Practicing

[Ian Reeves]

Ian walked over to the music classrooms slowly, glancing around as he shoved his hands in his jeans pockets. It was rather late, almost nine at night, but he couldn't sleep or even relax in his dorm - he felt like playing. That was one of the things he really loved about the Academy, the fact that the classrooms were always opened for them if they wanted to practice, except (very reasonably) from midnight to seven in the morning. That made sense too, but apart from that he really loved being able to go practice whenever he wanted to and felt like it. The fact that they also had access to the other classrooms was also a good thing, because he often found himself in one of the Creative Writing rooms, feeling they were the perfect place for him to write his music. The other students didn't seem to mind either, quiet as he was, and so he'd always been able to go there without a problem whenever he felt like writing something. Writing music helped him express his feelings just as much as playing it did.

When he finally got to the music classroom, he pushed opened the door that read 'Piano' on it, in a very classic looking font, painted golden on the dark wood. He stepped in and took a breath to take it all in, smiling a little. He'd been here for three years now, but this room never stopped to impress him. Dozens of pianos, all placed strategically across the room so that one player wouldn't be bothered too much by another one - though most of them wore earpieces so that was never really a problem - lined along the dark wooden walls that matched the door with heavy red curtains hanging at the windows. That was the first place Ian walked over to - he carefully grabbed the smooth fabric and dragged it so that no light from the outside could get in - there were many lights placed everywhere on the school grounds, and though it obviously wasn't as bad as the sun, Ian couldn't stand a strong lighting whenever he played, which was why he prefered playing alone.

Next, he went to the switches that controlled the lights in the room and turned a few of them completely off, turning the others a little so that the room was barely lit, just enough for him to see well. He walked over to one of the pianos, sitting on the bench and placing the few sheets of music he'd written earlier that day in front of him. He needed to try it first to see if there was anything wrong with it before showing it to the Teacher - or even it might be completely wrong and he'd just have to start over again. It happened often, though it made him better most of the time, which was a good thing. Taking a deep breath, he read quickly through the lines before resting his fingers lightly on the black and white keys, waiting a moment before pressing harder, music filling the room. He smiled as he played through the first few lines - it sounded fine for now.

[Moira Nichols]

Moira was wandering the halls of Gordon Parks' Academy for the Arts with her film camera, pointing its lens at shadows, in doors, and wherever else she thought to look. She didn't know why she was awake-well, actually she did. She hadn't yet got the hang of sleeping in a room with someone who bothered her. Everytime Cassandra moved Moira's eyes would go over to her really quickly, as if she was afraid that she was going to get killed in her sleep. And as far as she could tell, she wouldn't be surprised if such a thing would happen. And now that stupid idea wouldn't get out of her head. So, she had decided to not go to bed just yet, but instead wander the halls, which were open until midnight. She had already found the Arts room, the Creating Writing, and Film Rooms. Each one had its own distinct personality, and although she adored Film, she would like to have been able to try the other majors just so she could spend some more time in the rooms.

She turned away from the wing that had the Dance Classrooms, having already seen those before when they had visited Morgan. She smiled a little as she thought of her sister. She certainly hadn't been kidding about this place, it was wonderful. Moira scowled a little as she thought about how her parents had been so sad to let her, the baby, go. Sometimes she really wished that she had been the adopted girl, and not Morgan. They had been reluctant about letting her go, but it had been nothing compared to the show that had occurred as Moira followed her sister onto the plane.

As she began walking through another wing, she thought she heard something. It was very faint, but she chose to follow it. On the way, she began fiddling with the way her camera percieved colors. Right now, she wanted a lot of blue, so she went to the menu and adjusted the tolerance, and then set to recording again. She held the camera in front of her, with the view finder screen open so she could both watch where she was going and what she was filming. As she walked down the hall, she could hear the music getting somewhat louder, but it was still very soft. Carefully, she let the camera pan around the halls as she checked to see if there was any light. And then, almost as faint as the music, she saw a glow being emitted from the room labeled "Piano." With a grin, she walked quickly over to it and pushed the door open a little bit more so that she could film whoever was inside.

