paradisalogs | (no subject)

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(no subject)

Who: John Egbert and Jane Crocker
What: First meetings
When: Earlier today
Where: The Music Room
Rating: PG ish?

It wasn't that John didn't like playing the piano. It was a great way to spend time when one had so much of it to kill at Paradisa. Unfortunately it was one of those things he didn't think of doing most days, despite the fact that the castle came fully equipped with its very own music room, piano included. Every now and then John managed to remember it was there, ready and waiting for people to actually play it. He'd debated a few times just going ahead and wishing up his own piano in his room, but then the one in the music room would probably never get played.

So there he was, sitting in front of the piano, plunking at a few keys experimentally. On occasion playing out a small section of a tune he happened to know. There was no music book sitting in front of him, and if he wanted to play a full song he'd have to get up and actually go find one.

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She was pretty damn good at this! John hadn't actually had a chance to play with anyone else while here in the castle, though he was also sure there had to be other people around that played the piano. It was kind of nice, he hadn't done something like this since the last time he and his dad plunked out a few tunes together.

"You wanna try one now?"

Jane grinned. "Sure, no problem."

She played a string of simple notes, first slow so John could hear it, then once more a little quicker. She liked to play this tune in particular with her Dad, but she figured he would be happy that she wanted to share it.

John stopped, listening to the song the first time it was played. He frowned slightly, glancing down at the piano before copying the tune with ease. It was just a small section of notes, so any familiarity he might have felt was probably just in his imagination more than anything.

It made Jane smile to hear he'd picked up the tune so easily. She played another, this one longer and a bit more complicated with a trill at the end that she particularly liked. The trill started out quickly, but it then petered out slowly to allow for John to pick up the tune.

John titled his head to the side, listening to her play more than watching her. By the time she played out the very end of the song he was grinning again, before copying this song as well. Unlike Jane, John wasn't quite as careful with how he played. He played the song back possibly faster than she did, hitting a few wrong notes as he went, but he nailed the end of it perfectly.

Mistakes were fine, of course. No one was perfect. In fact, John's enthusiasm in his playing made Jane grin, and she applauded him. "Hoo hoo! Bravo, good sir!"

John scooted back on the bench just enough that he could take a small bow. "Hehe, thanks! You're really good too. How long have you been playing?"

Jane placed her hands in her lap and grinned. "Oh, a few years at least. And yourself?"

John reached over to rest one hand on the edge of the piano, the other he let drop down to his side, resting it on the bench. He squinted at the wall trying to remember exactly when he started. "I started when I was pretty little. I forgot exactly when."

Jane hummed. That was probably the best time to start playing, really, or at least she thought so.

"Isn't it hard?" She said, "Remembering things from when you were little I mean. It's like your brain just...pushes things out and tricks you into thinking things have always been the way they were." It was a little bit of an out-there thought, but it tugged at something inside of her. She hadn't been in the castle for very long, but already she was growing used to it, and part of her didn't want to. She would never find her father if she became complacent.

It was unfortunate, but there wasn't much a person could do in this castle. If you struggled to get used to it, then you just made yourself miserable the longer you couldn't find a way back home. If you became too complacent then the castle won, and that wasn't a lot better.

Having been here for almost two years, John was sadly starting to slip into the second category, and it was actually moments like this where he started feeling bad about that fact. He still wanted to go home and see his own dad, still completely unaware there wasn't a father figure waiting for him on his return.

"A little. It all kind of runs together after awhile."

Jane hummed and nodded. This train of thought was doing absolutely nothing for her morale. She didn't want to get used to this place and she didn't want to not find her father and go home - or, as much as the Land of Crypts and Helium could be home.

What broke her out of her gloomy thoughts was not a revelation of any kind, but of a little realization that had been bugging her from the corner of her mind. She turned to John.

"I just realized something - well, I had an inkling, but I'm sure of it now. I think I might have talked to you before, over the journals. What's your name?"

John didn't want to either, and yet it had kind of happened. At times like this when he's actually reminded about the fact that he's gotten used to living in the castle it's a little upsetting, but most of the time he doesn't even think about. Most of the time he's too distracted with whatever crazy things going on around him to even think about everything back home. Which when he did start thinking about it made him feel guilty.

It wasn't until Jane asked him the question that he snapped back to attention, and had to stop to consider what she was saying. It was entirely possible they had before, John couldn't keep track of everyone he spoke with, especially if he failed to get a name, but...

