A Note to Remember

[Zaeric Blackwood]

Lately Zaer found he had been spending more and more of his free time [or math classes for that matter] in the band room where the old piano was. The silken ivory keys were now quite familiar to him since he had been spending so much time in here. He really wanted to keep learning more and more about piano. Really it was such a diverse instrument with more moods and flavors than any other [in his opinion anyway.] He sat down in the chair that was there, shuffling around in the music scattered about. Most were of popular songs, but among them he found a gem that seemed like it would be to his liking. The title read Send Me A Song and it looked as if it would have a nice melody.

There were even words there if he wanted to try and sing. He could sing, but this song was new to him so he wasn’t quite sure how well it would go. Oh how he loved finding new music like this. Of course, the music wasn’t really new, just new to him. For a few minutes he glanced over it to try to get the general feel. In his head he could hear it playing.

Zaer set his long thin fingers to the keys and let them slowly give birth to the song on the paper. It floated out calmly, no words this time around but just the piano part. It was fun to play, and he even adapted it slightly, adding a note here or there until the song became his own. Slowly on the third or so time around he added his voice, letting it slide in and out of the soft sounds of the piano. He didn’t notice that someone was behind him, just listening. He was lost in the music as he usually was when he was really enjoying himself. Music was poetry for the ears, telling a story without words. Well, except when there were lyrics. But these lyrics were so beautiful he couldn’t help smile. At some point he had reached singing not in his original whisper, but with the markings in the music, and the combination of his voice and his own twist on the notes was beautiful.

[Izzy James]

The music drew Izzy like baked goods drew starving cartoon characters. He simply followed his ears, the tune growing steadily stronger till he was standing in the same room. A thin guy was sitting at a piano, his fingers drawing the melody out of it. Sounded a little familiar, but a few bars in and Izzy could tell it really wasn't his speed. The lyrics sounded alright, but still, overall, the whole thing sounded like something you played for people in suits when they wanted to pretend they were more relaxed than they actually were. Either that or something you'd hear over a soundtrack showing off some rolling countryside.

Quick cough into the fist, and Izzy casually strolled toward the other guy. Don't startle people, not when they could blast you with their awesome laser vision or hurl fireballs. Not that either had happened yet, mind, but Izzy didn't see a reason to push the matter. He waited till the other guy noticed him, before nodding toward the piano.

"Sounds good," he said. "Bit uptight and proper and stuff, but you know how to work a piano. Voice isn't bad either."

Izzy tried a welcoming smile, then shoved his hands into his pockets. "That all you can play, or you stretch into other stuff too?"

[Zaeric Blackwood]

Zaer jumped when the other boy spoke, not hearing his cough. He whirled the last few notes just blending together into sort of nonsense. He smiled at the other boys smiled and looked back to the music then back to the boy. When he posed the question he made a kind of face.

" I can play all kinds of things, but most of it on the guitar. I can usually only play things like this on piano. " He smiled and tried to shuffle though the papers to find something recognizable. He really didn't know all that much of the music that was there so he picked up a few from the sheaf and held them out.

" There's a huge selection of music here. If you look through and find something you like then I'll try to play it." Zaer was sure enough of his abilities to play something new, just like the piece he had been playing a few moments ago. Of course, he had had a really great teacher in Lucah.

" So do you have a class right now or are you just in a free period?" He asked the other person.

[ooc: srry for the short crappiness. I'm trying to get back into my Hammel-ness]

[Izzy James]

Seemed like Izzy made the other student jumpy or something. The blonde laughed, holding up his hands as if to forestall any possible jumpiness. He also walked slowly toward the piano.

"Hey, no worries here. I'm not a piano-man myself, but I am a fellow guitar player, so you got that going for you," he said. He was within range of the piano, and eyed it with some expertise. When you played a musical instrument, you had some understanding of these things, particularly if you paid as much attention as Izzy did. Plus, there was the whole being in choir thing.

He picked up the music, flipping through it, recognizing about as many songs as not. "Heck, I don't really care. Not like you can play bad music on a piano," the implication being that you could play bad music with something else. Izzy did smile at Zaeric though. "Unless you're planning on covering Lady Gaga or something."

He set the papers down, though not without giving them a quick shuffle first.

"Break, actually. Not so big on the whole skipping class thing," said Izzy. He stepped back a bit, still studying the sheets as though they had a secret to tell. "I'm Izzy, by the way. I don't think we've met yet."

Which, seeing as Izzy had only been here for a couple of weeks, wasn't saying much.

{no problem. Long as you give me stuff to work with and stay IC, I'm generally cool}

[Zaeric Blackwood]

Zaer smiled, realizing he let himself get lost in the music a little too much, just as always. He didn't want the other person -had he said his name?- to think he was too jumpy. Zaer was generally laid back and easy to be around. sort of fun, slightly competitive when he needed to be kind of person. He took the sheath of music and tried finding something there that would suit the tastes of the other. Zaer had a tendency to play more the what was commonly called "celtic" music when he had a piano at hand. It was a failing of his becuse there was nothing better. But really there wasn't much else here that was celticy. So maybe he should fall back to something he knew.

