♱ ̣ 𓈒 Simon Blackquill ̣̣̣ ˙。

Taka is the animal companion of prosecutor Simon Blackquill, a hawk who often perches on his shoulder. Blackquill uses Taka in court to harass his opponents and witnesses, as well as deliver various items and relay information involving the cases Blackquill is involved in. According to Blackquill, Taka lives in the District Court. Which is a lie, the bird lives with him.

Taka possesses considerable intelligence and has a very close bond with Blackquill, often performing commands without having to be asked. He is capable of buying and bring manjū to court. Despite being used to intimidate people, Taka does not actually attack people unless he is commanded to do so or he is very hungry.

Taka is a brown hawk with tan and black stripes on his wings and tail feathers. He has yellow and black eyes, feet, and beak. He wears a black and white handkerchief around his neck.

On October 7, 2020, during one of Simon's visits to the Space Center, he came across a horrific scene in the robotics lab. Metis was lying on the robot repair bench, dead from a stab wound in her chest. Athena was standing next to the body and explained that she intended to use the repair bench to take Metis apart and fix her. Simon thought that there must have been some kind of mistake, but he feared the worst for Athena and decided to cover for her while protecting the psychological profile that Metis had generated.

Simon dismantled the nearby robot Ponco with the katana that had been used as the murder weapon, since she was a witness. As he was doing this, a visiting journalist caught a photo of him with the blood-stained katana. Simon then put Ponco into a rolling case, picked up the blood-covered Athena in his arms, and took both robot and little girl out of the lab. He was caught on security camera as he left, though Athena was positioned in such a way as to be hidden from the camera's line of sight, and Athena's specialized headphones left a bloodied imprint on his clothes. He dropped Athena off at the Cykes family residence and disposed of Ponco in the garbage chute at Boarding Lounge 1. Eventually, a Space Center staff member and two police officers discovered Metis's body, and Simon was arrested hours after the crime.

Seven years after the UR-1 Incident, Chief Prosecutor Miles Edgeworth gave Simon his law license back and had him begin prosecuting again in hopes of luring out the phantom, with Detective Bobby Fulbright being assigned to assist and keep an eye on him. His first trial back pitted him against Apollo Justice, who was defending Damian Tenma, mayor of Tenma Town, for the murder of Rex Kyubi, alderman of Nine-Tails Vale. Assisting him was Athena Cykes, who had become an attorney to try to save Simon. Although Simon put the full force of his psychological tactics on display, Justice managed to pull off a spirited defense of his client, defeating Simon and proving Damian Tenma's innocence.

With only one day left before his execution, Simon was determined to protect Athena to the end, despite one last effort by Aura to convince him to fight for a retrial. In a last-ditch effort to save her brother, Aura used the Space Center robots to hold several visitors hostage in exchange for a retrial of the UR-1 Incident. She indicted Athena rather than Simon, and had Edgeworth take the prosecutor's bench against Wright. Edgeworth initially maintained an advantage, but Simon once again attested that he was the true criminal, and counterargued to Edgeworth's assertions.

Simon testified on the occurrences of that day, claiming that Metis was a cruel person who used Athena in experiments. He testified that he had killed Metis in order to protect Athena from her. Using Athena's Mood Matrix, Wright found contradictions between his emotions and his claims, causing him to continue to lie to make his testimony more believable. Eventually, Wright caught him on a logical contradiction and identified Athena as the source of his raging emotions, forcing him to admit to what he had really seen. Simon bitterly told Wright off for forcing him to reveal the truth, but Wright went on to prove that neither he nor Athena was responsible for the murder. Even when Justice entered the courtroom to indict Athena for Terran's murder, Wright managed to prove the influence of the phantom in both cases. Even more shockingly, Wright then accused Fulbright of being the phantom.

In the aftermath of Wright's statement, Edgeworth declared Simon a free man and unlocked his shackles for good. Simon thanked Aura and apologized for the trouble he had caused, properly expressing his gratitude for the first time in years. Edgeworth then granted him special permission to take over as prosecutor against Fulbright. Simon also entrusted Wright with the phantom's psychological profile. Simon was found not guilty, and his Execution was canceled.

The final design depicts him in a bluish black suit with yellow buttons. Over this suit is a samurai battle surcoat, or "jinbaori" (陣羽織), outlined in white, which has two black and white feather prints on the front and one big print on the back. He also wears black boots. In order for him to look sharp, only some small bearings of his criminal background and rōnin inspiration remain in the final design, namely his shackles, color scheme, and ragged hair. Simon has pale skin and gray eyes with black marks beneath them. His use of a hawk is to make him reminiscent of a samurai, since falconry was a sport conducted by samurai.

Simon is TALL. 188cm, to be exact. He seems to be slightly muscular, but no, it’s just the layers of clothes he wears. He has long, thick black hair, with a white patch of hair on his fringe, which goes down to just exactly above his eyebrows. He has dark marks under his eyes, from hours of crying and lack of sleep. He tends to be a wreck at times.

