milliways_bar | (no subject)

(no subject)

Jocasta is in the bar, at the piano, playing a gentle soothing piece, a love song from a recent Plinge Opera.

The idea, mostly, is to keep her mind off the friend in the infirmary, but also practice and to add to the atmosphere.

She plays well, but is unforgiving when she makes a mistake, heading back to the beginning of a movement and starting again. There aren't many mistakes, though.

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"Not remotely, but I'd like and would love to join your newsletter."

Jocasta frowns slightly despite the open and friednly smile. "...I'm sorry?"

"Don't be, sometimes I'm just confusing by default. I'm Mike."

He extends his hand in her direction.

"Very pleased to meet you," she replies, shaking the hand politely. "I'm Jocasta Wiggs."

"The pleasure is all mine."

Mike takes in the piano again.

"I'd meant to learn how to play. Well, play something other than Heart and Soul or Chopsticks, anyways. Was on my list."

He confides.

"Oh, well, it's really not hard."

Jocasta shuffles along the piano stool, clearing a space next to her.

"Would you like me to teach you something?"

Oh yeah, like Mike would ever pass up the opportunity to learn something from from someone so cute. Please.

He smiles broadly before taking the offered spot on the stool.

"Okay hold on, I have to prepare myself."

Mike then runs a hand through his already out of control hair. Now instead of being out of control, it's just standing straight up.

"Ready."

"OK," Jocasta says, and her delicate hands take one of his, and guides it to the keys. "well start with something simple. Something from Jason and his Interesting Blue and Green Jacket."

Mike blinks, because that show sounds vaguely familiar...but not quite.

"Um...okay."

Mike follows her lead. It takes him a few tries to get the whole piano part of the PianoForte, but he eventually at least learns to respect the notion of subtlety.

The song isn't even that complicated, having a very simple stanza structure. Jocasta leads him carefully through the tune, correcting him gently where necessary and humming along to lead and keep rhythm.

"You're very good at this," she observes.

"Thank you. I pride myself on my lack of tone-deafness."

He smirks.

"I've been playing the guitar for the better part of a year, but once I got We're the People Our Parents Warned Us About down cold I've kind of lost interest."

Jocasta smiles sideways at him, and as he gets into the habit of the tune, she breaks into an accompaniment, supporting what he's playing.

"I never tried guitar," she confesses.

"Oh you should, it's a good time had by all...you know, save for the people within ear shot of you learning."

Mike takes the piece up tempo a bit, just because his natural sense of rhythm is spastic.

Jocasta keeps strictly to the original tempo, freeing a hand quickly to touch his wirst with warning. "You're speeding up."

"And?"

He says with a grin, half expecting a slap upside the head for his insolence.

Jocasta doesn't laugh. She tries her best to look disapproving instead.

"And if you don't keep to the same tempo as me, we'll just sound like a pair of screeching cats."

Mike slows down, but begins to Meow along with the notes he's playing.

That does get him a light smack on the back of his hand. "Do you want to learn?"

Ahh, that's more like it.

"Ma'am yes, Ma'am."

She glances at him, and sighs.

"There's no need for that."

Mike turns to grin at her with what he thinks is a charming and endearing smile.

Jocasta's gone from wanting to be serious and trying not to laugh, to wanting to find him endearing and trying not to snap at him.

She smiles very very politely and glances back at the keys.

Ooh, the polite-look away-brush off. That's something Mike hasn't seen since he moved out of the sewers and away from Don's workshop.

His smile falls, as he turns back towards the keys.
Mike toes the line of the lesson, any and all flair he may have injected into his playing has disappeared.

That's not what she wanted. Not at all. She wnated him to enjoy it, she just...

She takes him through the rest of the song wordlessly.

"That was very good."

It's not that Mike doesn't want to learn, or is ungrateful to those willing to teach him, it's just that it's hard for him to concentrate sometimes. Why better himself when he could better someone's day? Any distraction is an opportunity for a performance, any witness a potential audience.

"Thanks."