forevalone | INBOX - NHD-C12-KRI-248

_{[What do you expect him to do? Serve you tea? Wait on you hand and foot? C'mon.]}

They're chocolate covered rice krispy balls. Try them, they won't kill you.

_{[Take the plate, fatty...]}

Do you want tea to go with them?

[No, you c'mon! That is totally how things are done in his era! A servant takes the person's jacket and hat and cane, they walk in, they chat about uppity shit in the drawing room while being served tea and scones.

These things look an awful lot like chocolate-covered maggots.

But he takes the plate anyway because he's a fatty.] Yes. [Milk would be nice, too... but there are no Macha cows sadly.]

Feel free to make yourself comfortable. My bunk is over there. I'll go put the kettle on.

_{[Just don't snoop into any of his stuff.]}

[Commence snooping in three... two... one....

As half instructed, Ciel ventures to the bunk designated by Shinji. He puts the plate of treats down on the bed, taking his time to lift one up, smell it, lick it secretly with the tip of his tongue just to be sure... then carefully bite into it.

Oh. It's not maggots.

It's crunchy pebble things with chocolate. Nice.

He puts the rest of the thing into his mouth to chew silently, but while he's eating, his eye roams Shinji's bed. The sdat gets his attention because he remembers it from the time Shinji socked him in the face. Carefully, he leans over, unsure of what it is or how it works. The nodgle on the cord looks promising, however, with its two buttons.

He reaches out to push one, then the other. The cassette clicks, and the numbers begin changing. The faint sound of music comes from the two earbuds, and Ciel stops chewing in order to listen. Unwilling to touch more than the buttons, he bends far over the bed to put his ear down close to the buds.

He looks so stupid right now.]

_{[Stupid he looks indeed, which a cheek full of treat and leaning over at an awkward angle, it's a sight Shinji returns to eventually with a cup of black tea with sugar in it. He's more amused than anything, which is why he isn't mad that Ciel's touched his stuff without asking.]}

...What are you doing?

[It's even more hilarious how fast Ciel straightens when Shinji comes out of nowhere. The lump of rice krispy moves from his cheek back into his mouth where he continues to chew it until it's gone.

He extends his hand out for the tea.]

Your box. It plays music, but you don't have to wind it. [He's thinking of a phonograph.]

_{[He hands over the tea before moving to take a seat beside Ciel on the mattress, scooping up his SDAT with his now free hands. That's right, Ciel has no clue what the hell a cassette player is since he's all old timey and stuff. Didn't even know what a toaster was supposed to look like.

He's anything but belittling when he presses stop on the player, holding it out in his palm for Ciel to get a better look at it.]}

It's called a cassette player. It plays cassette tapes that have music recorded on them.

_{[He presses the eject button and the "box" pops open, separating to expose the tape inside. Pulling it out carefully he lets Ciel get a look at it.]}

This is what the music is recorded on. See the strip of black "tape" at the bottom and on the two spools? That's what the music has been written onto.

Edited 2015-04-13 01:27 (UTC)

[While Shinji sits and takes up the player, Ciel has a sip of the tea. Not...bad. Black tea for sure, but he can't say what kind it is really, not like he would have been able to back home. It at least washes his mouth free of sticky, delicious--what did Shinji call them?

Rice krispy things.] Ours is a tube. It's a lot bigger than this. [Gently, Ciel starts a bit when the player pops open to reveal the tape. He leans back, then leans close again when Shinji holds it out. Reaching up with his free hand, he lifts it, turning it around, inspecting. It's light. It's not like a phonograph at all.

He offers it back to Shinji again.]

_{[Tape returned Shinji pops it back in place, closing the lid shut.]}

You must have a phonograph then, right? Or a gramophone? I've always thought they were really neat.

Yes. [Ciel is unsure about the neatness of a phonograph after seeing something like the SDAT.

It's portable, small, light. Undoubtedly, it holds more music than a tube of a phonograph. Yeah, there's nothing neat about what Ciel has, but... he's not going to say that.

Quietly, he takes another sip of the tea.] They're nothing special. It's better to hear music performed in person. [More like the phonograph is just kinda shitty.]

Do you prefer that over your cello?

Well, nothing really beats a live orchestra.

_{[The question though causes him to pause as he's about to show off the headphones. Which did he prefer more?]}

Playing music and listening to music are two different experiences. I wouldn't trade one for the other. That said I could live without my cello...I don't think I'd want to live without this.

[It seems as if Ciel has lost some respect for Shinji in this moment. Who in their right might would say they could live without a cello, yet not want to live without an SDAT?

Obviously someone who has yet to have the two headphones shoved into his little earl ears, that's who.

Unimpressed, Ciel takes yet another sip of the tea, his visible brow rising.] Why?

_{[Yes Ciel, he knows you probably think he's nuts for saying that, which is why he holds out the device with the earbuds for Ciel to try it out himself.]}

Do you like Beethoven?

Yes. [Warily, Ciel looks over the headphones, then he turns to gently put the tea down on the plate of rice krispies by nudging a few out of the way to make room. When he turns back, he plucks one of the headphones from Shinji and raises--

Oh right.

