Sometimes your own culture likes to shock you

Iliril of the Chant

For a long moment, Iliril just stared at the glasses in front of him and wondered how he was supposed to unload his entire livelihood onto a person with no musical knowledge. There wasn't any clearly labeled starting point that he was supposed to introduce first; the topic was a mess of loose ends and intersections. For him, every bit of that knowledge seemed as natural as breathing. He could barely remember which end of it he had started out on all that time ago. Something about notes, he supposed.

He frowned thoughtfully. "K-kind of h-hard t-to exp-plain w-without p-pap-per." Iliril wished, again, that he had some sort of real instrument to demonstrate with. Even a hand harp would have been fine. At the very least, he wasn't feeling like he was going to go crazy anymore. Just a few lines were all that he needed to calm down considerably.

Absently, he tapped out a light tune. "Ok-kay, l-let's j-just use c-col-lors, t-then. R-red is n-notes. B-blue is r-rhythm. W-words are y-yell-low. D-diff-fer-rent s-shades are d-diff-fer-rent c-comb-bin-nat-tions ins-side g-groups. One p-person d-dec-cides t-the s-shade of r-red, t-then l-lets it s-sit. Aft-ter a w-while, b-blue m-makes its w-way in d-dep-pend-ding on t-things l-like occ-cas-sion. Y-yell-low is h-how ot-ther p-peop-ple d-dec-cide t-to app-ply l-lyr-rics."

"T-that's all in r-rel-la-tion t-to t-the m-mult-tip-ple w-worlds p-part," he said. "If y-you w-want t-to act-tuall-ly l-learn ab-bout m-mus-sic, w-well. I g-guess I'd h-have t-to exp-plain a b-bit m-more." A lot more.

Iliril of the Chant

"I'll f-find s-some b-books on it l-later?" Iliril offered uncertainly. If there was any desperation in that suggestion, well. It had already been a theme for their entire conversation thus far. What else was there to do except carry on with it? "I'm s-sure t-there's s-some ar-round in t-the l-lib-brar-ry."

Or, or maybe Enelen just wasn't interested in that at all? The thought shook his already weak resolve. It would have been nice to be able to talk about music with somebody. Iliril really didn't think he had anything interesting to say past the subject so having to steer clear of it would have been like suddenly taking away one of his legs.

"Or, I c-could n-not?" Did that make it any better? He did want to be friends but Iliril had always been bad with that sort of thing. Maybe this was the point where he was supposed to stop talking.

He became a bit uncomfortable as Enelen mentioned his older self, however. "Um, s-sure. As l-long as y-you're h-happ-py. H-he p-prob-babl-ly w-went b-back t-to t-the off-fice. I t-think?"

Iliril of the Chant

"Oh, oh, alr-right. J-just, j-just f-forg-get I s-said an-nyt-thing, t-then." Iliril was slowly going bright red out of mortification. It seemed like Enelen was prepared for everything, didn't it? He was probably the sort to be productive every waking moment of the day, actually accomplishing meaningful things with his life. And then the part about how to really study music -clearly teaching was yet another field that Ilriil should never go into.

"Um, m-mayb-be I s-should j-just l-leave y-you." Automatically, the mage began putting back the glasses that he had taken down. He wondered if it mattered that water levels were all different now and if the roommate would be angry at him for messing around. With no idea how to deal with that sort of confrontation, he glanced uneasily at the door. If he finished fast, he could be out the door before the roommate came back, surely.

Iliril of the Chant

Iliril jerked up his head for a moment before nodding. "Oh, y-yeah. I g-guess s-so." The fact that there was a removed section just for music and music alone seemed odd to him. Of course, back home, magic and music went hand in hand but it tended to spill over into other subjects, too. Math, for instance. What little he knew about science was scrawled away under musical terminology and was probably utter gibberish to anybody who hadn't learned the same way.

"Um." It probably wouldn't have helped at all to say that he had already been there. He had even met somebody who worked there, in some capacity. What exactly it was, he still hadn't any idea at all. But there it was. The fact that he could barely remember the event at all -something about mutes and music and freaking out that he was trying to do something for once- just made him think that he had done something terribly wrong at some point.

The glasses were all back in place. Iliril checked again to be sure. "S-sorr-ry ag-gain," he said to Enelen, without really knowing what it was for. "It w-was n-nice t-talk-king w-with y-you. I'll s-see y-you l-lat-ter?" Okay, so he was being really hopeful on that last part, which was simply ridiculous.