[OTA] Rhapsody in Spades

[headfollowheart.livejournal.com]

Sophie gave her the idea, actually, before they'd even gone to Santorini. They'd both been talking about how they missed playing piano - which, actually, was kind of odd, for Zoe. She played it well, but piano was fraught with memories of hours of training. Repetition after repetition of Beethoven and Bach's piano concertos until she reached a level where Charlotte Kattalakis had been satisfied.

Which took a while, to be honest. So music hadn't really been fun except to listen to. Zoe hadn't even considered bringing her piano with her when she switched Suits. It'd been left behind for whatever Six or Seven got her old rooms at Heart Castle.

Still, she did miss it for some reason. She'd started picking at teaching herself some old music on her piano last fall - she'd gotten the sheet music for "Stardust" last October, a birthday gift from her cousin Jessie, and then she'd taught herself "Summertime" last winter before she left. And now she was working on Rhapsody in Blue, which Sophie had mentioned at her party. It's eighteen minutes and not exactly the easiest piece to play, especially if you haven't touched a piano in five months.

But all in all...Zoe's doing pretty well.

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[littlest-heart.livejournal.com]

She'd just finished the day's dancing lesson with Cayden, and now it was time to make her rounds through all the Castles and pay her friends a visit. She didn't have many friends in the Spades, true, but it was never too late to make more!

The sound of a piano being played could be heard from a few corridors away, but she followed it excitedly. Lisa loved music, especially piano, and while she didn't recognize this piece, it was still pretty. It wasn't long until she literally waltzed in, one-two-three one-two-three one-two-three, random pirouette, one-two-three, then turned and faced the lady at the piano.

Hey, that's- Excuse the grin on her face, even though the last time she saw Miss Zoe, she was told to give Mister Ace a pin because he'd love it. "Miss Zoe! It sounds so pretty!"

She was still waltzing and adding in random bits of the ballet she was learning from Cayden. It just seemed to go together, even though it didn't at all and her dress wasn't fond of the leaping.

[headfollowheart.livejournal.com]

To be fair, she didn't really say Julien would love the pins. She meant Lisa would have more of a chance of success - if only marginally - than Zoe would have. Mostly because Zoe was pretty sure that she couldn't bear to actually put a Butterflies Are Awesome on the Ace of Spades.

She liked to live, after all.

"...Thank you, Lisa." Compliments on music aren't easily taken, but Zoe still offers a slight smile as the playing starts to slow a little. "What brings you over here today?"

[littlest-heart.livejournal.com]

Twirling to a stop at Zoe's feet, Lisa laughed. "I visit every day. I have friends in all four castles, you see, so if I want to see them all, I have to go everywhere. I can't just ask them to come to me, can I? They have Things To Do."

[headfollowheart.livejournal.com]

"But don't you want them to come see you sometimes?" She'll segue into something a little easier to play (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oE_dVEwrwuk&feature=related) while talking. "In case you've ever got things to do?"

[littlest-heart.livejournal.com]

"I don't know. I guess that would be nice, but..." She shrugged. "I don't think that sort of situation would ever happen, you know?" She can't imagine people not being too busy for her.

[headfollowheart.livejournal.com]

"It might," Zoe said, half-smiling as she scooted over on the piano bench so Lisa could sit next to her. "It's mostly, I think, that people like to feel important. So a lot of times they're not necessarily as busy as they like to think."

[littlest-heart.livejournal.com]

"But when I come visit, they try to make time for me. I don't know if they would do that if they had to come see me." Lisa understands that people are busy. It's okay, Zoe. She likes making them happy.

[headfollowheart.livejournal.com]

Someday there'll be a time when Lisa gets busy too, Zoe thinks, but hopefully not for another ten years or so. Moon River (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhx-hvVNTCk) this time. "So who are you visiting here?"

[littlest-heart.livejournal.com]

She shrugs. "Well, I wanted to see Mister Chives and Mister Ace of Spades, but I can't seem to find them right now. But I've found you, and that's exciting, too!" Lisa, busy? Never. Friends first.

