[Fillydelphia] Subtle Inquiries, [OPEN]

[Accidentalheresy]

The door creaked as it shut behind him. Subtle's back ached from the numerous, failed, balancing attempts he had performed on the front steps of his office. It was a ludicrously dangerous thing to do, but he had no ladder, so he had balanced himself on his hind legs on a stool, placed precariously on his front steps as he fixed the sign atop his doorway. It was one of those old fashioned outward hanging signs they still used in the countryside. He had decided a sign was needed after realising that that a possible reason nopony was asking him for representation was probably because nopony walking on by realised his firm was even there in the first place. Here in the winding streets of the back end of Northtown, all the residential buildings, so tightly packed together and small, looking identical. You'd be forgiven for not giving any of them a second look. Not that the middle of northtown was particularly the best spot to place an Attorney firm in Fillydelphia, but beggar's can't be choosers, and Subtle knew exactly which end of that metaphorical spectrum he landed on.

So it was with much dismay that when he had finally fixed the sign to the wall above his Door, after spending so much time out in the winter cold, freezing his tail off while comically swinging a hammer between his teeth and feeling pretty sure he pulled something in the strain it took to maintain his balance, that he noticed that the sign was spelt wrong. And badly at that.

Sutul Inkyeries

Pony at

Lawl

Subtle groaned inwardly and wondered how he hadnt noticed that until now. He had to give it to that kid the next block over, he had good hoofscript when it came to carving letters unto wood, but obviously he couldn't spell for haypennies. 'Well that's what I get for a discount job,' Subtle thought bitterly to himself as he dragged the stool in behind him and placed it off to the side, he had deliberately got up early in the morning so no one would question his antics and sides, he had such a good feeling about today for some reason and decided starting bright and early would add to some superstitious feeling of luck that maybe, just maybe, if the stars were right, the sun was pink, the windigos got sunburn and a turtle jumped over the moon, then maybe he'd have a client today.

He had cleaned up the business end of his office, by which he meant the huge empty room that made up ninety percent of his potential living space as he could afford, the bedroll he'd been using, as well as damn near everything else that made his 'office' seem more like a bedroom then, well, an office, got shoved in the closet or stuffed in the hidey hole in the panels of the ceiling. He shook off the bits of early morning sleet that had got caught up in his mane and tried to make himself look presentable. Fixing the tie and collar, rearranging his desk, batting a rubber band ball he found lying around between his hooves as he waited out the early morning hours hoping against hope that somepony needed him for something.

"Heavens above!" He cried out, exasperated. It was nearly midday outside, the streets where alive witht he sound sof ponies going about their business, "I'd take nearly anything now," He said leaning back, staring up at his own ceiling, "A will signing, an obscure document check, a tort, God give me something!" He said defeated, wondering how many amused glances his ridiculous sign had garnered.

[Kitsuyena]

The sun was up but the air was still rather cold as Melody walked through the busy streets of Phillydelphia on one of her usual "inspirational" wanders. A dull black scarf was wrapped around her neck in an attempt to stave off most of the day's brisk air. As she made her way through the northern parts, the young mare slowed and the stopped in front of a building that she had never really noticed before that seemed to be sporting a new sign out front, leading her to believe that it might in fact be brand new. She tilted her head to the side a little as she read the sign, not quite sure what to make of it which only served to increase her curiosity about the place.

Shaking out her mane a little bit she slowly poked her head into the doorway just in time to hear a defeated cry from inside, causing her to jump a little bit and back up again, taking a few moments before stepping all the way inside. Her eyes moved around the room slowly until they fell on the well dressed pony at a desk to whome she smiled softly, "Oh good day sir," she spoke up, "I hope you dont mind the intrusion, I was just passing by and had to some inside as I have to say I've never noticed this place before."

[Accidentalheresy]

Subtle sat bolt upright when he heard the young Mare's voice, seeing the Regal Grey pony smiling from the doorway. 'Aha!' Subtle thought to himself triumphantly, his face brightening up noticeably, 'I knew it! I knew a sign was all I was missing!' As he rose courteously from his seated position.

"Welcome to Subtle Inquiries, Madam" Subtle began as he came around the side of the desk, "My name is Subtle Bristle, Attorney at Law."

'This is great! I don't care what her problem will be, anything after months of inactivity will be welco-wait' Subtle stopped his train of thought, 'She probably thinks this place is new, if I let on I've actually been here for a few months now without ANY work, she might get the wrong Idea and scamper off' Subtle Breifly wrestled with himself, he didn't want to lie but he really did not want to give a potential client a bad impression. So he Compromised.

