Feeling down in the face, Could you use a little space [active|OPEN]

[von_habsburg]

Characters: Austria von_habsburg and OPEN except for Church.
Setting/Location: An empty room in one of the towers
Date & Time: Late afternoon on Day 2
Warnings: None really, unless Church shows up, then there may be some violence toward musical instruments
Summary: Austria likes playing his music and finds somewhere he hopefully can enjoy himself while not

Comments

[keytoanewworld]

Sumire had received Austria's message, and made her way toward the room he indicated in his message. She began to hear the music as she came upon the room, and if she knew anything about German-language music, she would've thought that the story of "Der Erlkönig" may not had been entirely appropriate to play, beautiful as it was. Still, even without knowing the story, the piece still sounded rather haunting, and also captivating.

She now stood outside the door; if Austria had already begun playing, she didn't want to disturb him, although he had sent out an invitation to her. Slowly, she gripped and turned the doorknob, opening the door just slightly, hoping it would quiet enough not to disturb Austria.

[von_habsburg]

Decades of having surreptitious audiences when he played had long ago tuned Austria's ears to the relevant sounds of someone trying to come into a room without being heard. It was nowhere near enough to disturb him (he had, after all, once continued playing his piano through a gun going off behind him) but it was enough for him to notice, and a moment or two later he turned to face his guest. A small smile curled his lips when he saw someone he rather hoped was Sumire, even if he could not be sure, not having met her face to face.

Regardless, it would not do to be impolite to the young lady, and so during a fitting part he bowed to the young lady, following it up with a sweep that invited her to have a seat at the nearby table. He would not have her standing in the doorway like a servant after all.

Once he had done he bowed again, lower this time and with a content look on his face. "Miss Sumire?" He should have brought some tea up, but that would have been slightly awkward with the violin case as well.

[keytoanewworld]

A smile came upon her lips and she bowed as she felt Austria's eyes on her. He appeared kind enough, although considering how little she knew of Austrian history or culture, she really hadn't imagined what he could've looked like.

She stepped into the room and sat down at the table he had indicated toward. "Yes," she replied, bowing her head slightly. "And you're Austria-san?" Her eyes traveled toward the violin he was holding. "I didn't interrupt anything, did I?"

[von_habsburg]

"I am indeed, it is a pleasure to meet you face to face." He placed a hand on his chest, which might have looked slightly odd as he was still holding his violin bow, and bowed to the young lady, this time making it obvious that it was not simply a part of his playing. He followed her gaze to the violin still held in his hand and shook his head. "Not unless you wish for me to stop playing. I had simply finished the song I had begun, and that seemed like a good point to pause and greet you."

[keytoanewworld]

"Yes, it is a pleasure," Sumire agreed, her smile widening. A slight blush also came upon her cheeks; this man was quite the gentleman, she thought.

She folded her hands in her lap and lifted her gaze to make eye contact. "Oh, I don't want you to stop playing. I don't know what song you were playing, but it still sounded beautiful."

[von_habsburg]

Austria was quite glad that Sumire seemed like a pleasant young lady, it made it much easier to focus on her face instead of how scandalously short (by the standards he was used to at least) her skirt was. Was this really that common? Nevermind some of the outlandish things he had seen on some of the other caravan dwellers, it still startled him when he was presented with something that would quite likely get the young lady in question arrested for exposing herself indecently.

But there was no real outward sign that he was thinking such a thing, indeed if the garb of the rest of the people in this caravan was anything to go by (that one young lady had been wearing trousers after all) it was quite likely that his was the odd viewpoint in this situation. He simply resolved to keep his eyes resolutely fixed above the young lady's neckline (the mental image of his wife's enraged face helped remarkably in this effort) and bowed once more. "Very well, do you have anything in particular that you might like to hear? I can not guarantee that

[keytoanewworld]

Sumire, in turn, scanned her eyes over Austria's attire; he did seem well-dressed, but if he was the embodiment of his country in the same way England was, that would make sense, as he likely was an important figure where he was from, she believed. She wondered how far in the past he was from, although his glasses seemed almost modern.

She was brought out of her thoughts when Austria spoke again. "Oh! Um, does Mozart's 'Requiem' have parts for the violin?" she asked. Dark as that piece was, it was the first one that had popped into her mind, as she was fairly certain Mozart had been Austrian.

[von_habsburg]

"The Requiem? An odd choice, but yes it does, though I doubt that the pieces would sound quite as good were they divorced from the whole." The entirety of Mozart's Requiem was also rather long, requiring quite a large collection of instruments, not to mention a chorus. Not for the first time he wished there was a way to play back the music he heard when he went to performances and the opera, his own single instrument was simply inadequate for rendering a symphony, or even a concerto, being but a single voice where many were requested, nay required, for the proper sound.

