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 Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2017 9:37 pm
Ilian didn’t like to think of himself as cheap. He preferred frugal. Because being called cheap made it seem as though he was trying to get away with using the least expensive, poorly made products and services. No, he wasn’t cheap. He just happened to know how difficult it was to have money when he needed it, especially since who knew when he would need to pay medical bills with his, uh, line of work and reckless behavior. Thankfully, most of his injuries had healed, and he only had a few cuts and bruises left.
He hadn’t been in this particular record store for months, because he tended to linger too long and look sadly at all the things he wanted but knew he shouldn’t waste the money on. He liked listening to music as much as he liked making it.
So he told himself he would just pick up a blank notebook of sheet music and that was it. Because using notebook paper and a ruler was way too tedious. And if he ever wanted to do something with his music, he would have to actually write it more legibly, instead of having it in his head, or scribbles on a page.
Gloves were pulled off as he entered the store, and a hat that squished down his too curly hair, all three items shoved into the pockets of the coat he wore. He did his best to keep his eyes focused on the task at hand, ignoring the music organized and spread out, especially the keyboard displays. He had his own keyboard already. He didn’t need a new one.
Ilian found and picked up the notebook he was looking for when he found it on the shelf on the back wall, and flipped it over to see the back where the price was, and set it back on the shelf with a grimace. Maybe he would just draw his own sheet music, after all. Nuxaz Please let me know if there's anything you'd like me to edit!
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Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2017 10:00 pm
Headphone in her ears and a pop in her step, Cassadega Bright was combing through the vinyls the store had to offer. She was in the classic rock section, head bobbing as her fingers ran along the tops of them, occasionally pulling up one for consideration. Bright green eyes scrutinized every single record she'd drawn up, index finger and thumb tap, tap, tapping away to the music blaring in her ears.
Occasionally, she would hum a little, feet shifting as the beat thrummed in her veins.
In the end, she found nothing of interest and lifted her gaze to scout the store for something the punk-rock section. Halfway to it, she spotted a curious boy staring too intently at sheet music. Iiiiinteresting.
Worn chucks carried her across the room, with Cass pushing her brightly colored hair out of her face as she came up behind him, peering over his shoulder. "You a composer? What kind of music do you like?" She asked, not caring that she was invading his space or that she didn't know him.
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Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2017 3:43 pm
Ilian didn’t consider him to be a jumpy or easily startled person, but for someone to randomly come up and peer over his shoulder as he was trying to debate if he could afford to purchase the thing he came to get, he couldn’t help but jump and half spin around, knocking into the shelf and nearly making it come crashing down.
He’d never seen this woman before. Young woman. Probably a teenager like himself. His eyes narrowed slightly on her, confused and curious at the same time.
“Uh… sort of, I guess,” he mumbled, more dejected about his waste of a trip than talking to a complete stranger. “All kinds. Not very helpful, huh?” he asked, having been told that people are usually looking for genres and artists when asking that question. “Modern, classical, rock, pop, alternative…” he listed off, but once again, that wasn’t very helpful.
“Why, are you a composer? I play and write for the piano.”
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Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2017 9:47 am
The teen was undeniably amused at the way the boy reacted to her sudden appearance. So much so that it was impossible to hide the cheshire-like grin on her face as she cocked a hip to fit her hand against it as she looked Ilian up and down. They stood at about the same height, which she appreciated, even if she wished that her boots gave her another inch so she could be taller.
A green brow arched at the tone and Cass shifted her weight to one leg and folded her arms over her chest. "You write music for all those?" She nodded at the music sheets he'd been pondering.
The question made her laugh, Cass's head tipping back and hair sliding across her shoulder as they bounced. "No way. Writing music is totally not my thing, buuut," the grin was back on her lips and she was leaning towards him. "I dance." Her brow waggled just a bit, pulling her hand out from where it was pressed beneath her arm to push hair out of her eye.
"Mostly hip-hop," she shrugged, because she could do most of other forms okay, but hip hop was her jam. "So, the fact that you compose, pertains to my interest." She was thinking of propositioning him to write for her, if he was any good.
"Oh, you should play for me. Let me hear how talented you are," she suggested, glancing around the store until her acidic colored eyes landed on a display keyboard. "I can totally get them to let you play on that." She pointed at it. She paused, head tipping in a thoughtful manner, "if I like how you play and what you can do. I'll get that for you." She tapped the notebook in his arms.
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Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2017 2:47 pm
He couldn’t help the small noise of amusement when she asked to hear how talented he was. If there was anything Ilian was confident with, it was his abilities as a pianist. But no matter how good someone was, it was nothing unless the people who heard the music could relate to it.
“Yeah, sure,” he said, thinking about how playing something decent wouldn’t be a problem, but if she was asking him to show off, he didn’t mind showing off.
