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npc contact.2
As the game progresses, different npc faculty and students will become available for threading. To request a thread, please comment below with the name of the npc and the ic date in the subject header. Threads may be cut short due to mod availability, so please have a reason in mind for the interaction.
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You don't need to justify anything. It's not as if I'm disapproving of you having hobbies.
[ Despite the general consensus of club presidents preferring their members not being in ten different clubs, lest they only come once a week at most. The difference between a hobby and a passion, maybe. ]
You just seemed happier talking about fortune telling and your virtual reality system.
[ They're not things you'd make a club for, but those seem more like it'd be worth his while, than watering plants and being a name on a roster. ]
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I won't deny that I am plenty happy talking about those THINGS, but let me correct you: I don't have any hobBIES.
( ...literally, canonically, his hobbies are listed as "none," and the reason is— )
Growing UP, I was afford more freedom than any child should HAVE... My mommy could call upon any person in the world and have dinner with THEM, and my daddy would indulge anything I had even a passing interest IN. UnfortunateLY, I was—am—far too clever for my own GOOD, so I'd naturally pick up on whatever it was quickLY. ( ... ) It's no fun if it's not challenGING.
( So what is he left with? )
Whatever I purSUE, Little Wolf, I'm merely passionate aBOUT. ( Or extremely well-learned. If there's one thing Natsume likes, it's knowing more than other people. ...This can all be put under "advising others" though, an extension of telling fortunes, so maybe it still can't be counted as something entirely separate. ) I can't in good conscious call anything I have an interest in a mere "hobby" like THAT.
( Not when he's monomaniacal. )
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...Are you only interested in me because I'm a challenge?
[ Because she didn't want to be friends, didn't really want anything to do with him, would turn him away instead of indulging him. And once she's figured out, like a puzzle to be solved, she'll only be a passing interest. ]
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...I'd be lying if I said that hadn't been a part of your appeal in the beginNING. ( What person doesn't see someone unapproachable and doesn't think, "I'd like to be the exception to that rule?" ) But NO, that isn't the reason I'm interested in YOU.
It isn't even in the top ten reaSONS. ( Reasons, because he has more than one, and he watches her expression with the subtle turn of his head. ) Outside of a romantic aspect, TOO. I told you once that I had my reasons for talking with you and that it wasn't a chore to do SO, and that it was worth my reasons, didn't I?
( Reasons isn't even a word anymore. And a little softer: )
That hasn't CHANGED. I still like you as much now as I did THEN.
( ...
Back to his usual tone, he's glad the home ec room is close to the stairs and the stairs aren't too many and the music room is also close to the stairs so he can just get the door for her and gesture her in, there's a performance to be had, we're halfway through date activities now—
Like the classroom before the tea break, there's a seat for her to take audience-distance from the piano. Otherwise, there's nothing too special... He knows how much she cares about this place and in particular her lovely instrument, he's refrained from messing around too much. )
Take a seat and I'll beGIN.
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...No, not thoughts she wants to touch upon right now, pulling herself out of her head and focusing on the stairs in front of her. Too many conversations were held in this stairwell. Another thought she sweeps out of her mind.
She's quiet when she enters the music room and finds her chair, pulling it just a little bit forward when she lowers herself into it, sits up a little bit straighter. To watch his hands, inarguably her favorite part of a live piano performance. ]
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He plays, and he sings too, maybe a little more aware of the words of his song now than he's ever been before.
Because for marketing purposes, a solo is either about the idol themselves or a piece of fanservice, but this— isn't either of those. This is for her, a gently played melody with a gently sung story of a romance that isn't entirely unlike the way he's treated her. Not just today, but other days, too.
Maybe he should have changed his mind on which song to play before he'd made it up here; maybe he had, somewhere in the back of his mind, but he'd found himself hitting the keys for this one instead, and...
Natsume pulls his hands to his lap when it's over, half-wishing he were in a recording studio with people asking him to make this part softer, make that part stronger, to imagine himself in the role of that protagonist he played recently who was in love with a girl far too busy for things like relationships—
...he looks at her, expression teetering somewhere between embarrassed and trying not to be embarrassed. )
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Natsume: manages to accomplish the exact opposite, where I had to take one of her only smiling icons and make it wholly embarrassed
Which is to say, Maya's expression looks wholly embarrassed, eyes remaining on his hands the entire way through and following them to his lap at the end of the song so that she's not looking up at him, cheeks flushed despite the indisputable, logical, objective fact that it's just a song— not one written specially for her, not one she's supposed to read too much into.
Natsume does always manage to surprise her, though. It's not always in good ways, but there's times like this, where she'd sat down expecting a piano solo and nothing more, certainly not a serenade about the peevish look in her eyes, or that- that he's a thorn in her side and that's why she can't not think about him. Or of all the times he had held his hand out to her. Or his warmth when she finally took it.
.....................................
