for Kurt

[tooktheblack]

Jon was the first to admit that he did not always understand the culture of the island and since it had changed from the sultry, balmy environment he'd just gotten used to into something like a tight-packed city, he understood it even less. The clothes box wouldn't provide anything but strange clothing that was nothing like the modern garb of the

Comments

[highf]

"You've been here how long and no one's sat you down and explained Christmas?" Kurt asked, perplexed, leaning further back into the couch until he could rest his arm along the back. "I'm not even generally a very enthusiastic person about Christmas- or about any other religious holiday, actually, aside from the price drops that inevitably come afterward- and yet even I know that this is bordering on blasphemous. So... let's see. Bear in mind that I am a very biased source, and that you should probably ask someone who is actually of faith to give you another rundown. But."

Nodding to himself, Kurt allowed his hands to drop back down, crossing his arms over his abdomen. "The main idea is that many people in my world, especially in my nation, are of the opinion that there is a higher being, so to speak. God. That he is omniescent, omnipresent, and benevolent at that. And a certain fraction of the people within this group of believers think that God once sent a savior to Earth. His son, in effect. Christmas is to celebrate that son's birth and greater existence."

[tooktheblack]

"My gods don't have names or faces," Jon explained. "They keep watch in the woods. The Seven, the gods of the south, they're the Maiden, the Mother, the Stranger, the Smith, the Warrior, the Crone and the Father. I don't hold much favor in those gods, though. I'm a man of the North."

Jon frowned a bit, trying to work it out. "So this boy being born has something to do with all the greenery and the kissing?"

[highf]

"God doesn't really have a name or face," Kurt clarified, eyes narrowing slightly. "And Jesus, his son, has... both, but whether or not his face is accurately portrayed in modern day- given that he walked my earth, supposedly, about two thousand years before I was around myself- is under debate. Naturally, as time wears on, that picture is bound to change according to whatever our collectively perceived ideal is, but that's another matter entirely." With a wrinkle of his nose, Kurt waved his hand, trying not to get too deep into the matter of whether or not God was real, or Jesus real, or any higher entity at all. Whatever people wanted to believe in, Kurt could accept.

And so, he wouldn't push his own skepticism onto anyone else in turn.

"But, ah, so," he laughed then, finally addressing the question itself, "the rest of all of this, the evergreen and the mistletoe, these are just little traditions that have woven themselves into the celebrations. Frankly, some of them come from entirely different faiths, even if we associate them with Christmas. The overall message of Christmas, though, is one of generosity, giving, the selflessness that Jesus Christ himself exemplified. Carols are just a very noticeable and relatively inobtrusive manner of showing that."

He winced. "Relatively being the key word."

[tooktheblack]

"The singing wasn't badly done," Jon conceded. "I'm just not used to being bombarded with singing throughout the streets. It's just not done in Westeros unless a man is begging for coin."

He was learning, though, that other cultures were vastly different than the one he'd grown up with.

"Of course, their singing wasn't as fine as yours. You have a pleasing voice, Kurt. If I could even be half as good, I might sing out loud too. As it is, best we don't try that out."

[highf]

In spite of himself, Kurt felt his cheeks flush a deep red- and knowing his complexion and the way that any bit of a blush tended to blotch, Kurt pressed his hand quickly to his cheek, the cool surface of his palm calming the color down. "You're... being far too generous. Either that, or you haven't heard all that many singers as of late. I could show you reels or turn to radio stations with people whose voices are far, far superior than my own. I've got a lot of room to improve."

Leaning over enough to give Jon's shoulder a gentle bump, Kurt's smile widened. "That said, we should go caroling together. If you really feel that self-conscious, we can always grab a few more people to make sure that the collective voice is on pitch. Although, again, I'm pretty sure that anyone can manage certain songs well with a bit of practice. We just need to make sure we don't have you pushing your natural range."

[tooktheblack]

"I don't even know any of the carols," Jon said but his tone was still pleasant. It wasn't that he was against singing, really, it just wasn't something that was done on a regular basis in his world.

"So we will have to learn a few before I'm going to be able to sing, on pitch or not. Pitch is...what, exactly?"

[highf]

"Carols are easy enough to learn; I know the lyrics to at least a couple dozen of your standard Christmas fare. Or, more generally, carols about winter- which might in fact be preferable in considering the faiths of anyone other than Christians. Something that my country isn't... the greatest at," Kurt replied, wrinkling his nose momentarily at the thought of the heavy bias within the country, one that he'd lamented about at length on multiple occasions before- but to do so with Jon Snow felt unnecessary at best.

"As for pitch, that refers to how high or low your voice is. Like so." Clearing his throat, Kurt sang through an octave in C major.

[tooktheblack]

It didn't make much sense to Jon until Kurt demonstrated and then he could see where each individual tone might actually be one of those pitches. He also didn't know how he'd make his own voice do that.

"I think I will need a lot of work. I wouldn't even know where to begin singing like that."

[highf]

"Well, start by thinking of the inflections in your voice," Kurt considered, wondering how best to draw upon what Jon no doubt already did in his daily life. "There are two directions that you can go with pitch, really. Either you go up-" Kurt raised the end of the clause accordingly. "-or you go down."

Leaning back against the couch, he pleated his hands neatly in his lap. "Many times, when you ask a question, for instance, the pitch of your voice will climb up in the end to make it clear to the other person that you're waiting for a response. That's the basic type of thought that goes into it, singing just... changes the depth of your voice, smooths it out, makes it into art."

[tooktheblack]

"So I think about changing where my voice is," Jon ventured, "And then make it happen? I'm not sure how good I'll be, but I'm willing to try."

This island was a strange place, a place where Jon had tried things and learned things he'd never have touched in Westeros, singing least among them.

"That's all I can do, right?"

[highf]

As usual, Kurt was endeared. Because Jon Snow was something that he didn't often find in the people around him at home, save perhaps in Finn- but Finn came with his own layer of heavy judgment on top of it all. No, Jon Snow was uniquely earnest, and Kurt found himself rather hard-pressed to picture Jon failing at much of anything with that type of nature. (Strange, he sometimes thought. So often, he'd been led to believe that those who saw the greatest hurdles in life would come out bitter, but Jon seemed far from it.)

"Trying is all that you can guarantee," Kurt countered, crossing his arms lightly over his chest. "But, honestly, I doubt a guy like you would have a hard time finding success. You just have to keep at it, and never convince yourself that one or two tries is enough to indicate that you've got no talent."

[tooktheblack]

"You might get sick of hearing me bellow like a whale," Jon warned, lightly teasing. He didn't have any illusions that he would be talented like Kurt or Lionel but he could try. Especially since it seemed to be something important to a friend of his; Jon had never really had the luxury of many friends back home and he wanted to really make them work here on the island.

"But I thank you for your continued patience, Kurt. I always will."

[highf]

"You, sir, give me way too much credit. It'd be like telling a teacher that they're the most patient teacher anyone's ever met when they just happen to get lucky enough to have a group of students who are completely obedient and eager to learn. In those cases, the credit goes both ways," Kurt pointed out with a shake of his head and a light shrug. "It's really not hard to teach someone who... really, sincerely wants to learn. Makes me reevaluate how much credit I want to give my glee club instructor, even."

He shrugged at the joke.

"Because, as supportive as he was of us all, we're also little divas who just love being on the stage. Maybe I'll mold you into a diva of your own, someday. You've got the hair to pull it off."