open RP: Nick is pensive.

[mid_west_egg]

Nick Carraway is a Hufflepuff. However, sooner or later all Hogwarts students find their way to the Ravenclaw bar. He has a gin and tonic, and he's placed a doily carefully under the glass so as not to mar the finish of the piano. He plays piano the way someone might lay bricks: methodically, without verve, though taking pleasure in a job done

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[edomedpeddler]

Kusuriyuri enjoyed a good sake from time to time. And, there were some times more needful than others. Though he neither regretted nor would change any of the decisions he'd made, defending them was never easy.

He'd heard of the bar, though the concept of going somewhere and serving oneself was rather odd, he figured it was just another Western custom. He wondered if such a bar could have a good sake.

The odd music made him pause. The oddness was in the sound of the instrument, not in the precision of the player. Precision was demanded in traditional music. To hear that quality on a non-tradition instrument was...almost refreshing.

[mid_west_egg]

Nick was playing "I'll See You In My Dreams", from memory, when a curiously dressed fellow came into the bar. Without stopping, he turned his head to address the man. "Hope you don't mind a little music. If you need quiet to study, I can always come back later."

(( note: link will play song, though the song can be turned off. I figure it's about contemporary with the time in Nick's youth he'd have been taking piano lessons. ))

[edomedpeddler]

"Ah, no, it is fine. Please, continue." Kusuriyuri bows slightly. He turns to the bar and examines the bottles behind it.

He doesn't see any of the sake labels he recognizes. There is a plum wine he knows, but he does not feel like drinking plum wine just now. Hidden among the bottles, he finds one labeled seishu and decides on that. Below it, the proper serving set. He pours some of the sake into the serving bottle and takes it and the cup to a table where he kneels on the bench by it.

[mid_west_egg]

Nick nodded and continued playing. The piano was positioned such that the player had a limited vantage of the common room, which was better than no vantage at all. He could see a little of what Kusuriyuri was doing. The posture was as foreign as the man's dress and ... makeup? Facial tattooing? Nick had only been abroad when fighting in France during the Great War. His experience of the world was limited to matters Western in origin.

"I'd take requests," he said politely, over the sound of his playing, "but I guess it's not likely I'd know the songs you know. I'm Nick Carraway, an American."

[drunkexguardian]

Lee had taken up residence in a corner, predictably. She hadn't been pleased to find that there was no bartender, but hey, at least there was decent beer.

"Hey," she yelled out in the general direction of the piano. "Cut it out. Some of us are trying to get drunk in peace."

[mid_west_egg]

A tumble and clunk of low notes truncated the song. "Sorry," Nick called back. He rose from the piano bench and peered in the direction from which the voice had come. "I don't suppose I could make amends for it with a drink? While the liquor's free, the service can leave something to be desired. I can mix you up a decent cocktail."

[drunkexguardian]

"Cocktails are for pussies. But if you get a refill of beer, I might even say thank you." Might. Maybe. She held out her empty stein and waved it around.

[mid_west_egg]

Gamely Nick rose and took the stein from her. "What sort of beer were you drinking?" There was more than one on tap.

[seeing_roses]

"Ok, I have a problem," Lester admitted as he took a seat next to Nick. Nick was looking particularly bright today and Lester decided to play into a bit with some of the only ways he knew how.

"I'm at a loss. I've been racking my brain all morning and just can't find a solution..." Lester stopped and poured himself a drink. He wasn't much for hard liquor, but the rum went down in a clean, easy shot. "What would win in a fight to the death, a boa constrictor or a scorpion?"

[mid_west_egg]

Nick scooted over a little on the piano bench to make room for Lester. Did the fellow intend a duet? Ah, no, it was conversation -- an odd conversation at that. He kept on playing doggedly as he considered Lester's ... question.

"Well, now, does a scorpion have enough venom to incapacitate a boa constrictor?"

[seeing_roses]

Lester smiled as he watched Nick's hands. It was nice to have some background music to accompany the hard-hitting debate.

"That's the question if the ages, my friend. Does a scorpion have enough venom? And on the contrary, could a boa, which preferred method of killing is through constriction, be able to constrict itself around something as small as a scorpion?"

Lester raised an eyebrow and smiled.