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http://zouichi.livejournal.com/ ([identity profile] zouichi.livejournal.com) wrote in [community profile] trans_92011-07-29 01:59 am

Back in black

The young woman who had looked after Zouichi and his siblings had taken it upon herself to instruct them in quite a few areas that were not strictly part of their curriculum -- areas regarded by many of the personnel at Toha Heavy Industries as impractical, even pointless.

Better that they should be taught one more way to kill an opponent without a sound, or log additional hours in test simulations.

But because it would have been disruptive and costly to switch instructors halfway, and because she was the daughter of a scientist of some importance to the project, she was allowed to continue with her eccentricities.

Some of the most peculiar of the lessons she insisted upon centered around an old Earth instrument, one that by the 31st century had become more of an amusing anachronism than anything else. Something you saw in old movies or read about in books, not something you kept in your house or paid to go listen to. It wasn't something he had time to practice, once he was released, but there seemed to be nothing but time here.

So Zouichi had found himself visiting the Sensoriums more often, not to destroy imaginary enemies in ever more creative ways, but to play -- mostly when he could reasonably be sure everyone else would be asleep, and therefore unlikely to come look for him. Today, however, he wasn't in the mood to bother waiting for people to turn in. There was one other oddity -- a bandage wrapped neatly about his forehead, half-covered by his bangs.

He shed his customary gloves, placing them on the surface of the polished black wood. Then he closed his eyes, placed his hands over the cool ivory keys, and began to play. Satie's Gymnopédie No. 1, a slow-paced, melancholy piece. He didn't know why, but playing it always made him remember the ocean. Or at least the simulated version of it; he'd never seen the real thing. The quiet ebb and flow of the tide, the breaking of each wave into sea foam upon the shore. The sea at early evening, perhaps, when all its visitors had gone home and the sun cast everything in long shadow.

Then, on a whim, he focused on summoning up an orchestral accompaniment: a crowd of black-clad musicians in which he might more easily blend in. Or maybe hide, if such a thing were possible on an open stage with a stern-faced conductor watching over all of them. For a moment, the musicians were still. Then, together, they began the first movement of Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 In C Minor, Op. 18. It was easy, once they began playing, to simply lose himself in the swells of sound. The dreamlike ebb and flow of the violins, the rich, deep murmur of the cellos, the brassy reports of the trumpets, the clear, concise flurry of the flutes. Fascinating, the way the sounds of so many different individuals could come together to create a coherent narrative.

It was too bad he'd never get a chance to play with the real thing.

[identity profile] vissernone.livejournal.com 2011-07-29 02:23 pm (UTC)(link)
"Rachmaninoff."

Eva emerges as the last strains end, having been listening quietly since she stumbled on the occupied Sensorium near the beginning of he piece. It's been another relatively sleepless night at Cassie's house, and she normally uses those as excuses to slip out and drink wine and read in the Media Library, or re-enact classic movies with the hologram technology. She'd been intending to do the latter when she saw Zouichi.

It seemed a shame to interrupt him in the middle of the piece, so instead she waited until it was over.

"You're just full of surprises, aren't you?"

She motions to the bandage around his head, silently questioning if he's alright.

[identity profile] vissernone.livejournal.com 2011-07-29 07:57 pm (UTC)(link)
"I don't know. You just continually surprise me with your appreciation for the more delicate things in life." She interfaces a bit with the Sensorium, pulling forth a seat to watch the stage, a wine glass, and a bouquet of flowers to throw at him. She tosses it lightly onto the stage. "Bravo."

She nods, a bit solemn. "It's nice to be able to do those things yourself." You get to assert your own volition that way. "You're otherwise alright? Rachmaninoff isn't the Kanoe Zouichi equivalent of sleepwalking?"

[identity profile] vissernone.livejournal.com 2011-07-30 03:01 am (UTC)(link)
"Only what I could gather from the omnicomms. I don't imagine you exactly want to talk about it, but if you ever need to, or just want to destroy imaginary things with somebody, I've got some experience with these sorts of things." She keeps her voice carefully neutral - no patronizing charity, no condescending pity. She knows how much she hates to be treated like there's more wrong with her than she wants to acknowledge and she won't do Zouichi that disservice.

She shakes her head. "I didn't think my teenage son needed to see his mother drinking at three in the morning. Or whenever this is. Honestly, with as many psychological issues abounding on this ship as there are, we should just scrap the beer tree and plant one that dispenses Ambien."

[identity profile] vissernone.livejournal.com 2011-07-30 04:37 am (UTC)(link)
She lets out a long, low whistle. "That...well, I guess that explains why everyone coming home was in a mood to raise Cain."

