February 10th, 1895 — Atlantis

August had got to stop exchanging favors with other lawyers; he was only helping on organizing witnesses for this mess, but because he owed the head attorney a favor, he also got the messiest and most embarrassing part of it. He was rather worried that he would lose his Atlantis membership over this. It would also be publicly embarrassing.

He also, frankly, was not sure how he felt about all of this — he could only think of how he would have felt had the Potters decided to try and claim Lysander, under the guise that August was obviously unfit after having slept with a vampire. But the circumstances were different; he had raised Lysander since Lysander was an infant. And work was work.

(That there may be issues in his political relationships was another issue entirely — but August knew how most members of the Wizengamot worked, and he was skilled at striking a deal. He was not above finding a way to make everyone half-happy, if the Dempseys really wanted her. And — it was not really his case.)

He'd been waiting for a few hours reading various papers in Atlantis, when finally he recognized the right Mr. Dempsey. August folded his book, tucked it into his bag, and pulled out the envelope. He stood up and approached Dempsey. "Mr. Don Juan Dempsey?" August asked, a formality.

Don Juan Dempsey, but other Atlantis members may pop in or witness?

  

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set by Bree

Don Juan had been here less in the past few weeks than he usually was. He had often booked rooms here before when he needed a place to sleep away from his family, when he was too high or too close to withdrawal to be good company. Of course he also came here socially, but that had also tapered off since he'd reconnected with Dean. He wasn't cruising by in the early evenings looking for parties he could tag along to, not when he was avoiding substances and when he could always go to Hudson's instead of sitting home alone. Now he was often only here if he had planned to meet someone, as was the case today. He had gone by the bar and collected a drink, and was just settling in to a card table when he was approached by someone who looked uncomfortable — or maybe that was just the way he always held himself, with the cane. Don Juan recognized him vaguely from society, but no specifics.

"Guilty as charged," he returned, leaning back on the side of his chair so that he could be semi-facing the gentleman without rising from his seat at the card table. Someone laughed like he'd made a joke, and it was only then that it floated up to the surface of his memory that this was the lawyer bloke. Echelon-Something. He was brothers-in-law with Pettigrew, or something. "Can I help you?"

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Guilty as charged. Merlin help him, the rumors were going to write themselves. He was going to have to try his best to ignore the men who were playing cards with Dempsey, because otherwise this would just be worse for him. (Did family lawyers do this all the time? Maybe it was harder than criminal defense.)

August held the yellow envelope out for Mr. Dempsey. "You're being served," he said, keeping it simple.

  

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set by Bree

Don Juan had no context for this statement and looked down with bemusement at the yellow envelope. "Served what?" he asked as he took it and turned it over in his hands. If someone said he was being served he would have expected them to hand him a drink, not a thick envelop. The last time someone had been this dramatic about handing him a letter it had been Yaxley's second issuing the challenge to duel. Was Echelon connected to Seraphina Bythesea's husband, perhaps? How unfortunate if so. He hadn't thought they'd been caught on the rooftop, but he couldn't think of any other likely scenarios which could have resulted in a challenge. He had no intention of fleeing the country this time, though — things were going well for him, comparatively. Maybe Ozymandias could sort it out.

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August had only been told where to find Dempsey, so he was rather hoping that Mr. Spaans was not a member of Atlantis. Of course — if he was, and if he was here, the pair arguing would probably leave August in the clear to quietly take legal notes, or to flee the premises and find a way to shove things like this onto Eldritch Morgan in the future.

August straightened; he cleared his throat. "A Mr. Klaas Spaans is bringing a — lawsuit against you," he said quietly. Hopefully that would be enough information for Dempsey to connect the dots — explaining in depth would probably spread the scandal even faster than it would otherwise.

  

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set by Bree

Don Juan recognized the name at least, but still had no idea what was going on. A lawsuit for what? He had never been involved in a lawsuit before and guessed the closest thing he had experienced might have been when Valencia tried to blackmail his family. Did that count as legal trouble? But lawsuits were... things businesses inflicted on other businesses, primarily, weren't they? He had no idea what Klaas Spaans might be suing him for.

