Cammy Meele

"Cammy Meele"

- *yawn* I'm awake, I'm awake........................zzz.

Cammy Meele was a seemingly lazy flight attendant aboard iFly Airlines Flight I-390 during the murder of Akbey Hicks.

Borginia and the smuggling ring
Meele studied abroad in Borginia at some point in her life, becoming fluent in the local language. She eventually became involved with an international smuggling ring, using her job as an air hostess at iFly Airlines to aid the criminal group in the smuggling of priceless artifacts and the forging of documents. As a flight attendant, she was occasionally in charge of First Class, but her laziness meant that the only real job to which she was entrusted was to handle "Borginian stuff", due to her ability to speak and write the language.

Murder of Akbey Hicks

 * Main article: Turnabout Airlines

During one flight, Meele was ordered to help Interpol agent Akbey Hicks in an investigation of the plane's cargo hold. When Hicks began to take pictures of the cargo hold, Meele panicked and pushed him off the elevated staircase to the floor far below, killing him. Meele proceeded to cover her tracks and pin the blame on Rhoda Teneiro, a fellow flight attendant. She did this mainly by planting Hicks's cellphone in Teneiro's locker and by using one of the suitcases that Tenerio had designed to transport the body.

Unfortunately for her, whilst in the elevator, the plane underwent a period of high turbulence, and the suitcase burst open. The corpse fell out and his belongings were spread all over the elevator. Meele decided to make the elevator seem like the crime scene. She left the corpse as it was, cleaned out the suitcase, placed it in the gift shop and used a piggy bank from the gift shop cabinet to fabricate a murder weapon by smearing it in blood. She then planted Hicks's travel wallet on Miles Edgeworth, who had the misfortune to have been rendered unconscious by the turbulence in the lounge.

Edgeworth got involved in the murder investigation after Tenerio obtained permission for him to do so. However, when Meele found out that Teneiro had lied about obtaining said permission, she injected herself into the investigation. Meele told Edgeworth that she had seen Hicks at 5 a.m. and spent most of her time with the prosecutor, trying subtly to steer the suspicion onto Teneiro. Eventually, however, Edgeworth figured out that Meele was responsible not only for killing Hicks, but also for aiding the smuggling ring. Meele was promptly arrested.

Personality
Meele appeared to be an extremely lazy woman at first glance, often falling asleep while being talked to and even nodding off while standing. Snot bubbles would appear whilst her long hair was drooped over her face. Meele also constantly carried a doll of her airline's mascot, Mr. Ifly, around with her. However, this was all an act to make herself seem harmless. The snot bubbles were actually soap bubbles she was blowing underneath her hair. Meele was also a very possessive woman, becoming very jealous if another woman even so much as talked to her boyfriend, the Captain of Flight I-390.

Name

 * "Shiraoto" (白音) means "white noise" in Japanese, which may symbolize how she hears other people, as she constantly appears to fall asleep when they talk.


 * Her full English name may be a pun on chamomile, which can be made into tea that is used by some people as a sleep aid. Alternatively, it could be a play on "chameleon", possibly as a reference to her hiding her true colors.


 * The name "Cammy" could possibly be a reference to the character Cammy from the Street Fighter franchise, also made by Capcom. If this is true, then her surname could be a play on the word "mêlée", which is another word for a close-combat brawl.


 * Alternatively, "Cammy" may be a play on "canny", meaning "knowing", "shrewd", or "astute", in reference to her true personality.

Development

 * Originally, when aggravated, Meele's long hair was to turn into a large intimidating form, similar to that of the ghost of Dahlia Hawthorne.


 * Sketches show the plush toy she carries as being a teddy bear in some designs and a rabbit in others.


 * Humorously, during her breakdown animation, it is possible to see her Mr. Ifly doll holding its hat whilst being flung around in her arms.


 * Meele holds the dubious honour of being the only partner character guilty of murder. She is also the only partner character that purposely tries to mislead the main character's investigation for their own ends.


 * Her "sleep/snot bubbles" might make more sense in the game's original Japanese release or to those familiar with Japanese media. A bubble of snot from one nostril that inflates and deflates in sync with a character's breathing or snoring (and that pops when the character awakens) is often used in Japanese media in the same way that "Zzz" is used in Western media. Yanni Yogi is another Ace Attorney character that produces "sleep bubbles" (notably also using them as a front to make himself appear harmless).

References to popular culture
When Meele "falls asleep" in the plane's gift shop Edgeworth refers to her as "Cousin Hair". This is likely meant to be a reference to the character of Cousin Itt from The Addams Family, namely the way that Meele's hair covering her face when she "sleeps" makes her bear a resemblance to the hirsute fictional character.