|
|
Post by Andy on Oct 5, 2014 3:05:36 GMT
Pouting at his appraisal, she examined the fronts and backs of her hands, pretending to wonder what it was she did wrong. As he played, she listened intently, closing her eyes and swaying ever-so-slightly with the music. It was a lovely melody, much more soothing than the piece he had previously been trying to sort out when she had first walked in on him playing. She peeked open one eye and saw the peaceful look on his face, smiling. He seemed more at ease too! Which was nice. The poor boy seemed awful tense like, 90% of the time, in Bev's opinion.
At his startled leap away from her, she could barely stifle a giggle as she bit her lip. Seeing as he had vacated almost the entirety of the bench in his sudden nervousness, Bev took the opportunity to invite herself to sit in the middle of it. She poised her fingers over the keys again, looking at them intently and remembering his instructions. She doubted she could play the piece he just had, so she settled for playing the simple beginner's piece again, but this time using her whole fingers.
|
|
|
|
Post by celestialleonidas on Oct 5, 2014 3:13:03 GMT
"You've made yourself at home, I see." He observed, standing from the bench and retreating to the office, coming back a moment later with two cans of soda. "Here. You've earned it. That was much better. And arguing with someone like me can really tire a person out." He quipped, sitting on a chair close to the piano bench and holding the can out for his friend to take. "Whenever you want, I can move on to another piece, or you could go, if you've got somewhere to be." He said, hiding his nervous frown behind the can of soda. He really hoped she wouldn't leave. He liked having a friend that wanted to spend time with him, even in his boring music cave.
|
|
|
|
Post by Andy on Oct 6, 2014 0:39:55 GMT
"Oh, thank you!" Bev said, referring not only to the soda, but also the compliment on her improved performance. She opened the soda with a quick fizzt, taking a drink as Richter spoke.
"I have nowhere else to be right now." She scooted over on the bench, taking his previous seat and patting the spot next to her. "Come, sit. Let's play some more."
|
|
|
|
Post by celestialleonidas on Oct 6, 2014 2:16:58 GMT
"What do you want me to play?" He asked, staying where he was seated, looking down into his can of cola. "I don't know many beginner pieces, to be honest. I've forgotten them..." He admitted. "I'm not really sure what more I could teach you..." He said, standing and rummaging in one of the many cabinets strewn around the room in a seemingly random pattern.
"Violin strings... Horse hair... Bass strings... Reeds? Why are these in here?" He muttered, seemingly looking for something. "Pencils... Ah! Harp strings!" He exclaimed in victory, doing a little dance after conquering his own unorganized nature. He then stuffed the package of metal and nylon in his pocket and ran off to a set of stairs in the back of the room, that led to large, windowed rooms full of instruments obviously not in use. He jumped up the three stairs and disappeared through the door before popping his head back out again.
"Hold on a minute, Princess!" He called to her, disappearing again after smiling widely at her. He could be seen fussing with some sort of frame, screwing it together with a screwdriver he pulled from his pocket, and attaching the new found strings to the newly assembled frame.
|
|
|
|
Post by Andy on Oct 7, 2014 4:57:33 GMT
"Oh..." Bev sighed in mild disappointment, wondering what that meant for future piano lessons. Would she just have to practise on her own and then do... recitals to be evaluated? She started to have a flashback to one of her singing recitals as a kid, but then shook her head vigorously as if throwing the thought out of her head. Luckily, Richter provided a distraction with his rummaging. Having zoned out for a minute there, she wasn't entirely aware of what he was up to, but he certainly seemed determined. Watching him digging through random cabinets and such, she wondered if she was supposed to be practising on the keys while he did whatever it was he was doing? It was when he triumphantly discovered the harp strings though that she understood, laughing and clapping at his little victory dance.
She called after him as he took off again, standing up from the bench to try to get a better look at what he was up to now. How many secret nooks and crannies did he have in this place? It seemed a little out of sorts - she'd have to help him organize it one day, she decided.