Simon is known for his use of psychological manipulation in court. Among his tricks are flattery, suggestive persuasion, and implicit death threats. The latter especially comes in various forms, but one of his favorites is his use of iaijutsu with his fingers, causing a "slicing" effect that has been seen to slice a feather in half, and was even able to cut off a piece of Wright's hair. Although these threats are usually idle, they are part of a larger persona that he has built for himself, based off of his reputation as a ruthless convict on death row. This allows him to instill fear and uneasiness in others, including his prior primary target, the phantom.

A highly disciplined and focused man, Simon was capable of maintaining his false persona for seven years. Although his hands were in shackles, he could break them at any time, despite being fitted with stronger shackles every time he did so. His false testimony concerning killing Metis withstood several attacks by Phoenix Wright and Miles Edgeworth without skipping a beat. However, underneath this act is a kind, lawful man who, despite his somewhat intimidating appearance, deeply cares about Athena, to the point of maintaining his guilt to the bitter end in order to protect her and keep the phantom guessing. When forced to testify about what he had really seen, he exhibited a raging whirlpool of emotions with Athena as the source. After the final resolution of the UR-1 Incident, he maintained many of his behavioral habits but finally showed his caring self again, thanking Aura for her efforts and apologizing for the suffering that he had caused her.

However, despite caring about and believing in her, Simon isn't adverse to teasing Athena about her skill level and general lack of experience compared to her co-workers and himself. He also doesn't indulge in her occasional moments where her lack of confidence gets the better of her, preferring to instead make a good-natured snarky comment or directly telling her to pull herself together. The feeling is mutual, as Athena also cares significantly for Simon's wellbeing but also throws snark at his direction and pokes fun at his expense at times. Overall, his approach can be best described as strict and akin to tough love, letting Athena work her way in and step in only when it is absolutely necessary for him to do so.

Simon has a dark and somewhat mischievous sense of humor that he mixes in with his intimidation tactics. He often tells larger-than-life stories of prisoners he has met, such as a surgeon or a captured ninja, usually to make a point. He also gives unflattering nicknames to just about everyone other than his rival attorneys, whom he addresses using the Japanese honorific "-dono". However, he has little patience for what he perceives as ridiculous, largely dismissing the many supernatural claims in the trial of Damian Tenma, being very reluctant to allow Wright to cross-examine the orca Orla and even leaving the courtroom after one witness gave a testimony he deemed "rubbish". Simon was also annoyed by Nahyuta Sahdmadhi's self-professed moral standing centered on his religion. Interestingly, he despised being called a panda.

For his dangerous persona, Simon follows a code of honor. He believes trials to be duels in which prosecutors and defense attorneys wield "blades" to prove their respective cases, frequently preparing his finger iaijutsu while pressing the defense to present their arguments. He doesn't engage in illicit tactics contrary to his public reputation as a dangerous criminal, and his intimidation tactics, while questionable, are generally not deemed as underhanded. Conversely, he's disgusted by tactics he deems as cowardly or "cheap". For example, Sahdmadhi attempted to use Athena's emotional perception against her, both by swaying the gallery's opinion to break her morale, and by hiding vital information under the pretense of "witness privacy". Another was Prof. Means's verbal harassment meant to foster insecurity and panic. In both instances, he actively sided with the defense to prove the opposing party wrong.

His pet hawk Taka plays many roles for him. As part of Simon's intimidation game, he sics Taka on attorneys and witnesses alike whom he perceives to be lying, cheating (such as with Apollo Justice's bracelet), annoying him, or otherwise obstructing the proceedings. Taka is also used to deliver evidence to other parties and keep the phantom's psychological profile safe. Simon appears to like birds in general, stating that he believes that penguins are the top attraction at aquariums, and becoming angry when Dr. Herman Crab belittled Rifle the penguin.

He seemed to have a low initial opinion of defense attorneys. During Justice's first case against him, Simon suggested that Justice might fabricate evidence if the trial were extended, casually inviting Justice to stay in prison to prove his honesty. He later suggested that Wright had only taken both Orla's and Sasha Buckler's cases for the publicity, and informed Buckler that Wright would likely abandon her after she was arrested in Orla's stead. However, Simon seems to have changed his mind in the aftermath of the phantom's arrest, as he would go on to approach the Wright Anything Agency for help in defending his sister and Bucky Whet.

Simon has an affinity for Japanese culture, much like his mentor, Metis. He enjoys soba noodles and rakugo, a very traditional form of Japanese storytelling. His extensive knowledge on such subjects lead him to question whether or not Prosecutor Sahdmadhi was capable of taking on a case which revolved around both subjects.

His name is Simon Blackquill. He was born in 1999, making him 29 years old. (This is set in 2028, okay?) He weighs approximately 72kg, making him a bit underweight, but healthy nonetheless. He is 188cm tall, converted, is 6’2.