2 Aug 2019, 16:19
Sunlight and Strings
August 1st, 2019
Arlis had just arrived at Hogwarts earlier that day for the summer camp. Having placed her trunk where she was supposed to, she was now onto the exploratory phase. Eyes wide and shining with excitement, she strolled across the open expanse with a bounce in her step and a grin on her face. She hummed a tune and danced to it slightly. She looked up at the sky, feeling blissfully happy and peaceful. She was at the start of a new adventure, and Arlis loved adventures!
If anyone were to look over at the short girl, they would be met with a bit of a strange sight. She wore a flat cap on her head, but then she had on a slightly oversized short-sleeved shirt (only because her parents had to save money in any way that they could, so they bought clothes that could last her a couple of years). That part was normal enough, as were her shorts that came down to her knees and had large pockets filled with random trinkets and bits and pieces of things that she had collected. The not-so-normal part was her footwear – orange crocs and mismatched socks. She carried one of her most prized possessions with her – her violin. She had figured that she might be able to find a nice spot out here for playing it.
After wandering around for a bit, she paused in a grassy area where she could see the lake. There were definitely people around here, but that didn't matter to her. If they wanted to stay, stare, and listen, that was fine by her, and if they judged her, left, or got annoyed, that was also fine by her because it was their decision and she refused to let others' opinions of her affect her. Her grin widened as she lifted up her violin to play – she had already tuned it and warmed up slightly so she didn't need to worry about that. Focusing all her attention on her violin and the music, she began playing. It was a song that she had been practicing for a while now (called Moon Trance by Lindsey Stirling), and it brought her a bit more of a sense of familiarity and comfort in this new place. Not that she needed it, of course, with her love of new experiences. But it was welcome anyway.
She played passionately, aware of nothing except the sound and the violin, and by the middle of the song, she started unconsciously moving, which then turned into dancing as she completely lost herself in the music.
2 Aug 2019, 23:55
Sunlight and Strings
§
[font=Abadi MT Condensed Light]I pirouette in the dark, I see the stars through me.
Elena walked softly on the grass covered ground, missing the mossy forest she'd seen on her drifting, but this would do just fine, all lost in her own world, until she recognised something musical and slipped closer to the source. Elena hummed along to the violin for a moment before draping her coat over one of the small trees that peppered this part of the grounds.
Carefully placing one foot in front of the other, Elena made it near enough to be seen and started to dance, nothing like the zombies in the videos, but it fit the song well enough. She even tried to add onto it by singing the small operatic parts, hoping it wasn't too much of an imposition. Elena tried to dance in a similar way to Arlis, and for the most part actually succeeded.
Wearing a dress and tights for once helped, allowing her the kicks and range of motion that she couldn't usually make in a pair of the uniform pants that the school preferred people to wear. Whenever the music did end, she'd probably thank the other girl for letting her stick around, and for the beautiful music.
Tired mechanical heart, beats til the song disappears...[/font]
I'm weak my love.
4 Aug 2019, 02:54
Sunlight and Strings
So cut me from the line, dizzy, spinning endlessly.
As Arlis played her violin and danced around, spinning, she heard a voice singing the little parts of melody that there were and, without stopping, she cast a brief look up to see a blue-haired girl dancing beside her. A wider grin appeared on the eleven year old's face and the sight of the other girl gave her a confidence boost as she continued playing until the song ended. When it was over, she turned her smile on the girl.
Arlis had never seen videos of the song, especially not the one that included the dancing zombies, but she thought that the way the other girl had seemed to match her was so cool. She beamed as she gave the girl a proper look now that they were done. “Thank you for joining me, you're awesome! I'm Arlis Penrose. You?” In Arlis's mind, this girl had instantly become the coolest one here. She was almost bouncing at the thought of a possible friend in this new place, someone to go on adventures with! Well, assuming that this girl would put up with Arlis, enjoyed adventuring, and could come to like her enough.
