Owner	Pose
Yaozu	Pawn shops can be interesting places to visit, and Yaozu has spent time venturing into a number of them. There was a purpose to this particular hunt, a goal that he sought. The first few that he had visited proved to not have what he was looking for, yet perseverance is a quality that he is possessed of and so he kept looking. And he found what he was looking for, which pleased him. With the violin case in hand, he'd ventured then to more familiar stomping grounds, so to speak -- to the park in Chinatown that he frequently visited. He walked over to stand near the water's edge, looking out over the water. He wears a set of traditional Chinese robes that are a light green colour, trimmed in a darker green and with ivy embroidery around the openings of the sleeves. His black ear tufts are perked up, and his long black hair drapes his back down to the small of his back, the sides having been drawn back to be held in a silver clasp low at the back of his head. Once the night had fallen more fully into darkness then he had crouched in order to open the violin's case in order to take out the instrument held within, and the bow. He wasn't sure if he could still play, let alone to play with the same skill he'd had before. But what he could do was to try. He straightened, did his best to tuck the violin where it should be, and then closed his eyes to listen as he went through tuning the instrument. His more sensitive hearing tends to notice the slight out of tune that happens with the strings. He tunes it with a sort of practiced ease, making small adjustments until he's pleased with it. It doesn't feel as comfortable as what it did whe he was human, but... it took some getting used to when he'd been learning, even if he doesn't necessarily remember it. With his eyes still closed, he starts to play. It's a song he knows well, one he's played many times, and this time... there are notes that aren't quite right, fingerings that are missed. There is, too, a frustration that starts to creep up within him. He stops playing, midway through a phrase of the music, and he exhales a breath a touch sharply through his nares. "Kore wa zetsubo-tekidesu, watashi wa shoshinsha demo machigai o okashimasu," he says quietly, a touch of irritation in his voice. Japanese. He is, as he always has been, his harshest critic. Translation: This is hopeless, I make mistakes even a beginner would not.
Kinsey MacKenna	Kinsey was in the park. Usually she went to whichever one tickled her fancy. Central Park was a favorite. And since she was made a Lantern, they were a huge park of her ritual letting go. Today, it was Columbus Park, near Chinatown. She couldn't explain *what* drew her here, but despite being a scientist, she had realized 'all things with reason'. In other words, if she waited long enough, the answer would come to her. So she waited, on a bench, under a maple tree, watching the crowds come and go.. until a most unusual man came and set up his violin. It wasn't until she heard him speak, in Japanese, that she realized *he* was the reason she was here. "All isn't without hope." (Thank you Kibou for translation to and fro!) "You only tried but the once."
Yaozu	Sometimes, it's just a feeling that draws a person to a particular location. What lures Yaozu to this particular park happens to be more than one thing. Location is assuredly a part of it, since it's within Chinatown. Even though he's no longer of human appearance to show it, he is Chinese by heritage and by birth. And yet, interestingly, he chose to speak in Japanese. An oddity, perhaps. The avian's black feathers, and his ear tufts, slick down when he hears the Japanese from the woman on the bench. His owlish eyes open and he blinks once, then a second time. He lowers the violin to his side, and he lowers the bow as well. "Nani?" he inquires, surprised, incredulous and perhaps more than a bit sheepish. 'What?' in Japanese. His head turns towards her, then takes a moment before turning more fully to be able to face her, studying her. Shifting the violin and the bow, he bows to her in Japanese fashion, his hands at his sides and his gaze downcast. Then he straightens, and when he speaks, it is still in Japanese. "I am sorry, I did not mean to disturb you. I should not have spoken aloud," he says softly, giving a small nod. His beak makes a soft snicking sound. "It... is a piece that I know well, that I have played many times before. It is not the same to play it now," he adds. That's a statement which likely doesn't make a lot of sense -- how could it not be the same to play it now as it was before?
Kinsey MacKenna	"Well, forgive me if I'm wrong, but every time you play it, isn't it a new discovery of who you are and the music?" Kinsey gave a partial shrug. "Now I? I would be lost. I can't play anything." Oh, she enjoyed listening to orchestral music, but other than that, she was terrible - and that was putting it mildly. "You didn't bother me. Actually I listened to your certainly private thoughts. Please forgive me. But now I'm curious, what has happened between this time and the last time you played?"
