said he was going to the show stage when he left here,” Pearl says. “He wanted to speak with Mr Animal Feeder. We should go too.”

Several aquarium staff members arrive half a minute later. Phoenix is glad they missed seeing Pearl’s disappearance and reappearance. He can’t expect them to be as chill as Dr Crab.

Fulbright is nowhere to be seen when they reach the stage; Rimes is there with cleaning supplies, a bucket of fish, no penguin, and all the decor of the show set up all around. It isn’t like the mess of the pool room. These props are actually arranged. A cheery hand-painted “Swashbuckler Spectacular” sign lies propped up on some crates, and a skeleton wearing a pirate bandana sits on a raft moored to the side of the pool with a rope. Can’t have it go careening everywhere and get in the way of where the show action happens, he supposes. 

“Can I start doing forensics here?” Pearl asks. “I want to use the fingerprint powder too!” She’s beaming again, seeming nothing more than a slightly-sheltered teenage girl with an eagerness to help any way she can.

(Which she is, in part, and not in whole.)

“Sure thing, Small Fry,” Rimes says. “You’ve got the run of the place!” Pearl takes that permission by, literally, sprinting off across the stage, to one of the furthest points near the pirate ship. “And how can I help you out, lawyer-man?”

When Phoenix asks, Rimes happily explains to them the mechanics of the show area, about how the hoist track lets them move props and Orla between the pool room, where they practice, and the show stage. He reluctantly trips up and admits to them the rumor that the captain was taking Sasha out of the new orca show; and then, more angry than reluctant, says that he still doesn’t trust the orca not to have been responsible for the captain’s death. “The other day, during practice,” he says, voice low, “I saw that orca take Sasha in her mouth and just squeeze her, around the chest, so bad she couldn’t even blow her whistle. And I shoulda - I shoulda jumped in there and helped get her out, but I didn’t.” He hangs his head sadly. “I’m a weak man. Can’t save anyone. Couldn’t help Sasha then, can’t help her now, couldn’t…”

“I can’t imagine anyone who would want to, or even could, tangle with an orca.” Phoenix wishes he had any real reassurance, anything more than what he always ends up thinking, that saving people is a tricky, terrible thing, and he himself always did everything he could and still telling himself that didn’t let him sleep every night. That’s not the answer anyone wants to hear.

“Yeah,” Rimes says. “No one normal, anyway.”

His hand dips toward his pocket, and Phoenix’s heart dips down into the deep caverns in his chest. It could be an innocuous statement and movement, but when Athena asks if he’s sure that Sasha and Orla weren’t practicing the lifesaver trick and Rimes’ attention turns to her, Phoenix flashes a Sighted glance over him. Rimes is normal, almost, borderline normal, but there’s a dark hollow spot on his chest - the shape of a mitamah, like Thalassa, but not the absence of a soul. Just a crack around the edges, loosened but not lost. And in his pocket, the one he reached for when he said he wasn’t strong enough, the energy that thrums there is the shape of a magatama, near to bursting with deep red, angry power.

It’s not that every time Phoenix meets someone involved with magic, he assumes they’re the culprit, because that would be hypocritical of him because he’s also very involved with magic, and - okay yeah he’s still usually a hypocrite. He makes that assumption often. Sure, it steers him wrong, but he steers himself wrong on cases where he doesn’t make that assumption, either, and there seems to be a correlation more often than not.

Someone who’s made a deal that he can See is always bound up in some shit, he can say that much.

“Mr Nick! Mr Nick!” Pearl hurries back toward them, waving the container of fingerprinting powder. “I found some very strange fingerprints!” Rimes and Athena both turn from their debate - furious argument - over Orla to look at her. “Do you want to hear about - oh!” She gasps, her hand coming up quickly to cover her mouth, and still not in time to hide her large fangs that have slipped carelessly through her glamour. For as powerful as she is, that often happens when she’s very startled. Her eyes are wide, red pooling in the center of her dark irises, staring in shock and perhaps a bit of fear (though Phoenix really, really hopes it isn’t) at something behind them all. “Mr Nick, that’s - he’s—!”

Phoenix turns, and comes face-to-face with Simon Blackquill.

Pearl grabs Phoenix’s elbow, her claw-pointed fingers squeezing him through several layers of fabric, and she presses up close behind him. She isn’t quite keeping out of sight of Blackquill, so maybe it’s not an attempt to hide, but more a message - that she is literally and figuratively behind Phoenix, and if it’s trouble Blackquill wants to make, he will have to reckon with her. 

Considering her, Blackquill’s eyes, irises and pupils both, flash straight silver. Blue is the color of humans’ Sight; red is unglamoured fae eyes. What the hell is that? 