"Ahem, yes, I've only recently moved to Phillydelphia myself to open this firm." Subtle said, it wasnt a lie really but it saves face. "How may I be of service, Miss...?"

[Kitsuyena]

"Oh, where are my manors?" the mare said as she stepped towards the desk now, "My name is Melody Night." She bowed her head a little bit to him as she smiled softly, eyes moving around the room for a moment again. She then paused for a moment as she was about to answer is question, realising that she hadn't actually come in here with a purpose in mind other than to find out what was inside. She knew now that this was an attorney's office, but she was still at a bit of a loss of what to do.

"Come on Melody, you need to buy yourself a little time to think.....think, think think," she thought to herself, but smiled as she came up with something.

"Well Mister Bristle, might I ask what exactly is it you specialise in? Or do you take any kind of legal work right now?" she asked, stalling the conversation while she tried to think of something that she actually might ask of an attorney.

[Accidentalheresy]

"Miss Night, a pleasure to make your acquaintance," He began, "And to answer your question, I specialise in Contract and Company Law" Subtle Bristle said evenly, trying to suppress happiness in finally being able to advertise his skills. "I am capable in taking any manner of Legal Work however, and I am quite willing to do so at present. Manehatten East U always ensures its law students are fully capable for any oppurtunity."

He waited briefly looking down at her polite, smiling face. He noticed she seemed to be looking about his 'office', as if she was pretending to be interested in the sparsely decorated room, as if she was not sure on how to continue the conversation. So he decided it'd be best to ask a question before an awkward silence.

"If I may be so bold, Madam." he began, "May I ask, what brings you out this little corner of Philly on this fine morning?" Subtle asked, thinking back that the early morning was colder then a Windigo's backside but he pushed that out of his thoughts.

[Kitsuyena]

Her eyes shot back to the pony in front of her as he asked her another question, this one much easier for her to answer, "Oh, I tend to go on many excursions through the city, especially of late with the weather turning. I'm a singer you see and I like to find my inspiration from my surroundings and not just from my own imagination."

She then paused for a moment as though something popped into her head and a large smile moved across her face, "Mister Bristle, I need advice on....um....how do you put it......copyrighting intellectual property? Is that something an attoney could do?" Her smile faded a little bit as she asked that question, suddenly unsure if she's even asked the right thing, her knowledge of legal matters being rather limited in fact.

[Accidentalheresy]

"But of course!" Subtle Bristle replied happily, "Equestria's copyright law is not too restrictive but what has been defined by statute so far has sufficed for most issues that crop up. I'd be glad to advise you on whatever you want to know!" His returned her smile with genuine warmth as he walked behind his desk and faced Melody. 'Well nothing big' Subtle thought to himself as he pulled open one of his Desk's drawers to pull out some papers, 'But a small Advisor's fee will hold me over for the next month's rent. Thank Celestia'

"Now, what exactly is the nature of your problem?"

[Kitsuyena]

Melody bounced a little bit on the spot as her smile returned, then coughed and steadied herself again as she regained a little composure, "well as I said before I'm a singer and as such I've penned a fair few songs that have yet to be sung in an form and I was wondering if I would be needing to copyright lyrics or anything like that, and if so then how I would go about doing such a thing. I'm afraid I have no manager at present and am not very knowledgeable about legal matters of such things."

This was a bit of an understatement really, she barely had the first clue about any sort of legal matters in her work, but perhaps this was about to change for the better.

[Accidentalheresy]

"Well first off, you do not need a copyright, but it'd be a wise thing to do once you have made a hit song, otherwise it'd be best to get your early stuffed repeated as much as possible for exposure, Then I would advise copyrighting your songs from then on. It is illegal to copyright specific lyrics, however." Subtle began, professionally writing down something on some form or other before him with his magically levitated quill while retaining eye contact with Melody, 'Always make them feel your paying attention to them' he said to himself, a maxim he kept from his days under his old mentor, "Or words I should say, consider the word 'Tonight', it gets used alot in modern pop music, sometimes it can make up an entire chorus or most of the song depending on the artist. It would be against reasonability to-" Subtle caught himself there, he almost went on to lecture about the specifics of the why when all he should be doing is merely stating what is legel or not. "My apologies" He began again after a slight cough, "You can copyright your song yes, so that it cant be used by others in a context where they seek to profit off of it. In which case they would need to pay you royalties, this prevents other artists at claiming your work as their own. You could try to copyright the tune of your song, meaning any artist who creates their own lyrics and song set to the rhythm and tune of it would have to pay you, but at a substantially less amount then if they were to use your song outright." Subtle magically levitated two sheets of paper to the side of his desk, knocking over his rubber band ball in the process which rolled towards the wall. "I would not recommend pressing charges in such a scenario however, current caselaw is shaky on this." He finished as he set his quill down.

