The Consequences of a Well-Timed Nap (Bring Your Pet to Work Day Part 2)
1:45
Fine. Franziska could admit she was enjoying her time with the pets. She could even admit that she was now considering the benefits of being a pet owner.
But she would never admit it in front of her little brother.
“Miles Edgeworth, I require assistance.” She had finally been able to shift Vongole enough to reach her phone.
“Is this about a case?”
“No.”
“Are you in danger?”
“No.”
“Is this a ploy to give me another presentation on ‘the benefits of dating men who aren’t lowly defense attorneys named Phoenix Wright’?”
“No. If it didn’t work the first 10 times, I doubt it would work now.”
“Then what do you need?”
“I told you, fool. I need assistance.”
Miles sighed from over the phone, “Alright. I’ll be at your desk shortly.”
“Good. Goodbye.”
Franziska hung up the phone. Miles entered shortly thereafter, but failed to actually give her any assistance. Instead, the fool burst out laughing (a sound that definitely didn’t make Franziska feel happier as well) and promptly left her desk.
2:45
It was a Friday afternoon. Any decent prosecutor would be halfway finished with their workload. But a decent prosecutor also wouldn’t have 4 pets piled on top of them after her coworkers, including her little brother and unofficial nephew, all left her alone with them.
Vongole had apparently decided that Franziska had no use for her arms besides to pet the 20 pound dog on her lap. Fortunately for Vongole, Franziska had no qualms about this. She could pet a dog just fine, even if that dog was getting fur all over her and preventing her from completing literally anything today. Besides, she liked the sensation of running her hands through her fur.
Taka ensured that Franziska did not go hungry, taking a break from looming on Franziska’s shoulder to steal some of Klavier’s celery sticks and Sebastian’s entire sandwich. He also had nestled himself into the crook of Franziska’s neck in an oddly affectionate move for the most feared bird in Japanifornia.
Khunari...was a beetle. They did not do anything particularly interesting, besides occasionally moving around atop Franziska’s head. She was certain her carefully combed hair was now a mess. Despite this, she found herself enjoying the light pressure of Khunari’s body on her head.
Pess was an angel. Taking a break from cuddling with Franziska to check on everyone, before settling at her feet again. Whenever Franziska attempted to make communication with her, Pess would look up at Franziska adoringly.
It was strange, how comforting it was to have the presence of animals around. Perhaps Prosecutor Blackquill was right about the benefits of owning a pet. Franziska might just have to consider the offer.
Well, she certainly was not getting any work done today. Franziska leaned back in her seat just enough that her back was resting against it, not daring to move enough to disturb Vongole.
4:00
Franziska was not aware that she had fallen asleep until she heard a snicker from her doorway. Opening her eyes slowly, her expression filled with horror as she took in the sight before her.
Sebastian with his phone pointed at her. While she was asleep at work and covered in pets. He was laughing.
“Good afternoon, Ms. Von Karma! It looks like you got a good nap in!”
“Delete that. Now.”
“Sorry, but I can’t do that. I promised Kay I’d send her photos to prove I wasn’t just making this whole thing up.”
“I do not care what your sister has to say. Give me your phone. I will delete it.”
“Nope! You know what they say: The blood of sisters is thicker than watery Aunts.”
“I don’t even know where to begin with the corrections on that one. Though I can think of a few places to start…”
Franziska reached for her whip, not yet registering that Vongole was still trapping her arms underneath her body. However, the dog seemed to be awake. In fact, all of the animals were.
“Ha! It seems like I’ve beaten you at your own game!!”
Franziska had only one response to that misused phrase, “Vongole, grüßen!”
Vongole immediately shot up and began running at Sebastian. He screamed and ran away from the oncoming cuddle machine.
Taka went shortly behind, unhappy to be disturbed from his brooding. Grabbing a letter opener from Franziska’s desk, he left Franziska’s office on a warpath.
Pess then finally stood up, sensing Sebastian’s distress, and left Franziska’s feet alone.
That just left Khunari, who Franziska gently took from her head and put on her shoulder. Franziska then took her whip from its holster.
She had a phone to take.
4:15
“Miles Edgeworth, your son has a picture of me that I want deleted. We can do this the easy way or the hard way.”
“Well, Franziska, why do you want that picture deleted?”
“If I tell you, you won’t use your parental authority to force your foolish son to delete that foolish picture of me.”
“First of all, I don’t have parental authority over Sebastian. He is not my-”
Franziska whipped her foolish brother, “Stop lying. What is the second thing you refer to?”
“Second of all, I want to know what exactly he took a picture of.”
From across the hall, Sebastian yelled, “I have a picture of her and our pets!”
“Well then, keep running! Send it to me, if you can!”
“Ok Pa-I mean, Mr. Edgeworth!”
Franziska was torn between sneering and smirking. On one hand, her little brother was aiding in her torment. On the other, she had effectively proven her point regarding Miles’s role in Sebastian’s life.
In the end, she simply left her brother’s office to continue chasing Sebastian.