"Uhm, okay!" She giggled again, his excitement proving contagious. He was decidedly enthusiastic when he set his mind to it! Walking as quietly as she had when she first came into the room, she crept up behind him. While standing, he was far too tall for her to have any hope of peeking over his shoulder, so she settled for leaning slightly around his side, tilting herself at an angle that had her hair falling sideways and almost grazing the floor. "Whatcha doin', Piano Prince?"
|
|
|
|
Post by celestialleonidas on Oct 7, 2014 15:22:53 GMT
"Not much, my friend. Just patching up this harp. She's in pretty bad shape, poor girl. I'll have her playable in a few, and as pretty as you by tomorrow." He said, not looking up from his work, but smiling nonetheless. After realizing that she could get offended again, he stopped. "Sorry, I promise, I'm not chasing your skirt, or anyone else's, for that matter. Not really my preference." He mumbled.
He returned to fixing the harp, and true to his promise, had it strung and tuned in a matter of 10 minutes. "Bev, meet Gloria." He said, gesturing to the old instrument standing at about 5 feet tall next to him. "If you're ready to start, I can teach you, or if you'd rather try the piano, We can continue that!" He said enthusiastically, shifting the harp onto his back and carrying it down the stairs, looking much like a comical turtle. He set it down close to the center of the room and ran to grab a small wooden stool from his apartment. "Your throne." He said with a flourish and an animated bow, looking at her from above his glasses frames as he stayed low to the ground, holding the gesture of mock respect.
|
|
|
|
Post by Andy on Oct 8, 2014 1:46:15 GMT
'Not really his preference?' Bev felt her face going red in embarrassment, feeling rude and arrogant now for having previously assumed... She rubbed the back of her neck, running through ideas of how to apologize and make it up to him, somehow, because she now felt like it'd be only fair.
However, before she finalized her thoughts, he had finished his task and introduced her to the impressive harp. Her eyes dazzled. He fixed something that big that quickly?!
"Hello Gloria!" She greeted, even though it wasn't exactly like Gloria could say anything in kind. "I'm good to--" She started, but Richter was already carrying the massive instrument down the stairs, and Bev awkwardly fussed after him, halfway between offering to help and not wanting to accidentally make him fall. When he put it down, she breathed a sigh of relief, before falling into giggles again at his flourish. She curtseyed in kind.
"Why thank you, kind sir." She sat down, but fidgeted nervously in her seat. "Uhm, Rich... I'm sorry for assuming earlier you were making some kind of pass at me. A compliment isn't going to offend me, promise!" She held up her hand, crossing her heart with the other. "I feel the need to offer to make up for the awkwardness somehow, but I get the feeling you probably wouldn't like my default suggestion." She bit her lip with a grin and raised one eyebrow, shifting one leg over the other on the stool. "You don't seem like you'd be into bar hopping in St. Pat's in order to try to hook you up with some interested guys."
|
|
|
|
Post by celestialleonidas on Oct 8, 2014 3:42:09 GMT
He smiled slightly. "Oh, I suppose I could be convinced to go...." He said slyly, picking up his can of soda and wiping his brow with a handkerchief from his pocket. "My foster dad takes me every weekend to St. Patrick's to drink with him and sing karaoke terribly off key. I wish Kringles could hold their alcohol better." He mused, chuckling. He walked over to get another cabinet, grabbing a whole mess of colored duct tape from a drawer and slipping them on his arm like bracelets before walking over to the harp.
