Title: one last question before i go
Length: 627 words
Fandom: 逆転裁判 | Gyakuten Saiban | Ace Attorney
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Relationships: Ayame | Iris & Miyanagi Chinami | Dahlia Hawthorne
Characters: Ayame | Iris (Gyakuten Saiban), Miyanagi Chinami | Dahlia Hawthorne
Additional Tags: Complicated Relationships, Law, Promises, Relationship Study, Serial Killers, Siblings, Angst, Hurt No Comfort, Canonical Character Death, Gyakuten Saiban 3 | Trials and Tribulations Spoilers, Case 3-5: Bridge to the Turnabout Spoilers, Execution, Hanging, Gift Fic, Battleship Exchange 2025

Summary: Dahlia pauses for a moment. “Iris,” she asks, “do you love me?”
“I do.” Iris says. She thinks she’s telling the truth.

Notes: Written for nemali in the 2025 round of battleshipex . Tag claims: Complicated Relationships, Law, Promises, Relationship Study, Serial Killers, Siblings. Date changed to reflect creator reveals. Originally posted 19 Jul 2025

“I’m here for Dahlia Hawthorne,” she tells the receptionist.

They spend a minute futzing about with the computer, before looking up and asking, “Iris Hazakura?”

“That’s me.” Well, not exactly - she doesn’t actually have a last name, she just uses the name of her temple as a formality. She doesn’t bother explaining this, though. It tends to bother other people more than her.

“Follow me.” They rise, and Iris follows them to the chamber where her sister is.

“I presume you know what to do?” they ask, as the two of them arrive at the door.

“Yes,” Iris replies, and the receptionist nods and leaves. She enters, and sees Dahlia is already there, sitting in a chair on the other side of the glass. There is a guard in the corner as well, but he seems to be doing his best to ignore them.

“Hello,” she says with a nod. “Life going well as ever, I suppose?”

“It is. Bikini sends her regards.”

Dahlia snorts. “Why would she ever do that?”

Iris simply shrugs. They go through this every time, and today is no different. “Have you made preparations yet?”

“It’ll be just you as witness. Well, aside from the prison staff. Oh, and I’ve left everything to you as well.”

Iris nods. That’s about what she was expecting, anyways. They had more or less merged their lives in those months leading up to Dahlia’s arrest, this was just making it formal. “Anything else?”

Dahlia pauses for a moment. “Iris,” she asks, “do you love me?”

“I do.” Iris says. She thinks she’s telling the truth.

Dahlia nods, and her eyes soften. “I love you too.” She has said this many times in her life, sometimes even to Iris. Iris is fairly sure that those are the only times she’s ever meant it.

Dahlia pauses for a moment, waiting to see if Iris will say anything. When she doesn’t, Dahlia stands up and calls over to the guard in the corner. “We’re ready.”

The guard takes Dahlia by her arm and gestures for Iris to follow them.

“You don’t have to watch,” the guard assures her as they walk down the corridor.

Iris swallows and says, “I want to.”

The guard simply nods. Eventually they reach a pair of doors.

“Go there,” he says, pointing to the nearer door. Dahlia nods, and she enters into a small room, divided by a pane of glass. On her side there is nothing, but on the other side there is a rope hanging from the ceiling and a box underneath it on the floor. Another shard stands in the corner.

The guard and Dahlia enter on the other side, and he helps her onto the box. Iris trembles, almost wishing that she had taken the guard up on his offer. But Dahlia is her sister - Iris should be there for her. No matter what she’s done.

“Dahlia Hawthorne,” the guard announces. “You have been convicted by the State of California on two counts of first degree murder, one count of manslaughter, and one count of attempted murder. For these crimes, the State has declared that you shall be put to death by hanging. Do you have any last words before you depart from this Earth?”

Iris isn’t sure what she had expected Dahlia to stay. Nothing, probably.

But instead she looks right at Iris and says, “Remember me. Please.”

