fandomhigh | Music Appreciation, Tuesday, Period 2

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Music Appreciation, Tuesday, Period 2

Students filing into the music room today would be greeted to the sight of two very different looking teachers, one clad in a superbly tailored and tasteful blue plaid three-piece and the other wearing more leather than was probably strictly necessary, even for a man who was on fire under all of those wrappings.

They would also be met with what was presumably pizza, though Jonothon seemed to be giving it a side-eye as he started to speak.

//Right. Er. Hello students, and welcome to Music Appreciation, which is more or less what it says on the tin. Dr. Lecter and myself - I'm Jono, though I suppose I'll answer to Professor Starsmore if you insist - will be spending this summer term giving you all a crash-course in different genres of music from different eras. Mostly what this means is that we sit around for half the summer listening to and talking about different songs, composers, and bands, what might have influenced them, what about each piece grabs your interest or turns you off… that sort of thing.//

Clearly Jono had put a lot of thought into this spiel.

"As you might have guessed," Hannibal picked up, "the two of us have very different tastes in music." And a lot of other things. "My experience has for the most part been in traditional forms of music - orchestral, opera, and some gagaku, which is Japanese music for those of you who may not be familiar with it." Which would be most of them, Hannibal, thanks. "I'm not terribly familiar with most of the popular music of today."

//Which, of course, is where I come in,// Jono supplied. //I personally prefer modern alternative and grunge, but I'm familiar with practically anything that comes through my shop - I run the Groovy Tunes in town - so I'll be the one introducing you lot to everything from Pearl Jam to Patsy Cline. Modern folk, rock, rap...// He gave Hannibal a wry glance. //It's certainly not for everybody, but hopefully some of you will appreciate it all the same.//

"I also have some knowledge of modern experimental music," Hannibal added. He chuckled. "Which is also not for everybody, but perhaps we will try it." If anyone decided they really loved theremin.

"For today, I believe introductions are traditional. Let's go around the room, and if everybody would please tell us your name, why you're taking this class, and something about your favorite type of music. Also, if you play an instrument, I'm curious to know. Beginning myself, I am Doctor Hannibal Lecter, I am teaching this class because I have enjoyed sharing music with Mr. Starsmore, and I prefer western orchestral music. I play the harpsichord and piano and the theremin."

//And I'm Jono Starsmore, teaching this class because I want an excuse to make Dr. Lecter here listen to Nirvana,// Jono added, though there was a light, teasing note in his voice as he said so. //As I said before, I've got a preference toward alternative and grunge, but a soft spot for Pearl Jam especially. And I mostly just stick to guitar. Electric, usually.//

Hannibal was smirking a bit at Jono's proclamation, mostly because he hadn't yet actually heard Nirvana. Spoiler: he probably wouldn't like them much. He nodded to the first student. "Now you."

[Open!]

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"I asked ♥Carlos♥ to check, and there's nothing in the water or air except the usual municipally mandated chemicals." Cecil shrugged. "And I'd think I would know if it wasn't me."

Not that he was too certain of that anymore.

Funny, given that nobody quite sounded exactly right to their own ears in the first place. But then, Jono had spent more of his lifetime without a mouth than with one, if you factored in every different lifetime that had been programmed into his brain, so maybe he had no idea what he was talking about.

//Right. Then, one more question before we get going again... faceless old woman?//

"Oh, she just secretly lives in people's houses." Cecil thought about it. "Or maybe there are different ones? It's hard to be sure, because she doesn't have a face, and you never really see her anyway."

Most people might think they sounded weird on tape, but Cecil did radio for a living.

//Ah...//

Well, that was rightly terrifying.

//And she's not what we're worried about, here?//

Sometimes, Jono had to check.

"Not unless you want to run for mayor. She's a pretty serious candidate."

//... Huh. Well, it's a good thing I've got no love for politics, then,// Jono decided. //Shall I turn it on again?//

Cecil nodded. "So far her only competition is Hiram McDaniels," he added absently before the tape started up again.

This time, it was talk about how Cecil was accepted as an intern. How excited he was to get started.

