2023.05.02 The Song of Passage
| 2023.05.02 A Song of Passage | |
|---|---|
| Evan is working on the song of his Rite of Passage, and winds up sharing a meal and discussion about language and the moon with Trey. | |
| IC Date | 05.02.23 |
| Players | Evan, Trey |
| Location | Smoke and Barley |
| Spheres | Garou, Bastet |
Smoke and Barley - Private Dining(#9526RAM)
Wood paneling shines in warm tones from the walls, the large stairway leading downwards into a large expanse. Glyphs are etched railing, giving texture as one's fingers graze over the wood. Full spectrum lighting brightens the room and keeps the plants that fill the corners lush and full.
In the center of the room is a large, round fireplace that burns merrily and bright. The flames leap high, and are tended regularly by staff. Thick oaken tables are laid around the fire pit for those that would enjoy the dance of the flames. The tables have large leather seats and are set for the barbecue feast to come, with a bucket that holds bottles of spicy sauces and piles of napkins.
Dark green walls add color to the lounge area, with a red throw rug in the middle of it, and a smattering of furniture including two couches, and four recliners, with occasional end tables for drinks about. The couches are both beige in color, and rather comfortable, while the recliners are green leather, and the end tables dark stained oak.
Opposite this wall is the bar, a rich and dark stained wood set low with red and beige colored chairs seated in front of it. Behind the bar are three large kegs on their sides each holding 4 taps. The reddish wood of the bar's counter is inlayed with glyphs, carved with care and polished to a shine.
Trey comes into the private room with his pack over his shoulder like always, steps light and easy. He makes a happy noise at the smell of food, and saunters into the room with an eye to getting dinner.
Evan is sitting at the table by the fire, with a notebook and a glass of beer before him and his guitar in his lap as he scribbles and picks out a few notes "Careless I came by chance, joining in battle's dance. Slain in a fight I could not win." and then the same notes get played over again and he nods to himself "Almost done." The clinking of glasses and the sound of beer being poured comes from the bar.
Trey holds up a hand to secure a beer of his own, and picks up a menu, approaching where Evan sits. He doesn't interrupt, waiting until the Galliard looks up for a moment before motioning to an empty chair there and saying, "Mind if I join?"
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Evan grins and gestures for Trey to take a seat, closing his notebook and setting the guitar aside as he flips the token by his seat to its green side so the servers will stop by with their platters and skewers "Sure! The song's almost finished. Then I just need to practice it a bit before I'll call it fit for others ears. Do you listen to much human music? Like any particular kinds?"
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Trey slides into the chair and gets comfortable, nodding. "I do, a fair amount. Mostly, I listen to what people recommend to me, or what I come across. A little of everything, though I do prefer vocal music than pure instrumental. I like the stories in it." The corner of his mouth quirks up with that. "Which is familiar, I know. Weird as it sounds, I keep winding up being introduced to dance music of all kinds. And R&B. Disco. All sorts of rock music. I honestly don't always know what types the things I like are." He looks to the guitar, then back up to the young man's face. "How do you know when you're done with it? Does it feel truly done or does it just get to the point of 'this is where I end this'?"
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Evan grins at Trey and nods as he sips his beer "There are...shapes to this sort of song. Patterns of narrative beats. So I'm working over what I know of what happened and coming up with the words that mean the same thing. The tunes always come easier to me than the lyrics but the tone and emotion of the lyrics at the different points in the story change how the song presents. So for this story I picked a three act structure that's a set up, then a conflict, then the conclusion. That's the basic framework anyway."
Soft little sounds can be heard from the fire as someone feeds it little wood chips.
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Trey huhs and listens with interest. "Just like any good story," he agrees, "There's always a structure. I mean, even the worst songs usually have three verses. At least. I'm surprised the words aren't easier, but you have the music in you naturally from Selene -- Luna's face at your birth. And... hrm. DO you find the words harder because there's so many of them?"
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Evan grins at Trey "Not just a Galliard but a Fianna one. You are right though, there's a finite set of notes that can be used in a song, particularly if you want it to sound any good, but there are far more words when you take all the languages of the world into account. I am only conversationally fluent in two human languages but I can sing in dozens. And each has their own special something."
The fire crackles, jumping about, growing until Falcon is shown in the flames.
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Trey grins. "Yes, of course," he agrees. "You can sing in dozens? Oh. Wow, that's... impressive. I mean, the pronunciation is not an easy thing." He considers this. "I understand Garou, but can't really speak it well. It's hard to speak in homid and my other forms aren't wolf ones, so the speech is different. It's still fascinating, though, to see what there are words for and not. And what things have lots of words. Like, English has a lot of words for some concepts, like the many words for sex or bodily functions, but not as many words for things like love -- they need to add more other words to define the type of love."
Soft little sounds can be heard from the fire as someone feeds it little wood chips.
The fire crackles, sparks fly upwards as another log is thrown on the fire in the middle of the room.
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Evan nods and grins at Trey "Of course they do, English is the great bandit of languages. Though given the historical activities of their empire I suppose it only makes sense."