Iris’ eyes go wide, but she responds, “I will.”

The guard finishes. “By the power invested in me by the State of California, I shall now execute you. May God have mercy on your soul.”

He kicks out the box from underneath Dahlia, and Iris can only stare at her sister as she dangles down from the rope, dying, dying- dead.

quailfence

Made for amybri2002 as part of the 2025 round of battleshipex . Boss points: 500 for first char + 250 for coloring + 250 for background. Originally posted 17 Jul 2025

Image description: Traditional colored pencil art of Susie from Deltarune. She’s in her Light World form, standing on some grass and looking up at a night sky with stars and a crescent moon

bedes

I hate having to write down my coherent thoughts on Siffrin having implied internalized homophobia for this analysis essay. Can’t I just point to Siffrin saying that he wishes he didn’t experience romantic attraction, Bad Touch, and their religion being implied to be based in ideas of unchanging fate, and then gesture at all that vaguely for a while

Current Mood: frustrated

bedes

CRK localization can be really bad, specifically WRT Shadow Milk.

English localization: “Excuse me? I’m sorry to disturb you… But I’m still the MAIN CHARACTER here!” // Original text directly translated: “Sorry, but I’m still the main character. You haven’t forgotten about me, have you?”
In response to Shadow Milk saying she should trust him (“her colleagues”), Eternal Sugar says in the English localization: “Would you~?” // Her response directly translated: “Would I trust you if I were you~?”
English localization: “Well well! Where are my favorite minions?” // Original text directly translated: “Kids~?” (Context: he’s calling out to Black Sapphire and Candy Apple.)
English localization: “We all live for some spicy drama, amirite?” // Original text directly translated: “Is it okay to say when hard things are hard?”

That last one is especially egregious imo. I don’t even know where they got that

Current Mood: discontent

bedes

Part of the reason why I find Fuuta singing in pre-war Japanese so interesting is because, up until now, he's always been a character focused on progress, thematically. An intense focus on the internet, technology in its many forms, and progressive views. Even spraypaint is associated with rebellion, punk, and the like.

But, of course, religion is associated with its opposite. Stagnation, or regression, perhaps. "Traditional values"... While we don't know much about Amaneism quite yet, we know that Amane's original cult stressed a refusal of modern medicine, and the values of purity/non-vulgarity.

So now, Fuuta is singing in such old Japanese that many Japanese viewers either borderline or outright do not understand him. From "progress" to "regress", from the future to the past.

bedes

Dunno what it is but Isabeau’s "we can practice!" thing to Siffrin is just. Urbgngngifh. That and him being totally fine with Siffrin needing time to figure out how they feel, and knowing that Siffrin loves them deeply, even if it's not romantic.

IDKKK I think it’s the fact that he's, just, so willing, and even excited, to go at Siffrin's pace…?

And it's made so much more impactful by the fact that he’s not "perfect" as a love interest, either, I think. A lot of queer stories write love interests as like… Always Perfectly Healthy And Communicative! It'd be a lot less impactful if Isabeau didn't get so jealous to the point he snaps at Mirabelle, if he didn't wrongly assume things about Siffrin and not ask for clarification (touching), if he didn't have a Whole Entire Thing about not being able to confess to Siffrin.

Idk. I like it. I like that he has romantic vices, and I like that being pushy or impatient is not one of them. I like that he makes a point to make it so Siffrin can take the lead, try certain actions to see how they feel, and figure out how his feelings for Isabeau. I think it makes Isabeau a really good match for Siffrin. Someone more demanding would probably active Siffrin’s people-pleaser, hide-how-you-really-feel-for-their-sake tendencies.

This was originally supposed to be like 3 sentences max oops

bedes

Unironically very funny of the art book to be like "Vincent has a pretty average relationship with his parents — they love him and don’t put any significant amount of pressure on him," and then IMMEDIATELY follow that up with art of Vincent’s dad committing a homophobic microaggression and Vincent’s mom passive-aggressively commenting about how he (a gay man) (in case you forgot) should get a girlfriend and go to church more.

