#rosa is queen
tears of themis: the lawless lawyer [ pt. 1 ]
[ summary: there’s a new lawyer in town, with a knack for grand first impressions. she can talk the talk, but can she walk the walk? ]
The perfect brown eyebrows of Senior Attorney Artem Wing furrowed when his virtual assistant announced the dreadful slot of his day’s schedule. His fingers clenched around the steering wheel as he sped his way through the unusually empty street towards his workplace. What lightning had struck the jurisdiction to dish out such a decision, he would never know. So all he could focus upon was to get past the blur of concrete and rainbow-tinted glass around him without panicking too much.
Themis Law Firm stood bright and tall amongst all the structures in the surrounding area, the statue of the Greek Goddess in its prismatic logo perched atop its highest point glimmering bright. With the amount of people entering and leaving, the venue was as lively as it could be, unlike the unease bubbling inside the male’s chest. It had been a while since he had felt such a strong need for procrastination. Could he afford to be petty just this once and dump this consignment on one of his juniors? Even if it hurt his image as an outstanding and responsible senior a little; he could live with that.
Parking his car on his usual spot on the street, he stepped out as slowly as he could.
“You’re awfully early today, Mr. Wing. Are you that excited to meet your new understudy?”
Artem mentally groaned and made a note to never meet the voice’s owner on his bad days as he turned around. Despite having voiced her own concerns the previous night, she was dressed as professionally as she could with her black pencil skirt and pearl white blouse. Her usual casual ponytail was gone, instead her lavender hair had been pulled back into a tight bun, accentuating her sharp cat eyes. She wore her signature smile, but with the look she was sporting it came off a lot more taunting than it usually was.
“Please Celestine, spare me the usual banter.”
She placed her hand her hip, her Prada heels clicking loudly against the marble floor as she switched stances. “Put on a winning face, champ. I know you don’t like this, but it’s not the end of the world.”
Walking around the Porsche, the senior attorney joined his headache on the other side. “It’s just…why would they ever think someone like me would be suited for this?”
Celestine waved her hands animatedly in front of her as they began walking towards the rotating glass doors. “Well, we know out half of the story. She’s not a clean lawyer, but neither the court nor the police have any proof. They’re hoping that if she was under the constant surveillance of someone loyal enough to the law, they’ll get what they need to revoke her license and put her behind bars. And you sonny,” she nudged his shoulder slightly, “just happen to check all the boxes.”
Artem lowered and shook his head with a huff. “If they wanted information that badly, they could’ve gotten the military police to get it out of her. They just want another reason to passively bully me because I’m Bryan Wing’s son.”
“Hey, we’ve been over this Artem. You’re here because of yourself and no one else. You being related to a famous Supreme Court Justice is just a perk. It’s mainly your own rep; because you’re in the limelight too often, it implies that you’re less likely to join her fishy tactics.”
Artem rubbed his temples with his index finger and thumb. “Either way, my plans of laying low from media for the month have been blown into the next century. God, I can already feel the headache from the camera flashes.”
Celestine chuckled, the sound temporarily easing some of Artem’s tension. “Come on, pretty boy. It might not even be that bad. From what I heard, she’s quite the interesting character. If nothing good comes out of it in the end, at least it would be a nice change from your regular boring life.”
Artem narrowed his eyes at her half-jokingly. “It’s called self-discipline, Miss Attorney. You should try it sometime.”
She rolled her eyes, waving her hand dismissively. “You health freaks act like a bowl of instant ramen would kill me.”
Artem shrugged. “Combined with your terrible sleep schedule and diet, I’m surprised it hasn’t already.
“Whatever you say, Gym Instructor Artem.”
Smiling at the conversation, the man hadn’t realized that his mind had already eased up into the familiar atmosphere. Most of the stress in his shoulders had dissipated once he had stopped fretting over the possibilities of what could go wrong. Maybe Celestine was right, maybe he was overthinking too much. He had dealt with so many cases who’s impact had a much larger magnitude than something so insignificant. Not to mention that if he ever wanted to find Neil, he was going to have to deal with a lot worse things. And not to toot his own horn, but he was the Artem Wing. He could handle anything, he always did―
CRASH!
Every head on the street swerved in the direction the violent sound. Artem was so lost in his own headspace that his heart almost leapt out of his chest. And his cerulean eyes grew the size of watermelons when his brain finally caught up to what had happened.
A Lexus, shining a blinding white, had just rammed headfirst into the backside of his own car.
The shock and silence only lasted for about a few seconds around him before the motor siren went off. His own displeasure and distress was sidelined as chaos erupted in waves through the crowd all around him. People were frantically rushing towards the scene of accident to both assess damage and get live coverage, and from the corner of his eye Artem spotted a lawyer calling the police over. Not having expected to see something like this the first thing in the morning, his feet were firmly rooted to the ground.
And to his even greater shock, Celestine started laughing next to him.
He looked at her with a mix of exasperation and confoundedness, to which she only shook her head. “Told you this was going to be interesting.”
A spike of loud murmurs drew his attention, and Artem forced himself to brush off the confusion and take action. Gently pushing his way through the crowd with polite ‘make way’s and ‘coming through’s, he finally emerged at the front. With automated driving having been integrated into automobile AIs for as long as he could remember, accidents on road had become a rarity in Stellis. The state of his own vehicle was the last thing on his mind; he was more concerned about whoever the unfortunate soul at the other end of the impact.
It was as if the universe was trying to ridicule him by sending the most bizarre conditions his way that day.
The door of the Lexus was kicked open (yes, kicked open), and a pair of polished raven heels landed themselves on the solid concrete. It was as if he was stuck in a trance staring at the figure emerging ― perhaps it was the combined exhaustion, shock and disbelief catching up to him.
A dark haired beauty, her skin cream and roses. Her delicate features were scrunched in obvious frustration and discomfort, the sunglasses on her face slightly crooked. She brushed the tiny shards of broken glass off her maroon pencil skirt and tugged at her red blazer harshly as she walked over to assess the damage. Even after what would give most people a massive jolt to their systems, her walk was ever so sturdy, albeit with a touch of indignancy.
The voices around Artem died down just as he heard her huff and run a hand through her hair.
“Fucking hell, it’s too early for this.”
[ A/N: Hey guys! So this idea just popped into my head one fine evening when I was playing the game. Some of the reasoning as to why Rosa got assigned to work at Themis alongside Artem may not make too much sense, but I’m working on it. This will be an AU series, and I cannot wait to write down the interactions with the boys that I’ve thought up! . Also, tagging @raentaro because I really want to hear your opinion on this! ]
