exsiliumlogs | out and about [open]

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out and about [open]

Who: Asuka Langley Soryu, Open
What: Exploring the city and its many ruins.
When: Friday afternoon
Warnings? None, for now. Maybe Asuka being Asuka.

One could only stay cooped up inside for so long. Asuka's routine had been the same for months: get up, go train, come back to her apartment, maybe go shopping, kick the soccer ball around occasionally, drop in on Utena or Kanaya or someone. Or get sent on missions. She'd rarely ventured beyond the market. The crash and subsequent reshuffling of roommates had shaken something loose (or maybe it was because Kaji had returned, maybe it was because of Kaworu or Shinji or a thousand other things that had changed) and Asuka had decided that she wasn't going to keep herself penned in anymore. She was going to see the rest of the city. She'd wandered through the market first, buying a few knick-knacks and snacks (haggling all the while and yelling someone down if she didn't like the price) and then, slowly, she'd started to wander outward. She'd passed through slums, passed crowds of the downtrodden. She hadn't said anything to them - no, she was out here for herself. Not for them. The buildings seemed to become more run down the further from the Hold she went and that hadn't surprised her.

She'd finally chosen one and random and started scrambling up the slope of rubble that made up one wall, intnet on getting to the top to see the lay of the land. It was raining, as always, but at least it was a drizzle instead of a torrential downpour. It was still slippery and once or twice, she caught herself before she took a disastrous tumble. Finally, she settled on the (what had been) the roof, panting, a bit exhausted and a bit banged up, but she felt the better for it. Better then sitting around in her room all day, like she tended to do, after all. She didn't exactly feel happy, but at the same time she wasn't sad or angry. And the view was great! At least when the mist didn't obscure everything.

And that was an improvement. She took a deep breath and then grinned. At the very least, she could smile on the outside.

[OOC: Feel free to encounter Asuka in the market before she heads out or anywhere else in between.]

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Asuka crossed through the gardens, intent on taking in the sights there before she headed further into the ruins. She paused next to an overgrown tree and tugged her coat a bit tighter around her. Cloud cover or not, it tended to be chilly here. The sheer amount of green around her reminded her a bit of some of the farmland around Tokyo-3 - but this really was the only spot of green around here, wasn't it?

She frowned, about to move on, when the sound of someone playing guitar drifted to her ears. She perked up and carefully began to pick her way through the undergrowth. Her wnadering feet (and attentive ears) brought her around the bough of a tree to find a kid playing the guitar. Well, not just any kid. That weird mute she'd met once before.

She listened to him play for a little while longer before she gave him a little round of applause.

"So, you are pretty good at it, after all."

Applause was not what Jericho expected at the close of that half-baked thought-in-melody. The strings made a tinny sound as his fingers slid unchecked, clamping around the neck and silencing it as he straightened, eyes big, and spotted Asuka nearby. His face immediately flushed red as he gawked, and his stomach did a little flip at the praise.

Oh, gosh. He'd just been playing around – he didn't even know if it was anything that listenable!

He forced his hand off the guitar, lifting it in a still and silent gesture of greeting despite the embarrassment currently crushing him into the dirt as if it were a twenty-ton sledgehammer. What was the big deal, though? Raven and Sollux and Ashraf heard him play...yet strangers and barely-acquaintances were still a challenge.

Asuka wandered over and plopped herself down across from him without so much as an "excuse me". Why bother asking permission? Besides, it was easy to be confident around people who, well, weren't. They didn't challenge her. Despite the dampness, she curled her legs against her chest and settled in.

"Go ahead and keep playing! It sounds good."

She was really there to stay, wasn't she? Jericho gulped, his fingers still frozen on the guitar's neck. With a wincing grimace, his head ducked down, shoulders shrugging. Whatever string of thought he'd been on was very gone, for one, and the other...

Well, he didn't know what she was expecting to hear! She'd mentioned music taste before, but...

"Oh, come on," Asuka tone turned slightly irritated as she leaned forward slightly. That might be a bit of an evil eye.

"You can't be that embarrassed! Just play something already!"

Yikes!

Asuka was definitely not the sort to promote a peaceful, thoughtful atmosphere, was she? At least, that certainly was the impression Jericho got, wincing at her tone. Ill at ease, he dropped his gaze to his hands, the guitar...fat chance of being able to pretend that audience wasn't there, waiting, but it was easier not looking at her expression.

He chewed on the inside of his lip as his fingers flexed free of their vice grip, searching and feeling across the fretboard for the right place to start. What was the right place to start, though?