Current Mood: amused

bedes

I experienced an initial gut reaction of extreme negativity to what was revealed in "Life", but, after thinking it over, I don't think that it was warranted.

Yes, we were led to think that Yuno had an abortion, and that her story was about the residual guilt from that. But a miscarriage, even if accidental, can also cause a ton of trauma and guilt. There is a long, long history of pregnant people being blamed for their miscarriage, with reasoning varying from pseudo-scientific to religious in nature.

I also initially thought, "If she just had an accident which made her miscarry, then she shouldn't even be in Milgram!!" But, then I thought about that for, like, two seconds, and... well, the point of MILGRAM is that none of the prisoners should be there, isn't it? If we view the fetus as if it is a person for a moment, as Jackalope seems to, the only differentiating factor from other prisoners is that it was accidental. Which could be said for multiple other prisoners, too — especially the ones where they likely accidentally caused someone else's suicide: Fuuta, Mahiru and Kazui.

Yuno is still undoubtedly the most innocent prisoner there by a long shot (after all, it was a fetus, and not a person). But I think she isn't quite as out-of-place as I thought. The whole point is that it's cruel and unusual, and, even if Yuno did not make the choice to terminate her pregnancy, it is still extraordinarily common for those who experience miscarriages (especially in an accident) to feel guilt about what happened. And it's not as if the narrative of MILGRAM is saying that she's correct to feel guilty — her MV clearly portrays the accident as a traumatic event that she was a victim in.

Um idk how to end this post. Yuno is a complex character who has gone through a lot, and it is fine that she experiences trauma and shame due to her miscarriage, as that reflects the reality of countless real people who experienced the same thing. Her being portrayed as experiencing guilt is not the creators of MILGRAM saying that she is correct to feel guilt. Also innocent Yuno sweep.

Current Mood: pleased

bedes

Yes, sex is hot and all that (said acespecly), but also I think that it's not discussed enough that sexuality is just an extremely interesting form of characterization in fiction. Nothing wrong with liking it in a horny way, obviously, but I feel like it overshadows how interesting sexuality is as a topic outside of erotic contexts.

Some of my favorite pieces of art in the world are about people coming to terms with their sexuality (queer sexuality, kink, etc), people introspecting on why they find their kinks hot, and dealing with sexual issues. Including (or maybe especially?) the less pleasant stuff, like sexual trauma, sex as self-harm, balancing communication and consent in sexual scenarios, etc. It's an extremely fascinating form of characterization to me.

Current Mood: thoughtful

bedes

Incredibly niche pet peeve but people who call Fuuta an incel are so annoying because they're blatantly ignoring multiple parts of Fuuta's characterization.

His whole Thing was that he harassed someone over art theft. Art. Theft. That is peak stupid internet leftist slapfighting. Fuuta is also very known to consistently talk about "knowing his rights", justice, etc. It's very clear that he's intended to be a take on 'leftists' who use their sense of morality as a reason to harass and bully others.

But no. He is a man and he *checks notes* plays video games. So he's the type of 'chronically online' that is a violent misogynist. Obviously.

TL:DR Fuuta would have his privileges listed in his bio and if you disagree then you do not understand what his character is about on a base level. And I'm not kidding

Current Mood: annoyed

quailfence

Made for Axolotl_Supremacy as part of the 2025 round of battleshipex . Points for boss: 500 for first char + 500 for second char + 250*2 for both colored = 1500 points. Originally posted 17 Jul 2025

