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 Posted: Wed May 02, 2018 7:49 pm
❧Who: Rowan, Dior, Rhys & Luka
❧When: Morning
❧Where: Music Store
❧Weather: Cloudy, cool
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Posted: Wed May 02, 2018 9:18 pm
Now that Rhys had returned from Spring Break Camp with a supply list, a trip to the music store was in order. Given the weather Dior had wanted to stay inside, but if Rhys was going shopping then so was she!
And besides the walk to the music store had not been so bad since Dior had discovered she didn’t mind getting wet if there was also the possibility of throwing mud, which she would the instant they got back home.
Now that they were inside Dior took a minute to free her shiny long hair from the hoodie prison. There were instruments all over the wall and she didn’t have a name for most but anything with strings was a guitar in some way, and all the long metal instruments were flutes. Except for the clarinet, she knew that one since that’s what Rhys was interested in getting.
The roach girl picked up a nearby harp and plucked it. She hummed appreciatively. It didn’t matter what she did with it it sounded great, and with a quick motion of her hand she waved it up and down. Aaah music!
She looked over her shoulder to find her guardian and Rhys talking to the store clerk. There were more instruments to mess around with further into the store.
Her antennas swished around, picking up the faint signal of gold but the amount being of no interest to her. Such quantity would be a lick or two at most, it was a good thing they had breakfast before coming here.
With the small harp at hand she made her way to the other side.
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Posted: Thu May 03, 2018 6:31 pm
Luka's eyes glanced at the collection of notes and symbols written on the sheet in his hands. To any other person, it would've looked as though the boy was deeply engrossed in some music score.
The truth was actually the reverse.
Letting out an annoyed huff, the youth shut the book and set it back on the shelf with a little more force than necessary. At this point, musical scores had become a sore point for the satyr. Even after 3 years of practice with multiple musical tutors, Luka still could not make heads nor tails of the damn papers. Like little squiggly mocking beans crawling across the street, they all looked the same to him. If he could read them, he might be able to expose himself to even more different kinds of sounds.
Hearing the swishing of fabric behind him, he turned see a small, delightful surprise.
It was another Raevan, someone he had never seen before. Someone that was even smaller than his friend LuLu.
"Hello stranger. I'm Luka, who might you be?"
The Satyr's face was surprisingly relaxed deceptive of the excitement bubbling underneath.
As his sunlit orbs took in Dior's appearance, he couldn't help but notice and take in the details of her appearance. She had sharp, lively green eyes reminiscent of the first sprigs of spring, and long shiny hair like golden threads. And, she also had something he'd never seen on any other raevan before: long antennas, probably longer than his own side bangs.
And then, his eyes settled on the object she was holding.
It was a small harp, fairly uncommon. Like her.
"Do you play?"
He asked, gesturing to the stringed instrument in her hand.
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Posted: Fri May 04, 2018 3:21 pm
Dior's antennas perked up at the realization that someone was talking to her. She gave him a brief look over and was pleasantly surprise to find it was kin! Her eyes rested on the tip of his horns and then lower to his ears. They were pointy unlike her own.
“Heeey! I’m Dior. It’s a pleasure to meet you!” she swooped in to give him a hug. A smile bloomed on her face. "Where do you come from? I hope you live around here..." The roach girl did not bother hiding her excitement as was apparent by the swishing of her antennas scanning the other frei for gold. She circled around him to get a full scope and then settled back to where she had been.
Upon questioning Dior’s musical abilities the frei simply tilted her head. “Weeell,” she plucked the strings a few times with no sense of rhythm. Regardless of how it was done it still sounded nice sooo. Not bad for a first time, she thought. “Your turn!” She offered him the harp, her eyes glimmered with anticipation.
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Posted: Fri May 04, 2018 4:42 pm
Luka mused as the small pulled him into a hug. It was always a shot in the dark what temperaments were like with each Raevan, but Dior seemed to be quite the friendly one.
"A pleasure to meet you as well, Dior." He responded, giving her a squeeze back.
"I live in Gambino but this is best music store in Gaia. So, I find myself coming this way quite a bit." He couldn't help but stare at her antennas as they swished around his body. It was like a baton detector used at airports but attached to a raevan, clearly looking for something.
When Dior plucked out a random assemblage of notes the Frei chuckled. It wasn't terrible, but the instrument was definitely capable of more. "That was a good try Dior, let's see what I can do," he said as he took the stringed harp from Dior.
