OOM: Concert, part 2

[electro_kinetic]

The stage itself is backed by a huge screen, big enough to nearly be an IMAX presentation, and the orchestra is in front, chairs empty. They're fashionably close to the starting time, because Noriko hates being late, and she didn't want to be too early: tucking her free hand in her coat pocket she walks with Hannibal, trying to keep her heels from clicking too loudly on the floor.

The seats printed on both tickets are quite good, being the center of the closest balcony, where the sound will blend and amplify without too much distortion, and a clear view to both the screen and the plalyers, but before they see any of that, there's the lobby to get through.

"Wow," Nori says, looking up at the starburst lights. "This place is pretty huge."

Comments

[electro_kinetic]

Noriko has been idly playing with the thin, rosy chains laying over her shoulders int he time Hannibal has not been by her side, and though she hasn't ducked her head to avoid the gaze of many passersby, she hasn't been as openly staring them down, either.

She tucks a stray lock of hair behind her ear as she takes his arm, silver fingers resting on his jacket sleeve. She may be glowing--not out of happiness, precisely, but wariness.

[cook_the_rude]

"What is the percentage of mutants among the general population in your world, do you know?" Hannibal asks as he walks her towards the door to the auditorium. "You are glowing -- and that is not a metaphor or euphemism."

[electro_kinetic]

"We know of about a thousand," she says. "The world over."

Nori pulls in the glow, and it takes effort, leaving her still pulsing out a tremulous little light, like a flickering candle. "Sorry. It happens when I'm nervous. Or happy. Or both."

Which she is.

[cook_the_rude]

"You are easily the most striking lady in the whole place," Hannibal says. "And we are going to hear some brilliant music. So there is reason to be happy, at least."

[electro_kinetic]

Noriko cuts him a look at that, eyebrow raised as they walk together, and she manages to navigate stairs without falling. She's at least practiced in heels that high.

"Flirting?" she questions.

[cook_the_rude]

"Not all compliments are meant flirtingly," Hannibal says. "It would feel inappropriate to do so in earnest."

[electro_kinetic]

"Mind if I ask why?" she returns, trying not to fidget. It's difficult for her any day, but when she's nervous it's exponentially harder.

"Other than the obvious."

[cook_the_rude]

"You feel like an apprentice, niece, or student to me," Hannibal says.

[electro_kinetic]

"I'm gonna go with niece, everything is a little weird," Noriko says. "I'm...not doctor or shrink material." The conversation is nice enough to settle her down some, and they find their seats with minimal problems, though Noriko can't ignore the murmurs around her when she brings her hand up to open the stairway door.

"So where did you find the tux?"

[cook_the_rude]

"In my closet," Hannibal says. "I have everything I need at Milliways."

Which clearly includes the occasional formal black suit.

[electro_kinetic]

"Including goth formalwear, evidently," she says, making it into a question. "Did you ever watch the films?" Noriko asks. "Fantasia, and the sequel?"

Unfortunately, the occasional whispers about how she obviously wasn't normal were growing both louder and more frequent, one standing out as 'things like her obviously don't belong here' hung in the air for a moment. Nori was doing her best to avoid reacting, though her bicep twitched.

[cook_the_rude]

Hannibal briefly turns his head and looks at the person who passed the comment, and shakes his head with mild tutting.

"Of course I did," he answers Noriko.

[electro_kinetic]

"Never know," she says. "Some people are weird."

After a moment she lets out a breath Noriko had been holding without thinking about it. "I did tell you." She knows exactly how people can be here. "I used to hate the dinosaur one. Rite of Spring."

[cook_the_rude]

"Oh?" Hannibal says. "Why that? Stravinsky, or the ballet, are no longer considered controversial, human sacrifice or not."

[electro_kinetic]

"I don't know, it just always seemed...frenetic," she says with a little shrug. "And not in an interesting way? Just like a bad trip. And it's hard to understand the story he's trying to tell. I much prefer the Firebird."

[cook_the_rude]

"What will you do if they play the Rites of Spring tonight?"

[electro_kinetic]

"Well I'm going to get up and walk out," she says. "I'll probably just go to stretch my legs. Are you planning on following me to the bathroom?" Noriko asks.

[cook_the_rude]

"No," Hannibal says, "but I am amused that you are one of those ladies who hide in bathrooms during the parts of concerts they don't like."

[electro_kinetic]

"Please. If I was going to hide, I'd pick a place without anyone else in it," Noriko says. "I may stay for it, who knows. I didn't plan my evening that fully. If they play it and I like how it sounds, I'll stay. Same as everyone else in this building."

[cook_the_rude]

"Very sensible," Hannibal says, "but I am told the ladies' has only stalls?"

[electro_kinetic]

"It's kinda hard for use to use a trough, yeah," she laughs. "But they don't go all the way to the floor or ceiling, nor are they soundproof. Why, have you never been in a ladies' room?"

She finds it hard to imagine he could be that curious about it.

[cook_the_rude]

"Of course not," Hannibal says. "My life never was exciting enough for me to need to."

[electro_kinetic]

"Maybe you should look onto one," she says. "It's not that exciting, but evidently it's titillating for some men. Though I'm not sure why."

[cook_the_rude]

"Not for me," Hannibal says. "I do know women have urethras, after all."

[electro_kinetic]

"I'm pretty sure that's not the part most men are thinking about when they're fantasizing about sex in bathrooms," Noriko says breezily. "Because that's usually where the line of thought goes."