The sun was shining, but despite that the air was still brisk and the snow was not melting. In fact the snow never went away, at the warmest point it may turn into slush..only to freeze into ice over night. The snow/ice would crunch under boot and there was one young lad who was doing his best to not get snow soaked into his satchel. Inside the strange and lumpy bag was a lute, something he had tried to keep a secret from his family as he wanted to surprise them by learning a song or two.
Tough he didn't know any tunes he had considered making one up. But first had had to learn how to tune and learn the chords properly. And this he wanted to do in private. Only his sister knew of his exploits and he didn't want her jeering at him every time he got a note wrong.
So he was walking...and walking..until he was a good distance away and finally managed to find a log that was half buried under snow. Sweeping the snow off with his gloved hands he set himself up with a hide blanket placed atop the log and then folded over his lap. He was glad for the sun, for it warmed his poor fingers when he tried to practice.
Posted: Mon Aug 05, 2013 8:58 am
Alek stopped dead in his tracks, his legs going a little wobbly with anticipation. He was sure he had heard something, but with his furry hood pulled up around his ears the way it was, he couldn't be sure. Ever since he had returned home he hadn't been able to get warm. It shouldn't have been a problem. He couldn't remember feeling one way or the other about the weather prior to waking up in the snow. No matter what he did or how many layers of clothing he wore now, however, he only rarely felt comfortable. Coming across some strange intruder when he had hoped to walk alone wasn't helping the situation.
He tugged the hood down to fall against his shoulders and took a tentative step out from behind his protective tree. There, sitting on a log, was another young man with a... lute? Interesting. Much of Alek's uncertainty these days when it came to pondering his future revolved around music. He felt curious for the first time in ages. It was enough to jolt him out of his pity party, at least for the time being.
"Hey there," he said with a great deal more confidence than he felt. A small smile had spread across his face at the sight of the instrument, and it lent his demeanor some additional friendliness. "Would it not be more comfortable to play inside?"
He had just begun to practice and when Alek spoke a sour note twanged from the strings with his fingers causing him to cringe. Borra wasn't the type to get angry though as he curiously looked over to see the young male from the ice tribe. Giving a laugh he nodded his head and then half turned to face him. Plucking a few more notes, these ones more pleasing to the ears he looked eagerly at the boy.
"Yes I suppose it would be, it would be a lot warmer on my poor frozen fingers..." He whined slightly though he was chuckling all the same, "But I have poor music critics back home...so I must play outside. Care to join me? My name is Borra, I don't think I've met you before."
Shifting he moved over so that if Alek did decide to join him on the log at least it would be on a spot that was no longer covered in snow. To emphasize the point he even patted the spot with his free hand.
Posted: Wed Sep 25, 2013 8:49 am
"No, I..." He had been about to mention that he couldn't clearly recall much of anything or anyone prior to several months ago, but the more he thought about it, the less he figured he should speak of such things, at least until he knew this Borra better. He could have been one of the ones who had taken him, for all he knew, though he didn't want to believe that of one of his own kind.
"I don't think we have, no. I'm Alek." He slowly moved closer, glancing at the cleared log for a long moment before relenting and taking a seat.
"Thank you, Borra." He smiled hesitantly again, the warmth having temporarily left his face while he had contemplated joining the other young man. "I... I happen to love music," he added. "Unrehearsed or not. N... not that yours is unrehearsed or anything. I mean, I've barely heard any of it, after all." Alek sighed through his nose and shook his head slightly. He certainly wasn't making the best of first impressions.
"Sorry." Alek slid his hands up and out of his oversized sleeves, resting them on his knees. "Is it easy to learn? I've wanted to try myself, but things have been very... busy lately."
Alek? The name sounded familiar not that he knew quite why, his fingers going back to his lute as he began to pluck notes once again. He gave a low laugh as the other floundered with his words, he took no offense from them after all it was really hard to offend the young man.
"Hmmm I would say it would be a lot easier if someone was there to teach you how...right now I've been learning by ear so I guess its a good thing I have a good sensitivity to pitch." The young man explained as he then looked Alek over, he seemed so timid and shy and he didn't want him to feel that way. Looking back to his precious instrument he then went to hand to to this Alek person.
"Did you want to give it a shot? I would be a pretty terrible teacher I will warn you now."
Posted: Sat Sep 28, 2013 8:03 pm
"Oh!" Alek drew his hands back into his sleeves for a moment, his mouth remaining open in a small 'o' as he considered Borra's lute. He was quite touched that the other boy would offer, but he hadn't meant to cause such trouble. Maybe in a couple of months, when he'd had enough time to feel up to getting a job of some sort... maybe then he could get an instrument of his own to try.
But then again... it wouldn't hurt to try today as well.
"I suppose," he said, his long fingers making another appearance. "Just for a little bit. I promise not to break it."
Alek hesitantly reached for the lute, a pleased half-smile quirking his lips. Borra had just graduated to the best member of the ice tribe he had ever met, besides his sister, of course.
Even if Alek was to accidentally break the lute Borra would be disappointed but not angry. After all it would of been an accident right? Still he watched intently as Alek reached for the lute, almost holding his breath as he passed it off to him. He gave a chuckle at how nervous Alek was but he was really getting to like the guy.
"No worries! I mean I trust your not going to do anything on purpose. I appreciate the thought though." He swung his legs a bit causing bits of snow to fall off the log in clumps. He had to keep moving after all else his fingers would go numb. and so he figured putting his gloves back on for a bit while Alek had his lute may be the best idea.
As he went to slip his numbing fingers into his gloves he gave Alek a light nudge. "Go on, give it a strum." He encouraged with his broad smile.
Posted: Fri Jan 31, 2014 6:32 am
Lute in hand, Alek nodded slowly, latching onto the tentative determination he felt as if it was the only thing keeping him from fleeing entirely. In truth, he was insatiably curious as well, but to his rational mind, that didn't seem reason enough to stay. Even with Borra's express permission, he still had to force himself to brush his fingers lightly over the strings, his smile growing larger as the warm music thrummed through the air.
"It's lovely," he said softly, giving the instrument another strum. He didn't know any proper fingerings, but he made the attempt anyway based on the little he had seen others do. When he plucked at the strings again, Alek made a face when the notes rang sour. "My playing... is not."
jayoku
i'm so unbelievably sorry it always takes me so long to tag this rp, but alek and i fight on a daily basis and i rarely win >>
i understand if you want to drop it since borra's so much farther along and try again in the future and ilu
if not, i will try with all of my powah to tag more regularly until we're done <3333
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