"He wants money?" he guessed, still mentally playing on the idea that lawsuits and blackmail probably weren't far removed. He opened the envelope right there at the card table — it would never occur to him to leave a room to conduct business like this more privately. Before he fished out the paperwork, a thought occurred to him and he glanced skeptically at the man with the cane. "You're his lawyer?"

Don Juan had never gotten a lawyer for anything, but Echelon was rich and an Atlantis member, so presumably an expensive lawyer. The Spaans were not exorbitantly wealthy people, unless Klaas had come into significantly more money than Adriana would have. What did Spaans think he was going to get from Don Juan that would be worth this kind of hassle?

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August shook his head. "I've been contracted by Breekon and Hope," he said, which was a more professional way of saying Breekon took on one of my former clients on the cheap when she wanted a divorce. He didn't expect Dempsey to have much interest in the personal exchanges of lawyers, but wanted to make it clear that he shouldn't get unpleasant mail about this.

"My understanding is that Mr. Spaans is not interested in money," August said, diplomatically, "And that this is more about Miss Kaatjie."

(There was some conflict over the girl's last name in their discussions. The client felt very strongly that Miss Kaatjie was a Spaans, but the lawyers had all agreed that her surname should be Dempsey. Calling her Spaans pointed out a legal hole in the way Mrs. Adriana Dempsey had conducted her parenthood; calling her Dempsey strengthened her connection to the other Dempseys. There wasn't a good answer.)

  

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set by Bree

"He wants Kaatjie?" Don Juan asked, with enough surprise and incredulity in his voice that the girl would certainly have been offended if she were here to overhear him. His surprise wasn't really anything to do with her at all, of course. He had only met her once and probably couldn't have distinguished her from any other ten-or-eleven-or-twelve-year-old. But he had expected his letter to Klaas Spaans saying he intended to take Kaatjie in to be met with relief. Kaatjie wasn't his child, and Don Juan had presumed Klaas mostly took her in to begin with because he saw no better options. Now there was a better option. This made no sense whatsoever.

"No," Don Juan said, in a tone that implied he thought the lawyer was joking and he was good-naturedly laughing at himself for having caught on to it a second later than he should have. "What is it, really?"

He could have read it, presumably, but now that he'd gotten the paperwork out he was realizing it was a thick stack of parchment with a lot of fine print, and he was still sat at a dimly lit card table in the club.

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   August Echelon-Arnost

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August blinked, the only physical registration of his surprise. "He wants Miss Kaatjie, yes," August answered. Unfortunately, the only evidence he had to prove this was the envelope of papers he'd given Dempsey. Luckily, that was technically all they had to do — if Dempsey didn't show up to court later, then Breekon's job was going to become much easier.

  

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set by Bree

Why? Don Juan thought, but he assumed the lawyer didn't have any more idea than he did, so he didn't bother to ask it. He turned his attention to the stack of parchment instead. There was quite a lot of text here, in rather small print, but he tried to skim it for some indication of what was really going on. Did they think Kaatjie had an inheritance of some kind? She didn't — Don Juan had no money to speak of, beyond what he used to sustain his lifestyle. Her mother hadn't had much, as he recalled.

"Unfit?" he read, pronouncing the word as though he was unfamiliar with the meaning of it. If he'd stuck around after she was born no one would be serving him paperwork saying he was unfit; there were terrible fathers everywhere, and no one did anything about it. This entire sequence of events was baffling. There had to be some other motive here, some reason Klaas Spaans wanted to keep Kaatjie that hadn't occurred to him yet. "And he thinks her mother was?"

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August was not sure if it would be helpful for him to point out that Mrs. Adriana Dempsey was dead, and could hardly be sued because of it. He shrugged his shoulders at Mr. Dempsey. "You may want to ask him," August asked, tone wry — he couldn't resist poking a little.

  

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