RP:Saxophone Me
This is a Bard's Guild RP.
Summary: Brennia sees a familiar face in the Concert Hall shortly after the Larket Benefit and ends up having an exciting request for The Silver Bard.
Concert Hall
A magnificent hall stands before you. Constructed of an elegant mahogany with tasteful gold trimmings, it is one of the marvels of Larket. Created a long time ago for the ruler of Larket and his court, it is now open to all who can afford the ticket price. Concerts usually play in the evening and are usually performed by grand orchestras. Sometimes however, more modern music is played, and the hall becomes a disco. The stage on which the orchestra performs is huge, necessary for the amount of musician in an orchestra. A large number of benches are set out on the floor with comfortable cushions on them. For those who really want to splash out, a number of balcony rooms are set into the rooms, heavy red curtains can be drawn around the box for a little more privacy, and the seats are luxuriously comfortable. The only way out is to the south.
Alvina came back to the Larket Concert hall following the Charity ball. She wasn’t sure why, or what she was looking to find. It was a disaster, that Valrae had bid on her...but that was a conversation for a different time. Today, the bard stands on the floor, trying to conjure the ghosts of Brennia and Raphaline to perform again. The lighting and energy was all wrong. She was the only audience, the only one she could see here. When was the last time music had touched her so? When was the last time she’d felt inspired to bring her own music back into the world? Life had become complicated along the way, far gone were the days of somber funeral music or weddings. Farther still the days of playing in the tavern for a drink or coin. To meet a friendly face with old, familiar tunes. Ballads of love gone right or terribly wrong. Watching the village children in Kelay, dirt covered hands and faces following behind while she plucks fables and old hero stories in a parade of tiny dancing feet. She’d grown so much older, and her heart ached more than it use to. Alvina takes a step towards the stage, sitting in one of the chairs with her legs crossed. That’s why she’d been so excited to visit the Amphitheater with Pilar in Rynvale, to meet Brennia, Valen, and see Lady Eilyo again. The only cause music had in her life now was to lull Luna or Harper to sleep or infuse balms and salves with healing properties. She wasn’t much of a healer, but it didn’t bother her terribly. Emilia and Raphaline seemed to have Frostmaw covered in that regard. A sigh falls from her lips. The feeling never leaves you, the rush of performing...it’s like unfolding the book of your heart and reading it’s pages to strangers. Sharing a piece of your soul through song. The hall is empty, she can only assume she’s alone. Resolve finds her on the stage, looking out at the empty seats and smiling. Her flute was always with her, tucked in her satchel in it’s case. The bard assembles the small instrument and brings it to her lips. A few test notes echo through the hall. Jitters build in her stomach, but still she inhales and begins a song she knows by heart. A haunting tune, laced with the trilling melody of happiness. Bright, light and uplifting. A new love’s sigh, a first kiss. The sound bubbles into the rafters, bursting beautifully when it rises too high. Already she feels her spirits lifting, to decorate this space with her own flavor of music. Her own brand of light. Performing in front of people still made her nervous. It always would. But this private session was hers, and filled her to the brim with confidence in who she was and what would be. Alvina couldn’t explain it, but she didn’t have to. Music told stories our lips might never muster, our quills might never scratch into tea stained parchment.
Brennia knows nothing of lovers quarrels and does everything she can to avoid them as she also missed anything past announcing the winners at the benefit. She was there with only one fellow bard's guild member this time as they stowed away in the balcony and were coming up with play ideas, costume designs and all the like. As soon as Alvina entered, those elongated pointed ears pick up her footsteps and Brennia didn't know why, but she placed a finger over her own plump lips at the other bard in a 'sh' gesture. As they were seated on the floor behind the banister, unseen. She eventually peeped her head over the railing when she heard the flute notes ring out and she would give the other bard a signal to notify it was okay for him to do the same, but still remain quiet. She closed those large oceanic blue eyes and let the song in to take effect; doing so lifted her already light spirits as a soft smile came over those shapely lips of her's. Once she closed her eyes Brennia could see a faint tether or ribbon giving off a sort of yearning or hurt color of aura; she recently discovered that little trick, as it seems with other bards they are all sort of connected through music. How you ask? She was at Bardic Madrigal group a rehearsal a few weeks back and upon closing her eyes to understand the notes better, she noticed these little swaying ribbon-like apparitions coming from each of their souls - it was a "had to be there moment" to see the excitement on her face. In the middle of Alvina's performance she fully stood now, eyes still closed and she sent out a barely audible note in tandem with her melody. This allowed their bardic powers to seemingly weave together just like at the ball, but this time Brennia got goose bumps upon her tattooed caramel toned skin from Avlina's own power as she can feel it is vast. She hopes the sudden connection would be subtle enough that Alvina wont notice or maybe not care she wasn't expecting their audience.
