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

Here, have another rambler, on both counts

[thedoegirl]

After a fit of thinking far too much and wondering just how well she could manage her condition while separated from her complete dirt busting collection, Emma decided that a walk around would hopefully be a good way to clear her head. It helped a little bit, even if she stared at every potentially dirty thing she passed. Every now and then, she tried to experiment and see if she could actually tolerate touching some things bare-handed, but she always chickened out before making contact. Maybe another day.

When she was almost annoyed enough at herself to go back to her room, a sound caught her attention. It was faint, but she recognized it immediately. Ever since Will had started the Glee Club, the sound of music had become so much more special to her. Seeing as she hadn't heard anything vaguely music-like since arriving, what she heard sounded so sweet she couldn't resist it, no matter the deep, serious sounds of the piece.

As if someone else was controlling her body, Emma moved in the direction of the violin's rich notes. Once she'd neared the source, she paused and closed her eyes, holding her chest and letting memories of McKinley sweep through her. Soon, when curiosity overtook her, she stepped in front of the doorway, trying to get a hopefully surreptitious view of whomever was playing. It was a little hard with the obvious sound of her heels, but she still hoped she wasn't noticed.

Yay!

[von_habsburg]

The clicking sound certainly was a giveaway to the presence of another person, and Austria had already turned to face the doorway before the appearance of Miss Pillsbury. And so it was that she was met with a nod of his head, acknowledging her presence as he continued playing, fingers never faltering as he played his instrument.

Then the music had his attention once more as he played over a slightly more complicated bit, hoping that his new guest would come in and make herself comfortable as he continued to play the tune for his small audience of one.

[thedoegirl]

Oh, darn it. Her heart jumped when she realized he'd noticed her, hoping he wouldn't go into a rage for having an eavesdropper. Some people were like that, after all. He didn't seem to be close to walloping her with his bow, however, and that was a relief. In any case, he'd nodded to her, so she took that as another sign that he was okay with her presence.

After a moment, she finally stepped inside the room, unconsciously trying not to let her heels click so that she could hear every note without interruption. With a soft sigh, she clasped her hands and listened raptly. She wasn't really a classical music aficionado, but Emma could appreciate good music when she heard it.

Again, she closed her eyes, allowing her mind to drift from one hazy image to another.

[von_habsburg]

After years of Little Italia sneaking peeks in at the door of his music room, Austria felt he would be remiss in telling someone to leave or flying into a rage if all they wished was to listen to him play. So long as the person in question was quiet and well mannered (unlike a certain nation) they were welcome to sit and listen for as long as they liked. He did appreciate that Miss Pillsbury was taking pains to step more quietly, and he nodded his approval as she took a seat at the small table.

He watched out of the corner of his eye as she closed her eyes, wondering what images the song was bringing to the forefront of her imagination. Austria of course, knew the story of Der Erlkönig, remembered the first time it had been told in his country, and so while he knew the emotions that the song was supposed to bring to the fore, he also knew that the listening experience could be quite subjective, and that much depended on the listener.

Once he was done and the last note had died on the still stuffy air, he turned to face the woman fully, bowing as if he had just finished a performance for a much larger audience. His face radiated both pride and contentment at a good performance. "I must admit, I had thought this would be sightly more private, but I am for once quite alright to be proven wrong. In this case at the least."

[thedoegirl]

The moment he finished, her eyes popped open and she burst into enthusiastic applause, a look of awe on her face. It almost felt like the moment when she was watching Will with his short-lived Acafellas group, even. Classical music was somewhat less suggestive than his song choices that night, though. She quickly tossed that thought aside. Thinking about Mr. Slutface wasn't something she wanted to do right now.

Realizing that her clapping was probably a little too much, she quickly stopped and clasped her hands together. All the movement made her distractedly aware of just how much dust was floating around in the air, so that made her a tad uncomfortable. But hey, free music show!

"Sorry to, um, interrupt," she replied in an apologetic tone, her eyes following a particularly large piece of dust. "I just, um, I was walking around and I heard you. There's not really...really much to do around here, anyway. Unless you enjoy staring at the back of some...freakishly tall ogre-thing. Well, um. In any case. I'm used to hearing music at least once a day, so it was nice to hear something just now. That was really beautiful, you know."

[von_habsburg]

On the contrary, Austria almost seemed to be beaming as she applauded him. Austria might seem to be quite modest, talking about his talent while not talking about himself too much. But this was only because he did know that he was very good. He was of the belief that those who were good enough didn't need to talk about how good they were. They simply demonstrated such and were acknowledged. A little applause never hurt anyone after all.

"No, it is quite alright, you weren't interrupting. And I would certainly hope I am more entertaining than the back of a giant ogre." He bowed once more at the compliment, hand on his chest. "It was my pleasure to have such an eager audience, and I am glad you enjoyed it. Is there anything else that I could play for you?"

