forevalone | INBOX - NHD-C12-KRI-248

_{[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.

[Curious, Ciel leans just far enough over to watch what Shinji is doing. He still isn't all too familiar with the data that goes into the blackglass, so realizing that it can be used similar to the device Shinji already had....

The number of folders is a lot, but Ciel doesn't understand just yet what it means. A lot of music.] How? [He reads over the folders, then lifts his eye to Shinji.]

How do I get what you have?

_{[And this is where things are going to be a little too technical for Shinji to really explain them in English. There's a small sound of uncertainty before he reaches over to push the pause button on his SDAT, plucking Shinji's earpieces from the mattress to hold them out to him.]}

I will tell.

_{[Please put at least one of them in bro...]}

[Oh...right. The earbuds.

Ciel reaches up to take out the other earpiece of the SDAT, then accepts the offer of the earbuds back. He puts them into his ears, then lifts his eye.

Hey, Shinji's English had been pretty good for a foreigner, at least.]

All right.

_{[Thank you Ciel.]}

I downloaded them from the CDC Media Library. When the shopping channel becomes available you can buy a Media Pass that lets you access it. It has movies and music and books from all over world...er...universes. You pick the book or song or movie you want and it gets saved to your black glass.

All these folders are different collections of songs by different artists.

[Movies...? The moving drawings from the ship, yes, he remembers. There's more? And music, sure... but... digital music? It still seems so crazy to him. Even the phonograph was a bit strange to consider, but it worked... so....

And books.

Digital books.

Ciel isn't sure how he feels about that information. Why? Why get rid of holding the feeling of a physical book in your hand? He doesn't get it. It's weird. His face bunches.]

What music do you have? [He points at the blackglass.]

Mostly Japanese or English pop music or classical music.

_{[He may have shit taste in clothes (although thankfully not Kaworu level of style) but at least his taste in music is good...relatively. On the classical side of things, anyway.]}

[Well, he certainly doesn't know what the fuck pop music is, but classical he does.]

Show me.

Okay...this is a girl group from England.

_{[Your people, Ciel. He's...actually a little nervous. He knows that Ciel's never heard anything like pop music. In fact, he'll probably hate it. He seems stuck up like that. Or maybe it'll become his guilty pleasure. Who knows...scrolling down in his list of albums Shinji reaches Spice Girls and taps on the song Stop. It starts up immediately, filtering out from the black glass.

Sure, it's nowhere near the complexity or mindblowing choral work of Beethoven's 9th symphony but it is charming in its own way. If anything, it'll get stuck in Ciel's head for days. Enjoy singing it in the shower. In fact, it takes all of Shinji's willpower to not sing along himself.]}

Edited 2015-04-21 09:05 (UTC)

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