I dedicate this to the wonderful AtroquinineMyLove (aka. Ellie) since it's her birthday today. Happy Birthday! I hope you enjoy this little present I wrote for you :)
"What the hell happened to your guitar?"
Klavier raised his head from the paperwork he had been doing to see Franziska standing in the doorway to his office, staring at the charred remains of one of his guitars on the table.
"Oh, my band mates set it on fire in the middle of a show. No big deal" Klavier said nonchalantly, causing Franziska to raise her eyebrows at him.
"I don't think I even want to know. These are the reports you asked for" she replied as she walked past the guitar and towards Klavier, holding out the folder in her arms.
"Thank you, my dear Fräulein" Klavier smiled, taking the folder from her hands.
"I've told you not to call me that, Dummkopf"
"How dare you!" Klavier exclaimed in mock offence, his hand flying to his mouth. Franziska rolled her eyes and turned to leave, but her eyes caught sight of the burnt guitar again and she suddenly thought of something surprisingly unlike her.
"How hard can it be..." she muttered to herself, causing Klavier to look back up at her again.
"What?" Klavier asked, tilting his head in confusion.
"Playing the guitar. How hard can it be?" she answered.
"It's not as easy as you would think" Klavier smiled at her curiosity and walked over to stand beside her.
"Try me," Franziska said with sudden determination and Klavier realised she wouldn't back down. Smirking to himself, he went over to the other side of the room and picked out two acoustic guitars. He sat down on the couch in the middle of the room and signalled for Franziska to join him.
"Show me what you've got" he smiled, handing over one of the guitars to his friend. She took hold of it awkwardly, placed it on her lap, and after a few moments of seemingly deep concentration she looked back up to Klavier.
"I have no idea how to play the guitar" she admitted almost sheepishly and Klavier was quite taken aback at her sudden shyness.
"I'd be happy to teach you" Klavier smiled and Franziska nodded, determined to learn and be the perfect student. He took up his own guitar and Franziska adjusted her hold to mirror his position.
"Okay, I'll start with something simple" Klavier said before slowly playing three chords, making a point to show Franziska where his fingers were placed on each note. Franziska studied his hands with such focus that Klavier had to stop himself from laughing at her expression. Once he had repeated the chords a few times, he let her try and copy them. It took her a few attempts but she eventually managed to play them back correctly.
"Well done!" Klavier said with a smile, knowing his friend liked praise almost as much as she liked striving for perfection. They continued in the same pattern for a while and Klavier gradually got Franziska playing longer, more complex chords. After just an hour of practice, Franziska was picking it up very quickly. So Klavier decided to throw her in the deep end and get her to play a section from one of his own compositions. This, as he would soon learn, was a big mistake.
"How did you even do that?!" Franziska exclaimed after watching Klavier play it through for the first time. Klavier said nothing but smiled softly to himself at her shocked face as he played through the section again. Franziska managed to compose herself after the third time Klavier played the tune and focused herself on his guitar. His hands moved with such grace that he almost made it look easy, despite the fast pace and constant movement. Klavier then stopped and signaled for Franziska to try and repeat back what he had played. She set her lips in a determined line and picked her guitar back up. She played through the tune far slower than Klavier had but, much to her friend's surprise, she only made a couple of mistakes.
"That was good!" Klavier congratulated her once she had finished. But one look at her face showed him that she didn't agree.
"It wasn't perfect," Franziska said shortly, glaring down at her own hands as if they were going to apologise for messing up.
"That was the first time you played it, and it's quite a hard piece. You did well for your first try" Klavier placed his hand on her arm reassuringly.
"But it wasn't perfect" Franziska repeated. Before Klavier could say anything, she took hold of the guitar and began playing the section again. She kept going over and over it and Klavier could see she was improving. Yet every time he tried to praise her, she would just dismiss him because it 'wasn't perfect'.
"I don't know how you expect to be perfect when barely two hours ago you had no idea how to play a single note" Klavier pointed out.
"That's not the point. As a Von Karma, I should always strive for perfection" Franziska frowned.
"Keep trying, you'll get there" Klavier smiled and she tried another time. Klavier leant back and closed his eyes, listening contently to her playing his own music and it was almost spot on. Almost. But once she completed it, Klavier didn't move since he guessed Franziska would keep playing until she got every single thing right. Only when the sound of a whip ripping through the air hit his ears did Klavier move. His eyes shot open and he jumped up off his chair. After a moment to steady himself, he looked over at his friend to see a very odd scene- the guitar laying on the couch and Franziska standing in front of it, glaring down at it with her whip gripped tightly in her hand. Klavier was about to ask what on earth she was doing until she raised her arm and unleashed another thrash onto the guitar.
"Stupid thing. How can you be so difficult?" Franziska muttered to herself as she sent lash after lash of her whip onto the defenseless guitar. Klavier stared at her in disbelief for all of about 10 seconds before he collapsed back down on his chair and dissolved into laughter. Was she really trying to whip a guitar? Tears were streaming down his face and his sides hurt so much he had to hold them as his whole body shook with laughter.
Unbeknownst to either of the prosecutors, Apollo Justice had opened to door to Klavier's office and had been standing in the doorway for the past 5 minutes. He had come to deliver some case notes to Klavier for the trial the following day. But when he had walked in, all he saw was Franziska attacking what seemed to be one of Klavier's guitars with her whip and Klavier doubled over in hysterics. Quietly, Apollo put the notes on the table closest to the door and quickly left. It was probably best to leave the two of them to do… whatever it was they were doing.