She nodded, her smile strengthening slightly at that as she stepped towards the door. "I'll be sure to take you up on that. The same goes for me, if they ever get to be too loud. Just find Gage if you can't find me." She pulled open the door, another flash of pain hitting her chest. This time, she didn't wince, just waved to him and any of the boys paying attention, before slipping out.
Symphonies and Fireflies // OxO // Romance // closed
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Rory smiled and waved back as Aika slipped away, completely unaware of her pain. Only Tobias had noticed her departure, so he was the only one that waved goodbye, besides Rory. The conversation picked back up, and they were all talking about the latest path for their music and what it might mean for their future. They all seemed to work in unison, a well-oiled machine that couldn't function without all of its parts. Should they separate…well, none of them could even fathom living without their friends.
((Skippito?))
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((Yes please. I have no clue what to do now))
((Pppfftt. To when?))
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((Uhhh, maybe twoish days later? One of them is looking for the other for some one-on-one time because people))
((Works for me! Who should be looking for who?))
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((Uhhhh… I hate making decisions Who would be the most likely candidate?))
((Probably Rory, honestly. He seems just a tad more outgoing than Aika, at least in the sense of looking for people. Does that make any sense or am I just spewing words?))
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((Nah, Rory does seem like the one to look for her before she goes to look for him. I have this scene in my head where he's just sitting next to her bed, sorta leaning on it with his head in his arms? if that makes sense? Like he's so mentally exhausted from dealing with The Boys he just walks into her room and attempts to take a nap for once in his life))
((Aww. It fits with my general idea that she'd been having a rough day, and just sort of having his company was a good thing to distract her enough. Do we want to do that?))
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((Yeah, that works for me. You want to start it out?))
((Can do! This'd be after the whole music thing?))
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((Yeah))
Aika was tired, but the knot of dread and chaotic flurry of emotions was making it harder and harder to even focus on the violin in her hands. Her blindfold was back on, had been since after her round of chemo, but she knew her way around a violin by heart, to the point that it was as natural as breathing. It helped that she was just tuning it, too. Or, had been, before she'd found herself starting to slip, back down the hole that had appeared not too long ago and just kept getting deeper and darker.
She'd gotten an email from her dean. Dean Killian wanted to call her, sometime in the next few days, and Aika had a sinking feeling that nothing good would come of that phone call. So she'd pulled out her violin, from the case she kept just under her bed, and set to tuning it in an attempt to calm herself. Only, it really wasn't working too well. And nothing, not remembering the work she'd done with Rory's friends, or Gage's attempts at inviting her to join him and his friends in a game of poker, was helping at all.
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Rory rubbed at his temples as he stood in the corner listening to The Boys argue over a laptop. They were fine-tuning some of the work they've done with Aika, and Rory wanted no part of the growing headache they were causing with their deafening voices. He glanced at the door, then glanced back at the group when he felt eyes on him. Tobias smiled knowingly and discreetly made a shooing motion towards the door. Rory smiled gratefully and slipped out, not even grabbing his coat in his hurry.
He tugged at his Monsta X t-shirt, already missing the warmth and comfort of his jacket, as he thoughtlessly wandered the hospital halls. After a few minutes of doing that, he asked a nurse where he could find a certain room. Once he found the room, he lightly knocked on the door and winced at the throbbing in his head. "Aika? It's Rory."
A voice cut through the cloud in Aika's head, and she caught the word 'Rory'-name, rather-just in time. Rory was here? She glanced around the sparse and very impersonal hospital room out of habit, despite the fact that she couldn't actually see anything, before returning her gaze towards where the door was. "Come in?" She called back, her hands returning to tuning without much thought. There was one chair in the room, one next to the bed that she'd never bothered to get rid of. Maybe some part of her hoped her father would visit finally, even though the other part of her, the voice in the back of her head, told her that was about as likely as a wish on a falling star coming true.
