A Weird Buddy Cop Movie (Mi-Yun)

some coincidences are deliberate

Mi-Yun Seonu / aaaaaaa I hope this wasn't too short of an intro :x

Marie probably should have anticipated something like this, considering it was the start of a new school year and most teachers were always eager to get their students to get to know each other, but that certainly didn't mean that she had to be ecstatic about it.

I mean, just looking (ha) at it objectively, this was kind of a good thing? Sort of? Sure, a partnered project to create an original musical composition meant that she'd be forced to work with someone for a grade, but it also meant that she wouldn't have to have an awkward discussion with the teacher about the logistics involved in her making a composition by herself.

For the moment, she resigned herself to being cautiously cynical. Hopefully she'd be paired up with someone that wasn't very over-bearing. And hopefully she wouldn't be paired with a younger student that hadn't heard about her yet - for some reason, there were quite a number of students who didn't really realize she was blind. Which, you know, how, considering she walked around with sunglasses and a telescoping cane. Maybe most people just tuned her out when they passed by her in the halls.

Thankfully this teacher was the kind that had everything planned out, because she was listing out the preordained partners to the class at large - to some people's chagrin, as she heard some grumblings and exasperated sighs, but whatever. It was preferable to waiting in her seat until someone offered to buddy up.

This commentary was running lazily in her mind as she rested her head in one hand, so hearing her name pop up helped to wrest her attention squarely back into the present. 

"- Mi-Yun Seonu and Marie Reisender..."

One of her eyebrows quirked up in a quizzical expression. The name wasn't familiar to her, and while she didn't have a perfect memory of names, she was sure that the'd never met this person before. Which could mean any number of things, really, so dwelling on that was probably not wise.

Fingers crossed, then.

Craning her head around in an empty gesture, Marie wondered if this Mi-Yun was already on her way over to her. Social cues were so unbelievably obtuse when one of your key senses didn't work. Had the teacher sort of waved over at her to indicate who she was? Should she loudly proclaim "It's me, I am your partner" while standing on her chair? Try to flag her down like an air-traffic controller?

Best to wait and see what happened first, she supposed.

Hm.

CODED BY DUCKIE OF GS

◣◆◢

Morning classes were always the hardest for her. They were just so early - and prying her eyes open at such an hour was nearly unbearable after such a busy weekend of moving in. She had to instruct all of the family help on where to put her boxes, in what order they had to be brought in, and where her items needed to go. Relentless work was quite draining, and she only had time to unpack, eat dinner, and head to bed that night. She heard her roommate come in later, but didn't wake up to meet her. She almost wished she did - it made her curious as to who she was spending the whole year living with. "Mi-Yun Seonu and Marie Reisender," the teacher called out. She sat up immediately, snapped out of her daydream. She'd never heard this name before, and she couldn't put a face to it. Her eyes darted around the room for any sort of life or movement. She saw a dark long-haired beauty across the room move her head around in a looking-type of fashion. She wore sunglasses (inside?) and sat on the other end of the room. Well at least Mi-Yun knew who she was now. It was hard to get a read on her personality, as her eyes weren't shown. After the teacher was done assigning groups, she instructed for the students to sit and discuss ideas with their partner to get started. Mi-Yun turned herself in the direction of Marie and started waving her hands to instruct her to come over. It didn't seem to be working, as Marie wasn't even responding. More spurratic now, she waved her arms and made a confused face at the girl. No use. Maybe those sunglasses were too dark to use inside. She'd give her a fashion lesson for sure. Mi-yun lifted herself from the desk she was in and let out a sigh as she crossed the classroom to the desk in front of Marie. She turned herself around to face the girl. "Hey, I was waving at y-" she stopped immediately after spotting the telescoping cane. She covered her hands with her mouth and let her eyes go wide. Oh no, I didn't even notice she was blind! That explains everything!! "I-I-I mean.. um... I was just thinking about the project and... I... What kind of music styles do you like? Can you- DO YOU play an instrument? Um..." Her stuttering was out of control. This was the most embarassing way to start out a new class and a new year. Oh god. Maybe if she ran away now the girl wouldn't even notice and she could ask the teacher for a new partner.

NOTES || oh got playing an ignorant character is killing me xD
                   hope this intro is okay and doesn't make your character
 TOO annoyed...                                             

LAIKA OF GAGNAM STYLE

some coincidences are deliberate

Mi-Yun Seonu | tbh I have way too much fun putting Marie in awkward situations

The rest of the group pairings kind of trailed off into a steady drone in her ears as she settled back into her chair. Simple blind (ha again) social interactions like this really just...rubbed her the wrong way. There was no immediate feedback. It was her problem to deal with, that she was kind of hopeless in situations like these, and that she was the one who had to adjust. Keep adjusting. Shying away from this stuff meant that she wasn’t social, wasn’t outgoing, and that was bad. Apparently. And then she finally managed to get a grip on her anxiety, reigning it back as hard as she could until she was somewhat comfortably back in her ‘neutral’ demeanor.

Geeze, calm down, it’s just a class project. Go back to half-paying attention.
Her name sounds kind of pretty.

