application: empatheias.

[willbefine]

⌈ PLAYER SECTION ⌉
Player: Celen
Contact: celen
Age: 24
Current Characters: N/A


⌈ CHARACTER SECTION ⌉
Character: Apollo Justice
Age: 23
Canon: Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies
Canon Point: Turnabout for Tomorrow

Background: Wiki link here.

Personality:

Contrary to his slightly ridiculous-sounding name, the first impression of Apollo Justice is a serious, straight-forward young attorney with the lungs of a man twice his size. “Seriousness” is perhaps one of his most defining qualities: whatever the situation, whether it be a new case, an investigation, the cheering up of a friend or the defense of his hairstyle, Apollo will face all of these with the same serious approach, with all his determination. In many ways, he acts as the so-called "Only Straight Man", putting up with the weirdness and ridiculousness surrounding him and despairing as others don’t take things as seriously as he does. He’s rarely provoked to actual anger over being played as a fool or others making fun of him; instead, he’ll adopt an unimpressed expression, maybe coupled with a flatly asked question of whether or not a slightly insulting comment was really necessary. To help him cope with the daily weirdness of being a part of The Wright Anything Agency, he has a dry sense of humor and a sarcastic streak that mostly shows itself in his inner monologue. He rarely outright says any of these comments to the witnesses he’s interviewing or the people he meets, most of the time appearing outwardly entirely friendly and polite, instead keeping the remarks inside his own head; something that helps him deal with things like strangely dressed girls slapping exorcism spells on his forehead or narcissistic murder witnesses with insane business plans. The sarcasm is not directed only at others, though, but also himself: the seriousness of his demeanor doesn’t go far enough that he wouldn’t be able to see some ridiculousness in himself, too, especially upon realizing having made a mistake at court or, for example, accidentally adopting a manner from a witness ("what’s WITH these two? … great, now he’s got me talking like that, too.").

One thing that everyone would notice of Apollo is his habit, called "chords of steel", a self-encouraging mantra of shouting out an introduction, followed with an "I’m fine! Everything will be fine!". It’s something that started out as a way to make a friend feel better, it’s something Apollo uses to psych himself up, but what Trucy astutely describes "self-help": despite Apollo’s general determination, responsibility, friendliness and even the slight teasing edge that shows with friends, he also has severe insecurity issues. They can be traced as far back as his childhood, never knowing his father or mother and growing up as an orphan, and this manifests in other ways, as well, not simply the repeated encouraging phrases. Apollo is shown to be jealous of Klavier, claiming he steals all the attention; he can also act very vain about his hair, getting up early in the morning to make sure it’s exactly right. He also wants others to take him seriously, seeks praise and recognition, even though he is badly equipped to deal with both – most of the time, all praise he gets in court makes him blush and rub the back of his head, proclaiming embarrassed denials or belittling his own reasoning or abilities.

Perhaps partly because of this, at the start of his career, Apollo was easily flustered, messing up words and phrases and obviously unsure of himself and his abilities, and the following events in his life weren’t easy on the rookie attorney, either: in a short span of time, he was proving his own mentor a murderer, discovering his idol a forger of evidence and becoming unemployed. These events show his strength of character and mind, as well as his sense of responsibility as a lawyer: ever since the beginning, he was an admirer of Phoenix Wright, for his uncompromising pursuit of truth in the court of law – something Apollo himself wanted to follow. He values truth and honesty above all, and though it gave him great pains, he went through with the trial and proved his own mentor a murderer, for the pursuit of the truth and the trust in his client. Apollo’s special gift, the bracelet that lets him sense when someone is lying, is a major part of this quest for honesty: when you see others’ lies, when you can spot the little tells that will reveal the untruths, the pursuit for the real truth becomes all the more important, both in others and in yourself – something Apollo believes in wholeheartedly. And during the course of his career, he has gained more confidence in his own abilities, presenting in the courtroom as calmer and more mature, now, standing up to Blackquill in court and standing behind his reasoning…

… even if said reasoning is sometimes completely based on a bluff. While Apollo, as a prodigy (because who in this series isn’t one?), is extremely clever, quick and good at deductions and reason (as a lawyer should be, and as can be seen in all the deductions he makes during his cases in court), he’s also a quick speaker, easily capable of keeping on talking for as long as necessary for him to come up with a new angle for the case, or outright making things up on the spot, if it aids the case. His quest for truth never bends even in these cases, even if the actual truth might, temporarily – because it is all for the client, for that the truth might come out. If Apollo believes in his client, he’ll do everything he can to help them, pressing on with the determination with a bull and the stubbornness of one, too.