His brother howling and staring at him across the breakfast table and his mother hiding from him and covering the mirrors and...

Jono looked up at Cecil, trying to puzzle out what out of these things he was supposed to be concerned about, because the answer was currently 'all of it.'

Cecil wasn't sure what that look was for, so he shrugged. "My mother used to say, 'Someone’s going to kill you one day, Cecil, and it will involve a mirror.'" That...wasn't so abstract as it used to be. "I guess then-me didn't think of that as why. But I always cover them now."

And here Jono didn't keep mirrors around because he just didn't like looking at himself.

//With a warning like that, I really don't know how it could've been made much clearer,// he noted, but shrugged it off and resumed listening. //Tell me if you need me to stop the tape, mate.//

Cecil fidgeted. "I...um. You can play it, but do you maybe have headphones or something?" He didn't really want to hear the last part again.

//Of course, mate.// Jono cast around for a moment, digging up a pair of half decent headphones and plugging them in.

What he heard next game him a chill that ran right down his spine.

When the tape ended, he just sat there for a minute before speaking again.

//I see...//

What was that? No bloody wonder Cecil had been so shaken.

"What?" Cecil asked. "Do you think..." He wasn't even sure what to ask.

Fair enough. Jono didn't even know how to answer.

//I might have to listen to it again another time or two,// he murmured. //Whatever it was, it's important to remember that you're here right now, alive and well. The rest... We can figure out the rest.//

"Am I?" Cecil asked. If he looked a bit pale, it must have been a trick of the light, right? "Am I alive? Am I me? What if...what if it's all wrong?"

//What if it is? Are you happy with who you are right now?//

Jono shrugged.

//Look, Cecil... I've asked myself all of those questions, too, and I can tell you with some authority that who you were isn't always the important part of coping with your world being rocked like this. You want answers, and rightly so, but don't let this make you lose touch with who you are. You're a friendly, bright man whose heart is in the right place. You've got your radio show and your boyfriend and your mind. Maybe that was you, maybe it wasn't. But you are you, regardless of the rest of it. Whatever the rest of it turns out to be? We'll figure it out from there.//

Cecil chewed his lip but nodded. "You don't think maybe I'm something awful?"

Like perhaps some sort of nightmarish mirror-beast that ate his reflection, or something of that ilk?

Well. Jono wouldn't be surprised...

//No more awful than I am,// he settled on. //You know, you've done a lot of good, here, Cecil. 'Awful' isn't a word I'd use to describe you. A little odd, perhaps, but I think that's more because I'm not used to Night Vale custom than anything you've done.//

He shrugged his shoulders.

//I wouldn't have had you as my TA last semester if I thought you were terrible. Remember that night in the park? And you stopped and helped me? Would it surprise you if I were to say that there are a lot of people out there who wouldn't?//

"But that was just neighborly!" Cecil protested. "Sure, maybe the awful people in Desert Bluffs wouldn't help, but everybody else would have, right?"

//Not really, no,// Jono replied with a small shrug of his shoulders. //Most people likely would've taken off running in the opposite direction, mate.//

"But...why?" Cecil asked, aghast.

//In no small part because most people think I'm a monster,// Jono replied. //It's what they do, mate. They'll judge a person at a glance. You, though... no matter how many eyes or tentacles or sentient tattoos you end up with, you've always been a decent person. I've never known you to be otherwise.//

"But you're great!" Cecil protested. "Who judges people like that, anyway? That's just silly. If we judged everybody just because they were odd looking, or different, or...or a rock, or whatever, we might as well just go ahead and hate everybody!"

City Council had tried that once; it hadn't gone over well, and they'd eventually relented.

//Sound logic,// Jono decided. //Most people don't share it, unfortunately. Or, at least, not where I'm from.//

In fairness, most people where Jono was from were terrible.

"I don't think where you're from sounds very nice," Cecil answered apologetically.

Let's face it, for all Night Vale's oddities, nobody would look twice at Jono unless they thought he was cute.

Music Appreciation, Tuesday, Period 2

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