genessia | [Video] A song for the evening

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[Video] A song for the evening

[It was one evening and Anastasia had an itch to practice singing. Especially since she heard one song that tugged on her heartstrings. She felt like sharing it with her own voice. So this time, unlike the other times she was caught singing, she was broadcasting on purpose.

Satsuki should be out on patrol still, leaving Anastasia alone with just the pokemon. The little lady got the piano companion music going on the radio in her room and readied her singing voice.]

Oh how the time has flown by... Has it been so long since last goodbyes?
You'd never guess the changes here... A subway station on our street.
Remember waking up with all that noise? Hammering and shouting from 9AM...
Calling us to begin. Calling us to our secret place... Where face to face we'd kiss, and...

[She executes her higher notes pretty well.]

I'll never forget... The night when we first met!
The freezing cold, the frozen air...
You held on to both my hands, and...asked me if I was co~ld!
But now my dear, you're ne~ver here with me! ...
Just like a firefly
It's light burns brightly soon to die etern~ally...

[She climbs back down to softer notes, but it seems the first set of high notes tired her out some.]

Then all at once the stars disappeared... And in the distance dawn's reprieve...
Broke through the darkest powers of night... So once again the world was right...
And it seems, so, strange that I was once so scared...
By dawn's cool light, I was unprepared...
But even though I'm feeling strong...
And I've learned how to get along... I'll never stop feeling so wrong!

[Back into the high notes. She's doing well, but she couldn't get it as high as before.]

When I placed that lonely flower, upon your pale cold cheek...
I felt so lost I coul~dn't speak...
When friends they began to cry, calling their last goodbyes!
Si~lence was your so~lemn reply...
A sacred flame burnt...upon the ocean of! ... your so~ul...

[She tried a little too hard, but managed to keep it together until she was finished. She laid a hand on her throat. This was her first attempt at seriously hitting high notes, and she suspects she pushed herself too hard with this one.]

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Given the fact you are putting your hand on your throat, I am going to take a stab you were singing from your throat and not your diaphragm. So now it hurts because it's not good to hit notes like that, doing so.

I must've accidentally switched...

[Her voice was weaker when she speaks. And yeah, it certainly does hurt.]

Maybe, but it's best to not keep doing it if you want to keep singing because it might not help you in a long run.

[Ted gets the feeling he should probably be spending more time with An, if only to provide a saner influence from the more colorful characters in her life. So he sets the music to the background in his wanders, tittering a little whenever she strains. Well, she's certainly putting effort into it, that he can't deny.]

"Not half-bad, princess. You found that on the radio, I take it?"

[Somehow he doubt that was a "song of her people"; some of the lyrics were a little too sentimental for royalty, not to mention the mention of subways.]

[What's wrong with subways?

By now, Anastasia fetched something to drink to ease the tired vocal cords.]

Yeah. I missed the name of the song, though. But I found a instrumental version and lyrics to learn.

"Oh, I see. You've an interest in singing? Has Star been teaching you? I imagine she's got a teacher for every discipline in that gigantic school of hers. I've received a few lessons that way myself, by means of a professional choir boy, in fact. Plus a few granted by the newspapers, here and there."

No. It wasn't Satsuki.

I got basic lessons from Sonico.

[All that she needed to know to practice and learn on her own.]

[On most evenings, it's Moon Knight who cruises for trouble a-brewing. Tonight, trouble seems to have found Marc instead. He'd been on his way to the Nile from Sand Gym when eight gangbangers had blocked either end of the alley he'd tried to use as a shortcut and asked for his wallet. A stupid and careless mistake made worse when he'd given into his pride and chosen fight over flight.]

[For odds of 1 vs. 8, the ensuing melee had actually gone well... up until he'd taken on the last man standing. Turns out one of his buddies lying on the floor hadn't been as unconscious as Marc had thought. He'd timed a grab for Marc's ankles just as his giant compadre took a swing at him. With no room to dodge, the ex-mercenary had taken 250 pounds of meaty fist to the face.]