[thedoegirl]

"Oh, much more entertaining," Emma said emphatically, nodding a great many times. Staring at the back of Grandore got her thinking about how often the giant bathed or if it even bathed at all, and those were never good thoughts. "Much more."

At his invitation for more music, she paused. Assuming he'd only play classical, a lot of what she knew was by sound and not by title--it was also mostly limited to what popular pieces she'd heard on television. For example, Palladio was "The Diamond Song," so she really didn't like it. Most other classical tunes were like that for her, so the most she could do was go by her given nicknames or hum a few notes and hope someone would catch on.

For what felt like a long time, she thought. And thought and thought and thought. Every once in a while, she'd hum some bars from what songs she knew, trying to settle on one that she really wanted to hear. After all, it wasn't often that someone got a private concert! It had to be a good choice.

Five bouts of jumbled humming later, she gave up. "You know, um, I'm not very...well-versed in classical music." Sometimes she'd switch over to the local PBS radio station to feel more "cultured," as she'd put it, but that didn't help any. "You could play a few notes and I'd be amazed, really. But if you want to play something else, please do!"

Sob I hate when I think I tagged something and realize I didn't

[von_habsburg]

"My thanks." Not that it should be easy to be more entertaining than the back of an ogre that had not bathed in God only knew how long. He had only had tea on that balcony once, for just long enough to see catch a nice downwind sniff. After that he had decided his room would be adequate for taking tea.

He listened to her hum the tunes, some of which he vaguely recognized, some of which he did not and after her several abortive attempts he nodded, thinking for a moment himself before nodding. "I believe there is something I could play, are you familiar at all with Paganini?" He carefully positioned the violin and began to play for her, eyes partially closed to help him concentrate on the fingering.

It's no problemo, bb. <3 And I'm totally digging that violinist!

[thedoegirl]

"Paganini?" she inquired, but quickly shushed herself once he began to play again. She had been pretty close to saying "panini" instead, too--thank goodness she hadn't. What a hoot that would've been.

After a quiet clearing of her throat, she diverted all of her attention to the song. Her head began to bob a little, especially at the parts where his fingers seemed to be moving the most. It was incredible what he was doing with an instrument that had only four strings, how amazing one person could make it sound.

Without her realizing it, her eyes had shut while the piece had progressed, her fingers moving in rhythm as if she was conducting him. Once she became aware of that, she abruptly stopped and opened her eyes, listening to the rest of the song with her hands solidly back in her lap. She always got into live music just a little too much.

"Beautiful!" she remarked when the song was complete, clapping again with just as much enthusiasm as before. "You've really got talent, um..." At that, Emma looked curious, and just a little embarrassed that she hadn't asked this sooner. "Er, sorry. Could I, could I ask your name? I'm Emma."

I know, she's so great!

[von_habsburg]

He bowed again, basking in the applause, even if it wasn't a lot of people, it was still appreciation, and he loved that. Loved being recognized for what he was good at and he smiled at Emma. "A good audience always brings the best out in a musician." Knowledge after all could be learned, but a good ear for music was much harder to teach. That Emma had an appreciation for good music mean that she could learn all about the composers that Austria so adored, so that was a good thing.

He nodded, setting the violin down and letting his fingers take a break for a moment. "Thank you, Miss Emma. I am Austria, and it is my pleasure to meet you." He bowed again at the waist, had she offered her hand for a kiss he would have kissed the knuckles, but she seemed to be from a different time than he was, so perhaps such a thing was no longer considered the proper thing to do. Troublesome, trying to learn an entirely new set of etiquette rules, why couldn't the things last longer than a decade or two before he had to learn a new set of them?

[thedoegirl]

"Oh, I know someone who definitely lives by that quote," laughed Emma, thoughts of Rachel flashing through her head. The feeling was sort of bittersweet, and she briefly imagined what it might be like if Rachel were there with her in Willaknapp. The longer she contemplated that, the more she began to grimace. Without someone around to keep the girl's need for fame contained, it might get a little crazy, and Emma knew she certainly wasn't fit for that kind of job. Yeah, it was probably best if Rachel stayed in Lima.

"Not a problem," she answered after shaking all that out of her head, giving him a smile. "It's, you know, nice to finally meet you, too. Interesting to see who's behind the voice and all." Thank goodness he never got the chance to kiss her hand, though--she'd probably end up offending him by yanking it away and running off to the nearest sink to wash it for a good while. What a great first impression of her that would be.

But ahh. He was so gentlemanly and kind, a trait that seemed to have died out with most men in her century. Mostly, anyway. But could she even consider him a gentleman? It was still a little hard to get used to the whole "we have countries running around the caravan" idea, considering some of the posts she'd read on the network. What would it be like to talk to America, she wondered? Wow, weird.

"Do you play any other instruments?" questioned Emma, genuinely interested. From her experience, someone as talented as him didn't focus that talent into just one thing, so she was definitely curious to know.

[ OOC: Wanna fade this one out and focus on the other post more? I don't mind, either way. ]