Second movement

[champagnedelis]

Characters: AU2 France and YOU
Setting: Floor 28
Format: Either
Summary: Francisca explores and decides to relax with some music.
Warnings: none yet

It was the first time in weeks that Francisca had left the company of Francis to wander the Tower alone. Part of it was because she wanted to make sure he was safe, and she herself felt protected when with him.
However, she knew she'd have to gather herself up again, so when she'd found out new floors had appeared, she'd bitten the bullet and gone to explore after breakfast.

She was pleasantly surprised at the floor of instruments, and had eagerly entered, fingers quick to stroke over them. Artistic expression was a wonderful way for her to unwind, be it through painting or dancing, or making music. She certainly wasn't anywhere near as skilled as some of the other nations, and much preferred listening to her own musical geniuses, but still.

She was alone, and she wasn't in France.

Her fingers closed over a lovely violin, checking to make sure it was tuned before lifting it to her shoulder. After a few experimental notes, she stood comfortably and began to play Poulenc's Violin Sonata, lost in the music and not noticing when the piano began to join in without a player.

Comments

[windykind]

There was only one instrument John could play with any capability, and that was the piano.

It was obvious, listening from the floor below, that whoever was playing that sonata already had a pianist. But as he walked up to the next floor and looked around for the duo responsible, all he saw was one woman, on the violin; the piano's keys seemed to be pressing themselves. John was only fazed by this for a second -- clearly he has spent too much time in the Tower to be surprised by ghosts playing piano -- and started looking around for a second piano to see if he could play along. Eventually, he realized there was only one. The piano abruptly stopped playing as he approached it. In the end, it was only a lapse for a couple of seconds, because John eventually slipped right in with Francisca.

[champagnedelis]

Francisca didn't notice John even when she paused in playing, almost believing that the piano accompaniment was playing in her head from memory before picking up on cue. It wasn't until she faltered with the piece, frowning as she found she couldn't remember how it went, that she stopped, violin lowering from her shoulder as she realized she wasn't alone.

She smiled, just a tad tiredly, as she lowered the violin and bow to her sides. "I didn't hear you come in... you play beautifully."

[windykind]

Yeah, maybe he had kinda gotten lost in it too. So it took him a few moments to realize that the woman had stopped playing and was looking at him; once he did, he took his hands off of the keys, and they proceeded to start chirping something else. "Thanks," he said, smiling sheepishly. "My dad taught me how to play when I was really young."

[champagnedelis]

Francisca glanced at the piano and would have rolled her eyes - it reminded her too much of the terrible theme park haunted houses she'd been dragged to by America and England.

Her smile grew at his answer. "Your father, hmm? Sounds like he taught you well."

[windykind]

John was surprised when she abruptly started to glare at him; but then his gaze flickered over to the piano. Evidently she didn't like its accompaniment. Maybe he just shouldn't tell her that she had been playing alongside it for half of the piece.

"Thanks!" John was man enough to admit that he loved playing piano, especially with his dad; not all people can admit that, you know. Because dressing in a sky blue sweatsuit with a windsock on the hood is just so manly on its own. "I never did it competitively or anything, mostly for fun, so I'm surprised I'm that good." He laughed.

[knightime]

Dave had a bit of a knack to sleeping in random places. The only difference here was that he had to make sure it wasn't a floor that might potentially have something dangerous that would kill him. He just didn't always like sleeping in the room he was assigned, given that he had roommates. It wasn't like he hated them, but he definitely wasn't fond of the idea of sharing the space when it came to sleeping.

"I am way too used to weird shit." Dave had set up a bunch of pillows underneath the piano, and just laying against them. The piano was far from obnoxious and he's dealt with louder.

Dave actually has no idea Francisca was the same person who sang him lullabies to get him to sleep, but she felt familiar. "Hey, what's your name?"

eeee, finally! OwO

[champagnedelis]

Francisca jerked out of her reverie and abruptly stopped playing, the piano falling silent with her. She smiled wanly at the boy and murmured, "I didn't see you there..." putting the violin and bow down on a chair.

