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The crime scene absolutely reads as if the defendant did it, which isn’t new, but is still inconvenient for Apollo. He’ll have to go over every inch of this damn garage if he’s ever gonna find anything substantial for his case. And he hasn’t had the time to take coffee yet either…
It’s looking to be a pretty bleak day, it seems. Maya Fey couldn’t have chosen a worse day to join him on his investigation.
(Because Trucy’s currently out all day preparing props for her new magic act, and Mr Wright and Athena are on a case of their own. And Maya, who happened to be in town, had decided that morning for all of them that she wanted to assist Apollo’s case.)
(“Let me help out Apollo and you can take Athena with you! Training up the new blood, right? Besides, you’re probably bored of me anyway, and I bet Apollo’s gonna be way more fun to investigate with.”)
Well, Ms Fey, I am deeply sorry to disappoint you there, because I’ve got absolutely nothing right now.
Apollo sighs, resting his eyes for a second, shifting his weight from one foot to another–anything that’ll help him refresh his mind and see this scene from a new perspective.
He’s pleased to find that this does work, actually, as he notices something that he hadn’t before immediately.
“Oh, a ladder,” he says as he gestures towards it.
It’s folded up behind the metal shelf, leaning against the wall. And the odd angle the shelf is in and the dust marks at the foot of the shelf suggest that it was recently moved, perhaps to… hide the ladder? Then maybe that ladder is the key to the case!
He turns around to share this idea with Maya, and immediately has to take a step backwards because she is already right there and staring at him with wide eyes.
“You mean it? You think it’s a ladder!?” she exclaims, grabbing at his collar now with both hands.
Wh… why the hell is she asking about that…?
He isn’t given more than a second to comprehend this because she proceeds to shake Apollo back and forth, threatening to completely wrinkle his freshly-pressed shirt. “Answer me, Apollo! Answer me!”
“Woah– agh!” And all that Apollo can do is wave his hands around uselessly in the air and hope that Maya gets the cue to let him go.
When Maya’s expectant gaze doesn’t waver still, he tries to get a clarification. “Umm… I’m not sure I follow. What else would it be if not a ladder?”
She snorts at that, then breaks into a fit of laughter. It makes Apollo feel like dying.
But at the very least, he’s finally let go of, as she goes to wipe tears out of her eyes.
“If it were Nick, he’d definitely talk my ear off about how that’s,”–Maya then makes double quotation marks and continues with a horribly incredible impression of his boss–“actually a step ladder, Maya, they’re totally different things!”
Apollo can’t help but snort too. He’s heard from many that Maya is a master of impressions, so seeing it firsthand is… an honor. That’s probably the right word for this bizarre experience.
But, he’s also getting deja vu from it. Now who else sounds exactly like that? Who else aggressively insists that “it’s called a stepladder”? Who else explains that the difference is that a stepladder is “a much more complex piece of machinery”?
Ah, right, of course.
“Like father, like daughter,” he hums, surprising even himself when he recalls a certain blue-clad magician with a preference (or maybe it’s a passion) for stepladders. “I’ve had that argument with Trucy way more times than I can count.”
Maya exaggerates a gasp. “I can’t believe he’d tell his own daughter such lies! This is clearly just a ladder. Same difference, y’know, who even cares!”
“No yeah, I agree!” Apollo exclaims, making good use of his Chords of Steel to convey exactly how much he agrees.
“If you look past the form, and just get to the essence of it… all step ladders are ladders. So technically, by always assuming it’s a ladder, we can never be wrong!”
After concluding his argument, he finds that Maya has taken a step or two away from him, wide-eyed and holding her hands up defensively. He only realises a second too late that he’s in his “objection!” pose, pointing right at Maya.
He immediately pulls his hand away, and he can feel his hair horns drop down onto his forehead in doing so.
This is the Mystic Maya Fey, Master of Kurain Village and Ace Spirit Medium that he’s rudely pointing his finger at, after all! “Ah! Ms Fey, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to–it was a force of habit, I–!”
“Pfft!”
Apollo finds Maya now with a hand covering her mouth, trying and failing to stop herself from laughing.
“You’re way louder than I thought, but you’re clearly not as unreliable as Nick says you are,” she says in between giggles.
“Unreliable? I thought we’d been over this…”
“Relax, Apollo.” She moves to stand next to him, then gives him a hearty pat on the back. “You’ve just established yourself as Vice President over at Team Ladder. I think you’re plenty reliable.”
“Oh… thank you, Ms Fey.” Weird thing to be Vice President of, to say the least. But who is he to argue with that?
Maya then perks up and brings her hands together to ask, “Hey, so what do you say we go for some burgers later after wrapping up today’s investigation? I have to tell my new second-in-command all about my proposed plan of attack on Team Step Ladder.”
And go over our findings to prepare for the trial, right?
…Though either way, he’s not one to refuse being offered food. Especially food that’s not Eldoon’s. He really dodged a bullet this time, being assisted by someone who isn’t a Wright with a salt immunity.
“Yes. Please,” Apollo says, with just enough urgency. He also politely adds, “And, uhh, thank you so much for the offer, Ms Fey.”
“Nah, thank you, Polly, for the free meal!”
He can only see a flash of her grin before she disappears behind him and calls out, “Hey, Ema, where are you? Have you tested the ladder behind the shelf with luminol yet? I just have this gut feeling about it…”
And she’s gone by the time Apollo can finally process the fact that he is not being treated to a pre-trial dinner, actually.
“Polly!? Free meal!? And wait–I haven’t even said anything about the ladder! Ms Fey!? Ms Fey, wait!”