strangetrip | [GP/EP] Check-in Day

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[GP/EP] Check-in Day

It was a musical day at the Madonna Inn, both inside and out. Curnen had taken her usual place up on the roof and was singing charms to the sky to keep any wanderers from getting lost (though that part of it was not immediately obvious). Unrelated to that, Sunny was on the dance floor in the bar, summoning songs of her own with her knife to keep her moving before she went to do her shift at the library later. It was one of those days where if she thought about it too hard she’d start thinking about that empty bed in her shitty room and the person she most wanted to be there.

This of course eventually seeped into her magic. She knew better. Maybe she’d even wanted that to happen.

Because just once, between different pop hits and dance beats came a rather unexpected French love song. She sighed and rolled her eyes, but the exasperation didn’t last. Before the lyrics started up she was waltzing. By herself and not caring how it might have looked. And for those three and a half minutes, she dared let herself hope for the slimmest chance that Orlu might come through that door.

She didn’t let herself hope too hard, though. There was admitting to feeling things and there was setting yourself up for certain disappointment. She’d lived too long with disappointment to do that to herself.

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Well, at least he got an almost-smile. Then he got an idea.

"Come with me? ... I'd like to show you something."

Corbie blinked slowly at that, though it didn't really take much thinking. She wasn't hungry, and a distraction wasn't unwelcome. Why not? She nodded. "Yeah, okay."

He took her hand and guided her through the hotel quietly until they came to the space where the much unused piano was. He sat down, leaving space for her on the piano bench. He quietly lifted the cover off the keys and then began to play for her.

Corbie reflexively squeezed Alec's hand when she took it, letting him literally lead her away from that place where she'd felt so stuck. She didn't know what she'd been expecting, but it certainly had not been this. Of course she remembered the detail from his story, that he'd been undercover as Rachel's piano teacher, but the image of him as a musician hadn't really come together in her mind. Especially playing something so... well, soft and pretty.

She of course couldn't play at all, pianos were things rich people had. This was the first time she'd even sat on a piano bench. But that only increased her wonder and fascination as she both listened and watched his hands move across the keys. The ennui left her face to be replaced by wide-eyed wonder.

Eventually, she even smiled.

When he finished, he even surprised himself on his music choice. He tended to pick harder, faster songs when he felt the need to play. He looked at Corbie and realized she was actually smiling. It pulled a smile to his own lips. "...Did you like that?" After all, Corbie could have hated music.

Corbie turned her smile up to him. She was still more quiet and still than she was on most days, but she was still entirely sincere when she said, "Very much. That was beautiful. And nobody's ever played music just for me before."

He didn't really play music for anyone, really. It might have been the first time ever in his life, actually. "Sometimes I play when I need to think." On occasion, Alec didn't go for the punching-a-thing route. It was rare, but it happened.

Corbie nodded. "And you do it very well. I mean, not that I've got that much experience to judge, but... I still really enjoyed it." She leaned in and gave him a soft kiss on the cheek. "Thank you."

He smiled a little at the kiss, but to Alec's credit, there was no leering involved that time. "You want me to play something else? I know a lot." Almost all the classics, actually, all stored away in his brain.

She didn't even need to think about that. Corbie nodded. "Would you? Please?"

Alec took a moment to think, just a small moment, and began playing something that started off slow and picked up tempo. He knew a lot about the theory behind each composition. It had been part of his job as a 'piano teacher', but he mostly liked the music. He liked the challenge in the precision. It had been Joshua who eventually pointed out that his music changed to something entirely technical to something with actual feelings behind it. He supposed maybe now he could understand what Joshua meant.

Corbie was spellbound. Yeah she could do magic and all but her hands couldn't do anything this intricate.

When he finished, Corbie actually applauded. And bounced. Just once.

Alec actually smiled. It was, perhaps, the first time he ever played and smiled from the person's reaction. "I'm glad you like it." He'd do it for her all the time if she asked him too.

He wanted to ask her if she was feeling better, but he worried it would cause her to remember she was down in the first place. Instead, he leaned over and placed a simple affectionate kiss near her temple. And when he pulled back, he paused. "...sorry." He had acted out on impulse again.

The kiss, from someone like Alec who almost reflexively made interactions with women sexual, was a surprise. But it wasn't a bad surprise. Corbie blinked up at him for a moment, but her face softened into a smile. "No, it's fine. I think I needed that."

He cleared his throat. Out of everyone at the inn, Corbie was one of the few who made him unsure of himself pretty consistently. It was like he was worried about screwing up in front of her. He didn't want her disappointment.

"It's better when you smile."

"It's better when you're not posturing," Corbie countered, gently bumping her shoulder against his.

Alec pretended not to really hear that part. Posturing was half his way of life. "You feeling any better?"

Corbie nodded. Felix would have ignored it, too. If he wasn't posturing, he didn't know what was left. "Yeah. I really think I am. I mean, I dunno where I'm gonna be in an hour or whatever, but yeah, that helped. Thanks."

Especially since she could only imagine there were memories connected to playing piano he'd rather not revisit.

He nodded, then paused. "I know it's not much, but, I'm glad if I'm stuck here, you're around." He paused, then something more like his playful voice sounded in him. "I need someone to call me out on my bullshit from time to time otherwise Kitty will kill me."

Corbie snorted, willing to let the sincerity slip into layers of teasing and joking. "Well, we can't have that. I will do what I can to keep you below the mark of killable."

"Much appreciated." Probably Max did that back home among other things. She was, at the very least, responsible for making Alec more sociable in general.

He paused. "What would you like to do now?"

Corbie sighed and rubbed her hands over her face. "I really probly should try to eat something. I haven't eaten all day."

"I just happen to know how to make a few things thanks to Emma." And his ability to remember well. He grinned.

Corbie grinned back. "Are you offering to cook?"

"Uh." Was he? "I mean. Sure. Just this once." And it would be mostly like Emma's cooking except her je ne c'est quoi because he didn't quite understand yet you cooked with feeling.

[GP/EP] Check-in Day

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