tinyredlawyer - Tumblr blog

[tinyredlawyer]

✨︎ okay THIS TIME the new HD re-release is going to summon everyone back to the RPC right

[tinyredlawyer]

"No, sir," Apollo answered immediately when asked if he was reconsidering his role in this. Not so quickly that it sounded like a lie, but even as he had been asking his question he knew that he would have to defend his commitment, and had the firm response ready. "If I was, I wouldn't be here to help."

Though, regretfully, the amount he could claim to have helped in the end was going to be very little. Being relegated to door-watcher while Mr Gavin did the hard work had him a bit ashamed of himself, which just made him that much more loath to be suspected of having moral shortcomings on top of his obvious physical ones. This time, the best he could do was be attentive and observant and try to avoid convincing his mentor that he had chosen his accomplice poorly... and then maybe he would be allowed to shine next time (if there was a next time).

"This..." Apollo's gaze travelled meaningfully up the length of cord carrying the dead man's body, before turning back towards the door. "Is probably the best way it could have ended for somebody like that."

"But everyone has connections, don't they? No matter what they've done." You and I both do, he could have said, but tactfully avoided making any comparison between their actions and their victim's. "I just don't want anyone who wasn't involved to be hurt by this.

"Or to retaliate."

Leaving the so-clear-it-was-boring coast unwatched for a moment to admire Mr Gavin's finished handiwork, he nodded. "Yeah, it should be safe to leave. Is there anything left to do here?"

@tinyredlawyer - from THIS POST

In spite of Apollo's insistence that the coast is clear, Kristoph remains hypervigilant of the doorway. His fledgling apprentice still has yet to earn his complete trust as an accomplice, and his final remark sparks enough worry to stop mid-way as he prepares to hoist the body up to some piping on the ceiling with much more ease than his partner, suspended by the same cord that had been used to end his life just moments prior.

"What makes you ask that?"

Was anyone going to miss him? This lowlife scum? The thought had never even crossed his mind.

But clearly, it had been lingering on the conscience of his partner -- enough to voice those doubts out loud, to which Kristoph's expression twists with concern. Were they not righting a wrong in the world?

"You're not having second thoughts about this, are you?"

Well. Too little, too late. There's a footstool in the corner, which he uses to gauge the height at which to hoist the body up. It need only be raised just enough to make a hanging and subsequent strangulation look like the most logical possibility. Set the drop point any higher, and there'd be questions as to how this fellow didn't break his neck on the way down.

"You agreed; filth like him isn't fit to go on living."

Kristoph is careful to rest the toes of the deceased upon the stool, and then swiftly kicks it aside to properly set the scene. He watches the body sway, checking to see that the knots he'd tied were secure enough.

Satisfied, his attention returns to Apollo -- and to their eventual exit from the scene. Perhaps he could manage to contribute to that much.

"Well? Is the coast still clear?"

[tinyredlawyer]

Apollo had been staring at his hands, fidgetting with his bracelet in his lap, rather than focussing on his former mentor's injuries and dealing with the combination of hot outrage and sour responsibility they inspired. And Mr Gavin clearly wasn't keen to be looked at either; not in this state, and not by the perceptive eyes that had undone him in court.

But he couldn't keep himself from making eye contact when his good intentions were acknowledged, in a way that nearly sounded like praise, and absolved him of guilt for betraying his teacher. Apollo felt even more the student for that moment (severed by his own hand though that relationship was), as he realized just how far removed his understanding of events was from the perspective of the man most affected. He had almost come to see his own dedication to the truth as something sinister, unable to feel proud of his willingness to sacrifice the trust of the people close to him no matter how noble the cause -- but rather than the first victim of his crusading rightfully resenting it, Mr Gavin was the one to look sincerely sorry, seemingly with no inclination to lay the blame for his situation at Apollo's feet.

Evidence that a murderer still had things to teach him about justice and principles.