"We can mark the strings so you remember which string is which." He stated, smiling. "Will you bring your not-boyfriend to the pub with us? He's cute, and I like to be in attractive company. Makes me look like I have a social life." He concluded, pulling a sharpie from the slacks pockets that seemed to hold a whole treasure trove of things, but always looked empty. He knelt by the harp and started wrapping tape around the strings in rainbow order. "This should be easy enough. Seven notes, seven colors in the rainbow. Red for A, orange for B, red and orange for B flat, and so on. Should help you remember, right?" He asked, breaking it down for her, trying to make the difficult instrument sound easy. "The harp always gave me trouble..." He confessed, finishing his task of taping the tops of the strings and writing letters corresponding to notes on them. "But I was never a strings player." He said, grinning slightly and sitting on the ground. "Let's hear you pluck a scale. From B flat to B flat, then back up to where you started!" He commanded, drinking his soda and winking, showing his command was good-natured.
|
|
|
|
Post by Andy on Oct 9, 2014 3:01:47 GMT
Perking up, she practically vibrated in her seat with excitement. "Really?! Omigosh, we should definitely go then!" It wasn't that Bev didn't have a lot of people to hang out with, if she really wanted. Just most of them were more like 'drinking buddies' than actually buddy-buddies. And based on his description of his usual endeavours in her town of origin, Bev could bet she'd show Richter just how fun St. Pat's could really get to be. "No promises there won't be more karaoke, though~ " She winked, a wide grin plastered across her face.
She took mental notes as he started wrapping the different coloured tape around the different strings, nodding while listening.
"I'm sure he'd be excited to come along - especially if you told him how cute he was." She teased playfully, batting her eyelashes at him. "Just don't compliment him too much. It'll all go to his head and by the end of the night he won't be able to get out of any doors." Still smiling, she moved her hands into what she thought might be a good enough position around the middle of the strings to give the harp a try, now that he'd given her some instruction.
Experimentally, she plucked a single string, letting the note resonate. She hummed quietly, her smile shrinking but not diminishing as she focused on the instrument. She tried again, reaching as far out as she could before pulling her hand back gently, only using two fingers to start with to pluck each string. She did this a couples times, repeating the motions, until she found herself playing with three fingers, and then four. While a little clumsy, none of the notes sounded too off-key, though she had to stop eventually as she shook out her wrist.
"How was that?" She asked hopefully, even though he had admitted he didn't know harps especially well.
((I looked up some basic harp playing to the best of my ability, and tried to describe it accurately? No idea if it sounds right though, haha.))
|
|
|
|
Post by celestialleonidas on Oct 9, 2014 3:27:29 GMT
He smiled as she spoke, then shut his eyes as the harp playing started. When he realized he was being asked a question, he opened his eyes. "Oh, I'd say that was marvelous, simply wonderful." He said dreamily. "I just love the harp... And you picked it up really fast!" He said in congratulations. "I'm envious, really. Cute boyfriend, good hair, natural harp player... You've got everything I don't." He said jokingly, standing from his place on the floor and grabbing the red violin from the stand next to the piano.
Flourishing a bow in his left hand,he played a quick scale of warm-ups. "How about we end with a bit of musical Simon says?" He suggested warmly. "I'll play a note, then you try and play the same note on the harp. I'll give you a point for every one you get right. If you get more than 5, I'll sing karaoke with you later on." He promised. "I'll start easy." He played a resonating middle D, muting the string after letting it ring for a few seconds. He then looked at his friend expectantly.
|
|
|
|
Post by kryss on Oct 9, 2014 4:03:00 GMT
Kale walked along the hallway, a saunter in his step as always. Ah, the days when he didn't have classes. They were beautiful. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and he was thinking about heading to the athletic building for a swim. In his passing of the arts building, he couldn't help but catch a flash of the flower-strewn green hair of a certain guppy through the window. He stopped himself mid-stride, tugging on the ends of the towel draped around his neck, a grin creeping up. He strode over to the door and opened it without knocking, leaning on the door frame.
"Well, well, goldfish, I didn't know you played the harp," he said, eyeing the instrument in her hands. "How appropriate." He walked over, tossing himself into a seat near her, leaning over to pluck a harp string. "Who's your friend?" he asked, indicating the boy with his head. He felt like he had seen him before, maybe around campus.
|
|
|
|
Post by Andy on Oct 9, 2014 4:22:16 GMT
Pleased with herself and the reaction her apparently-good harp-playing abilities brought out of Richter, Bev thanked him with a smile and a dip of her head forward.