"John Egbert." To answer her question.

John, huh? That was a fairly common name, but Jane had only met one John over the journals, and she was certain they sounded the same. She beamed and held out her hand.

"Well, even if I'm wrong, it's nice to meet you in person! I'm Jane."

Jane wasn't quite as common a name. John knew of other Janes in existence, but he hadn't met one here. Besides, this girl seemed fairly new, which fit the profile of of the Jane he'd spoken too.

"Oh man, hi! I didn't expect to meet you in person so soon. It's nice to meet you too."

He quickly grabbed her hand, going in for the handshake, then paused thoughtfully.

"So I guess it's pretty obvious I'm not actually a book."

Jane laughed. She couldn't help it! Just thinking about John's jape made her want to smile.

"No, but that's quite alright! I'm glad you are a person and not a book!" It would have been odd to know both a sentient pair of sunglasses AND a sentient book.

He was glad she took it well. John could always appreciate at person who knew how to take a joke, and Jane here definitely seemed like that kind of person. Then again, she had when he first met her too.

"Me too! It would kind of suck to be a book." Or a sentient pair of sunglasses, but then again John's not actually aware of them.

She nodded. "Always being picked up and dog-eared and shoved about...no, I don't think it'd be too fun to live life as a book."

It really was nice to begin to meet some of the people she had talked to through the journal. While she could think of it as a unique form of BettyBother, there was still nothing quite like talking to a person face-to-face. There was certainly a lack of pop-up ads, too.

"I have to say, though, that was a top-notch prank!"

The lack of pop-up ads was one of the best things about meeting people face to face! Not that John ever had to deal with that, considering he would never have touched an instant messaging program made by the Batterwitch's cooperation no matter how much money you shoved his way.

He was glad that Jane enjoyed the prank though. It'd be a spur of the moment thing, not a lot of thought behind it, but he did like pulling a good jape from time to time.

"I'm glad you liked it! I bet most people around here would actually get really annoyed at me for it."

"Well, some folks just don't have the right mindset to enjoy a joke now and then. It happens." Jane grins. "Although, I like to think that those are the folks that need a joke the most!"

While her friends often expressed their concern for Jane's tendency to be a "tightass" (which was completely untrue), that in no way meant she didn't enjoy joking around. Meeting a fellow jokester only made it better!

"I totally agree! They need to have a joke or two played on them to help them lighten up a little."

It was nice, finally finding someone else who understood John's amazing sense of humor. Most of his his friends tolerated his jokes more than actively find them funny. Jade seemed pretty okay with them, and Rose seemed to have a wry sense of enjoyment out of them, but he was pretty sure that Dave flat out didn't care for them. Then again, Dave's sense of humor was pretty stupid anyways.

Either way, he could tell this was going to be the start of a pretty awesome friendship with him and Jane.

Jane nodded in agreement. As much as her friends (mostly Roxy) proclaimed that she was a tightass, she still had a sense of humor, and it was obvious that hers and John's jived very well. She was glad she decided to investigate the music.

"Gosh, now I'm curious! How did you get into pranks in the first place?"

John saw nothing tightassed about Jane at all. She seemed like a girl that knew a good time when she saw one. Good times here obviously meaning pretending to be a magical talking book to confuse newcomers who just want a simple explanation of what happened to them.

"My dad!"

His smiles got a little sad as he said that. Almost two years and he hadn't seen his dad. Talking about him was a little painful sometimes.

"He was really good at pranks and taught me everything he knew."

Jane knew about how hard it was not to see your Dad. While it had not been as long as two years since she saw hers, the distractions of the castle only lasted so long. In fact, leads to where he might be seemed not to exist in Paradisa. She's been wondering, lately, if she should just give up.

Still, it brought a smile to her face to hear John talk of his so fondly. "That's odd. So was mine! My Poppop - er, his father - taught him everything he knew!"

Sadly here in a place like Paradisa, it was probably for the best. She should look and look all she wanted, but there was almost no chance that she was going to get any leads on her dad. The only chance she had was if he showed up here at the castle, but with how long John had been waiting for his dad here he couldn't really encourage anyone to stay hopeful about that.

He nodded at her statement. "I think my Nanna taught my dad. She must have been really good, since I know my dad is way better than I am."