(card story) marion blythe - nostalgic piano

[flair]

This one was! Very cute! And there's a little insight into Marion's relationship with the piano... Thanks much to yoroshikilled for the raws (and for helping me upload images while I'm mobilebound at work), and to rt_rst_ for proofreading!



[BGM: Piano]

Marion: (...I've gotten past the first difficulty.

It's the next part that's the problem. I've been following along with the sheet music's tempo so far, so I just need to smoothly move between the black and white keys...)

[Piano stops]

Tch!

(...Again. What I'm playing simply doesn't match what's in my mind; it isn't beautiful at all. And I thought I'd have Nova listen to me play today...

It's unavoidable - I’ll need to take a break. The fresh air'll do me good.)



(How relaxing - there's not a lot of people around at this time. It's usually pretty hard to take it easy earlier in the day since there's a lot of tourists outside the Tower, so this is refreshing to see.

It's been a while since I went to the flowerbeds. It seems like they light up now, too. ...When I was a kid and he had a day off, Nova and I would come watch the flowers grow.

I'd draw the flowers in a journal, recording them... Nova let me borrow a field guide, and we'd survey them together. But after he got promoted, we stopped coming.)

[SFX: Guitar riff]

(Huh? A guitar...?)



Leonard: Fuck! I screwed it again!

Marion: (That's... one of the West rookies, isn't it? He's surprisingly noisy for being alone.)

Leonard: Dammit, the guitarist I saw the other day made it look so easy... I'll give it one more go...~!

...

Augh! I did it again — this ain’t how I wanna make it sound...

Marion: ...

Leonard: Hey, whoever's been watchin' me for a while, come out.



M-Marion!? Y-You heard me...!?

Marion: Since you’re playing somewhere public like here, I’d obviously hear it even if I didn’t want to.

...You play the guitar, huh?

Leonard: Uh, well...　I play, sure, but...

I was just in the middle of practicing a song, but I'm still crap at it. I've got a long way to go before I can go showin' it off... Ahhh, it's seriously embarrassin' that you heard.

I just thought a change of scenery might do the trick, or something like that... but I guess it ain't that easy.

Marion: Oh? Then we're the same.

Leonard: The- the same?

Marion: Yeah. My piano playing wasn't going the way I wanted it to either, so I came to get some fresh air.

Leonard: ...Th-then yeah! We really are! My older brother says it's important to take breaks too!

See, me and my brother are in a band together - we play guitar on holidays. We sing too, and it's so frickin' fun...

Oh, uh—

S-Sorry, Marion. I didn't mean to take over the convo.

Marion: ...You really like the guitar, don't you.

Leonard: Huh!? Uh, I mean... Yeah. I'm not that good at playing yet, but I don't think I could ever hate it.

Like, it’s really fun when you play it right, and I get to be praised by my older brother, too.

Marion: Praised, huh... I understand that feeling. It doesn’t feel so bad to be praised by a family member.

Leonard: R-Right! You and me really are two peas in a pod, huh...

Uh-mmm, this isn't really somethin' I say to other people, but...

I, uh... have a guitarist I really like, so that's why I picked up guitar. I even got the same one as him, and I'm even imitating how he speaks... That's, uh...

Marion: Hmmmm?

Leonard: Wh-what about you?

Marion: Me?

Leonard: Why do you, I mean, y'know, why do you l-like the piano?

Marion: Oh, that’s what you’re asking.

...Nova gave me one. When I was a kid, the piano he gave me was a substitute for friends.

Leonard: Oh, was it...?

Marion: Jack and Jacqueline were around too, so I never had reason to be lonely...

But it's thanks to that piano that I was never bored. I strived to get better, because I wanted nothing more than for Nova to listen to me play.

...The first thing I ever played on the piano was "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star". It was a terrible, unpolished performance, but still made Nova so happy...

...Ahhh, that's right.

That's really all I wanted.

Leonard: Huh?

Marion: Playing piano, growing to love it - all of it was to make Nova happy.

...Talking to you really was a good change of pace.



Leonard: Ah, y-you’re going already, okay. I could say the same, too! ‘Cause you heard me out...

Marion: See you.

Leonard: Um, uh... Y-You too!



Marion: (...The first time I played "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star," Nova played it with me too, even when he didn’t really know how.

When Nova made a mistake, I ended up making one too, and... The two of us laughed about it.

But after that, I started improving... and that’s when Nova told me that he wanted to hear me perform more.

That's what he said to me, and that’s why I--...)

...I've played beautifully. I'll call Nova.



Hello, Nova? I have a song I want you to listen to... Yes, once you're done with work, I'd like you to come over.

Right, got it. Thanks. Then, afterwards, just come to my r—

Huh? My voice is calmer than usual? Honestly, how out of the blue...

But, well...

I just had a nice change of pace, so it might be affecting me.