Okay, I know it's not Legato, but I'm on it, told you it'd take time. And work's kicking my ass, too. This is a little one-shot that I've had in my head for a while, a kind of AU of Legato (which is an AU itself? AU-ception?) in which Shizuma and Isis would have met in different circumstances/at different stages of their lives. It's not going to grow into a full-blown story, and truly it was born out of sheer rage at the French Train Transport. FUCK YOU GUYS. I hate you.
They've been striking for a fucking month two days each week, and the next two month. I live one hour away (by train) from the city where I work and due to the strike, I've been crashing at my mom's two days a week just so I can actually go to work. I can't. I'm fucking done.
Anyways. Enjoy, tell me what you think!
Perchance Encounter
By Hazel Liebovsky
Voices filled the station; they mingled and became a single undecipherable hum somewhere above Shizuma's head. The uncomfortable chair of the lounge kept digging in the middle of her back, no matter how many times she shifted positions. The book in her hands did nothing to alleviate her boredom or ease her mind. Her frustration was teetering on annoyance. It was definitely not a good day.
"Due to unforeseen circumstances, the Eurostar train n°6932 to London, initially scheduled for four thirty pm…."
In perfect synchronization, everybody froze. A few heads looked up uselessly, at the screens, waiting with batted breath, listening to the sultry robotic voice that would pronounce their sentence.
"… will be delayed by one hour and fifty-five minutes…"
A collective sigh of despair with a few chosen curses filled the station before the passengers emerged from their state of torpor and walked away or went back to staring at their phones. Throwing years of Miatre's severe manner teaching away, Shizuma rolled her eyes and sighed, albeit quietly. In France, do as the French.
Wonderful.
Great.
Just great. And to think she had booked a train home instead of flying (which would have been faster), to avoid the aircrew strike going on, only to find herself in the middle of another strike that was paralyzing train transportation in its entirety. They had said it would not affect cross borders, but obviously it did. On this side, at least. 'Unforeseen circumstances' was just a metaphorical middle finger wrapped in fancy speech.
And it wasn't like she could postpone her departure, she had a recording the following morning. Shizuma started reading again but gave up after going over the same paragraph for ten minutes. The pianist was fuming. Unable to focus, she stood up, nodding back to the elderly couple who took her place. Slinging the canvas bag on her shoulder, she wandered away aimlessly.
Two hours to kill. What to do now?
Grabbing a coffee did not sound appealing, she was not hungry, taking a stroll outside would be pointless since it was raining… she walked by the lone forsaken piano and turned around sharply, eyes lighting up.
Bingo.
Small mercies, at least. It was not really work, if she played what she wanted, right? Shizuma put her bag on the piano bench next to her before settling. Her fingers drummed rapidly on the keys to make sure the instrument was tuned. A couple of persons stopped for a second to glance curiously at her when they heard the notes before walking away. Satisfied with the piano's state, Shizuma began her meticulous warm up.
Slow, melancholic notes filled the station, they were almost shy, the sound muffled by both the pianist and the hum of voices around her. Shizuma did not want to attract attention, she was only killing time, not giving a performance. Her eyes closed on their own, fingers moving faster than her brain could register what they were playing. Chopin's nocturnes. Fitting, she smiled to herself. Somehow, she always found herself coming back to him. The pianist had been recording a few of Shumann's chosen pieces, for her next album and she was positively done with it now. But Chopin? Never. She would never get tired of him.
Despite her best efforts to keep it on the down low, her playing had garnered attention, slowly but surely. Passersby stopping to listen for a couple of minutes, people staring from their chairs, even the chatters quieted down a little. Some bystanders did not waste a minute to take out their phone and start filming her. Shizuma had half a mind to just stop playing and leave, but it would be rude to interrupt the piece in the middle of it. Poor Chopin did not deserve such affront.
The last notes rang like a desperate plea, her little finger and thumb hovering over the keys. The whole station was immersed in an atmosphere of quiet awe. It took a full ten seconds before her ephemeral audience clapped. She exhaled slowly, emerging from her little bubble to give a polite smile to the sizeable circle around her, before checking the watch on her wrist.
"Excuse me…?"
The interruption had come from her left. Lifting her head, Shizuma was met with a woman, around her age it seemed, standing just a foot away from the piano, an easy, if a bit apprehensive smile on her lips.
"Would you mind if I played with you?" The stranger pointed at her violin case, all smiles and shining blue-yellow eyes.
She was beautiful. Yes, please.
"Yes." Her mouth worked faster than her brain. The other woman's smile faltered until Shizuma realized what she had implied and spoke again. "I meant…" switched to French. "No. I don't mind. Please do."
The stranger smirked and nodded, crouching down to open her case.
Yes. Please.
It had been quite a while since anyone had short-circuited her brain and elicited such a reaction. Not since Nagisa, five years ago. Nagisa who had (amiably) broken things off just before graduating from Miatre. Realizing they were looking for different things, taking different paths. Shizuma understood. She was not especially happy about it, but she understood. Nagisa who, last time she heard, was enjoying college life with her roommate/girlfriend/stalker/soulmate Tamao. Shizuma understood. She was not especially happy about it, but she understood.
They were still friends on Facebook. It was alright, really.
Besides, she could never hate Nagisa, even if she wanted. The girl had helped her move on from Kaori's death and for that, Shizuma would be eternally grateful.
The pianist had not stayed celibate for long after that, because, of course. Nothing serious, shallow dates here and there because why the hell not? She was free of grief, she was young, and she was single. It had nothing of the heaviness and desperation of her in-betweens days at Miatre, when Kaori's ghost was still looming over her like a black cloud above her head. It was fun. Shizuma liked fun.