Alvina pours herself into the seemingly empty space with all she has. Her heart was heavy, her flute light. They compliments each other; the instrument and the ache. Brennia and her fellow bard go unnoticed, but Alvina feels a tugging. Slight but it's there, tangled in her notes, as if wishing to give them wings to fly higher still than she alone could take them. The song continues, a patient crescendo ebbing to the song’s end. The flute is pulled from her lips and her chest is somehow lighter. Happier, fuller. A sigh of relief drops from her lips, a smile creeping to take it’s place. Her Emerald optics scan the concert hall, able to completely make out Brennia standing, eyes closed in the balcony. She looks so peaceful up there, the bard thinks, before embarrassment creeps into her checks in the form of light rogue. “G-good morning!” Alvina called, silently scolding herself for being so silly to try and play here. Of course people might be working somewhere. It was a giant hall, how could she think she was entirely alone?? The flute is tucked back her in satchel while she fidgets and scuffles down the stairs off the stage, back into the audience seats. She didn’t belong up there!! Not in front of people anyway! When had she become so shy about her music? “Sorry to disturb you!”
Brennia fully enjoys in the song, curls up and nestles against it figuratively. When the words of good morning hit her the large blue eyes open to see embarrassment. Brennia easily hops over the banister and somehow lands to the floor grounds perfectly without the aid of her wings to slow her down - athleticism in a bard? Odd. Those long legs easily shrinking most of the distance between them while she said, "That was so moving and beautiful, Alvina The Silver." Those massive onyx wings hug close to her curvaceous form, but her posture impeccably perfect, almost regal in away. Her long silky black hair gets pushed to one side looking like a waterfall of endless ebon. Once close enough, Alvina would once again experience her most favorite scent coming from the Avian, "Merry meet again." The other bard was left up on the balcony and stunned by the Avian until he snaps himself out of it to find stairs and a path back to the ground floor with this writings in tow. "We were delighted by your interruption as we only came in here to do some light writing, but I think you helped find his muse." The gentleman finally found his way down and took a seat to start to write with much haste as if his mind was thinking far faster than his hand could muster. Brennia motions to him working away, "As we see." Brennia boldly takes a seat right next to Alvina, maybe a velvety wing accidentally brushes against her, "So, where did you find your inspiration and how long have you harnessed the power of the bard?" Those large blue eyes never move from Alvina's face with such interest in the woman and now admiration.
Alvina fidgets nervously until Brennia approaches her with flawless grace. The room smells suddenly of old books and rain. It melts the tension in the bard’s shoulders enough to ease into a chair moments before Brennia sits next to her. They had met before, she remembered but they hadn’t had much time to really introduce themselves. Alvina wondered if it would be rude to ignore Brennia’s company but he was scratching away on the parchment and didn’t seem to mind the interruption. It feels strange to be called a muse of any sort, but equally flattering. “I’ve been a bard for as long as I can remember. My first real career and skill.” She laughs, it’s more weighty now, that she’s not lost in the flood of music. Everything about her stance is. As if playing or singing provided a stasis in which might just exist and feel without dealing with outside forces. It would be too embarrassing to say her inspiration came from a silly crush she’d squashed into the snow. That thinking about someone other than the father of her children could inspire such song. So she has to fib, if only because she does not fully know this woman well enough to unfold all the secret chambers of her heart before her, with solid words to confirm what Brennia had no doubt felt when Alvina played. “I-I can only say my children move me so.” If Brennia saw the music, had listened (and of course she could, and had. Knew enough about music to know this was a farce). “There’s no greater joy…” This portion is true. Having children had been the most amazing experience of her life but...she was longing. Longing for a partner that valued her. Searching for a man that might cherish her infinitely. Never dream of choosing another woman before her, even for one night. Or many. “W-What inspires you, Lady Brennia?” The bard thought this was a good mix of informal and formal address. The brush of her velvet wings stirs goose bumps along the bard’s exposed flesh on her right arm. “Your performance at the Charity ball was just...breathtaking. I’ve never felt anything so vivid, even as a woman who appreciates the musical arts!” Pale skin creases around a broad smile.
Brennia still felt the after effects of longing from her song and she heard the lie instantly, but she wouldn't call her out on it and only suggest, "I find it easiest to create, play, or write when I am true to myself." Those large eyes set carefully down on Alvina, but in such a way that welcomed broken souls, or ones that simply have a shade of grey area in them for she would never pass a judgment on someone else. Brennia is quite the questionable soul as well and finds it easier for others to open up to her not only by her scent and silky way of speak, but when you offer a bit of honesty in turn, "That song reminded me of a woman. An Avian woman who had caught not only my affections but a piece of my heart I tried to keep reserved from all of my lovers, after my last failure." It's seems she keeps only open relationships, "She is a knight and me being an ex-royal seems only fitting we would find each other... Cliché I know." A soft smile spreads across her plump lips as she thinks a long moment about what inspires her, "There have been many things... The way his short hair felt under my caress. The way her curves turned under the folds of the sheets in the morning. The way my heart twisted when I learned my family had been slain or the way my mind clicked when I became wise that my father wasn't all he was cracked up to be." Though some of he examples are dark a smirk was ever present... Until that compliment hit her ears and flattered her deeply. Her cheeks darkened and her smile spread until dimples poked in her cheeks while a subtle child like twinkle shown in the depths of those oceanic blue eyes, "Thank you... I couldn't do it without the bards guild. They lent me their power and it helped enhance the power of the song." She obviously had not shame in the ways of her natural seduction and neither cared for others prickly and rigid expectations of how she should carry herself.
