2017-11-22: Consumer Boycott

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  • Log: Consumer Boycott
  • Cast: Riesenlied, Elhaym van Houten, Mikaia (NPC)
  • Where: November City
  • Date: 22nd November 2017
  • Summary: Riesenlied and Mikaia find a music store and meet Elly by coincidence.


<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Riesenlied is spending time in November City -- in part, addressing something that she and Noeline had noticed a while back: The children were running out of things to do, with there only being so many books around the orphanage at present.

It's with Mikaia, a 5-year old beastgirl with dark hair and little black wings, in her arms that she wanders the market street in her disguise as Nazgul al-Rashid, which... largely means that she only really has different hair and different clothes. Shoulder-length brown hair and a prim jacket and ruffled shirt, to replace her more tribal clothes she usually wears.

The horns, wings and scale-like deformities on her arms and legs are still there. It's a JRPG disguise, OK?

She does stop by a particular open outlet as Mikaia displays some interest. "Mama, what is that...?"

Riesenlied looks as she says, "I think it's an instrument store..." as she shows the array of violins, flutes and drums on display.

<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

The doors are propped open, because central air conditioning isn't so universal in J-- er-- in November City as it might be in Am-- Er-- Etrenank. Inside of the store, near a display of instruments, is a young woman with her red hair pinned up and a denim dress that probably comes off rather proletarian. That's probably ALSO why the clerk is looking in her direction, low key.

Just in case.

Elly is toying with a flute - a real one, with metal fixtures and everything - when she pauses and looks to the side when a voice comes outwards. A familiar voice... one she hasn't heard in... several weeks!

A drum is hiding Riesenlied's face from her, so Elly's view goes towards Mikaia. "Oh, yes," she says, "They sell music here."

"Musical instruments and sheet music," grumps the clerk.

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

"Music...!" Mikaia's eyes are big and wide, ever so cutely looking towards a drum as she looks towards the one carrying her. "Mama, can I...?"

Riesenlied nods very gently as she smiles to say, "Do you want to learn how to play a musical instrument?" Her voice is also very familiar -- but Elly is herself very familiar, as she steps around that drum and gasps gently.

"Oh, Miss Elhaym!"

Well, there goes the disguise.

<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

The clerk frowns, as if to make it clear that a small child is Unwelcome. (This clerk is part of the family that owns the store, probably. Works for free.)

Elly makes up for it, looking at Mikaia: "Oh, good afternoon. And - Miss...?," she says, her attention returning up to Riesenlied as she looks at how Riesenlied, too, did her hair up differently and has changed clothes.

She gazes steadily at the Metal Demon for about a full second, thinking back. Remembering the chaos of that refugee encampment. Remembering the statements and assessments regarding this person which she read on her portable computer. Remembering the battle of Adelhyde, and her words, and the man from the Guard.

Pain. Fear. Anxiety. A sort of dread. Helplessness.

"I am so sorry," she tells Riesenlied, taking a step forwards with a flute still in her hand, "but it's been a while, hasn't it? Could I ask for your names...?"


<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Mikaia whimpers at the clerk and-- hesitates, glancing away and clinging a little closer to her mother. "... ah-- yes," Riesenlied finds herself a little dazed as she recalls and steps out of the store in turn, towards the outer displays. "Nazgul al-Rashid, a rookie Drifter... and this is Mikaia."

Mikaia looks a bit uncomfortable, and says, "Naz...mama? It doesn't sound right..."

<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

Elly laughs a little.

The thought enters her head, unbidden like a cosmic particle. Something half remembered. Something about calling someone else Al.

Like a cosmic particle, it sleets away. "I'm glad to meet you both, Miss Rashid, Mikaia." She crouches slightly, to get nearer to Mikaia's level. "You can call me Elly, if you'd like."

She looks upwards then, to take in both child and mother. "Were you looking at a particular sort of instrument? I think you have to ask for the fancier things - is that right?"

"Yes," the clerk glowers.