[gardenplots.livejournal.com]

An excursion to visit friends throughout the Deck cannot be complete without popping in to see her favorite adopted niece. Maggie hasn't had the chance yet to visit Zoe in her new digs. She'd been present for her challenge, naturally, but had left the Deck soon after. Truth be told, part of her had worried she might never make it back.

But here she was and here Zoe was and she couldn't be prouder. The Spades had changed from the bad old years of Domitian and Erzsebet, of Sean and Medea. She'd have counseled Zoe not to change if they hadn't. Her girl's settled in, made a place for herself and appears to be blooming. Maggie couldn't be prouder.

She pauses when she hears the strains of Rhapsody. Goodness. In her day the music room had seldom been used. Her parents had despaired of her desire to learn. Zoe would pardon her if she took a moment to poke her head in to see what enterprising Spade was an admirer of Gershwin.

Imagine her surprise when she sees a familiar dark-haired form.

"Zoe?"

[headfollowheart.livejournal.com]

The music room was still seldom used, honestly. It was buried in the recesses of the Castle, and it had taken some hunting to even locate it - but that means she'd been fairly sure she wouldn't be disturbed. Lisa had already found her, though, so she shouldn't be surprised that someone else had.

"Aunt Maggie!" Zoe lifts her hands from the keys and blinks over in surprise. "I didn't know you were coming over today."

[gardenplots.livejournal.com]

"Neither did I when I started out. But the day's so lovely, I thought I'd go for a walk. You know how that goes. I ran into a friend and visited her and that put me so close to here I thought, why not? And here I am. It's lovely to hear you play."

Lovely to see her enjoying music again.

[headfollowheart.livejournal.com]

"I'm glad you decided to." She had, of course, gone to see Maggie when she'd first arrived home, but things tended to get busy, and she hadn't made it over much since. That was one thing she'd missed about living at Hearts - it was just a lot simpler to drop by the villa when you were just at the nearest Castle.

"I...thought I might try it again." She'd always enjoyed music. She loved to listen to Victor sing, but Charlotte had made sure it wasn't something she was confident actually doing.

[gardenplots.livejournal.com]

"There was never much music at Spade Castle when I was a girl." Maggie settles on a chair. "Perhaps everyone will think the place is haunted. Heaven knows, it should be." She'd certainly shed enough blood here.

"The nice thing about taking up a hobby for yourself is that you're the only person you need to please." There's a reason she gardens.

[headfollowheart.livejournal.com]

"...No, I suppose it's really not the most common of Spade hobbies." That was probably something closer to knife-sharpening, really. And it hadn't been a hobby in the Hearts for her, of course. Just another thing to propel her upward.

But as she still occasionally had to remind herself, she wasn't a Heart anymore.

"Well, I have sewing and embroidery, too." Which was a more useful hobby, but perhaps...well. More than one didn't hurt. Zoe smiles a little. "Charlotte despises jazz."

[gardenplots.livejournal.com]

"How terribly predictable of her. I suppose she'd absolutely detest hearing you're studying it." Can she tell her, Zoe Dear? Do let her have some fun.

[headfollowheart.livejournal.com]

"Oh, she would. Her face at Christmas when I did a jazz rendirion of O Tannenbaum?" Aunt Maggie, you should have seen it. It was like she'd swallowed a fly. "She wouldn't dream of setting foot in Spade Castle, though. I suppose someone would have to mention it."

[piquedbutler.livejournal.com]

Most of the music that didn't originate from the Deck itself that Chives is aware of is slightly older than George Gershwin, with a few surprising bits and pieces of hair metal and David Bowie that he Doesn't Acknowledge anymore. So he doesn't actually recognize fully what she's playing when he slips in silently with tea, but, well...

He'll Admit that it's something quite lovely, whatever it is.

If he moves a little more thoughtfully at setting up her tea (and the habitual small selection of nibbles, of course), it's certainly only because it would be rude to interrupt the playing, and not that he's... actually a touch captivated by jazz. Clearly.