Her brow creased and she frowned a bit, Dave's voice familiar and something about his build...

But then he'd asked her a question, and she'd be rude not to answer, so she shook her head and smiled again. "Ah, Francisca Bonnefoy. You can call me France if that seems too much. And you, mon cher?"

I had to get off hiatus first xD;;

[knightime]

"That was kind of the point. Don't want people snooping on my prone, sleeping form," he replied as he moved to get out from under the piano.

...Except he ends up hitting his head against the piano when he stood up too quickly. He hadn't expected that name to come out. "Fuck." He rubbed the back of his head, standing upright with a bit of a scowl.

"It's Dave. I think we already met. Talked, I mean. I wouldn't be asking who you were if we met already. But this is probably a lot better than the first time. I mean, because neither of us are dying and we're not playing some terrible game with a bunch of crappy teddy bears. But let's pretend I didn't say the latter because that is not a memory lane I'm interested in traveling down right now." He's not even sure if you understood most of that. He's kind of started mumbling the more he spoke.

No no, I'm just excited! \owo/

[champagnedelis]

"Dieu, are you okay??" she gasped, quickly moving over to him and putting a hand to his head where he'd banged it. The look of concern on her face quickly turned to shock, her entire body freezing for a moment.

"... Oh."

She caught some of his mumbling and she took the time to glance over him properly. Yes, he was the right build as the skinned body she'd found, paler than she'd expected - last she'd checked America's children had decided tan was the way to go. Her lips quirked up a bit in the beginnings of a smile as she murmured, "Well. You look better than you did in the game."

She plucked at his shirt sleeve. "Still red though. Not as red at least." Great, she was babbling now.

She shook her head and resumed examining his recently abused one, fingers carefully feeling out the area where a bump is sure to form.

I love this CR so much omg.

[knightime]

"Yeah. My head just decided I had to get pretty intimate with the underside of this piano. Warned you about sleeping under pianos or something," he grumbled out.

He'd probably burn if he tried tanning anyways. A burnt Dave is not a happy Dave. "You saw me?" Oh shit. "Yeah...sorry. Hopefully you didn't eat before playing. Seeing your meal a second time is never fun. I mean, seeing me like...yeah. Sorry." He can talk properly. Honest.

"Red is pretty badass. Can't help it if I look damn amazing in this shit."

Oh no. What are you doing? He's not used to your motherly ways.

[complementing]

[Minako had joined many of the other residents in exploring the new floors of the Tower today. It was a lot like going through the levels of Tartarus, testing the waters of what could and couldn't be done in each new floor-- except there was a much higher level of danger. Death could be instantaneous if one pushed too far.

This floor must safe though, she decides, as peers into the room and watches Francisca play a beautiful, serene song on a violin. She doesn't want to disturb the woman, so she slips in and sits to keep listening at the piano bench.]

[champagnedelis]

[Francisca doesn't notice Minako, but whatever it is powering the other instruments in the room certainly does. The piano increases in volume from the moment Minako takes seat, and a flute rises in the air to start playing along to the duet, improvising quite well for a disembodied player.]

[complementing]

[Whoa. She'd thought the piano was one of those programmed pianos playing by itself, but apparently not... Minako watches in awe, slowly swaying along with the music.

She kind of wants to join in, but she doesn't know if she's good enough for that.]

[champagnedelis]

[As if aware of Minako's partial desire, several instruments around her thrummed, twitching and all but moving in their positions as if vying for her attention.

Francisca continued to play with the piano and flute accompanying her as she switched from set music to improvising instead, the haunting melody almost painful with emotion.]

[complementing]

[...well, if they were offering, then she couldn't refuse. Minako watches the piano keys intently, waiting for a moment to jump in, and then places her fingers on the keys, starting to play along with Francisca.

It's been a while since she last played, though, so there is an obvious, but short, disruption as she takes over.]

[myblueskies]

Romeo had been exploring the new floors as well, he liked some of them and some of them were scary. But that was normal. He stared at the music room in awe though, he had no idea how to play any instrument but he was amazed at them he entered the room slowly not wanting to touch anything in case he broke it.

