14076/A Musical Morning

A Musical Morning
Date of Scene:	16 January 2022
Location:	Suite A5 Yaozu and Liansong, The Triskelion
Synopsis:	Summary needed
Cast of Characters:	Yaozu Lin, Liansong "Song" Qing

---

Yaozu Lin has posed:
The black feathered avian has been awake since before dawn, which is nothing out of the ordinary for him. He's practiced his martial arts, and he's gone through the various wing exercises that are designed to strengthen his wing muscles. That involved a visit to Columbus Park in Chinatown, as it has the space to accomodate his practice and is generally quiet if not entirely abandoned at the hour he chooses to go there. He tended to wear a set of simple black robes when he does his practice. It was chilly, and there was snow on the ground, but Yaozu didn't seem bothered by either of those things. He has been returned to the suite for a little while, and it is somewhere around ten in the morning when he has emerged from his bedroom. His black hair is damp from being freshly washed, and the sides of it have been braided as they were drawn to the back of his head, the ends twisted together and speared through with a hairstick. The hairstick is sandalwood and engraved with a trio of lotus blossoms at the end of it. No longer is he in the black robes that he wore for his practice. He now wears a set of robes which are mostly white but which also are touched with pale blue. The sash is pale blue, and the lower portion of the robes have a design of water with Chinese fishing gondolas and distant barren trees, blue shadows of mountains and the orange-red of a dawning sun that reflects in the water. It is a pattern that is repeated on the sleeves of the robes as well.

In his left hand is carried the slender body of an erhu, and in his right hand is carried the bow which goes along with it. This one is a second hand instrument that he'd managed to find and purchase at a pawn shop, for he's still not as accustomed to his talons as he would like in order to play his own that he brought from China. He has been practicing, though that's been happening elsewhere than here and his timing has been such that he's come and gone when Liansong hasn't been present in the rooms. He settles on one end of the couch, near to the front edge of it, and makes a minor adjustment to the fall of his robes. He settles the erhu in place and, after closing his eyes and slightly tilting his head forward, he begins to play.

Liansong "Song" Qing has posed:
Liansong isn't, as it happens, present in the roomes. Nope, he's out. And he's supposed to be out for a good several hours more, at the very least. But, alas, that isn't what happens. Nope, he returns to the suite right as Yaozu begins to play. He can hear it from down the hall, so is well prepared. Never the less, the body language is not one of tollerance. He comes in, and very carefully shuts the door. There's something about the motions that says the door would be slammed if he weren't being careful.

He's drenched. Absolutely drenched. Lab coat and all. He walks through the room, taking no pains to be quiet. Yaozu almost certainly already knows he's there, so there's no need for silence. Not that he could be silent enough in any case. He goes into his room and shuts the door firmly behind himself. Clearly, company is /not/ welcome at present. Within, he strips, and steps into the shower.

Yaozu Lin has posed:
There are times when Liansong's schedule is easier to keep track of than others. Though he's fairly certain that likely works both ways between them. His own can be a bit wonky sometimes as well. He can hear Liansong's steps as they approach the door, yet the forewarning lends no insight to the state in which his fellow avian happens to be in. There's nothing that could prepare him for that, alas.

He had initially thought the careful closing of the door was to not interrupt the music. But then his keen hearing had caught the sound of the water dripping to the floor, and that had caused him to open his eyes and look towards Liansong. A flash of surprise and concern rises to show in his eyes, and the notes of music trail off and away. Fading. His ear tufts swiftly lay back flat, then very slowly lift just a little bit, his gaze tracking Liansong to his bedroom door. "Ah'Song?" The fond nickname that he's given to Liansong is past his beak before he even realizes it. He sets the instrument aside, and then he steps over to the kitchen to put the kettle on and get down a pair of mugs to fix one for coffee for Liansong and one for tea for himself. The kettle will be a few minutes, and he can hear the shower running. Since his company is so clearly unwelcome past Song's door, he steps over to the couch to stand there, his beak snicking softly. He knows Liansong can hear him. He picks up the erhu and the bow from where they sit on the couch, and then he moves them aside, to lean them against the wall near to the door of his own room. That he doesn't put them away might mean he's willing to play again. He paces to the kitchen as he waits, and he stands vigil over the kettle.

