Kyeo is running his hand up and down Sarham's back, as though counting scars he can't feel, and then there is something, in the room, something enormous, and he sees his own face and Sarham's mirrored in an incoming oval and then -
- they aren't sitting on Kyeo's bed in Crane Mountain any more.
Zarian reads them the menu, providing commentary and explanations with occasional interjections from Colley. There are chocolatey things and fruity things and things of unfamiliar flavor, in cakes and pies and drinks and things of novel structure. She goes for a berry-and-maple milkshake-ish soup.
Colley and Zarian think the aliens are both adorable.
"Okay," says Colley as they're wrapping up, "Sarham, you can tag along and hang out somewhere in the music building, or just go off and do your own thing, or I think keep talking to Zarian about whatever it is that you guys normally do for her job?"
Zarian nods in affirmation.
"Alrighty; see you later." She heads out, checking over her shoulder to make sure Kyeo's following her.
It's a ways to the relevant building. Colley whistles as they go, high and clear at times, low and sweeping at others; one section has a lot of consecutive very fast very precise leaps between pitches; at a few points she harmonizes with herself by simultaneously humming. Of the Citrelians he's walked with, she seems to have the least trouble sticking to a relatively sedate pace.
The music building is fairly large, with door spacing that suggests that some of the rooms they're passing are meant to hold quite a lot of people. She stops in a small kitchen and grabs them both tea before leading him to a medium-sized room with large windows and instruments on the walls and floor. The chairs are structured to encourage a specific posture and are not what one would call comfortable but are kind of nice to sit in anyway.
"So, you just ate and can't copy off the state of your throat, so it'll be a bit before we can get started; want to give me some more details about the situation here?"
"If I try to sing, it doesn't come out - sounds like a whisper or like I'm choking. It sometimes happen when I speak but less so."
"That has interesting implications, since - of course singing and speaking are the same thing, fundamentally, and singing - at least within your most comfortable range and at the right volume - is actually easier on your voice than speaking. And whispering is very bad for it; avoid doing that at all unless you can't."
"It probably doesn't make sense to have you pick up more since there's already so much on your plate, but maybe carry stuff to write with if you think it's going to come up."
View Flat HTML
View Metadata
Search Post
