Fill for this PWKM prompt:
"What's the reward for defending a Spanish chicken of murder?"
"Getting a pollo Justice."
.
Disclaimer: The author does not own the Ace Attorney (Gyakuten Saiban) franchise in any way whatsoever.
"What's the reward for defending a Spanish chicken of murder?" Trucy suddenly piped up, turning to Pearl as she did. Up until then, everyone in the Wright Anything Agency kitchen had mostly been quiet while preparing the food for tomorrow's picnic, save for a few short mumbled instructions and the occasional passing around of cooking implements. The young magician probably started feeling uncomfortable with the prolonged lull in the conversation in the room - it wasn't quite enough to drive one crazy (yet), but maybe fifteen minutes of silence was already stretching it.
Athena merely observed from the leftmost corner of the table as Pearl cocked her head to the right, her expression a mixture of curiosity and confusion. The spirit medium raised her middle and index fingers under her chin as opposed to biting her thumb as she usually did while thinking, to avoid getting any of the marinade sauce mix on her face. "I don't know, Trucy - how would a chicken even be accused of murder in the first place? Did it kill its fellow chicken? Also, did they import the chickens from Spain before the crime?"
At this, Trucy's hearty laughter filled the small space, eventually joined in by Junie's soft giggles directly to Athena's right. The magician would probably have slapped Pearl's shoulder, too, if she weren't handling the marinated chicken thigh pieces. It was a good thing she hadn't spilled any of them yet through her fits of laughter.
"Stop being so serious, Pearly!" Trucy tutted as she chided amusedly. "It's just a little riddle! A Mystery, Enigma, Rätsel, Nazō." She let out a grin as Pearl slowly nodded, the confusion eventually leaving her eyes as she just let the matter drop.
"Still, I'm really impressed, Trucy," Junie joined in as she put down the kitchen knife. "For you to be able to pick up those languages, that's really wonderful!"
"Thanks, Juniper!" Trucy grinned. "It's only just a few words here and there for now, though, but I'm slowly learning. Athena taught me a lot these past few months. She's a really great teacher!"
Athena sheepishly raised her right wrist to the back of her head as the three girls' eyes were now on her. (She'd been handling the vegetables after Junie had chopped them.) "Ehh, not really... We were just talking about my experiences in Europe, and some foreign expressions were used and stuff. I'd say she's quite fast to pick that all up in just a few months." The glee was evident in her voice as Widget's display turned as green as the lettuce she had just put away in the container. "The Japanese, on the other hand, I believe she'd picked up from Pearly and Simon."
Pearl's cheeks went a faint tint of red. "Oh, Athena! I don't know a lot of Japanese at all. Only some from Mother and the elders..." She'd trailed off slightly before clearing her throat. "I mean, Mr. Blackquill knows a lot more than I do. In fact, I learned some from him myself when I heard him speak it once."
Athena remembered that one time Trucy had asked Simon for some beginner phrases when he came over the agency two weeks ago. The delighted young magician immediately began showing off her Japanese skills to everyone, along with a smattering of Spanish, French and German, among others. This newfound proficiency in foreign words eventually made their way into various jokes and puns, to Mr. Wright's amusement and to Apollo's dismay. Simon had related that night about how, for once, he agreed with her loud colleague on things.
"I simply cannot un-hear all that, Athena," he'd all but rapidly breathed out to her as he sank on the couch they shared. "I cannot imagine how you interact with that bundle of energy on a daily basis."
Athena had just smiled back in amusement. It took a while herself to understand why Eliza had called out "Good morning!" as she crossed the river with her child, and why the clue was "Cleveland". (She'd never read Uncle Tom's Cabin in Europe. She'd never been this confused - well, since the last court case anyway.)
"Well, Pearly? Care to guess?" Trucy was now back to the Spanish chicken defendant, and was poking the other girl's pink hair ornament ball with her clean pinky. Athena noticed how the magician would occasionally steal a glance from behind Pearl's shoulder while evidently trying to hide a smirk.
"So that's a no, then?" The magician confirmed, her smirk finally widening as Pearl shook her head. Even Junie had stopped with what she was doing altogether in anticipation of the big punch line.
The door behind Athena opened as Trucy triumphantly declared, "Getting a pollo Justice!"
Well, that went wrong. Either Trucy forgot how to pronounce "Ll", or -
"Seriously, Trucy?" A hoarse male voice muttered angrily from behind Athena as the door almost all but slammed behind him.
- or, well, that.