And then the teacher finished listing off names, ambient sounds filling the room as some students scuffed chairs and shifted desks to better talk with their partners. She was wondering, yet again, if her partner knew who she was before a pair of footsteps stopped in front of her, with the girl (Mi-Yun?) starting to remark about how she’d waved at her before cutting herself off. Brow slightly furrowed, Marie tried to start an explanation; ”I-” But before she could even get into what she wanted to say, she was interrupted with a nervous stream of words (Okay, so definitely Mi-Yun).

Now she was feeling pretty conflicted. Initially she’d been feeling a little indignant about the slip-up, looking to explain her situation yet again to another student, but then came Mi-Yun’s hasty attempt to try and cover it up. Which she appreciated on some level, at least, and her stuttering was pretty amusing- but then came the unintentionally pointed question of her musical talent. It was sort of a lot to take in all at once.

”Uh.” Finally deciding on what point to start, her expression remained fairly flat as one eyebrow quirked up over the rim of her sunglasses. A signal to the other girl that yes, this was awkward and yes, she understood. ”Sax and violin, first off. A combination of classical and jazzy, soulful stuff, but for the purpose of a project like this I’m pretty open for whatever.”

Silence felt too heavy right now. Absent-mindedly, Marie wondered if anyone was paying attention to them, but that wasn’t something she could easily discern. She had to force herself to keep in mind that, regardless of how she felt, this was probably similarly embarrassing for Mi-Yun.

Hesitantly, she withdrew a hand from her lap and offered it to her in the form of a handshake. ”We can ignore that start. If you feel like it. I get it a lot anyway.” She shrugged one of her shoulders nonchalantly, trying to defuse the tension as best she could and as quickly as possible. Like her dad used to tell her, one of the ways to make something not a big deal was to treat it like it wasn’t.

CODED BY DUCKIE OF GS

◣◆◢

"Oh!" Mi-Yun chirped, "Yes, let's start over. I'm Mi-Yun Seonu, and I'll be your partner for this project!" The brunette offered a polite bow, even though she was aware the girl would never see it. It just felt right. Maybe she could sense it, Mi-Yun thought. "Hmm... saxophone, violin..." she tapped a manicured finger to her chin and thought of what she could play that would go well. "I play piano alright and guitar very well! Oh! And I can sing. But I prefer song writing..." she paused again and pursed her lips to the right. "Something like an acoustic/classical crossover might be great! But kind of hard to pull off." It was so hard for Mi-Yun to tell what this girl was thinking. She was so sleek and beautiful, but solemn as well. Plus the sunglasses hid her eyes. How could she tell her feelings if she couldn't see her eyes?! Was she secretly seething at her for that introduction still? Was she annoyed to have someone she didn't know as a partner? Or maybe she was just nervous? The possibilities didn't narrow anything down to help Mi-Yun. She just had to keep positive and hope she herself didn't get too nervous and mess things up. "Did you have any ideas?" She asked, pulling at the tips of her hair.

NOTES || i didnt mean to take this long to reply asdfdsaf

LAIKA OF GAGNAM STYLE

some coincidences are deliberate

Mi-Yun Seonu | it’s cool!

”Nice to meet you then, Mi-Yun.” There. That wasn’t so bad, now was it? Fresh start. Leave that awkward stuff behind. Marie let her hand drop back into her lap as she listened to the other girl list off her appropriate talents. Piano, guitar, singing...there were already some ideas flittering about in her head, seeing as how there were quite a few combinations possible that seemed like they’d be a good idea.

Nodding her head, Marie’s response to the end of Mi-Yun’s list was a quiet ”Makes sense.” There was a musical quality to Mi-Yun’s voice that she picked up on, which she’d also noticed in a few other students on campus - from what she could tell, some of those students appeared (at least partially) to be at Fukui for oral training in music. Really, if she hadn’t mentioned it herself, Marie would’ve asked if she sang.

She was really glad most of her knowledge on music theory had been self-learned when she started getting serious about playing, so she could actually formulate her thoughts better on a topic like this.

”One or two. An acoustic/classical mash-up is a pretty good springboard.” She sat back in her chair as she considered it, softly drumming on her thigh with one hand. Is there an empty chair nearby? Did she bring one? I’d feel awkward if she had to keep just standing there. Not really knowing what the situation was, she decided to shift her chair over to the side a bit. Just in case.

”Maybe...something like an atonal composition? Like a beck-and-call kind of thing?” For one reason or another, she was operating under the assumption that most of the groups would be sticking to simple harmonies. ”Like a vocal track, accompanied by piano or guitar, that beckons to and is answered by a sharp and interrogating violin? Or a moroseful sax?” Closing her eyelids, one hand reached up to massage the bridge of her nose under her sunglasses as she listened for any comment. She wasn’t aware of it, but there was already one thing the two of them had in common: not being much of a morning person. Didn’t really help that the start of a school year was always hectic for her. Eventually her sleep pattern would adjust, but she’d probably crash before it did.

”If we were to do something like that, it seems like the first step would be to decide what tone the piece is going to have. What it’s going to be saying lyrically.”

