Afternoon Tea ((Open))

[Arthur Kirkland]

Arthur flicked through the papers that he’d collected as he walked down the street. He’d spent most of the morning in the library doing what he could to collect them, but they seemed rather difficult to dig up, surprisingly. He’d been planning to write a piece for his column about the founding of Solus, given that the Parade was coming up. At the very least he wanted to write about where that tradition came from, but there was so little data. He couldn’t even find newspaper records from that far back, but given the crisis that had affected the Earth before Solus had been formed, perhaps that wasn’t so surprising. Looking online hadn’t helped either; that was why he’d gone to the library in the first place.

At least he’d found a few records of the first government, which hadn’t been so much elected as formed. He was surprised to see that he recognised some of the surnames involved – there was even a Kirkland there, who was no doubt some kind of relative. He’d look that up. Speaking of which… He looked up, finally, taking in where he was. He could go home and do the research there, but he’d brought his laptop with him so it seemed a bit of a waste. Besides, there was a decent little café here. It was popular, but for good reason, and there was free wi-fi.

Heading inside, he wasn’t surprised to see that it was busy. Sighing, he glanced around for somewhere that he could at least sit with his laptop. Normally he’d try and find a corner, but it didn’t look like that would be possible today. Eyeing up a table that was mostly empty, he edged his way over to it, and gave the person that was already there a small, half hearted smile. “Mind if I sit here?” He asked, indicating the other side of the table. He had no intentions of being particularly social; it was just here or head back home, and he didn’t want to have to come out again if he remembered something else he needed from the library. Besides, they did a good afternoon tea here, and he was already thinking about scones, jam and cream.

[Im Yong-soo]

Yong-soo hastily rummaged through his folder of (unorganized) sheet music. He knew he'd find a good song at some point. After a couple more minutes of searching, Yong-soo finally came across a title that caught his eye: "Chikyuu" – Monkey Majik. Closing the folder, he looked over the notes that danced across the pages, mentally playing them as he did so. He gave the sheet music a satisfied smile; this was what he was looking for.

Looking up, he noticed someone approach the table he was sitting at. "Sure, I don’t mind," Yong-soo answered, making some room on the table and taking a sip of his untouched lemonade. He made a small face at the watered-down taste. That's what I get for letting it sit there for too long, he thought.

((Link: www.youtube.com/watch?v=aI9-ms4WDV4))

[Arthur Kirkland]

Pleased that he was given the space, Arthur took the place with a little relieved sigh. “Cheers.” He just sat there for a moment, relaxing, but then opened up his bag and started to get his stuff out. As they had to share the space, he was careful not to take up too much of the table. With his laptop out and loaded and his papers on top of the keyboard for now, he stood up with his wallet to go and get his afternoon tea. Perhaps it was a little silly to leave his things there, but he could keep an eye on his laptop, and there was nothing private in his papers. Probably just as well, because the young man who he was sharing a table with would be able to read them easily.

Returning shortly with a tray with a pot of tea, milt and his teacup, he found space for them and then settled down. His papers could wait for a moment. Pouring the milk first, he hummed happily as he poured his cup, watching the warm liquid. Finally, he picked it up and sipped from it, then sat back. This had been worth waiting for.

Finally, he took in the man across from him, noting that he had sheet music laid out on the table. Curiously, he tried to read it upside down, but he didn’t do a particularly good job. “Are you a musician?” He asked, curiously.

[Im Yong-soo]

Yong-soo nodded, looking up as he acknowledged the question. “More or less—” He cringed inwardly at the automatic response he gave… “I mean… yes. Yes, I am. I play the acoustic guitar and a few other instruments… mainly my guitar, though—” He closed his mouth before he could go off on a tangent, almost beating his head on the table. Eish…

“My name is Yong-soo,” he stated, once he’d calmed down enough to introduce himself properly. He made eye-contact with the older man in front of him. “I’m sorry. It’s been a while since I’ve spoken with anyone… other than my manager and the people working at the recording studio, of course…”

[Arthur Kirkland]

Looking at him at that slightly rambled response, one over sized eyebrow rose. "I'd say that that would make you one." Arthur said, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. At least the boy seemed to have realised how stupid he sounded, judging from the look on his face. He looked like he wanted the ground to swallow him up. Still, that sounded fairly impressive to Arthur. He'd taken up a guitar once or twice but had never really had the chance to learn.

"I'm Arthur." He offered in response to the other's name. "It's nice to meet you." He said, though it was an automatic pleasantry rather than a real sentiment. He hadn't really met him yet, after all. "Sounds like you should get out more, then. A young man like you aught to be out with people his own age." Arthur said, as though he was older than he was. Of course, Arthur couldn't talk anyway. He rarely spoke to anyone aside from Alfred, his publisher and the people at the newspaper.

"What music is it?" He asked, nodding towards the sheet of music again. "What's it for?" He had to admit to being a little curious. He could read a little bit of music, but what he could see didn't look familiar to him at all.

