In Order To Create There Must Be A Dynamic Force, And What Force Is More Potent Than Love?
- Igor Stravinsky (1882 - 1971)
The two men sat in silence. Edgeworth was sipping his coffee. Black, and as bitter as he himself was. Phoenix could smell it from where he was sitting, the smell burning his nostrils. He sighed and leaned back into the plush sofa, staring at the hustle and bustle of the city outside the window. Lana had made herself clear, for them to keep their solos, they needed to get along. And it didn't look like Mr. Uptight over there was going to initiate any conversation, so Phoenix resigned himself to the fact that if they were going to get anywhere, he would have to be the one to instigate it.
"So, Edgeworth." He placed great care in remembering to refer to the man by his last name, "How long have you been playing the cello for?" The other man lowered his cup, appearing to study it before responding.
"Twelve years."
"That's a rather long time. I myself have been playing the violin for going on thirteen years. Do you play any other instruments?" He was trying to mould his questions so they were more open-ended, giving the cellist an opportunity to elaborate on his answers.
"The violin and the oboe."
An opportunity he would be quite happy to ignore, it would seem. He sighed and finished off his tea, wincing slightly at the amount of sugar the waitress had put in.
"The oboe is a bit different isn't it? Well, compared to the violin and cello. How long have you been playing the violin for then?"
Edgeworth looked at him, clearly unimpressed. "I have been playing the oboe for well over fourteen years, the violin, for just under ten, if you must know."
He returned to his coffee. Phoenix just stared.
"Are you going to contribute to this conversation at all, apart from sparsely answering my questions?"
Edgeworth looked up from him cup at him. "Not if I can avoid it."
The pair sat in silence. Edgeworth nonchalantly sipping at his coffee, as if there was nothing wrong. Phoenix on the other hand, was reeling from the manner, the rudeness the other man deemed appropriate to use when he spoke to him. As much as he was trying to retain his composure on the outside, his anger at the other. Placing the empty cup down on the saucer with unceremonious clank, he grabbed his belongings and stood up.
"I have no idea what is wrong with you, or how you can possibly think that it is fine to speak to people in the manner that you do, but I strongly advise you sort yourself out before Monday. You may speak to your colleges back in the UK in such a way, but I can assure you that, I, Lana and the rest of the Orchestra will not put up with you if you continue like this."
Edgeworth raised an eyebrow, but said nothing, watching the brunette walk away from the table and out of the door, waiting by the pavement for the next bus to arrive. 'Didn't he walk here?' he mused, as right on time, a bus pulled up. Phoenix got on, and engaged in conversation with the bus driver, him turning out his pockets and shrugging at the driver. The driver sighed heavily - Edgeworth was almost surprised he didn't hear it - as he thumbed in Phoenix, who seemed a little, if not very embarrassed at the spectacle he'd made.
He smirked, and went back to his coffee.
Phoenix collapsed into the bus seat, looking up as the sky clouded over, the decision to take the bus was most definitely a good one, despite the embarrassment from his lack of fare. He sighed. Why on Earth did Edgeworth have to be a complete and utter bastard? It doesn't cost anything to be nice for Christ's sake. More than that, he was beginning to doubt his own ability to deal with him, and panicking about the concerto. If Edgeworth was going to be this demeaning towards him, Phoenix couldn't speak for the two of them, but he could speak for himself – he would struggle to get his solo to the standard he would want it to be. He knew he was more than capable than playing the piece. But with Edgeworth? Perhaps not. If anything, the audience would feel the tension and animosity between the two, rather than the light sensation of two beautiful instruments interweaving with each other. The performance would end up being about the performers themselves, and not the music. Something Phoenix would hate to happen. He would rather give the solo to someone else, than allow something like that to happen...
The light bulb flashed on, followed by a huge feeling of disappointment. Edgeworth would never give up the solo. It would be the crowning glory for his time spent in the US. He sighed once more, sinking further into the seat, if it were even possible. It would seem that once again, it was time to go and see Lana.
His heels clacked against the polished floor, the echo bouncing off the walls of the hallway, deserted except for himself. Lana Skye's office was on the top floor, and the only other person who worked on this floor was her secretary, Heather Potter.
