week 7; saturday ( hikage )

[axilium]

[if hikage happens to stop by the earth dorm (which he'd better, asshole), he might hear the sound of piano music. and, well, there's really only one source it could be coming from.

come say hi, hikage!!]

Comments

[psychedelica]

[ of course he comes by. There's something he still wants to talk to Belph about. He knows himself; he knows he'll never be able to properly express all the gratitude he owes this man. Perhaps even more than he owes Steph. But the fact is that he has time to figure it out. For so long, he'd had too much of time, and he wanted no more than for it to disappear - now, he feels thankful he has a little more, at least with Belph and the others.

It's frightening to be so happy and full of hope when you've spent your entire life losing it all. There's no saying that it won't happen again, either. But for now, even Hikage can't repress it all.

He hears the piano, but it could be Shirasu, really. Hikage knocks on the door - then opens the door anyway, peering in.

It's not Shirasu. ]

[axilium]

[... well, shirasu probably wouldn't knock on the door of his own room.

belph looks up and at the door, mildly surprised.]

... You might as well come in, Hikage, instead of standing around like a creeper.

[psychedelica]

[ i meant the person playing the piano could be shirasu gosh!! ]

I was trying to be polite.

[ he frowns. he didn't want to interrupt his playing!! When he thinks about it, he hasn't heard music in an incredibly long time. He couldn't play, and accordingly, there weren't any instruments in the old manor. ]

[axilium]

That's a first.

[psychedelica]

I'm not the kind of guy who would interrupt a piano recital, [ he shoots back, seeming slightly affronted. Hikage closes the door behind him, taking a few steps over.

There's a lot to say. Neither of them are good at saying or hearing any of it. So he keeps his mouth shut. Instead, he gestures towards the piano with a tilt of his head. ]

You didn't seem like the musical type.

[axilium]

Joke's on you! I've been playing since I was a kid.

[it's pretty much been the one thing that's kept him together over the years.]

[psychedelica]

Huh.

[ Hikage probes his brain, trying to remember if he'd ever done anything like that, but his memory is still spotty. He's fairly certain he didn't. By the time his father took him in, he was too old to start, and his sister was too ill. ]

... You can keep going. I don't mind.

[axilium]

[...

he pauses for a moment, before playing another song.]

Gymnopédies, by Erik Satie. My favourite classical piece—I don't play this for just anyone, you know.

[psychedelica]

[ it isn't a song he's heard before, he doesn't think. There had been a few opportunities to hear an orchestra play in his father's mansion, but he was rarely actually present during those proceedings; he'd heard them through the floorboards, perhaps, while he tended to his sister. And since then... how long has it been?

Hikage listens quietly from his spot near the door. This is most certainly the first time anything has ever been played for him. Even more than that - not for him as part of an audience, but him, personally, according to what Belph just said. It's a gentle, somewhat melancholy piece, full of emotion. With all the emotions that had already built inside of him, it's taking quite a lot of willpower on his part not to shed the tears that start to prick at the backs of his eyes. ]

... You're good at that.

[ he doesn't know what Belph might mean by this, if there is a deeper meaning - doesn't know what this song means - but it's his favorite, and he played specially for Hikage. That's enough for him. ]

[axilium]

... Thanks.

[he smiles softly.]

It was my escape, when I wanted to pretend the rest of the world didn't exist.

[but... maybe he no longer needs that.]

[psychedelica]

So even you have something like that.

[ he supposes it makes sense. Belph's life didn't sound entirely pleasant, either. Hikage had taken refuge in his sister in the same way - unfortunately, she was a far less permanent sanctuary than a piano. After thumbing at his eyes in what he hopes is a surreptitious manner, he gingerly takes a few steps closer towards Belph and his instrument. ]

... I liked it.

[ the song. ]

[axilium]

[...

belph pauses, before he decides that this is too close to approaching ~feelings~, so he smirks.]

Good to know you aren't an uncultured swine.

[psychedelica]

[ belph you're pathetic

Hikage wonders if he should sit down, but it'd feel rude to sit on Belph's bed and a little intimate to sit on the bench with him, so he continues hovering just inside. ]

Despite my parents' best wishes, I was actually interested in learning things.

[ a dry response to cut off that sass. After a moment or two of silence, he continues, shifting topics. ]

You're going with Steph, right?

[axilium]

[hikage...]

You can sit down somewhere, you know.

[just saying.]

... Yeah. You?

[psychedelica]

[ after another second of standing there awkwardly, he goes ahead and sits on the very edge of the bed. politely!!

it's fine, because Belph's answer brings a shy smile to his face - one full of relief. ]

Yeah. It still doesn't feel real to me.

[ he's really glad Belph is going, too. ]

[axilium]

[since when have you ever been polite, hikage.]

... Well, better get used to it soon. I doubt Steph's going to give you much time for reprieve.