As You Are

Chapter One

SYNOPSIS:
Castor Acosta would do anything to win, including participating in a rigged trial, especially since winning means being able to receive illegal gender affirming surgery. Unfortunately, the longer he listens to his opponent the more he can't help but agree with her...

Emory Laurent doesn't know she has no chance of winning, especially if her (alleged) kidnapping of a foreign princess and stabbing of the queen ever comes to light. Yet she will stop at nothing to get justice for her father and change her home country for the better.

Secrets can't be hidden forever, and eventually even honesty will catch up to these lawvers. When it does, the truth will determine the fate of their country.

AKA the love two people have when they've studied the other so thoroughly but still need to keep their hatred to accomplish their most wanted goals.

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Trigger Warnings (in no particular order): religious trauma, depictions of sexism, transphobia and homophobia, gun violence, alcohol use.

This isn't all that could be triggering so if you'd like to know if something comes up please reach out to me. The same goes if you would like trigger warnings on each chapter where the trigger occurs.

(Longish chapters because screw the ads).

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As You Are:

"It brings me great pleasure to announce our two finalists for the position of our next member of the High Court- Causidii Emory Laurent and Castor Acosta!"

Causidicus Acosta gave a soft smile and gave the crowd an awkward wave, drawing attention to the fact that his suit jacket fit slightly too tight on his arms and rested too short by his wrists. Causidicus Laurent's outfit was the opposite- a smart pantsuit which had become her signature look despite women in pants being a relatively new phenomenon. Her face showed no whimsy for the public and all she offered them in acknowledgement was a professional nod of her head.

Neither Laurent and Acosta had gotten to this point by being nice. The both of them, the people of Atrius, the High Court, even the Arbiter knew that. Laurent and Acosta had been breaking records since they became causidii. A quarter of the laws in Atrius had been changed since they had been sworn in.

As traditional, the pair shook hands. An observant onlooker may have noticed that this handshake was not as friendly as the tradition may have liked. Their vice grips promised one thing- neither would pull their punches in the the following legal battle.

Causidicus Acosta would not pull his punches, however the smile on his face might have had to do with the fact that he knew he would win. Not because of how good he was- Laurent may have given him a run for his money, were the trial not rigged in his favor. So he gripped her hand and gave her a smile sharper than what he had given the crowd. It was a wide smile, showing all of his teeth.

It was unfortunate for Causidicus Acosta that Laurent's aim was not to win this fight. She was a couple steps ahead of that, and convinced that she could win the war, and the entire government of Atrius with her.

With the pair's locked hands and determined faces, the trial had officially begun.

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In reality, the trial wouldn't begin for another two weeks. Emory Laurent used her time to check in on her newspaper, The Issue. It was a solid building in the downtown of Atrius' capital city, Atrii. She brushed by many people on the sidewalk on her way to the door and noticed with pride customers lining up to get to a young boy selling copies of their latest paper. Through the years, she had done her best to make the law interesting and accessible to citizens so that they would participate in elections.