Phoenix strode into her reception; Miss Potter was engrossed in what seemed to be a not-so-professional phone conversation; nothing unusual then. She looked up as he walked in, smiled and just pointed him through, while laughing quietly into the phone, a lilting sound, pleasant to the ear. The violinist wondered what she could possibly be talking about, and to whom! A conversation that seemed to be built around shoe fittings, families, work shifts and Classical music seemed an odd amalgam of topics to speak about.
Walking through to Lana's office, he knew this was a good time to visit, lunch hour. Due to the nature of this hour, Lana was very rarely too busy to see anyone at this point in the day.
The lady herself didn't even look up from her papers when she heard the knock on her office door.
"It's open Phoenix, let yourself in."
Creaking as it opened, only then did she look up to greet the young musician as he tentatively entered her office. She smiled at him, and gestured to a chair.
"Afternoon Lana, how have you been since this morning?"
The conductor sighed, and waved her hand at the pile of paperwork. "Completely snowed in. You wouldn't believe how much trouble it is to book concert halls. Yourself? How was your coffee with Mr. Edgeworth?"
Phoenix shifted in his seat.
"If I'm honest, that's what I've come to speak to you about."
She sank back into her chair, lacing her fingers. "I thought so. What happened between the two of you?"
The violinist sighed. "I just don't know what to do about him Lana. I tried to make conversation, be sociable, but he's just not having any of it. It's not just him being antisocial, he's actually rude, and doesn't even try to mask the fact he obviously hates me."
He finished his rant as Lana held up a finely manicured hand, drawing her thumb and index finger together, in a silencing motion.
"I understand. Miles is... Difficult. I knew he would be even before he came over here. He comes from a very, perfectionist background, and most of the time, if it's not musically-related, he just isn't interested. Its how he is, and how he's been brought up to be. Striving to maintain perfection throughout all his endeavours. Franziska is the same. And that is the reason that I choose to give you the solo and not her, even though she is also more than capable of performing it."
Phoenix shifted uncomfortably. "I really don't understand Lana, like you said, Franziska is more than capable of playing the solo, and on top of that, she and Edgeworth would probably get along like a house on fire. They like working on their own and being moody!"
Lana just shook her head, "I want him to learn while he's with us. I want to break this shell, this drive for perfection. Of course I want him to perform at the highest level, I want him do the Orchestra proud. But he needs to break free of this idea that music is just about how good you are as an instrumentalist. Franziska won't teach him that. But you will. You have a passion for music, which conveys to your audience when you play, you're not a robot. Hopefully your innate, natural ability to captivate an audience will rub off on him."
She sighed, running her hand through her long hair. "I know it's going to be difficult, but you will pull through this! You've always been a turnabout, making the worst scenarios work for you! Besides, prehaps you'll also learn a few things from him?"
Phoenix slammed his hands down on the arms of his chair, "How can I possibly learn from him? What can he possibly teach me? And regardless of that, he is so arrogant and self absorbed that he doesn't listen to a word that I say!"
Lana shushed him quietly "Then maybe you should listen to him. Just stick it out for me, please?"
The violinist sighed, "Fine. I will. Just answer me this; How did you know who Edgeworth was? And know that he'd be such a stick in the mud?"
The conductor laughed softly, sounding like almost a melody in itself. "I suppose I can humour your curiosity. I had never met Miles in person before he arrived here in the US. But I have seen him perform many times. Grossberg sent me over to the UK about six months ago to watch the Hallé in order to pick out potential candidates for the swap we were planning. We wanted to pick someone that we believed we would learn from, but also, someone who would learn, and benefit from their time with us. We had drawn up a list of potential players who fit this description, and in particular, Grossberg asked me to watch for Miles, and see how he performed. Grossberg had read a lot about him in the papers, and wanted to know if the rumours about the prodigy cellist were true. It turned out that all of it was true, both the compliments and the criticisms. So we decided to choose him for our swap, to try and help him improve as a player. Satisfied?"
