[P] Of Chords and Strings

birdie

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Jul 9, 2005
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Well, his first few days here hadn’t been very interesting. He’d been with Dorn mostly, and although his first meeting in the courtyard had mostly slipped from his mind there were still times when it ate at him a little bit. But just a little bit – kissing each cheek was a custom over in Europe, which had to be where he was from, so it wasn’t a big deal. Even if it was something Nikki wasn’t entirely used to.

With nothing else to do but sit around, Nikkolai had taken to venturing up the stairs he had found to what he assumed was the second floor. He hadn’t used the map that Seth had given him very much, which he felt bad about; after all, the guy had been nice enough to give it to him, right? At least this time he had honestly forgotten it back on his dresser in his room instead of refusing to use it to try things out on his own. Hell, he’d forgotten to brush his hair, too… bah, whatever. It wasn’t like he cared too much.

He peered into a room with an open door, his curiosity having been picked at by its vacancy. His eyes lit up at what he saw, though, and making sure that no one was around Nikkolai moved swiftly into the room and took a seat at the stool that was set in front of the piano. There really should have been a bench, but a piano was a piano and that was all he cared about!

There wasn’t any music set there and he, obviously, didn’t have any with him, so he would be left to merely pick at the keys and do something from memory. That didn’t bother him at all, though – music calmed him and made him feel at ease, like there was somewhere he belonged. Lifting his hands to the beautiful, pure white keys, Nikki began to play slowly, placing his foot down on the pedal occasionally. He hummed along with the piece, something he only did when he was alone and certain that no one was going to hear him.

Oh how wrong he would be.
 

Seth

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Feb 14, 2009
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Well, he'd found the dorms and unpacked his bags after a few minor mishaps. Yes, he'd gotten lost, and yes, he'd made an idiot of himself for a bit in front of Dorn, but otherwise, things were going just fine. Better than they could've been going, anyway.

At the moment, he was just walking the second floors, which he'd found were the hallways for art and music, among other things. Music had always been a love of his, though there didn't seem to be any classes going on at the moment. Well, weekends would make sure of that. So, naturally, it struck him odd that someone should be playing the piano.

Hesitantly, he peeked his head into the room, looking about for the piano. There it was, and at the keys was Nikki, apparently too lost in the music to notice him. He didn't want to interrupt the song, and it would be rude to interrupt... But it would be ruder to not let him know he was watching, and embarassing to boot.

He cleared his throat somewhat loudly, enough to be heard over the sound of keys and chords emenating from the piano. "Didn't expect to see you again so soon," he said with a small grin, stepping fully into the room. Then, suddenly feeling as if he'd made a mistake, he quickly said, "Sorry if I'm interrupting, I just heard your playing and- And uh... It was good." Well, hopefully he'd get points for honesty.
 

birdie

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Jul 9, 2005
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The moment he heard a noise from the door, Nikki’s fingers smashed on the keys, bringing forth a somewhat ugly chord from the piano that made him cringe a little. Slowly he turned to look at the person in the doorway, mortified to see that someone had actually been standing there. Listening to him. Oh Jesus, how long had he been there?

Nikkolai shifted awkwardly on the bench and lowered his hands from the keys, shaking his head in such a way that some of his blonde hair was thrown into his face. It did a somewhat good job at hiding the blush that Seth’s compliment brought on and, although he tried desperately to suppress a smile, it broke through.

“Aww, thanks,” he said, lifting a hand to move his hair away once the heat had drained from his face. “I was just messin’ around though. That’s all. If I’d known I was going to have an audience I woulda tried harder and been a little more serious.” Nikki shrugged and smiled awkwardly, looking at the keys and then back to Seth. He moved down a few inches on the bench and patted the seat next to him.

“You can sit if you want,” he offered. “Er, um, don’t hate me… what’s your name again?”
 

Seth

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Feb 14, 2009
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He cringed along with Nikki at the sour chord; it had been abrupt, to say the least. He looked at Nikki, shifting his feet a little awkwardly, realizing all of a sudden how uncouth he was being. For a moment, he contemplated apologizing, but the notion left him after Nikki seemed to enjoy his compliment. It was good to see people smiling.

"I think you sounded fine, for just 'messing around.' God knows I can't play the violin like that..." Truthfully, he was probably downplaying his skills and being modest. People back home had always told him how well he played, and all he could ever do was smile and thank them.