He strummed it a couple times getting a feel for the notes before playing a variation of the chanter's song for her. It's notes playing carrying through the entire store. "If you want, I can teach you how to play." He said, holding the instrument back out for her. "Well, maybe not much of the harp, but, I can definitely teach you a instrument that you want to learn."
To be fair, he wasn't the biggest fan of the harp or it's cousin the lyre. In a way, they seemed comically stereotypical for him to play especially given Satyr soul. But, there was no denying that the vast majority of his musical abilities had deep seated roots in his soul.
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Posted: Fri May 04, 2018 4:59 pm
“I don’t think that’s near,” she said looking at the ceiling as if she were calculating the distance. She had no idea how to get there. “How often is often? Do you come every day? I live in Barton Town. Someone at camp told my guardian this was the best store too! My brother wanted to join the school band so he needs a clarinet.”
She pointed with her chin over her shoulder. It looked like the witch and the boy were still in deep discussion with the clerk.
In the back of her mind she knew that more could be done with the instrument but as seeing that nothing awful could possibly come from it she figured she had done well.
Well Luka had shown her a pleasant discovery! A lovely tune had made its way to her ears and Dior couldn’t help but stand there admiring. It was one thing seeing it on TV from a professional, but coming from a frei like herself made the idea of picking up an instrument less intimidating.
She took back the harp and looked at it as if it had been blessed. What else was this frei capable of?
“That was amazing! How long have you been studying? Yes I want to learn! I’m a quick learner you know,” she puffed up at the claim and set the harp back where it belonged.
“Which one is your favorite. I like that big one,” she pointed to the grand pianos section. “And also those,” her finger lead to a bass.
“But I don’t think they come my size and holding it seems like a lot of work…” she scratched the back of her head. Holding a violin, or any instrument really, seemed like such a hassle.
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Posted: Fri May 04, 2018 5:23 pm
"It's not too bad. The bullet train makes it a 20 minute ride. I used to live here in Durem with my guardian, so that's how I know this place." It was hard to believe that already years had passed since they had moved from Durem. "No, not every day. I come probably every week, every Friday." Luka's head to turned to the direction that Dior was pointing, attempting to see just who her family was. "Clarinets are okay. They're not my favorite, I think there are plenty of things that sound nicer."
Unfortunately, he did have a bit of snobby side when it came to appreciating different instruments. If anything, a weird complex from his soul and innate knowledge of certain instruments.
Luka paused to think about Dior's question. "Hm... Elai got the piano for the apartment in '11. So it's been.... 7 years now."
He snickered at Dior's claim. "I'm not a quick learner, I still can't read sheet music." And while it normally bothered him to admit that, he didn't mind sharing that with Dior.
"Ah, well I can definitely teach you how to play the piano. Elai might be able to teach you the bass, I know he used to play the cello. They're probably not that different." Shrugging, he lead Dior towards the grand piano.
"Hmmm, I don't know what you like to listen to but lets change the mood a bit."
Taking a seat on the bench, the Satyr pulled the seat closer towards the piano. Shaking his wrists to loosen up the muscles, he took a controlled breath before letting his fingers dance across the key.
The energetic beats of piano variations of swing music began to fill the store.
The satyr's side bangs swayed widely as the Frei's torso moved to and fro towards the rhythm of the music. Truly, nothing could awake as much joy in as much as music could.
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Posted: Fri May 04, 2018 5:49 pm
Dior made a mental note of it. Surely Rhys knew how to get to different cities, he knew how to get to the zoo after all.
“I wish you were my next door neighbor,” she admitted. “I feel like no one lives within floating distance,” she hummed thoughtfully and decided she would ask Rowan about it. It was a small world there had to be someone nearby! Her attention was brought back at the mention of a piano in his home.
“You have one of these?” She asked incredulously. “How did it get inside?” It didn’t seem something you could just get through the door.
“It’s ok I can’t read sheet music either,” although not for the same reasons. Dior had never as much as opened a music book. “And who needs it if you can play by ear anyways, pft,” she tossed her hair over her shoulder.
“Who is Elai is that your guardian? Mines is Rowan. I don’t know if I want to learn the bass. It looks big and heavy and ugh. It would squish me.” But really the idea of lugging that thing around was dreadful.
She settled down right beside the piano, resting her chin on the top. The roach girl perked right up at the sound she was hearing. Dior had been expecting something classic and slow but this was even better!