" I do know more than this sort of music, but most of what I play on piano is sort of.. I don't know. Music box style I guess." The fact that Izzy was here on break instead of skipping class gave Zaer a little thrill. Zaer spent skiped classtime in here or outside, though recently he had spent more time playing with the ivory keys of the piano than outside under the trees with his guitar. He shrugged. Once he actualy reveiwed the conversation he realized the boy had introduced himself.

" Sorry, Not trying to be rude. I kind of go spacey whee music is concened sometimes. I'm Zaer." Of late he had stopped using his ful name since many people had heard it or had watched some of the soccer practices that were out on the pitch. Zaer wasn't exactly sure what Izzy was short for, but his mind inserted all sorts of colorful, fanciful male names into the slot until it left him spinning in circles.

" It's nice to meet another fan of music. Not saying there aren't alot of them but not all of them with the same general tastes." Which didn't say much for Zaeric since he liked pretty much everything.

[Izzy James]

"Hey, I'm not complaining. Like I said, you're not about to make a huge production out of it or sing something crappy, so I think we're good," insisted Izzy. He again looked over the piano, even reaching out to touch it. He switched gaze from instrument to player, trying to recall if he'd seen the other guy before. Not likely, since Izzy hadn't been at the school long enough to really meet many people besides his roommates, and he wasn't even certain he'd met all of them yet.

Izzy shrugged. "Not rude. Music does that to people. Besides, I'm still getting used to getting to know people here myself. Nice to meet you, Zaer."

Another nod. "There's enough fans of some kind of music about, I'm sure. I mean, there's a choir, right? You gotta be at least kind of into music to sign up for that. Or have really involved parents."

Izzy definitely fell into the first camp. Though his parents had been all for his musical education, so long as it didn't sacrifice anything else. Izzy doubted he had enough talent to actually make a career out of his voice or anything, but that certainly wasn't going to stop him. Just like it wasn't going to stop him from finally picking out another piece of music. He scanned, more or less recognizing what was going on. The title just looked familiar.

"Want to give this another shot? I'm guessing it's up your alley, and I wouldn't mind hearing another piece," said Izzy, holding the sheet out toward Zaer. "I'll even trade you, if you know where there's a guitar around here. Or you really, really dig 'Mary Had a Little Lamb,' since I'm pretty sure that's the extent of my piano."

[Zaeric Blackwood]

Zaer took the offered piece of music and smiled, wondering how he could have missed this little gem among the other pieces. One of the nerds must have ben in here trying to play it. It would have ben hard without playing with a recording but he would probably be able to play the whole thing. Then he looked it over and realized the whole version of the song had been adapted to play on piano and his eyes lit up with joy. Zaeric had always loved it. The Howl's Moving Castle Theme was something he had found totally by accident and to see it adapted so wonderfully was...well, a girft for him.

" This is amazing and I don't know how I could have missed it! Have you ever seen the movie? It's a bit silly, but the music is amazing." Yes. Zaer watched some silly anime movies just for the music. It was okay though because it made him all the slightly more nerdish. I wonder if the nerd club needs someone to play music for them. He thought. With a smile he put up the paper, looking at it a few moment more to figure out where he needed to make a few changes.

Then he started. The wonderful light usic filled the room, and Zaer definitely loved it. Even if the piano was slightly out of tune. His fingers slid up and down the keyboard ranges to make all the wonderful sounds. Not quite as goo as the version with the violin in it, but still wonderful.

[Izzy James]

"Uh, no," admitted Izzy. He laughed, smiling a little, "I didn't even know there was one. Probably somebody in my family watched it or something. I think I read the book though. It's about a girl who goes to live with a wizard or something, right? I did a report on it a few years ago."

Mostly because reading a book about a moving castle sounded more interesting than most of the others available. Usually Izzy gravitated more toward stuff about music, if he was going to take the time to read at all. But who didn't like a good fantasy from time to time?

Though if the music was any indication, then maybe the movie would have some credit too. Izzy stood back and watched Zaeric play. Easy to lose yourself in the music, especially if you were into that sort of thing. Zaeric seemed to be the type to get really, really into playing. Just watching someone like that always fascinated Izzy, even if the music they played was world's away from the stuff he liked to. Still, the tune invoked a far off world, and that was what was important.

Izzy felt his own fingers twitching as it continued, wishing that he could pull some music out himself. He needed a guitar though, otherwise it was going to be down to chopsticks or classic children's tunes. Serves him right for not paying better attention during piano lessons.


{ack, sorry. not really a lot there to work with, but Izzy's not the type to interrupt, and I wasn't sure if you wanted to have Zaer do anything during the piece}