[ Suzune - Emily ] Songbirds

Chula - Suzune

Suzune had pretty much never played a piano in her life, let alone something as complicated as a synthesizer. Whatever these knobs meant individually meant all of nothing to her, but… well. She liked listening to music, so that had to count for SOMETHING, right? Pursing her lips, Suzune attempted to hunt and peck the notes for the vocal line of "Chocolate Disco" by Perfume, failing to memorize where each note was whenever she found it. The attempt was sad to any listener, but… at least she was having a good time(?)

At the very least, this was a suitable distraction from the rest of everything else that was going on, and the other activities she'd been attempting could only do so much for so long. This, too, would stop being a distraction.

… Admittedly, she was also worried about the wardens, being missing.

Suzune lifted her head as another entered, and pulled her hands away from the keys to wave. "Hiiii~" This was… Well. Even though they'd most certainly passed each other enough times in such a small building to exchange greetings, Suzune came to the realization that they'd never really had the chance to talk, had they? "You know… I don't think we've ever really chatted, have we?" Suzune leaned forward over the synth in her lap, flashing a smile.

Emily Lewenhock

Emily didn't consider herself an especially musical person, but at this point any sort of intellectual-adjacent stimulation was worth pursuing.

That, and she wasn't entirely sure the other party here was especially musical, either.

Either way, the sound drew her to the hall, where she sidestepped some splinters that may or may not have attacked her house shoes previously. Even if her request for proper footwear had been accepted, it was worth a note of caution.

She waved back to the woman absently before reminding herself she was trying to be engaged with things right now. Awful hard to remember with the whispers throttling her over lab safety practices that were perfectly fine, thank you.

Anyway, that was them, this was the woman, who was not attacking her. Be nice.

Also be normal because yes she was cute and yes she already had a ring.

"Don't think so. Definitely not any proper introductions."

"Emily Lewenhock. Pleased to meet you."

She started to offer a hand to shake, but it was a bit too much of a twisting hassle with her straitjacket as it was. She huffed instead. "I'd offer to play a duet with you there, but that wouldn't work out for a whole lot of reasons."

Chula - Suzune

Wow! She seemed awfully polite, and quite a nice smile to boot. Frankly it was… difficult to imagine how some of these people got guilty verdicts, especially without having seen their projections with her own eyes. She couldn't quite understand Tatsuko's, either. That was CLEARLY an accident, so she couldn't quite understand the rationale.

Nonetheless, it was hard to not appreciate such a warm reception in such a rough aftermath, and it was a shame they hadn't had the chance to speak sooner.

"It's nice to meet you, Lewenhock-san! Ah, actually, would you prefer Emily-san?" Emily was a little close to Ellie in sound, though, and she never did catch what Ellie's last name was. "I'm Suzune Gikou, by the way!"

Suzune's eyes flicked to the straightjacket. Ah… right. "It… must be difficult, I'm sorry. I have to admit, I don't actually know a thing about how to play!! This is my first time, like… ever touching a piano. I just thought it might be a nice way to lighten the mood before I offer it to Robert-san. Do you play? Normally, I mean." Suzune couldn't even read sheet music if she had any, really. Her talents lay elsewhere.

Emily Lewenhock

Emily was nothing if not polite despite mounting frustration! What else was being an adult all about, anyway?

In lieu of waving it off, she sorta tilted her head in what she hoped was an accommodating gesture, or something.

"Whatever you're more comfortable with. I'm used to plenty of both."

Haha, this lady had "geek" in her name. See, some people always had it rougher. "Likewise, which name would you rather go by?"

She shrugged one shoulder, though it ended up traveling to both anyway. "Not like it was your decision. Unless you were the secret Master Warden all along."

She popped her lips briefly, as if it would chase away all the whispering accusations of human experimentation. "I have touched a piano, but music classes weren't really something I took too seriously."

"Could probably do a few passable tunes on saxophone, maybe, but that's not exactly the same. Pianos—I remember where C is, and that's about it. You play anything else? Or sing?" Suzune seemed like a singer. Or maybe that was just some angel kinda association going on in Emily's head. Y'know, either way.

Chula - Suzune

"Lewenhock-san it is!!" She could save the 'Emily' until they got to be closer friends. Hooo… Off to a better start than some of her other conversations this period, though. That was delightfully refreshing in what was shaping up to be a rough period of time. "I guess I, like… Equally don't mind! A lot of tabloids use my first name to separate me from my husband, anyway, hehe." Thinking on it, not TOO many people referred to her by name at all to her face, at least. She wasn' really sure what people were using on average, except Akemi.