Yaozu	The suggestion that she offers is enough to draw his ear tufts to perk up a little bit, a slow creep back towards vertical. He blinks at her, owlishly, as he considers what she's said, and it's a moment before he gives a small nod. It might have been noticed that he didn't have any music that he was playing from. "That is not an untrue thing. A piece is seldom played exactly the same way more than one time," Yaozu says softly. He hadn't been looking at it from that perspective. "I play only the violin. This one, it is for practice. Until I am accustomed to it, again," he adds, looking down for a moment to the violin that he holds. It isn't a bad violin, it just isn't the same quality as the one he has back in his rooms -- and he won't be too upset if his talons end up damaging the instrument in the course of figuring out how to play without that happening. His head tilts to one side, that bit further than human, studying her for a moment longer. Softly, his weight shifts and he approaches the bench where she sits. Once he's closer, he stops without entering her personal space at all. "Mm... I am... unsure that I should ask this. What private thoughts did you listen to?" he asks quietly. He gives his head a small shake. "Forgiveness is not necessary to be given," he says softly, a small smile barely parting his beak. He looks down to the ground and falls quiet for a long moment at the question she asks, considering it before choosing the words to answer. "I was not as I am now," he says softly, then adds, "the last time I played, I was still human. I had not changed."
Kinsey MacKenna	"Ah." And with that, she takes a step back in their conversation and answers his question to her. "Your comment about hope. I happen to be quite knowledgeable about hope. You do not have a lack of hope, just a wee little bit of not looking at it from the right way." Kinsey half-shrugs. "When I was younger I remember always picking up the fights of my friends. Yet, I could help noticing when I stood there, defiant, my friends had the courage to stand up for themselves. And oftentimes, strangers." "Sometimes all it takes is seeing that another person has faith in you." Then she returns to the comment 'ah'. Suddenly everything makes much more sense. "So you have not been this way for very long." Not a question; simply a statement. "And yet you've tried something that has meaning to you. I think that is indomitable hope, not a lack of hope."
Yaozu	"Mm," Yaozu acknowledges, giving a small nod to her. "There are times when hope feels to be a fleeting thing. Like water that trickles away and between my fingers until there is none left," he says quietly. Still, he speaks in Japanese. His head ducks slightly as he looks down for a moment before he looks to her, studying her once again. "I have fought for others before. To protect them, to defend them. Or at least, to do my best at doing so. It never mattered how many there were that wished to bring a fight," Yaozu says softly, a touch wistfully. Sometimes, there were a fair few that were involved. And sometimes, it had a way of being complicated. He's quiet a moment, considering her words, and he gives a small nod. "Sometimes, it just takes not being alone. And sometimes, it is hard not to be alone," he says in a quieter tone. It's an odd pair of phrases, perhaps, for the words themselves are at odds with one another. His Japanese is fluent, spoken as one who is native to the language even though he is only half so. "I have been as I am for a couple of months, now," Yaozu says softly, his ear tufts lifting. "Today is the first time that I have tried to play, since then. I bought this violin to practice with so that I would not perhaps harm the one that I brought with me when I moved here," he adds. "Failure can cause hope to flee while success can fan the flame of it to burn brighter. It can be challenging to find the balance. To find acceptance of both," Yaozu comments.
Kinsey MacKenna	Kinsey listens very carefully about his life, and nods. "You sound like somebody that is.." And she stops. Definitely not police; they usually were much more hands one with the public. Yet, not a soldier either.. interesting. "Well, I'm not quite certain what, but I feel something less in your face than police or soldiers. Either way, you miss it." That much she is certain about. "Some people try to make the world better, so that others never wake up in their worst nightmares. Sometimes, I think, we can't do all of it. You probably do more than I do.. I'm.." Supposed to be. "A scientist. I realized early on that I could not stomach violence, so I turned my sights to science." "But some of our jobs are the same. And yes, it's complicated. Just some of us have the ability to use our strength in unusual ways. Sometimes we don't get to see the results of our journeys. Sometimes it is lonely, even if there are people around." When he talks about the past few months, she gives a soft smile. "So not so long then. You know, you shouldn't keep your other violin too long. It will become a stranger to you, and this one will quickly be an old friend."