Whoever they were, they were good. Moira knew that much. She was entranced as she watched and listened, occasionally changing something on her camera-more sepia, completely in black and white, but her conciousness wasn't on the camera at the moment. She wanted to know who it was that was making that music, but she couldn't see them as they were hunched over the piano, and the angle she was at was all wrong to see them.

[Ian Reeves]

Ian was concentrating so hard on his song that he didn't notice or even hear Moira entering the room. His eyes were practically closed now as he'd been playing the same thing for a while and knew it almost by heard. Besides, he didn't want to see what he was playing - having written it, he was pretty sure of what it looked like. But he wanted to know now what it sounded like. Watching the partition and concentrating on what his eyes were seeing tended to lessen his hearing concentration, and he never fully managed to find the mistakes and the good points in what he wrote. By closing his eyes, however, it was as though his hearing improved drastically over the first few seconds and then adjusted, forcing him to listen more intently to the music filling the room. And it was better that way too, because that's what he meant to do. Over the first few minutes of doing that exercice, he'd found several notes that didn't quite match well together and had changed them, and now, after a few modifications, he could tell the song was alright. Not perfect - it would never be perfect, mainly because perfection didn't exist, and also because even though someone could consider it as such, another person could say it was simply horrible. But all in all, he was happy with it.

As he got to the ending of the song, he kept his finger a bit longer on the last key before opening his eyes and letting go of the note, the sound lingering in the room a little longer. That was when, however, he realized he was not alone. His senses were always somewhat heightened whenever he played piano, and there was always some of it left for a few minutes after he stopped. So, he didn't have to look behind him to know there was someone standing by the door. He wondered how long they'd been standing there and hardly even dared to turn around and look at them. For one thing, he certainly didn't want it to be his professor. He'd wanted to adjust the song a bit more before presenting it to her, and hearing it while it was still in progress was not something he'd intended for her to do. Apart from her, however, he didn't really mind whoever it was. Mainly because he didn't exactly plan to start a long conversation with them, whoever it was, unless they forced one out of him, which was pretty much always what happened when he talked to people who wanted him to talk. He wasn't a talker.

Sighing lightly, he figured he'd have to face the person sooner or later and gathered his music pages, taking them in his hands before getting back to his feet and turning to face whoever was there. It was a girl. Great. A girl. Ian was shy with pretty much everybody. But with girls, it was worse. Ten times worse. Even more. He could hardly get a sentence straight when he was talking to a girl, especially a girl he didn't know. He figured they were pretty much his personal Hell, each and every one of them. This wouldn't turn out good.

[Moira Nichols]

Moira inched closer, pointing her camera at the mysterious piano player. She still couldn't see much, but from what she could tell, the piano player was definitely a "he". And he also hadn't noticed her yet. She wondered briefly whether to be offended by this, she was used to causing at least a bit of attention. But this way, she could just listen and watch without having to wonder if that was all right with him. Well, that's just fine. For now, all she wanted to do was film what was currently happening in this room she'd stumbled upon. She turned the color back up to normal, cancelling out the blue tolerance she had set on it before. Although she couldn't see it for herself, her look of concentration as she looked through her camera at what she was capturing was about as intense as the look on Ian's-although in his case, his eyes were closed. Moira leaned up against a nearby piano and watched, but mostly listened. She didn't believe that she'd find this kind of talent at GPA, she'd rarely considered the other majors as interesting; besides dance, which was her sister's, anyway. Moira wanted to know more about this guy...but somehow she was stuck. She couldn't interrupt the music, not now.

She knew that the ending of the song must be coming soon when he played the last key a little bit longer. It seemed like a musical thing to do, after all. Making the ending as dramatic as possible. Or maybe that was just what she'd do; make everything dramatic as possible, that is. After he let it stop, the note still lingered, as if held there by some magical power, dancing around her ears. Which just happened to be the acoustics of the room, but she didn't know that, so was fairly mesmerized. Moira let her camera turn off as soon as the remains of the note vanished. She tucked it into the bag she had slung around her shoulder, knowing that she had two options. Option one, she could book it out of there and pretend she hadn't been there and watch the tape like an obsessive fan girl. Or option two, she could wait and see if she could talk to this mystery guy...and then later go back to her room and watch the tape like an obsessive fan girl.

