xp_logs | Shinobi, Paige and really bad accents

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The mind of Shinobi Shaw was not a very fun place to be. Not that it ever was, particularly, but the events and thoughts that had come uninvited to it over the last few weeks had unsettled even him - and when he's unsettled, there's one of two things he can do. Since he'd already had a smoke earlier in the day, he opted for Plan B, which accounts for the boy's presence in the music room, planted in front of the piano and rather intently focusing on playing. The notes mirror his mind - organized chaos, lots of low notes with the occasional high ones interspersed, a fairly dark piece that - were he keeping track - he could slap a title on and hand to Alison for some advance extra credit. But he's not keeping track, of course. Just venting.

While Shinobi might not keep track of his playing, the girl at the door is. She has come just inside the door and sat herself down, her fingers drumming out on her thighs. Paige almost seems to be playing along with him, but it's more a game to her, more a guess of where he'll go. Sometimes she is right, more often she is wrong, esepecially in the beginning, but she's keeping up fairly well by the end. She makes no sound other than the gentle taptaps of fingertips on jean.

The tapping of fingers goes unheard, since he's so intently focused on the instrument in front of him - but, it would appear the song, such as it is, is finished. Shinobi settles back in place and eyes the piano, letting out a breath as he runs his fingers carefully back through his hair to straighten it before rubbing at them. He wasn't sure how long he'd been playing, only that it had been long enough that his fingers ached. It takes him a moment, but he blinks twice, looking over towards the latest arrival and slowly tilting his head. "...oh. Um. Hello."

Paige blinks, clearing her slightly glassed over gaze and flicks it over to Shinobi. "Hi." She doesn't move, all tucked up against the wall, but does have enough in her to look a little embarassed. "You're... you're quite good."

"Should be better.. but thank you." He musters up a grin, eyeing her a moment longer before looking down to his hands, wondering why he suddenly feels like he's been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

"Shouldn't we all?" Paige smiles a little and rests her chin on her knees. "How long have you been playing?" For some reason, in Paige's head, asking more questions will make the fact that she was essentially spying on him less bad.

"Started getting lessons when I was eight or so," Shinobi shrugs, loosely clasping his hands and resting them in his lap, trying to refrain from bouncing his knees. Staying still is highly overrated when one's in a general state of unease. "I, uh.. don't know how long I've been in here today, though. What time's it?"

Paige shifts a bit, finding her watch. "Fourish. Twenty after or so." Resting her chin on her knees involves too much stretching. When she returns, she rests her cheek instead, looking up at him.

Shinobi blinks, looking up from his hands with a somewhat surprised expression. "Oh. Well, that explains why my hands hurt. Hadn't even had lunch yet when I came in." After a moment, he coughs quietly, giving her a curious look. "Were you looking for someone..? Because Angelo was upstairs last I looked, and I doubt Sarah's too interested in keeping me company right now, so here's not a good spot to look."

"Mm? Oh! No, I'm sorry. I just heard the piano and..." Paige slows and pauses at that last comment, turning it over in her head. "Wait, what? The last bit."

"I upset her again, and she doesn't like being around things that upset her." Shinobi lifts a shoulder in a shrug, looking down to his hands again in an attempt to hide a brief scowl.

Paige ponders being angry at him for a moment before remembering who he upset. "Mm. Well, it's Sarah. She... hm. May I ask what you did?"

Shinobi shakes his head slightly, but apparently not in response to the question, since he answers it anyway. "I was smug at Clarice about what happened on New Years. Was still upset at her."

"Chickpea, it takes a hell of a lot more than that to actually upset Sarah. You might have to purchase her a pack of cigarettes or something, but that more because she likes taking advantage of situations. She's certainly not where ever she is cursing your name." Paige gives him a knowing little smile.

"I just seem to be good at irritating her as soon as we're on good terms, that's all," Shinobi shrugs, looking up again with a faint smile. "I know it's nothing irreparable or anything. Just a little frustrating."

Paige decides that this is as good of a time as ever to stand and does so, with a couple snaps and pops of her knees. She crosses the room and sits beside Shinobi on a corner of the bench. "You're also good at not irritating her, so it all balances out."

Without thinking about it, Shinobi scoots over to make a bit more room on the bench, making a thoughtful noise and peering down at the keys. "I suppose that's a valid point, yes.. I still don't see why everyone seems to find it so hard to get along with her, though, honestly."

"Eh. She's a bitch sometimes," Paige replies and it sounds so very strange coming out of her mouth. "Don't get me wrong, so it the rest of the world. It's just, the rest of the world ends up feeling bad about it, sooner or later. Sarah lacks remorse. She's getting better, though."

"She doesn't lack a conscience," Shinobi replies with a frown, though he doesn't sound angry or defensive, at least. Small favors. "After the life she's had, it stands to reason that she'd want to hurt before being hurt. Damn near anybody would."

Paige shakes her head and lays her fingers on the keys; it's natural for them to be there. "No, she doesn't. But if you have a very different view of what is right and what is wrong, sometimes it's hard to tell." She plays a chord with a decidedly spring green hue to it.

