Groovy Tunes; Tuesday [06/16].

[lilac_eyed_lieutenant]

Tisarwat had been doing a little bit of research on pianos, just so she might have a little more to say about them if Lucille did come back during one of her shifts to pursue a purchase, and part of that research had been how to actually play one.

Which was interesting for her, since not a lot of piano tutorials had people wearing gloves while playing...

...but when she wasn't behind the counter, she was over there, plunking a little on the keys and tentatively trying some of the beginner exercises she'd found. She didn't see herself picking up piana any time soon. She'd leave that to the people who knew what they were doing. But it was a good way to pass the time for the day.

Groovy Tunes is open!

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[crimson_sister]

Lucille had almost decided which piano to buy, she just needed to try it again. When she heard Tisarwat play, she stopped just inside the door, listened, then cleared her throat.

[lilac_eyed_lieutenant]

Tisarwat might have missed the throat clearing if her tepid tinkling at the piano hadn't been as stilted and studied.as it was, but when she heard it, she stopped, abruptly seized with embarrassment and the realization that there was at least one issue with playing while at work, and that was that other people might actually hear her.

To her credit, though, she wasn't exactly used to a whole lot of people coming in.

"Oh!" she said, when she saw who it was. "Lucille! Hello! Have you decided on a piano?"

[crimson_sister]

"I have," she said, smiling a little. "And you have started to learn how to play."

[lilac_eyed_lieutenant]

"Out of boredom, mostly," said Tisarwat, her own grin a little wry, and she shook her head. "People aren't exactly clamoring to purchase instruments around here.

"What did you decide? Should I get you some tea while we work on the logistics?"

Tisarwat had no idea how something like getting it to Lucille's place was even going to work...

[crimson_sister]

"Tea would be lovely, thank you," Lucille replied, adding: "Learning to play with gloves on must be difficult."

[lilac_eyed_lieutenant]

"Not nearly as difficult as learning as a child without any guidance, I imagine," said Tisarwat, with a smile over her shoulder as she tilted her head toward the counter where the tea was so they could go over there and enjoy it before getting to business.

"Gloves are very important in my culture," she added, and would actively have to keep her attention offLucille's now. "I couldn't imagine playing without them."

Well. She could. But it wouldn't be very appropriate.

[crimson_sister]

"Where I'm from both ladies and gentlemen would wear gloves outside," Lucille said. "But not indoors. I'm glad I don't have to play with them on."

She smiled at Tisarwat, running her fingers along the keys.

[lilac_eyed_lieutenant]

"What if you were playing outside, though?" Tisarwat asked with a small laugh, as she poured a cup for Lucille and handed it out for her. "Some sort of...garden party, or something like that? Then what?"

[crimson_sister]

"Fingerless ones, perhaps, made of lace. Although pianos are rarely moved outside, so it has never been an issue. Especially not where I'm from. The weather isn't suitable for garden parties."

They didn't even have a garden, just a pile of red clay with a mansion on top of it.

"With a piano and a bookshelf I'll feel at home."

[lilac_eyed_lieutenant]

Fingerless gloves made of lace. Tisarwat's next short laugh was an incredulous sort of bewilderment as she shook her head. Best not to focus on that part.

"But with much better weather, it sounds like," she said instead. "It would probably take a lot more than that to maket his place feel more like home for me, but I'm glad you have the means to make it more comfortable for yourself."

[crimson_sister]

"There are things about my home I prefer to forget," Lucille said, taking a seat in front of the piano. "Poetry and playing the piano aren't among them."

[lilac_eyed_lieutenant]

Naturally, a statement like that made Tisarwat incredibly curious about what those things might be, but it was hardly appropriate for a second conversation with someone you knew only on the level of being a potential piano customer. Which simply meant getting to know Lucille more, which didn't seem like a trial or a hardship at all.

"Those are excellent things to have with you, wherever you go," she agreed with a smile. "You like poetry, too?"

[crimson_sister]

"I do. You too? I haven't met many people on the island who appreciates poetry. I used to have a friend here who did, and then there's Shunsui..."

She smiled.

"I didn't bring many books from our library at home, but I ordered a bookshelf from the blacksmith so at least they'll have a proper place."

[lilac_eyed_lieutenant]

"Poetry is a very important of my culture, like gloves," Tisarwat explained, almost glowing with the shared interest in such a civilized matter. "Every Radchaai child is taught to appreciate and write poetry from a very young age, and most of us try to carry it on into adulthood, though some are obviously much better at it than others. I'm trying to improve my own, actually. I'm in Shunsui's writing class, actually..."

Though she felt it would be impolite to comment on her doubts as to whether or not it was improving anything from his instructions. He was more knowledgable than she would have expected, but most of the talent in the class seemed to come from her fellow classmates, but she'd always been exceptionally fond of Nina, and Astrid and Tahani were lovely as well.

Besides, there was something much more interesting to talk about than her writing class in there.

"And a bookshelf from Amaya would not only be a proper place, but a impressive one at that. She does wonderful work."

[crimson_sister]

"Have you ordered anything from her?" Lucille asked. "My impression is that she takes her work seriously."

