haven't you noticed

[starseedling]

Who: Steven, Peridot, Lex, and potentially YOU!
When: Second half of May.
Where: The Haven, the Outskirts, the Outer City.
What: Steven plays music for the poor saps outside of the Bright Wall, explores the city, and also does some other things. Faerie traits begin to manifest. Sleep is disrupted. Includes some closed top levels, but also open stuff!
Warnings: Pop music.

★BUSKING PRO BONO (MAY 20+)

Power or no powers, if there's one thing Steven can bring to the table, it's the magic of music. Specifically, he's volunteered to lend his skills to the Outer City in the form of entertainment, playing his ukulele and singing his heart out while other people do tasks that could be considered more critical.

Not in his opinion, though. These people need food, and healing, and protection, but they clearly also need something to brighten their spirits. Unfortunately, his brand of otherworldly music may not be all their familiar to their ears.

Not quite comfortable enough to break out some of his newer creations, Steven has been running through a long list of Earth-based musical covers. Currently, he is performing a spirited rendition of Haven't you Noticed (I'm a Star), which seems to be drawing an equal mixture of interest and bafflement from the locals. He may have to fine-tune his set list in the future.

"Haven't you noticed that I'm a star?
I'm coming into view as the world is turning
Haven't you noticed I've made it this far?
Now everyone can see me burning~"

He finishes with a dramatic flourish, only now really turning his attention to the uncertain audience. Hm. Tough crowd. Maybe it doesn't help that after the recent full moon, he'll have developed the beginnings of glittery scales around his neck and shoulders, as well as to pink dots on his forehead that are clearly destined to be antenna.

★JUST STRAIGHT UP BUSKING (MAY 20+)

Beyond charity work, Steven can also be found around Aefenglom proper, playing music for pocket change. He can be found in a large variety of places, still playing mostly modern Earth music as well as a couple he's written himself. He's also using this as an opportunity to explore the city, now that he's feeling a bit better than when he arrived.

Also, his big pink lion is with him, playing chaperone and also giving Steven a ride. While Steven plays, Lion will happily nap nearby - though maybe that's not the best way to attract donars.

Comments

[starseedling]

Steven's eyes light up, hearing her say that. Toby is really smart, he thinks. He claps his hands together gleefully.

"That's a really cool way to think about it! Everyone has stuff they're good at." Which might just sound like a platitude, but Steven really does believe it. "We don't have a ton of trees around where I live, but other places on my Earth do! Beach City is right next to the ocean, and there's a bunch of farmland nearby."

Thinking about hands, there's something he's curious about.

"Do your people play any instruments?"

[horkbajir]

She gives a little nod when he claps. "You see? I can't do that. The flesh and skin on my hands has a different quality."

To demonstrate she tries slapping her hands together. It's a duller thump and doesn't carry.

"Some of us like to pound on things to create a beat," she says. Rhythm is important. "On the homeworld, we had Speaking Trees. Hollow trees of a certain description, with vines up to seventy feet long that we treated and stretched taut between branches. Two people trained since they were a year old would carve a sapling and draw it together across the vines to create low sounds that traveled. This was how we told one another what was happening far away - we had a tree-language that all understood, even if few spoke it."

And this, like just about everything in her history, ends in a dark note. "That art is lost. No one alive remembers what vines to use, or how to treat them and arrange them on the branches, or how to carve the Speaker's Tongues, or how to use them, or even what the language really sounded like. The Yeerks have comm tech. The last Speaking Tree sang for us to come to them and surrender."