"Don't be afraid of her," Elly tells Mikaia.

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

There's a somewhat flummoxed look on Riesenlied, the kind she kind of rescinds into when she has to pretend -- this is clearly someone who isn't comfortable having to pretend... but then again, that's why her name is not a lie, either.

"Oh, okay then, Elly..." she smiles warmly.

She glances towards the instruments, and then Mikaia whimpers gently as she says, "I don't know how to play any instruments... but I like music...!"

"Is-- there anything a child would find easy...?" asks 'Nazgul'.

<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

"Sure," Elly says, staying crouched down low. "What kind of music do you like best?"

"We have a selection of toy models in the back," sniffs the clerk.

That's one, Elly thinks.

"I've been looking into the flute," Elly says, "but I'm trying to come back to it after a long time... I wasn't much bigger than you when I started, Mikaia."

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

"I didn't know you played music, Elly," 'Nazgul' speaks gently as she observes the selection of flutes. "I can't play music myself... I'd a passing interest at some point to, but... perhaps we can both learn together, Mikaia?"

Mikaia nods a few times, and she says, "I like flutes... I like the-- soft sounds that they make! I don't like the noise things like those--" she points at a cymbal, "--make."

Mikaia may or may not be jaded from Janey's brief Lord of Calamity -and- Rock phase, involving a poor, beaten abused pot...

<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

"Well... we didn't exactly have time to discuss it, with everything," Elly says - which might be edgy, in a vacuum, but she's smiling as she does it. "I'm really surprised to see you out here, R - Miss Rashid."

"Have you ever played a flute before?" Elly says, straightening up and kind of sidling towards one of the aisles of sheet music, perhaps to elude the baleful gaze of the clerk. "I only played something a lot like one, when I was in school."


<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

"... it's true," Riesenlied nods gently as she smiles as Mikaia gazes over towards the sheet music as Elly approaches closer. "We've been... quite busy, but-- it's been a happy time. I'm happy to be able to care for Mikaia and the others, after all."

"But... no, I haven't," she answers Elly's question. "I think you blow on it, isn't it? The passage of air creates the sound...."

Mikaia blushes just a little, but then peers towards the sheet music as she asks, "Are those... instruction sheets? They're not like books..."

<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

The clerk sure isn't going to explain anything.

Elly slips into the aisle, out of eyeshot of Ms. Stinkeye. "That's basically how it works," she tells Riese; "I don't know exactly how to put it. The one that I learned on had a sort of mouthpiece instead of that thing you blow over -"

Mikaia speaks up. "Mm hmm," she says. "I don't know how to read them myself, but they have all the musical notes in them. You just have to learn how to do it right, and then you can just follow along... Have you learned to read yet?"


<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Mikaia looks a bit shy in that way children do, as she has to admit: "... I--I try my hardest, but... a lot of books are still really hard. I'm studying Jay's al--alkeemee book as much as I can, though!"

Riesenlied smiles a bit more warmly as she says, "She's studying very hard, and I think sheet music might be a welcome change from grammar and spelling... I'm sure there are a few tomes at the library that would explain this, wouldn't there? How to... interpret these symbols, I mean."

<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

Elly blinks once.

ELLY AT AGE 5

Elly reads through the illustrated book on her terminal. This one's about fish. She read the one about the Emperor's love earlier. She's going to need to read the one about the doctor who found a drug to cure a disease but she can feel a hand starting to stealthily wrap in her long red hair and --

ELLY, AGE 19

"Oh, goodness! That sounds like a hard one. Don't feel bad if you need to work your way up to that... Um... What other things do you like to read?"

Then there's a beat.

"Honestly," Elly admits, "I don't know, Miss Rashid, but there has to be someone who does. When I asked Fei, he seemed to kind of dodge the question, and I'm not sure who else to ask... if I can be honest, I'd hoped you would know. I think I've figured out a little of how it works, though."

<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

The clerk quietly sets out a display of small pamphlets, overhearing this.

