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[cwene]

You have reached Her Most Royal Majesty Nima, by the Grace of the gods, of Eros and the Sea of Samorrah and Her other Realms and Territories Queen, Defender of the Faith.

It is common knowledge that the queen enjoys casual correspondence by mail and will answer most letters of substance that come across her desk.

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In person,

[dera314]

[ Because he's not going to try and figure this out in letters, Gina.

Have a knock on your door! ]

[cwene]

[She startles at the knock on her door, because she's certainly not expecting anyone.

Going to it, she throws the six deadbolts, but leaves the wards and the chains. She pulls the door open so she can peer through the crack.]

G-gokudera!

[She closes her door, negating the wards and undoing the chain locks to let him in.]

W-why are y-you h-here?

[dera314]

[ That's a lot of locks and wards, Gina.

He'll draw in a breath and spreads his hands a little awkwardly, hoping that the hallway will stay empty while he's launching into this explanation. ]

Well, you were clearly upset about the fact that I sent you sheet music. It was meant to be a gift. Like you said... after the hunt for friends and lovers. [ Awkward neck rub. ]

You only send music when someone dies?

[cwene]

[It's not like she's paranoid.

As soon as the door is unlocked, she ushers him in, shutting it and doing up most of the locks behind him]

M-music played b-by o-one person, y-yes. M-most of o-our m-music a-are duets, n-not solos.

[She hunches her shoulders, looking a bit mortified that she's ruined his present.]

I'm... I d-didn't mean... I'm s-sorry.

[dera314]

[ He's looking at this process with the locks with arching brows. What are you afraid of??? ]

No, it's... [ He lifts his hands in a placating gesture, then decides to place one of them on her shoulder. ] It's fine. I think, perhaps, we've run into a cultural difference here.

Music is played in funerals in my world as well. But it's mostly a case of certain type of music.

Uh... do you like music though?

[cwene]

[Everything, mostly.

She nods, smiling slightly.]

Yes, it s-seems that way. And, y-yes, I l-like music. W-we only play s-solo pieces at f-funerals. H-hundreds of y-years ago, composers were c-commissioned to write s-songs that reflected a person's life. We don't do that so much anymore. But the sentiment r-remains. M-most of our m-music is f-for two.

[A faint flush stains her cheeks, and she gives him a smile that's reminiscent of the hunt, the woods.]

Or m-more. D-do you play the piano?

[dera314]

[ That is a fascinating piece of culture that Gokudera never considered at all. Musical history. It must be different. What kind of genius composers would this world have? What would a person think of Beethoven if they'd hear him the first time?

He blinks, considering this. Then looks up at her curiously and immediately looks away again with a hint of color upon his cheeks. Then back at her with a small but very genuine smile. ]

Yes. I do. I played the piano before I could walk properly. My mother was a very skilled pianist.

Do you play any instrument?

[cwene]

[She nods.]

P-piano, too. A bit of the h-harp. I can p-pick at a violin, but n-not v-very well.

[She holds out a hand to him.]

W-would you l-like to play with me? [A flush darkens her cheeks.] A d-duet? [That doesn't help.] A-at the p-piano, I m-mean. [Not that she'd say no to any other kind of duet.]

[dera314]

[ He'll take her hand without any hesitance. It's been years since he's played with anyone. His sister can handle the piano as well, but they rarely see eye to eye about anything. ]

I would like that, [ he says simply. It's not like he would have any kind of objections to a duet of any sort with her after all. ]

[cwene]

[She tugs him toward her door, picking up the sheet music he gave her as they go.]

I-it's been a l-little while. I'll b-be rusty.

[They're in the music room less than ten minutes later. Regina goes rifling through the seat to find a duet that's simple enough for them to sight read, pulling out something at last.] D-does this look e-easy enough? [She passes the music to him as she settles at the bench, fingers fluttering lightly over the keys.

It's been... at least a year. But she can still read the music well enough. Thinks she can manage to play well enough.]

[dera314]

Yes, [ Gokudera responds easily, looking through the notes. There probably are some differences but the idea is inherently the same. He might have to ask about a few markings eventually but generally speaking, he really is very good at this. It's something he should have picked up as a profession much rather than being a mobster. But one doesn't get to choose a lot of things in their lives.

He reads the notes, following the melody easily with a hum under his breath as he takes a seat at the piano, picking the lower end and leaving enough space for her to take a seat beside him. ]

What kind of music do you like? [ he asks conversationally as he sets the sheet music on the rack and finds a few scales with his fingers just to warm it up. ]

[cwene]

[She arranges the music so it will turn easily for them - there's a coda in the middle of a repeated section, and the coda itself is on the fourth page.]

Bhadi. Prayer songs. But... s-swing music. Jazz. I l-like m-music with spirit, and th-then some s-slower songs. Ballads.

[She inclines her head toward the music, fingering the basic melody.]

Th-this is a sad l-love song. About t-two women who loved the same witch b-but didn't love each other. R-ready?