CODED BY DUCKIE OF GS

◣◆◢

"I love that!" Mi-Yun burst, trying not to hop out of her seat. "It would be so eloquent and beautiful - and just so meaningful! Could you imagine the tears in the audiences eyes?!" She sat down dreamily against Marie's desk. "But yes! We need to decide what it would say, what it would mean." She took a moment to let her inner writer come out and give her a good idea to donate to the project. Nothing jumped out at her right away. "Maybe, we do something sad. Something that really sinks the hearts of our listeners," the brunette nodded vigorously. She knew if she thought about it enough, she could get the inspiration to write a sad song and play it in the same state. "Like, we could have a soft piano in the background and I sing and you can play in instrument to do the response. Either the violin or the sax would be great!" She still continued to lean against Marie's desk and smile at the girl. Now that ideas were coming together she began to get excited about the whole thing. She hadn't written a song in about a month. This could get her right on track! Mi-Yun looked back up at Marie and waited for a reply. She started to get the feeling that even if it wasn't for her glasses, this girl would be hard to read.

NOTES || :3

LAIKA OF GAGNAM STYLE

some coincidences are deliberate

Mi-Yun Seonu | i’m really liking this

Marie had to fight back the urge to flinch at Mi-Yun’s sudden surge of excitability, which was almost a bust due to how unexpected it was. It seemed to come entirely out of left field, but maybe this was a common occurrence with her? There was no real polite way to tell someone “hey, warn me about whatever that was next time before you do it”. Best to just roll with it.

But then what she actually said sank in, and Marie found herself feeling kind of incredulous to a point. She could count the number of times people had been appreciative of her ideas on her hands, not counting her parents and counting the time before she’d developed her disability. She was inclined to harbor disbelief, but Mi-Yun sounded so...earnest? Genuine? She’d be lying if she said it didn’t make her feel at least a little bit better about being forced to partner up for a class project. Although now this suggested mutual vested interest, and with that came the realization that slacking off in any way on this would leave her feeling terrible.

This is kind of weird.

”I- yeah, yeah that sounds good.” For the moment, she found the way her sunglasses were resting on her face to be irritating and uncomfortable, so those came off as she continued to massage the small indentation on the bridge of her nose. She had no way of knowing whether or not she looked tired, but her eyelids sure felt heavy, even if she was just keeping them closed.

”I could potentially do both? Depending on how we decide for it to start out and where it goes from there, of course.” Carefully planting an elbow on the corner of the desk, she plopped her chin down onto her open palm. ”The music department here has some really good recording equipment, and I got pretty familiar with it last year.” She’d spent the majority of her free time outside of classes and her dorm-room in the music department, so that was kind of a bygone conclusion.

CODED BY DUCKIE OF GS

◣◆◢

Mi-Yun sat almost statue still as Marie removed her sunglasses. She was nervous, she had to admit, as she'd never been around a blind person and didn't quite know all the ways to act around her. She was so used to smiling and nodding at people as a response, or using body language to clear her point, and she felt a little at loss without being able to use those. But she did her best not to let that get her down- Marie had such a wonderful idea for a song after all! She was obviously very talented. Being able to look at her eyes now, she could see Marie' entire face and get a better read on her emotions... sort of. Marie was still much less expressive than Mi-Yun, and she kept her eyes closed whilst she sat there. Even so, she was a type of beautiful the brunette wasn't used to. Mi-Yun felt a tad of red rush to her cheeks at the thought. She tried to shoo it away; it was distracting her from the real mission at hand! "You think we could use both instruments?!" She repeated in surprise. "Do you think it would get confusing for the listener though?! Like, would they assume it's three different voices instead of the duet call and response idea...?" She pursed her lips and thought a moment. "I don't know... just a thought..." "And okay! I'm glad you're good with them! I'm a little rusty with the fancy equipment," she chuckled and pulled at her hair.

NOTES || Yess~ This is fun!

LAIKA OF GAGNAM STYLE

some coincidences are deliberate

Mi-Yun Seonu

Another almost-flinch. At this point she couldn’t tell whether it was the other girl’s energy or if it was just too early in the day, but either way it would certainly take some getting used to. Her dad would probably joke about her being gunshy. As it was, she let Mi-Yun’s thought hang in the air for a while.

Again, she gave a sort of half-shrug with her free shoulder in response. ”They were easy enough to pick up. It’d be even easier if my instruments were electric, but setting stuff up isn’t really that hard at all. I could probably show you, if you’re interested.”

A corner of her mouth drawn in as she considered what Mi-Yun had brought up, she envisioned a loose structure in her head as she looked for a possible way to explain the suggestion. ”Well...it’s pretty much a given that it’s going to start off with the vocal portion, right? If it doesn’t sound right having the two of them together in similar rhythm, we could bring in the second later to bolster the first, to mimic what the piano would do for your voice?”

”It could also probably help us lay down the basics of this if we take a more hands-on approach. I could play some free-form while you brainstorm the story for the piece.” It wasn’t very direct, but it was still obliquely an invitation for the two of them to hang out. She wondered if that was necessarily the best idea, but reasoned that was probably anxiety thinking for her again. Surely they’d have a much harder time working on this project if they never met outside of class.

CODED BY DUCKIE OF GS