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Ah, nature.
A place where one could escape from the daily struggles of urban life. An area where Mother Nature's beauty laid bare for everyone to see, the various flora and sounds of wildlife enriching the scene for all, be it a flock of birds heading north for the plains or a herd of deer grazing upon the green pastures. And, of course, it served as excellent inspiration for all artists alike, from painters searching for landscapes to create on their canvases, to sculptors basing their statues off the vibrant scenes of the outdoors. Simply put, it was every artist's dream to observe the fantastic reserve of life named nature. Especially reclusive artists.
Perhaps this is why Vera Misham dragged a groggy and perplexed Apollo Justice out into the wilderness, all the while hurriedly explaining the reason why such an event was occurring at 10 AM. 'Inspiration', she had called it. 'Bullshit', he had spat out while adjusting his tie.
"I don't understand," Apollo said while tidying up the mess that was the Wright Talent Agency. At times, including this one, he was mentally cursing the Wrights for having no sense of personal hygiene, but it did take his mind off of the crushing boredom whenever Trucy was off performing at the Wonder Bar or when Phoenix was crafting whatever plans he had during his seven year-long crusade against Kristoph. "Why now, at all times? Couldn't you have called later, like in the evening?"
"Good question, and I apologize for calling so early on, but I just had this idea to go to the forest for ideas…" Apollo sensed a noticeable decline in Vera's enthusiasm in her speech, but decided not to openly mention it. "…and, well, you seemed to be the most… uh, available if that makes sense."
The tone of her voice was innocent in terms of speaking, but it stung hard, nonetheless. It was true, in a literal sense, that he was mostly available. Ever since Kristoph's conviction, the public's trust in the legal system had been pulled through the mud. It wasn't something new; the mass media had always been aware of the corruption that had lied and festered in both prosecutors and defense attorneys, but it was relatively tame, as so to speak. Well, as 'tame' as it could be, via conspiracy theorists and doomsayers looking to advise their twisted views of the law. However, what little trust the public had in the legal system was blown away, like sand caught in strong winds. It wasn't an uncommon sight to see people curse both prosecutors and defense attorneys for the decay of the law, the media proclaiming that the legal world was entering a period of strife dubbed 'The Dark Age of The Law', and a more cautious approach to the law in general.
"Apollo? Are you still there?" The sound of her voice quickly shook Apollo out of his trance. He looked around the room, his eyes settling upon a mass of God knows what sticking out of a cabinet. He took a deep breath and pinched his nose; now that he thought about it, some fresh air didn't sound half bad at the moment.
"I'll be there in a minute. Just give me a moment."
That's how Apollo ended up on a picnic blanket swatting away flies while Vera observed the scenic view, sketching away to her heart's content. And it was just then, that the lawyer had thought that he was perhaps a bit too hasty in coming out here.
Unlike Apollo, Vera was completely taken in by the forest. Her eyes darted back and forth while stroking with such energy that Apollo half-expected the notepad to burst into flames. In addition, the artist was mumbling something under her breath; upon closer inspection, she was admiring all the different kinds of wildlife and flora present.
Apollo cracked a grin at the scene; it was strangely satisfying to see a shut-in like her acting like an excited child, especially after the whole 'emotionless reclusive girl' front she had put up unnerved him a fair amount.
Following the events of Kristoph's conviction, the past few months had been a wild ride for the young lawyer. A look into his idol's personal life and machinations, for better or worse, the inclusion of a sly-yet-seemingly innocent child magician, a rockstar prosecutor who was more interested in searching for the truth rather than using his status as an excuse to make a fool of himself, and a moody detective whoa habits included cursing Klavier's existence and munching on Snackoos had certainly provided Apollo with many… strange experiences, so to speak. The strangest of them all, though, is when he befriended Vera and was tasked by Trucy to be her 'wingman', in her own words.
And to top it all off, there was also the subject of Apollo's love life, which Trucy was trying to get involved with, for some reason.
You need to get your head out of those papers and get yourself a date, Apollo! Trucy would say with a disapproving look on her face. When Apollo had mentioned that he wasn't interested in dating anyone at the moment, Trucy could only roll her eyes and lecture him about the importance of love… or something like that. He hadn't been paying much attention to her at the time.
Turning his attention back to Vera, Apollo discovered that the artist had disappeared elsewhere. Meanwhile, she left her art supplies near where she had been sitting, with the canvas, draped in a white cloth to protect it from annoying woodland creatures, propped against an old tree.
It was just then that Apollo realized he didn't get a good look at whatever Vera was drawing beforehand. Curiosity began to form in the horn-headed man's mind, and he strode over to the notepad to sneak a peek at it.
Inside Vera's sketch pad was a rough sketch of the surrounding scene. Aside from a few messy lines and the occasional slip-up here and there, as well as the suspiciously empty pond, if one were unaware of Vera's status as a child prodigy, they would understandably mistake it for a finished drawing. Even after examining several of her works, Apollo was always left in awe of the sheer precision and consistency of the drawings themselves. He made a mental note to ask her to tutor him sometime in the future.
