[Thanks, Sipp. Listen, don't judge how long this is in comparison, I have a google doc and I've been using the same copypasta for everyone.
The memory starts in darkness, and then there’s a sudden blast of color. You jolt awake to a terrible sound, an explosion somewhere nearby. You, here, is a small child, about eight years old, and you’re in your bedroom. But there’s no time to focus on any of the details, the pictures on the wall or the mess of laundry and toys on the floor.
The fire seems to have come out of nowhere. You were asleep, and then suddenly, with a loud blast, you’re surrounded. The color of it is unusual - rainbows of many different shades, including dark reds and deep greens and bright, blinding white. In the bedroom itself, it’s the smell of fire and smoke more than anything, but it’s licking up the walls around you.
You don’t know what to do. You start to cry, and shout for your mom and dad, for somebody to help you, but there’s no answer. So instead you run. The fire is even worse outside your bedroom, it’s everywhere, but you keep running, everything becoming a blur of color and heat around you as you cough and choke on the smoke, as your hands blister as they wrap around something metal.
And then, suddenly, the air is cool again, and the smoke from your lungs is gone, and you’re looking up at someone impossibly tall and strong.
You’re safe now. You throw your arms around the stranger, and you start to sob. You feel his arm against your back, hesitant, as other voices start to speak nearby.
“Oh my god. It went up out of nowhere.”
“Burnish, right? It has to be. The people in that house - “
“You there? Did you see what happened? Wait . . . that kid. Is he all right?”
The man speaks, finally, hesitantly. “Yes! Yes, he needs help! He was in that house!”
“You saved that boy from the fire? That’s incredible. . .”
[Nodding. He looks kind of glum about that for some reason.]
Yeah. He saved me. That's how he first got famous, for being a rescuer. And then his research on anti-Burnish tech started getting noticed, and he founded the city.
[Hesitating, but.]
So, that girl. . . she tried to frame you for a murder?
[Let him be sincere!!! Anyway, the orange font gets his attention and distracts him from Dahlia. He nods]
The Gov is the one who had me arrested. Though he's done so many worse things to people other than me. I'm sure Lio's told you he's completely horrible, and I guess he is.
I just didn't know about any of it. To me, he was just the reason I'm here today. The reason I was able to become a firefighter at all.
[He's a little pouty, like he's offended Phoenix thinks that's news to him. He's had that thought himself, he knows Kray is the one to blame and not himself for wanting to believe in his hero.
. . . It's still nice to hear from someone else.]
It's hard not to feel really fucking stupid for going along with it. I wish I'd known about all of the awful things he was doing, so I could have stopped him. But I didn't even know that he hated my nickname for him.
[He says it like it's a flippant comment, like, who cares, but it kind of does matter. He thought Kray cared about him. Maybe he just saw what he wanted to see. He never saw that Kray hated him the way he did.]
[Phoenix. That's so nice of you to say. He kind of gives a small pfff of laughter.]
Honestly, I might've done something like that. Felt like I owed him my life, like I'd do anything for him. But that was before I saw Lio with all those people he broke out of prison. They weren't terrorists, they were just old people and kids and regular people. So I knew something had to be up. And, well, when I confronted him, he admitted to everything.
Yeah. He'd know I'd believe in him no matter what. I'd support him and stand up for him and stop myself from interfering in anything bad if I thought it might cause problems for him.
[The last one stings most. But he gets what Phoenix is getting at, that his trust was used. But he's also not as clueless about some of this as he was a little bit ago. Someone's already pointed out to him the part of his profile about being put in units with high fatalities. . .]
I always thought he kept checking in on me and helping because he cared, but - it was just good for his image, that he saved some kid from a fire.
I'm not convinced that he saved you in the first place.
[ but yeah. this is typical ace attorney stuff. manfred, morgan, kristoph..... manipulative monsters who took advantage of vulnerable kids. some directly under their care. ]
[ it's been years for some of them, but it still burns. ]
I don't know if they ever figured that out. But the Gov said a Burnish probably did it. I've always liked to think it was probably just an accident, though. I've been seen fires that a Burnish starts without meaning to, and it's scary for them, too. I don't want to be angry at someone like that.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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[ that is adorable........ but as soon as phoenix seems the omelette, memories from 12 years prior bubble to the surface, out of nowhere. ]
[ how weird. galo now gets a full replay of turnabout memories ]
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The memory starts in darkness, and then there’s a sudden blast of color. You jolt awake to a terrible sound, an explosion somewhere nearby. You, here, is a small child, about eight years old, and you’re in your bedroom. But there’s no time to focus on any of the details, the pictures on the wall or the mess of laundry and toys on the floor.
The fire seems to have come out of nowhere. You were asleep, and then suddenly, with a loud blast, you’re surrounded. The color of it is unusual - rainbows of many different shades, including dark reds and deep greens and bright, blinding white. In the bedroom itself, it’s the smell of fire and smoke more than anything, but it’s licking up the walls around you.