Liansong "Song" Qing has posed:
The one thing Liansong's schedule can be relied upon for is it's unpredictability. That very unpredictability might be why Liansong is a bit irritable sometimes. Especially this time. His was supposed to be a later shift today, but he'd been up and gone before Yaozu had ever risen from bed. The rest is probably self expanatory and almost certainly lies with whatever had soaked him through.

And it's not so much that Yaozu specifically is unwelcome. But all company. Not just the one person. In due course, about fifteen minutes later, the water shuts off. Liansong wraps a towel around himself and wanders from the bathroom to his bedroom. He can be heard puttering around in there for a few minutes before he emerges into the main room. Wearing a loose bathrobe and carrying a blow dryer. "Ya mind drying me, Yaozu?" His body language is, at least, less grumpy now than it had been.

Yaozu Lin has posed:
They both get a taste of unpredictability where their schedule is concerned, and seldom at the same time and seldom in the same ways. It's the nature of the organization that they work for. Things come up unexpectedly sometimes.

By the time Liansong is finished showering, the kettled has boiled and Yaozu has made a mug of coffee the way Liansong prefers it and a mug of tea according to his own preferences. He picks up both mugs and makes his way out of the kitchen, then towards the bathrobe clad Liansong who has emerged. And he sets his mug of tea on the coffee table before he offers forth the mug of coffee. "I do not mind at all, ah'Song," Yaozu says softly, a small smile parting his beak. He reaches out to accept the blow dryer that's been offered. He's quiet for a moment after claiming it, and he tilts his head a bit to one side. "If it is not out of place of me to ask... what happened?" he asks softly.

Liansong "Song" Qing has posed:
Not only the organization, but also Liansong's line of work as a scientist. When it's time for the science, sometimes it waits for no one. Thus, his schedule has to be adapted. Liansong accepts the mug of coffee and lifts it to inhale the aroma. He holds it between his two hand without daring a sip just yet. The warmth is welcome.

"It's not out of place," he says. Liansong steps over to the closest outlet and sets his mug on the counter there. He drops the bathrobe, revealing his bedraggled self. Nothing is revealed, of course, because anything that might be is covered with feathers. Including the region that is covered by a pair of boxers with a hole cut in them for the tail to stick out. His poor tail droops. Water drips, now that the robe is no longer soaking it up.

Yaozu Lin has posed:
There's a smile that parts Yaozu's beak when the coffee is accepted, and he gives a small nod. He's pleased that the offering had proven to be welcome, and for a moment, he simply watches Song with it as it's held cupped. When someone has had a rough day or seems upset, offer a hot beverage. While a hot beverage can't fix things in and of itself, it's helpful in its own way.

Yaozu steps after Liansong towards the power outlet, carrying the blow dryer and leaving his mug of tea on the coffee table for the time being. He isn't quite prepared for when Liansong lets the bathrobe drop, even though there isn't anything at all that's indecent about it being done. There's Liansong's feathers, for one thing, and the boxers that he's wearing besides. It's a cultural reflex that causes his gaze to lower, and a facet of the same which also brings an iridescent crimson sheen to some of his feathers. It mostly can't be seen on account of the robes that he's wearing, at least. The shyness in him doesn't linger, and his gaze lifts from the water droplets that had fallen to the floor, to the tail feathers which had been and still are dripping and then further up over across Liansong's back and wings.

With his right hand, he reaches to the cord of the blow dryer and then moves to plug it in. The blow dryer itself is held in his left hand, and he lifts his right hand to bring it to hover for a moment above those white feathers before he very lightly seeks to touch the space between Liansong's wings. There is the pretense of seeing how wet the feathers are, yet if the touch is successful, it's gentler than just that purpose would perhaps warrant.