HOW TO READ SHEET MUSIC

A small piece of paper is added: "price, 400 gella"

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

"... p-picture books ... especially ones with--" Mikaia looks at her mother like she's about to betray her, "--horses. ... horses are really-- gallant and beautiful! Especially, especially this one that Miss Gwen brings to our home, Gulliver! He's really smart!"

Riesenlied inwardsly sinks into despair that the horse has dethroned the cucco as Mikaia's favorite animal...

...but outwardsly, "I'll find something -- I know some people who're very much into music, so they should be able to point us in the right direction!"

She doesn't respond to the clerk's pamphlet, curious, that.

<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

The clerk is patient. She knows they have to go by in order to escape.

"Horses... They're beautiful, aren't they? They weren't so common where I grew up, so my favorite animal was always the sea gull," Elly says. "Have you been to the book shops around here?"

"Ah, here they are - these aren't so fancy," Elly says, coming to a display of what are basically just straight-up recorders carved out of inexpensive wood, "but I think you can get a good sound from them. Though, um. She'll get upset if you try one out without buying them."

Elly adds, after a second, "But if you think you'd really enjoy one..."


<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

"Sea... gull?" Mikaia asks, with the sound of someone who's not seen one before; it's for this reason Riesenlied adds, "It's a beautiful bird you tend to find at port towns... but you haven't lived near the sea at all, have you, Mikaia?"

Mikaia shakes her head gently, smiling. "I want to see the ocean with mama someday..."

Elly shows them a recorder, and Riesenlied glances at the price for a moment. "Oh, that's not expensive... we can buy one for you and Janey to play with, and if you decide you really like it, we can look at other things. How does that sound?"

Mikaia looks between mom and Elly... she looks really tempted! "I want it..."

<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

Elly answers this by taking one off the rack, holding it out to Mikaia, and saying to her, "Try it now."

Decisive action!!

"If you don't like how it sounds, think of it as my treat," Elly says, with a smile. "I'll get another one for, what did you say - Janey? It's a good place to start, at least. It's not a bad instrument..."

Up to Riesenlied, she asks her, "Do you think I should get a fancier one for myself?"


<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Mikaia looks like she's got such a big decision in her hands!!

But she does accept it and-- then holds it and blows on it.

tweeeeet

"Ooh...!" Mikaia sounds like she's impressed just from the mere fact that she blew on a device and got sound out of it. "Wow...!"

toot tweet toot teeee tooooot

"Hehehe... it's so fun!" Mikaia does not understand what a public nuisnace she's going to become very soon.

"Y-you don't have to... but, ah," Riesenlied pauses for a moment as she smiles. "Why not? I could easily see this being a hobby that can be very calming in your spare time..."

<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

"Here, let me show you - do you mind if I sort of move your hands?" Elly says.

After this she guides Mikaia in fingering in a way that would be tedious to explain. "Just don't play it too much when you're right near people," she tells her: "It can seem louder than you think..."

Up to Riesenlied, Elly asks a little awkwardly, "Well, I realize that. But I suppose I feel strange about spending time on that. Or, well, money - do you want a couple more?" Riese may not yet realize she is getting some cheap recorders courtesy of Solaris blood money.


<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

"Oh, no no... I do have some spending money, I would not feel right imposing on you so," Riesenlied has a polite-off with Elly, looking a bit bashful. "Why do you feel strange, though? I think it is important to pursue hobbies that we feel are relevant..."

She places her hand to her chest for a moment. "An angle other than Digging, fighting and the dangers of Filgaia..."

Mikaia gets the hang of it after a while and goes down the neck of the recorder, do re mi... "Amazing...!" This is basically the most amazing device she'll see until she sees something else that gets her attention next week. "O-oh, I'll keep that in mind..."

<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

And that's why they make 'em out of cheap wood on the surface.

