Fiddling Around... (Open, Multiple Threads)

[incorrigibledoc]

There was music in the library.

It wasn't coming from the radio, since the musician had pilfered the machine for its electronic components some time ago.  The music was coming from a Stradivarius violin, polished to a loving sheen and played with a careless grace.  The music itself had no real melody, just a variation on a few notes, rising and

Comments

[emobard]

Daeron is to music as a moth is to flame. It distracts him from the part of the hotel he was quietly exploring, lost in thought, and draws him into the library. He is impressed with the musician, despite the absentmindedness in the music, and that causes him to be willing enough to stay, standing by the door, as a silent audience.

[incorrigibledoc]

It took the Doctor a while before he noticed his audience, but once he did, his natural performer took over. He launched the violin into something fast-paced and classical, segued into an improvised flamenco melody and finally slowed down, down to finish with a few, rather cheeky bars of "If I were a Rich Man."

Closing the performance with an understated flourish, he set the instrument in his lap and beamed brightly at the newcomer. "Good morning! It is still morning, I hope. I'm the Doctor; what's your name?"

[emobard]

Daeron half-suppressed a smile, enjoying the performance. He had to stop himself from bowing when the Doctor introduced himself, however, a hard to repress habit.

"It is, I believe, but barely just. My name is Daniel."

[incorrigibledoc]

"Very nice to meet you, Daniel! Have you been- whoops!" As the Doctor stood, swinging his legs down from the table, he knocked a few books from their precarious places. Juggling the violin in his grasp, he snatched two as they fell, but the third hit the carpet with a thump, dust rising from its pages in a small cloud.

"Ah, pardon the research," said the Doctor apologetically, instrument, bow and books all precariously in his grasp. "It's so difficult to conduct decent research when nothing in this library has been published past the Humanian Era 2007. As I was saying, have you been in the Hotel long?"

[not_cricket]

Izzie had never been a connoisseur of anything, unless Jose Cuervo tequila counted, but she could tell when something of fine quality was being produced. When she heard the violin playing, as casual as it was, she knew it had to be a good violin. She followed the music down the hall to a place she'd never seen before in the hotel, the library, and grinned a little when she saw it was The Doctor.

"Hey, Doctor," she said softly, waving at him before going to the shelves to absently pick a book. Nancy Drew, Nancy Drew...Sweet Valley High? She was in the wrong section, it seemed.

[incorrigibledoc]

"Hello yourself, Doctor!" Glad for a friendly face, the Doctor's playing suddenly solidified into a definite melody, something light and welcoming. "I haven't seen you in a while. How have you been faring these past few days?"

[not_cricket]

"I've been good. Been hanging out with Jack some," she said, grinning a little. She nodded her approval at the change in music, pretending she knew something about music in order to form an opinion--it was kind of summery, wasn't it? Yeah. Summery.

"How've you been? I didn't know you played," she said, nodding toward the violin. "I totally don't."

[incorrigibledoc]

"Oh, this?" He lowered the violin and glanced it over, as if he had never seen it before. "The violin was a gift from Antonio Stradivari, an old friend of mine from the 18th century. I found it in my room when I first arrived here. I... can't really remember when I learned to play it. I must have picked it up somewhere along the way."

He smiled ruefully. "You know what they say. Once you hit the big 950, the memory starts to go."