Having not come to a decision, it would seem as though Piano guy would make one for her. He collected his music and turned around, and she just stood there silently for a moment. And he stood there silently for a moment. Moira cleared her throat and said, "Hey. I was just listening to your playing." Well, that was obvious "You're really talented." Again, obvious. But didn't people always like to be complimented? And he was probably used to being complimented if he played like that all the time. And looked the way he did. Moira secretly began to wish she hadn't turned her camera off. If she could get an image of the guy, she might be able to show it to her sister, or if she got desperate, her roommate to see if they knew anything about him that she didn't find out in this first meeting.

[Ian Reeves]

Ian swallowed hard as he wondered what he should do now. This was a stupid reaction, and he was aware of it, but he pretty much felt like a rat trapped into a cage right now. He didn't know how to talk to girls, at all. Heck, he hardly knew how to talk to guys and he wasn't attracted to them, not that he was attracted to every single girl he came across, but the prettiest they were, the worse it was. This one was rather pretty, not exactly her type but still cute. He'd have to remember to come even later in the music rooms to practice next time if he didn't want to get caught. When had making music become so dangerous too? If he couldn't come here anymore without being caught by girls, then he wasn't safe anywhere. This was a bit depressing but what could he do about it. As he tried to keep his thoughts as clear as possible - that way if he had to talk, it wouldn't sound insane - he looked over at the girl, trying to see if he recognized her from anywhere. If she'd been a Music student, even a Freshman, he'd know who she was. But he couldn't replace her so she most likely wasn't that. However, she did look like a Freshman, so maybe he was right about at least that part.

When she spoke, he groaned inwardly. That meant he'd have to answer. The problem with Ian was that his music talked for him, more than he could himself, but people tended not to quite understand what he meant to say if they just listened to his music. They enjoyed it, thought it was pretty, complimented him about it, but they didn't understand it any further than that. He sometimes wondered if he'd ever find somebody who did, and to this point he highly doubted it. Of course, maybe he was just being a freak or something of the sort to expect people to understand the way his music talked, but that was how he was. He didn't exactly want to change either, he was used to being this way. And if he found out some day that he could no longer express himself with the notes he played, then he'd most likely feel like he'd just become mute. It was as simple as that, and he didn't think it unreasonable either. It would be a handicap.

He forced himself to smile a little and answer to the girl as she said he was talented, thinking it was the least he could do after getting a compliment like that, though then again, it was pretty much a given considering he was at the academy. "Thank you very much," he said, nodding lightly. "I'm sorry for my first reaction, I hadn't seen you there," he added, refering to the fact that he'd pretty much frozen and stared when seeing her first, which could pretty much be considered as rude. "My name is Ian," he smiled a little, figuring he might as well introduce himself while he was at it. "I'm a Junior, Music student, which you probably figured by yourself." He was a bit surprised at his own talking, it wasn't usual that he even talked this much, but he was trying to be nice. "And you are?"

[Moira Nichols]

Since she had gotten the words out, Moira began to relax a little. She rarely felt this nervous around other people; but his talent (and, okay, looks) seemed to have disarmed her usual confidence in herself. And now that she had gotten the words out, she felt like she'd be able to keep up her end of the conversation and regain that confidence in herself so that he'd find her charming. Or at least likeable enough to warrant seeing him again. However, she got the feeling that he seemed uncomfortable due to her presence. She figured it was probably due to the fact that she'd just...stood there, listening to him. Some part of her hoped it was because he thought she was pretty. Moira smiled, trying to be reassuring that she was not actually insane. She really did want to get to know more about him, hear more of his music, and maybe even film some more.

"You're welcome. Of course I'm sure you hear things like that all the time; and since you go to the Academy..." Her voice trailed off a bit when he mentioned that he hadn't seen her there. That would most likely be the reason as to why he'd stood and stared at her. Her smile turned a little sheepish as she continued to talk. "That's probably my fault...I tried to be really quiet so you wouldn't stop playing. I wanted to hear more of your playing." Her cheeks grew a little pink as she said that, but she did. Moira figured that at the moment it wouldn't be good to mention that she'd caught most of the thing on film. The hope that a little of her confidence in herself would be returning over the course of the conversation dimmed a bit. But she didn't shrink away from him, she still wanted to know more.