There were faltering, uncertain notes plucked, the start and stop of scales, of chords he knew that sounded well together before his thoughts led him, somehow, to something of a continuous melody. It was a slow, roundabout journey to something of a song, something suited to the green around them. Plodding, thoughtful, and plucked out with a tentative care, like someone speaking on something at length, nervous and unsteady.

Peaceful and thoughtful were all well and good, but Asuka usually liked action. She watched Jericho with a slight frown as he fiddled and adjusted his guitar (playing for timbe, obviously). She wanted to enjoy this (and maybe she wanted him to have a good time, too, but that wasn't really at the forefront of her mind). She just couldn't wrap her head around why he was so awkward and shy. She sighed, one foot tapping against the ground. When he finally started, she sat up a bit straighter to listen.

It wasn't exactly high quality entertainment, but he sounded good, once you got past how tentative he was. She settled in and simply listened as he played on. She could be quiet - at least for a few minutes.

If he closed his eyes, he could imagine he was alone – she was quiet, the illusion was fairly easy to make if he tried. He did try, getting lost in the methodical sound. It trailed off into pensive sounds, derailing from what melody he was trying to construct; it wasn't much sense by way of a song, but it did make the playing easier, more natural.

His brow furrowed, expression scrunching up as he hit a chord that made for a strange transition, and that seemed to snap him out of the daze. He blinked his eyes open and looked almost surprised to find her still her. How he'd ever forgotten was more a surprise, really; his face colored again as his mouth twisted and stretched into some kind of dubious line, not sure what kind of reaction he ought to expect – or brace himself for.

"You're kinda weird, you know that?" Asuka said. Honestly, she'd been a bit enraptured by the music. It was a bit raw, a bit different - but it had been oddly soothing at the same time. She'd found herself drifting into thought while he played and now she missed the strums of the guitar.

"But that was pretty good. I knew you could play, you just don't want to."

She leaned forward slightly, "Why is that...?"

Jericho's eyebrows lifted at that, not really expecting such a blunt analysis. You just don't want to.

That...well. His legs fidgeted a little beneath the guitar, his fingers letting go of the neck to hover aimlessly for a beat, then scratch at his cheek, becoming more and more self-conscious. From the instrument to Asuka, his eyes fell and rose, giving all the more emphasis to his hesitation. It was half in pondering the question and...well, half wondering how to reply. Shrugging wasn't much of a response, after all, and he didn't even think to try sign. Writing in the dirt would've gotten him scoffed at, wouldn't it?

Where is that notebook...

Jericho patted the ground blindly to seek it out, glancing over his shoulder to spot it at last and pick it up, gnawing on the cap of the pen as he wrote. It stayed in his mouth, making his dubious look more of a grimace as he handed the book over to be read.

I don't really play in front of people a lot...I'm not sure what sounds good or not

Asuka blinked and leaned forward to read as he finished writing. She practically snatched the book out of his hands and scanned it for a moment, then handed it back. Then a smirk started to play across her features and she leaned back again, looking incredibly self-satisfied, "Oh, I get it. You've got stage fright! No big deal!"

She waved her hand dismissively. Well, of course it's that easy! She thought it was, anyway.

"Relax and just play whatever you want. You're supposed to be an artist, right?"

He tilted his head and squinted an eye at her. Supposed to be? Well, he certainly enjoyed his music, but as an outlet, rather than obligation...Er, wait. Both eyes squinted as he considered. Maybe that's what she meant after all? It was hard to tell.

Funny, considering how easily she seemed able to give a thought some words.

His nose scrunched up with a bashful kind of grin, daring to twang out a note as he nodded his consent. It could've been an audible yes if he imagined hard enough, right?

So...where did that leave them in the moment, though? He fidgeted, still needing to readjust from writing mode to playing mode before getting a chance to pluck out anything more than that tinny sound off the frets.

Though still faltering and trailing in places, his encore was a touch more secure. For the most part. Old habits and dying hard and all those old sayings still went without saying at all.

Asuka watched his reaction with a bit of amusement. She wasn't sure what she'd expected from him, but a smile was better than the nervousness she'd seen before. She shook her head with a exasperated sigh that was more pretended then actually felt, "See? If you just stop worrying and play, everything goes a lot smoother! You ought to thank me for that!"

Even if his next round had a bit more faltering then she'd really like, she still enjoyed the music. Honestly, sitting in an overgrown garden listening to a guitar player - well, that wasn't bad. She was used to being a bit more active, but she wasn't about to complain. She'd take a destressor where she could find it.

She stretched her arms out above her head and then tilted her head back, gaze wandering through the branches overhead as she listened. Not bad at all.

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out and about [open]

Re: civic gardens:

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Agh, sorry.

HAKUNA MATATA

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