Matsuo Junpei has been a very busy boy as of late. Why? The guy has been involved in Youma at Infinity, Punching wannabe gangers in the park, Rescuing dogs. That doesn't even take into account the fact he has a band, practice, school... Take now for instance.
Junpei was in the middle of a ring of stands holding drum heads, much like skeletal versions of traditional taiko drums. In the middle of these he was pivoting, moving, and basically moving from pattern to pattern and has for the past half hour. He was coated in a thin sheet of sweat, with only a headband and cotten wrist wraps to keep sweat out of his hands and eys. Occasionally he will have someone sit and watch. Now? It was just him. Nature. Drums.
As for Makoto, although her life has gotten more active since a certain bun-headed girl first invited herself to lunch, she's had some time on her hands. Up until a moment ago, she was out on a run - working up a sweat in her own way, long, rhythmic strides eating up the ground of the park.
Junpei's rig catches her interest when it comes into sight, though, and as she gets closer Mako lets her momentum die back, slowing to a jog and then coming to a stop altogether. Bending forward with her hands braced against her own legs to catch her breath, she watches him work through the patterns with curious interest.
Matsuo Junpei didn't have the sort of rumble and bass a proper drum set would. So while Makoto could hear him it didn't have the thundering affect one would get near a proper drumset. Still it was clear he had skill. The problem is stamina. Well more to the fact he still had a fairly massive and painful bruise that was making movement hurt. Fine fine it wasn't 'every movement is agony' but it still meant he didn't want to exert himself for his usual lengthy sets.
Upshot of this? He wound down after his half hour and grabbeda waterbottle, then when he saw Makoto he grabbed another and offered it to her. "Hello there. Just out for a jog?" He was breathing hard and his workout shirt showed just how muscled his arms were. "Is a nice day for it."
Makoto has just about long enough to begin to look concerned when she realizes she's been noticed, and she's in the act of opening her mouth to apologize when Junpei stops her short by holding out the water bottle. She ends up blinking at him instead, before a surprised smile breaks out over her face and she reaches to accept the water with a nod of gratitude.
"Thanks!" she says, still a bit breathless but recovering quickly. "It is. For practicing, too, it looks like." Her head tips toward the ring of drum heads as she cracks the seal on the water bottle. "I didn't interrupt, did I?"
Matsuo Junpei shook his head and mad a dismissive gesture with his left hand, "Nah. Doing half hour sessions til moving stops hurting." Beat. Realization that would cause concern so attempt ot explain before he dug a hole for himself. "Minor misadventure with a drama club nutcase hasseling one of the dancers." A shrug before he took a drink from his bottle. "Nothing serious but bruises in places that keep moving tend to suck. Ah well. Creep left in a hurry so totally worth it."
Then he looked Makoto over and quirked an eyebrow, "You jog here often? Could've sworn I've seen you before miss." As for Junpei himself? He still had the electric blue dye in his hair from the show Sunday, but it'd begun to wash out leaving streaks of black showing through, which was a look all it's own really.
She has an expressive face, one that shows everything that she's thinking clearly, and all of Makoto's reactions play out visibly in her expression: almost immediate concern when he mentions being hurt, soon relaxing into understanding at his explanation. "Good for you, then," she says, flashing a quick and approving grin.
When Junpei asks if she usually jogs here, Mako shakes her head. "I just moved to this area not too long ago," she says - but then pauses, regarding him more thoughtfully. Now that he's mentioned it, he looks kind of familiar, too. If nothing else, that hair...
The drums clinch it; suddenly Makoto's eyes widen in recognition and she snaps her fingers. "The concert last week! You played, didn't you?"
Matsuo Junpei smiled broadly at the recognition. What? Everyone liked a bit of flattery now and then. "I do hope you enjoyed." He shook his head in spite of himself, "Even with you being hard to miss I can't exactly say Iwould've been able to pick you out from the crowd. Too busy during a show." Then more water. "Maybe I saw you after." Even though he said he was trying to limit his movements his hands and arms gestured as he spoke, his body constantly moved and shifted.
Then it clicked, "Wiat you said you just moved here?" Maybe she went to school with him and he hadn't picked up on it because of a grade gap! "Where at Maybe I'm only a grade or so removed." Beat as he remembered his manners and bowed slightly, "Matsuo Junpei, Grade Ten Seiyou Public."
