The Music Of The Night (D6, EN)

[Susumu Yakumo]

"True, I may have said something like that. It will be a challenge though," she looked at him with a confident smirk, as if she seemed to think he had the right drive to make it.

Her gaze focused ahead as Kazumi said it was his favorite part, and her violet eyes widened with amazement at the scenery. "Woah..." Yakumo nearly let go of his arm as she turned to get a look at it all. "Wow, look at that jellyfish. It almost looks like vines, with those green tendrils."

[Soshi Kazumi]

Kazumi noticed the expression and their own was unreadable for a moment. Maybe the joke of an idea not seeming so far fetched in her apparent confidence. But Kazumi shook their head, Mayne thoughts for another time.

Kazumi looked at Yakumo's reaction more than the colorful display before them for a time. The smile behind the mask was likely clear in their eyes as Yakumo pointed a Jellyfish out Kazumi nodded "all kinds of crazy colors out there, I mean that one looks almost like a crazy space ship." They said pointing to a jellyfish that had lights strobing down its sides in a variety of colors."

[Susumu Yakumo]

"Wow, you're right!" she watched in amazement at the jellyfish Kazumi pointed out.

With an almost goofy smile, Yakumo looked back at Kazumi. "What can I say, Kazumi-san; not only were you amazing on stage tonight, but this... this was a great idea of something unique to show me. Are all these species native to the World of Dreams?"

[Soshi Kazumi]

Kazumi looked back to her and paused it was likely empty enough in the place that they could feel comfortable. They reached back and undid the clasp on their mask revealing the lower half of their face and the smile they wore. Kazumi clipped the mask to their belt where it could easily be reached if they felt the need.

Their face fully revealed showed fair features, a bit androgenous on that border between beautiful and handsome with prominent cheekbones, lips that were proportionally full and a face with an over all slender profile. The lips smiled a bit more fully at her and then looked back to the tanks shaking their head.

"No I don't believe so, many are. Many of the animals here were saved during the terraforming process. There are still seas under parts of the city but without sunlight much of the life down there can't survive. More fish survived than say...birds who were almost all extinct in the wild but there is little room for nature on a planet wide city." They said, the voice heard a little more clearly without the mask interfering but otherwise unchanged.

[Susumu Yakumo]

Seeing Kazumi take off his mask, Yakumo stopped watching the aquatic scenery around them and focused fully on him. Scorpions seemed so attached to their masks, that it felt like it was some sort of special moment of trust to show his full face.

Hearing him speak without the mask also confirmed what he had said before that it was not the mask changing his voice. "You know, I never met anyone else to have such a unique voice... I almost thought I was the only one who could do unusual things with my own voice."

[Soshi Kazumi]

Kazumi smirked softly at that "Thank you, assuming that is a compliment at least." Much easier to convey humor with the full range of expressions at their arsenal "common ground at the very least."

They looked at Yakumo too their almost black pupils almost blending into the darkness but illuminated in different shades now and again "But yes its something I trained into my voice from a young age. I was a little predisposed to it but I certainly worked to enhance the effect, training any overly masculine qualities out of how I talk. It gives me a much greater range for both speaking and imitation." They explained

[Susumu Yakumo]

"Oh, it is a compliment! Absolutely! Your voice is amazing," she was rather insistent that it was indeed a compliment. "... But, if I can ask, isn't there some special rules with masks for Scorpions? I thought there might've been since it's so rare I see one take off a mask... and well, movies make it seem like a very big deal. I don't know if that's true."

[Soshi Kazumi]

Kazumi chuckled at her insistence "Well then I am honored someone like you finds my voice so pleasing."

At her question Kazumi nodded "It's not a rule per say, more of a guideline. A tradition. Especially these days more and more choose not to wear them at all." Kazumi paused for a moment, thinking "The mask has cultural meaning to us that some forget or think is no longer necesarry."

"I wear mine near constantly unless I am home but here there are few people and I am with someone who at the very least I hope to trust someday. This is the start of that." They explained with a soft smile on their lips.

[Susumu Yakumo]

She nodded, showing some understanding of what he was saying, even if she felt she might not completely grasp the true intent of the meaning simply because the ways of the Scorpion were still rather foreign to her. "Then... thank you, Kazumi-san. This level of trust you've shown me, I am honored..."

Her violet eyes remained fixed on him. "The Spider don't really have physical masks we wear that we can remove as a sign of trust, so... it's not a gesture I can easily return as such."

[Soshi Kazumi]

The soft smile gained a touch of amusement at her words but Kazumi nodded "Nor do you have to Yakumo-sama, it is not a gesture than needs reciprocation. Besides you have done a lot for me already and have surprised me in the best ways."

they gave a look of earnest before looking about "Would you like to continue? there is still much to see, if you have the energy for it."