He’s still in handcuffs, still in black, a strange picture in the bright natural sunlight, jaring against the colorful backdrop of the aquarium and the blue sky. And he’s taller than Phoenix realized - across the courtroom, he figured they were more-or-less level, but now it’s clear that Blackquill has several inches over him, a looming shadow able to swallow all of them. 

“Prosecutor Blackquill!” Phoenix’s voice squeaks on the first sound he makes; Blackquill doesn’t acknowledge it even with a condescending smirk. “What are you doing here?”

Translation: I didn’t know you were allowed out anywhere but the courthouse.

Blackquill answers like the words are dragged from him, reluctant, not wanting to bother with the defense attorneys, but knowing that he has to or he’ll get some more patronizing reprimands from Fulbright. “Just some business to attend to.”

“With us?” Athena pipes up. She, when Phoenix manages to sort of turn, despite Pearl’s grip on his arm, to look at her, doesn’t appear as concerned as Pearl. Just - confused, more than anything.

“No,” Blackquill answers curtly. 

Were Phoenix in a gambling mood, both with his life and on what Blackquill is, he’d ask if the prosecution’s important matter is seeing the penguins, but he’s not in that mood. 

“Prosecutor Blackquill very strenuously insisted on accompanying me, so I thought it would be a good chance for him to stretch his legs and get some fresh air!” Fulbright explains, seeming to miss the withering glare Blackquill turns on him as soon as he begins speaking. They don’t really seem to be on the same wavelength about anything.

(Also Phoenix is now more sure that he wouldn’t be gambling if he says the reason Blackquill is here is the penguins. He feels a bit bad for the man, honestly, that Rifle isn’t around, but he also doesn’t think Athena’s heart would be able to take it if Rifle, given the choice, preferred Prosecutor Blackquill to her.)

“Marlon Rimes.” Blackquill’s usage of names has always seemed twisted up backwards, as far as fae custom goes; epithets for all but vanquished foes, while Blackquill doesn’t hesitate to use names, but mostly turns relentlessly mocking nicknames on everyone who doesn’t have his respect. Everything about Blackquill is twisted up backwards. “You will be a witness to the prosecution at the trial tomorrow.”

“What? No!” Rimes flinches backwards. Phoenix steps to the side, Pearl moving with him, to give a clear passage of conversation between the two of them. He wants to be able to see both of their reactions to the other, if either of them notices anything about the other. “Why would I wanna testify against Sasha?”

Blackquill takes a step forward, chains clinking. Rimes stumbles back several paces, opening further distance between them. “Curious that you think what you ‘want’ factors at all into this conversation. Now, come with us.” Another step forward. The air gets colder. The pool water stills and seems to pale. 

“Wait!” Rimes holds up his hands pleadingly. “If I go, who’s gonna feed the orca? She’s got a strict schedule, this afternoon and tomorrow morning, and all of the other day shift keepers are afraid to get near her now! I can’t just go—”

An ill-fated but valiant attempt at escape, but Phoenix doesn’t get to find out how Blackquill would go about responding with his usual, erm, finesse. Pearl instead is the one to push Rimes further into the prosecution’s grasp. “Um, maybe I can help?” she says. The pressure of her claws in Phoenix’s arm finally relents. “I can feed her and call in to the trial tomorrow again if I need to! I’m worried about Orla and want to make sure she’s all right and this way I can stay close to her.”

She hasn’t said much about it today, after her outburst when they left yesterday, but she’s still thinking about that, isn’t she. The reflections. She still wants to help Orla. 

Rimes stumbles backwards another few steps. “Small Fry, you lost your head? You on somethin’? Even the other keepers who’re trained are afraid of her! You’re just a - a small fry, and that orca’s dangerous, y’know?”

“Oh, you don’t need to worry about that!” Pearl smiles, with her lips pressed together, her teeth kept out of sight. “All my friends are dangerous!”

Rimes opens his mouth - closes it - opens it and juts his jaw out and shakes his head and decides that this, whatever this is, is something he is going to accept without further questioning. “Yeah,” he says, and then when Pearl realizes a possible issue with her video-phoning Orla in to the trial tomorrow - that she doesn’t have a video phone - he further relents to let her borrow his. “All right. Thanks a bunch, Small Fry, goin’ outta your way to help like this.” He sighs. “I still don’t wanna testify but I’ll at least see what the police have to say and what they want outta me.”

Pearl, clutching the video phone in both hands, returns to Phoenix’s side, pressing her shoulder into his arm. “And I’ll need to feed Rifle, too, right, Mr Animal Keeper? Is that her bucket of fish right - hey! That’s not yours!”

Every head swivels about looking for Rimes’ fish bucket. Taka goes still but for its head, twitching about to peer at them from different angles with its beady yellow eyes, a fish hanging from its beak. Apparently having decided on whatever it was pondering, it throws its head back and horks down the fish, whole. 