Ian, Junior Music Student...so he must be at least two years older than me...Now at least I can ask Morgan about him. Hopefully she knows something. she thought before introducing herself. Morgan was a bit shy, but she guessed that she knew at least some of the kids she might not immediately talk to. If not, she didn't know who she had to ask. The only other person she knew at Gordon Parks' was Cassandra, her roommate. Luckily, she probably knew nothing anyway, being a freshman herself. On that one level, Moira believed that she and Cassandra were equal. Her roommate might have more money, but they both were about equally clueless to the world of Gordon Parks'. Unfortunately, Moira didn't yet know that Cassandra had a senior older brother, who could've told her much more than her own sophomore sister.

"I'm Moira, this is my first year at Gordon Parks-so, I'm a freshman, obviously," Moira's smile flashed quickly again before she continued, "And I'm going to study Film." she gestured proudly to her camera before realzing that it might give her away as to the fact that she'd been filming him. Had he seen her holding it before she shoved it away? Even out of the corner of his eye? "Nice to meet you." she added, hoping he hadn't notice her push her camera towards her back a little bit in its pack.

[Ian Reeves]

Ian stood awkwardly by the piano still, not really daring to move closer. It was a bit sad really how much he could be intimidated by girls, but it’d now been seventeen years that he was that way and he was pretty sure he would never manage to get over it now. Maybe someday he’d get a bit better with it, hopefully anyway, but he couldn’t be sure of it, and by seeing his way of acting it was a bit hard to believe he ever would too. The only girls or women he felt comfortable talking with were his step-mother and step-sister, so it wasn’t going to get him very far if it came to ever having a relationship. Because obviously, he’d never had a girlfriend before. He’d never kissed a girl either, and he couldn’t even remember ever holding a girl’s hand, even when he was younger. Overall, he just usually tried not to get too close to girls, unless he had a strong need of humiliation that day or something of the sort. When he was forced to work with one of them for school projects, it was truly Hell for him. He usually tried to get the work done as soon as possible so that he could run away and never come back. Okay, maybe it wasn’t completely like that all of the time, but it was rather close to it.

He gave a small smile as she spoke, shrugging lightly. “Well there are many other talented people here,” he said, playing a little with the sheets of music he still held in his hands. “The attention that is given to every students goes around a lot and I’m not really one to get the most of it… or want the most of it,” he admitted, and it was true. If there was one thing he hated more than being forced to talk, it was probably being the center of attention, or worse yet, speaking in public. That actually tended to make him a bit nauseous and, though he was never actually sick because of it, he still never felt good again until he was back to being invisible to the eyes of all. He smiled lightly as she mentioned that the reason why she’d been quiet was because she wanted to hear him play some more. It was very flattering, and though he was shy and silent, compliments were still nice from time to time, and he was human still.

“I’m glad you enjoyed it,” he said honestly. After all, the music he wrote wasn’t only for himself, it was for those who were to hear it. Of curse, he couldn’t grad or criticize his music himself and he had to get comments from other people to make sure his songs were good or bad, to know if there was something to change about it or if he could leave it that way. “It’s not completely finished yet, I still have a few modifications to make,” he admitted, shrugging lightly. He knew it wasn’t good enough to show it to their teacher yet, and he wasn’t sure if it ever would be, but considering he’d planned on using it for a school work, he didn’t have much of a choice.

He nodded as she introduced herself, having already figured she must be a Freshman. Though he didn’t talk very much, he was still good at noticing people and guessing their year, and sometimes what they studied. Had he noticed the camera before, he could have easily figured she was a Film student, but he’d somehow missed it. Her name, however, somehow rang a bell in his mind. He wasn’t sure where he knew it from, but he was almost convinced he’d at least heard it once before. Maybe she had an older sibling who also went to the Academy – it wasn’t rare that several members of a same family came here, so he wouldn’t be surprised by it if she had an older brother or sister here. He figured it must be a Senior or Sophomore however, because he couldn’t remember seeing or talking to someone named Nichols in his year. “Nice to meet you too, Moira,” he said, smiling lightly.