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

[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. ]

[guiltyguitar]

[ He's almost too exhausted by life at this point to have a big amusing reaction.

Like. After that trial he's so emotionally drained. And has been for awhile. He had an abundance of free time now that his band had broken up, after all. Free time he threw into yet more cases.

So this is just sort of an, "of course".

He isn't sure what he expected. But he's supposing, then, that this is the reason their parents were so... like that. Part of it, anyway. ]

... A magician.

[ Well gee, considering the timing. There's only so many people it could be. Given the date, certain others would be too young. ]

You know, usually magicians are supposed to make things disappear. Not the other way around. There was always something that sat with me... like a poorly tuned guitar. You connected to Vera Misham a little bit too easily, didn't you? And that stamp. Not a lot of those were made, looking into it, ja?

[ If he already had connections in some way, or if he cared enough about it, it would be easy for him to do that, wouldn't it? Kristoph WAS quite prolific as a defense attorney. He made a real name for himself. But it could've been ANY stamp. ... Right? Like. Surely, it would've been easier to send a regular old stamp in that letter, not a special one.

... So why? ]

[devilofthecourt]

I'm sure Magnifi Gramarye didn't know. How could he? It was a one night stand, and Mother was all about appearances. So officially, I'm the son of our father. But both of them knew the truth, and this reflected in their treatment of me. I always connected with Gramarye's magic more than anything with Father.

[ He's very... Pensive. It's very odd. It's like the cold mask has fallen away for a time, because Klavier is someone he can be vulnerable with. But there's so much more under the surface. Well. Klav had wanted to face the darkness at the bottom, the darkness that had swallowed up his brother. Time to shine the blazing, burning light of truth on it, yes? ]

In 2006, Magnifi came to television spotlight. The year you were four years old. I was twelve, and wanted nothing more than to do the magic tricks I saw on television. So I snuck us out with some knives, into the gardens. I wanted an audience. I should have known better at the time, but I think I was hoping that if I did get hurt, Mother and Father would finally stop being cold with me.

[ "How could you do something so dangerous with your brother!? What if he'd gotten hurt!?"

The words of his mother, shaking him by the shoulders angrily while Father checked Klavier over still ring in his head, echoing from the past. His parents had never cared. He was a mistake, an aberration in their family. Unwelcome. The unfavorite. Nothing he did would ever be enough, no matter how successful he happened to be. ]

...An accident happened that day. I tried to juggle a knife. I thought I could do it. It was stupid, looking back. The wound needed many stitches. Mother and Father... Didn't care that I was hurt. Only that I could have hurt you. Whatever positive feelings I had for them... Died on that day, strangled out by the yells and the shaking before they finally got the wound stitched up. I stopped trying to earn their approval and love. I was never going to get it.

[guiltyguitar]

[ He just scoffs gently, letting out a sigh.

... Really, that odd feeling around his parents is part of why he wanted to leave. He'd always hated how he'd seen them treat his brother, and how they never listened to him, only kept going on about what was best for him personally. ]

Kristoph.

We're not our parents. Surely you know that. I don't need to remind you... that we're related, whatever that entails.

[ He says it slowly and gently. ]

Honestly. I'm disappointed in you. Didn't I tell you before? You could come to me for whatever. I told you that ages ago. I trusted you.

[ ... Sigh. ]

But I suppose you must not have trusted me. Or maybe you resent me. I suppose I cannot say I could blame you.

[ You know, at this point, maybe he's starting to think he's untrustworthy. Nobody seems to want to come to him for anything, other than to use him. He's starting to feel a bit like his only use is as a tool to others. It hurts, just a little. ]

[devilofthecourt]

...Klavier. Tell me something. How old, exactly, were you when you exited law school?

[ He lets that sink in for a moment. Lets Klavier think on that, lets it dawn on him. It's not about trust. It's about the fact that this all began so long ago, and he had, perhaps naively, wanted to shield his younger brother from the ugly truth of their family. The sordid affair was too much for even Kristoph, and he'd been a very hardened person by even then. But it was... Personal, perhaps. And he'd never been good with things that hit too close to personal. ]

Now, tell me. Why, oh why, would I burden by seventeen-year-old brother with the burdens of our family, the truth of his brother's heritage? You didn't deserve that weight upon you, Klavier.

[ This is... Perhaps the softest he'd been in a long time with his brother. The admission that he'd wanted to keep Klav from being hurt by all of that, because he knows his brother. Klav would have found some inane way to blame himself. Even though it's impossible for Klav to have been at faul for their mother's affair. ]