[headfollowheart.livejournal.com]

Zoe's mother is enamored of all things classical. That's how she learned piano - Beethoven and Bach and Mozart, but she has to admit she never really enjoyed it. It was something to plod through, perfect, set aside for the next thing to be perfect in. Jazz, though, had been different. Jazz and the old standards. It wasn't something Approved of, so it was something she could enjoy.

And in a way, it was the sort of music that had led her to the Spades. It was the sort of music Victor had been singing when they met.

Zoe looks up when Chives comes in, and her cheeks turn pink, though her fingers don't falter much on the keys. She's confident in almost everything else, or at least able to pretend it. But music is different. And someone coming in - even Chives - is an audience. She's always had a little problem with performing.

"I hope you didn't have to look too much for me, Chives." She is, after all, usually in her office at this time of day.

[piquedbutler.livejournal.com]

Jazz is a sneaky mistress like that. And, well, so are the Spades. A person learns to enjoy that, or spends their life struggling against it. Chives, at any rate, is fairly Pleased that Zoë's chosen to enjoy both.

"Not slightly, Miss." There wasn't much that escaped Detection, after all, including these little blips in schedules. David had been known to get away with slipping the butler's Attention, but really--he was David. "Ought I mark this as a change?"

He'd certainly not object to bringing her tea here rather than her office. It was Genuinely Special, after all, being allowed these little Moments: hearing Victor sing, seeing Katya throw; learning Zoë played.

[headfollowheart.livejournal.com]

It seems like a waste of time not to enjoy it. Which she wouldn't have said five months ago - not about music, possibly about the Spades. It's strange to think that in a way, the Hearts were more...oppressive. But they hadn't meant to be. It was more that she'd never fit there - not like she did here.

The question gives her pause, and makes her fingers still on keys a moment before continuing. "Perhaps...a few times a week." It would be too fast a change to play everyday. Too much like before, when she played everyday in case someone challenged her in piano. That seems unlikely in the Spades.

But she will play more. For fun. Which will be something new for her, as well as new for Chives. "Has it been a good day so far?" she asks as the song ends and she takes a cup of the tea.

[piquedbutler.livejournal.com]

"Very good, then, Miss."

The cup will materialize in her hand almost before she's reached for it. Sean has undoubtedly trained her to be prepared for this sort of Attention from a butler--and, well, if Sean hadn't, she must have been a Favoured Spade long enough by now to know what to expect from Chives.

His tuneless hum should likely be taken as a sign of general Approval of the day, although his tone while he resumes fixing her plate slightly is as bland as ever. "One can hardly find cause to complain, I should think."

It's not a question. There's no Inflection for a question. But if it prompts her to tell him why she's shifted to the piano today, he's certainly got his head already canted into a Listening position.

[headfollowheart.livejournal.com]

She grew up with Sean as the butler. Making one's own tea in Heart Castle was Disappointing, because you weren't allowing Sean to Take Care. So by the time she'd met Chives, she was certainly well-trained in Accepting. So she smiles a little as she takes that first sip, teacup carefully balanced in her hands.

And she's quiet for a moment. She knows Chives will listen, and she knows he won't say anything if she doesn't want him to listen. That's why it's so easy to be with Chives. She doesn't have to open herself up. But sometimes she does want to. "I missed music," she says after a moment. "I didn't expect to."

[piquedbutler.livejournal.com]

There's a fine art to Fussing which most people don't fully appreciate. It takes actual Thought and Effort to find the infinitely many tiny adjustments which allow a person to simply Be in a place waiting for the Precise Amount of Time required for another human being to Reveal the next Need.

It's not long with her, although it does make his fingers pause slightly. "...missed?"

[headfollowheart.livejournal.com]

"Mm," Zoe begins, and the pause is to gather her thoughts, though she pretends that it's to choose one of the sandwiches Chives has arranged on the tray. "I haven't played the piano since January," she finally says.

January, of course, being when she finally pushed back and turned her world upside down. Though it was less upside down than right side up, finally.