Secret mater warden? Pfft. Suzune giggled. "I can't imagine anyone here doing that, honestly! The only people who seem to be willingly subjecting themselves to some kind of punishment are me and Churchwell-san, after all." She hadn't heard anything else about guilt weighing people down outside of those two, anyway. "But, no. If it were up to me, everyone would be forgiven. People deserve the right to learn and grow from mistakes, in my opinion." At least… tightened restraints and whispers weren't the WORST kinds of punishments they could be giving. But she did… wish people had the chance to check in with their loved ones. Ah… she wondered if she could get a letter out to Haruki if she asked the wardens for the favor.

Wow…! Her eyes glittered with admiration, clasping her hands together. "Saxophone, huh?! I'd love to hear you and Robert-san play together sometime! Is it something you liked, at least?" Then again, a letter might be a difficult ask. A saxophone? She might be able to make that happen. "Music as a hobby always seemed like such a nice thing, no matter how seriously you take it! I've always admired that, but my hear took me to sports instead, hehe. I guess you could say I'm, like, an amateur karaoke queen? I can hold a note just fine! Just nothing fancy, hehe. I can't say I play any instruments, though. I guess I've just never tried!" In truth, even if she did, she'd be pretty bad at it with her levels of dexterity. Suzune was born to be a music appreciator, a music listener, not really a music player or maker. But that was fine, she was plenty good at other things!

Emily Lewenhock

She blinked.

"Like, tabloid tabloids? Talking about both of you, even?" Cute and famous? And famously taken? Whadda heck. Anyway. Anyway!! "I'll go with Gikou, then. Equality, or something." Or it was just easier to remember to call her Geek-O. You know, whatever.

"Fair enough." That was a lot more thinking about philosophical-type stuff than Emily tended to bother with, but sounded pretty reasonable.

Oh gosh oh freak this gal was overly impressed with her over nothing oh no. But it also wasn't like there were any saxophones here to prove her skill level one way or another, so! Even if the suggestion was her playing with an actual professional musician uhhh. Maybe he'd just make her sound better by proxy? It was nothing to worry about when they couldn't ask the wardens for stuff, at least.

"Yeah, maybe we can figure out a way to arrange that later."

And she couldn't even tuck her hair behind her ear without a lot of graceless flopping first, so none of that. Whatever be normal.

"It was really more for school requirements than a hobby… Karaoke's fun, though! I'm not much of a singer, but it's not all about sounding good, yeah?"

She squinted at the knobs on the synthesizer as if they would suddenly make sense. Not exactly adjusting depth of field and slide location, here. "Was that sports, plural? I'm not more into them than anyone else—" anyone else who didn't have the time to begin with, rather—"but my ex was big into gymnastics."

Chula - Suzune

Oh, right! Since she supposed she hadn't introduced herself to everyone, yet, not everyone necessarily KNEW her. Ok, so… "Um! So, I'm the CEO and primary model for the fashion brand HaruGi, for which my, like, husband is the designer! He's SUUUPER talented, and I wouldn't be anywhere near where I am today if it weren't for how amazing his work is! Actually, he made my outfit I'm wearing under this straightjacket~" Suzune did a little twirl to show off her jeans and the parts of her tank top that were visible. Really, though, not having a laundry room or alternate outfits meant she was wearing the same thing everyday and washing it in the showers more or less every other day. It'd be nice to have some pajamas, at least. "But that doesn't really make me any less normal, I think. What do you do for a job, actually?" She stayed humble nonetheless.

Oooh, that was exciting! It would be cool if a whole band or something could get together. Suzune swayed side to side, closing her eyes and fantasizing a little about a concert with the prisoners. Wouldn't that be nice? Though… Emily seemed to be a bit nervous. She flicked her eyes back open and tilted her head in concern. "Are you alright? I'm sorry, if that's too much pressure, actually it's ok if it doesn't happen!" Some people got performance anxiety, that was fine! It was nice to know that Emily at least had some experience with music.

Ah, right, school requirements. "I guess we also had required music classes, but it was mostly just chorus and recorder!" She didn't opt into a band club in high school, so. "You're definitely right, though! Karaoke's about having a good time with friends and all that!! I used to go aaaall the time with like, my best friends and some other models. I've been a bit too busy for it lately, I guess. Hehe, all this talk of it makes me miss it, though!"

Ooohooo? "I mostly just played rugby and soccer with some friends, sometimes baseball, nothing organized or with my school, but I LOOVE watching all sorts of live games!! You know, I never actually paid much attention to gymnastics since I've got a preference for team sports, but I really do admire it! That takes, like, sooo much discipline and muscle~ Did your ex ever compete?!" She did know the basics of gymnastics even if she didn't go absolutely insane about it like she did soccer, so it wasn't like she'd be starting from nothing, hehe.

