The Pianist and the Princess: (For Batilde):

Personal OST Opening:

Entry Number: 4??: The Thinker and the Princess:
-Participants:
Takeru Kagemaru of the Hierophant Arcana
Batilde Gagnon of the Emperor Arcana

Rank Level:
Current Rank: 1

Thread Start!

Today at Concert Hall Nine, Takeru was practicing in preparation for the arrival of one Batilde Gagnon, who he had called up to cash in on his earlier offer to play her a piece or two on the piano. He had gotten there ahead of time by a good 30 minutes so that he would have time to do so.
Now the question was, what to play for her?
Now, he knew anything Pop-Culture related was out of the question. Something classical, maybe, but from which composer, and what piece to play?
He only had one chance to impress her with his ability, so he had to think carefully.

"Well? What are you going to do, Don Juan? The time is fast approaching and she's not the sort to be late if her record is of any indication." Twelve snarked.

"Don Juan...? HEY! I'm not like that! I'm not some womanizing, wanton toreador type of... wait... Toreador... that's it!" Takeru thought in response.
He then knew what to play.
His hands began to move across the keys as he practiced a familiar, courageous sounding tune to his ears. Specifically, the Toreador Song written by Georges Bizet.
It would be what she would hear when she walked into the concert hall.

When he had finished, he finally noticed her presence.
"Oh! Hey Batilde. When did you get here?" He asked her, only seconds later to realize he had asked a stupid question, as she must have come while he was playing. He decided to put that down to nerves.
"Er..um... how was that piece? That was the Toreador March you heard just now..." he said, slightly flustered. At this rate, he would have to pray for a miracle if he didn't want to be brushed off, regardless of what could happen as a result...
Which is part of the reason he didn't ask her directly. He knew there was a diehard unofficial fan club she had at school. Asking her out directly would be akin to angering all of them significantly, and he'd like to not end up at the wrong end of a huge beating again.

Wow an actual compliment from her. THAT was gonna get him seriously chewed up by the other guys, considering that most would practically consider themselves blessed to receive such high praise. Yup. He was gonna edit that one out of the story he would tell them.

The fact that she was impressed cheered him internally to no end, nodding at the request to keep practicing. He did (briefly) consider playing Chopin's Etude for her next, until he heard the request for him to play the french national anthem. That, by sheer luck, he remembered learning how to play, having learned it the time he expressed an interest in Liszt while learning how to play the piano.

"You're in luck. I can. Franz Lizt was a genius, wasn't he?" Takeru said, nodding as he began to play. The song would probably sound a bit different compared to the version she had probably heard, but none the less undaunted, he did so with a fair amount of gusto.

"The Toreador marches again. Ah, the fire of youth..." Twelve remarked.

Takeru noted the remark she made as she began to play. He wasn't surprised much, mainly because most of the time, when people asked him to play a particular song, it often had a good deal of personal significance behind it. As he played, he could hear something, almost like... singing? French, from the sound of it, too...
Was Batilde singing along....? No, it had to be her. The concert hall walls were otherwise soundproofed, and she was the only other person in-
"FOCUS!" Twelve mentally shouted.
That caused Takeru to snap back to focus on playing. He nearly hit a sour note for a second there, much to his mental displeasure. For the rest of the song, he was entirely focused, making her singing background noise.

Although that didn't stop him from looking once he was done.

He looked at her with a look of wonder, because, judging from the now somewhat irritaited (but still cute) look on her face and her words, she didn''t realize she had been singing. A sound that sounded almost superlatively beautiful while still being modest, like the soft, joyous cooing of a newborn baby...

"Don't remark how cute she looks when she's angry. That never ends well. Usually. Mention the singing, though." Twelve said. Takeru ignored him as he responded to the question.
"Um... you were singing along." Takeru said nervously. Was she asking him what he thought of her singing as well?
"Um.. it sounded really beautiful!" He added cheerfully.

Wow. He actually got her to act embarrassed? This was new. He hadn't seen her lose her cool like that before... and it looked adorable. Absolutely adorable.
That quickly shattered when the next words she said began to have a irritated touch to it.
Which made him panic. What he had done wrong...? Was it something he said...?
"Ummm... no reason!" He said, trying to keep a bit of desperate fear from creeping in.
Which meant he was going to do one of his favorite diversionary tricks:
Changing the subject.
"So! Uh... is there anything else you want to hear me play...?" He asked her, cursing himself mentally that he was beginning to show that he was nervous. What he wouldn't give for a moment to take a few deep breaths right now...

Well. That wasn't good. If she thought him a creep, then that was a new low. At that moment, he was thankful it was only him and her. If this was in public, well... he didn't want to think about it. The fan club would probably murder him for this if they found out as well...
It was at that moment Takeru decided that perhaps he should keep his mouth shut about going on dates.
So he resorted to his usual desperation ploy for this, which thankfully worked.
Now what to play for her...?
Multiple choices raced through his mind. What to play...? There was a reason why this was a desperation ploy, and things like her response were why...
"Play Beethoven's fifth. Perfect song to describe yourself right now. Go for the first movement, you can relieve your stress of there." Twelve suggested.
Takeru didn't argue. He knew a lifeline when he saw one thrown to him.

"Um... how about Beethoven's Fifth Symphony? I'll play the first movement only, which is in allegro con brio, assuming that's fine with you? That's the part most people tend to recognize, after all." He said. Assuming there were no objections from her, he began to play it, full of spirit and fast, like it said, channeling the adrenaline running through his veins to do so. Entering that usual state of concentration used it up, so by the end of it, he was slightly exhausted, though trying not to show it.

"So... how was that?" He asked her.

OOC Definition note::

Whew. Looks like he had a chance to redeem himself for his earlier blunder. He wasn't going to waste it, either, and from her reaction, he had succeeded.
Of course, it also helped that pretty much helped him get himself together, a way of expressing some pent-up stress. It wasn't much, sure, but it helped.

"Hm? Um, not really. I play it once in a while. Personally, i'm more of a fan towards his 3rd symphony, which uses syncopation, something i'm very good with." He responded, before remembering that since not everyone might be familiar with the term, he should explain before it seemed like he was making up words.
Especially since this one wasn't really foreign-sounding.

"Er, in case you're not familiar with the term, syncopation is, in music, a deliberate disturbance or interruption of the regular flow of rhythm, like the placement of rhythmic stresses or accents where they wouldn't normally occur." He explained hastily. "I know it might seem odd, but a lot of composers used it. A good example would be in the opening movement of Beethoven's 3rd, the piece I was just talking about." He added.

"Do you want me to demonstrate it with that?" He asked her.

"Sure." He said as he began to play the opening movement, taking care to not screw up this one.
"There. Did you catch that? It's kind of like a backbeat there. It'd probably be more obvious if it were being played by an orchestra, but it's there." He said. In truth, he was unsure if he was even explaining it right to her. He had never been good with others, and even now, he felt slightly afraid that if he screwed up here, it'd make a dent that would take quite a bit of work to fix.
And he really didn't feel like fixing something at the moment.