Arlis just wanted someone to have fun with! This girl had already helped her to have fun, so she was automatically amazing in Arlis's opinion. Arlis believed in truly living, not just existing. She loved feeling properly alive, and the best way to do that was with a companion by her side!
Somebody make me feel alive, and shatter me!
4 Aug 2019, 11:44
Sunlight and Strings
§
[font=Abadi MT Condensed Light]If only the clockwork could speak, I wouldn't be so alone.
Fun was Elena’s absolute favourite thing to inspire, and there wasn’t much more fun then playing around with music and dancing on a warm Summer day. She’d even kicked her sneakers off at some point the girl bounced on one foot as she tried to pull them back on again, feeling extremely happy.
Elena breathed deeply of the warm Summer air, tired from so much dancing but somehow also exhilarated, she smiled brightly at her new friend, “It’s so good to meet you Arlis. My name is Elena, Elena Jones, and thank you. I’m just glad there was some truly good music to dance along to. There was so much emotion in that. So I suppose I could argue that you’re the amazing one!”
Arlis did seem like a prodigy, to Elena at least, maybe they could play together one day.
Elena eyed the violin and her smile softened as the poignant composure she spent most of her life perfecting reinstated itself, “How long have you been playing? I play fiddle mostly, a lot of Lindsey Stirling as well. Never heard any of her songs played like that, you didn’t even need the backing instruments.”
We burn every magnet and spring, and spiral into the unknown.[/font]
I'm weak my love.
23 Aug 2019, 04:45
Sunlight and Strings
If I break the glass, then I'll have to fly.
Seeing this other girl so happy made Arlis even happier. It was one thing to have fun on her own and play for herself, but performing and inspiring joy in others was even better! Not only that, but the girl – who just said her name was Elena Jones – had a beautiful smile. Smiles were generally beautiful because of all the happiness they held, but this was somehow better. Maybe it was because Arlis knew that it came from someone who was now possibly a friend. Her friends' smiles back home always made her happy, too.
“It's wonderful to meet you as well! Do you mind if I call you Jones, or would you prefer to be called something else? Thank you for the compliments, but I really am happy that you joined. People don't normally do that, but it's nice to see someone who feels confident enough to dance in front of others, not caring about the people who might stare or frown upon it.”
Something about Jones changed a bit and Arlis had a slight feeling of respect for that. To her, it was an impressive ability for someone to be able to change the type of thing that they radiated and how they appeared, and to have that kind of calmness as well was something that Arlis didn't really experience – considering how energetic she normally was. “I've been playing for years and practicing pretty much every day – I don't remember exactly when I started. You play the fiddle? That's cool! How did you start to learn it, and what prompted that?” Her smile (which hadn't ceased for most of the interaction) grew wider again at the comment about not needing the backing instruments. She shrugged. “I just use the available resources and work around something like not having those instruments in the background.”
There's no one to catch me if I take a dive.
3 Sep 2019, 01:46
Sunlight and Strings
§
[font=Abadi MT Condensed Light]I'm scared of changing, the days stay the same.
"Jones is good if you like, been a while since I've been called that." Elena looked around, as if seeing if there was anyone else, "Summer is a time for fun and laughter, if I didn't dance I'd be betraying the good name of the season."
Arlis seemed a kind excited young kid, which made Elena smile a little again, more contented than excited but it was there, "I started busking and fiddle is rather cool, lots of different things you can play with a fiddle. You got Irish folk songs, Galway Girl, Devil Went Down To Georgia, and Lindsey Stirling of course. Also it's easy to play freestyle once you know which notes do what."
Elena thought for a second, "And every fiddle is unique, everyone tunes it differently, and the woods and sizes and shapes all make different sounds. No two songs can sound the same."
Uniqueness was usually directly correlated with edginess, or with whining, but this time it was just something interesting. Also something niggled at the back of her mind, "There's a guitar, I think it was one of the Rolling Stone's, that nobody can recreate the sound of. People have tried of course, but it's only useable with trial and error and there are a lot of different possible configurations of tuning and sound."
The world is spinning but only in grey.[/font]
I'm weak my love.