He cast his gaze away again, thoughtfully this time. "I'm relieved that's how you see it, sir, but... I still can't think about that trial without getting a bad taste in my mouth. I'm not sure I'll ever be able to believe I did the right thing."

Apollo had spent so much time avoiding the topic, avoiding even thinking about his role in Mr Gavin's convictions, that it felt strange admitting it out loud. If Mr Gavin himself didn't think that Apollo had done wrong, then he had no intention of convincing him otherwise -- but if Mr Gavin was being honest (and Apollo's bracelet would have told him if he wasn't), then he wouldn't repay it by lying that he felt anything but ashamed of what he had done. Implicating his most important professional connection with illegal evidence. He couldn't look that man in the eye and pretend that he thought his actions had been just... no matter that the truth had been brought to light and the real killer had been foiled in trying to allow innocent people to be imprisoned in his stead.

His expression turned odd at said killer's apology. It was already a battle for his conscience to even visit here, to fight between acknowledging the debt he would always owe his mentor and acknowledging the evil that had been committed -- and now he was caught between being unable to hide how much he appreciated the genuine remorse he was shown, and the indignation of knowing that it was misplaced.

"Your actions didn't have anything to do with me, Mr Gavin." His tone was stiff, but careful rather than nervous. Deliberate in trying to communicate that forgiveness had never been on the table, without outright rejecting what he had clearly wanted to hear. "Your victims' families deserve to hear that far more than I do.

"... But... what did you want for me, then...?"

@tinyredlawyer - a continuation of THIS THREAD

"You were doing the right thing. How can I fault you for doing precisely what I taught you?"

Apollo might think him concussed -- as if being knocked around had turned him sentimental. But in the end, he had never meant for it to come to this. No student should ever have to shoulder the burden of their mentor's guilt.

And yet.

Kristoph spares a glance toward his unwanted guest -- and for the briefest moment, he might even appear mournful. Indeed, Gavin had never factored Apollo into his schemes, precisely because he had never intended to let him be involved. His relationship with Justice had come separate to all of that, and their once-friendship had fallen to the wayside as a result.

Bitterly, some part of Gavin was still proud of the way he'd flown the nest and carved out his own career. Even if Justice's unwavering sense of right and wrong had led Kristoph to his own downfall, his conviction to do right was solid and unshakable, and that made him a far better man than most.

Better than himself by miles.

"You can't fix every wrong in the world, try as you might. But I thank you for wanting to, either way -- though you shouldn't have to clean up my messes."

If there was any sort of evidence that Kristoph Gavin, convicted murderer, had done any sort of good in this world, it stood right before him at this very moment. Pathetically loyal, even in the face of his teacher's unspeakable evil.

He turns his face away and rests back into the pillow, preferring not to witness Apollo's reaction to the indignity of it all. It would be easier to continue to play the part of the villain, but he's only human.

"For what it's worth... I am sorry for how my actions continue to affect you. This isn't what I wanted for you."

[tinyredlawyer]

♠️ DEVILDEFENSE, a Kristoph Gavin roleplay blog. -- loved and loathed by eggy!

RULES / ABOUT

[tinyredlawyer]

If only Clay were here to see this...

[tinyredlawyer]

Knowing there were higher priority things on his mind, Apollo carefully didn't respond to Klavier's rambling admission of insomnia outside of a bland "Uh-huh, sure". He could always scold him for is non-sleep schedule later, if this conversation got far enough that he could get an honest assessment of the younger Gavin's well-being that wasn't couched in lyrical metaphors. Until then, he would just try to will Vongole from the other side of the world to go smother her master and force him to be horizontal for a while.

"Don't mention it," he said calmly, but the expression of gratitude felt off somehow. Not that Apollo doubted it was honest or thought it had an ulterior meaning (he'd gotten over his constant suspicion of Klavier's motives by now) -- rather, it was quite obvious it was genuine from the tone of his voice, but he wasn't used to hearing Klavier so... subdued. And as he continued, he was slow and unconfident, pausing and umming his way through explaining his thoughts in a way that didn't befit the glimmerous performer at all.

