Mingle and an Intro: Welcome to the Box!

[gravemanagement]

[ On today, a long-time business has been bought for the day and paid well. Whoever paid it wants people to eat and make merry for some reason. Must be a holiday? Huh, all devices showing the date day it's the new year. It doesn't matter what day it was for you before now, it's not the new year. And you? You are at the Chloe Café at 1:30PM.

Waiters and waitresses will take your order. Really, it's a chill time. Even if you're supposed to be dead? You're alive now, somewhere in Los Angeles, Japanifornia. Welcome and have a good day, because eventually there's gonna be a murder to solve in this big ol' city. ]

Comments

[guiltyguitar]

[ ...

He makes a face. A very, "what the fuck, dude" kind of face. ]

Kristoph. Everything I did was because of you. It was because of you. The only thing I did on my own... was my kind of music. Classical was never my taste.

[ ... Seriously? What's UP with him? He just doesn't get it. Surely he knew how much he hero worshipped him? How much he always had? ]

I looked up to you. I admired you! I studied law because of you. Mein gott. You act like I purposefully want to harm you. You think I wanted this? You think I wanted my brother to end up a murderer? We were supposed to help people! We were supposed to help each other!!

[devilofthecourt]

If you think the world works by people helping each other, then you're a naive fool. Do you think our justice system would see so much use, day in and day out, otherwise?

[ It's the first time the veneer is actually dropped in this conversation, and those cold, dead eyes level on Klavier. They're piercing, like they see through someone to their core. Watching. In fact, if Klav pays attention, it might almost be a little familiar. Just a little. ]

[guiltyguitar]

[ Brr. Those eyes feel like they're crawling down his spine. Hrrrgh. He doesn't like it. It... definitely is. ... Boy, he hates this. But he's not about to let Kristoph, or whatever it is he's become, stop him from doing or feeling what he knows is right.

... Despair could easily consume him. He... knows that. He's seen it firsthand. But he... refuses. He won't... let that happen. ]

... Maybe. Maybe the world is a cold and uncaring place. After all, there'd be no reason for the system in the first place if men weren't hurting each other day in and day out. But... the law exists so we can give everyone a fair shake.

And you're wrong.

Because I've seen it firsthand. I've seen both sides of that courtroom working to help people... working to find the truth. That's what's important. Not who's guilty. Not who's innocent.

But the truth. Sometimes that truth is ugly, ja? But it's what needs to be shown.

[marlonmajesty]

Now tell me... How could a boy born in 2022 be in school if it was 2026?

[ Sheeee has questions on this. ]

[guiltyguitar]

[ ... Pausing. ]

... I suppose that doesn't make much sense, no. What exactly is going on here?

[marlonmajesty]

I suspect something's gone wonky with time, if you don't know your own brother's trial or the beginning of the Jurist System.

[guiltyguitar]

[ ... ]

... I'm sure this is just a very elaborate dream I'm having. Ach! That's got to be it.

[marlonmajesty]

A dream where your brother managed what appears to be a conspiracy spanning seven years.

[guiltyguitar]

[ ... He really, really doesn't want to admit to it. ]

... That seems ridiculous, though, doesn't it? Why would someone go through all that trouble? I can't claim to understand why he decided to murder a random man, but...

[marlonmajesty]

We have spirit mediums who channel the dead including taking on their appearance. Do you really question things that are strange, still?

[ It's a Thing all right. ]

[guiltyguitar]

[ ... Well. He plays with his hair a little. ]

... I see you've read up on Herr Wright's cases. Well... who knows what I believe. But I've never encountered it firsthand. I'm a prosecutor. My job is to live and die by the evidence, ja? Anyone can write anything they want... but that doesn't make it factual.

[marlonmajesty]

...He's why I got into law, actually. I was passionate about it when I was young. Me and my ex used to sit together watch breakdowns of what happened in court. It was silly, but... We enjoyed it.

[ There's nostalgia there. ]

He pulled off what seemed like miracles in the courtroom at times. Matt Engarde, Manfred von Karma, so many cases that just seemed impossible. ...He's the reason for the Jurist System, you know. He felt the law was lacking--that because it require hard, decisive evidence and you couldn't get someone off on anything circumstantial short of a confession on the stand, that it was too easy for innocents to get hurt. ...That's why I became a defense attorney. To help give voice to those who might indeed be a victim themselves.

[guiltyguitar]

...

[ ... Oh. That's... sweet. It reminds him of himself, a little. ]

I just wanted to help people, personally. The law is imperfect. "Guilty"... "innocent"... what matters is the truth, even if that truth is painful. If there are people out there covering it up, trying to get innocents hurt... I want to be the kind of person making sure all the evidence is examined. Making sure I work with the defense, not against it.

That's how it should be, ja?

[ But there's a darkness in his life. Maybe there always had been, now that he thinks about it. His brother... what had lurked inside him, all this time...? ]

I... I went into law at my brother's suggestion. To be honest, music was also a passion of mine.

[marlonmajesty]

...People like your brother... I looked into him a little. On my off time. ...People like him? They become like that because they feel they can't trust anyone. There's a darkness in them, where something happened to them at a young age and it destroyed their innocence. Robbed them of it. ...It's a complicated feeling, seeing you and knowing you're related to him. You're so different.

[ ...She won't tell him. She can't. But he must know--the fate waiting for his brother. ]

[guiltyguitar]

....

[ He looks down. ]

... Funny you should say that. Because he always said I could trust him. You know, I went to Germany just so I could become a Prosecutor sooner. His idea. Their laws are a bit laxer. I started at seventeen.

