Finished Musically Inclined PV E. Charlton

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There weren't many things Everly hated, but now rain was definitely among those few.

Of course, she didn't always hate rain, but when rain meant she couldn't do anything quite interesting enough, then that meant it was added to the list. While Everly had plenty of homework needed to be completed heh, Everly took to finding something better to do. And though not many people knew, Everly had her own hand at the field of musical instruments, particularly the violin, which she had been practicing and playing for almost a year and a half now. Though she wasn't the most experienced, Everly didn't mind; she just enjoyed having something to practice as well as to pride herself on and improve with. And so, since she was looking for something to do, what better than to keep practicing?

Everly herself had no idea where to venture within Hogwarts to practice, as she would presume violin squeaking would be quite annoying for other trying to complete a bit of homework or try to concentrate, so she decided to go to the rehearsal room. Everly had only been there once before for an errand, so she at least had known it existed, but she had never found another reason to go in there again. And now that such an opportunity had appeared, why not?

And so she did.

But when Everly approached the rehearsal room, she would find that she was accompanied by another - Starlee Kennedy, one of Everly's friends. Playing the piano - how coincidental. The piece she was playing differed quite a lot from Starlee's personality, which was interesting. Everly didn't know that Starlee played the piano, but this was a pleasant surprise. Perhaps they could play a piece together or something similar?

Before Everly could start dreaming up the perfect pieces, she had to first approach the girl. "Starlee!" she said, not-so-politely interrupting the Slytherin's playing. "Hi! I didn't know you played piano, it was so pretty! Do you mind if I play with you - I play the violin, by the way." Everly plopped the case gently on a seat nearby, unbuckling the clips and opening the case, bringing the dusty violin to light. Pulling the bow and rosin out, running it a few times, then tuning the violin, Everly determined it ready. "Hope you don't mind, heh," Everly said sheepishly, pulling out different sheet music.

march 13th 2021

☆

@Everly Charlton

She should have figured that she wouldn't be alone on such a rainy Saturday. People would be milling about the Castle indoors, perhaps studying, perhaps snacking in the kitchens, or perhaps finding a place to practice, as it seemed a certain Gryffindor was looking to do, the same as Starlee had.

She had been 'in the zone' as they say, until she heard her name called, jarring her out of her musical reverie. Her hands froze as she turned to look towards the door, seeing none other than Everly approaching her, with what looked like a violin case in her hand. "Hey Everly!" she said lightly, smiling at her and cocking her head at a small tilt. Everly complimented her playing, to which she smiled even brighter, saying "Thank you! I really love this piece, it's rather soothing..." She paused for a moment before answering Everly on her offer to play something together. Starlee wasn't the best sight reader - it always seemed she could easily do one hand at a time, but together? That was a whole different beast.

"Sh-sure!" she said a bit hesitantly, hoping that whatever Everly was playing, that the accompaniment wasn't too difficult. "Give me a minute to run through it quickly!" she said as she received the sheet music from her. She placed it gingerly down onto the piano and began testing out the harmonies and melodies that she saw. It didn't seem to hard, thankfully, and she ran through it a few times before announcing, "Alright, I think I've got it! You ready to give it a shot?"

INTERACTION───────────── @Starlee Kennedy

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Reducio action | playing the violin health | 600/600 stats | sta 6 eva 10 str 0 wis 7 arc 4 acc 8 abilities | seer year 1 • 10% autododge, 10% autohit | blindvision • can see in magical and non-magical darkness 13 march, 2021

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Everly almost felt bad for interrupting Starlee’s piece. It was beautiful, but Starlee hadn’t noticed when Everly walked in until the Gryffindor spoke. Everly recognized the feeling Starlee was experiencing well, having encountered it herself before. The music felt so inviting, she knew, your fingers knowing exactly what to do. It was a wonderful feeling. It was what other people felt after winning a race or acing a test, she supposed, but in different circumstances. Everly could imagine it, a smile curving on her face. What was that Muggle term - muscle memory? Yes, when her fingers knew the notes and the tune exactly. In those moments, Everly felt powerful.

She also really felt bad for interrupting Starlee’s moment, but she couldn’t quite go back in time and fix it.

“Hi!” Everly greeted the Slytherin girl, who had stopped playing entirely, turning to look at her. Thankfully, Starlee didn’t seem too mad at Everly’s interruption, and replied warmly. “I agree!” Everly stated. “I really liked it. What is that?” she asked, posing a question towards the girl as she pulled her violin out.

Starlee agreed to play a piece alongside Everly, and the Gryffindor felt somewhat relieved that Starlee had. It had honestly been some time since Everly had played with someone else. Either that, or Everly just hadn’t been practicing enough recently. She made a mental note to start doing so more often.

Everly nodded in agreement to Starlee’s statement, knowing that she too wasn’t the best sight-reader. Often, the Gryffindor would need to play a piece over and over again before it would feel somewhat like what it should sound like. Thankfully, the violin part of the piece Everly had requested they play together was completely in first position. Everly harbored a hatred for third position - violin could get so complicated sometimes. Everly began to play a few bars of the song to quickly recall the tune in her head and how it went. “Great!” Everly said to Starlee, not trying to mask her excitement. “I’m ready as well. On my count?”