"Before the Gavinners?" That was going on ten years ago, wasn't it? It was bad enough that songwriters-block had him unable to express the past couple years' worth of complicated feelings how he wanted, but Klavier still had ideas from when he was a teenager that he only now felt allowed to publish. "Well, if the lines resonated enough for you to hold onto them for so long... they probably deserve to be heard. Even if the dressings around them are all new."

Apollo was about to point out again (this time a bit more apologetically) that he was unqualified to help refine music, when he was thanked again. Or almost-thanked -- Klavier seemed to short-circuit mid-sentence and simply mumbled to a stop.

Had he really exhausted himself that badly? Or was this something else...?

"Uh. Like I said... don't worry about it?" Now Apollo sounded awkward and unsure, too. "This is obviously important to you, so even if I'm not really cut out for being your album-editor... I'm here to listen and talk you through. Whenever you're ready, that is."

««

Apollo isn't there to say it, but the guilty look on Klavier's face when asked about how much he's slept can probably be heard anyway. Especially when he says almost too quietly, "...Not really, no. Not on purpose, but... It just. Happened. I promise I napped a few times."

Apollo is certainly kinder than someone like the Chief Prosecutor might be able his behavior, but Klavier still feels chastised plenty. He doesn't like making people worry. But a tiny part of his mind is glad that someone clearly is.

"Thank you." Klavier says once Apollo finishes, clearly grateful. It's nice to be able to speak mostly freely with someone again, considering how long it's been since he's bared his heart like this. Not since before the Themis trial, and before that several weeks before the Tobaye trial. "...I mean it."

"But anyway. Um." He takes a moment to process Apollo's question, and make sure he understands where the other is--because it's clear Apollo misunderstood how quickly the pseudo-album came together. It's still in rough shape (a rough set of instrument parts with the guitar melody and his voice) but still a lot for only a handful of days. "Yes--feedback. You're...you're the first person to know this set of songs exists, really, at least in this state. Um--some of the lyrics are from old song ideas. A couple of lines that have been salvaged from what I wrote before the Gavinners was a thing, and Daryan vetoed the songs they originally came from." A slight waver in his voice, but he recovers fast. "I had thought about revisiting them since the Tobaye trial, since one or two lines have kind of always stuck out as my favorites."

"But 95% of the melodies and about 85 to 90% of the lyrics are all new, and the recycled stuff might as well be fresh, too, because it's changed so much. And...well, I don't really have anyone to help refine things." He's still friends with his former bandmates, but they've all kind of drifted apart in the past few years. Klavier's been busy, and they're all off either doing police work or enjoying their new solo careers. "So. Yeah. Thanks for--for. Mmm."

He's nervous. That's a first, at least in front of Apollo.

[tinyredlawyer]

"That means a lot!" Of all the ways Apollo had imagined this conversation going (most of them badly), he never would have predicted Gavin casually accepting the premise that he could teach law and eagerly offering so much help. It was humbling. "You have a lot on your plate already, so thank you. And... thank you for believing I can do this."

He took it quite seriously that he was being trusted to be worth the effort, even when Klavier was so matter-of-fact about how much support he wanted to give that Apollo wasn't sure he treated it with the same weight. Had he always been trusted this much, underneath all the 'Forehead' cracks?

Though, the laugh at his expense was a return to the familiar. Couldn't go feeling too good about his decision to connect with Gavin, after all.

"You're making fun, but I'm warning you..." (It didn't sound like much of a warning, with him mumbling and squirming in his chair in shame, but obviously Gavin needed it if he hadn't learned his lesson about Apollo's weakness to free food.) "... That kind of offer's going to be really tempting to future-overworked-Apollo-Justice, so-- p-please be more careful with what you say. For my dignity."