Lana adjusted herself in her chair, and leaned forward to press the intercom "Miss Potter, would you mind brewing some tea for me please? I'm rather parched." She looked over at Phoenix questioningly, who quickly waved his hands, in a 'no thanks, I'll be leaving soon' manner.
True to his word, as Lana finished talking with Heather, Phoenix stood up to take his leave.
"I really appreciate this Phoenix."
He turned and smiled, "No problem, I'll loosen the stiff up for you, he'll be one of us in no time!"
Lana laughed again, "I hope so Phoenix, I really do. It'll work wonders for him."
"Just one last thing Lana,"
She looked at him questioningly.
"How did you know it was me when I knocked?"
"Oh!" She exclaimed, "Because very few people come up to my office, and you have a very... Distinctive, shall we say, knock Phoenix, I always know it's you."
He laughed at her, and shut the door behind him, nodding politely at Heather, who was balancing her tray of tea and biscuits, as well as some documents for Lana.
His shoes clacked against the polished floor once more as he made his way out. However, this time they were matched by another pair of footsteps. Phoenix looked up, and saw none other than Franziska walking towards him, a smug, triumphant look plastered across her face. She came to a halt, standing in front of him, looking up at him with one hand resting on her hip.
"Well, well Phoenix Wright, you are a bigger fool than I thought you were. I would've given you at least a week before you went running to Lana begging to have the solo given to someone else, but it would seem that a pathetic excuse for a fool such as yourself can't even manage that!"
She flicked her short hair over her shoulder, and shook her head at him.
"I was on my way here to suggest to Lana that I am more than capable of playing the violin solo in the Brahms, and would be a better candidate for it because not only am I a better violinist than you, I would play it better than you. But it seems you've already done my work for me. All I have to do now, is go in there and offer my perfection. It truly is a shame; I would've liked to have won the concerto off you fair and square." She laughed slightly to herself, Phoenix found himself comparing the sound to that of fingernails being dragged down a chalkboard. Such a contrast between Lana's laugh and Franziska's.
"No matter, this isn't about a foolish fool anyway. This is between Miles Edgeworth and myself."
Up until this point, Phoenix was more than prepared to let whatever Franziska said drop, he had more things to worry about, and a little part of him found amusement in the idea that not telling her he still had the solo meant that she was about to run straight into embarrassment with Lana, but something about that last comment of hers made him stop.
"What do you mean this is about you and Edgeworth? You've never met the guy before!"
Anger flashed across her eyes before it was covered by a smug grin. "Oh really Phoenix Wright? I suppose you truly are a fool. Why else would you say something so foolish? You may have not met Miles Edgeworth before, but you forget so easily that I certainly have."
Phoenix's eyes narrowed, remembering her words from the other night. Regardless, just what was she trying to imply? He opened his mouth to speak, but was quickly hushed as Franziska continued her tirade.
"Foolish people like you just wouldn't understand what it takes to become perfect. You don't understand that perfection isn't gained, it is maintained. Those destined to reach perfection are born with it."
Finding his voice once more, Phoenix glared at her. "Is this what it's all about? Being perfect? Trying to take a solo from someone just to play with some guy just because you worry that maybe, just maybe he MIGHT be better than y-"
"Miles Edgeworth is NOT better than me!" Phoenix was taken aback by the sheer anger in her voice. "He never will be! It's about time that the world knew and understood this. I do not need that solo to prove I am better, I am already better than him. I want to show the world that even training at one of the world's most prestigious conservatoires does not perfection make."
With that, she stalked off in the direction of Lana's office, her heels clicking angrily against the tiles. After hearing that, the violinist was almost too afraid to tell her the solo was still his.
He'd let her find out the hard way. While her story, from a certain view was almost, touching, she still wanted that solo for entirely the wrong reasons, and he was beginning to see why Lana refused to give Franziska the solo. She wanted it for selfish reasons, to prove something, whereas he wanted it to give something to his audience, an experience that Franziska wasn't interested in giving.
This realization gave him a new drive. It strengthened his resolve.
That solo was his.
Disclaimer: I do not own Phoenix Wright or any of it's characters, that right will sadly, never be mine. However, the plot, is mine :)
A/N: Again, any thoughts would be greatly appreciated :3