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Forum Name: Undocumented Features General
Topic ID: 116
#0, Teaser: "The Rose that Blooms in the City of Light"
Posted by Gryphon on Sep-21-01 at 01:12 AM
LAST EDITED ON Sep-21-01 AT 01:14 AM (EDT)


The substance of Kaitlyn's dissertation seemed to be that,
although she was enjoying the conference's musical aspects immensely,
she was finding some of its social aspects very tiresome indeed.
Musicians, she explained, tended to be a somewhat quarrelsome lot when
gathered together in groups, and additionally, though some were
committed to the beauty and universality of music as a means of
emotional and conceptual (as opposed to literal, you understand,
although it can be that too) communication, others were... well, just
plain snobs.
Fortunately (praise Corwin's holy Aunt Bell, blessed be Her
celestial kitchen), Elizabeth Broadbank had neither interest nor
talent in musical circles, so Kate didn't have -her- to deal with; but
to hear her gripe about him, the unnamed individual known to Juri only
as "that pompous cretin from the Ecole Musico-Technologique in Nice"
(repeated consonants where appropriate) was almost as irritating. His
opinion of Kaitlyn's first product she dared call a symphony, the one
she had worked with Miki on over Christmas, was a dismissive, "Crude,
of course, and mired in archaism; but then, that sort of 'antique
music' is popular in the provinces, isn't it, dear?"
Juri raised an eyebrow. "He actually called New Avalon 'the
provinces'?" she inquired.
"Y-yep," said Kate. "An-nother time he s-s-said he
sup-p-posed I w-w-work with symph-phonic orch-ch-chestras because
'm-modern' instrum-m-ments aren't av-vailable on the Outer R-Rim."
"He sounds like quite a charmer," Juri mused dryly. "Did you
inform him that you also lead a successful electric band?"
"Oh, r-r-rock is w-w-WAY out at the Ecole M-M-Musico-
T-Techn-nologique," Kate assured her, nodding in an exaggerated
yes-man style. "E-even f-f-further than s-s-symph-phonic."
"What do they -prefer- at the Ecole Musico-Technologique?"
Juri wondered.
"They c-c-call it 'l'Ex-Experience Sonique'," said Kate
grandly. "P-personally," she added darkly, "I th-think it s-s-sounds
like r-r-random RF n-n-noise set to an electrod-d-drum s-slaved to
a p-partially c-c-crashed neural n-net." She splayed a hand on her
chest and went on in a dramatically haughty sort of way, "Ah, b-b-but
this s-s-sad unenl-lightenm-ment of m-mine is a n-natural p-product of
my w-w-wilderness upbr-bringing. One m-mustn't hold it ag-gainst me."
Juri acutally -giggled- at that, which made Kate glance at her
in mild surprise, then cock her eyebrows conspiratorially at the eye
contact and snicker in return.
"Well," said Juri when they were finished laughing, "you'll
have your chance for vindication on Friday evening."
"I-if one of m-my p-p-pieces is sel-selected," Kate said.
"R-Ragulin is on the s-s-selection c-committee. B-but so is
M. Ch-Chalfant, and h-he r-really liked them. The s-symphony's t-too
involved to p-p-put on w-with such sh-short notice, b-b-but maybe the
p-p-piano sonata... "
Well, thought Juri, at least the pompous cretin has a name
now. Or part of one, anyway.
It was about two miles down the Champs-Elysees from the Etoile
to the Place de la Concorde. With the evening traffic, other
pedestrians, and their own leisurely pace, it took Kaitlyn and Juri
an hour or so to reach the Obelisque standing in the center of the
Place. The evening was cool but comfortable, the night sky over Paris
clear and starry, as they stood looking up at the massive stone
needle, an ancient Egyptian relic given as a gift to France in the
19th century. Kaitlyn opined that WPI ought to put one like it in the
center of the Quadrangle instead of that silly flat dedication stone.
They walked through the breeze-ruffled leafiness of the
Jardins des Tuileries while Kate tried to explain just what it was
they -did- at the International Conference of Modern Composers. Juri,
not being a musician, didn't really follow most of the technical bits,
but she didn't really care; the important thing was that Kate was
speaking comfortably, no longer self-conscious about her speech
impediment in front of Juri.
The redhead found that gratifying, for though she knew most
people found her intimidating and often used that fact to her
advantage, she sometimes wished she could turn it off. Perhaps that
was one of the reasons she'd come to like Utena Tenjou - the fact that
Utena had never seemed particularly awed by her. Impressed, yes, but
not to the point where her own capacities were diminished by it. It
was a refreshing change from cowing people with a glance.
She pulled her train of thought back from that irrelevant
digression and listened as Kate described a bit more of the byzantine
internal politics of the colloquy. It all sounded quite maddening,
but she noticed Kate was becoming more cheerful as she complained
about it at greater length. A little smile quirked Juri's lips as she
recognized the beneficial effects of venting. It was another thing
she had never been particularly good at, but perhaps if she watched
long enough, she could pick up a thing or two.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor in Chief, Netadmin
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/


#1, RE: Teaser: "The Rose that Blooms in the City of Light"
Posted by Astynax on Sep-21-01 at 01:31 AM
In response to message #0
Nice <waits for someone to bitch about the font> anyway, that was what came of looking for 'concise'? This ought to be one hell of a story then;)

-={(Astynax)}=-
"Darkness beyond Twilight"


#2, RE: Teaser: "The Rose that Blooms in the City of Light"
Posted by Gryphon on Sep-21-01 at 01:34 AM
In response to message #1
>Nice <waits for someone to bitch about the font>

Looks fine from here.

>anyway, that was what
>came of looking for 'concise'? This ought to be one hell of a story
>then;)

I could have trimmed it down further, but I wanted to make sure I caught the atmosphere.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor in Chief, Netadmin
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/


#3, RE: Teaser: "The Rose that Blooms in the City of Light"
Posted by Laudre on Sep-21-01 at 02:16 AM
In response to message #0
Juri... giggling? This I *have* to see.

-- Sean --

http://www.thebrokenlink.org The Broken Link 4.0 is live!
"All tribal myths are true, for a given value of 'true'." -- Terry Pratchett
Follow my random thoughts
Follow my creative process


#4, RE: Teaser: "The Rose that Blooms in the City of Light"
Posted by Gryphon on Sep-21-01 at 02:22 AM
In response to message #3
>Juri... giggling?

Only a little. :)

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor in Chief, Netadmin
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/


#5, RE: Teaser: "The Rose that Blooms in the City of Light"
Posted by Star Ranger4 on Sep-22-01 at 11:54 PM
In response to message #4
>>Juri... giggling?
>
>Only a little. :)
>

WHew.... For a while there, I was worried Gryph's muse had been visiting NYC... Interesting selection... I cant tell if this is supposed to be part of a 'quiet romantic moment' or something else entirely; At least not until Gryph releases the completed work, anyway.


___________________

Vaughn doesn't know I exist. I guess this explains why the rest of reality keeps ignoring me as well. >_<