INBOX - NHD-C12-KRI-248 - IKARI, SHINJI

[forevalone]

ikari.shinji@cdc.org
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Comments

[forevalone]

<sub>[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.]</sub>

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

[alittlemaster]

[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?

[forevalone]

_{[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.

[alittlemaster]

[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.]

[forevalone]

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

Ano...maybe? I do not know.

[alittlemaster]

[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?

[forevalone]

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.

[alittlemaster]

[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?

[forevalone]

_{[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...]}

[alittlemaster]

[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.

[forevalone]

_{[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.

[alittlemaster]

[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.]

[forevalone]

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.]}

[alittlemaster]

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

Show me.

[forevalone]

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

<sub>[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.]</sub>

[alittlemaster]

[Embarrassment. That's the very first thing Ciel feels when the music begins. No, it's not anything like classical at all. Ciel doesn't know the synthetic workings of computer-generated 1990s sound. It seems like music, he supposes. There are some instruments, but he can barely recognize them from the way everything is arranged.

And the singing. The singing appears to be more important than the music itself. The words aren't opera, it's not anything else formal. The words are simple, childish. Poetry almost, but the slang is strange.

It's all strange.

Ciel sits there and stares at the blackglass, unimpressed, confused... and yet... and yet there is something decidedly catchy about the tune, about how it's sung.] I think you're mistaken. [Before the song is even over.]

This can't be something from England.

[forevalone]

_{[Ah. He knew it was coming. The judgement. Don't judge him for his love of pop music, Ciel. It's rude.]}

It is. They're all from England.

_{[It was hard to get more British than Ginger Spice wearing the union jack on a dress, unless you were the Queen herself.]}

[alittlemaster]

[The judgmental disappointment on Ciel's face does not fade in the slightest.

They're... all... from... England...

His eye moves down to the blackglass, squints a tad, then moves back up to Shinji's face.] Why? [It's the only thing he can think to ask. Why? Why this?]

Do they... really listen to this in your time?

[forevalone]

Yes?

_{[C'mon Ciel, it's not that bad.]}

I mean, Pop music is just one of the genres of music people listen to in the 21st century. There's Jazz, Blues, Rock, Metal, Punk, Country, Hip Hop, Rap...they all sound very different and probably like nothing you're familiar with.

_{[Which isn't your fault Ciel, for having western musicality so ingrained in you.]}

People listen to music from different cultures too. African, Asian, Latin...not everything is solely focused on music that emerged from Europe anymore.

[alittlemaster]

[Don't yes? him, Shinji, you asshole, like this is understandably the norm!! The music is so different, Ciel can't help but think it ridiculous. It's too modern. Too forward. Too... everything... not Victorian.

So he makes another face. It gets worse the more Shinji lists modern musical genres. Blues? Like the color? Blue music? Rock like the thing on the ground? Metal???? LIKE A SHIP? STEEL?

He doesn't know what punk could even refer to, and he thinks of his own estate when he thinks of country, since... it is located in the country really; his townhouse is in London. Hip... hop... rap...

Yeah, he's not going to try to touch any of that.] Of course different cultures have different music! [Said as if he's trying to convince Shinji he isn't stupid.] I don't understand what any of those kinds of music mean.

[forevalone]

_{[C'mon Ciel, get with the program. Don't you wanna be a hip, cool kid? There's no surprise from Shinji that he has no idea what any of the genres he's said mean. That can be rectified, however.]}

Well, I don't have examples of everything, but I can show you a few different things if you want.

[alittlemaster]

[Cool and hip in his language, Shinji, means being well-dressed, well-mannered, and ambitious. Not... being able to listen or dance to this kind of strange-ass music.

But... at least... he is open-minded enough to give it all a listen? Sure, judgmental, but open-minded nevertheless...! Right! Progressive! How exciting!

His whole time period is full of strict social conditions, yet it was the most chaotic, hastily changing movement forward ever. A bit wishy-washy. Like him.] Fine.

Show me something else.

[forevalone]

_{[There's a small nod as Shinji moves to swipe out of the previous menu, this time scrolling through titles of songs that Ciel would have no hope of reading, all of their titles written in Japanese.]}

This is a song using traditional Japanese instruments.

_{[Which Ciel will probably find less offensive than the Spice Girls. He selects one and lets it play out for the other boy to hear. The instruments will certainly sound foreign as will the scale patterns. Whether or not he'll find it unpleasant is yet to be seen.]}

[alittlemaster]

[Oh. Well. Actually.

This is marginally better than the Spice Girls (in his opinion), but he still isn't hugely familiar with the style of music. It reminds him, almost, in a way, of the instrument Soma sometimes attempted to play for him. The sound is different, of course, yet perhaps in the same family.

If it's Japanese, as Shinji says, then there's no surprise it would sound like something from India; the two regions are relatively close... kinda.

After a moment:] This is better.

[forevalone]

_{[There's the temptation of laughing but Shinji manages to stop himself from doing so. Instead he holds out his hand for Ciel's black glass, a small smile on his lips.]}

Here, give me your black glass. I'll give you some. _{[A pause.]} Music, I mean. I'll copy some of the music I have on my device onto yours.