He cleared his throat, which helped with his voice somewhat, but not his red face. "Anyway-- it's a bit early to plan for that, right? Let's see if I don't make you sick of me with all of my panicked questions about foreign legal systems, first."

««

Klavier just smiles as Apollo goes on about the eventual legal curriculum that would need to be established, nodding eagerly. "I can at least start organizing things, and when things have calmed down some and you’ll need them, I can sending things over your way. I might stop in to Themis, or pull some strings, and see what help I can get from elsewhere for you.”

For once, the thought of his old high school and his mentor don’t sting. Professor Courte would be thrilled by the prospect of revitalizing an entire country’s system, and especially what would knowledge would be passed on. Klavier is more than a little excited himself, if he’s honest.

He can’t help the laugh that bubbles up as Apollo stutters and flushes in embarrassment, his whole face brightening. “Was, you don’t want to drink away your worries and drown in good food with me?” But he’s joking, mostly, even though he’d be more than willing to make Apollo a very nice meal.

“Well–I like cooking, but we can do something else instead. Take a night to forget toilet cleaning and mountains of documents.”

[tinyredlawyer]

The hydration and the medicine and the caffeine gradually had him feeling more human, but Apollo still didn't have the voice to scoff, and his disdain still barely showed through his uncomfortable mien. As if the glimmerous Eurorocker had any right to call Apollo dramatic, when he was only talking sense. But leave it to a detached celebrity to have no idea why an ordinary person would be ashamed to be in this position.

"Why wouldn't I owe you?" he interrogated back, a little annoyed at the naïveté of the question. Mostly because it made him feel forced to explain how much of a nuisance he was, instead of simply being able to agree to a lifetime of servitude in restitution and never having to relive this incident again.

He counted a finger for each point against his coffee cup, which he was still closely hunched around. "I badgered you outside of work piss-drunk, I wandered into your house looking like this, I made you feed me for free, I probably drooled all over your expensive couch when I passed out--"

"And I don't even remember what I said to you, but it must have been super unprofessional and annoying. You didn't deserve any of this."

No, Apollo didn't want to owe Gavin anything. But it strained credulity to think that he shouldn't for putting him through all that... especially not when Gavin was making the beyond-generous offer to still take him seriously afterwards.

"I know that 'Sorry, my bad' isn't gonna cut it, so what're you giving me a free pass for? You want me to get smashed and do this again?"

««

Klavier turns his attention to his own coffee as he pours a second cup (also black, for now at least) as Apollo takes a moment to wake up more. He hums an acknowledgement of hearing the first minor comment, offering a quiet, "You're being dramatic, it's fine," in response.

He nods once when Apollo asks if he means it, glancing up to meet Apollo's eye as he does so. He frowns, though, as Apollo goes on to ask what he's owed--he pauses in the middle of attempting to step around Vongole to sit in a nearby chair, brows drawing together. "First born?"

"...Why would you owe me anything?" Apollo certainly has a weird relationship with peers in his field, clearly. And he sounds genuinely confused, to his credit, when he speaks. "I don't want anything from you, and I wouldn't ever say that you owed me for something like this."

He's...honestly a little upset that Apollo would think that of him, if he's honest. They may be opponents in court, but that doesn't mean he'd use something like this as blackmail. "I said it can be off the record, so it's as simple as that. Unless you want to owe me something."

[tinyredlawyer]

Apollo's hand closed quickly around his lapel, shielding his attorney's badge in his fist at Trucy's subtle threat. Not that he really believed that his mortal grip had any protective power against her vanishing tricks, but at least the feeling of it pressed into his palm confirmed it was safe from her pranks this time.

He didn't let go -- or let up his suspicious glare -- until he was sure her eyes were off of it. "I'm not much of a hat guy, if we're being honest," he said as he casually tried to smooth the now-crumpled fabric on the breast of his waistcoat. What was the point of putting so much gel in his hair if he was just going to cover it? A cape, though... flattery might sell him on that yet, but he had to at least pretend that Trucy couldn't appeal to his vanity so easily.