"As much as I might wish that my lone instrument was sufficient for the song, I must admit that particular piece is too much for one man with one instrument to reproduce." He shook his head, if only he had the Vienna Philharmonic here, then he could have it played for her the way it deserved to be heard. "Is there something else I might interest you in hearing miss?"

[keytoanewworld]

"Oh, sorry," she said, as she bit at her lower lip. The most she really knew of classical music were things like operas, and she didn't want her lack of musical knowledge to be that obvious. Of course, it likely was now.

She shook her head slightly and smiled at Austria. "Um, how about you play one of your favorite pieces? I'd think you'd have a better idea of what you can play here than me."

[von_habsburg]

Austria shook his head, while it would certainly be nice if everyone had his vast library of musical knowledge, he knew that having simply more time to devote to the pursuit meant that, especially when it came to an area he knew well, he would most likely know more than they were. "Mozart's Requiem is still a wonderful work, and if I had the resources, I would gladly stage a performance. This Caravan has many things, but an excess of culture is certainly not among them." Even enough for a quartet would be quite nice, and he wondered if there was anyone else on board who had instruments. If not, perhaps once they got to a village he could find some of the local equivalents. He would have to do that regardless, he was not about to pass up the opportunity to add some new instruments to his collection back home, never mind that it would be quite definitive evidence that he had not simply gotten lost in the mountains of Austria for however many weeks this journey would take

[keytoanewworld]

As he played Sumire closed her eyes in an attempt to better immerse herself in the music. While she was familiar with Bach's name, she didn't know many of his pieces, and if this piece was anything to go by, she quite wished she did. It was a lovely piece, as Austria had said, and to her it somehow felt soothing, as it didn't seem to have any loud surprises, but not so quiet it would put her to sleep (she figured that it would be rather rude of her to fall asleep while listening to him play).

When the piece seemed to finish, Sumire opened her eyes again, and then began applauding quietly. "That was wonderful," she said.

[von_habsburg]

Bach wrote some of Austria's favorite violin solos, so it would make sense that he picked that as one of the first to play specifically for Sumire. Bright without being grating, soothing without lulling the listener to sleep, it had none of the dread of Der Erlkönig or the sorrow of Mozart's Requiem. In short, it was an utterly appropriate song to play to a young girl on a pleasant sunny day.

Austria bowed at the quiet praise, a small smile on his lips, more at the satisfaction of playing for an appreciative audience than for the praise in and of itself. "I am glad you enjoyed it Miss. Would you like to hear more of the same, or something different?" If she did not know the title of something she wanted to hear, then perhaps a style of music would be simpler.

[keytoanewworld]

Sumire was quite impressed by Austria's ability to play such a piece from memory. Though her own memorization skills weren't that bad, she didn't think she would had been able to remember that many musical notes, assuming she'd had been able to read them in the first place. She had briefly thought of picking up an instrument when she had been young, although most of the time she really didn't think of music that much beyond thinking of it as something simply enjoyable to listen to.

"Something similar, maybe," she answered. "I wouldn't want to see you exhaust yourself." The piece he had played hadn't seemed that tiring, but Sumire was aware that playing the violin could be exhausting, especially some of the quicker and more complicated pieces.

[von_habsburg]

As flattered as Austria would have been, even he would have to admit that a large portion of it was quick fingers and muscle memory. He had simply played the songs so many times that his fingers could remember where they were supposed to be with only a minimal amount of guidance from him, at least until he went over the more complicated parts, those still required concentration and if he played for too terribly long made his fingers cramp.

He smiled, bowing slightly "How considerate of you, something similar then." More Bach then, at least he was highly unlikely to run out of pieces before his fingers stopped wanting to play. It wasn't quite as complicated sounding as the previous piece, it still required his attention to play at the level of perfection he demanded of himself.

[keytoanewworld]

This time, as Austria played, Sumire focused her eyes on his fingers. The way he moved his fingers and the bow made little sense to her, but those movement still produced such lovely music. She was fairly certain she had heard this piece before, or maybe something similar.

It sounded like a strong piece, and she was a bit surprised when it seemed to go a little quieter near the end, but that part sounded the nicest to her ears. Like the previous piece, it was soothing, and maybe even slightly charming, although Sumire wondered if that was the right word to use for this piece.

As she continued to listen, her smile softened, and while the music was not putting her to sleep, this piece was lulling her into a sense of serenity as she became more lost in her thoughts.