Smyth College of Bardic Arts

After finding your way through the Topiary Garden it would only be fitting to come upon a building which looks like a section taken right out of any castle in the same style as all of Schezerade, in all its decadence; marble forming the entirety of the large building accented with gold and platinum in which you'll have to cross over a glass bridge in order to reach it. The front door is welcoming for all shapes and sizes that are the citizens of Hollow and spans a great distance in it's solid French Door of a design. Opening it up one might be perplexed at the ability for the fortress to hold such music coming from the main hall there with all of the astute students practicing their talents. Once immersed, the eyes might be stolen by the gaping cathedral ceilings above, spotted by gold and platinum in which encircle mini glowing stones to mimic the night sky, but beauty is not what the ceiling is for; it carries one's voice in the most pleasing fashion. This main hall is quite a vast oval-shaped room, but the walls are shelves, carved into small diamond shapes. Each slot contains a scroll to nearly any song someone might wish to hear or practice in it's magic. Among the marvelous white-wood, gold-accented, concert grand piano in the middle of this large room there are a plethora of nearly every musical instrument imaginable, one just has to look.

Nearing further into the castle one's nostrils might pick up on the scent of mouth watering food being cooked wafting from the kitchen which is north of the main room and it also holds an elegant dining area containing a handful of small tables. In the corner of this kitchen there is a winding staircase which travels below where students are bustling to and fro. If you wish to stay, grab your favorite spirits from the well stocked kitchen and listen to the bardic magics, relax in one of the many luxurious sofas strewn about these two areas. Off to the east corner of the main hall, there is a locked staircase with an outreaching design in onyx stone overlay which is seemingly inking over into the pristine luxury you’ve found yourself in. It's as if the area above holds a darkness that's attempting to leak out into this little slice of heaven… Better just leave that door alone.

Pilar arrived at the college, feeling excited for once. She would finally learn to play guitar! The only thing was, she felt that her self-teaching and practice might go to waste. Alex had said to forget what she knew after all. Oh well. She was wearing a dark blue halter dress, her tattoos showing; a graveyard on her back and the Xalious tree on her upper right arm.

Alex had long since made himself at home in the Bard's College but the man did seem a bit nervous as he made his way through the grand halls with a large black carrying case gripped tightly in his right hand. The clapping of his heels hitting the decorated floor would alert Pilar to his approach well before he reached her and all the doubt and worry in his expression instantly fades once he's got eyes locked onto his pupil. A soft smile accompanies a set of warm blue eyes that are revealed as he brushes his shoulder length hair back across his scalp just as he arrives to step in front of Pilar, his attention stolen by the art that decorates her skin. "Wow, those are magnificent" he comments with his mind instantly turning to Meri, the work seeming similar to her own "I trust you've come eager to learn?" He asks with a boast of confidence fueling his tone, shoulders lifting back to heighten his stance.

Pilar turned and smiled at Alex. "Thanks. A woman named Meri did them. If you ever want a tattoo I highly recommend her." It was as if she read his mind. She shifted her guitar case from her right hand to her left, so her silver leg was suddenly much more visible. It had been long enough that sometimes she forgot when someone didn't know about it, and so it was today. "Yes, very eager," she said.

Alex perks up at the mention of Meri's name, the human's substance battered memory somehow retaining crystal clear visuals of the woman with covered arms and though his eyes flicker down to see Pilar's oddly shaded leg he simply reverts back to her gaze with a smile, "Well then, I suppose you've waited long enough to get your lessons underway. Let's head to the classroom, shall we?" The bard leads her through the grand academy and it is rather obvious that the students they pass pay little mind to the professor or his pupil, a clear indication that his time and effort in the establishment had been rather little since his services had been enlisted, what isn't made clear is that Pilar is in fact his first and so far only student. The duo would eventually arrive at a simple oak door that is unlocked with a small silver key and upon entry the view is less than glamorous, just a few instruments propped up on racks around the room, a customary teacher's desk, a sofa with a jacket tossed over the back as well as a few student graded chairs, bookshelfs, the works excluding a single piece that stands out in the center of the room. A beautiful, beaming pylon shard that hums faintly with a trio of levitating shards buzzing around it's orbit. Alex motions with his hand to the seating options. "Go ahead and pick a place to sit, make yourself at home. Would you like something to drink? Water? Tea? Bourbon? I'd prefer you be most comfortable when you show me your treasure, your idol, your offspring." He's staring at her guitar case while he lays his own on his desk before returning his gaze to her with a tilted head.