Emily Lewenhock

Okay husband confirmed/strongly implied to be still alive. No no that wasn't the main takeaway here hang on—

Emily went to applaud the twirl, but that was a little too much motion for short notice, so she just kinda slap-clapped on the side of her jacket instead. It's just like having a hand occupied with sausage water at the sports game it's fine.

"Sounds like a pretty sweet deal. Did you meet in the business, or…?"

"I don't work full-time yet, but I assist in a microbiology lab. Still working on postgrad otherwise."

Emily semi-frantically waved Suzune's concern off, though thankfully the movement was still a bit stiff given the straitjacket situation. "No, it's no problem! I just wouldn't know where to start with arranging something like that, I guess. Ahaha."

"But hey, if we can swing a live band, surely we can make karaoke night happen? I'm not sure if it'd be funnier to let the wardens in or knock it out before they're back, though. Hmm." Well, it kinda had to wait for them considering the lack of instruments, but. Mostly she thought it'd be really funny if one of the non-girls was a karaoke star.

She nodded along, not having much comment on the general sports situation, but it was nice to hear about nonetheless.

"He did! He was shooting for the Olympics, naturally, but that sure didn't happen."

"Mostly I'm just glad he didn't hurt himself too badly. He's still out fishing around for the right sport to go pro in, last I checked." They still messaged pretty regularly, but that was, like, in the normal world. It felt like a long time ago by now.

Chula - Suzune

Oh, asking about Haruki, huh? Suzune giggled, pressing her hands to her cheeks. "Nope! We were neighbors growing up, hehe. If anything, we entered the business BECAUSE of each other. You see, like… Oh gosh, so. He was always very gentle and good with his hands, and my parents gave me a sewing machine one year for my birthday that ended up being his! He made his own clothes sometimes, but mostly ended up making stuff for me~ I pushed the things he made for me on social media, and it sort of snowballed into a whole thing! We got married pretty young, got engaged at 19, but I don't regret a single moment I've spent with him." Really, a perfect husband. Sweet, caring, thoughtful, adorable. Aaahh… there was so much to love about him.

Ooooh Microbiology… she had the scrape her memory banks to recall what that was off the top of her head, but eventually located it by breaking down the words. "That's, like, studying germs and stuff, right? Woow, and grad school always seemed so difficult, too! Balancing work AND grad school? Impressive! What kind of stuff have you worked with?" That's so neat! Like an entirely different world she'd never gotten the chance to interact with.

On the other hand… setting up a jam session should be pretty easy. "It shouldn't be too hard to reach out and ask, I think! Robert-san seems like a big sweetie pie, I'm sure he'd be happy to play something with others. He's in a band, you know!" At least, that was what she was under the impression he did. "But karaoke also sounds like an absolute treat! Gooosh, it's been, like, AGES since I have. What kind of genres do you specialize in?" Chances were they wouldn't have any overlap due to language barrier, BUT!

Olympics… hurt? Oh… She flashed a sympathetic smile. "Has he tried like… diving or synchronized swimming? Both of those might have some gymnastics skills carry over, and like… being in the water is much easier on the body than hitting the ground." It was why a lot of elderly people did it for exercise. It takes a lot of weight off of the joints.

Emily Lewenhock

Ah, childhood friends… How romantic. At least it was nice to watch Suzune talk about it.

"That's good to hear. Sounds very… fateful, I guess?" That felt like the word she was going for.

She couldn't really shyly tuck her hair behind her ear right now, so she just puffed her bangs farther from her face. Really not the same. Terrible fidget, 0/10.

"I definitely wouldn't call it easy, yeah. But yes, germs! Not necessarily with a human-centric lens, but that does end up being a lot of the application. I work with B. cereus, which can sometimes cause food poisoning, but most serovars aren't much trouble to humans otherwise." Don't worry about the one that stole plasmids from its cousin, it's fine and cool.

"I'd definitely think it's more fun to play with others." Yet another reason to have not played in some time.

"Singing-wise… Mostly pop-y stuff, little hip-hop. The kind of song everybody there knows, that I can just totally bomb and still have fun with. You?"

"Oh, you name it, he's tried it. Just don't know how long any one phase has been, or if he's come back round to it again, or… all that."

Chula - Suzune

Fateful, huh? Yeah… That sounded about right. "I guess having been born right nextdoor to your partner for life really is lucky, huh? It could have been anybody!" … What if it had been [REDACTED], actually? would things have turned out differently? … What would have happened to Haruki, would they still have been close? Ah… What ifs wouldn't change what happened, though. Her smile twitched for a small moment, but came back stronger than ever.

"Well, like, not all germs affect humans. Wasn't there that like… microbe that was evolving to learn out to decompose plastic due to how much of it there is in landfills? That was such a unique discovery!! I haven't heard anything about it in, like, ages though. I wonder how that's been. So… What does B. Cereus do if it's not really about humans? I don't think I know the term Serovars off-hand, hehe." That term fell under the umbrella of jargon that she, who didn't study much science, would really know. But she was happy to learn! It was always nice to learn about the things other people enjoyed knowing.

