Day 60: Music Room (Fourth Shift)

[norainu]

It wasn't often that Renji felt less like punching people in general as his day wore on. This was a new experience for him. A not unwelcome one, if he was being honest. And the fact that he felt less like punching Fai? Kind of mind-blowing. The sort of thing Zen masters would probably use as a kouan to reach an all-new level of non-punching enlightenment.

So he was back from the dead, almost everyone he'd known was gone, and yet bizarrely his day felt like it was looking up. Kind of. Renji wasn't sure what to make of this. Maybe his grumpy meter was just nearing empty. That was as good an explanation as the next, considering how this place made him feel.

Whatever the reason, he ended up in the music room. And he remembered oh yeah. He'd always kind of hated this damn shift. He grabbed a little book of music and a drum and retreated quickly to the far end of the room. He put the drum down in front of him just so he looked like he was doing something and opened the book. But he had no idea how to read music, and really, he was more interested in the ongoing puzzle of what the hell had happened in the last four weeks.

And brooding. Of course. There was always brooding to be done.

[Okay Tolten, let me lay it out for you. When there's a mommy and a daddy... or sometimes a daddy and a dadddy. Or, hell, sometimes a mommy and a mommy if you buy the right kind of wood cuts (and a third mommy if you go to just the right shop)... but anyway when they love each other very much, or at least a suitably large amount of money changes hands, there are some things that happen...]

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[rainboompow]

Rainbow glanced up with a cocked eyebrow at the floppy-maned guy who had just spoken. "I-I knew that!" she asserted after a moment, cheeks very faintly flushed as she tried to hide embarrassment. She had so just been on the verge of figuring that out, she was sure. She hadn't needed someone to tell her! She wasn't stupid!

A few moments later, though, she was handing over the recorder, glad to get the thing off of her not-hooves (shiver). "But I guess you can if you want. I don't want it anyway," she said. "Knock yourself out." Even as she pretended not to be interested, though, she kept an eye on the guy out of the corner of her gaze, curious despite herself to see how a human played the thing. Master of subtlty Rainbow Dash was not.

[vinesofregret]

Hakkai had to wonder if there was something about him that just attracted grumpy people who refused to express their true feelings on matters. It was rather becoming a theme, both at home and here. Though he had to admit, Sanzo at least was a touch more subtle about it than this girl.

He took the recorder, and after taking a few seconds to position his fingers, put the mouthpiece to his lips and played a passable simple scale.

[rainboompow]

Rainbow watched the human's fingers with more interest than she would have figured. It looked so easy to cover exactly the hole that was needed when it was needed. Comparable pony flutes, which looked a little different, were a lot harder to handle with just hooves, and thus most bands and party orchestras tended not to include them. If music had been her thing, Rainbow might have been a little jealous.

But music was not her thing, and neither was this "Institute" place. When she caught herself watching toward the end of the scale, Rainbow shifted her head in the other direction, trying to refocus on figuring out her escape plan. Whatever that was.

"Not bad," she commented after a moment, figuring it at least wouldn't hurt to give the guy a simple compliment, even if she wasn't looking at him. "But it would be better if it sounded a little cooler."

[vinesofregret]

Hakkai caught that curious glance, though he didn't mention as he took the recorder away from his mouth. He shrugged lightly at her comment - there didn't seem to be much sense in taking it too personally. He knew how it went with these types - he'd certainly seen it enough from Sanzo over the weeks.

"It's a simple instrument. There are probably some more interesting ones here, but... I'm not much of a musician, myself."

[rainboompow]

"And neither am I, like at all," said Rainbow, still not looking back over. "I've got this one friend who is. Her name's Pinkie Pie. She and all my other friends were with me up until a little earlier when I got zapped over here."

Her face fell at that. Where did her friends think she was right now? Were they all still together, or had Discord separated them all into these little pocket worlds (or whatever it was he had done here)? She hadn't seen anyone in the building so far who looked more like they might be a former pony than anyone else, let alone any of the girls.