"I enjoyed it a lot!" Mako says, and there is no doubting her bright-eyed sincerity. "I don't usually listen to metal or anything, but it was really interesting. You're with the Kaiju band, right?" Now that she knows for sure he was one of the performers, she's pretty sure she recalls which group she saw him with. "I heard your performance won some prizes - congratulations!"
Then she returns that polite little bow, reaching up to push her damp hair back out of her eyes as she straightens again. "Makoto Kino," she replies, "grade eight. I'm a new transfer to Seishou Public. Nice to meet you, Junpei-san."
"A good school," Junpei said without reservation or pause. "And Yes I'm with Kaiju Dreams. Miri is a wonderful vocalist.... except she's getting set for university so having to scale back." He hated it, and it showed, but it was what it was. "I happen to think it's a wonderful idea of her since th4e world needs more engineers. I'm just sadly having to think ahead for when she drops completely."
He patted a patch of ground near the drums, "I will admit we have work that needs doing, but everyone I've talked to likes the sort of energy we bring to the music itself." He sat down and laid his hands on his knees. "The thing about Metal, Good metal that isn't somebody shouting while flailing around. That takes a solid grasp of music, history, chords, transitions... So something done in one style if done well can be transitioned to another style and still sound good. It's fun to try."
"Hmmm~" It's not a noncommittal sound that Makoto makes, but one with a drawn-out, rising inflection, impressed and thoughtful. "I don't know very much about music," she admits as she lowers herself down to take a seat on the grass. "I just like a good beat. I had no idea there was so much that went into it."
She takes a swallow from the water bottle before setting it down next to her legs and lacing her fingers together behind the back of her neck. "That's too bad about your singer, but it sounds like something that can't really be helped. Will you look for someone new?"
"Have to really," Junpei said with surity while looking over at his convrosation partner. "Miri is a friend and we're going to help her on her way, but the beat goes on." He made light drumming on his knees to emphasize the point. "And really the best part about any good performance is when you, the audiance, never realizes how much went into it and the whole thing seems effortless."
His eyes had a distaint look to them as he talked, explaining and expounding on the matter. "Thing is, all that knowledge. The dry 'how things work together' means very little. Sure you can get a computer to fake it, but it's hard to get a person that can fake the whole thing unless they have heart, and instead go with just rehashing top forty material over... and over... in prepackage, preprocesssed, and preapproved to reach the target audiance. You end up with the musical equivilant to fast food." He stated, "It'll do the job, but there's no soul to it no matter how structurally 'perfect' it might be."
Makoto listens to the explanation, brows lifting. "Sounds pretty complicated," she remarks. "The kind of thing that you can't really measure, but you know for sure if it's not there, huh?"
She sits back a little, gaze turning upward as she contemplates the idea with nothing specific to compare it to. Cooking seems easier by comparison, to Mako's way of thinking. "What you're taking about... 'heart,' or inspiration or whatever... do you think that's something that a person can learn, or is it something they have to have all along?"
Matsuo Junpei gave a helpless shrug, "All I can go off of is what Dad told me." He still had that distaint look to him as he sat there, seemingly absorbed in simply having someone to talk to. "Everyone has something that they spark with. Something that pulls at them and moves them more than anything else. It can be Paint, Music, Food... Engineering, Math." Dismissive gesture before he looked at Makoto. "Nobody can tell you or me what we're good at, but when you know, you know." Beat, "And for me it's music. It comes easy, it feels right, and it makes people around me happy."
Again, Makoto listens, absently reaching for the water bottle once more as she turns her regard back toward Matsuo. By the time he's finished, she's regarding him with undisguised admiration. "That sounds like the best reason I can think of to do anything," she says. Behind her smile, though, there's a very faint trace of wistfulness beginning to creep in. "It's really impressive that you've found something you can do that makes you and other people happy that way."