You don’t know what to do. You start to cry, and shout for your mom and dad, for somebody to help you, but there’s no answer. So instead you run. The fire is even worse outside your bedroom, it’s everywhere, but you keep running, everything becoming a blur of color and heat around you as you cough and choke on the smoke, as your hands blister as they wrap around something metal.
And then, suddenly, the air is cool again, and the smoke from your lungs is gone, and you’re looking up at someone impossibly tall and strong.
You’re safe now. You throw your arms around the stranger, and you start to sob. You feel his arm against your back, hesitant, as other voices start to speak nearby.
“Oh my god. It went up out of nowhere.”
“Burnish, right? It has to be. The people in that house - “
“You there? Did you see what happened? Wait . . . that kid. Is he all right?”
The man speaks, finally, hesitantly. “Yes! Yes, he needs help! He was in that house!”
“You saved that boy from the fire? That’s incredible. . .”
“Hurry! Go get help!”
The memory ends.]
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[ but that's strange. phoenix doesn't have any fire related trauma in his memory..... so where did this memory come from? ]
[ phoenix looks at galo. ]
Hey, Galo. Why'd you become a firefighter?
[ was it to rescue fires with no one on their side!! ]
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[He's a little dazed by all of that at once. Was that goofy kid actually Phoenix? But he shakes his head at the question.]
You just saw. The Gov, Kray, he rescued me. I wanted to be able to save people from fires like he did for me.
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He rescued you, you say?
[ kind of looks like galo just went out on his own. ]
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Yeah. He saved me. That's how he first got famous, for being a rescuer. And then his research on anti-Burnish tech started getting noticed, and he founded the city.
[Hesitating, but.]
So, that girl. . . she tried to frame you for a murder?
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Looks to me like you rescued yourself.
[ just saying. ]
[ ... ]
Yep. My college sweetheart.
[ sort of but it's complicated.... ]
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[He doesn't exactly get what Phoenix means by what he said, though.]
I'm sorry she did that.
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It's long in the past. I wouldn't worry about it.
....
But I'm going to take a wild guess and say that this betrayal you're talking about is related to why you were in prison. Am I wrong?
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The Gov is the one who had me arrested. Though he's done so many worse things to people other than me. I'm sure Lio's told you he's completely horrible, and I guess he is.
I just didn't know about any of it. To me, he was just the reason I'm here today. The reason I was able to become a firefighter at all.
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He's not the reason, Galo. You are. How could a man who uses people for experiments teach you about preserving life? You did that on your own.
.... Wanting to believe in people isn't a bad thing, by the way.
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[He's a little pouty, like he's offended Phoenix thinks that's news to him. He's had that thought himself, he knows Kray is the one to blame and not himself for wanting to believe in his hero.
. . . It's still nice to hear from someone else.]
It's hard not to feel really fucking stupid for going along with it. I wish I'd known about all of the awful things he was doing, so I could have stopped him. But I didn't even know that he hated my nickname for him.
[He says it like it's a flippant comment, like, who cares, but it kind of does matter. He thought Kray cared about him. Maybe he just saw what he wanted to see. He never saw that Kray hated him the way he did.]
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It was the same with me and "Dollie".
[ well it was more complicated than that but he's not going to go there right now. ]
And you didn't eat a poison bottle of evidence to protect him, so I wouldn't feel too stupid.
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Honestly, I might've done something like that. Felt like I owed him my life, like I'd do anything for him. But that was before I saw Lio with all those people he broke out of prison. They weren't terrorists, they were just old people and kids and regular people. So I knew something had to be up. And, well, when I confronted him, he admitted to everything.
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[ he's gonna have to be less subtle to make this point but that's not happening yet. ]
Unlike you, I was warned away from Dahlia. But I didn't listen. At least you questioned him.
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[The last one stings most. But he gets what Phoenix is getting at, that his trust was used. But he's also not as clueless about some of this as he was a little bit ago. Someone's already pointed out to him the part of his profile about being put in units with high fatalities. . .]
I always thought he kept checking in on me and helping because he cared, but - it was just good for his image, that he saved some kid from a fire.
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[ but yeah. this is typical ace attorney stuff. manfred, morgan, kristoph..... manipulative monsters who took advantage of vulnerable kids. some directly under their care. ]
[ it's been years for some of them, but it still burns. ]
I'm sorry, Galo.
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[ and missing an arm?? ]
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[Frowning, and shaking his head.]
No, that can't be right. He really did rescue me - he was even injured. He had to get a prosthetic for his arm.
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Galo... I saw the memory. You ran out on your own. And when you did... he was standing there.
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[He's frowning even harder!]
Maybe I'm remembering it wrong?
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I don't know if they ever figured that out. But the Gov said a Burnish probably did it. I've always liked to think it was probably just an accident, though. I've been seen fires that a Burnish starts without meaning to, and it's scary for them, too. I don't want to be angry at someone like that.
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