What do you even do in a situation like this except sit and stare and be embarrassed for somebody else and also yourself. ]
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It's because of this song's lyrics he chose it to sing, but in the wake of ... today ... it's embarrassing rather than sweet and romantic and he's going to clear his throat, turning on the piano seat to face her. )
Red suits YOU, Little Wolf.
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No better than it suits you.
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( ... )
Also, red is my image coLOR, so I'd hope it actually suits me quite WELL.
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I'm always serious.
[ to a fault, with everyone. Even though that was a kneejerk retort than a sincere complement. ]
You would look nice in black. Too much red stands out... it gets loud and annoying.
[ Too much, all the time, I googled his cards and he really is just flashy reds and purples and blues, he's too much ]
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...I do prefer darker colORS, so I'll conCEDE. ( your local goth tiktok eboy. ) Did you enjoy the perforMANCE?
( please. )
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Yes.
[ Begrudgingly, and wishing she could just leave it at that. ]
I wasn't expecting you to sing.
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I have an audiENCE, don't I? ( an audience of one, but an audience nonetheless. ) ...Besides, singing is one of the tools of an idol's TRADE. It's only natural for me to perform like this--though admittedLY, I'm used to a little more moveMENT.
( But it's hard to dance, and he wanted to play it for her; he thought she'd like that a lot more than the squeak of sneakers on the floor and the potential of her poor piano getting hit. )
I thought you'd be more surprised by my playing piano anyWAY.
( He knows he's inquired her about teaching, but he'd said, back then, it wasn't really his interest.
...Technically it still isn't, but he can do it, so whatever. )
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[ She has high expectations for him, which is good and bad. Skill in piano is a given, but singing on top of playing is a skill, like how I can daydream entire worlds while sightreading at the piano but the moment I open my mouth my brain stops and my fingers stop, idk if this is a thing ]
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...No, I supposed I wouldN'T.
( He has an image to keep up, after all. )
Multitasking isn't HARD. ( ... ) I can show you HOW, if you'd LIKE.
( There's not much to show, but he's scooting over on the bench for if she wants to sit next to him anyway. Really, you just master each separately and slowly bring them together--it isn't as if he was born knowing how to sing and dance at the same time either, and dancing is twice as taxing as running his hands over some keys. )
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You'll just want to start off with a song that's easy for you to play and for you to SING. Like... ( ... ) Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. That's one most children start ON. It's really just a matter of getting used to IT.
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Do you know the four hand variation?
[ That link but up to just before the first minute bc then it gets all Mozarty. My piano teacher played accompaniment when I first started learning and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star was indeed the song I started on and I was so charmed when we did the hand crossing part. ]
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Well... It's been a little WHILE, but it'll come back to ME.
( ... )
Do you want me to sing with you TOO?
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Not necessary. I'll be carrying the main melody, so take your time remembering.
[ What was that one song you chose for Maya's voice, she sounds like that, soft of quiet and playing the lullaby as if a certain twin brother were in the room and who wants to sleep but she wants to stay up and play piano and this was their compromise. ]
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Natsume starts when she does but slows when she really does sing, a little surprised at the sound despite the fact that was the point of this and it's only a simple children's song, but he'll find his way to playing with her. Really, her voice suits her, although there are things he unconsciously picks up on that she could improve on...
That's just his training, though, and what a leader of a unit that started off in the shadows has to know. Tsumugi had been a help, of course, but Sora'd been completely new to the whole idol thing, though he had such a wonderful sound and life to him anyway that solidified him day one as Switch's "secret weapon" for writing a happy sequel to a bittersweet story.
It isn't as quick of picking it back up as he'd like, but it's been a while since he performed with anyone for any reason at all; matching someone else's pace is difficult, but he makes an effort, and his efforts bear fruit enough that he isn't going to accidentally knock their hands together and ruin their duet.
...Anything else is incidental and necessary, given their closeness, and the crossing of their hands. He'd forgotten this song included this when you played in a duet; and if she knew, then why ask him to play with her? He would've been happy just listening...
He focuses back on playing to the end before he can miss too many notes overthinking things he shouldn't be putting too much stock into, anyway. It probably just would've been weird if he'd sat next to her and watched her play. Reasonable. )
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reasons why Natsume isn't allowed to sing with her
At least it's a short piece, regardless, and with the last lingering note Maya lifts her hands off the keyboard and rests them on her lap. It's a very poised motion. My piano teacher made me practice this because it's important or something. ]
...How was it?
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( But this was only a short piece, so of course it wasn't.
... )
You should be a little louder though; your voice'll get lost in the music otherWISE, and we're the only two people HERE. It's a shame not to sing from the HEART.
( and as funny as it would be to invite natsume's stalkers to crash the thread we are not doing that so )
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[ She wouldn't call it a heartfelt song, not one a person would typically belt out at the top of their lungs anyways. ]
There's no need to sing louder when we're the only two people here.
[ Because they're at school and there are students who live here at school, a fact she is suddenly very conscious about. ]
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