With his free hand, he reaches up to pull the CDC earbuds out of his ears... feeling strangely naked when their weight is missing. He puts one headphone in his left ear, then takes the other and puts it in his right.

He nods.]

_{[Once Ciel has the earbuds in his ears Shinji doesn't hesitate to press play, starting the final movement of the 9th Symphony where Beethoven's famous Ode to Joy begins, filtering through the tiny speakers only to build and swell until the soloist cries out in German and the chorus is introduced.

Shinji is more than happy to quietly watch Ciel listen to his SDAT; he'll be even more than happy to listen to him after.]}

[As usual, Ciel isn't expecting much.

Boy is he wrong.

The music itself startles him, coming out of the tiny earpieces as if he is actually sitting in an auditorium listening to an orchestra and choir. He is not entirely sure how something this small can produce such a sound, nearly identical, no more so, than sitting front-row at a performance.

Slowly, Ciel's lips part. He sits, stunned, staring off at nothing at all, and the hand that had risen clenches into a fist then drops back to his thigh. It may or may not be easy to tell what he is hearing--easy for Shinji because Shinji knows it so well--by the mild changes in his expression. Brow up and face shocked, then brow down, face pinched, lips and eye grave.] This--

[The music keeps going. He can't even hear himself speak at all over it really, only feel the rumble in his throat.

The somber, slower portion. He sits and stares as if he's attending a funeral.

The crescendo into majesty. It changes his face completely.]

_{[He's listened to the last movement so many times now he couldn't hope to keep count even if he wanted to. Even if he can't hear what Ciel's listening to, he can figure out which parts of the movement he's hearing - his expression speaks volumes his words would probably fail to achieve.

It's not exactly a short piece, and the whole symphony itself clocks in at over an hour, and so Shinji gets comfortable on his bunk, leaning back on his palms as he keeps his gaze focused on Ciel's ever twisting and shifting face.]}

[Like anyone else, Ciel feels a lot. As a Victorian, however, he has been forced to mask ninety-five percent of this from the rest of the world. Two of the things that make him feel the most are books and music. He can appreciate both without having to speak at all.

Of course, Victorians are going to ask opinions, but while listening, while reading, Ciel doesn't have to talk at all, doesn't have to be someone he's not. He doesn't have to say a word, only hear.

Like now, here, even with Shinji, the boy he curtly tried to help who punched him in the face. All he has to do is listen to the music filtering into his ears through the small buds.

It's a while before he reaches up to slowly pull one of the earpieces out, and he sits with just that single one in his lap for a moment or two, eye looking down at it but not seeing it necessarily.]

Where did you get this?

_{[If there's one thing Ciel should be grateful for it's that Shinji isn't the prying type. He won't ask Ciel if he was moved by Beethoven's music - he saw it happening in realtime. Of course he was moved. Only a person without a soul wouldn't be, and while Ciel may have sold his, it's still a part of him for now.

When the question is asked he answers automatically in Japanese, not realizing that Ciel can't understand him.]}

It was my fathers...the SDAT anyway. The cassette is mine though.

[The Japanese surprises him almost as much as the music did. It has been so long since he wasn't without the CDC earbuds, and he's embarrassed it become so natural he forgot everyone here likely didn't speak a bit of English. Especially not all of the Japanese he has run into.

His brow furrows. He could make out SDAT... and--cassette, was it?] Wait, I can't understand you. [Which is weird since Shinji can still understand him.]

Do you know any English?

_{[Oh...give him a moment. Trying to think in another language is always harder, okay, especially when he's hearing what's being said to him in Japanese.]}

Ah..some.

_{[There's a clear accent that Ciel can hear, but he is doing his best.]}

My father had SDAT..cassette is mine.

[Despite himself, the corners of Ciel's lips twitch. Shinji sounds quite strange speaking English. The accent is heavier than he imagined. It's like Lau's, yet not. It's different than Chinese.

He looks away before he can laugh, though it wouldn't be in mocking. He can still hear the music continuing in his other ear.] Do you think you can buy one?

[Then, realizing Shinji may have trouble, he glances back.] That. [He points to the SDAT.] Can you buy one here? [He points down, meaning the rover, meaning the CDC.]

_{[Ciel he can still understand you okay, you're the one with your earpieces missing...]}

Ano...maybe? I do not know.

[Look, Shinji, he isn't... use to... all this advanced technology.... It just feels natural enough to think Shinji doesn't understand him either.]

Can you buy music? [He brings both hands to tap his ears.] More of this?

Yes. _{[There's a little nod as Shinji shifts a bit, moving to find where he'd put his blackglass. Once he finds it it only takes him a moment to pull up where he'd saved all his downloaded music from the CDC media library. There's...a lot of it, to be honest, if the number of folders is any indication.]} On here. From CDC library.

text message	audio message	voice mail
<span style="font-family:courier;"><B>FROM:</B> lastname.firstname@cdc.org <B>TO:</B> ikari.shinji@cdc.org [[200 max character message here]]</span>	<span style="font-family:courier;"><B>CALLING:</B> LAST NAME, FIRST NAME</span> [[3 minute max message here]]	<span style="font-family:courier;"><B>(1) VOICEMAIL:</B> LAST NAME, FIRST NAME [[3 minute max message here]]

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