[marlonmajesty]

...I'm an only child. I don't know what that level of betrayal feels like.

[ A sigh. She'll reach in her purse and produce a carton of pocky, offering him one. ]

Here. It's not much, but...

[guiltyguitar]

[ ... Small smile. The fact he doesn't make a joke about it says a lot about his mood on the subject. He'll take one. ]

... Thanks, Fräulein. You're unusually generous, to be flirting with the enemy like this.

[ ... Well, a small joke. But she can tell he doesn't mean it quite literally. Figure of speech.

He'll take it and toy with his hair with his free hand. ]

There's a part of me that wonders if I should go back to trying to divorce myself from him, like I did in my younger days... I kept my hair short then, ja? Now that I'm older, people don't say, "oh, you're Kristoph's younger brother!" to me quite so much... but... people know we're related.

There's no escaping that for me. You should've heard some of the phonecalls I got when news got out to the press about his initial arrest. "How does it feel to be related to a murderer?" "Were you his accomplice?" "Were all those songs you wrote literal?" "Do you have a bodycount, too?" ... Honestly.

[marlonmajesty]

That's going to happen regardless. You could look as different as night and day, and you'd still get those phone calls. People can be, quite frankly, arseholes. Don't let them tear you down.

[ Honestly she's still unsure about him, but he seems genuine. If he is, he's the unluckiest man alive to be surrounded by so many people who apparently are awful and murderers. ]

[guiltyguitar]

[ Chessa you've studied psychology, you can probably tell he's not a bad person. Nervous? Yes. But not a bad person. ]

Achtung! As if I'd want to hurt someone! I couldn't even bring myself to hurt my ex when she tossed my television out the window that one time a few years back. The only killing I'm interested in would be of a set, on stage.

... Anything less than a killer performance for our fans is doing them injustice. You know what I mean?

[ And if he throws himself into his work and his music maybe he can stop thinking about this.

Although he does pause to sort of look at the crowd that's gathered outside this place and sigh. ]

... Being famous will always have its drawbacks. I'm used to bad publicity by now. If I let that stop me from doing my job... well, I'd hardly be taking any cases.

[marlonmajesty]

Godot... I thought I recognized the visor. I'd wondered, but I suppose I assumed it had just become an expensive but otherwise-used product following your fall...

[ She'll put down the paper and take a sip of her tea. ]

I only just started. My son is eight, and even if we're exes, his father is involved. He also has his grandparents. So I try to be involved where I can be. It's going to be hard, but... I'm sure we'll manage.

[devilofthecourt]

The "truth?"

[ The cold eyes that look at him don't waver. What does Klavier know about the truth, wrapped in the comfortable world of the familiar? Of lies? He doesn't know the skeletons still in the family closet--why they're eight years apart. Why their parents hate each other and can barely stand him. Surely he'd noticed? But no, why would he? He was too busy following the unfavorite like a lost little puppy. ]

You want to know... The truth?

[ There's a dark chuckle. And the smile that slides across his features is a dangerous one. ]

...Are you sure you want to really look at the truth, Klavier?

[guiltyguitar]

I don't know. If I say "yes", will you finally dislodge that stick you've got stuck somewhere uncomfortable?

[ His smile seems easy, but the truth is that he's nervous. Unnerved. He was always usually pretty decent at hiding that, but... that was a habit he'd picked up.

From watching.

Even now, he's not able to escape emulating his brother to some degree. At this point, he wants to feel like his own person. Not "Kristoph Gavin's younger brother". ]

... I said I wanted to clean out the family closet, Kristoph, and I meant it. But it seems to me... like you're harboring some extra skeletons under your bed every night. We're past the point of lying to one another for niceties.

So why don't you explain it to me.

Why you hate my guts so much.

[devilofthecourt]

[ He takes a long drink from his tea. A long one. And then he sits there for a moment, as if thinking. Where to start. ]

Tell me, Klavier. Did you truly never notice? The stricter standards I had placed upon me? The fact that our parents fawned over you while I was forced to smile on the outside, unwelcome? I know you don't remember the incident that gave me this scar. You were far too young--four. But surely you noticed something was wrong with our happy, little family.

[ No. Not happy. It was always, always about appearances. Kristoph had learned far, far too young that the only one he could truly depend upon was himself. So why he'd thought he could depend on Klavier is beyond him. Maybe he'd still held out some hope someone would be there for him, to pull him from the darkness that had consumed him.

No one had. ]

[guiltyguitar]

... I'd have to be blind not to notice.

[ He'd always wondered. In fact, he'd confronted them about it a few times, and gotten stock answers of "he's the eldest, we expect more of him" or something like that.

He never bought it. ]

They were overbearing. Why do you think I left and did my own thing so quickly? You know I value my freedom.

[ The sooner he could get out of that place the better, in his mind. Something about them had always felt like a little bit too much, in every possible way. ]

I thought maybe I was imagining it. Or maybe I was young and stupid. But it always felt like there was a weird tension in the air at home.

[devilofthecourt]

...In late 1993, our mother went to a magic show at a bar. She'd been a fan of the magician at the time. At the time, it wasn't his professional job. It was a side-job he did, to hone his talents. And on that night... He and Mother made a single, irreversible mistake. Mother and Father weren't happily married to begin with--always about status and appearances with the two of them. But it was a mistake that would haunt her to this day.

[ He takes a sip of his tea, letting the weight of that revelation sink in on Klavier. It's a big one. No one would believe that Kora Gavin would have an affair with the man who would go on to become a famous magician. And yet, the proof is right here, sitting at the table, talking to Klavier. It's almost funny how much one singular night could cause so much trouble. ]