Fifth Trial - A Test of Artistry

[knighterrantofthedragon]

WHO: Alric and Anyone
WHAT: Alric practicing guitar
WHERE: Music room
WHEN: In the early evening or during the weekend, before the Hellfire Club event
WARNING(S): None anticipated


Alric could be found many evenings in the music room, practicing with his guitar. Besides running through some scales, this mostly involved a little time working through rhythm phrases from various songs, followed by putting on a few preselected riffs to play lead over. The riffs transitioned through styles every couple of minutes, the range including blues and classical, but tended to be heavy on more symphonic rock and metal.

Music is one of the things Alric has used since he was a child as a coping mechanism for his volatile, emotionally-driven powers, so he's had a great deal of practice. His style tends to be a bit brash, a bit fierce, tightly restrained and crisp in calm sections and erupting with intensity during heavier parts.

Of course, the music room's still a public space, so anyone's welcome to drop by and listen, and say hi in between sets when he takes a break for a few minutes.

Comments

[knighterrantofthedragon]

Alric laughed lightly and nodded.

"I'll do my best not to split either of our ears."

He pauses a moment, starting out with a clean tone before switching on distortion as the music shifts to a more intense character like so, and afterward blending it into another piece like so, although without accompaniment, replacing any piano or other softer instruments with clean guitar.

[vanishingdusk]

Yuuko can't help but laugh a bit as well. Well, he didn't blow out her eardrums before, so she's hopeful that'll continue to be the case. She listens quietly with a sense of awe. She doesn't have much to compare it against, but he's pretty good in her opinion.

When he's done, she claps enthusiastically, smile plastered on her face. "Impressive!~"

[knighterrantofthedragon]

Alric chuckles and scratches the back of his head sheepishly at that show of enthusiasm, glancing aside momentarily, but smiles, obviously a bit flattered at her reaction.

"Ah... well, thank you for saying so, Miss Yuuko. I assure you, it's simply a consequence of a great deal of practice... but I do appreciate the praise, all the same."

He pauses a moment, looking back over at her again.

"Do you play any instrument..? Or, ah... if not, you must have some other... hobbies, I imagine?"

[vanishingdusk]

She just continues to look as pleased as ever. She has no reason not to be, after all.

"You're very welcome. And please, just call me Yuuko." She's only seventeen! At the question, she shakes her head, but that's only to the part about instruments. As for hobbies, doesn't everyone? "Of course I have hobbies! I'm the president of the Paranormal Investigations Club, so I like ghost stories and things like that."

And possibly causing them.

[knighterrantofthedragon]

"..ah.. if you wish.. Yuuko."

Alric smiles amiably, even charmingly--he's not that much older, and she is a beautiful girl. Even if it weren't so tempting to flirt, it would be rude not to just a bit, wouldn't it? His eyebrows raise at her answer, and he tilts his head, intrigued. At the very least, it's a bit of an unusual pastime.

"Ghost stories... about the Institute in particular, or all sorts? I confess, I've not really heard many since I was little..."

He smiles a bit sheepishly at that confession.

[vanishingdusk]

Yuuko doesn't mind a little flirting. In fact, she'll likely return it. However, she's more than happy to keep talking about her hobby. It was the only thing she'd really been involved in before coming to Xavier's, at least that she remembered.

"Both, really. Up until just before I came here, I was under the assumption I was a ghost, so that might have played a hand in it."

[knighterrantofthedragon]

Alric blinks at that, clearly a bit surprised, but smiles a little more.

"Indeed? I don't mean to pry where I'm not welcome, of course, but surely that deserves a little elaboration. I don't believe I've ever thought myself anything more fantastical than perhaps a hero from a storybook, even as a child. I take it there's more to the story than a vivid imagination."

[vanishingdusk]

She has to shrug a little bit.

"I don't really remember why, but I thought I was dead. No one could see or touch me for some time. So it seemed plausible I was a ghost."

[knighterrantofthedragon]

"My... I can see how that must have been quite distressing, to say the least. ...is, ah.. is that to do with your.. talents, then..?"

Uncooperative, alienating powers that make everything more difficult? He can understand that, at least a bit, if not in quite the same way.

[vanishingdusk]

"Well..."

Yuuko just sort of trails off as she suddenly vanishes from view. There's a few seconds of silence, save for a chair that seemingly starts pushing itself around, and then she starts slowly coming into view, looking rather transparent at first, but then she looks just as normal as she did before, sitting in the chair she'd dragged across the floor.