She started to clap with the beat and noticed a few of the customers had paused to admire the piece as well. Once he was done she clapped even more exuberantly.
"Yes this one is the one I want to learn!" Luka did it so effortlessly. "I don't think it will fit in house so I guess I'll have to come over," she grinned at him.
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Posted: Fri May 04, 2018 6:18 pm
Luka beamed at Dior, clearly pleased with the praise the golden girl was giving him. "Thank you, and yes, Dior, I can teach you the piano." He couldn't help but chuckle, clearly tickled by her enthusiasm.
"Ah, well it's not quite a grand piano but it's still a piano. It's actually an upright." He explained, pointing to one of the smaller pianos adjacent to them. "I'm not sure how Elai got it in the apartment, but one day I woke up and it was just there. I'm sure he went through hell to bring it into the house though."
"And yes, Elai is my guardian. His name is Jezabroux but that's kind of a mouthful. So, most people just call him Elai." He explained. "You'll be able to meet him if you come over."
"And, Elai would be delighted if you came over. We don't get guests very often. If Rowan or Rhys can't show you the bullet train, I'll come to Durem and show you how to get to my house and back. Or if they're uncomfortable with that, I can always come pick you up and drop you off all the way in between."
Rolling up his sleeves, the Frei began to play another song. This time it was much more in line with Dior's initial expectations, the Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 by Liszt. It was easily recognizable, yet just as full of energy as the first song.
As the song came to an end, he motioned for Dior to take a seat next to him. "Come here, I'll show you the basics." After all, it was more exciting to be able to physically press and feel the keys versus just listening and watching someone.
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Posted: Fri May 04, 2018 6:36 pm
“I’m sure Rowan will say yes as long as I’m not going alone. She thinks someone can just scoop me up in a bag and take off with me,” she scoffed at the very idea but given her height… “I’m sure once she meets you it will be fine.”
The frei waited for Luka to be done before giving him another round of applause.
“I liked that one. Both are good. I think you were born a musical genius,” she told him earnestly. These were no simple hot cross buns Luka was dishing out. “Have you ever given a concert before?”
She settled next to him, brushing her hair back and straightening her posture.
Dior was more than eager to get started. She ran her fingers up and down the ivory keys and settled on the upper half. She rather fancied the higher notes they were pleasant, or rather noisier.
She couldn’t fathom how her small body could reach the end keys and stretched an antenna out to see if it could reach. It did, but unfortunately it was not strong enough to press the key. She decided to stick with the nearby keys and started to mess around with the black ones.
“So what’s the first lesson? How many pieces do you have memorized?”
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Posted: Fri May 04, 2018 6:51 pm
"I'll have to introduce myself to Rowan in a little bit then, so that we won't run out of time for us to talk to her about the lessons and transportation."
He couldn't help but smirk as Dior attempted to reach the furthest keys and even made a noise when he saw her inch out her antenna for help. "You can move your torso to reach for those keys too if necessary, but the good thing is that most songs stay within a specific octave. So usually, your working range is much smaller." Luka reach over to grab Dior's right hand and place lined her thumb on the white key on the left of the two black keys. "And I'm not that much of a musical genius, I can't compose or read remember? And no concerts, I sometimes play at a lounge bar nearby."
"I can't teach you to write a paragraph if you don't know the letters, we're gonna start with the basics. But, once you learn hand placement, I can teach you some simple things." He explained, placing the rest of her fingers over their respective positions.
"Your thumb is always number one, and he lives on the middle C where the name starts." He explained, pointing to how the piano maker logo was straight at the end of the keys. "You want to sit up straight," he mentioned, poking the area above her partial spine.
"What song do you like Dior? I'll teach you the first part if I know it for today."
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Posted: Fri May 04, 2018 7:14 pm
Dior nodded as if it all made perfect sense.
“A lounge bar? Oooh can I go with you?” She asked, her eyes widening at the thought. She wasn’t quite sure what it was for but if Luka could go she figured she could too.
“Alright. That makes sense I guess. I thought you could just parrot whatever you heard.” For the next few moments Dior focused on learning the instrument. The picture was rather comical given how small she was and how big the piano was.
“How do I know which key is what they all look the same…” she scrunched up her nose. She giggled and straightened her spine at the poke. “Do I have to memorize all of them…” The roach girl bit the inside of her cheeks as she thought of of a song she knew.
“Well there’s the one from the music box I have at home, it goes like this lalalala,” she somewhat tried to convey the general tune hoping Luka would know it.
