#lawbnd

Gina slowly pushed the door to the office open, Toby by her side. Ema had told her this was the address of the Wright and Co Law Offices, even though they had long since rebranded to the 'Wright Anything Agency'. True to the name, once the English girl peered inside, she did see at least one bookcase full of legal documents, but then the rest of the room was a mess of stage props and tools used by magicians.

Why had she come here? It wasn't as if Gina was in any legal trouble, and there wasn't any kind of investigation going on. Gina had come for a personal reason though, curiosity. Her great ancestor from the Victorian era, the one whom she was named after, had been involved with a Lawyer from the far east, a legal student by the name of Ryunosuke Naruhodo. After doing some digging, Gina had learned that the descendant of Naruhodo had also become a Lawyer, but was going by the name 'Wright' these days. Now of course, the fact that Gina and Phoenix's ancestors knew each other meant nothing to them now, but Gina was curious to see what kind of person this Mr. Wright was, if he had anything in common with Naruhodo, and if he knew any stories about his ancient ancestor.

She has the good grace to make the comment without actually looking at the screen, offering the opportunity for plausible deniability. They both know that he was definitely planning on putting another cheesy holiday movie on, but they can pretend like there's a universe where that's not the case.

@lawbnd asked: " oh. hey. you were in the royale last night, right? " it's mid to late morning outside one of the many cafes dotted around lumoise and phoenix finds himself striking up conversation with the person sat just opposite him while he keeps an eye on trucy doing what she does best—

gathering a new crowd, in a new city, to witness her amazing magic tricks.

The Royale was, for better or for worse, a great way to get your name known in Lumiose. Leon didn't exactly need the extra help—he was already known enough—but he couldn't deny it was a fun way to meet a lot of new Trainers quickly. The nights simply seemed to fly by whenever he entered, racing through the red-walled zone with absolutely no clue of where he was or going, but enjoying himself nonetheless.

He'd almost forgotten that promotion matches were something he was supposed to be regularly attending. A difficult task, given that his opponent seemed determined to hide away in the most difficult-to-find corner of an already labyrinthine city.

❝ I was, yeah! My team have been finding it a real fun challenge, and it's been a great chance to experiment with some new battle tactics. The change of environment has forced us all to get creative! ❞

This is usually the part where he'd gesture towards his Pokémon, introducing the us in question, but they currently sat enthralled by the young magician's tricks. Even Char was peering over the gathering crowd, trusting Leon not to stray too far from the café table he's currently seated at. A tall ask, perhaps, and something only possible because of the new conversational partner he'd found.

they have a hatred for hospitals in common , it so happens . maybe that's why light is here : he knows that if he were alone , he'd be losing it . he's hugging his coat ( layered over a hoodie , no less ) tighter around his frame , maybe because of the chill , or maybe because he can't help but listen to the heart monitor phoenix is attached to .

" i'm not forcing myself to stay here . " much . " you're just the only one i know whose sleep schedule is as ruined as mine . consider it as me using you for entertainment purposes . " that , at least , isn't far from the truth . light loves to read , but he's glad to have something different to do at 3 AM for once .

Being a defense attorney is an... utterly thankless job. He's thought to himself on more than one occasion over the past few days that he needs to give Phoenix more credit for everything he does, because he's certainly been seeing him in a new light as of late. It's not like Edgeworth hasn't always been impressed by him, though. To him, Wright is...

...Well. That's a topic for another day. At least Edgeworth's back to acting as a prosecutor again now, and everything's finally settling down. Though whenever he thinks of the danger that Wright was in just a few days ago, almost losing his life... it makes Edgeworth's stomach twist in anxiety, and he can only remind himself that what he should be feeling now isn't fear, but relief.

There is... one other thing, though. Something that's been creeping up on his thoughts, that he's constantly forced to think about even when he desperately wants to pretend it's not there. And that... is the topic of the supernatural. Starting with the moment when he was given the magatama, and ending with him being witness to an honest-to-god spirit channeling... Edgeworth didn't really have the time or opportunity to be shocked back then, but when he thinks about it all now, sometimes it feels like his whole world is being turned upside-down.

Perhaps that's a bit dramatic, but... how else can he describe the feeling of realizing that that everything he thought he knew about the world - how it works, what's possible and impossible - has been a lie? On top of that, it feels like his mind keeps drifting back to the topic even more than it should be, as of late... it's frustrating, and though he won't admit it to himself - there's something more there, too. A kind of fear buried deep inside him. A strange sense of something being unearthed. It's... as if the moment he took that magatama, something awakened inside him that he can't yet understand...

...What ridiculous notions.

"Wright. You know, you really should be resting." While Edgeworth knows that Phoenix was given the all-clear from the hospital a while back, he can't help but say it anyway. "I've had a hard enough time adjusting myself. You're not still carrying that magatama around, are you?"

Military K ⚬ Aesthetic ⚬

Me as Munakata Reisi

Lawbnd as Suoh Mikoto 

Trucy's voice sounds so innocent and earnest, but if you look closely, there's strong hint of mischief hidden behind her smile as she shows Phoenix the letter she's holding in her hand. To be precise, it's a love letter, signed anonymously, one that Trucy found mysteriously addressed to her only this morning.

And what would be a better idea than showing Phoenix? Honestly, Trucy doesn't know how he might react at all, but she's sure it'll be well worth seeing his reaction. She is his darling daughter, after all. Though maybe there's a part of her... that's genuinely curious as to his thoughts on it all, too.

"To be honest, I'm not very impressed... but don't you think the effort they put in is worth responding to? I wonder who the writer might be?"

"I can't believe it! What do they know?"

Trucy is clearly fuming as she talks aloud to herself; her arms folded defensively across her chest. Even though it's been several hours since she first became upset, she still can't stop herself being bothered, and that frustrates her almost as much as everything else.

When she's talked badly about, she can deal with that. It's not a hugely common occurrence - Trucy is neither popular nor unpopular at school, and is certainly thought of as odd - but she prefers it that way, and there's plenty of people who've fallen for her charms over time. But when the one they're insulting is Phoenix, too...

"Oh! Daddy!" she exclaims suddenly, just having noticed him moving behind her. Turning around to face him, she quickly plasters a smile on her face, and tries to play it off.

"You can't sneak up on me like that! Who knows what might happen next time? Tee hee!"