Yaozu	The avian tilts his head a bit to one side at her deductions, his hazel gaze steadfastly and unblinkingly held upon her. His ear tufts make a slight wobble, for she's not wrong with what she says. There is a small smile that barely parts his beak, and he inclines his head slightly towards her. In some ways, he could be considered police-adjacent, and in some ways he could be considered soldier-adjacent. And yet, he's neither. "Your deductions are not incorrect," Yaozu says softly, inclining his head a touch towards her. "I have had what could be considered significant downtime, it might be said," he adds. Side effects of going through such a mutation and the fact that he's still trying to sort himself out have been factors. And he does miss the missions, fighting and saving people. "Scientists impact the world and all who are within it in many ways," Yaozu says softly, his tone respectful. "There are times when it goes either way. Sometimes, the world can be made better. Other times, it seems we are pushed back time and again as things grow darker," he comments, giving his head a brief shake. "We all have our strengths. Science was never one of mine. I was good at martial arts, at fighting. Perhaps, I will be again," he adds, sounding a bit unsure of that. He practices, but he still isn't as good as he once was. "How do you see hope in attempting something that has meaning to me? I did not succeed where I should have," Yaozu says softly, puzzling over it a bit. He'd wondered about that since she'd said it, really. His wings shift slightly at his back, ruffling a little bit before resettling there. "I have felt alone and yet been surrounded, isolated but with people all around me. It was not always the way of things, but it came to be," he says softly, looking down briefly before lifting his gaze to her. "My apologies," he says softly, half bowing to her. "My name is Lin Yaozu," he offers by way of introducing himself. "I seek to use this one only until I know that my talons will not cause it damage. Once I have the control required to prevent that, then I will return my playing to my other violin, to my familiar old friend," he says, a smile parting his beak.
Kinsey MacKenna	"Enough! Enough questions! Let me answer them." Oh but Kinsey laughed. So many questions from a lonely young man. "Let me answer first, my name Kinsey. Dr. Kinsey McKenna to be exact. I'm a theoretical geneticist specializing in xenobiology. More about that later." She looked at him very carefully, before she answered, what she thought was the heart of his question. "Other than your job.." She quirked an eyebrow at him. "Your music *is* what brings you hope. It's like the yin and yang of you. Until you balance it out.." She didn't finish. "I know a little bit of your pain though. It's not the same, but.. I was a scientist. Was." She drops her voice to a fraction of what it was - still in Japanese. "As I learned my new job, with its many new responsibilities, eventually I was not able to do the things I used to do as often as I wanted to." "But.. and it's a big but.. I love my new job, even if it's fathoms more responsibility than I could have imagined.." "Would you like to know what my new job is?"
Yaozu	Sheepishly, Yaozu ducks his head a bit, looking down to the ground for a moment before his gaze lifts back to her. "My apologies," he says softly. He shifts the violin in order to hold it with the bow in his right hand, leaving his left hand free. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Dr. McKenna," he adds, after her introduction. He makes a slight gesture of his left hand and gives a faint nod to her. "I will listen," he says softly. And he goes quiet then, to do just that -- to listen, attentively, to everything that she has to say. Yaozu tilts his head a bit to one side as he considers theory that she's put forth in regards to his music. "The balance must be found and achieved. That the balance is not there will affect all things. It will cause a sort of wobble," he says softly, his ear tufts wobbling a little bit. "When I play, when the music is good, I can become lost in it, absorbed into it." There's a flicker of curiosity that comes to his eyes when she speaks of having a new job. He shifts his left hand, slipping it into the sleeve of his robe as is a habit for him to do. "Sometimes, changes are more challenging to accept... especially when they take away from other things that we would like to do," he says softly. Wait... Yaozu blinks in the wake of what he said, as though seeing the words in a new way. As though it perhaps took saying them to fully understand the meaning behind them. The changes that happened to him caused him to stop playing his violin, and he questions the logic of that choice now. And he takes a moment to reflect on the impact of giving up his music. If what she's said about her new job is analagous to his change to a new form, then could it not be said that he needs to find a way to love his new self? It gives him a different way of looking at things, and a perspective that he isn't accustomed to seeing. "What is your new job?" he asks softly, curiosity in his voice.
Kinsey MacKenna	"Ah, now you get it." She taps her finger alongside her nose, then Kinsey gathers up her stuff (and perhaps the people who were there beforehand). "I'm a Blue Lantern, Sector 1914." She looks at him, and smiles. "You'll be fine. Trust me." And wriggling her fingers in goodbye, she was off.
Yaozu	"I believe that I may be starting to understand your point, yes," Yaozu says softly, giving a small nod to her. He watches her gather up her things, and he tilts his head a touch to one side as she mentions her new job. And there's a flicker of curiosity that shows once again in his hazel eyes. "A Blue Lantern," he says softly. He's heard of Green Lanterns, but he didn't realize that there were other colours as well. Though it does stand to reason that there are. "Thank you, Dr. MacKenna. I have enjoyed meeting you, and speaking with you," Yaozu says softly, his tone sincere. "I look forward to when the fates will see fit to cross our paths again," he adds, inclining his head towards her. "I will try to trust in that. Be well," he adds, sounding truly grateful. And he bows to her in Japanese fashion, the gesture respectful.