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Posted: Fri May 04, 2018 7:25 pm
"If Rowan says it's okay, you can definitely come. A lounge bar is really different, and you may not like it because a lot of people smoke inside too. It's really dim and has a.... character. That's really the only way I can describe." Luka explained. His eyes watching the placement and shape of Dior's hands.
"If you look, you don't need to memorize every key. It's a repeating pattern starting from the white key where your thumb is to the white key on the right of the three black key set. That's your octave. All other keys are the same notes on a higher or lower octave."
When he heard Dior's singing, he couldn't help but laugh. "Somehow, that still sounds better than me when I try to convey tunes to people. But yea, you're thinking fur elise." Placing his hands on the keys a octave below Dior's, he slowly showed her the presses that she would need to learn. His fingers moved slowly and methodically, allowing time for the younger girl to observe plenty before trying on her own. "And, it's ok if you can't do it right away Dior. Even if we're not reading sheet music, it's a lot of information to know."
"And if you do want to learn how to read sheet music, Elai would be more than willing to help."
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Posted: Fri May 04, 2018 8:07 pm
Dior giggled after she was done reenacting the music box tune and wiggled her fingers in the position they were placed. “That’s a weird name for it. But I’m glad you know so now I can look it up on the internet.” She looked intently to see what he was doing in order to copy it.
The movement the frei was doing was not as complicated as the first piece he had done. Her eyes could hardly keep up with the way his hands had bounced all over the piano. Tentatively she copied the notes and was pleased it sounded right.
“I don’t think this part is hard at all. I wonder how long it will take until I can play the whole thing,” she looked at the piano with a look of pure concentration. She played it again and again satisfied to have memorized the first few notes.
“What comes after? The music box always repeats itself but I’ve heard more of it somewhere on TV I think,” not to mention she had only been playing with her right hand.
“Let’s start with this first I think music notes would give me a headache right now,” she scratched the side of her head and flipped a few strands of hair back where they came from.
“What’s the part of the other hand? And how are we supposed to touch those things on the floor? What do they do?” She peeked under to look at the pedals of the piano.
“My, my one question at a time Dior,” a familiar warm voice made her crane her head up. “And who is your new friend here?” Rowan gave the frei a gentle smile. Beside her her nephew stood with a black box in his grip.
“Hiii! This is Luka you should hear him play. He lives in Gambino can we visit? Pleeease?” She leaned back to press her head against Rowan’s side.
“Well met Luka. I am Rowan and this here is my nephew Rhys. If Luka’s guardian does not mind I see why not,” she squeezed Dior’s shoulder affectionately.
Rhys gave Luka the same brief look over Dior had given him. "Hi."
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Posted: Sat May 05, 2018 8:51 am
"Well, I guess it would depend on how quickly you can learn the rest of the song. But, it's only about 3 minutes long which isn't terrible." His eyes followed Dior's hands and nodded in approval at the girl's movements.
Dior was definitely in for a surprise if she thought the first few notes of the song in her music box were the entirety of the song.
When he heard her ask what comes after, Luka's fingers immediately danced across the keys to play the rest of the song for her. He would have to teach her this song and moonlight sonata, they were too iconic not too.
As he finished, the Frei's head whipped around as he heard an unfamiliar voice. It was an older woman, with gentle eyes and next to her was a young boy. It was without a doubt, Dior's family.
Getting up from the seat, Luka waved to both Rowan and Rhys. "Hello, I'm Luka. Nice to meet you, Ms. Rowan and Rhys." For whatever reason, he could never bring himself to call older people by just their first name. It just felt wrong and awkward.
"He wouldn't mind. He actually complains too much that I don't bring enough friends home." He chuckled, recalling how his guardian had given him the same nagging this morning. "I live in Gambino, and Dior mentioned that she's never been there herself. I wouldn't mind coming to Durem to pick her up and drop her back off. My rail pass lets me swipe for two, so you wouldn't have to worry about transportation costs." The youth explained.
Luka smiled inwardly, recalling the eye rolling he'd given his guardian when Elai had first given him the pass. His guardian would probably have the smuggest expression if he knew what was going on right now.
"And, I can give you both my and my guardian's contact information." Luka said as he pulled out his phone. "Elai lets me do things on my own now, since I'm already 8 but he's made it clear that I should be able to be reached in the event of an emergency." He wasn't sure if Dior had her own phone but hopefully this would be enough to make Rowan feel comfortable enough about Dior being safe while traveling with him.
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