[Susumu Yakumo]

"Yes," she nodded, surprisingly eager to see more that this place had to offer. "I get to listen to your voice more as we continue exploring what there is to see here... for which I was very happy to hear sing tonight. You have a good potential with just your natural voice to go far."

[Soshi Kazumi]

Kazumi's smile stayed and, though it was hard to tell in the darkness, Yakumo might get the impression they were blushing slightly at the praise "Well, thank you Yakumo-sama, people have been very nice about the performance, I am just glad people enjoyed it."

The continued walking and soon the lights slowly came up before they were spit back out into the general area. Following their path would take them to the aviarium "you were amazing tonight as well, hearing you sing live is....nothing like the recordings. The passion in your performance, it was like I could see the mood in the crowd change from your singing. I certainly have no doubt why you're as popular as you are."

[Susumu Yakumo]

"Recordings can never compare to live. Even a live-recording," she agreed, looking back to him now that they walked through the darkness to move to the next part of the exhibit. "Live performance captivates the mood of the audience, the essence of everyone coming together for music... and some of it, well, I must give credit my sensei there. The Kakita Artisans strive hard to be able to evoke specific emotions in those who observe their art."

"Oh right, did you have a chance to listen to my older works that I gave you?" Yakumo was curious what he thought of it compared to her more recent music.

[Soshi Kazumi]

Kazumi listened and nodded in parts "Well a sensei can only get so much credit in my opinion at the end of the day it's you executing the technique."

"But yeah I was able to burn through most of it. I threaded it into my Playlist I listen to while coding, music helps me focus and drown out distracting thoughts. But I did enjoy it, I definitely understood what you meant by saying you missed being able to experiment with sounds. The varied sounds were my favorite part, seemed like you enjoyed playing around with what your voice can do. I don't listen to much pop but I think a few of your tracks will make regular appearances in the Playlist."

[Susumu Yakumo]

"Trust me, if you've gone through the rigors of training with a Kakita sensei... you'd be giving them credit too. It's so much more than just learning how to sing and train your voice, but it's a real in-depth study of how to perform." Yakumo chuckled with good humor, and a healthy dose of respect for at least one teacher back at the Kakita Academy.

"Wow. That is really something. I must start frequenting the Wicked Wasp more while I'm staying here, just so I can hear how you might feature my music in your work. I often find it interesting to hear how other artists might rearrange a song, change it around. Makes me think of how in the old days, people would exchange poetry where they alternated adding on stanzas to an ever-growing poem. Art just keeps on evolving."

[Soshi Kazumi]

Kazumi thought for a moment "hmmm that is an interesting idea. Wonder if it could work with a song, a sort of collab but one artist handles the first verse and another the chorus and another the instrumentals but one after the other instead of creating it all at once building on what the artists before did. That could be a wold project to work on." It seemed their mind was working through all the hoops and logistics of such a problem but started putting it on the back burner.

"As for rearranging your music. Maybe I'll try and get something done while you're still here. Are you sticking around after court is done?" They ask with a slight raise to their eyebrow.

[Susumu Yakumo]

Talking about music was absolutely one of Yakumo's favorite topics, so she was fully into it. "Oh, that does sound interesting. I've kind of just been composing, writing, and performing all my work myself, mostly using various music software to translate the score into actual music. But to have multiple partners making one song together, expanding upon the score, or the lyrics, as you said, that would be quite interesting... maybe it could even be a new courtly trend, to pick up where the poetry of old stopped." She mused, greatly intrigued by the idea and excited to talk about the topic with a fellow musician.

"That would be nice to listen to, yes. I hope I get to spend some more time here before I must go... I'm sure we can find some time, mhm?"

[Soshi Kazumi]

"I'm sure I'll have no problem making time for you." It was a simple statement but the smile was maybe a bit suggestive? At the very least a touch flirty

But then Kazumi followed the earlier thread "but yes it would be interesting to see how each person's contributions reflected their take on the songs topic. Getting them to flow and mesh together could present interesting challenges but the final result would always be a wholly unique experience in a way new artists involved each time even just one or moving current artists around in the order of contribution would likely greatly effect the outcome of the song." Feeling her interest pulled out more of their own expanding thoughts on the subject.

[Susumu Yakumo]

Yakumo did catch the touch of suggestive flirtation, and smirked back in return.

"Hmmm..." she looked up, focusing on the idea that was formulating. "Any idea how one might solve the logistics of something like that? In the old days, they would just fill in a poem on paper, after all... which was much easier."

[Soshi Kazumi]

Kazumi reached up and scratched their chin gently in thought

"in clan it would be pretty easy, sending files and such through the clan web would suffice but considering how all the clans like to isolate their systems from one another it could be more challenging. For the lyrics it wouldn't be much different from the poems of old. Sending a simple message from person to person is easy enough. With instrumentals could message the sheet music around easy enough. And if done at court would be a lot easier to do with everyone in the same area. Moving those files around is pretty easy."

They explained in fairly simple terms thinking about the more complex technical processes involved.