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Trey says, with a rueful smile, "Uh, yeah. I remember someone describing English as three other languages stacked up inside a trenchcoat. Another one I heard was that English goes around mugging other languages for their spare words." He gets his beer and the trays come around; he goes for skewers and says, "I'll treat tonight, got to feed the artist."
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Evan chuckles and digs into his food "I've heard those. Its still the language I'm most comfortable composing in so there's that. Have you had any adventures you think would make a good song?"
Soft little sounds can be heard from the fire as someone feeds it little wood chips.
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Trey nods. "It's still the first one I learned, also. Well, except for the ones that came naturally. Oh, there's a number of them. Most of them with thanks to others who brought me places, or accepted my help on things. Let's see... well, the trip to the moon was my first real Umbral journey of any consequence, nothing like starting off big." He beams, and notes, "Selene really loves cats, there's like... a river of cat spirits when you get there, all sizes and shapes and patterns. And the buildings... oh, just so beautiful. Everything is sort of blue-white, with a little purple-silver. It's... well, probably what you might imagine it. Spires that stretch up like graceful arms. A garden that is radiant with moonlight and full of the most beautiful flowers I've ever seen..." There's a dreamy note in the Qualmi's voice as he speaks.
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Evan grins at Trey as he listens "It sounds really pretty. Did you go there just to see? That is well enough in a lot of cases, just to say you'd been there. Or was it a journey with a purpose?"
The fire crackles, jumping about, growing until Falcon is shown in the flames.
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Trey says, "Well, it was a test, of sorts. Iris had wanted to see how I handled things, including the Lunes who... oh, I left that part out. When you try and approach the moon, Lunes will try and mislead and distract you, and get you off course. So I was steering the ship, or learning to -- did she tell you about the ship? It's an umbral ship, basically, a huge amalgam of fetishes. And she uses it to travel. So I had to stay on track, get past the lunes trying to trick me. So that was a test. So was how I handled the situation on the moon itself. I met Selene in person and... well." He offers the smile again, that delighted expression. "I know this is jumping around, I'm sorry about that. We had to navigate the surface to find her palace, and there were a lot of tricks there, and at least one place where I had Iris on my back -- she was in the form of a tiny kitten, and I was in my lynx form, and I had to make this huge jump onto a spire that could have killed us both."
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Evan did mean it when he said that sometimes going to see somewhere beautiful was good enough but now that Trey's explaining (after a fashion) that the trip was an event Evan seems happier. Chuckling "I've heard about the boat, I really do want to see it some day and maybe even go on an adventure on it."
The bus boy throws another log on the fire, sending fresh sparks up into the air.
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Trey ohs and says, "Oh, it's a wonder. Sincerely, as long as you can handle yourself and follow instructions, it might not be an issue. I mean, I'm not high ranked. I'm *just* rank 2 now. But if you have a particular part of the Aetherial that interests you more than others, that's something to mention to Iris. I'm lucky that I get to do all of this, mostly because... well, I'm a cat. A lot of Garou would see a low-ranked Garou on this kind of trip and take it some way or other, whereas with a Bastet, we're just known to do our own thing and be really independent so it's less pressure on her, fewer questions from people. I think she likes that I'm not formal and that while I cherish and respect what she teaches, I don't... I don't have the same manner of relating as a lower-ranked wolf would. You know?"
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Evan nods at Trey "Oh its a long off thing, not any time soon. If she hadn't wanted a guide that she didn't really need I don't know if I would have been noticed at all. I would have figured out a way to make an approach to one of you at some point but then she just...saw me. I knew I had to be there and that was where I would find my way out to get to somewhere else, but I didn't see enough to know how it was going to happen. I'm just glad it worked."
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Trey considers the young Garou with a curious air. He asserts, first, "She probably would have. When it comes to people, she doesn't miss much. Do you have the Bard's Sight as well as the musical gifts?" He asks this question with a casualness that belies the unusual nature of the topic.
The clinking of glasses and the sound of beer being poured comes from the bar.
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Evan nods at Trey and grins "Just a touch, enough to be barely useful. And sometimes I see bigger things and I just can't help but blurt them out. It can be...very inconvenient. Very unpleasant to try and stop."
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Trey mmms, "But if you blurt out the thing that saves a life or protects a sacred place at the moment it's needed, that's a gift. A hard gift, one with a price attached. I have the blurting things out part, but not the Sight. And not the inherent truth, unfortunately. It's... I can imagine it doesn't make you real popular with people who don't like to hear inconvenient truths."
The bus boy throws another log on the fire, sending fresh sparks up into the air.
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Evan nods to Trey "One of the reasons I needed to go somewhere else. Traditional bardic immunity only goes so far and if I wanted to stay it would have been different. But with some of them wanting me gone and me wanting to go? My departure got enough push behind it that it couldn't be stopped."
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Trey nods knowingly. "I've dealt with that after blurting things out. Sometimes it's best to let them see the back of you for a while. Plus, this place is weird, and weird places are always interesting to be, at least for a while. It makes your own quirks less... quirky in comparison." He takes a swallow of his beer and lingers over the taste, then notes, "It's hard to be where you don't feel welcome."