Image description: colored pencil and artist’s pastel drawing of Susato and Rei, done in a simplified, cartoony style. Susato is dressed as Ryutaro. Her hands are clasped behind her and she is kissing Rei on the side of her head. Rei is smiling with her eyes closed. There is a red heart above them

quailfence

Title: Koi Pond
Length: 345 words
Fandom: 逆転裁判 | Gyakuten Saiban | Ace Attorney
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Ayasato Chihiro | Mia Fey/Naruhodou Ryuuichi | Phoenix Wright
Characters: Ayasato Chihiro | Mia Fey, Naruhodou Ryuuichi | Phoenix Wright
Additional Tags: Older Woman/Younger Man, Friends to Lovers, koi ponds, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Mia Fey Lives, Mentor/Protégé, Gift Fic, Battleship Exchange 2025
Summary: Mia and Phoenix, in three scenes
Written for CousinShelly as part of the 2025 round of battleshipex . Tag claims: Older Woman/Younger Man, Friends to Lovers, Koi Ponds. Originally posted 16 Jul 2025

“So,” Mia said, leaning back to talk at her new protégé, “got any plans for the weekend?”

God, Phoenix reminded her so much of herself when she was his age and just starting out. Determined and caring - but also nervous and lacking confidence. She hoped that she would be able to help him become as good of a lawyer as she was - and if he held on to those first few traits then she thought he would. “Well,” he said, “when I was in art school, we took a trip to the botanical gardens to paint the flowers and stuff there.”

“That sounds pretty fun.”

“Nah, most of it was kinda boring. But there were some bits I liked, especially the koi poinds. Watching them was my favorite part of that day, and I like to go back there sometimes just to watch them.”

“Maybe I should go there sometime as well,” Mia mused.

“You should,” Phoenix affirmed.

“Here.” Phoenix showed Mia a bunch of flowers as she laid in her bed, recovering from White’s attack. “The guy at the flower shop said these are meant to represent well-wishes and a speedy recovery, or something.”

“You can place them over there,” Mia said to her friend, nodding at the table next to her hospital bed. “Thought, you were an art student - I’d assume that you knew flower language?”

“I, er, wasn’t exactly paying attention in those classes,” Phoenix said sheepishly, before changing the subject. “Listen, once this is done - do you still want to go to the koi pond at the botanical garden?”

“Of course.”

“They’re feisty today, aren’t they?” asked Phoenix as he and Mia watched the koi skitter around in the pond.

“You go here more often than I do,” Mia told her boyfriend, “you should know better than me what they’re normally like.”

Phoenix grinned a little. “I guess you’re right.”

“So? Are they?”

Phoenix frowned in thought. “I think they are quite lovely today,” he said, “but not quite as lovely as you are.”

“Oh, you’re such a romantic,” Mia laughed.

bedes

So. I feel the need to address my absence.

Initially, my plan was to not post on Dreamwidth until my current pet project was completed. It is a small visual novel, titled "Peony in Bloom", which was planned to release during February for this year's Aro Jam!

As you can tell. It is no longer February. And the game is still not out.

This is a two-person project. I was in charge of the art assets, and my partner was left in charge of the coding. I will be extremely frank: the art assets, and everything else I was in charge of, were 100% completed in time for an end-of-February release. The coding was not. And the coding is still not. It's, of course, hard to not be frustrated, but my partner is disabled, so I can't be too harsh.

I was, at first, stubbornly clinging onto the idea that my next post to Dreamwidth would be the Peony in Bloom devlog. But I've recently given up on that.

A second factor contributing to my absence is that I recently got my first job! I'm a barista at a popular chain coffee place! Which now means I get to feel the full brunt of Capitalism at its finest.

( Continue? )

Current Mood: exhausted
Current Music: Caliber Girl - Weevildoing

quailfence

Made forOz_Writes as part of the 2025 round of battleshipex . Tag claims: Aromatic Asexual Character, Nonbinary Character, Picnics.