The Gryffindor would count, and begin to play.

@Everly Charlton

"It's one of a set of four pieces - Sonatina in Colors. The one I was just playing was called Blue." She tilted her head slightly as if a bit lost in thought as she said this. Music had the tendency to do this to her, calming down her normal bubbly attitude to a more serene one.

But now was not the time to get lost in ones thoughts - she had to test out the chords she saw on the page, making sure he had the right key in her mind, before she was ready to play. It was much more of a light hearted piece that what Starlee had just been playing, so she readjusted her demeanor, flexing her fingers open and closed quickly, preparing to play in a more light and happy tone.

She nodded when Everly began her countdown, staring down the music in front of her, hoping she didn't make a mistake. But who was she kidding? She was only twelve and mistakes were a natural part of life. She was certainly no professional pianist. Of course, none of that logical thought would enter the first year's mind, only that of trying to impress her new friend.

And so, the pair began. Starlee had a few hiccups here and there, but it was to be expected of a piece that you had just picked up only moments earlier. While Starlee certainly wasn't well versed in the art of the violin, one of her dormmates would regularly play in their dorm and common room, so she had begun to have an ear for the tonal qualities of the instrument. It seemed, at least to Starlee's minimal knowledge, that Everly was playing quite well.

Starlee would return her focus to the music, now getting a feel for the tempo and lightheartedness, and try to begin to let her stiffness of playing something new go. It worked, she became more lax, and she made less mistakes.

Finally, the piece would end, and Starlee would turn to Everly and clap politely. "Wow, I can't believe I managed to play that so nicely!" she would smile. "You were wonderful too... you know..." she pondered for a moment, placing her chin in her hand, and continued, "You would make a great addition to the Frog Choir! Do you enjoy singing?" At this point she would stand up from the piano and adjust herself next to Everly. "It would be so nice to get more people involved! You don't have to hold a frog if you don't want to... Although I will say they are reeeeeaaaaalllllllyyyyyyy cute!!!" She beamed at Everly, hoping the girl would agree. Of course, she would probably have to wait to join next year, but that was a problem for another day.

@Everly Charlton

'How long have I been playing?' she took a few moments to ponder the girls question. "Oh geez... five years probably?" Her parents had started her on her musical journey pretty early, wanting her to have a potential outlet. "What about you?" she asked, curious if violinists started young as well. She supposed it was entirely possible, but would she have needed a different size violin? Starlee had no idea how any of that worked, just that the piano was the piano, be it an upright, a baby grand or a grand, they all had the same keys, just varied total qualities.

Starlee's bright beam of a smile somehow managed to get even brighter when Everly mentioned she would consider joining the Frog Choir. "Well, I signed up as soooon as I possibly could," she began, matter-of-factly. "so like, as soon as I saw the flyers in the Great Hall! And it's soooooo fun, this year we've mainly been focusing on prepping for a performance, but our practices are really great. You even get to choose your own frog companion! I've got a reaaalllyyy cute one name Bubbles! He's really jumpy, and matches my energy pretty well if I do say so myself." she closed her eyes and nodded, as if this would certainly seal the deal.

"I'm really hoping we will get to actually perform next year. It's such a great group, I think we could totally do it!" she fist-bumped the air dramatically. She then pushed her long hair back behind her shoulders from where her over excitement had pushed it forward, and said, "Hmmm, I definitely think you would make a great fit."

@Everly Charlton

Starlee listened intently as Everly described her experience with the violin. Three years of playing the violin, and with an apparently varied schedule, and she sounded like that? Color Starlee impressed. Plus, Everly had been spot on with Starlee's thoughts, mentioning that little kids needed tiny 'baby' violins, and Starlee couldn't help but smile at the thought. It just sounded too cute and adorable!

She went on to say she had actually tried the piano, but ended up swapping for the violin. And Starlee could 100% agree with the reasoning there. "Ohhhh, I knooooooow!" she lamented. "That's always my biggest issue, especially with sight reading. Reading one hand, yea sure, I can do that, but two at the same time? It's so hard!" she sighed, thoughts of many failures at sight reading with both hands fresh in her mind. But, on the other end of the spectrum, while violin only had one staff to follow, the playing itself, with the many different finger positions to indicate a note, seemed a lot more difficult instead of simply pressing down on a key. They did both require some memorization, but the Violin seemed to require much more, at least in Starlee's opinion.

Starlee couldn't completely gauge how Everly was feeling about joining the frog choir. Starlee had been doing her best to try and sell it to her, in the hopes of getting a friend involved in the club, and it seemed she had at least swayed her to look into joining. "You totally should!" she responded brightly. "It is fun, I promise!" she smiled as she took a look at her watch. It was almost 2 now, and she really needed to get to work on some homework that was due that monday.

Standing up from the piano, she said, "Well, I'm gonna go to the Library, I've got this Defense Against the Dark Arts homework calling my name..." she said with low enthusiasm. "I'll see you later, yea?" she smiled, and made her way to the library, happy to have a new musical friend.

Starlee leaves the thread.