[And with that cheap shot, they'd wailed on him together for the next thirty seconds, raining blows on his head, chest, and torso. They could've taken his wallet and split right there, but it was clear they wanted to pay him back for all the trouble he'd just given them. So the smaller thug had held him up while his bigger buddy continued to work him like hanging meat in a butcher shop. His next strike crashed into Marc's chest with a metallic click that he paid no attention to. He was amazed at how this old man, barely able to stand with blood running down his lips and forehead, was still chugging along. Smirking just enough to hide his waning strength, the big thug drew his fist back for a final knockout blow.]

Shoulda just handed it over, pal.

Edited 2017-10-08 09:40 (UTC)

[That was when a girl's voice cut through the night. Soulful, innocent, and warm enough to light the coldest heart.]

Then all at once the stars disappeared
And in the distance dawn's reprieve
Broke through the darkest powers of night
So once again the world was right

What the---?

[That was all Marc needed. He threw his head back in a sudden lightning-fast motion. The small thug groaned as his nose broke and stars exploded in his eyes. The next thing he knew, Marc's hands were on his shoulders and he was hurtling through the air to slam right into his friend. They were still trying to pick themselves up when Marc leaped upon them with a savage warcry, brandishing a tire iron snatched from one of their fallen comrades.]

[This whole time, Anastasia would see only a shifting darkness; the kind you'd see if you had an imperfect blindfold over your eyes. Hearing only shouts and the sounds of metal striking flesh and bone. Then, silence broken only by heavy, pained breathing. There's about a minute of that before the darkness lifts completely. She'll see Marc slumped against an alley wall, surrounded by the unconscious bodies of eight would-be muggers. He's bruised and bleeding all over, yet he looks utterly content serene in a ray of moonlight shining down in that alley.]

Princess? I think I owe you one.

[Anastasia didn't notice the commotion at first until she heard shouting in breaks in the song. She was afraid to check the window, because what if it's bad men coming after her? Opening the window would be like inviting bad men in.

After a moment, she looked anyway and opened the window. All though her race has better night vision, her sight was glared by her room's soft light and the moonlight, so she can see diddly squat.]

W-who's there? Is someone out there? If you're bad, just so you know I live with a deputy guardian!

[The alley's a considerable distance from her home; the only reason Marc can hear her is because both their devices are running. Her words give him pause for a moment or two. Even after all these years of serving Khonshu and making up for his sins, he'd never thought of himself as a particularly good man.]

[He taps the tire iron on the wall, hoping the sound will draw her attention to her device. Then he waves at her over the video screen, giving her a wan, bruised smile.]

Ana, it's Marc. The bad men are gone. I... put them to sleep.

[Maybe it was just a cat knocking things over. She closed her window and set it to view something else when something caught her attention on the phone, going back to where it is on her bed to see.]

Marc? What were the bad men after? More importantly, are you hurt?

Well, I've sure been better. [He'd cleaned up as best as he could so she wouldn't see him bloody. Emphasis on 'best as he could.' His wry chuckle is cut by a wince in mid-sentence.]

They wanted my money. I'm usually smart enough to run or just let 'em have it, but not tonight. [He shrugs.] I'd probably be waking up in the hospital if it wasn't for you.

[Her night vision doesn't work nearly as well over phones, so she can only see the bare minimum.

But it's what he said that baffled her.]

Me? But what did I do?

[Smiling despite himself, Marc simply plays back her video post. To the exact stanza when that one thug's punch had hit the power button on his device. Then he aims the camera at their still snoozing bodies.]

You sang them a really good lullaby. All I had to do was tuck them in.

[The bad men don't look comfortable...]

I did...? But... I did just about everything wrong with the song. It wasn't any good.

I'd ask them if that's true, but they're kinda indisposed right now.

[There's a part of Marc that actually hopes they're uncomfortable. He's slowly picking himself, holding onto the wall as he does so.]

You'll just have to trust this rusty old knight, Princess. And he thinks you were great.

[That drew out a blush from her. She still doesn't fully believe she was that good, though.]

Thank you. I'll keep practicing, then.

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[Video] A song for the evening

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