when i was a child

[notme_anymore]

It's very cold these days. Rose doesn't mind. The pine forest where she and Pearl used to live was often colder. Snow that was a foot deep in the dead of winter and burning humidity in high July. It was just how things were.

Rose misses her music--misses it dearly like an aching hole punched through her chest, but she's got no place she thinks she can practice and sing on her own. Always she's paranoid someone will hear. Not like she'll be singing anything, like, questionable, but Rose likes her privacy.

And yet the Solstice has passed and the year will inevitably begin anew. She doesn't need a calendar to know that. She feels it in her bones. The light of new days is coming and she wants to sing so badly that the notes are practically slipping through her teeth. She hums unconsciously too much these days. Well, it's a good time to do something about it.

A

Rose blows out a bunch of the candles in the instrument room 'till it's nice and moody and starts dragging a couple things from all around the castle--namely, carpets and chairs and blankets and cushions. What's she doing? Where's she going?
 
B



It's a nice setup. Dark moody lighting, carpets in the center of the instrument room surrounded by chairs and cushions and blankets, anything for a viewer to get cozy with. It's like gathering around a campfire minus the actual campfire. At the front, in a break in the circle, is Rose. And a whole slew of instruments, including drums, a harp, a cello, a ukulele, a piano that's a little out of tune, and some weird thing. It's quite the smorgasbord. (Not like Rose is a master at any of them, but she does well enough.)

She sits down with a guitar, plucking absently at it, waiting for anyone attracted by the music to file in. Boredom kicks in fairly quickly, though, and then she's singing.

Comments

b!

[vacantis]

Ventus had been wandering a bit idly, unsure of how exactly he'd arrived in such a place and more importantly why he couldn't leave it. Waking up in an unexplained world wasn't the oddest thing, but the fact that Wayward Wind had failed to open up a gate to take him back to where he came was...concerning. Concerning and weird.

He paused in his wandering, blinking as he heard somebody strike up a tune and then begin to sing. It's...nice. Ventus isn't very used to music beyond something he or his Master might hum under their breaths during chores. It's...probably ok to go check it out right? He can try and get information...after the song is over.

He poked his head in the door, blinking at Rose owlishly as she played, his eyes hungrily taking in all the different instruments he'd only seen in books. He's hesitant to interrupt though, instead waiting politly by the door, like he's expecting to be invited in.

[notme_anymore]

She doesn’t spot him, so wrapped up in the song as she is, until well into the music. She startles when she catches him; the music hesitates for half a second before picking up again, and she’s singing directly at him for a moment, and then to him. Rose finds it nice.

She can’t really say anything or make any gestures, so she smiles to try and say he’s welcome to come in. Whether the message actually got conveyed or not, at least he'll know she doesn't mind him.

[vacantis]

Oh. Okay. Interesting. He's getting invited in now. Ventus slips in as unobtrusively as possible (and he is very unobtrusive!) The lady keeps making eye contact at him as she sings, and Ventus starts staring at a wall, not unpolitly, looking vaugly flustered. He's not really used to extended attention that doesn't involved fighting or being monologued at.

When she finishes, he doesn't clap but rather stands at attention. "Thank you very much." He says quietly.

[notme_anymore]

Ah, so he’s a little awkward. Ross sympathizes.

“You’re welcome,” she replies. “And you can join if you want. I have all this set up so people can just… play. And have fun.” She nudges a cushion with her foot. He doesn’t have to sit so close to her, but he’s more than welcome to take a seat. “You know any good songs?”

[vacantis]

Extremely awkward. If he was good at expressing stress, he'd already be sweating.

"Um...no..." He mutters quietly, taking the offered seat and sitting down his his hands on his knees. He keeps peeking at the instruments and pretending he isn't. "Not anything by name. I've never seen most of these before." He doesn't know the first thing of how to "play" any of them either.

[notme_anymore]

“It doesn’t have to be by name. Just a song.”

She didn’t catch his glances at first, but Ventus isn’t being particularly furtive about it. She laughs a little, bot at him, just… he’s an awkward young kid who looks like he’s trying not to get caught being naughty or something. It’s endearing. “You can look,” she encourages. “I set this up so people can come by and play. Or try to. Just to have fun.”

Beat. A little eagerly: “And—I’m not super skilled at any of them, but I can still show you how to play some of these.”

[vacantis]

"Oh...do you know something that goes kind of like..."

He hums the tune of something a little awkwardly before flushing and clamming up again, staring at the floor. He's not really used to talking to people, especially people who ask him about things he likes. He like that song he thinks, though he doesn't really know where its from.

Ven nods a little, a bit relieved the older women is carrying most of this conversation. "You're probably better then me." He says politely. "And um...which ones." He waves his hands a little. "I mean, which ones do you know how to play? I don't..um...You don't need to show me if you don't want to."