Pilar looked around the room, not impressed but not expecting to be. This was a school, despite its grandeur in certain areas. The pylon caught her interest, but she decided to ask about it later. "No, thank you," she replied to the offer of a drink, "I'm fine." She'd had blood before coming. She took a seat and opened the guitar case, pulling the instrument out. It was gorgeous, pearlescent black with white filigree, similar to Alvina's violin and Brennia's drum, if he'd seen either. Pilar held it like her mother always had, the left-handed way, despite her being right-handed. Her mother had been ambidextrous, so she never questioned it.

Alex is without a doubt impressed by the instrument as it is recovered from it's casing but the tilted head remains as he offers a very faint hum from behind his desk. "Beautiful" he proclaims, finger tips trailing the surface as he swings around the corner to move and close the distance between the two of them, reaching out upon arrival to feel the surface of her muse. "But what makes it yours?" He asks with a look of intrigue.

Pilar blinked. "Um... Khitti gave it to me...?" She honestly didn't know what he meant.

Alex pauses, for only a moment, the emotion in his eyes reflecting a sea of conflict at the mention of Khitti's name, one he'd not heard spoken in quite some time now. How was she? Was she still alive? Did she remember him? Did she miss him? It's only a blink that snaps him back to reality, his right hand slipping into his pocket before retracting with a beautiful ruby jeweled dagger in hand, the blade initially brandished towards Pilar but with a flick of the wrist she has the hilt offered. The blade clearly not very sharp considering the lack of blood spilling from the human's hand. "Yours. Your mark. Something as simple as your initials or as complex as an entire piece of art that speaks from your heart." He nods to the body of the acoustic guitar. "Lesson one. Make it yours. Own it."

Pilar jolted as he pulled a knife, instinctively about to hit him with the guitar and run, but then the hilt was extended towards her. She gazed at Alex, bewildered. He wanted her to... to MAR the perfection of the guitar?! "I... But... I couldn't, it's, it's so beautiful, I can't..." Her family had never owned new guitars, they always had second-hand instruments, with varying degrees of wear and tear. If the guitar was old and worn, it would have been easier to do as Alex said. She looked up at him, at his earnestness, and gingerly took the blade from him. She looked down at the side of the guitar, deciding what to put on it. She was no artist, so nothing complex. She thought and thought, until finally something came to her. Carefully, she scratched away, until a single word, written in shaky cursive, was left. Familia.

Alex didn't betray a single breath as Pilar offered her concerns against his lesson, the human merely lofting his right brow higher as she manifested an excuse, one he had no interest in investing in. Luckily, he had to offer no further instruction as Pilar reluctantly took the blade from his hand and etched her mark into the side of the wood allowing a smile to fill his features once more. "Good. Music is possession. Something one must own. Yes, it is a gift for all to experience but for those who -create-, -that- is a different world all together." He reaches out to take the dagger from her and wipes away the excess dust from her engraving. Before retreating back to his desk, the dagger tossed onto the surface. Reaching for his own guitar case he begins to reach for the latches but then stops for a moment and looks back to Pilar. "Where is your favorite place to visit on this planet, Pilar?"

Pilar looked over the carving, still unsure if she'd done the right thing or not. Well, at least it was on the side, not the face. She pondered Alex's question. "Um... Chartsend, I suppose. I want to live there one day. It's just so nice there. Peaceful, quiet, gorgeous..."

Alex is focusing on his guitar now, plucking away at the strings while motioning to the pylon in between plucks while moving to tune the instrument. "Touch that fancy crystal there for me, would you?" Her touch would be short but intimate as the levitating crystals began to spin violently around and around transforming the atmosphere of the room to perfectly replicate Chartsend, the sand, the beach, the 'gulls, the salty air and all.

Pilar touched the pylon, as instructed, and gasped at the world around her shifted. Well, that answered that question. "Wow..." She returned to her seat and began tuning her own instrument.

Alex can't help but smirk at the gasp and is intrigued at the reaction of her student before pointing to her guitar. "Go. Play me whatever it is you've learned before hand. Let me hear what you've got and for the love of whatever god you believe in, don't hold back."

Pilar gulped and nodded. She placed her fingers on gthe frets carefully and began to pluck away. A burst of magic would wash over them, radiating from the guitar. It was a soft, slow melody that Pilar played, a lullaby in truth, though she did not sing the words. It was the only song she could play confidently on the guitar, out of the dozens she knew by ear. Magic continued to trickle forth from the guitar for as long as her fingers danced over the strings.

Alex listened with intent for around two minutes before his right hand waved out in objection to cut the song short of it's execution. "Stop, stop, stop." Sharp blue eyes rise from behind fallen lids to lock with Pilar's own in a daring stare, "You play by execution. Following the taught line to an absolute, I need you to erase that from your mind." His original instruction calls back to their previous meeting before he reiterates himself in a perfect manner, "Lesson two; clear your mind of everything you know about music."

