Melancholy Rage: Video/Action;

[moonlitrequiem]

[Seeing as she had told Jinora she would, the next day after her distressing run in with Hei, Yin sets up the piano and her device to record.]

[While she isn't the type to pick a cheerful tune, Yin's pieces are usually tinged with a little sadness, but never do they have anger in them, no matter how slight. This time, it feels as though her fingers move a little faster, and she hits the notes a little harder, and the chords are deeper.]

[Yin looks as listless as ever, not a trace of emotional turmoil to be found, for the most part. For those who know her, however, who have seen her often enough, it might seem her shoulders droop just a little more, her lips are curved just a little more towards hurt, and her eyes give away to some pain in their half-lidded state.]

[When she finishes, she soundlessly turns the recording off.]

Comments

action;

[sleepingstar]

[Pai moves quietly, seeming to appear out of nowhere. She sits down next to Yin as the song wraps up.]

You're very skilled.

action;

[moonlitrequiem]

[She's not considered herself skilled since turning into a Doll, and before that she couldn't properly gauge, but it was fun. Still, Pai did pay her a compliment.]

Thank you.

action;

[sleepingstar]

I've been trying to play this piece. [She pulls out a piece of sheet music and sets it on top of the keyboard.] I need some help.

action;

[moonlitrequiem]

[Yin looks the sheet over, her mind putting finger placement into play as she does.]

Where?

action;

[sleepingstar]

It doesn't sound right when I play it.

action;

[moonlitrequiem]

[Yin gestures to the piano, giving Pai room to play. It might make sense if she hears her play it.]

action;

[sleepingstar]

[Pai nods and begins. She hits the right notes in the right order, but there's something off about her rhythm. She holds the notes just a hair too long, or lets them go a shade too soon. You could call it artistic license, but the result is...almost robotic. It has no hint of feeling.]

action;

[moonlitrequiem]

Your timing. [Yin notes it. Despite being a Doll, she understands better now what Elis tried to explain to her as a child. Hitting the notes precisely wasn't enough, not alone.]

Re: action;

[sleepingstar]

What about it?

private // video

[mortemscintilla]

[ As a rule, Hei dislikes most classical music. Ambient white-noise is more his thing, cool electronic beats that hang around the room like a whiff of air-freshener. But the post is hard to ignore -- mainly because of the Why and the What. It isn't like Yin to make spontaneous musical performances. Nor do her arpeggios ever sound so -- overwrought. It's as if his face is being rubbed in the fact that the music is all soundwaves and atoms of emotion when you strip the Baroque wrapping paper off it. But too much sonic emotional nakedness isn't good for Hei's nerves. Especially in light of what's happened. ]

[ There's a beat, before he speaks. Contacting her feels, enormously, like a presumption. But this isn't the sort of thing he's been trained to ignore. ]

That's an angry tune.

[ And likely matches its player. ]

private // video

[moonlitrequiem]

[Hei was someone she wasn't expecting to hear from at all. She hadn't even considered communicating with him, yet. But once she hears any words from him at all, and sees his face, her tepid fury melts.]

[He doesn't get a response to his observation, however, just a much softer:]

Hei.

private // video

[mortemscintilla]

[ Hei's face is carefully blank, but the gaze is soft. Questioning. He feels like an arachnid crawling out into the sunshine -- tentatively, as if feeling out the parameters of the dawn; expecting to be plunged back into night at any moment. ]

[ He keeps his voice quiet out of caution, not apology. ]

Should I leave you alone?

[ It seems enough of a presumption, contacting her without a practical purpose. If she tells him Yes, it'll sting, but -- that's how life goes. ]

private // video

[moonlitrequiem]

[She feels quite the opposite. There's never a need for an apology between them, and the last thing she wants is for him to leave her alone. That, however, was something Yin didn't realize until they were speaking.]

No.

private // video

[mortemscintilla]

[ Hei blinks once, then again. By the third time, something in the set of his jaw has softened a shade. It's not relief, exactly, but it comes close. ]

I know you're upset with me.

[ It's said as a fact as much as a reminder, his gaze shuttered. There's a certain deliberateness to the way he speaks, a gentleness that's cut with solemnity. (It's true that something in him has collapsed into an aching, untidy gratitude at her No, but it's too small to balance the foundation for an entire conversation on. Especially one that's so painfully real. So unscripted.) ]

private // video

[moonlitrequiem]

No. [She shakes her head. That's not quite it. That's not exactly what she was angry about, or she would have been angry from the beginning, when she first found out about Hei and Korra.]

[And while they will never say as much as others might, or cover everything outside of subtle gestures, Yin knows one thing:]

We need to talk.

private // video

[mortemscintilla]

[ We need to talk. There's a feeling of deja vu, something giddy and raw and unbalanced. He wonders if Yin knows ... how many times he's said those words to Korra? Presumptive, offhand, cruel, like he's doing her a favor by condescending to address her like a human being. His brain sways and jangles over the memories now, feeling unanchored. Wondering if this is some sort of karmic payback. Coincidence, Hei doesn't believe in. Irony? Very much so. There's a premonition that anything Yin says can only forecast disaster. (After all, it's led to nothing but misery and confusion everytime he's spoken those words to Korra.) But despite the fear slithering down his spine, Hei is never one to succumb to paralysis. ]

We do. [ There's something thick in his voice that grips and doesn't want to let go. He shakes it off. ] Over the Network, or face to face?

[ It is -- it always will be -- her choice. ]

private // video

[moonlitrequiem]

[She has no idea, of course, what his conversations with Korra were like. Yin witnessed the more physical side, then quietly stopped spying and hadn't seen another thing, leaving them to their privacy.]

[There's only one choice here, but it is still hers.]

The pond. [The place the first met up when she arrived in the City.]

video;

[bookbending]

That's really beautiful. Kind of mad, but pretty.

video;

[moonlitrequiem]

Would you like something else?

video;

[bookbending]

I'd love to hear anything! Could I watch you play?

video;

[moonlitrequiem]

[Yin nods her head to that and starts to play a softer melody. One she is very familiar with.]

video;

[bookbending]

[The girl listens and watches intently, openly impressed.]

That was so beautiful. It's like your fingers are dancing.

video;

[moonlitrequiem]

[Yin looks at her fingers as they move. Is that what it is? Dancing? She's not sure what to make of poetic language. To her they are simply moving to make sound. But the sound is pleasant, and she enjoys making it.]

video;

[bookbending]

[Jinora has already learned that Yin isn't much of a talker. Still, the lack of a response and some sense of not-quite-rightness is worthy of concern.]

Are you okay, Yin?

video;

[moonlitrequiem]

Yes. [She gives a light nod and switches to another song.]