Image description: Traditional art of Krobus from Stardew Valley, done in colored pencil and artist pastels. He is smiling, and wears a tie in the colors of the aroace flag, and a bow in the colors of the nonbinary flag. Next to him is a red and white checkered picnic blanket. On it is a picnic basket, a pumpkin, void mayonnaise, and a horseradish. The piece is signed Quail Fence, and it is dated 2025-07-15

Reblog on Tumblr

quailfence

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has marked as possibly inappropriate for anyone under the age of 18. )

quailfence

Title: of or relating to canada
Length: 319 words
Fandom: 逆転裁判 | Gyakuten Saiban | Ace Attorney
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Apollo Justice & The Judge, The Judge & The Judge's Brother (Gyakuten Saiban)
Characters: The Judge (Gyakuten Saiban), Odoroki Housuke | Apollo Justice, The Judge's Brother (Gyakuten Saiban)
Additional Tags: Childhood backstory, Canada, Backstory, Exposition, Gift Fic, Battleship Exchange 2025, Siblings
Summary: In which the Judge tells Apollo why his brother is Canadian
Notes: Written for

coernixen as part of the 2025 round of

battleshipex .Tag claims: Canada, Childhood Backstory. Originally posted 13 Jul 2025.

“Have you ever worked with my brother before?” The judge asked Apollo as they walked through the courthouse

“Unfortunately, your honor, I have not,” he replied. “Though, I have heard about him, especially from Mr. Wright. He’s Canadian, isn’t he?”

The judge chuckled. “More so than I am at least.”

Apollo nodded. “Apologies if this is a strange question, but… how did you end up with a Canadian brother? I’d have assumed that the two of you would be from the same place.”

“You would be quite right in assuming that, Mr. Justice! In fact, we both grew up in that country!”

Apollo was momentarily lost for words, but he quickly recovered. “If that is the case, then why-“

“Is my brother the most Canadian person you’ve ever met, while I am a rather ordinary Japnifornian?”

“Well…yes.” Apollo said. (Though, it’s a bit rich to call yourself “a rather ordinary Japanifornian”), he thought.

The judge smiled, evidently happy to talk. “Yes, that’s right! We were both born right here in Japanifornia, but when we were children, our parents decided that they would try their luck in Canada!”

“…and just because of that, your brother is extremely Canadian, while you aren’t?”

“Well, that’s the full story. I was thirteen, so I wasn’t quite a child when we moved. I had already spend many years in Japanifornia, and I considered myself Japanifornian through and through. But my brother is much younger than me, and he was only three when he moved. He grew up in Canada, and was quite proud of it! In fact, while I moved back right after college, he stayed in Canada for many years.”

“So then, if he liked Canada so much, why does he live here?”

“Well, two reasons. One, he wanted to live near me. Two, the judges are much better paid here.”

(Well, I suppose there are worse reasons to move…) Apollo thought.

Current Location: Home
Current Music: Winter is Coming - from the Throughline podcast

catgiri

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

Current Mood: bouncy

quailfence

So, two days ago (on the 9th) I finished playing the Apollo Justice Trilogy. And honestly, I'm not sure how to review it - I started playing it over a year ago, and only just finished it, so I don't remember a ton about AA4 and the like. Part of it is that I was taking university classes and therefore had less time/wasn't able to fit it into my schedule as well, but I think another part of was that I found it hard to just get myself to play the game - I finished Metaphor: Refantazio while playing the trilogy, and that game was like a hundred hours and took me a month, month and a half to beat. (Speaking of, I really need to redo my review of that - it's pretty vague and generic, I think because I was afraid of spoiling stuff) I also wonder if it's just Spirit of Justice specifically that I was having problems with - I remember getting through AA4 and Dual Destinies pretty quick. That being said, I do remember having fun when playing the games, especially AA4, and I did enjoy the characters and most of the case plots, I'm just not sure if I like how they were told, if that makes sense? Also, I think I really WANTED to like these games going in, and also was very spoiled on them, so that probably affected my perception of them

Anyway, I find giving ratings hard, so I don't usually do them, but I'd say that the Apollo Justice trilogy is a ??/10 for me. If you're a fan of the original trilogy, I'd suggest at least trying them

blueshiftofdeath

Well that was depressing...