Pilar | "That's... easier said than done, Alex..." Pilar murmured. "I mean, I don't know a LOT, but... I know a bit."

Alex continues to stare at Pilar with a piercing stare that is demanding in it's gaze, not requesting, "You know only what you have been taught. A sequence of notes and mana that spill from your mind, not your heart. If I am to teach you the art of music I need you to clear your mind of all previous learning, Pilar." The bard knows his request is not an easy one to understand, much less master, and so upon his conclusion he hoists his guitar to his gut and quickly begins to strum away. The melody that follows is one of utter mystification, a combination of notes that carries the mind and spirit away to a different realm just long enough to touch the edge of reality before being gently swayed back to the physical realm with the bars of a god or goddess. The professor has no intention of wasting time on those who wished to learn by a book, sheet or demands. This was an opportunity to create, not replicate, and Alex would be damned to Vakmathras' hell if he were to parrot the teachings of a fluke. He continues to stare at Pilar with grave intent, "Empty your mind. Let your heart take control."

Pilar looked down at her guitar. She was already starting to feel hopeless. Alex's "teaching" didn't make much sense so far, and hadn't she gotten along just fine before this? She just wanted to play old songs from her past. Was that so hard? Or was she just an idiot for not getting what Alex was telling her?

Alex knew the look in Pilar's face all to well, he'd seen it often in the faces of his comrades back home as well as when he looked in the mirror but the deciphered look does not diminish the professor's ambition. Reaching out with an open hand he requests to take hold of Pilar's guitar, "May I?"

Pilar hesitated, but after a few moments relinquished the guitar. Alex would not be able to feel its magic, nor use it. It answered only to Pilar

Alex knew nothing of the magic in the guitar nor did he care too. Propping his leg up onto a nearby chair he is able to rest the body of the acoustic across his pants and within seconds his fingers and picking, pulling and strumming away at the strings. The melody the emits from the man's hands is something unlikely to have befell the ears of the youthful vampire as his style speaks completely in it's own unique voice. A flooding feeling of compassion, desire and content fill the room as the warm wind from the faux beach sweeps his long locks wildly. As he plays, his attention is given solely to his art, the performance not void of any less effort than he gives to a sold out crowd. The music doesn't just provide an easy listening but it reaches out to the soul and makes you feel as if every worry you've ever had, is but a speck of sand blowing across the sandy shore. His number comes to it's conclusion with couple of drawn out single fret notes and then his enchanting blue eyes look back up to meet the vampire's own. "Music is not a fact. It is not an equation that you learn and memorize like mathematics. It is an art. A delicate procedure of the mind, body and soul that only you can create. You are the weaver of the sound that fills out a room or open space. You can use music to say things you'd never be able too in person. Music is love, music is strength and music is the life of all living creatures." His thumb brushes across her engraving as he moves to carefully hand the guitar back to Pilar. "Express yourself."

Pilar closed her eyes and let the music wash over her, like the warm Chartsend waters. She listened to Alex's words, and took the guitar back. She hesitated for a moment before she | began to play. It was a soft, slow, sad song, but it was all her own, made up on the spot. It represented her, and her struggles, and her love for others.

Alex stood with intent upon his gaze, the man's heart visibly beating against his chest as he watches his pupil flourish in her moment. The tune that carried from the strings was not one that was taught by book or lecture but a honest and pure collaboration of the heart, mind, body and soul. In the song, he could feel the pain of a worried heart, the doubt of a troubled past and the longing for a brighter future. The man unblinking as he watches her ever single move before the final note is played. His hands unapologetically thunderous in their applause as his head nods up and down in a wonderful affirmation of praise. "Perfect. Now take that feeling, take it into your being and lock it into your heart. When the audience stares at you beckoning to be pleasured by the sound of your art, you use that feeling and release your best, most honest work." He pauses as his eyes shift back and forth over each of hers. "Never give any less than everything you have."

Pilar blushed under his applause. "Th-thank you..." She plucked a string idly. "I... I'll give it my all, always, I promise."

Alex gives Pilar another warm smile and then moves back to the pylon crystal and turns the trio until the room has reset to the it's original, basic interior. "I think that will be enough for the day. Why don't you head home and have some rest, think about what we've discussed, and come back when you're feeling rejuvenated. Then we can discuss further learning."

Pilar smiled and nodded. "Thank you, Professor. I look forward to it." She put away her guitar and stood up. "I hope to see you soon."

Alex nods to Pilar as he moves to hold the door open for her, "No, Thank you Pilar. If you ever need me, you know where to find me." He states with a smile before closing the door behind her to turn at look as his now empty office with his heart still beating rapidly. "Professor?" he mutters to himself. This was going to take a -lot- of getting used too.

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RP:Guitar Lessons

Smyth College of Bardic Arts