Hearing the music he found miss France, he eyed the Piano warily. Were piano's meant to do that? But he smiled and clapped when she had finished.

[champagnedelis]

Francisca's eyes flew open at the applause, and she nearly dropped the violin as she turned to face Romeo. She didn't notice the piano fall silent either.

A genuinely bright smile appeared on her face and she took a bow before setting down the violin. "Don't I get a hug?" she asked, holding her arms open with an impish grin building on her lips. Really, she hadn't seen Romeo in quite some time and it was wonderful to see that he was alive and well.

[myblueskies]

Romeo's smile got wider and he ran into her open arms, wrapping his own arms around her tightly. "I thought you had disappeared miss France," he murmured quietly, for a moment not sounding quite like his normal cheery self. "I didn't see you in so long."

[champagnedelis]

Francisca's arms wrapped over his shoulders, her body bending slightly so she could kiss the top of Romeo's head. "My apologies," she murmured, smile dropping as she stroked his hair. "I was... unwell."

"It's good to see you, mon cher."

[myblueskies]

"You were sick? Are you better now miss?" He looked worried, he didn't like the idea of anyone being ill here, since the doctors worked for the bad people. "It's nice to see you as well miss."

[deadliestberet]

Preston had just finished his security rounds and felt a lot like relaxing. It had been yet another day of not exploding into tiny chunks of meat. Something that he was extremely grateful for. Plus he was starting to get the hang of it, after slowly remembering the positions of each security pad. Though that hadn't stopped it from becoming any less stressful, he had at least earned some money.

Of course with nothing to do now, Preston quickly became bored. Up until he heard the music playing, catching his curiousity. Raising an eyebrow he followed the noise until he reached it's source.

[champagnedelis]

Francisca finished the current piece and the piano stopped with her so she didn't notice it's accompaniment at all. Frowning a bit at herself, her hands clenched around the violin and bow, feeling restless. The musician in her was stirring and she wasn't satisfied with ending with the gentle sonata...

The violin returned to her shoulder and she closed her eyes, half wondering if she was stupid enough to attempt the next song, but she went through anyway, her lone violin starting Tartini's Violin Sonata in G minor. For the first bar or so she was alone, but slowly the other violins in the room rose into the air and began to play with her, the piano keys dipping to follow as if they'd all been trained into playing this song.

The Devil's Trill, how appropriate for the Tower.

[deadliestberet]

Once he had arrived at the room, Preston poked his head in past the door. The grey eyes of the soldier watched the woman's actions before the whole of his body began to make it's way into the room. Who knew that the tower actually had someone in it that could actually play instruments? Well, Preston sure didn't know that. Plus it was nice to be able to hear live music again. And so he had decided on standing at the edge of the room, near the door to watch and listen to the woman play her song.

[champagnedelis]

As she began on the dreaded double-stops, the violins playing along with her seemed to grow more violent in their accompaniment, many of them trembling in the air as if ready to swing out at her. As the song rose in a dramatic crescendo though, they simply lifted higher, movements growing smooth again, before lowering to a 'normal' height, settling on the 'invisible muscicians' shoulders again.

Francisca swayed to the song, brow furrowing with concentration each time she had to repeat the double-stops, muttering a soft curse in French when she messed up one before quickly picking up again, fingers aching from lack of practice. Sweat began to bead on her forehead as she entered the final hectic bars of he song. When the last note was held and finally dropped, the violins around her dropped to the ground, the clatter drawing her out of her concentration with a yelp.

[deadliestberet]

At first he was a little worried about the woman, with how fast and violent she began to play. He figured that she may actually suffer a heart attack. But then she stopped, and so did the music. For a moment or two he did nothing and said nothing. There wasn't much to say.

However, as soon as he heard that yelp and the rest of the instuments drop to the ground, Preston couldn't help but let out a small chuckle, followed by his clapping hands. With the show now over perhaps he should make his exit?