Phoenix, as clueless about hawks as he is most animals, wonders if that’s just how hawks eat, or if that’s a fae thing, like the hound choking down a cardboard takeout container of Chinese leftovers in one gulp, or Maya biting into a carton of ice cream like a sandwich. 

“Let us be off, then!” Fulbright says. “Thank you for your cooperation, Mr Rimes! You’re helping us further the cause of justice, as we will continue as we discuss strategy.”

“Ugh!” Athena’s disgust is very loud and very deliberately acted for Fulbright’s benefit, or the opposite of benefit. “C’mon, Mr Wright, Pearly! We’ve got our own strategy and investigation to do!” 

Rimes skirts several feet around Blackquill, making a few strange hops and skips to get past him as quickly as possible. Fulbright follows, putting himself between Rimes and Blackquill, but Blackquill hasn’t moved at all, instead watching Taka rip apart a larger fish and swallow it in two separate pieces. He blinks his eyes closed and keeps them closed, and, if possible, appears even more exhausted than Phoenix already thought. “You’re wasting your time.”

“Anything we can do to help our client is never a waste of time,” Phoenix says. He’s not going to be baited into a fight, he’s not. There’ll be enough of that in court tomorrow. 

“The police have turned every stone in the course of their investigation. What do you hope to find that they have not? Or perhaps you intend to make something that they have not found, instead?”

“Huh?” Athena doesn’t follow the implication. Phoenix only wishes he didn’t know exactly what Blackquill is getting at. 

“I want the truth, Prosecutor Blackquill, and I believe the truth is that Sasha didn’t kill Jack Shipley.”

Blackquill snorts. “You ‘believe’. First the orca, now Sasha Buckler. You think you can save them both? That you do not damn one by acquitting the other? Admit you do this for your own benefit - for your reputation, a bombastic, sensational case to wash away the prior association with your name. For the money, because this aquarium surely would pay a pretty penny to not lose its main attraction and the only orca trainer it has left.”

“We’re doing it because it’s the right thing to do!” Athena yells. She has the fish bucket in one hand, and swats at Taka with the other, while the hawk attempts again and again to dive down into the bucket and steal another fish. With a clank she lets the bucket drop to the ground - Taka plunges in feet-first - and storms up toward Blackquill. Pearl reaches out a hand, about to grab Athena’s elbow and pull her back, and stops. “You know how not about the money Mr Wright is, huh?”

“Athena,” Phoenix says quietly. “Don’t. He’s just saying this to get a rise out of us.”

“I interned in a bunch of law offices in Europe” - like Blackquill’s supposed to know she studied and lived in Europe for the past seven years - “and most of them weren’t about the money either, but it’d still be pretty soonish that we’d have to talk about fees—”

“Athena,” Phoenix interrupts, more sternly, because he can see where this is going and it’s not going to make him look professional in the slightest. 

“—but with Mr Wright that’s the last thing that ever comes up for our defense, and—”

Blackquill’s sharp laugh interrupts her this time, a sound close to his hawk’s shrieks. “Oh, this is rich,” he says, and in that moment there’s something close to amusement in his tone, but he isn’t smiling even after the laugh, and he drops back into a chilled monotone as he continues. “You certainly aren’t rich, but this is. Sacrificing your students’ livelihoods on the altar of your principles? Concern, is it, for every sad person to come through your door but those that stay closest to you.”

“That’s not true either!” Athena stomps forward and places herself right in front of Blackquill, between him and Phoenix, tilting her head back to stare him in the eyes. Such a stark contrast between them, her fiery hair and clothing the color of the sun and him, dark, drab, and utterly still even with this energetic and furious girl right in his face. “I can pay for rent and food and whatever else I want, for your information, thankyouverymuch, if you even said that not trying to get a one-up on Mr Wright but because you care, which you—”

She gives up, chokes herself off, not another breath to waste on a man who might as well be stone above her. At her sides, her hands curl into fists, and all of her frustration from the words she didn’t finish turns itself into a frustrated, wordless yell. Blackquill lifts his head and turns his face away, surveying the water.

“Prosecutor Blackquill, we should be off!” Fulbright calls. Taka squawks indignantly from its fish feast. “You’ll have plenty of time to argue with Mr Wright and Ms Cykes when you see them tomorrow!”

“Would that I didn’t,” Blackquill drawls. He steps back away from Athena first, but it’s clear this isn’t a retreat, isn’t letting her win, and without another word he puts his back to them. Taka rips a strip of meat off of one of the largest fish, leaving the rest, and flaps up to Blackquill’s shoulder.

“Gah!” Athena’s hands snap back open and she lifts them to her head, digging into her hair like she’s about to pull it out. “I’ve never been so insulted in my life! What an asshole!”  Her hands smack back to her sides and she forces her face to relax, puts a strained smile on instead. “I think I need a second to splash off the anger. Be right back!”

