Lessons, but not the kind in a class

[unpocoloco]

Hola, everyone. I'm Héctor. Any of you with night classes are likely already familiar with me. I'd been debating on this for a while and slowly taking on a few people who've asked, so I think it's about time I came forward and simply offered it myself.

I'm opening up guitar lessons, available to all skill levels. Solo lessons and group lessons depending on how many people are interested in the latter. You're free to pay what you like but it's not necessary. Just bring your own instrument and let me know you're coming along. I'll be meeting in the evenings, Fridays, by the cross of life on the school grounds. Thought it might be a nice place to play with the warmer weather coming.

Please just keep in mind I have poor health and some cancellations may be short notice. If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask. ¡Buenas Noches!

[This announcement may come suspiciously close on the heels of a quiet rule change on a certain floor in Lumiere, but surely that is just a coincidence. What rule change? Guess it's a mystery...]

Comments

[unpocoloco]

[Oh mierda. He's had some bad requests before but this might take the cake. He's got no idea. Not a clue.

But okay. Okay, okay, okay. He just needs to listen. Imagine what the notes would be.

He waits until Kano's done, hums it back quieter to himself, then moves his fingers over the strings to what he thinks it might be, before finally, attempting to play it.]

It's not going to be fancy. I'm going to try to figure out what I can and then we can polish it up after. Have I got it or do you want to re-do it?

[suddenlybees]

[ With only Kano's questionably accurate notes to go off of, it'll be a trial. There's hints to whether the scale is meant to go up or down, but since he can't hit the proper notes, all Héctor gets is that vague direction or up or down, without knowing to what note. The pacing is there, slow and steady, with a very simple tempo, but as Kano squeezes his eyes shut and listens to Héctor play, a little frown works its away onto his face. ]

Hmmmm... We're going to need a lot of polishing up, I think!! Can you make your guitar sound a little sadder??

[ Play whatever that was in a D minor or G minor key, maybe, for melancholic overtones. Maybe that would help. Not that Kano has any musical knowledge to contribute anything more than "make it sadder." ]

[unpocoloco]

[On the bright side, he's been given enough requests over the years to know that when someone says to make it sadder, they usually mean minor key. Maybe even rubato.

He smiles and adjusts, trying again with the same finger patterns on different notes, strummed a little softer and slower.]

Any closer?

[suddenlybees]

[ Softer, slower... it's a little closer, but the sentiment just isn't the same. The notes— they can figure out the notes later, they're not the most important part of this song. Perhaps the problem is- rather than a guitar or a violin-- ]

If we go to the music building, can you play the cello there?

[ The violin. The cello. The viola. Instruments in this family, the closest there is to the human voice. ]

[unpocoloco]

[He sighs, smiling apologetically.]

I'm sorry. We could go there but... I'm not a cello player. Anything I'd attempt on that wouldn't be quite right. We could give it a shot but you might have more luck with an actual cello player.

[suddenlybees]

Ehh, aren't they the same thing? They've all got strings, and you can pluck them or ...bow them! [ Whatever the proper terminology is for playing a violin with a bow.

He huffs a little sigh, leaning back. ]

Well, since you're here already, we can keep trying with what we've got. Do you really not recognize the song at all? Or can give me any hints on how to Google it??

[unpocoloco]

[Kano's getting a wry look for that. No, kid, not the same thing.

The wry look isn't going any time soon.]

I'm not hip with the technology, kid. Stuck in the Outlands before, remember? This is all new to me.

But, hm, perhaps you could tell me more about it? Like where you heard it, if it's got any lyrics... things like that.

[suddenlybees]

[ The technology doesn't matter as much as the fact that Héctor is old— older than Kano, anyways, and that's the important part. ]

Hm... I don't remember the lyrics, if there were any!! It was a long, long time ago, after all, and it was something my mother always hummed, not sang.

[unpocoloco]

Oh... [Well if that doesn't get him right in the heart. ] I see.

[He frowns, thinking.]

So, perhaps a lullaby. Like for a child. Can you hum it again? The whole thing this time? Maybe I can recognize it then.

[suddenlybees]

[ He has to wonder about that, whether she'd hummed it for his sake or for her own, when his sense of music was always pretty bad and for him, he'd only taken comfort in the soft sounds that stand in contrast with the screaming that would be otherwise.

He sits back and starts humming again. There is very little improvement, Kano trying to build off of the parts of Héctor's interpretation that sounded somewhat familiar, but it's still. Pretty terribly off-key. ]

[unpocoloco]

[He closes his eyes and listens carefully. He really tries to think what it could be. But it's not coming. Whatever song it was, it's not one he ever sang to Coco.

It's a song from a distant memory and butchered at that. His brow furrows until the song is done and at last he sighs.]