You may have heard of Careless People due to the author, former Facebook executive Sarah Wynn-Williams, being blocked from promoting the book, which predictably made it go viral. It's been described as "explosive" and you know what... it got me curious too!! I usually only read books that have been out for a while (not deliberately, it's just that I don't keep track of new books and they naturally make up the minority of books you could read) and I have to say that it's fun to read something recently released that Everybody's Talking About. Makes me want to stay more up to date with new releases in the future...

Review

( tldr, this is not fine literature, read for either the gossip/drama or critique of Facebook, not for the writing quality )

Thoughts

Character Analysis

The beginning of the book read almost like fiction to me, not because it was unbelievable or anything, but because of how it portrays its characters. When we first hear about Mark (Zuckerberg) and Sheryl (Sandberg), it feels like I'm getting introduced to these people for the first time, rather than immediately establishing them as figures I'm familiar with in real life. I thought the character arcs Sarah presented were pretty interesting, and I'm compelled to analyze them like I would for fiction (and to be fair, I tend to analyze characters in fiction as if they were real).

All The Careless People

The Facebook executives in the book have a lot of shared traits, which I think is worth covering before getting into the individuals.

( cut for length )

What Could Have Been

Sarah insists that Facebook really could have been a force for good:

I think all the time about how the company looked to me before I joined. All the possibility of it, the promise of connecting everyone in the world. How I was so sure that Facebook would change the world for the better. The Facebook I saw then has been corrupted.
In the early days, when I traveled anywhere in the world with Mark, people would approach us and pour out heartfelt stories of how the platform changed their lives; how they reconnected with someone who became their husband or wife; how they made new, life-changing friendships; how it helped them start their businesses; how they were all alone—immigrants to a new country like me, gay kids in conservative towns, people with rare diseases and no one to talk to about their care—and found community on Facebook. It felt promising and vast, and sometimes actually historic.
Now I'm consumed by the worst of it. The grief and sorrow of it. How Facebook is helping some of the worst people in the world do terrible things. How it's an astonishingly effective machine to turn people against each other. And monitor people at a scale that was never possible before. And manipulate them. It's an incredibly valuable tool for the most autocratic, oppressive regimes, because it gives them exactly what those regimes need: direct access into what people are saying from the top to bottom of society.

This leads into a section I quoted earlier, where she insists that "it didn't have to be like this," and the Facebook executives had every opportunity to do something different, the implication seeming to be that the initial positivity and magic of Facebook could have been its continuing legacy.

If you've read my other social media related posts, you'll know that I question this. There's a reason every single social media platform's path seems to play out in the same way. Everyone reports these magical pro-social interactions in the beginning (like Sarah does), only for everything to take a dark turn. I also have additional thoughts specific to Facebook's situation based on what we heard in Careless People.

The Prime Directive

( no ethical social media under late capitalism )

The Founding of Facebook

( Facebook also was born from shit )

Centralization

( one platform to rule them all seems like a bad idea anyway )

Now what?

( there are better options in spite of everything... but not enough options )

Current Mood: crazy

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Dungeon Meshi

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one last question before i go

[art] Susie and the Stars

Writing Is Hard

Local Nerd Complains About Localization Differences

My Thoughts on the Appare March Preview

Yapping About Isafrin

Reading the Dead Plate Art Book

My Thoughts on "Life"

A Good Smutfic Is Also a Character Study

Annoyed About People Mischaracterizing My Fave

[art] Susato/Rei cheek kiss

Koi Pond

Hiatus: End! (Somewhat)

[art] Krobus at a picnic

to the sleeping one

of or relating to canada

regretfully, she lives

Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy

Careless People

Review

Thoughts

Character Analysis

All The Careless People

Mark

Sheryl

Sarah

What Could Have Been

The Prime Directive

The Founding of Facebook

Centralization

Now what?

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