“Pick a song and give me five minutes. Any song or music, doesn’t matter,” he said as he settled a little from being startled by her just a few moments ago. Anything to do with the piano he felt at ease with. He held out his hand and nodded to her headset, hoping she realized that he intended to listen to something and then play it.
She was definitely a curious one, what with her green hair and confident attitude to approach a random stranger. And she did a decent job of selling him on playing (because if he didn’t have to pay for the sheet music book then he would be thrilled).
And the more he thought about it, she might actually have potential in other areas, but he would have to see what she did a little longer before fully considering.
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Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2017 3:03 pm
Every part of Cassadega seemed to brighten when he agreed, easily and readily, without her having to work at it. Already, she had decided that she liked this brown-haired boy. "Perfect," she practically purred, wearing a wicked cat-like grin on her mouth as she took a step back and glanced over her shoulder until so she could catch the eye of the lone store clerk that had been quietly observing them from behind the counter.
There was a wave of her hand, a mildly annoyed look, and the man was stalking towards them.
Illian drew her attention back to him when he held out his hand and she stared at it contemplatively before she carefully pulled her headphones their resting spot on her neck and handed them out to him. "You ruin those headphones though, and you'll have to replace them." She said, grin slipping for seriousness before she placed them in his hand. The tips of her fingers lingered a touch against his palm before she drew them back to play with her phone and settle on a song she wanted him to play.
"Don't really have any songs that have good piano inserted in them but...you seem confident. I like that." She nodded as she selected her song and pressed play before pressing her phone into his palm too. The look on her face was a warning, be careful or else.
Deciding to give him some space and meet the store clerk halfway down the aisle, Cass left her new companion to listen to her song as she chattered away at the man. A minute or two later, she popped back up, cat-grin on her lips as she leaned in. "He says he'll give us ten minutes."
She looked terribly proud of this.
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Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2017 5:31 pm
Ilian snorted snorted softly when she warned him about ruining her headphones. “What do you think I’m going to do to them?” he wondered and lifted them to place over his own ears, waiting for her to choose a song for him. He shrugged at her comment about not having any songs with a lot of piano, not thinking it would be an issue. He liked this kind of stuff, anyway. Making modern music into piano pieces. Other people didn’t think it qualified as good quality piano if it wasn’t Mozart or Beethoven or any of the other famous composers, but Ilian thought it wa all great.
He watched as she handed him her phone and went off to talk to the sales associate, closing his eyes as he listened. It definitely offered challenges, but he didn’t think it was anything he couldn’t handle. Maybe he was just being arrogant, but when it was probably the only thing he had going for him, he thought he was allowed to be a little cocky.
After listening to the song in full, he carefully pulled the headset off from over his ears and passed everything back to the woman, before pulling out his own phone so he could search the internet. “Ten minutes, huh?” he asked, taking a step over to the display keyboard and made sure it was turned on. It would be better if he could adjust the height and sit down, but he wasn’t about to start making excuses. He didn’t need to make excuses to play.
“Mind if I pull up the lyrics? It’ll help me keep on track,” he explained, setting the phone with the words on the screen onto the shelf above the keyboard. He pressed a couple of the keys to feel how the pressure was, and then adjusted the volume. It was similar to the one he had at home, but obviously a much newer model.
This was his forte. This was the one thing he could say he could do with complete confidence. Playing the piano came as easily as breathing, and playing from ear was something he’d always been good at doing ever since he was a kid. His fingers skated along the keys, notes playing out the tune she’d let him hear.
It was a little rough because he hadn’t actually heard the song before, but he played from what he could remember, very much enjoying the challenge. And then even though she just asked him to play, the final verses were sung as he kept on track. “No more games. Can’t escape. You will always be my worst mistake. Gasoline. On your grave. Goin’ down. In. Flames,” he sang along, his voice more alto than tenor, and clear enough to not have any trouble with the range of notes. Singing was something he’d practiced when he was a kid, but it had been years since he did so with any real effort.
He finished with a flourish once he reached the end, his fingers lifting off the keyboard as he turned to grin at her. “Was that the best you’ve got?” he wondered, wishing being a General was as easy as this.
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Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2017 10:31 pm
Collecting her belongings carefully, Cass slid her headphones back around her neck and phone returned to it's spot in her pocket. Acidicly green eyes searched his face, curious about his talents and how he would turn this pop punk song into something worth playing on a piano. While her music preferences leaned heavily towards anything in the spectrum between pop punk and heavy metal, she had a whole playlist dedicated to instrumental songs including some 'classics'.
For the teen, this was exciting and intriguing and she wanted, as she always did, to see what her companion could offer.
"Hey, who knows. Maybe you'll impress us all enough that they'll let you play some more." Her shoulders rolled back in a shrug while her hands came up to catch the front of her unbuttoned flannel and tug it forward, back over her bare shoulder that threatened to expose itself. "Yeah, yeah, just no like music scores or anything. You've got to impress me with your natural skill alone." Cass wasn't worried because her new friend seemed confident enough in his abilities that she didn't see him cheating.