The sound of a twig snapping brought Apollo back to his senses. He found a Vera looking up at him with a blank expression, and at that moment he found himself tripping over a nonexistent rock while scrambling for an explanation.
"O-oh hey Vera, d-didn't see you there. Have you got any more… uuhh, material for what you're drawing?" He eyed the squirrel that was resting upon her hand and decided to change gears in an attempt to not embarrass himself even further, all the while sporting a dorky-looking smile on his face.
"What's that? A squirrel? Huh, nice, squirrels are cool, they're cute, fluffy, and are impossible to get enough of if they're not being annoying with them trying to steal food off your porch and being nuisances in general. Hey, funny story, my friend once kept a packet of nuts in a shelter he made specifically for squirrels, and-"
His ramblings were cut short by the sound of a chuckle escaping Vera's mouth. Once he regained some common sense, he noticed that she was giving him a small grin in return.
"I never knew you could be funny, Apollo. Like what I drew?"
For a moment, his mind was at a blank, a first for a man who usually had a snarky comeback or an explanation ready. When Vera cleared her throat and muttered a soft "Apollo?", that was the cue for him to regain his composure and stop acting like such a dope.
"Oh, that? It's nice, like really nice. It still amazes me that you can sketch something like this in under an hour and still be on par with some professional artists."
Now it was Vera's turn to be surprised. A faint blush formed on the prodigy's face which she tried to hide, to no avail. "It's flattering you think so highly of my drawings, but I don't think this one can be compared to that of pros…" As she spoke, she pointed towards the marks and messy lines present. "…I mean, I still made a few mistakes here and there, and you know how harsh the world of critics can be to even the faintest of errors. When I was still producing forgeries under my father's name, even the slightest of mistakes could have resulted in me having to start anew, for example."
Apollo shook his head at the self-deprecation. "Oh, please. You don't have to be so hard on yourself. So what if it's not perfect? That doesn't mean anything to me." It was just then that Apollo realized what he was saying, and there he was putting his foot into his mouth faster than he shouted his trademark 'OBJECTION!’ in court.
"But," he said while scratching the nape of his neck, desperate to salvage what little of his dignity was left. "I might have worded that strangely, but I'm not calling your art bad, oh no. I'm just saying it doesn't matter whether it's perfect or not, it's still perfectly good to me."
A soft smile replaced the hint of confusion on Vera's face, and a wave of relief came over the lawyer. At the very least, she didn't think of him as a complete nut.
"Oh, Apollo… you're cute when you stutter like that, you know?" Vera said, giggling throughout parts of the sentence. A blush appeared on Apollo's cheeks and despite his best efforts to suppress it, he couldn't stop it from overtaking a large portion of his face.
"That's, um, nice to know." The realization that he was downright pitiful when trying to talk to someone who may have been interested in him was crashing down like a giant tidal wave. Heck, even Kristoph Gavin, who was infamous in the legal world for his awkwardness in his attempts to make small talk with his clients, was able to smooth talk his way with women who were interested in him. What did Apollo Justice have to offer? A dry mouth, a loss for words, and the skill and suave of an awkward high schooler on prom night.
Just what I needed. Could this get any worse? Stiff fingers curled around the pockets of his slacks. If he continued like this, he wasn't going to be making any progress soon. He needed to find something, just something to focus his mind on something else.
His gaze fell on the sketch pad, or more specifically, the empty pond. Come to think of it, he was interested in that and had made a note to ask Vera about it, but an opportunity never did arrive, what with Vera sneaking up on him and all.
Flicking open it and turning to the sketch, he held it open for the artist to see.
"Actually, there was something I wanted to ask you about this, Vera."
"Yes? What about it?"
He pointed towards the pond. "You see, the pond here is empty. I was wondering if you had something in store for this. Now that I think about it, didn't you want me to come along because you had something in store for me?"
"Oh- oh yes, I remember now! What I wanted to show you…. umm, now that I think about it, it's a bit embarrassing, to say the least…"
Apollo placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Come on, you don't have to be shy about it. If it's something so big that you had to call me out here, then I think you should spill it out."
"Well, if you say so. But don't say I didn't warn you."
"Hey, how much longer do you need?"
"Just a few more minutes. Stay in that position and we'll be good."
Now he knew what she had meant by the 'surprise'. It was all so obvious, he should've seen it a mile away. But no, he didn't, and he was now kicking himself for being such an oblivious fool.
Here he was, hands clutching at gravel & dirt, body motionless in the warm water, face focused on Vera and that canvas of her. A sensation brushed across Apollo's waist, and he wondered how much longer he would have to wait.
It was the finishing touch of her painting, as Vera called it. Apollo was ordered to remain in the pond and strike a pose similar to that of a character she had once seen in a movie. Yes, he was her 'lawyer merman', she had said.
I don't know any merpeople that live in the forest myself, was what Apollo came close to blurting out. If Vera was happy, then he was happy as well.
A fly buzzed around Apollo's chest and was promptly swatted away. He was hoping that Vera would finish up her painting soon enough.