"The only exception being the cases of remixes or parody, which have become very popular as late." Subtle continued happily "Say a DJ of a nightclub where to take your music, a sample as it were, and remix it, possibly combining it with the songs of others or his or her own original music for the benefit of entertaining a club or other private establishment, you would not be able to claim royalties. Or in the cases of outright parody, where the tune and rhythm of your song is copied almost exactly and set to lyrics that make fun of a certain subject, or even yourself, you could not claim copyright, but you could claim damages for defamation of character under Tort." Subtle rolled his eyes "But this is tricky as often an artist parodying your song would seek your permission first, in which case copyright claims would be void for that song, and it is exactly for these reasons that it is unlikely claiming copyright would work on more serious pieces who use your music for their original songs, as they can claim to be sampling your music. You could try of course, but I just currently doubt how it'd hold up." Subtle folded another sheet onto the pile on his left side and looked back to Melody. "To get copyright is a simple matter, even if it involves a heap of red tape, largely it would require a declaration of intentions, a couple of signings and your solicitor to take care of the menial things."

"Also a bit of free advice, get a manager. Preferably somepony you can trust, I've seen young artists get screwed over before back in my apprenticeship."

[Kitsuyena]

Melody stood there, her eyes widening a little bit as she tried to take in everything he was saying to her, listening to every word and understanding most of it. When he was done she simply stood there for a moment, softly rocking on her hooves as she bit her tongue.

"Wow," she started, "I honestly had no idea that it was this involved. I'm really going to have to start pushing myself to better understand theses aspects of my profession. And here was me thinking it would be relativly easy. I mean I dont have a manager, even less so my own solicitor. I guess I should head down those roads before I go any further with my music." She then shook her head a little bit and gave a bright smile, "thank you Mister Bristle, you've been most informative today. Um, how much do I owe for your time?"

[Accidentalheresy]

'YES!' Subtle inwardly squeeled.His face, a professional mask, betrayed nothing of his inner joy of a successful job, however small. He decided, probably against his better judgement, to charge her lower then the already low fee he had previously decided for consultation. This little engagement had brightened his day, no, his entire month, considerably. He did a rough calculation in his head. He only needed 24 more bits to break even for the rent for the next two months, meaning anything else he charged would go straight into the food fund.

"Just 85 bits please." Subtle replied, somewhere, a voice, most likely his reason, in the back of his brain cringed. That was a criminally low price, even for something small like this. 'Sides,' he tried to reassure himself, 'She's still a new artist, she likely wouldnt be able to afford a full fee.'

"Oh, before I forget" He continued, magically levitating one of the sheets he had been working on, "You'll need this, think of it as a receipt of sorts, to prove you got legal counsel when hiring a Manager, trust me, it'll come in handy." He said happily, visibly smiling. "And good luck in your Music career, I hope the best for you!" And for once he meant every word he said, this young Mare in front of him, had basically made his entire miserable stay in Fillydelphia so far worth it, just by asking questions. He shook his head at that, the world was strange like that, he decided.

[Kitsuyena]

She would nod her head softly as a collection of coins would float from a hidden pocket in the mid section of her scarf, settling them onto his desk gently and in a neat pile, oblivious as to whether or not she was getting a good price or not, just assuming that such a nice pony wouldn't be trying to extort her at all.

Melody then looked up at the paper floating before her, using her own magic to take it, running her eyes over it briefly before rolling it up and tucking it away. She then flicked her mane back a little and shot him a joyous smile, "Thank you for your kind words Mister Bristle, and for your time, it has been very informative, I'm sure that if I need anything on the legal front in the future then you'll see me again. Oh and be sure that I will tell my friends about your wonderful friendly service here."

[Accidentalheresy]

"Thank you kindly, Madam, and you're quite welcome." Subtle replied at the pretty smile, as he walked around the desk and held the door open for her. "And have a good day, mind the steps, they probably iced over again." He replied, trying to hide his joy, finally some exposure! He remarked on the stupid sign that had cased Melody to take notice of his office, he had hated that sign. Now he loved it, in fact it was, in his humble opinion, the best sign ever. "And thank you, for your custom."

[Kitsuyena]

Bows her head to him as she moves through the open door, a little spring in her step even as she was careful where she trod, "you have a good day now too!"