Alvina wishes with all her heart to share her secret with Brennia...but speaking it may make the thing real. An ill-advised word from her and the whole thing is spilt over her rug, so to speak. Alvina can not confined the truth of the matter in names or expressions. She can only continue smiling, nodding gravely as Brennia confesses her secrets and loves. Pale digits pull crimson threads behind her ear when next she goes to speak. “The way he stares at you like no one else in the world exists…” Alvina looks towards the ceiling, as if seeking some unseen forgiveness for the slip of her tongue. “Love is such a powerful force...it stirs us even when others might think it...wrong to do so.” And that’s as much as the bard is willing to offer, at this present time. Often, Alvina is discussed as a woman with upstanding moral fiber who might never make a mistake or be led down the wrong path but...this isn’t true. Alvina hides a treasure trove of secrets, just like everyone else, and because of this she’s more careful about who she trusts with what piece of herself. For Brennia? She can’t conceal the forbidden elements in her song but she can misdirect her replies and the conversation. The Silver Bard hoped very much to keep the image of mother, housewife, and Engineer. Her bardic powers were rarely used, and much less on display for anything beyond salves, at their best. “Being true to yourself is a lost art, I must admit.” She laughs, to break up the silence she was imagining. “I envy you that.” A nod, to punctuate the truth of the statement.
Brennia places a hand over her own heart, "What an excellent line. Exactly." She didn't seem wildly enthralled by gossiping means as she only aims to pull at the creative threats until she's unwrapped the entire muse. A short shrug was offered, "It became so much easier when I realized no one is perfect and we cannot, shall not, break our backs trying." A soft and short chuckle here, "Trust me, I've been through the training and it's not what it's all cracked up to be." The way she carries herself and the eloquent way she speaks one could easily guess she is or was royalty of some sort. She shifted in her seat in fully facing Alvina now, "Say... Are you -the- Alvina, famous metal worker?" A brow quirked down at her with that soft playful smirk on her plump lips. "I have a bard looking for someone to make this..." She looks to the other bard with him who is holding onto Brennia's folder labeled 'Quests'. He brought it to her quickly so she may thumb through it sort of mumbling to herself. "Now, I've never seen anything like it. But they said they have dreams where they are playing this and I am dying to hear it." She lifted the sketch and specifications from the folder and held it out to Alvina to inspect and give her expert opinion, "I'll pay whatever it takes. You should see the way her eyes light up when speaking of it... Oh the joy it would bring."
Alvina’s eyes go wide when Brennia inquires if she was famous for Engineering. She’d never considered herself to be known as ‘famous’ but maybe? Well known was more likely, people talked in weapons and metal and her name came up occasionally. She was by no means the only Engineer / metal worker roaming around but...she was certainly more approachable than a certain man with a metal arm and wolf ears. “I’d love to help-” the other bard is rushing over with the folder, Brennia hands her a detailed sketch and Alvina turns it over in her mind a moment before speaking again. Emerald eyes are fixed on the image, drafting a version of the thing in her mind. How the metal would bend, the small valves and how they would open and close against small buttons...The woman makes various thoughtful noises (hmm, I see, well maybe…) before returning to the reality of sitting in the theater seats besides Brennia, paper in hand. “I can certainly try.” A smile lights her face. It’s the happiest and most comfortable moment for her; to have a job and to help create someone’s dream. It melts away the previous awkward thoughts that swirled through her mind. Work always did, because she had a passion for it. A passion that overwrites every other emotion. “It might take me a while...I’m not sure what sound might come out of it...what metal would be best…Is that alright?”
Brennia is the flatterer and if a simple changing of the word 'well-known' to 'famous' would put a blush or smile on someone face she would do it only to lift their spirits. While Alvina was turning over in thought Brennia stood as she could nearly feel the presence of her messaging Owl, Whoolio, gliding into he large Concert Hall. The owl "Hoo's" softly and sort of nips at Brennia's hair while she reads with a soft scowl on her plump lips. "Hmm..." she would muse out softly before hearing Alvina agreeing to help her bard student. She leans down and gives the woman a friendly hug with an excited, "Thank you! I cannot wait to tell them the good news." This caused Whoolio to flutter away from the pair before Brennia got too close to toppling the owl over. When she pulls away and Alvina starts pondering what to make the instrument out of she gives hard thought with the furrowing of her brow, "Let's see. Let us try, Brass?" Those large blue optics spot Whoolio trying to peck at the other bard guild member for treats she sighs, "We better be off." She waves about her message in her hands, "Duty calls. I'll send Whoolio in a few days to give you directions to The Bard's College. Everyone will be so excited for you to visit." She beamed that brilliant smile back at Alvina before seemingly gliding out the Hall with her fellow guild member.