His mouth closed into a thin line, just briefly, as it dawned that his teasing inadvertently evoked memories of the hostage situation he had gotten her caught up in at the Space Centre. Even if she was able to treat it breezily, Apollo was still too guilty about his involvement to continue that line of joking. "Good. Keep it that way," was all he commented when she defended herself from his word choice by saying that she wouldn't do such a thing herself. Then he semi-gracefully steered away from the topic and his expression relaxed again. "As stressful as cyborg-Mr-Hat would be to have around, I still don't think he'd make a good replacement Trucy for when you're off being a big star. You'll just have to stay my assistant."

"But you're right... it's been a while since we got to properly team up on a case, hasn't it?" He missed it. Of course, he'd usually felt more like a babysitter than a crime-solving partner when he'd had Trucy tagging along, but she was clever enough to be helpful while still being inexperienced enough that he got to feel smart and in-charge. Athena was objectively more suited to the role, since she was actually a junior lawyer, but he wasn't senior enough in comparison to get the same satisfaction of getting to be the responsible one on the team. "You sure you even remember how to be my defence assistant extraordinaire?"

««

"We~ell, if you're sure! I think you'd look good in a top hat and cape, personally."

With a knowing hum, Trucy just smiles sweetly--almost too sweetly. She wagged a finger. "Whenever it's actually on your lapel, at least! You should triple check it's there more often." (She didn't magic it into her magic panties; not this time, anyway.)

Her expression softens, the look in her eyes turning fond. Polly might not be hard to read, but his earnest and honest nature was endearing. She had missed spending as much time with him as she used to. If only she could ditch school in favor of being at the office without everyone there being mad at her for it.

"…Guess I hadn't thought about either of those things. I bet I could call in a couple favors to the space center. Man, imagine if I had a fully sentient Mr. Hat…!" She beams, knowing it would be both horrifying for people who didn't like her puppet, and incredible for herself. "Though I haven't kept you prisoner, so I take offense to giving you Stockholm Syndrome!! I would never take hostages!"

She pouts a little, pursing her lips and puffing up her cheeks--both at the teasing jab, and the reminder of her schoolwork. "Yeah, yeah." She says, though in truth she probably would prefer to go to him over her father or Athena (though don't tell them she would). "But that way I'd have more time to help you with cases, right? Polly and Trucy, defense team extraordinaire, back at it again!"

[tinyredlawyer]

✨︎ just posting so it's at the top of my blog: I'm back to work so energy & time to write is low, but I'm still lurking here waiting to welcome the inevitable flood of people back into the rpc (🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞) now that Apollo's trilogy rerelease is out

[tinyredlawyer]

✨︎ I love and hate every time I see a fanart of Apollo perceiving, bc they're always so beautiful and dramatic and show objectively excellent command of light & colour & staging in making his eyes glow red or gold or glitter with supernatural power and making it obvious that he's doing something confidently and effortlessly magical

✨︎ but canonically he just has a creepy bug-eyed stare. where's the appreciation for the tryhard interrupting his own cross-examination to HRRNGHH uncomfortably at witnesses while everyone else goes "Mr Justice what the fuck"

[tinyredlawyer]

TOOT TOOT IT'S HIS BIRTHDAY

toot toot it's his Birthday Eve

[tinyredlawyer]

toot toot it's his Birthday Eve

[tinyredlawyer]

Somewhere nearby, someone's glasses shattered from the cacophony of screeches that was Apollo's attempt at caroling.

He is undeterred.

[tinyredlawyer]

The Christmas carolling is a little intense this year, even for Apollo.

[tinyredlawyer]

Counting down the hours to half-priced Halloween candy.

