justira | [Art + Fic] Apollo Justice - Best Hand (G) (Phoenix, Trucy, Apollo) (600 words) (Reply)

Best Hand

Fandom | Cast: Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney. Phoenix, Trucy, Apollo
Rating | Warnings: G! Spoilers: Art — none; drabble — some implied
Words: 600 words
Feedback: Always welcome =)
Notes: Repost of

newgameplus pinch hit for

jadax

Phoenix, Trucy, and Apollo. I love their silly family sort of dynamic. Anything with that would great!

Please note that this version has minor technical edits. The original untouched version version is and will remain on

newgameplus.

Summary | Thumbnail:

It's not the cards that matter.

Best Hand

____

Apollo eyed the backs of Mr. Wright's cards. Wright kept them low, hands resting easy and relaxed on the table — Trucy was just the opposite, her fan of cards held up in front of her face, casting conspiratorial glances over the top. Hiding her smile. Trucy had something; Apollo'd figured that much out. Not as good as his own hand, though, he was sure of it.

(Now if only...)

He looked back at Wright. Nothing to see. Nothing to sense; bracelet quiet and loose on his wrist. (Damn! It's not just that he used Trucy for the games, he's impossible to read anyway!) Apollo resisted gritting his teeth.

Wright was smiling slightly, the same quiet expression — small smirk in the mouth, a little sad in the eyes. Trucy— Trucy was ignoring Apollo, watching Wright. (What does she know that I don't?) He tapped his cards on the table, once; stilled them right away.

"Call," he said, finally.

"Raise!" Trucy returned promptly. She pushed three more Snackoos into the pile.

Wright's eyes flickered over to her; his smile widened. Apollo observed the interplay closely — was that a hint of apology in the smile? There was nothing else to read there — no ticks, no nervous swallowing, not even the soft sound of a toe tapping. Apollo wriggled his own toes surreptitiously — and silently — in his shoes.

Full house, sixes over queens. Good hand, strong hand. Not unbeatable. What did Wright have?

Wright's smile widened. "Raise," he said, the pause not that long after all. And he pushed a full snack-size Snackoo bag in.

Apollo swallowed. His last bag— he could call. But... His hand was good. Just... not that good. Maybe. One bag left.

"Fold!" he squeaked, way too loud. Cleared his throat. (Chords of Steel taught you better than that, Justice.) "Fold."

Wright looked over at Trucy, who happily called and turned expectantly back to Wright, undaunted. He shrugged easily. Put his cards down and spread them out.

Apollo choked.

"Woo!" Trucy crowed, waving her cards in the air. "I win! Two pair!" Apollo ignored her, staring at Wright's cards.

Junk. Pure junk, high king the only good to show for it. His eyes darted around the hand, trying to see anything in it, left right, back to the king— up into Wright's eyes.

"But— I had the best hand!"

"Aw, Polly, don't let Daddy intimidate you!" Trucy bounced in her seat, grinning, holding her not-that-great hand, and Wright started laughing.

"But you— I couldn't see anything!"

Wright shrugged. "They're just cards." He smiled, blinked slowly.

Apollo turned to Trucy. "But how did you—" He sputtered to a stop.

Her grin widened. "I know my Daddy."

Apollo's gaze slid away from this display of how well they knew each other, their easy confidence in one another; he was tapping his fingers nervously against his bracelet, something thick in his throat all of a sudden. It wasn't unfair, it was just...

"Want to go again?" Wright's voice, soft and friendly. Apollo looked up. Wright was smiling at him, inviting him to keep playing, to stay. To learn. And Trucy was beaming at him, all smiles and honesty and mischief.

Apollo's lips quirked up, eyebrows settling down into his game face. His real game face, when he knows he's onto something and he'll bumble through to the end one way or another. "Yeah," he said, grinning. "Deal."

A/N: So I very rarely colour and I never ever cel shade. Also! I've never done a two-parter like this, with bitfic and art. All in all, a very fun experiment!

Colouring-wise (since that's the scariest part of this endeavour for me) I'm pretty proud of the cel shading here, as I normally CANNOT DEAL WITH IT. I am particularly proud of the metallic bits (Apollo's bracelet and Nick's amulet) — I cannot handle metal, generally, so I was surprised at how well they came out! Also, fabric is my arch enemy for life, but I think considering my fabric-fail I did all right here?

Please disregard the fact that the cards are drawn wrong (numbers in the wrong corner). Pretend it was a conscious compositional choice! >.>

Resource credit: Wood texture is from here — I'm not sure I've ever used a texture before either? I went pretty light on this one, tiled it myself, and drew on top of it afterward. But credit where credit is due; the wood would look way worse without this person's help ♥

I hope you like!

Have some line art?

x-post: Hosted on my DW

justira [here]. Original, untouched version on

newgameplus [here]. Pointers on