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

[forevalone]

ikari.shinji@cdc.org
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[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.

[alittlemaster]

[Reluctantly, Ciel hands over his device. It isn't that he doesn't trust Shinji, it's just that handing over something like the blackglass seems like handing over... a part of his soul, you could say.

Which is hilarious.] Copy the music? Wouldn't that take a long time? [He's thinking hand copying, or text copying. Writing a copy of musical sheets takes a long time, okay!

He doesn't know how anything modern works, fuck his life.]

[forevalone]

Not as long as you might think.

_{[Shinji takes the opportunity to copy and transfer a bunch of his music over for the other boy, most of it being instrumental, western classical music (Vivaldi, Bach, Handel, Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn etc...) and some pop music (Spice Girls included). There's also some traditional Japanese music thrown on there for good measure. It only takes less than a minute for everything to transfer over before Shinji's handing it back.]}

Here.

[alittlemaster]

[Wow. It really wasn't as long as he thought. In fact, it was likely hours, days, months shorter than he thought. Just a few seconds. He's surprised.

But also intrigued. It just adds ammunition to his weapon. Things were fast. The texting, instant. The calling, instant. Transferring files, instant. Thanks, Shinji, for adding wood to the fire.

Carefully, he takes the blackglass back, looking over the screen.] That was fast for so much music.

[forevalone]

I guess so...but it's better to be quick than having to wait around for it to transfer, right?

_{[No one likes waiting for shit to download.]}

[alittlemaster]

[True. Ciel is too old to even know to be angry about 56k-levels of download speed.

But it worked. He has music similar to what he had seen on Shinji's blackglass. To be honest, he's thankful. He has no books aside from Hamlet, and he is growing increasingly bored and withered of mind without things to keep him occupied during down-time, or things to read at night before bed when he can't sleep.

Now he has music.

There's a long pause as he watches the list of names scroll by when he uses his thumb. A long pause. So long, Shinji literally breaks the eternal youth condition and grows up, grows a beard, and turns grey.]

Thank you.

[forevalone]

<sub>[Yeah you can't bitch about dial-up, fancy pants.

In all honesty the stretch of silence ends up a little uncomfortable but thankfully before it becomes too much Ciel breaks it. At least he knows how to say thank you.]</sub>

You're welcome.