[tinyredlawyer]

Regardless that there was no one in the room to make eye contact with, Apollo felt his gaze instinctively avert at the mention of Daryan Crecsend. Klavier had already assuaged his worries about being blamed for what had happened, but those events were obviously still a painful point, and it was hard not to still feel culpable for his loss. Especially when it was being pointed to as what had brought about this dry spell of musical inspiration, and when it was explained that that had been more difficult for Klavier emotionally than Apollo had ever acknowledged.

The comparison to journalling helped things fall more into place. Apollo didn't know a thing about music or songwriting, but he did write prolifically about his thoughts and feelings, and he could empathize with the catharsis of capturing the things that were hard to say out loud in a different form. The private nature of a journal didn't translate completely to the artsy need to create and share music that 'worked', but it was still easy enough to imagine the struggle of working through more complex feelings without such a reliable aide to express them.

Like, feelings about the execution of someone you looked up to.

"This... week...?" Apollo fell silent for a moment, but anyone listening could probably hear the sounds of his brain frantically recalibrating to this new information. He'd already known that on some level this had to have been related to Mr Gavin, just given the timing of it -- but Klavier suddenly regaining his songwriting ability and recording ten new pieces in less than a week after his brother's death provided much, much different context than Apollo's initial assumption that he had been sitting on a half-finished album for a couple of years and merely taken recent events as the impetus to finish it and send it out. "Did you-- have you slept?"

But that wasn't really what this conversation was about, and Apollo didn't want to put his friend on the defencive by criticizing his priorities in taking care of himself (... yet). "I mean... yeah, I'd be frustrated, too. All of this is a lot to have stayed pent up all this time, isn't it...?"

"So, help me understand. I think I'm mostly getting it already, but 'everything' is a lot to come out at once like this... so maybe talking through it will help you figure out where you can tighten it up. That's why you wanted feedback before showing it to anyone else, right?" Apollo tried to sound focussed on the music; he didn't want to ask directly about anything Klavier wasn't emotionally ready to share, but the pieces were coming together in a way that made him more concerned for his feelings than he had been already. Klavier talked like some part of him that had been trapped was set free when he was able to write again -- but if that freedom was triggered by the death of someone close and took the form of a manic, days-long songwriting episode, was it a sign of healing or of sickness? "Whatever you need, I want to help."

««

"I was keeping out of music...though I didn't really want to. And most people think I have actually quit by this point--I used to balance music and law more easily, but since Daryan..." Klavier sighs, and doesn't feel like saying anything else about it for now.

He falls quiet as Apollo goes on, at first willing to let the offer of harsher feedback to pass before Apollo adds more. It made me want to understand what you have to say.

That was...a first. For Apollo, specifically, who had been quick to say he didn't really like music like what this almost-album was shaping up to be. And it had been a while since Klavier had heard the same sentiment from anyone else, so wrapped up in his own head about it as he was.

He waits, mulling over his words as he lets Apollo finish his thought. After a few moments of quiet, he tentatively starts.

"...Music has kind of been how I express myself since I became more independent, when I was at Themis." Klavier fiddles with the handle of the cup in his hands. "Being able to write music was an outlet for me. Some people journal or whatever; for me, it was songwriting. It was freeing, being able to say what I wanted that way. And then...well. You know what's happened to the Gavinners."

And Kristoph. Even if he isn't mentioned, Klavier can feel his brother hovering behind him, watching and judging.

"...I usually can control exactly what I want a song to sound like. But since that concert....I don't know. It hasn't worked. Nothing worked. I couldn't come up with anything--or, if I could, it was total garbage." He swallows again, thinking. He shakes his head after a moment. "Absolute garbage until earlier this week, and then...everything I'd been trying to write has the audacity to come out after all this time. And these aren't even the same songs I'd been trying to write for years, it's this...this jumbled up mess that somehow works more than anything else has in ages. Frustrated...is putting it mildly."

"...But I'm glad you think it's something worth listening to." He smiles in spite of himself. "Worth understanding."