"Then let's sing together!! That's together, right? There's umm…. Gosh, what was it…. Getcha? That's half in English and half in Japanese!" It was probably the only way they could properly duet. She was a bit of a slow reader when it came to English, so unless a song was particularly low BPM her chances of keeping up were a little low. "I usually, like, stick to idol pop stuff, but I sometimes karaoke dance, too!! I do listen to a little Enka, but I've never, like, had the voice for it, ehehe. But yeah, it's all about having fun!!" Enka required a very specific tone, and a lot of skill that she simply doesn't have.

Ah…. So there was a lack of commitment. Well… "I get it. It's sort of like… nothing is the same as what you originally fell in love with. Well! I wish him luck! I hope he finds something that fits him like a glove."

Emily Lewenhock

"Yeah. Funny how things work out."

Emily was a little too distracted by another round of voices (crying out about crimes against humanity this time) to pick up on any shifts in Suzune's expression. Just a smiley gal o'er there.

"Yeah! Actually, a couple of other Bacillus species can metabolize polyethylene! Haven't heard anything about cereus there, but, ah, pumilis and subtilis? I think bigger deals have been made out of totally different genera, though. Couldn't name them off the top of my head, but pretty sure at least a good few are pseudomonas…"

"B. cereus has plenty of ecological stuff going on, but I mostly assist with research projects on bioremediation in heavy metal soils."

"Oh! Sorry. A serovar is basically just a subdivision within a species. Bacterial races, you could probably say." Gotta stop accidentally using jargon. Because she definitely didn't do it again five seconds ago.

Emily nodded along enthusiastically, too distracted at the suggestion of singing together with a cute girl to quite register what song or whatever specific she was suggesting. It could work out regardless! Like logistically. Not romantically. This has been established and why are you still thinking about this. "Yeah, casually I tend to listen to instrumental stuff, so that's not much of a karaoke opportunity, either."

"Haah, that's life for you, right? Agreed, though. I'm sure he'll find it eventually."

He still had plenty of time, after all. ~~After everything, he'd better.~~

Chula - Suzune

Well… These were a lot of words that she was entirely unfamiliar with, honestly! She knew polyethylene was a type of plastic, and obviously knew metabolize. Genera sounded familiar from school but she couldn't place it. The rest of the long words? Uhhhh…. She'll assume they're all species (including pseudonomas). Still…

"It gives a little hope, I think. When so much seems so bleak in the world, it's really nice to hear a piece of good news like that! I hope those little guys keep it up and get faster at it… there's a lot of food for them around, huh?" The world would adapt. For every awful act humanity did, the world grew to adapt.

"Oh, um…." Bioremediation? "So they take, like, metallic substances out of soils? Like iron and nickel?" That would make soils much easier for certain species to grow, wouldn't it? "I think nickel is used in some pesticides, right? That would be a pretty big deal!" She was most certainly doing her best, but when her knowledge base mostly stemmed from news outlets (of the non-science variety) she could only keep up with so much. Thank god for context clues.

"Oh!! Ok, ok, I get it now!! So sort of like how the flu changes every year, and that's why you need new flu shots all the time!" Right. That was a virus, though, not a bacteria. Those WERE different, and she knew that, but hopefully it would make for a good point of comparison.

Oooh, instrumentals? "Mmm… What's your preferred genre for that, then? Jazz? Classical? Lo-fi?" Those were the primary three majority-instrumental she was acquainted with, outside of, well. OSTs for shows, movies, and games. "I tend to prefer vocal tracks, but instrumentals are great, too! Especially live, hehe."

As far as Emily's ex, went, though… "I really hope he does. Everyone deserves to find what makes them happiest."

Emily Lewenhock

"The power of science, right? Sometimes we're getting there a little slower than we'd like, but we're getting there."

"Mmm-hmm. I don't know much about pesticides, but nickel is definitely one they're trying to get out of there. The project I'm on is mostly concerned with arsenic and cadmium—which, yes, arsenic is technically a semimetal, but close enough for our purposes, yeah?"

"Yeah! Same thing. Viruses have higher mutation rates than bacteria, so different serotypes are even more of an issue with them, I'd think." Whew. She sure wouldn't want to be responsible for distinguishing all those strains.

"Depends on my mood, but usually lo-fi, yeah. You go to concerts a lot, then?" Note to self: take Suzune to a good concert. Note to self (2): You are both stuck in prison still actually. Note to self (3): She's still taken this is a fact that has been established just chill.

And then, haah… A sentiment that seemed awfully unrealistic, but in theory Emily could certainly agree.