When Vera Misham had first acquaintances with Apollo Justice, she had taken note of his various personality traits. Brash. Formal. Loud. Easily flustered. When they became friends, she was introduced to a different kind of Apollo. The one who was slightly socially awkward, snarky, and ready to fire back at whoever made snide remarks under their breath, flabbergasted by the insanities brought by the courts of Las Angeles, although the last trait waned with time. More than once she had overheard him saying "I went to law school for this?"
However, what she had not anticipated what was behind that two-piece suit of his.
Though they were difficult to see from a distance, Apollo's body sported a set of abs. At first, the artist thought she had been seeing things. One set of blinks and a splash of cold water later proved that no, the heat wasn't playing tricks on her minds and Apollo really was a well-built man, even he had slightly lanky arms and was short.
And it was there that her face quickly went beet-red.
It was a strange feeling, to say the least. While she had felt what crushes and attraction were like, those were from a long-forgotten age, from when she had still attended school regularly. Then she was nearly kidnapped by an irate customer who claimed that her father had swindled him, and was promptly shut off from the outside world, homeschooling applied as well. And the rest was history.
Vera halted her work and gazed at the man's chest. There was something so tantalizing about his body, so appealing that she couldn't take her eyes off of him. Yes, the muscles were an obvious bonus that even a blind man could've seen, but there was something else about Apollo's body that drew her in. Something that made her unashamed to keep her eyes on him, like a snake watching a mouse.
From the corner of her eye, she saw Apollo glance at her and promptly ducked behind the canvas. Despite her efforts, it appeared that he noticed her and gave a sly grin.
The gesture succeeded in causing Vera's face to grow hotter. If this was what people meant by being 'hit' by a man, then Vera was all for it. Embarrassingly so, in fact.
The drawing was nearly complete; just a few more additions and it would soon serve as a base for her painting. She took a look at the Apollo she drew. She hoped she hadn't drawn him too muscular.
"Done! Apollo, come take a look!"
Apollo scrambled to get out, his face nearly meeting the ground more than once. He made a beeline for the great tree and snatched a towel upon his way. Amusingly, his face was a combination of genuine interest in the finished product and relief to be out of that dreaded basin of water, and one that the artist had no intention of pointing out.
The finished product was more or less what Apollo expected. Everything, from the shade of green on the grass, the exact number of woodland creatures that were present, even how they were posed at the time were spot on, precise to an almost unnerving degree. In fact, the more he looked at it, the more he found to admire.
His eyes soon found himself in the artwork, which the sight of him emerging from the depths of the pond was enough to bring a smile to his face. Turning his attention to his body, his eyes momentarily widened. His portrayal in the drawing was flattering, to say the least. To say that he may have been drawn as a bit too muscular would not have been an exaggeration.
Vera was now standing next to him, her eyes focused on the same part of the drawing. No words were needed; their expressions told a million words by themselves.
Eventually, Vera spoke up, her once confident expression morphing into an awkward one at a steady pace. Apollo couldn't blame her. His own face was now a cross between 'flattered' and 'what the heck is this?'
"Sooo…. what do you think? Did I overdo a little bit?"
"No, 'overdo' is a strong word, but there are some curious details," Apollo said while studying the sketch in more detail. "For starters, I don't think my muscles are that numbered."
"Yeah, you might be on to something. I probably wasn't thinking, err, straight, when I was drawing those."
"You think you weren't thinking straight? Or were you interested in something else, might I ask?" Apollo snorted.
Silence followed. Then a giggle escaped from Vera's, followed by the two burst into laughter.
"Yeah right. You think I'm some kind of creep, don't you?" Vera said fits of laughter.
"From the way you drew me, I'm inclined to think so!"
A bird tilted its head at the sight of the two humans laughing their heads off. The duo continued to howl until they were both thoroughly exhausted, red-faced, and bending down with goofy smiles adorning their faces.
When the two ended their abrupt display of emotion, the artist stared at the sun, which had moved ever so slightly to the west. It was then that she realized she had forgotten to bring a watch.
"Apollo, how long has it been since we've been here?
He gave a shrug. "Dunno, maybe an hour or two? Maybe three as well."
Vera continued as if she hadn't heard him. She picked up her belongings and was preparing to exit the forest before the iris of her eyes shrunk and nearly dropped all of her art materials.
"Ack- I can't believe I forgot about Nate!"
The lawyer raised an eyebrow at that. "Nate? Who's that?"
"Ah, I never did tell you about him, did I? That's my cat. I found him near my house and took him in."
"Ok. Did something happen to him?"
"I forgot to properly feed him before I left. He's a sneaky one; he knows where I put the cat food and his bowl. He'll scratch up the kitchen looking for that."
"Sounds urgent. I'll come along." Truth be told, Apollo had no experience with pets, although Kristoph occasionally told him stories of his Golden Retriever, Vongole, and how she would try to chase out Klavier any time he tried to visit his brother.
"Great. While you're there, would you like something to drink? Coffee or tea, your choice."
Apollo smiled at her offer. A coffee sounded good right now.
"Coffee. I'm not much of a tea person myself."