[Video] For some reason or other I opened the door and left. [Monday evening, Week 67]

[burning_highway]

[ The broadcast comes with the sunset, and in fact the camera is angled so that it only catches Priss' partially-gloved fingers on the guitar strings, and a shred of her leather-covered stomach inhaling sharply at all the key moments once she's singing, barely visible around the guitar's body. The rest of the camera's zoomed focus is on the sky behind her as sunset begins to roll in, which takes up fully half the frame. Priss may not have a band here, but she's a god damned professional, and she knows how to set up a shot. And how to project into a mic that's several feet away; wherever she is, she's set up the acoustics damn well. ]

[ There's only a few seconds pause before she begins to move her still slightly-damaged fingers on the strings, left hand at the neck and right picking the first notes before the first strum. If said fingers are stiff at all, it doesn't show. An inhale... and her voice joins in over the guitar as more notes are pulled from it. ]

[ It's a slow song. ]

"" (Watch on YouTube)

tada nanto naku DOA o akete dete itta
xxxxxxxxxx[[ For some reason or other I opened the door and left, ]]
tada hito banchuu machi o aruki tsuzuketa
xxxxxxxxxx[[ and kept walking through the streets all night long. ]]
uragiri to nukumori to yume o shitta toki ni
xxxxxxxxxx[[ When I came to know about betrayal, warmth, and dreams, ]]
ikiteiru koto o kanjita
xxxxxxxxxx[[ I felt alive. ]]

[ She goes silent for a second, fingers stilling the guitar strings. And then, back to it. ]

tanoshii koto o tanoshimu you ni waratta
xxxxxxxxxx[[ I smiled and laughed at the fun things, ]]
sasai na koto de furueru hodo donatta
xxxxxxxxxx[[ and shouted out at stupid little things until I shook with anger. ]]
bukiyou na kanjou de kotoba no NAIFU kara
xxxxxxxxxx[[ I got hurt by the knife of words ]]
PURAIDO o kabatte kizutsuita
xxxxxxxxxx[[ because my awkward feelings made me cover my pride ]]

[ Priss' voice is silent for another second, but the guitar ramps up with several strums. Both she and it are louder for the next part. ]

ah, tsuyoku naritai kedo
xxxxxxxxxx[[ ah, I want to be strong, but... ]]
ah, ai ni dakaretai
xxxxxxxxxx[[ ah, ...I want to be embraced by love. ]]
sabishigari na blue confusion
xxxxxxxxxx[[ lonely blue confusion. ]]

[ Back to only guitar, the same notes as before being picked out. This goes on for about ten seconds before another strum marks the start of more singing, guitar and singer starting off quieter again like before, but slowly building up. ]

tada nanto naku DOA o akete dete itta
xxxxxxxxxx[[ For some reason or other I opened the door and left, ]]
tada hito banchuu uta o utai tsuzuketa
xxxxxxxxxx[[ and kept singing a song all night long. ]]
okubyou ni naru dake no mirai nara iranai
xxxxxxxxxx[[ I don't want the kind of future in which I'm only a coward. ]]
kono jidai ni sakebi tsuzuketa
xxxxxxxxxx[[ I kept shouting out to these times... ]]

[ Several short strums and Priss is back to singing more forcefully again. ]

ah, jiyuu de aru tame ni
xxxxxxxxxx[[ ah, I'll believe only in the present... ]]
ah, ima dake o shinjite
xxxxxxxxxx[[ ah, ...so that I can be free. ]]
kake nukete yuku blue confusion
xxxxxxxxxx[[ Running through the blue confusion... ]]

[ Her voice softens once more. ]

blue confusion
xxxxxxxxxx[[ blue confusion ]]
blue confusion
xxxxxxxxxx[[ blue confusion ]]

[ A final couple notes and one last strum, and the song is done. Priss steps off camera. ]

Comments

[burning_highway]

(( OOC note: lyrics and translation taken from here. Also please listen to the song since that's literally her. XD ))

[roddy_reinigen]

That sounds really nice. Are you the one I heard was asking about bandmates before?

[burning_highway]

[Now that the little performance is over, Priss has no problem being less... artistic with the camera. The communicator is lifted from whatever makeshift stand she'd jury-rigged for it, and turned in her hand for her to look at. And read, of course; as with singing, her dialect it Japanese.]

Thanks. Yeah, I am. You know anyone?

[roddy_reinigen]

I play the violin.

[He wasn't sure if that was an instrument she was interested in working with at all, but it was worth a shot. It might be fun to play with other people again.]

[burning_highway]

Oh? You're the guy that kid mentioned, then.

[Priss sets the communicator down against something on the ground to free her hands up. She's kneeling down in front of her open guitar case, relaxing the strings on the instrument for storage. Just a half-turn on each peg, but it's easier with two hands.]

Violin's pretty cool, I could write something for that. Just don't see many of those in the parts of town I'm from, you know.

[Though going by her dialect, her town is not this town.]

You any good?

[roddy_reinigen]

Very.

[There was no doubt, no hesitation. Roddy was very good at playing the violin, and that was simply a fact to him.]

Do you want to hear me play?

[He reached for his violin case, anticipating and hoping the answer was 'yes'. He'd like the chance to show off.]

[burning_highway]

[Priss finished with the strings on her guitar -- it wasn't a fancy looking model, not brand new, but it did the job -- and closed the case, doing up the buckles. Once that was done she just sat down where she'd been kneeling, folding her legs.]

Yeah, go for it.

[roddy_reinigen]

[Roddy opened the case and readied his violin. His wasn't anything too fancy either, but it was a nice violin, and clearly well taken care of. Once the instrument was ready and the strings properly tightened, he began to play.

It was his favorite song to play, and it showed. There wasn't a single note out of place, and the skill behind his music sounded professional. Then again, that could be said of any song he played. A few minutes later, when the song ended and he'd shifted his violin out from under his chin to set it down a moment, he looked up to see her reaction.]

[burning_highway]

[Priss simply sat still and listened until it was over, and then smiled.]

Yeah, you're good. I'm glad, maybe this place has some promise after all.

[roddy_reinigen]

Glad you liked it.

[It was always nice to be appreciated. Especially by a pretty girl.]

But yeah, if you ever want to play together, let me know. I'm Roddy, by the way. And you're Priss, right?

[He'd heard the name mentioned by someone else when talking about her interest in finding bandmates.]

[burning_highway]

That's right, Priss Asagiri.

[She was more polite, at least, with other musicians than with most other strangers.]

You mean in general, or performance? Once this stupid curfew nonsense is done, I intend to get booked somewhere.

[Not 'try to get booked', just 'get booked'. Singing was one of the few things she'd been doing for even longer than the armored vigilante thing; she was good, and knew it.]

[roddy_reinigen]

Either. I was going to look into getting booked after the curfew's up, too, but it never hurts to get more practice in in the mean time.

[burning_highway]

Excellent. Violin and vocals is a cool mix; I may even be willing to cover some Voltaire, and I don't usually do covers.

[Early 2000s was retro as hell to her, but that wasn't a bad thing. The 1980s had come back in the early 2030s, after all.]

Anyway, it's almost dark and I'm a little too out in the open for my tastes. I'll be in touch.

[roddy_reinigen]

I look forward to it. See you around.

[He didn't have much experience playing anything by Voltaire, but since he wasn't used to playing anything with lyrics in general, something he'd need if he wanted to play with her, he was more than willing to give it a go.]

[burning_highway]

See ya.

[Priss cut her video feed.]