"Guess those of us with screwed-up childhoods just have an easier time understanding each other than the rest of the world does." He smiles wryly, casting a look to Paige's hands as more sound is coaxed free of the piano, tilting his head to one side. "Oh.. you play? I'm sorry if I was hogging this thing."

"Don't be." Paige smiles over at him, the warmth in it matching her notes. When Paige is content she plays of winter turning into spring and while she might not be content over all, the tone of Shinobi's voice when he speaks of Sarah gives her enough to work with. "The poor thing was abandoned for quite a while and it's nice to hear someone else play."

"I'll make sure to play something more upbeat next time you happen in." With a grin, Shinobi seems content to settle himself in place, only rarely having had the chance to just sit back and watch someone else play. "I'm trying to teach Miles to play, a bit. He's a cute ickle thing."

Paige laughs suddenly, the freckles that lightly dust her nose crinkling up. "I've only heard the people in the Harry Potter books ever say ickle. And you just got away with it. You made it sound not stupid even." She's grinning as she plays, and you can almost see the fawns and the new flowers. "But good for you, speading the piano love."

Smirking, Shinobi gives Paige an amused look, cocking his head to one side. "Of course I say ickle, I'm English. It's a gift. We can make anything sound proper if we stress our accents." He wiggles his eyebrows playfully, grinning broadly.

"You don't say! I have the exact same gift except backwards! With my accent I can manage to make anything sound improper with the stress of my accent. Look at that." Paige manages to sound completely serious right up until the end where she bursts into more laughter.

"Oh, I don't know, I think a southern accent can sound very proper," Shinobi chuckles, keeping his broad grin. "I mean, look at Gone With The Wind. Granted, I don't know if you're from the same part of the south, so the accent's likely a bit different, but still! Can be done."

Paige grins and tries to look sad at the same time, failing miserably. She settles for just grinning instead. "No, unfortunately I'm all twang and no green velvet ballgown. Why I switched to whatever you want to call my accent now."

"I think it's the American newscaster accent, unofficially," Shinobi grins, inclining his head slightly. "They try to rid themselves of whatever accents they may have so that they can speak as clearly as they can, so as many people as possible can understand what they're saying. And there's nothing wrong with twang."

"But I like being clear, chickpea. I like people knowing what I have to say and not getting distracted by the way I say roof. Besides, if even I didn't like it, certainly the rest of the world must of wanted to smack me over the head and tell me to get get back to hunting possums." Paige smiles but she actually seems okay. Which says a lot; she doesn't like talking about her accent for more than a passing glance usually.

"The rest of the world needs to stop thinking in stereotypes, then." With a smile, Shinobi shrugs, casting a look down to his lap. After a moment, he speaks again, his tone of voice amused. "You know, if you insist on calling me chickpea, I'm going to have to start calling you poppet or something. Heaven only knows what repercussions might ensue then."

Paige can't resist. "Bad repercussions?" she asks, very innocently. "Because I like the word poppet as well."

"Amusing repercussions, so long as I don't somehow manage to upset Sarah with it," Shinobi corrects, grinning lopsidedly and nodding his head once.

"Clearly we need to come up with a pet name for Sarah then," Paige replies knowingly and still completely innocently. "Because upsetting Sarah would be bad." There's even a hint of her teasing in her playing, the little grace note here and there.

"A pet name. For Sarah." Slowly, Shinobi arches an eyebrow, giving Paige a rather wary look. "You're practically asking her to clobber you by merely suggesting the notion, you realize."

Paige sighs dramatically, regarding him out of the corner of her eye. "Fine, you win. I like you without the holes. We'll just have to make it freakishly obvious that our names are meant as more of a 'hey we like silly culture names, look at us!' as opposed to anything else."

"If we stress our accents when we use them, that might work," Shinobi offers innocently, batting his eyelashes at Paige and smiling sweetly. "I mean, I doubt she could be all *that* upset if we were making ourselves look like complete idiots, right?"

The fact that Shinobi is batting his eyelashes at her makes it very difficult to put on a brave face but she manages and nods. "Yes. We'll be idiots... for Sarah!"

Nodding sagely, Shinobi regains his lopsided grin, offering a hand with another waggling of his eyebrows. "Sounds like a time to me, poppet," he replies, dutifully stressing his accent to the point where he sounds campy.

"Ah do say so, chickpea," Paige replies, giving him a taste of her full accent. She takes his hand, still playing with the other, and shakes firmly.

He returns the shake in kind, grin broadening at the southern accent tossed back at him. "Well, now, see? That wasn't so bad, now, was it?"

Paige stretches out her mouth and takes her hand back to rub her jaw. "It makes my teeth hurt. They're all on edge." Her free hand plays a quick little 'nyah nyah' down the keys, mimicking the light amusement in her eyes. A moment later, Shinobi's hand adds a reply, and while they've now stopped using words, they continue their conversation for quite a while longer.