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Rory opened the door, making sure she heard him, though he didn't even know she had her blindfold back on. "Don't mind me," he muttered as he headed over to the only chair and slumped into it with a heavy sigh. He leaned forward and crossed his arms over the edge of the bed, resting his head in his arms. He was so tired, though the fatigue was mainly mental. He loved his mates, he really did, but they sometimes got a bit too much for him to handle with a sane mind.
Aika tilted her head, following the sounds of his footsteps until he plopped down in the chair. "Tired?" Was all she said, and something about the tone of her voice made it obvious she wouldn't mind if he didn't answer. The cloud was slowly dissipating, which was slightly startling, considering how heavy of a presence it had been just a few minuted ago.
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"You could say that," he mumbled. His head was buried in his arms, so his voice was slightly muffled. After a few moments of silence, he lifted his head to prop his chin on his arms so he could look up at Aika and let her hear him clearly. He finally noticed the violin and tilted his head slightly, but didn't have the energy to take a gander as to what she was doing with it. Tuning maybe?
"People tired or tired tired?" This was something Aika was good at. She didn't talk to many people, but when she did, talking to them about their problems and issues was always easier than anything else. She raised her violin up, resting it on her shoulder as she waited for his reply, and drew the bow across the strings to test them. She played a short bit of something, the music slightly somber but beautiful. She frowned though, setting the bow aside once more to continue fiddling with the violin.
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He remained silent when she played a small bit on her violin, listening carefully to the music. He could tell just a bit more tuning was needed, but it was otherwise beautifully played. He was impressed with her ability, which was a recurring theme when he heard her play other instruments. "People tired—my mates specifically." Because of his exhaustion, Rory had slipped into his Korean accent without thought. By the time he realized it, he didn't bother to change it.
"They're loud. I'm not sure how you've managed to spend so much time around them, I think I might go crazy." Aika said, her voice soft as she spoke. There was nothing insulting in her tone, that was obvious. She liked Rory's friends, she really did, but imagining spending that much time around them was overwhelming itself. There's another accent. Interesting. She repeated the process with her violin, the frown returning once more as she returned to adjusting.
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"Trust me, I've gone crazy more than once. I'm lucky I got off with just a headache this time—and that's only because Tobi shooed me out while the others weren't looking." He fell silent when Aika repeated the process with her violin. This time, he knew that he couldn't hear what she heard, because he didn't think anymore tuning was needed. Then again, he wasn't an expert on most instruments, just singing and some guitar.
"Just a bit more observant than the others, it would seem. You're welcome to hang out here, even take a nap, if you'd like." She offered, turning her face in his direction. She lifted her left hand from her violin, checking something with her right, before going back to tuning with a small smile.
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"Thanks," he murmured, his eyes getting heavy already. He didn't want to take a nap in her room—that was bad manners when being a guest—but he couldn't fight against the onslaught of mental exhaustion. Dealing with his mates was difficult, especially during days like this, and it was nice to get some peace and quiet, save for the occasional violin sound, but that was bearable.
The muffled sounds next door grew louder, sounding like cheering and laughter, but Aika drowned them out as she tested her violin once more. She seemed satisfied with the sound, playing the same haunting and somber melody a bit longer than the other times, before setting the violin down. "Small talk, or quiet?"
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"Talk," he said, even though his eyes were closed. "I like talking to you. I'm not being talked over unlike when I'm over there." He vaguely tilted his head in the general direction of his mates, then tiredly rocked his head back into place. "But fair warning, I might fall asleep at any moment."
"That's perfectly fine. I've got extra blankets in the corner if you need them." She said, shaking her head as the smile stayed in place. "Talk…how has your day been?" That was a good small-talk topic, right? She assumed so, considering how many times she'd heard it used before.
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"Thanks," he said, then thought about her question. "Besides the obvious, The Boys and I've made some progress concerning the different music style. It's sounding really good—slightly different and odd, but good." It would seem he was a little more chatty than he thought he'd be.