[Im Yong-soo]

Yong-soo nodded and took another sip from his lemonade, successful in not making a face this time. He shrugged at what the man had suggested. “I’ve been meaning to do that for a while; it’s becoming more and more difficult though… which is funny since I used to have a lot of friends in school before I left.” He let out a dry laugh before he continued. “Needless to say, I’ve stopped keeping in touch with them… or rather; they’ve stopped talking with me. It was something about not wanting to mingle with anyone who dropped out.” Yong-soo waved his hand in the air in a manner that said he couldn’t care less.

“Oh, this is just an old J-pop song from a long time ago… a little over three hundred years, I think.” Yong-soo began to smile as he started talking about music. “It isn’t really for anything; it’s just something for me to practice whenever I get bored or to just use it as a warm-up before recording. Every few weeks, I choose a new song from this folder to play.” He patted the slightly thick folder sitting in front of him. “I’ve been using a lot of depressing songs lately so I chose a more uplifting one for a change.”

[Arthur Kirkland]

It was difficult not to judge hearing that the boy had left school. But then again, Arthur had enjoyed school, aside from a few of the older boys there. He gave a slight shrug rather than responding properly and insulting him. “Find somewhere else to make friends.” Was his suggestion, though really it wasn’t so much of a suggestion as stating the obvious. If he was a musician, though, surely he played with other people at some point.

“What on earth is j-pop?” Arthur asked, confused. He wasn’t particularly good with music as it was. He tended to listen to classical music when he was working, so his only real exposure to modern music was in the clubs, and he was a good couple of months out of date now. Normally it didn’t bother him, but… surprisingly enough he actually found himself feeling a little like an old man. Mind you, if it really was 300 years old he couldn’t complain about kids these days, at least. Nodding, he looked at the folder curiously. “Looks like you have a lot of music to pick from.” He said, with a slight smile. He didn’t really know what to say about picking depressing music. The boy was nothing more than a stranger, after all.

Perking when a large plate of scones and finger sandwiches were brought over to him. It really was large… how was one person meant to eat all of that? For now, though, he took a scone and split it, filling it with jam and cream, then taking a nibble. He pulled his papers over then, flicking through them. He should start trying to organise these so he could make a start on his column. After all, that was what he’d come in for.

[Im Yong-soo]

Yong-soo didn’t think much of the man’s confusion. He forgot how most people normally wouldn’t know about J-pop. “Oh, J-pop is just a shortened way to say Japanese pop music. Though, I can’t really say that the song is pure J-pop. The band that made it is actually what they used to call a ‘hybrid band’ back then. The two vocalists were actually Canadian brothers.” He realized how creepy it must sound to know so much about a band that doesn’t even exist anymore.

Yong-soo shook the feeling off when the man mentioned the folder. “This is packed full of old songs too. It’s hard to believe that this only started off as a small collection a few years ago. As time went on, I kept finding more of them and people at work started giving me everything they found.” He found himself laughing at his obsession with old music. It was just another one of his weird habits, after all. “…I think I’ll just stop talking now…” he said when he noticed how busy the other seemed to be.

((I pink spiders hate writing in past tense… It’s making me feel so… ugh… Late reply is late... My laptop would not let me connect to the internet and when I was trying to reply yesterday, it just disconnected again... It does that to me a lot.))

[Arthur Kirkland]

Well, that made sense, even if it was a little confusing. In fact, it could be said that the reply just brought up more questions. At least Arthur knew enough about the old world to recognise the countries involved. At least he wasn’t bothered by the fact that the young man was interested in old bands. He watched plenty of old tv shows and films, and listened to some music from the old world himself. “Do you listen to a lot of music from the old world?” He wondered if someone in the young man’s family had introduced him to the genre or if he’d found it himself.

“You should have a look online, I find a lot on there.” Arthur commented, casually. Of course it was often hard to work out exactly where something had come from, but with music Arthur guess that it didn’t matter. If you liked the music, you could keep it, and if not you could move straight on again.

Blinking as the young man offered to keep quiet, Arthur looked up at him again, and gave him a small smile. “I don’t mind. It’s interesting, and it’s obviously something that you’re passionate about.” He said, calmly. Admittedly it was distracting him from his work a little, but he had his tea to drink and scones to eat, he could wait a little longer to knuckle down and focus.

((Aaah I'm sorry. Maybe you should get it checked out? Sounds like there might be a fault with it.))

[Im Yong-soo]

“Yeah, especially music that came from East Asian countries like Japan and South Korea. I don’t know why but I felt like I’ve listened to these songs as a kid… but I’ve never heard them before in my life. Have you ever had that feeling? It’s almost like a memory from some past life or something like that. It’s probably a strange thing to consider but it could be possible…” This was the first time Yong-soo ever talked openly about things that related to the subject of past lives.

To be honest, he never really liked the idea of it or the feel of those “memories” either. It’s like you’re suffering from some form of memory disorder where your heart seems to think you’ve been to someplace before while the logic of your brain keeps telling you that you haven’t. But with music, it felt different. To Yong-soo, music was timeless and it showed him how life was like before in ways even a textbook can’t begin to describe. Somehow, he felt that listening to those old songs connected him with the past.