[dera314]

[ He nods to her, thinking that they should go dancing one day. If he only could convince her to leave the manor. For now, he decides not to mention the jazz clubs in the city, though. Just because it seems to upset her. ]

Really? Did the witch love them, though? [ he asks as he squints at the time signature at the start of the notes before counting the one empty bar for them under his breath before his fingers are set on the keys, to give it a rhythm and speed. ]

[cwene]

[Her fingers glide over the keys, deftly pulling the melody from the piano string's. In terms of notes, the song isn't challenging. There aren't fast trills or snarling sixteenth notes layered together to navigate. The complexity in the song comes in how the melody dips and glides from high to mid to low range, as if three voices are singing different parts - two quarrelsome, one mournful.]

She loved them b-both, v-very much. B-but because they h-hated each other, they w-wanted her to ch-choose. They p-pushed and p-pushed, always demanding.

[She speaks in time with the music, the tone of her voice following the melody.]

They a-asked her to s-say which g-gave her m-more power. W-which was the b-better lover. Sh-she could not s-stand it, s-so she th-threw herself from a l-lighthouse.

[dera314]

[ Gokudera doesn't find it hard to keep up, except for a few mishits here and there when his muscle memory would urge him to go elsewhere with the notes. But for the most part they're in time and harmony. It's not quite what he's used to but makes up for that by being fascinating, layered with her voice following the melody and creating an interesting piece of emotional landscape that he readily immerses himself in.

That's what music is about, for him, a way to express what comes from inside. It's a bizarre case of almost voyeuristic display to tap into a portrayal of another person's emotional expression to find his own way of feeling what is said through the music and hold it out for anyone caring to listen to tear into. Gokudera is too earnest to hide what the music does to him, his brows furrowing when the melody hits a minor chord, his face smoothing out when the harmony tilts more into major chords. ]

What a tragedy, [ he says quietly and while most people would feel no connection to just the bare bones of a story, his voice is genuinely sad, tapping into the music that tells a richer story. ] What happened to the two after?

[cwene]

[Regina's left hand slips under Gokudera's right, the only truly difficult part of the piece, playing the witch's death between the dissonant melodies of the feuding lovers. Then the melody sweeps together, almost resolving. The two parts go back and forth, an angry, sonorous fugue.]

Th-their kingdoms w-went to war. They were the q-queens of t-two City States. They destroyed each other.

[Her fingers still on the keys, the melody entirely Gokudera's, low and rich.]

That is Koriim, in winter, as shavaesda. All genders and no gender, everything and nothing, the sum of all things and the absence of them, too. Koriim wept over the battlefield and the dead. No one survived the war. The salt of Koriim's tears burned the earth, and n-now there's n-nothing but desert there.

[Now, she plucks lightly at her part, adding in a soft harmony.]

So we are r-reminded to be honest and g-gentle in our l-love, because w-we can destroy our w-world.

[dera314]

[ It's such a dramatic story, a dramatic piece of music but Gokudera enjoys it fully, every last bit. Even more so because he's never played it before, deep shivers running down along his spine at a particularly sweet spot where her voice harmonizes with the music perfectly, hitting that mystical place you can't quite describe with anything else but euphoria. ]

What are the names of these queens and witches? [ he asks quietly as they join their melodies again, intertwining. He will look up the story later in the library. ]

[cwene]

Th-the witch was Astaria.

[Her fingers slip over the keys, soft and gentle, bringing the piece into its final measures as it grows softer, sadder, and more introspective.]

H-her lovers, the q-queens, were Madreia a-and Lindell.

[Fingers stilling on the keyboard, she falls silent. The last, haunting notes are his, and she listens to them with somber respect, eyes closed, head bowed. When those fade, too, she murmurs a phrase in Erosian, a soft sort of prayer.]

W-we say that f-for respect to s-souls that h-have gone on. It m-means... m-may they f-find their n-next l-life happy and full of love.

[dera314]

[ He lets the last note linger with purpose, ringing between them quietly until fading away completely. Gokudera sighs with a hint of a curve upon his lips. ]

A sad story but beautiful music and beautiful teaching.

[ He reaches to take her hand and squeezes it gently. ]

Thank you.

[cwene]

[With a smile, she squeezes back as she leans over and kisses his cheek.]

You're w-welcome. W-we should play a-again one day. I d-don't have a lot of p-people to play with me anymore. I'm g-glad I l-learned y-you do.

[Her lips purse, playful.]

And I'll even learn your f-funeral song.

[The brightness in her eyes says she knows it's not a funeral song, that she's just teasing him.]

[dera314]

[ He'll snort, but it's a sound of fond amusement rather than a sign of exasperation and he turns his face towards her when she kisses him, so the gesture ends up in a half awkward, half affectionate nose rub somewhere in the middle. ]

We can make our own music, [ he says as he guides her hand back on the keys and picks out an easy melody with his lower register, waiting to see if she would like to accompany him. ]

[cwene]

[She laughs at the brush, drawing back with a smile. With Gokudera, when he's not pressing her with terrible questions, it's so easy to simply be at ease - and she can't blame him for asking those questions. He doesn't frighten her. Like with Sephiroth, he makes her feel safe.

Her brows lift as he sets her hand to the keys.]

I-improvising?

[She hesitates a moment. His melody is... strange to her. She taps E.]

F-from here, y-you play... [Her nose scrunches, and then she hits F-sharp and G-sharp.] B-but we play th-this. [She plays F and G natural.] Y-you see? It m-might be hard. It might s-sound... terrible.