Seth moved towards Nikki happily when a seat was offered, sitting down next to him on the bunch and playing a few seemingly-random notes with his right hand while he spoke. "Well, it's Seth, but people back home usually call me Raphi. Short for Raphael, it's my middle name," he said with a smile.
 

birdie

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Jul 9, 2005
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Nikkolai shrugged at the reinforcement of the compliment, but at the mention of the violin his head cocked to the side. “You play?” he asked. Well, he supposed it was obvious he did, otherwise he wouldn’t have brought it up in the first place, but it still pleasantly surprised him. Maybe he shouldn’t have been that surprised, but he still was. “I’d love to hear sometime! We could pick a song and play together or something. If you want.” The idea made him grin.

He watched Seth’s hand as he moved his fingers along the keys before redirecting his gaze to his face. “Seth! That’s right. I’m sorry.” They’d only met once and it had been so brief, and he had been so taken aback by the kisses that the guy’s name had sort of slipped his mind. Surely that was understandable. “Sooo… what do you want me to call you, then?” Again Nikki tilted his head a little bit to emphasis his inquiry, as he had never quite learned how to lift a single eyebrow.
 

Seth

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Feb 14, 2009
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"Mhm," he murmurred, nodding his head to get the point across. He added, "Sing, too," with a grin, and then he began to look around the room. There were plenty of instruments, though no-

Aha! His eyes locked on a violin case, resting against the far wall. With any luck, it was in good condition. "I'd like that," he said quietly, already trying to think of what song they might both know. It wasn't likely that Nikki was well-versed in Neopolitan classics... Was it?

His attention was pulled back by a question, to which he responded, "It's fine, just call me Seth." He turned to look at Nikki, and couldn't help but start laughing. "Never learned how to do this?" he asked, lifting his right eyebrow with a smirk.
 

birdie

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Jul 9, 2005
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Sing, too. Wow. Nikki was aware of the fact that they had barely just met, but that didn’t stop him from really liking this guy. “That’s really cool. I kinda fail at singing.” He laughed quietly. That wasn’t entirely the truth – the truth was more along the lines of that he just plain didn’t sing.

Oh, yay! He had agreed! Nikkolai grinned, although he supposed they probably didn’t have to do anything right away. “We’ll have to figure out a time to do it,” he said.

His lips scrunched to the side when Seth pointed out that he couldn’t lift an eyebrow and folded his arms over his chest. “Oh come on, that’s not fair,” he said. “You don’t have to rub it in my face.” He laughed, clearly just teasing and not meaning a word of it. “How the hell do you do that? I’ve tried so hard and it never works.”
 

Seth

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Feb 14, 2009
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"Well, I can give you lessons sometime, maybe," he said, grinning a little. "Or my cousin could, but she's a soprano," he added with a grin. Cass wasn't exactly the kind of person he'd peg as a teacher, anyway. She could be... Less than kind and nurturing. In fact, she could be downright bratty... But he loved his cousin regardless. She was fun to hang out with, despite her attitude.

"Whatever time's fine with me," he responded, knowing that his schedule wouldn't exactly be busy for a while. School was just starting up, after all.

"Well, you- Uh..." He tried as hard as he could, but in the end, he couldn't really explain how to raise an eyebrow. "It's just something you can or can't do," he sighed, lifting his arms out to either side with a shrug. "If it helps any, I can't whistle," he said with a laugh.

Deciding that even if they weren't going to play anything immediately he still wanted to check out the instruments, he stood and made his way to the case that was leaning against the wall, dodging around drum sets. Opening it, he found that it looked to be in good condition, though nowhere near what he was used to. "It'll do," he murmurred, beginning to look for a bow.
 

birdie

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Jul 9, 2005
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Nikkolai’s eyebrows both lifted. He was nice to offer that, really, but… but he didn’t think it was going to happen. “Thanks,” he said, and by his tone – although it was appreciative, as always – it was clear what he was going to say next. “But it’s fine, really. You’re not obligated to do anything for me.” He was sweet, though, Nikki would give him that. Very sweet.

He laughed as Seth admitted he couldn’t whistle. “Really? No one ever taught you?” he grinned, finding it a little sad but in that feeling proud of himself for knowing how to. “Although my dad taught me when I was really, really young. So I guess it kind of just stuck, you know?” Nikki shrugged. But he was still just a little smug inside.

He watched as Seth stood and walked to the violin case. Nikkolai gently eased his elbows down on the piano keys so that they wouldn’t produce sound – a trick he had learned when he was younger – and rested his head in his palms. “Really? It will?” he asked. Nikkolai leaned back in the bench a little, looking behind him and then getting up. “Er, here’s a bow, Iono if it’ll work or not. I don’t do violins and stuff like that.” He shrugged and grabbed the bow, walking over to where Seth was and holding the bow out for him to take.
 
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