"Normally, I'm not visible. I have to put a little effort into staying like this. Otherwise...no one can see or hear me."

[knighterrantofthedragon]

Alric raises his eyebrows at that--after a moment, he glances around with a half-grin, not quite sure what to expect from her--then jumps a little at the chair suddenly moving, chuckling a little and bowing his head to her slightly as she reappears.

"Well. A regular Cheshire Cat. It must be terribly inconvenient, even having learned to control it... is it, ah... ...well, I don't.. mean to pry, of course, but... does it take much focus? I can only imagine it would be... awkward, to say the least, disappearing whenever one's mind wanders a little."

[vanishingdusk]

Yuuko grinned a little sheepishly. It had been hard to learn how to control, but she'd managed. It wasn't like she'd had anything else to do at the time.

"It was pretty tough. As for that...I just have to want to be seen. And be conscious. So no one can watch me sleep."

[knighterrantofthedragon]

He nodded understandingly--he'd had his own difficulties learning to control his abilities--and smiled, politely and just a bit playfully, because at Court and in his family, banter is a way of life.

"...indeed. I suppose it's gratifying, at least, that you want me to see you, then, Yuuko."

He paused, smirking just a little more.

"......when awake, at least. Watching you sleep does seem like it would be rather... ...uncouth, in a word."

[vanishingdusk]

Yuuko grins a little. Honestly, she just liked having her presence acknowledged after being unseen and well, unacknowledged for so long. She'd gotten so lonely, until she'd figured out how to make herself visible at least.

"I'd hope no one would be trying to watch me sleep."

[knighterrantofthedragon]

"Well, I can only say that I have no plans to do so. I'm certain I'd prefer your company when you're awake."

[vanishingdusk]

"You'd have to break into the girl's dorm anyway, and that would probably be frowned upon."

She grins, although it's not really a joke.

"But I'm glad you enjoy my company."

[knighterrantofthedragon]

Alric chuckled and shook his head.

"...ah... well, yes, I'm afraid of all the subjects I've studied, breaking and entering did not figure particularly strongly in the curriculum. Not that I can't improvise, of course, should he need arise... but I would think the greater cause for inhibition is that it would simply be terribly rude."

The joke--to him, at least--isn't so much the notion of breaking in or watching someone sleep as the possibility of him doing it, which just seems entirely too improbable to take it seriously.

"But.. ah.. well, yes, I suppose I must admit, I rather do, so far."

[vanishingdusk]

"It would be pretty rude, wouldn't it?"

Not that Yuuko wouldn't just walk into people's rooms for kicks if she could pass through walls.

"I'd be disappointed if you didn't."

[knighterrantofthedragon]

He paused briefly at that, smiling a little more. He can't help inwardly preening just a little at her answer, even if it's almost certainly not intended to imply anything. He answers (and partly covers up how pleased he is at that thought, by hamming it up playfully, tilting his head in a sketch of a bow, smiling politely but with a teasing hint of a smirk.

"Well. I'm most gratified to hear that I've been able to fulfill your expectations, at least, Miss Yuuko."

[vanishingdusk]

She's honestly pretty pleased to be getting along with more people. Before she'd come to Xavier's, most people who'd seen her were terrified, but here...she was normal. She grinned, giggling as he teased her.

"I'd say you exceeded them."

[knighterrantofthedragon]

Well, he can't resist grinning at that, and perhaps reddening just a shade.

"..ah.. well..."

Proper or no, praise from hot girls is still praise from hot girls, and it takes him a moment to come up with a properly modest answer to that.

"...I.. suppose I'll just have to see to it that I somehow live up to the newly raised bar."

[vanishingdusk]

Yuuko just grins a bit more, clearly enjoying herself.

"Yup! Just hope it doesn't get raised any higher.~"

[knighterrantofthedragon]

Alric chuckled and bowed his head in agreement.

"...I'll watch out for that, certainly. Although I must say, I'll be impressed if you should demand more of me than my family does."

[vanishingdusk]

"Do they really demand a lot of you?"

She tilts her head curiously. It's...kind of odd though, hearing about other people and their families, while she can't recall anything of her own.

[knighterrantofthedragon]

He pauses a moment, smiling to himself a bit enigmatically, tilting his head and glancing off briefly before he nods lightly.

"Generally speaking, yes, as a.. result, largely, of my, ah.. station, at home. My grandfather has always been particularly strict. A most excellent teacher, but little patience for a lack of commitment."