Sebastian was running to and from each end of the office, knowing that he would never beat Franziska in a race up a flight of stairs. Vongole, Pess, and Taka had the same goal in mind: chase down Sebastian. However, they were terrible at teamwork. Vongole had attempted to goad Pess into playing with her, though Pess remained single-minded in her goal to calm Sebastian. Pess was a great therapy dog, but she lacked the killer instinct neccesary for this particular chase.
Taka, however, had no such issue. He could chase his prey for hours if needed. Even as Klavier attempted to assist Sebastian by leaving his office and luring the bird away, Taka kept his pursuit. Franziska could get used to this. Perhaps she should have an intimidating animal as well...no time for pondering things like that. She had a phone to track down, which could be especially problematic if Klavier was on Sebastian’s side. Unlike Franziska, Klavier had no problems asking other human beings for help.
Klavier knocked on Simon’s door. After he heard an affirmative grunt, Klavier opened the door.
“Your bird is going to kill someone with that thing he has.”
Simon Blackquill finally got up from his desk and peered into the hallway, “Taka, what do you have?”
“A knife!” Sebastian screamed as he ran past his co-worker’s office.
Blackquill closed his door after murmuring a quick, “Good.”
Franziska smirked and continued her hunt.
4:45
The hunt had taken a surprising turn when Khunari suddenly sprouted wings and began to fly. Perhaps someone should have seen this coming, as several types of beetles can fly, but somehow both Franziska and Sebastian were taken aback by this development.
“Nope! Nope! I’m not doing this!!” Sebastian screeches as he all but slams his phone onto the nearest table.
Franziska quickly snatches it up and turns the phone on. She’s met with a screen requesting a 4-number password. Klavier, Simon, and Nahyuta all lean over to see the device; they also want to see the picture of Franziska and the pets.
Simon chimes in, “Is it his birthday?”
“Perhaps a line number for a sutra?” says Nahyuta
“I’ll bet it’s an old locker combination or something.” Klavier attempts to snatch the phone from Franziska. She yanks it away from him and pulls away from the group.
Sebastian snickers, “Heh, you forgot I had a password, didn’t you? Too bad you’ll never figure out The Best password!”
Franziska looked him dead in the eyes.
1234
And the phone unlocked, revealing Sebastian’s home screen.
“Huh? How’d you figure it out?” Sebastian lunges to retrieve his phone.
Franziska dodges out of the way, “You set your password to 1234 you fool! It’s the easiest thing in the world to guess!”
She scans through the disorganized screen (what kind of man has their notes app on the final screen of their phone) and eventually finds her way to the app for photos. She scrolls through the more recent ones, finally reaching that horrific photo. Smugly, she smirked as she hit the delete button.
“There, Sebastian. It’s gone. Such a shame, now you went through all that effort for nothing.” Franziska taunted, before feeling the phone buzz in her hand. Instinctively, she checked it.
Unofficial Dad (Mr. Wright): I saw the picture you uploaded to the family cloud, Sebastian! It looks like your Aunt Franny is having a great time at work today, LOL
Dread plunged into Franziska’s stomach. Since when had those fools had a family cloud? Why was she not on it? And worst of all, THAT WORTHLESS FOOL PHOENIX WRIGHT HAD ACCESS TO THAT IMAGE!
Sebastian noticed Franziska’s fury immediately, “Um, Ms. VonKarma? Are you ok?”
“No. I am not.”
“What’s wrong, Frau VonKarma?” Klavier chimed in.
Franziska turned her gaze to the younger prosecutor. He was flanked by both Nahyuta and Simon.
Nahyuta laid into her next, “Modern technology is quite wonderful, is it not? Especially things that allow one to access things that have recently been deleted. Such a wonderful way to ensure precious memories are never fully lost.”
“Though, it really is a shame. Now you went through all that effort for nothing.” Simon grinned down at her.
Franziska loathed to see her own words used against her, though part of her was happy that the other 3 prosecutors were coming to Sebastian’s aid. How much of that was because they actually liked him and how much was because they loved to take each other down a peg was unclear.
Marching into Miles’s office, Franziska slammed Sebastian’s phone down on his desk. He lackadaisically looked up at her as if he had been expecting this from the start.
“Since when have you, Sebastian, and that foolish boyfriend of yours shared a cloud?” Franziska asked, ready to whip him if his answer was unsatisfactory. Taka landed on her shoulder, gladly assisting in her attempt to seem threatening.
Miles put down his file, “With Phoenix, it was when he moved into my apartment after the events of 8 years ago. It was easier to deal with documents and grocery shopping if we could just share everything. Bu-”
“Is texting not a valid method of sharing things? And are Kay and Trucy on this cloud? Why am I not on this ‘family cloud’?! As your older sister, it is natural that I-”
“Wait. ‘Family cloud’?” Miles said. His hands shook.
Franziska rolled her eyes, “Yes, that’s what it is called. Now stop lying to yourself and start-”
Miles all but leapt out of his seat and took out his phone, frantically swiping at his screen. Pess entered and sat at Miles’s feet and Sebastian peered in. He likely wanted his phone back.