"Come now, your hair is adorable!" Bev cooed, tempted to get up from her seat to go over and ruffle his blonde locks. "And I've heard you playing piano and violin, remember? So don't try to act like you don't have the talent to make up for the current lack of cute boyfriend, which may or may not be rectified soon enough!" She nodded resolutely, hands returning to their previous positions over the harp strings as Richter readied his violin.
"You've got a deal, Piano Prince." She agreed whole-heartedly, one of her fingers eagerly plucking the matching string of her own instrument and meeting his expectant look.
However, before Richter could play another note, there came an unexpected visitor. Flushing in surprise, Bev's hands moved away from the harp to fussing with her hair instead. (Oh no, she hadn't exactly spent any length of time styling it to perfection today, and maybe in the time she had spent playing it had fallen into some kind of gnarled disarray? Comb it with your fingers, Bev. Comb, comb comb...)
Clearing her throat, she sat up a little straighter. "Rich, I'd like to formally introduce you to Kale, the cute one." She indicated with a conspiratorial wink to Richter. Getting a hold of herself, she moved her hands back into position on the harp, plucking a few strings again before ending with the same D as before.
|
|
|
|
Post by celestialleonidas on Oct 9, 2014 15:21:58 GMT
Richter narrowed his eyes at the boy who had made himself at home rather quickly in HIS music room. He cleared his throat and started. "Richter Finnr." He introduced. "And I'd ask you don't touch instruments your neither play nor own." He commanded. "Next time, I won't ask nicely." He turned again to Bev, seeing her update her appearance for the boy. "But that aside, welcome to the band room. We were just playing a bit." He said, walking over to Bev and placing a hand on her shoulder. He squeezed it and subtly winked at her, showing he was messing with the boy. "What can we do for you?" He asked, standing 'protectively' over his friend. He tried his best to look intimidating, despite being a twig and also being in slight disarray from his earlier carrying of the large harp.
|
|
|
|
Post by kryss on Oct 10, 2014 5:55:02 GMT
Kale: He grinned, pleased with the introduction.
"That's right," he said, nodding along. He plucked a string again before the boy - Richter? Was that a name? - started his lecture. He put his hands up as proof he wasn't touching anything. "Alright! I surrender to your clearly superior musical authority. Don't kill me with a drum or anything." He looked at the way Richter stood over Bev, one eyebrow cocked. he noticed the wink and the vaguely protective stance. What the heckle-speckle was going on here? He didn't think they were dating, he was fairly certain Bev would have mentioned a new beau. He shrugged largely at the question.
"Nothing much. Just thought I could hang with the little mermaid over here, if that's just fine." he said, settling back into his relaxed position.
|
|
|
|
Post by celestialleonidas on Oct 10, 2014 12:05:42 GMT
"Well, I mean, that is up to her." He said, staying put. "But maybe not here. I loathe not being the center of attention, and it's obvious you two have some sexual frustration to work out. That leaves little ol' me as the awkward third wheel." He joked, his eyes sparkling as he stepped back and leaned against the piano. "Feel free to stop by whenever, Bev, and you too, Mister... Kale, was it?" He was under the impression Kale was a vegetable, not a name. "You're always welcome in my little cave of wonders." He said, extending the invitation to possibly another friend.
The boy was... Difficult? And he smelled like fish. It made Richter nervous, but he put up a confident front, knowing that soon he'd be alone again, and then he could have some peace to compose. Or to catch up on the last few episodes of that space pirate TV show he started. That sounded good. Sweet solitude. He turned to Bev. "Just drop by or call when you wanna go bar hopping, then. We'll see how many cute guys you can attract and I can drive off." He said with a nervous smile, keeping his place at the piano, but letting his gaze wander slightly.
|
|