"Well, alright. I just don't want them to fight over who gets to play one," Elly tells Riesenlied, possibly entirely on some low key internal reflex. "And... I don't know. Fei suggested I do it as a, well, as a way to keep myself occupied. Like how he draws."

To Mikaia she then says, "Do you want me to sing a little, so you can see if you can play along...?" (Part of Elly is genuinely curious, because even the Solaris educational system didn't expect more than scales and being able to keep on rhythm at this age. But how old is Mikaia /actually/, she wonders.)


<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

"Occupied... mm, I understand," Riesenlied thinks of how Fei would say it -- and he's drawn a pretty sketch of her before. It was a nice gesture. As she watches Mikaia play, she expresses, "Taking care of these children... giving them a nice home and shelter... teaching them and showing them things... it has been a wonderful experience so far."

Mikaia's eyes glimmer further as she nods to say, "I--I'll try my hardest...!" The grumpy clerk is probably just hunkering down with the expectation of payment at the end of all this.

Mikaia looks about... five or six, really -- she's particularly small, but she seems a bit more precocious than other children of her age. Her tiny wings wiggle up and down in happiness as she gets ready.

<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

"... I suppose that's why I feel selfish about it," Elly says after Riesenlied speaks, but she smiles at Mikaia. "Alright," she tells her.

"Hmmmm..."

what songs do i know, Elly thinks.

She considers seven different ones. They are all in Solarian.

The eighth one, at least, has a nonsense verse. "Aa, aalatara," Elly begins to sing, a little slowly. "Aeo tara, kihla, kihla..."


<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

"... I--I'm sorry," Riesenlied stammers, but then points out, "But a hobby doesn't have to involve other people... it's about you."

Mikaia doesn't seem to mind, playing along with -- well, what she thinks is accompanying music. "... wooow...! I want to learn that language someday!"

Mikaia, at least, seems very interested in learning, unlike Janey, who's more of a doer.

<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

"Oh, it's just silly words, for the song," Elly says, before going through it again, a little quicker.

"You're very good... I don't think I could write down the song /for/ you, but if I learn how they write music, I probably could..."

"You're right," she then says to Riesenlied with a decisive nod. "I'll do it!"

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Mikaia, at the very least, looks like she's having a good time just making up notes for the song, giggling by the end as she claps happily. You can tell when she's very happy because her face gets flush and her wings wiggle up and down rapidly.

Riesenlied nods at Elly's decision, and takes up another flute. "Then, the two for me, and we'll be back if you decide you want a better flute when you get better, Mikaia."

"Thank you, mama...!" Mikaia beams. "Thank you, Miss Elly!"

<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

The wings draw Elly's eye.

But she says nothing. Two of them. How lucky of her, she thinks, before stepping ahead, smiling at Riesenlied. "I suppose I was just looking for someone to support the decision I'd already made... Thank you for that, R- Ah, Miss Rashid."

"I hope you're able to pay for everything you spit up on," says the clerk, "or I'm calling the police."

Elly's face gets more set and determined. That's two, she thinks.

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

There's a practicedly polite look on Riesenlied's face as she sets the requisite amount of gella, perhaps thinking that maybe she should find another music store with a decidedly less rude clerk. "Say thank you to the nice clerk," she smiles at Mikaia, who nods and says, "Thank you!"

She picks her back up as the flutes are bundled. "No, I understand what you mean... sometimes, we just have to hear ourselves say it, to be convinced."

<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.

"And speaking to someone else can give us the strength to do what we know we have to do," Elly says, with a slightly shy smile.

The clerk scowls. "I don't n-"

Elly speaks up suddenly. "Ma'am, I'd like to buy that flute." She points, almost at random.

"Eh? You?"

"Yes," Elly confirms.

The clerk's eyes narrow. "Let me see your--"

Elly shakes her head. "I changed my mind," she says.

To Riesenlied she says, "I think I'd rather spend my money at a shop where they want people to come... Did you see any other instrument shops, down the road?"

And so, Elly learned the pleasure of a consumer boycott... but will it make sense to the birds?