Prompt: 044 ~ Long Hours June 2011©
Fandom: Antic Cafe
Focus: Miku x Riri
Word Count: 793
Fandom: Antic Cafe
Focus: Miku x Riri
Word Count: 793
Miku
was known for his crazy and playful antics.
They made his reputation as a singer and as a performer with Antic Café. But in order for his stage life to be all fun and games, behind the scenes, Miku worked himself harder than anyone sane should have. He threw himself into his work, rehearsing and tweaking every detail of his performances, his music, his costuming. In regards to any public appearance he made, Miku ensured that not a single detail wasn’t checked over twice or more. Every issue was dealt with promptly and contingency plans were drawn up, even for things that seemed sure and steady. Miku’s music covered songs of every incarnation of his band’s genre, expanding the limits of that genre by no small measure. His songs blended each of the instruments’ parts together perfectly, balancing the independent lines inside the melody to express emotions in their truest, most complicated forms. Holding himself to excruciatingly long hours without an ounce of hesitation, Miku knew that he worked himself harder than he could ever pretend was sane. Long hours of detailed laboring, precision practice; he wanted to make his music perfect, his performances stylized. He lived for it, even with the heavy work load. The hard won success and the hard pressed lifestyle was his dream. The prospect of a vacation was vaguely horrifying. Unless it was centered around a photo-book or a music video concept, or it was a trip to clear his head for song-writing, Miku couldn’t understand the appeal. How boring it would be, if he were pulled away from his musical laboratory, away from his experimenting, to simply ‘relax’! It was inconceivable to him that the rest of Antic Café had been so eager to jump ship that day for a trip to the nearest hot springs. His bandmates had tried to drag him along, but he was in the midst of a project and if he’d gone he’d have only been ansty and eager to get back to his long hours alone in the studio. On another day, maybe he would have been open to the idea; but today was the third day in a row he’d been more or less camped out in the AnCafe recording lounge, tweaking songs for their upcoming release. His bandmates insisted that he take a break, and he promised that he would. Soon. But not just then, he still had work to do. Thus he found himself alone in the studio in the middle of the night, working away. In all honesty though, Miku wasn’t quite alone. He’d been the only person in the studio for most of the day, but as the night began to draw itself out, a new arrival had appeared. Now, whenever Miku took a momentary pause in his work, he could glance across the hall through the one-way glass of the lounge’s practice room. He could take a few seconds away from his work to watch Riri going about her own. As a professional dancer tied to more than just Antic Café, Riri had dozens of new dances to choreograph and perfect and rehearse every week. She never used the Antic Café studio for anything but rehearsing for Antic Café’s performances, and even so she spent hours and hours working through the exact movements and expressions she needed to funnel the song’s meaning into her actions. And though her role was primarily dancing, she took her back-up singer status seriously as well and pushed herself to the line of over-working to make sure she could run through every song perfectly, whenever the band might ask it of her. Watching her work always made Miku smile softly. Especially today. She’d gone out with the others, spent the day relaxing at the hot springs, and she’d still come out to the studio after a tiring day of fun and games to get in a few more long hours of work. The way she worked herself so hard to become absolutely fantastic at performing Antic Café’s music, even on top of her other contracts, never failed to impress Miku. It was a dedication that Miku felt a distinct kinship with, even if he’d never admit it to her face. He would instead take time to tease her about how she distracted him. In comparison to her athletically demanding work load of long hours, Miku could almost be convinced to feel guilty for tiring of his own work of the night. He’d been there all day though, so actually feeling guilty was a stretch, but still . . . he gave Riri’s practice session another moment of admiring attention before he turned back to his laptop. He had a long night ahead of him, long hours of work that generated only very subtle changes to the music. It was worth it in the end though. And at least he wasn’t alone. ♡♥Finite♥♡ |