"Hey, you haven't seen anyone with a poofy pink mane around, have you?" she asked after a moment. She wasn't sure she'd get an answer out of the guy, but it couldn't hurt to ask.

[vinesofregret]

Ah - another recent arrival, it seemed. Hakkai could certainly sympathize with that - and with missing friends. He hoped his travelling companions were managing without him, and that someone was taking care of Jeep for him. Otherwise there would be Words whenever he got out of this place.

"I haven't, I'm afraid." Pink would certainly have stuck out to him, here. "Or any of my friends I was travelling with before I arrived here, either." Unspoken was the small offer of sympathy there - you aren't alone.

[rainboompow]

That ended up being the words that caused the former pegasus to look back up at the human. There was a genuine sadness in his expression — a subtle one, maybe even a small one, but one that even Rainbow Dash could pick up on. That was new. Between the nurse, the cool and collected Rose, and the batslip crazy Japan guy, she wouldn't have guessed anyone here actually felt anything about being here. Let alone that they might be separated from their friends too. The admission ended up being one of the most sobering things Rainbow had heard since waking up from Discord's spell.

"Where do you think they are now?" she asked, genuine curiosity meeting genuine sadness.

[vinesofregret]

Hakkai blinked. He hadn't expected that question - not from how she'd been behaving a few minutes ago, anyway. He covered up his surprise with a quick smile - it seemed that they had something in common there after all.

"Home still, I hope. We had something important we were doing." The smile turned a little wistful as he thought of them. "No doubt getting into trouble without me. And eating terribly." Honestly, sometimes he didn't know how Gojyo had survived before meeting him.

[rainboompow]

It was kind of baffling to Rainbow that this guy could talk about his missing friends and still smile about it, even if he was sad. What was even more baffling was that it rubbed off on Rainbow, just a bit. She couldn't help but grin for a moment as she imagined Pinkie Pie guzzling up all the chocolate rain she could while Discord was still around. If there was one pony who could find an upside to eternal chaos, it was her.

When she caught herself, however, she shook her head and shook the smile off her face with it. "What were you doing? Where're you even from, anyway?" she asked, wondering just how long the human had been in this place. If it had been long enough that he could accept his friends' absence, he and his friends probably hadn't been dealing with Discord or his crazy world. That had only started today, pretty much. After another moment, Rainbow added one more question: "And what's your name? I'm Rainbow Dash." The one and only, her mind weakly supplied afterward as she glanced down at her human hands.

[vinesofregret]

It seemed most polite to answer her last question first. Hakkai gave her a small, polite bow from where he was seated. "My name is Hakkai - it's a pleasure to meet you."

With the formality done with, he relaxed a little back into the chair. "I'm from China. And my friends and I... we were travelling to stop something that would permanently imbalance the world."

There was a small pang of regret at the past-tense, there - though he hoped the others were still travelling without him. Even though they'd gone back for Gojyo... if they waited, they could be waiting forever. It was a hard truth he had to contemplate, even if he didn't want to accept it.

[rainboompow]

Rainbow Dash nodded, taking in the name. Hawkeye, got it, she thought. It was probably good to know at least one person in this place if she wasn't going to be getting out of it right away. She knew better than a lot of ponies how important it was to have friends by your side, especially after having been stuck under Discord's spell of disloyalty to her own friends. She felt kind of bad that she didn't plan to be stuck long enough to really get to know Hawkeye as a real-deal friend, but hey, at least he seemed nice enough to be a temporary one.

And she had no idea where China was, but when the human got to the words "imbalance in the world", that got Rainbow's attention. "Hey, so were we! Maybe it was the same thing! Was its name Discord?!" she asked, desperate to know.

[vinesofregret]

Hakkai blinked at the sudden enthusiasm the girl showed. "I... suppose it was, in a general sense," he replied carefully, a little confused by the sudden turn in the conversation. "Someone was... attempting to do something forbidden. And it's throwing everything out of alignment." Which was something he'd seen, felt himself. The cold, sharp rage that came when he let his true self show - though now that he thought about it, it had been absent last night. Perhaps - the Minus Wave's effects did not extend here.