"Ready?" The stranger stood up, eyes still twinkling as she finished tuning her violin. Shizuma nodded, straightening her stance, hands back on the keys. "Any preferences?" The violinist said with a smile that was all white teeth and canines.
Yes. You. Please.
Shizuma answered with a swoon worthy smirk of her own. Two could play this game. She shrugged. "Classical?"
"Color me surprised." The woman chuckled. "How about… classical with a twist?"
Shizuma's brows knitted in confusion. With a twist? What twist? "I don't…"
"Improvise. Start on something and I will follow."
Oh. Oh. That she could do. She could do very well. Shizuma looked back at the violinist. The real question was, could she follow. They had been complete strangers five minutes ago, Shizuma did not know her level, that was a recipe for disaster.
"So?" The violinist asked, eyes shining with a self-assurance that was bordering on smug.
Yes. Yes. Please.
Shizuma glanced at the piano, laughing. "Fine."
She racked her brain for a second, scrolling through the classical repertory that had grown exponentially since she was four years old, before remembering a little game she had played with her classmates and friends at the Royal College a couple of years ago. The principle had been easy. They quizzed each other twice on mundane things and the quizzee had to answer by playing a music piece. It was good exercise that allowed them to play and brush off their musical knowledge while learning about each other, all at the same time.
Twenty questions for classical nerds.
Shizuma's two questions had been:
Song to wake up to.
Debussy's Reverie.
Obviously.
And:
Song seduce with.
She smirked.
Her fingers sauntered over the keys in a rapid cadence, startling the other woman a little. Classical with a twist, uh? She let loose, leaving her hands reinterpret the overture. Short and sharp notes going crescendo, challenging the other as she left only a couple of clues to figure out what she was playing.
Their eyes met briefly, the violinist's sparkling knowingly in realization.
Shizuma ran her index and middle fingers from one end to another before replaying the overture again, with less twisting this time to let the other woman join in. Piano and violin engaged in a tango, each taking turns in leading, one instrument enhancing the other, letting it go before drawing it back. A game of push and pull, both of them perfectly in sync. The notes twirling around each other like dancing partners, predators assessing their prey.
Whistles rose from the audience around them, Shizuma looked up briefly, seeing smiles and camera lenses focused on both of them. So much for not drawing attention. She played, nevertheless, sporting a luminous grin as she kept improvising along the violinist next to her.
Their spontaneous duet came to an end, soon followed by a loud applause that filled over the station's noises and hums.
Shizuma laughed quietly, a little sheepish as she turned around on the bench and bowed a little. The other woman scratched her cheek in embarrassment. The cheering crowd was making her feel awkward. She bowed her head at them before meeting Shizuma's eyes. "Thank you for humoring me."
The woman shook her head. "Thank you for joining…"
She wanted to say more but her sentence was cut halfway by the obnoxious station music followed by the sultry robotic voice announcing a train's arrival.
"TGV n°16842 bound to Marseilles-Saint-Charles has entered the station. Platform E."
The violinist winced apologetically. "Woops. That's me," she crouched down again to put her instrument back in its case and stood up.
Shizuma closed her mouth and nodded. She had completely forgotten where she was for a bit. A station. With trains. Leaving trains. Her chest tightened uncomfortably, and the feeling was not welcome. She stood up as the other reached with her right hand to shake hers.
"I hope yours comes soon," she smiled.
Shizuma looked at her watch. "Twenty minutes," she sounded as surprised as she felt. Between her solo performance and the improvised duet, she had wasted a good hour and a half. "Hopefully."
"Hopefully," the other repeated with a knowing look.
The crowd around had quickly dissolved once it was obvious the musicians were done. A few were still around, giving them smiles and thumbs up before walking away. The strike meant the few trains available were raided, passengers moving like a raging horde to get in. Both women looked at the (sad) spectacle before them for a while before Shizuma caught herself and pointed towards it with her chin.
"You should…"
Blue-yellow eyes met hers, a bit startled. "Oh, yeah. Yes," she smiled without showing her teeth, the dimple on her cheek deepening.
Shizuma had not noticed it before. Cute.
Yes, please.
"Safe travel," they blurted at the same time and chuckled.
"So…" the violinist looked at her feet, breathed through her nose and glanced up. "Goodbye and thank you again."
Shizuma acquiesced. "Good luck," she pointed at the mass of people already crushing each other and yelling. "Try to stay alive."
It made the other laugh, which she was really proud of. The woman winked. "Promise."
It was the last thing the musician said before disappearing in the crowd of aggravated passengers. Shizuma left, walking back to the lounge to sit down and wait. The small smile on her lips refused to leave.
Talk about chance encounters…
She did not believe in fate much (how was it fate for someone like Kaori to die so young?), but maybe the meeting with that stranger was some karmic intervention for her good deeds? She could not deny it had been nice. And fun. Shizuma liked fun.
Bah!
She wanted to laugh at her own absurdity. What were the chances of meeting that stranger again? Next to none.
Especially when she remembered she did not know her name.
Her smile disappeared suddenly.
They had not introduced themselves.
Great.
Shizuma scowled.
Had a lot of fun writing this, at least.
They play Libertango together. I first heard it 3 years ago, four hands playing, pianist Khatia Buniatishvili and I don't remember who else but shit. That girl is mesmerizing when she plays. Anyways, yep. Might add another chapter to make it a two-shot if you guys are interested.
(Can you believe Strawberry Panic is 12 years old? Holy Moly.)