Watching him get situated wasn't nearly as fun as she thought it would be and Cass resigned herself to standing a few feet from the keyboard with her arms crossed over her chest. Skepticism was written all over her face but then he started to play and...well, it was suffice to say that she was impressed. Blown away even, enough to hum along with him, head bobbing as her feet shifted of their own accord.
"Decent voice to go with the magic fingers, nice," she complimented, barely biting her tongue and refraining from making a comment about wondering what else he could do with those fingers. "You know, I'd love to play a fun game of testing your talent, but I'm not entirely sure they'll give us enough time." She glance over her shoulder to check out the rest of the people in the shop who seemed to have enjoyed the brief explosion of live music but were also ready to get out.
"However, if you want to play for me privately, I wouldn't complain. I'd love to see what you're really capable of."
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Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2017 10:42 pm
Ilian carefully turned the volume back down and turned the keyboard off as he turned to the young woman with the green hair, looking her over just as curiously as she was looking at him. There were a lot of things that could happen from this point, and part of him wondered if he was maybe over thinking that she would have potential…
After all, it wasn’t as though a lot of people approached him at random, and he’d liked the challenge of playing on the piano to a random pop song she’d picked. He lifted his hand to brush back his somewhat shaggy curls from his eyes, following up with a shrug.
“I’d be better if I had a chance to compose something,” he admitted, knowing that even though he’d played out the song, it was still a bit rough and he was sure some time working on refining it would make it better. This was the stuff he liked, after all. The challenge, at least.
“Yeah, if you’d like…” he agreed, although he was already thinking of other reasons for meeting up with her again. “I’ll play for you again.”
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Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2017 11:01 pm
Toying with her lip ring, Cass never took her eyes of of Illian when she took a step closer, clearly content to crowd his space and see what he did as a result. "I believe that." Her teeth drew the silver ring into her mouth while she thought about what she wanted to say and the direction she wanted to lead things in.. "You look like you're full of surprises," she stated, nodding at him, teeth flashing when the wolfish grin overtook her mouth.
"Do you need a lot of inspiration or can you just...roll with it?" Thinking she was funny, Cass did a full body roll, shoulder sliding as she threw a pop and lock in it.
"I think that you," she lifted her index finger and moved to press it against his chest, "should take something classical and turn it into something worthy of a hip-hop dance." Cass thought it could turn out to be a fun challenge for her new friend. She licked her lips, tossing her head enough to shake the bright green hair from her eyes. "I definitely want you to play for me again." Again there was an innuendo on the tip of her tongue that she swallowed because there were more important things to focus on.
"Oh. Name's Cassadega," she offered, taking the hand who's finger poked his chest and offered it for a handshake.
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Posted: Sun Mar 05, 2017 7:50 pm
If the young woman was trying to make him uncomfortable, it wasn’t really working. He didn’t take a step back, but instead looked at her with raised eyebrows, trying not to look too amused by her comment about him being full of surprises.
“You have no idea,” he said, his lips quirking into something of a grin as he considered her. It wasn’t as though she was horrible to talk to or to deal with. He’d corrupted Gadolinite without really knowing him, but he turned out to be rather dependable as a recruit. He at least made his quotas without issue.
He blinked at her when she pressed her finger against his chest, and let out a small laugh when she suggested turning classical into hip-hop. She was interesting alright.
“Sure, why not?” he shrugged, and then lifted his hand to grasp hers. “Ilian,” he responded. “We should plan to meet up again, then. How about we exchange numbers and figure out a good time?” he asked, knowing he would want to take a little while longer to observe her, but she seemed like she would have the spunk to handle being in the Negaverse. Nuxaz One more post and fin? <3
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Posted: Sun Mar 05, 2017 8:45 pm
You have no idea, earned a smirk from Cass, eyebrows arching with interest.
"Oh, but I'm eager to find out," she insisted, laughing brightly. The idea that they wouldn't exchange numbers and meet up again was one that hadn't crossed her mind because she knew they would. Her gut told her as much and Cass wasn't one to not trust her gut feelings. The funnest part was that she could look at the boy and not have any real idea of what he was capable of or was like. It was interesting, fascinating, and perfect.
Cass liked unpredictable things. They meant that there was more to use.
"Absolutely," she chimed, sliding her phone out from her back pocket and unlocking it for him so that he could add his digits. "Don't be shy about messaging me, I don't mind." There was a soft flirtiness to her tone when she took her phone back and scanned the information before typing up a quick text to send to him so he could have her number too. Looking like she was ready to split, she hesitated, remembering something, and fished out a twenty from her front pocket and shoved it into his hands,
"Don't have time to wait for to pay and all that, but a deal's a deal. I expect to hear from you soon, Ilian." His name came out in a purr before she gave him a salute and a wink before backing up the way she came and heading out.
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