I'm sorry. I still don't know. Let me try and play it again. And If I don't get it, I'll keep trying to work something out myself and bring it to you. And then if not me, I'm sure someone can help.

[suddenlybees]

[ Kano makes to get up— but decides against it and settles back down again, shaking his head. ]

No, no, no, you're the musician, so I thought I'd ask you! It's not that big a deal, so— It's a secret, remember?!

[ Nobody else is going to help, he's not telling anybody else about it. It isn't worth it, bringing somebody else into it, the song... it isn't that important.

He lets his hands drop to his lap. ]

It's not that important. Just trying this much, I appreciate it, you know? So you don't have to bother, after tonight!

[unpocoloco]

Kano. [He says the name gently, but firm.] I want to.

[He smiles.]

You said it was something your mother hummed, si? Which makes it an important memory to you, especially if you don't have a lot to remember. That's a bit of a big deal. At least I'd think so.

I'll keep it secret like I promised, but I'd like to keep trying. Is there a way you can record and send it to me to listen to? That way I can keep referring back to it. Who knows, maybe I'll find what song it actually is in the process.

[suddenlybees]

[ Kano chews at his bottom lip, because it's not- he doesn't want it to be a big deal, just something he was always curious about but has lived without all these years and it wouldn't kill him to never know. He should know it. It's there in his head, little wisps and snippets of it that he's unable to string together into anything comprehensible.

There's a part of him which thinks that once he hears the song in its entirety, he'll go "okay" and never think about it again, and he doesn't know whether that's a good thing or a bad one. ]

Hm~ Okay, okay, but only because you insist! It's a secret, so if I find that the word's gotten out, I'm going to dunk you into the fountain, Héctor, I'm warning you now~! Here, I'm going to leave you a voicemail, so don't pick up your phone--

[ That way, the only copy of the song/Kano's poor attempt at song will be accessible only via Héctor's phone, the most security he can think of at the moment. ]

[unpocoloco]

[He snorts over the threat, grinning wider. Being dunked in the fountain would be deserved in that case, and it's not as if it would kill him.

Which does get him thinking, as ignores the ringing of the phone in his pocket, only pulling it out so it doesn't ring inside his vest. He waits for it to stop, then waits longer still to listen to Kano's song again. He tucks the phone back away once it's finished.]

On the topic of secrets, I wanted to ask you... how much do you remember from the little you?

[suddenlybees]

Mm... Bits and pieces. More of the feelings of stuff rather than anything concrete, sort of how in a dream you see something with clarity for a bit, and then it's a blur until it shifts to the next scene? Something like that!

[ He remembers more than he'd like, and he's glad that not very many people have brought up the little him from before. How he was before... Weak and helpless and shameful. He really was a stupid child. ]

That "secret" you told him, he was going to ask you something about it, but there wasn't time. It wouldn't have worked out, though, so it's a good thing he didn't!!

[unpocoloco]

So you do remember.

[Even dreamlike, to say "it wouldn't work" is to say he remembers that part.]

I suppose I don't get to know what you meant to ask. But in any case, thank you, for keeping that quiet. It's easier for me this way.

[suddenlybees]

[ Kano knows what Shuuya was going to ask, but it's something he will keep to himself, because Héctor doesn't need to be distressed over that. Instead, he can be distressed over this: the evil grin that spreads across Kano's face that Héctor is probably more familiar with than any other smile of his. ]

Oh~ I wonder what will happen if I accidentally let something slip? That would be too bad, huh? If only there were some way to ensure my silence~

[unpocoloco]

You mean like the fact I've got a secret of yours?

[Héctor lifts a brow.]

I'll admit, you would have got me with that. You're not the only one who knows but it's still got enough of a chance to cause problems that you could've blackmailed me.

But. It's been more than just a few days that you knew. [More than he realizes.] You haven't said anything. I think I can trust you with this.

[suddenlybees]

[ Hm, a bad idea, to trust Kano with anything, especially something as big as this. ]

Aw, our secrets are so different, though! You going around telling people "Kano's trying to figure out this song, have a listen to it--" would only help me out, wouldn't it? Your secret's a little more complicated than that~ Are you sure I can't blackmail anything out of you?

[unpocoloco]

Perhaps. But you want it secret for a reason or else you'd let me do just that.

So, no. No blackmail. But you can ask for things if you like. Just like anyone else.

[suddenlybees]

Hmm...

[ Asking for things just like anybody else sounds fake. Kano believes in two things: trades and blackmail, not freely offered help with no strings attached. ]

Can I have five thousand euros?

[unpocoloco]

Sadly, I don't have five thousand euros. Maybe ask for things I can actually provide.

[suddenlybees]

...four thousand euros.

[ give him money, tío ]

[unpocoloco]

Definitely still out of my range. I've got a twenty and some loose change.