In fact, despite his usual seriousness, Apollo does have a bit of a temper, accompanied by a fiery soul matching his name; this mostly manifests by his loudness, but he’s also prone to outbursts, and sometimes things he doesn’t approve of will make him get fired up in righteous indignation. Apollo is someone who feels strongly and shows it all, honest in his feelings as in everything else: if he’s happy, it shows in the brightness of his smile ; if he’s determined, his loud voice, fists squeezed tight and the set of his mouth will show it ; he will even cry in relief, if it’s strong enough.

During the difficult phase of his life, when he was uncertain of his career choice, upon believing Phoenix to be guilty of presenting forged evidence, Apollo relied heavily on the support of his friend, Clay Terran. For Apollo, who grew up without parents, friendship has always meant a great deal: first, forming a bond with Clay who had just lost a mother, Apollo tried to cheer him up and support him, understanding his pain and loss through his compassion and caring about others. They stayed friends for a long time, and after, Apollo would make friends with Phoenix’ adopted daughter, Trucy, as well as the new recruit, Athena – and that would present the next huge conflict in his life, tying in with the pursuit of truth so important to him.

Clay’s death and sensing Athena’s lies had a huge impact on Apollo. Feeling a heavy responsibility to solve Clay’s murder himself, but also feeling the guilt of doubting a friend, it makes Apollo cover his eye so he won’t be able to sense Athena’s tells and takes a leave of absence, saying he needs to figure it out on his own. He becomes withdrawn and quiet as a result of the sadness, fear and guilt he’s feeling – however, this also shows his determination to figure things out, to take on all the burden by himself, even going so far as to try and defend Solomon Starbuck even after he’d suffered injuries in the courtroom bombing. He shows a disregard to his own state as even further along, he discharges himself from the hospital, refusing to rest when he should be investigating. In the end, he has the strength of mind to outright indicate Athena for Clay’s murder, stating his reasons for doubting her, simply for the sake of Phoenix proving him wrong, with whatever it takes: finally, he admits he can’t solve it himself, and instead shows his trust in his boss and the will to believe his friend innocent of the crime.

As Juniper Woods describes Apollo, he’s truly "strong, bright and warm" – kind and caring to his friends and to his clients, intelligent, quick-witted, his serious exterior hiding a person who is sarcastic, determined, insecure but gaining in confidence, who will fight for his friends and his beliefs and search for the answers for himself.

Abilities:

Apollo carries a bracelet that will help him sense when people are lying. More information about how the bracelet works can be found here.

Other:

Apollo is 1) afraid of heights, 2) canonically used to watch Doctor Who, and 3) a dork who likes to make puns with his last name.


⌈ SAMPLE SECTION ⌉
First Person Sample: meme thread

Third Person Sample:

Clay was dead.

Clay was dead, Athena was lying about the knife, and Apollo had no idea what to do.

It’s not like he had never been in a situation where he had no idea to do, really – he’d been in those boots too many times for comfort. Really, it’d be a nice change if for once, a trial would go in his favor without the need for bluffing, outrageous claims or playing for time… but he wasn’t in a courtroom, now, and the only one there to fall for the bluff was Apollo himself. He’d been fooling himself for too long. What reason would Athena have to lie, if she wasn’t the one who—

It’s difficult to finish the sentence, even in his own mind. Is he really doubting his own co-worker, the cheerful girl who speaks too many languages and whose enthusiasm is always catching to him, too, of murder? Worse yet, of the murder of his best friend?

In a court of law, the truth is what matters… and evidence will reveal it. If he wants to find Clay’s killer, the one who put a stop to Clay’s dream when it was so close to being achieved, that means investigating the whole thing… and investigating it alone. He can’t watch Athena lying to him a moment longer, can’t spell out his doubts for fear that she’s truly the killer.

So he grabs a bandage, and with a neat movement, wraps it around his eye – seems there’s some use for all those times he had to learn to bandage his and Clay’s knees, for falling down so much. With the faintest smile, he leaves the apartment, leaves in more ways than one, as when he walks inside the newly re-installed Wright Law Office, it's with a frown, a coldness in his heart and a front he has to maintain:

"Sorry, but I’ll be taking a leave of absence."

It’s the only way, and the truth is waiting.

Questions: nope!