[lilac_eyed_lieutenant]

"Unfortunately," said Tisarwat with a wistful sort of smile, "I haven't had the opportunity to need any of her wares, but she's very passionate and I've enjoyed many occasions of getting to hear about her various projects and jobs. I wasn't aware that she made bookshelves."

Which meant that now Tisarwat was thinking of the apartment downstairs and trying to parse out exactly where a bookshelf seemed to be tragically missing.

[crimson_sister]

"It's a bit unexpected for a blacksmith," Lucille said. "You are friends, then?"

[lilac_eyed_lieutenant]

"We are," Tisarwat said, smile lightening up in blatant disregard to any potential other perspective on what her relationship with Amaya might have been. "Pretty good friends, actually. I'm even TAing for her class."

Well, her and Seivarden's class, and it had more to do with her being Radchaai and the class being about Radchaai things than anything else, but those were just...meaningless details that didn't need to muddle up the conversation.

"And there's also this party this weekend, but..." She shook her head, gestured as if to dismiss it. "Never mind. She's a good friend to have, though, as capable and dependable as she is charming and clever."

[crimson_sister]

"She sounds like a very good friend," Lucille said, wondering if there was more than friendship, at least from Tisarwat's side. She still wasn't sure whether Tisarwat was a boy or a girl, but, well, that hardly mattered here.

"A party? Are you going with Amaya, then?"

[lilac_eyed_lieutenant]

"Well," Tisarwat explained, "technically, I'm going with my friend Seivarden, but Amaya will be there. Amaya and Seivarden are friends, too," and excuse her a moment as she sucked in a small breath to ignore certain thing on radio yet again that seemed to suggest they were more than friends, but Seivarden wouldn't do that to hse and lie about it, would she?, "and it's a birthday party for their friend Summer, who I don't really know, so I'm coming as a guest of Seivarden's."

It was all very complicated.

Because Summer sometimes confused 'complicated' for 'good.'

[crimson_sister]

"Making new friends?" Lucille asked. "It's good to have your friend introduce you, although I know people here don't find that sort of thing important."

She added: "I'd like to know more about the place you are from. Tea and gloves? It sounds quite respectable."

[lilac_eyed_lieutenant]

"Honestly?" Tisarwat's smile was charmingly sheepish with the admission. At least, that's what she was aiming for. "It's just sort of nice to have been invited. She apparently asked for the invitation to be extended to me specifically."

And it was hard not to feel flattered by something like that.

"And we're a very civilized place," she added. "Nothing like this planet as I've experienced it so far. It's a place called the Radch, and it's a very vast empire in space. My friend Seivarden is from there, too, and so is my roommate, Breq. She also owns this store, sonyou'll likely see her if you're here not on a Tuesday. But none of us seem able to get back home. It's only been a little while for me, but they've been stuck here upwards.of three years, I think."

[crimson_sister]

"That sounds terrible," Lucille said, not coldly, but with little emotion. "You can't even contact your family and friends?"

[lilac_eyed_lieutenant]

"Not for lack of trying, either," Tisarwat's head shook, she released a small sigh. "The technology here is incredibly primitive, just like their ideas of civilized behavior. It could be worse, though. A lot worse.

[crimson_sister]

"If you think the technology here is primitive, then I'm not sure what you would think of what it's like in my time," Lucille said. "And it can always be worse."

[lilac_eyed_lieutenant]

"But it sounds like where you lack in technology, you make up for in propriety, though," Tisarwat countered with a smile. "This place just sorely lacks in both."

[crimson_sister]

"That is true."

Lucille glanced down at the piano keys.

"Although it might not be quite proper to invite you for tea and poetry reading."

A boy younger than her? From a place where there were spaceships? Thomas would have been so excited.

[lilac_eyed_lieutenant]

"Why shouldn't it be?" asked Tisarwat, head tilted curiosity, imagining it might ha e something to do with some other social propriety that she couldn't quite understand. Earth did have a lot of odd ideas about what was proper, and a different time period might be weirder still, even with proper respect for tea and some respect for gloves.

"If anything," she offered, "I should at least check in at some point to make sure the piano was delivered properly and there are no issues. And if there happens to be tea and poetry before I leave, that's just you being a good hostess."

[crimson_sister]

There would be no poison in the tea.

"Different customs, that's all. Some of them I'm happy to leave behind in my time. Stop by and make sure the piano is delivered safely, and there will be tea and poetry, and if you like I'll play something."

[lilac_eyed_lieutenant]

"I can't see why I wouldn't like that," Tisarwat said, with an easy, almost fond smile, from both her natural gift for flattery and a genuine appreciation for what she remembered of Lucille's playing last week.

[crimson_sister]

"Then that's decided."

She placed a hand on the piano. "Will you arrange to have this delivered?"

[lilac_eyed_lieutenant]

"I will." Tisarwat nodded. She didn't know exactly how, but she figured Breq would know how to handle the logistics of it. "When would be a good time?"

[crimson_sister]

"Oh, anytime," Lucille said. "Except for Saturdays, when I work. I have a phone, so you can call me before."

[lilac_eyed_lieutenant]

"In that case," Tisarwat grinned, "I'll talk to Breq and see what can be arranged, and we'll be in touch."