She heads for the pool’s edge, stooping down and splashing some up against her face. 

Pearl snaps into motion, one hand that was resting against the beads of her necklace yanking away, and were it really a necklace it would have broken apart - but the glamour comes apart instead, the four shining beads drifting in a loose formation in the air around her face, and the magatama following her fingertips as she raises her hand. She stops with her hand up to her face, the magatama hovering in front of one eye. The other squints shut and the magatama hums with faint green energy. “He’s very strange, isn’t he?” she asks no one in particular.

Athena, straightening back up, spots an empty bucket lying on its side and grabs it and scoops water into it from the pool.

“Wait,” Phoenix says. “The magatama - you’re using it like - can you not just see him as he is?” Humans who have the Sight don’t need a magatama to peer through. Fae certainly don’t - or shouldn’t. He hadn’t actually considered whether that would help him cut through Blackquill, but his still sits in his pocket, like always, so at the very least, Blackquill’s general aura isn’t a glamour. Not like Klavier. 

“No,” Pearl says. “He’s very good at pretending. He doesn’t want anyone to see him for who he is.” She lowers her hand and the magatama lowers with it.

She’s as vague and directionless with her information as her oldest cousin, sometimes. “And?” Phoenix prompts. “What is he? Can you tell?” “Corpses don’t bleed, do they,” Pearl muses. She might not have heard him asking; she’s spaced out somewhere he can’t follow, puzzling out all that she’s seen and felt, all the little traces of magic that thread themselves around anyone who gets in close. “The heart no longer beats to push blood out.” 

“Pearls?” Phoenix asks again. 

Athena flings the water from the bucket at Blackquill’s back. His shoulders twitch and he flicks his head backwards, like he’s tossing his bangs from his eyes, and Athena shrieks as the water splashes back over her.

“He would throw himself off the gallows willingly,” Pearl says. “He forfeit his life and his soul with his plea, but his heart won’t stop bleeding and he can’t bring himself to cut it out, too. He needs it.”

“Are you being literal or metaphorical when you say mention his soul?” Phoenix asks. Mitamah always refers to the actual, physical - metaphysical? - bit that can be bought and sold and lost, and while they generally use soul in that same way, sometimes the fae get… poetic. Obfuscating. Unnecessarily obtuse, unwittingly frustrating, and sometimes wittingly frustrating, but that’s usually never Pearl. She tends to think she’s being clear when she isn’t, and then she fears she’s been too clear and someone will be angry with her for divulging their secrets, and then she’ll clam up, and Phoenix is left to decode this sort of thing.

His soul - Phoenix has wondered what he is for months. It would help him narrow it down if Pearl would answer. Does she mean he gave up his morals when he committed murder or lied about it - or was it his literal soul? “Pearls? Can you tell me?”

The floating orbs drift back into place, and together with the magatama take shape as a necklace once again. “He won’t let you save him,” Pearl says, very softly. “He can’t let you see.”

Can’t-cant, or doesn’t-want-to can’t? And if Pearl hasn’t answered him directly by now then she won’t, or can’t. Because sometimes Phoenix thinks this is just how they are, of a culture of secrets and caution, and though they don’t tell him to stop, their rambling indirect “answers” are their attempts to politely steer him away from his faux-pas, showing him how he’s supposed to talk instead. And sometimes he thinks that their inability to answer some certain questions is a complex web of magic in their blood and their realm, rules too complex to follow that they aren’t even aware of that leaves them speaking vaugeries. Is a changeling who doesn’t know what she is aware that she can’t lie, or does she not notice this way she instinctively is? Are there some obscure bargains and bylaws and treaties that trip Pearl and Mia in random places and they never notice because twisting their way around the truth is already as natural as breathing?

Athena’s boots squelch with every step she takes back to them. “Hey, what are we talking about?” she asks. “I wasn’t paying attention.” She balances herself on one foot, hopping every so often to keep upright, and peels off one boot, then switches feet to remove the other. “Pearly, you said something about fingerprints before that jerk showed up? Catch me up on that!” 

That’s definitely not what they were talking about, but it’s something they need to know. Pearl explains the prints, made by Rimes’ right hand on the left side of the ladder, the thumb pointing down, like he was gripping it from above, leaning out over the pool. Odd, but Phoenix isn’t sure how to connect it to anything else, and though he always tells himself that the case comes first - Blackquill is still a case that Phoenix will have to deal with, eventually, and existentially, he seems like the most important problem. 

#roddy fanfics #fic: the witches of los angeles

[melon-draws1]

Welp as demand- I mean asked by my friend Issac aka Fall River, I drew one of our favorite Youtubers: Danger Dolan! Note: This was actually really fun to make (not sure why but hey I’m happy with it)

#danger dolan #jinxy-draws #fall river #art