“I’ve tried that a few times but I find it fun when I’m able to find physical copies or prints of the work. I’m pretty bad at searching for them online anyway.” Yong-soo laughed again. “The only thing I'm good at doing with computers is gaming…”

For someone his age, he never got along with his computer that well. The ironic thing was, he’d found that his jjageun hyung (younger elder brother this is why Korean is so confusing to translate) became quite successful in computer programming only a few months ago. He still doesn’t like his computer.

Yong-soo smiled. “It is; music is my life. I honestly don’t know where I’d be without it.”

(( I think there’s just a problem with the Wi-Fi I use at home. I can’t do anything about it since it isn’t mine… |DD I can walk to the bookstore on not sunny days but they won’t let people charge their laptops… and my battery only lasts for an hour… which is my fault anyway… |D I don’t want to fix it because it costs money and I’m poor. *brick’d* Hopefully, things will change when I get my new phone in a couple weeks~ :3 I’d probably kill myself by attempting to type everything out though…
I hope that second paragraph made sense. My thoughts feel so scrambled and I couldn’t help but think of Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle the whole time… That series is just as confusing as it is emotional…))

[Arthur Kirkland]

Arthur looked at the boy, surprised by that. Had he ever heard something that it felt like he’d heard before? Not with music, no, but there were plenty of times when he had that feeling, that far too familiar feeling, that he’d been here and done this before. People that seemed familiar, words, touches, Arthur had experienced them all before. And then there were the dreams that occasionally haunted him… He coughed and shook his head. “Not really. That’s just dejavu.” He said, for his sake as much as the boy in front of him. “You’ll probably find that some modern musician has taken pieces of them and used them without crediting them.” That was all it was, he was sure. There were sometimes when he wondered himself. He’d seen it somewhere before; ‘the mind forgets but the body remembers’. Sometimes his dreams were just a little bit too vivid.

In his time Arthur had met a couple of Lowlanders who couldn’t use a computer because they couldn’t afford one, and a few Highlanders who didn’t use them because they mistrusted them, but as everyone had grown up with them, Arthur generally just assumed that everyone could use them. “I suppose if you prefer that way.” He said, with a little shrug. He wasn’t going to tell an almost stranger how to live his life, even if he found the preference a little odd.

At least he appreciated Yong-Soo’s love of music. He understood that, although his love was for writing and reading. “At least you’re free to enjoy it, then.” He said, giving him a small smile. Finishing his first cup of tea, he poured a second, and then nudged his plate of left over sandwiches towards the boy. “If you want some, help yourself. There’s too many for me to eat.”

[Im Yong-soo]

“Maybe… but I don’t think that’s the case.” Yong-soo frowned and shook his head. “I would have known if someone did that… I never forget a melody or tune and I’d know if someone copied or not.”

“Sorry. I’ve always been the odd one. Ever since I was little…” He decided to stop there. There was no point in reminiscing; he’d only resent it more. “N-never mind…”

Yong-soo’s eyes almost lit up when he was offered something to eat. “Really…? Thank you!” he exclaimed cheerfully, taking one and nibbling on a corner before actually taking a bite. The look on his face must’ve expressed pure bliss at the moment. He was actually really hungry but didn’t say anything because he didn’t want to be rude.

((Sorry, I’ve been really distracted…))

[Arthur Kirkland]

“Even a few notes?” Arthur asked, looking at him. “I mean, I’m well read, and I consider myself to have an excellent memory, but I don’t think I’d notice if I managed to write a couple of words of people’s books into my novels, or if someone took a sentence from one of mine I don’t think I’d notice either. You can’t hold every combination of words like that in your head, but it still sounds familiar if you hear something like that.”

Giving a little shrug, Arthur eyed the boy. Well, he understood that feeling at least. “There’s nothing wrong with not liking computers… do you have older siblings by any chance?” He understood the feeling of being the odd one out. He’d always been that in his family, but thank goodness he’d had enough money in his inheritance to get his buy his way out. He hadn’t been back since and he had no intention to either.

Eyeing his excitement, one of Arthur’s oversized eyebrows rose. “You know, if you were that hungry why didn’t you get something for yourself?” He remarked. It wasn’t as though this was one of the most expensive café’s around, and food was one of those things that he assumed that everyone in the Highlands could afford easily.

[Im Yong-soo]

Yong-soo nodded a yes to the first question and listened to what the man had to say afterwards. “Well, there’s also that, but there’s something about music that makes it click. Not just the words but the melodies that go along with them.”

“Yup, I’m the maknae— I mean, I’m the youngest out of… five.” Yong-soo paused, thinking back to his encounter with his twin. “Well, that’s what I believed until a few months ago. It looks like I have a twin brother who’s been living in the Lowlands… all this time…” He frowned at the thought, wondering why he had never been told about it and why his parents would leave his brother to live on his own. His tone of voice darkened as he said, “My parents must’ve truly been… heartless if they abandoned him… just like that…”

Yong-soo took the time to swallow before answering. “Well, I was planning on fixing something when I got home. I wasn’t as hungry when I went and ordered this.” He pointed to the glass of lemonade, ice now completely melted. “And I was waiting for someone… but that person never arrived.”