houseofcards_rp | [OTA] Rhapsody in Spades

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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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."

"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.

"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.

"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.

"...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."

"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.

"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."

[OTA] Rhapsody in Spades

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