“Hey, Pa-Mr. Edgeworth, are you ok? You seem a little tense.” Sebastian said.
“Since when have you and the other two been on that cloud?!” Miles demanded, his eyes wild with some mixture of embarrassment and panic.
Sebastian swiped his phone from Miles’s desk, “Since we started having our weekly dinners. It was easier to deal with groceries that way. Why?”
“Nothing, get back to work.”
“Um, ok!” Sebastian exited the office, though he probably wasn’t going to get back to work.
Franziska turned her attention back to Miles, “Why are you so frantic? I haven’t seen you like this since Sebastian’s first day at the office.”
“Franziska, if I’m being honest, you’re probably that last person who would want to know. Now please just...go.”
“No! You are obviously worried and probably need your far smarter older sister’s help. Now let me help you.” Franziska feigned confidence. She totally wasn’t worried about what was wrong with Miles, and even if she was she’d never admit it.
Miles sighed, “Thank you for the offer, but I’m really fine. There’s just...things on that cloud that I would rather not have Sebasitan, Kay, and Trucy seeing.”
Franziska saw red.
“OH, SO IT’S THINGS LIKE THAT THEN?”
“I don’t know what you-”
“Verdamnt, what’s the english for things like this?! Miles I swear to God-”
“Franziska, please lower your voice-”
“Spicy...red...flaming...WHAT IS THE WORD?!”
“Oh my goodness Franziska please-”
“HOT! SEXY THINGS! The sex things. That’s what’s on there?! Huh? With that foolish-”
“I heard hot and sexy, are you talking about me?” Klavier sauntered into the office, clearly curious. In fact, nearly everyone in the office was now hovering around Miles’s desk. Good. More people to help Franziska convince Miles to talk.
“Bold of you to assume anyone finds you attractive other than people who literally write fanfiction of you, Fop.” Simon responds.
Klavier sighed, “Great, now Ema has rubbed off on you. And I have had several partners who all considered me quite hot and sexy, thank you very much.”
“That was clearly not what we were talking about. Now, back to the topic at hand, Miles Edgeworth.” Franziska glared daggers at her little brother.
Miles all but melted into his desk, “Franziska, can we please talk about this at a more appropriate time or location? Please?”
“No. Now tell me what’s up or else I’ll-” Franizska was cut off by the sound of a dog whining.
Turning to see what was wrong, she saw Vongole enter the room with her tail between her legs. Franziska squatted down and began petting Vongole. After a few moments of this, Vongole began leading Franziska somewhere.
Any thoughts about her brother all but lost, Franziska followed Vongole. The pair entered the kitchen and stumbled upon the cause for Vongole’s whines: a pee stain on the tile.
Franziska sighed and turned to Vongole, “Were you never properly toilet trained? Or did someone forget to let you outside for all of today?”
“Ach, my apologies!” Klavier had evidently followed them to the spot while the rest of the office was preoccupied with the chaos that was happening in Miles’s office, “I’ll clean that up.”
“The real issue is that she hasn’t been let out at all today, fool.”
“I know, I know. This isn’t exactly the first time this has happened, unfortunately.”
Franziska turned to face Klavier, who was gathering napkins, “You know that dogs have to be brought out to urinate reguarly, right?”
“Yes, I know, Frau Von Karma. I’m just...not exactly cut out for owning a pet right now.”
This piqued Franziska’s interest. It wasn’t often that Klavier seemed this...defeated.
“Then why even bother caring for a dog? Especially one as playful and loving as Vongole?” Franziska responded, reaching down to pet the gorgeous girl.
Klavier sighed, “Because...I kinda felt responsible for her. After all, she was Kristoph’s old dog and it only makes sense for me to care for her, ja? And it really shouldn’t be this difficult for me to take care of an animal.”
Franziska’s eyes flitted between Klavier and Vongole. The situation was clearly not ideal for either party.
“Just because it should be easy, doesn’t mean it is. Owning a pet is difficult and takes a lot of time and energy. And, pardon my honesty, you don’t seem to be loving the experience.”
“Don’t get me wrong, I love Vongole. She’s a wonderful girl...but I...I just don’t know how to word it.”
Franziska made a snap decision, “I can take care of her.”
“What?” Klavier’s head shot up.
“I said that I can take care of her. My apartment has plenty of room for two and I can more than afford the costs associated. Vongole already seems to have basic training perfected, as any dog owned by a Von Karma should, and she’s definitely comfortable around me.”
Klavier glanced away, unwilling to meet her gaze, “I thought you said that you had no time for pets.”
“That was a lie to get Prosecutor Blackquill off my back and you know it. Now accept my help, fool.” Franziska responded, holding her hand out.
Klavier glanced at her hand, looked at Vongole, then replied, “Alright. Thank you, Frau Von Karma. When would you like to start caring for her?”
Franziska crouched down and picked up Vongole. She was about as heavy as one could expect from a golden. Franziska was immediately met with kisses from the dog, and she returned this affection with gentle pets.
“I will start now. Give me her leash. I have one, but I doubt it would suit Vongole.”