She's quiet for a few moments, processing that. Tools. They'd been told they were less than persons, then used as tools in a game between larger forces. Not altogether different than how Stacy treats and uses them. Their own lives, agendas, interests, have little matter in the grand scheme of things, where powers on high have entire armies to smash against each other like children with toy cars.

Typical. She should stop being surprised at this.

"You must have a lot of faith in me to think I can tell Marco what to do."

[identity profile] vissernone.livejournal.com 2011-07-30 05:18 am (UTC)(link)
She nods. "A long while."

How can she blame him? What better way to take your mind off of being controlled than something you control, the Sensoriums? The notes you hit on a piano? She almost feels bad for intruding now and drawing the topic to the forefront of his mind again, although she knows that even with all the distraction in the world at your fingertips, you never truly stop thinking about it until it's well and ready to unlatch from your mind on its own.

She shakes her head, furrowing her brow a bit. "I was gone a long time. I think that sort of vacation costs you some communication skills."

[identity profile] vissernone.livejournal.com 2011-07-30 05:47 am (UTC)(link)
"Hmmph. If only parenting could be accomplished through eloquence alone." She quirks a lip upwards at the compliment, but it doesn't turn into a whole smile.

She gestures again to the piano. "I didn't think that your world had much in the way of concert halls, or that you'd have much time for them in your line of work. Do you have to practice?"

[identity profile] vissernone.livejournal.com 2011-07-30 06:31 am (UTC)(link)
"That would be in the simulations, wouldn't it? Seems an odd skill to leave you with, unless they wanted you to be the Noah's Ark of culture while they were at it." She tugs at her lower lip with her finger, thinking. "Or were you just given a lot of autonomy to pursue your own interests there?"

"No," she says with a modest chuckle. "I'd never have the patience for it. You've seen how I treat my garden; how gentle do you think I could be with an instrument?"

A slow, genuine smile creeps over her face. "But I love to listen. Peter and I forsook a nice wedding dress or ring just so we could afford to have some of the music majors at the nearby college come play in a quartet and piano arrangement for us when we got married. Besides, it kept our families from pestering us to dance."

[identity profile] vissernone.livejournal.com 2011-07-30 05:20 pm (UTC)(link)
"For the sake of your emotional well-being, or for your psychological development?"

She snorts. "After your impressive display? A minuet would look like child's play, and I'd still manage to mess it up. I could probably manage some amazing avant-garde music, though. All drones and smashing noises."

She laughs and takes a drink of wine. "It's not so much that I don't like to dance. It's more like I don't like to fall over myself and twist my ankles in some vague attempt at fluid motion."

[identity profile] vissernone.livejournal.com 2011-07-30 07:35 pm (UTC)(link)
She shrugs. Her body had been used a weapon, among other things, but no one ever bothered to try to craft her mind to a purpose. She's not sure how that sort of thing works.

"If I record it on wax and give it a flashy title mentioning post-colonialism and Foucault, I'm sure I could get it in the Museum of Modern Art. I've seen some of the things they stock in there. It's baffling. Seriously, a tape recorder reciting days of the week?"

She shakes her head and drinks more wine. "Obviously I'm the mastermind behind the table steepling my fingers in the shadows."

[identity profile] vissernone.livejournal.com 2011-07-30 08:02 pm (UTC)(link)
"If only they could have just taken out the bottom floors. The impressionist floor was rather nice. Then again, I don't want to imagine how banal the post-post-post-modern art's gotten by 3025."

"That's, um..." She taps her temple, thinking. "Chopin, is it? I'm so rusty these days."

"...I really ought to get a cat. I'm not sure how I'd like being owned again, though, even by a pet."

[identity profile] vissernone.livejournal.com 2011-07-30 08:38 pm (UTC)(link)
"I'm pretty sure cats are the exception to the rule. You can own a dog or a bird or a hamster, but I've heard you never really own a cat. They find ways around it." She frowns a bit, thinking. "I suppose that's admirable enough about them."

[identity profile] vissernone.livejournal.com 2011-07-30 09:04 pm (UTC)(link)
"I've already had a kid. I don't know if I could stand to try raising something that needs me to constantly validate its existence with skritchies and go-fetch." Although she supposes Alan isn't too much of a burden on Zouichi.

"Mostly. Another podpop come and gone. Nobody who popped asked about you, so I'll assume you're staying a lone ranger in that regard. Some of Marco's friends arrived, and a relative of Kang."

[identity profile] vissernone.livejournal.com 2011-07-30 10:20 pm (UTC)(link)
"Oh, of course. I'm just wondering if they'd have redeeming traits for me."

"Given how she plucks people from different parts of the timeline, for all we know your allies could have made it," she says, but regrets it. Why even bring it up if it may be false hope?

"It's...complicated. Yes, he's happy, and it's good to have them back, but you know that my son's just ribbons and sunshine on any given day."

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