That's where the other shoe dropped and he looked down, "The problem is I freaking hate the industry. The labels, the grooming. The control put on performers to project this... Correctness." He made airquotes at the word as his voice edged into disgust. "Sure now is easier than ever to go your own way, but Easter's going to be our best bet to actually springboard anywhere, and easter owns one of the biggest pop band assembly lines this side of Anywhere." Actually that distinction probably belonged to Disney, but the boy had a head of steam going. "So yea. Trying to keep from shooting the hand that might keep everyone from having to work four jobs for years and maybe our music gets buried out of spite since they'd afford to be able to run a smear campaign if we don't play ball."
Then a small laugh, "So yea, take one of the best things in the world, add in the love of money and institutionlzation and..." Grumpy face. "Dad'd describe it like kids bickering over who gets to be the hero til nobody gets to have fun anymore."
Mako winces a little in sympathy. "Rock and a hard place... that really sucks," she says. "I'm sorry, I had no idea. But things like that make it that much more important for you to keep at it, doesn't it? To make sure that someone's still out there making music because they love it and want to share it with everyone, not just to make money."
Matsuo Junpei nodded once, "Oh I'm sure I'm gloriously oversimplifying things. I mean c'mon." Another laugh as he laid back, looking at the sky. "I just am afraid I might get trapped because it's the least worst immediate option and it's not just me in the twist." Then quiet as he stretched out. "What about you, any hobbies?" More deep breaths as he tried to shy away from his fear at becoming another cog in a faceless machine. "Kino-san. I am sorry for dominating the convrosation. I didn't mean to run over anything you had to say."
At this, Makoto sits up straighter, eyes widening in surprise, and she hastily shakes her head with enough vigor to send her ponytail swinging. "No no, it's fine! You don't need to apologize or anything, I feel like I've learned some things I didn't know." She scoots herself around in place to face him directly, leaning slightly forward and offering an encouraging smile. "It sounds pretty tough, but I'm sure you can work things out if you don't give up on the things you don't think should be compromised."
A beat, and then Makoto abruptly looks away, a hint of a flush rising into her face as an embarrassed little laugh escapes her. "Not that I know much about it, I guess. Anyway, sure, I have some hobbies... I like to cook, and I'm pretty good with plants. Nothing that's on the same level as your music, though."
Matsuo Junpei smiled at Makoto warmly, "Everyone's gotta eat, and good food is an art all it's own." He sat up, looking the tall woman over appraisingly, "There is this really wonderful older couple that run a chinese place I like. Been there constantly. Seen them cook everything on the menu... but I kinda start makign everything taste like burn if it gets more complicated than soups, eggs, or other simple things." There was a bit of a stretch forward before he got up and offered Makoto a hand up. "And my sister likes plants. She also likes Judo... least i think it's judo. Yknow where you throw person around instead of focusing on hitting them."
He continued stretching, "I would like to see more of you around. You're good company Kino-san. Thank you for stopping your run long enough to talk." There was gratitude in his voice even as he picked up a pair ofthick bachi. "I could play for you if you want to stick around. Doesn't have quite the same sound as a real set, but these... they're a lot more portible."
"Ah?" Mako perks up with visible interest at his comments. "Could be aikido," she offers; "it's about redirecting your opponent's energy instead of hitting them, too. But yeah, judo - thanks," she adds mid-sentence as she accepts the hand up and hops back onto her feet. "Does she go to a dojo? If there's a good one in the area, I could use a recommendation..."
She hesitates in indecision at Junpei's offer to play for her, clearly interested... but presently she shakes her head, pulling an apologetic face. "Maybe next time? If I don't get home and cleaned up soon, I won't make it to the store until late."
Matsuo Junpei bowed slightly, "No worries, and... er... Right now it's mostly her and friends working off eachother but if she finds a Dojo I'll let you know." He fished a card from his pocket with a winged guitar, email, and website printed on one side. "Oh... uh... just as kindof a warning. Things can get a bit hairy around from time to time." There was a sudden seriousness to his tone, a straightening of his body as he sought to look Makoto in the eye. "You see something weird. You see people passing out and you're able to move. You Move. You grab anyone you can, pull a fire alarm. But you Move."
It's a strange thing to say, and Makoto looks at him with visible uncertainty for a few moments... but he's so very serious about it that she swallows her usual instinct to reply that she can take care of herself, and just nods. "Got it," she says, her voice a little more subdued than it was a moment ago. "I'll remember."