Closed Music is better than people... right? PV Azrael Faire

Azzy walked to the Rehearsal room. It was the only thing they could think of since the Astronomy Tower was occupied at the moment. It'd been a super rough day. Especially since the incident. And the fact that they'd been interacting with a lot of people lately. It felt like the day was dragging. They could feel tears burning their eyes. Oh crap. Not good. If they could hold off until they got there that would be amazing. They ran up the hundreds of moving stairs. Their chains rattled, they waved at the paintings to be nice, and finally, they had reached the Rehearsal room, what they saw shocked them, not only had someone beaten them there, but it was a Slytherin, and she had a violin. They stood in the doorway, dumbfounded and upset. They studied the girl, she was incredibly thin and her violin was plain unlike Azzy's well decorated one. Then again, they played when they were upset despite the fact that they were really good at playing by ear and memory. They'd had the perfect song picked out too, but it seems that they were not going to get to play it here. Not yet. They gripped their violin case, decorated with anime stickers, and glitter stickers as well as some drawings. "S-Sorry... I wasn't aware anyone was here. I'll go. Mine can wait..."

Mahlioz stopped, surprised. She had no idea what to do, what to say, although it felt like a déjà-vu moment from the first time she'd been here. But something told her she really needed to weigh her words, not just stumble over them and stutter like she usually did. Although that was particularly difficult this time... the person who'd walked in on her had half-red hair, too many piercings to count, some makeup and quite a specific style. Although it may have been stereotypical, Mahlioz was more than a little scared of them.
But she had a job to do - talking. "No no no, it's okay, I've been here a while already, I can come back later." She had a million other reasons picked out, too. Her pieces could wait, she knew them well enough anyway. Before she could keep going with her reasons, she noticed the other's - very decorated - case. "Wait, do you also play violin?" That opened some doors. Maybe they'd be able to play together. Or something. On second thought, the red-and-black-haired person seemed like they needed some time alone... Mahlioz didn't want to ruin that, she knew the feeling all too well.

"Nevermind," the Slytherin said quickly, putting her violin down into its case. It seemed like the other person needed the Rehearsal Room more than her. And that was fine with her, she didn't need it urgently and could come back any other time. "Seriously, it's fine, you can have the room."

Azzy paid attention to the girls body language, picking up fear and nervousness. Azzy was about to have a Faire moment. They slapped on a smile and shook their head. "No, no it's ok! I'm Azrael Faire. You can call me Azzy if you'd like. All of my friends do. You don't have to be afraid of me you know. As for the playing together, that sounds like an amazing idea. What pieces do you know?" They asked, walking in and closing the door behind them. They needed to play to bad to walk away, and they would feel bad if the girl walked away. "I normally play by ear or by memory. My favorite it one actually comes from America, it's called The Devil Went Down To Georiga by the Charlie Daniels Band. Heck of a piece really. My dad played the violin and taught me that one. I was around six, maybe seven at the time. Sorry I don't mean to ramble." Azzy said, they felt at ease with the Slytherin girl. It was nice to actually relax for a bit. As if the air had lifted. But mind you, the stress was still there. They set their decorated violin case down on the stage and took out their violin, they had spent a great deal of time painting it with their mom, using their fields and their horses as inspiration. They quickly tuned their violin and lifted it to them playing a short piece to warm up, they'd used Lindsey Stirling's Roundtable Rivals as the warm up piece. They lowered the violin and smiled. They already felt better.

The other person's expression had changed so fast Mahlioz wasn't sure she had seen it right the first time. They had seemed sad and in need of some time alone, but now, suddenly, they were smiling and reassuring the Slytherin that it was fine. Oh, and apparently they'd realized how scared Mahlioz was of them, which made the poor first year turn red. She was no longer sure what to say anymore... not that she'd known before. "Er- yeah, sorry," she apologized. For what, exactly, she wasn't sure - probably just for being afraid of them. "Um, I'm Mahlioz? Azrael is a nice name, though," she added with a (very) shy smile, before looking shocked for a split second as Azzy agreed to playing together.

Now she was in unknown territory. "Um... well, I doubt you've done much of it, but, uh, I kinda only play classical music?" Why did everything she say come out as a question?? Get a grip, for Pete's sake! she told herself. "I could always try something new, but I've only been playing for three and a half years, so I wouldn't be very good..." She listened as Azrael told her about how they preferred to play: by ear or by memory. Pretty much the opposite of what Mahlioz was good at. But she'd try, for the sake of this person who was being nice to her.
The more Azrael talked, the more they seemed to be at peace, which once again was quite the opposite of Mahlioz. Though no longer scared of them, she was still her normal self-concious and timid self. But it all kind of shifted as Azzy picked up their (again, very decorated) violin and started playing. It was a short piece, and not at all like Mahlioz's usual style, nor was it like anything like she had ever heard before. But it changed something - she felt better, more confident, less like hiding in a corner somewhere.

Although she had no idea how this was going to go, or how she was going to figure out how to play like Azrael, she found herself smiling, weirdly enough. Azzy didn't need sheet music or too much music theory to make something magnificent. "That was... wow," Mahlioz said, at a loss for words. It was only a short piece and it sounded like a warm up, a piece Azrael had played a million times. But to Mahlioz it sounded beautiful.

Azzy smiled, rereading the timid girls body language, she was at peace now, no longer afraid. And she seemed at a loss for words. "That's just a snippet of one of my favorite songs honestly. I try to keep up when I can when it comes to practice... I normally only play when I am stressed..." Now they felt ashamed. They didn't like that they just opened up like that and told the Slytherin girl their worst pet peeve. Ugh! They never opened up like this! Ever! They instantly put their guard back up and looked at the other person. They straightened their posture back to their oh-so-intimidating height of 4'7. Not very intimidating. They already knew that much. But they were 4'4 with their platforms on. A whopping 3 inches added onto their height, whoopie. They sat on the stage.
Deciding that they felt more comfortable around this girl than anyone else and decided to open up a little more to the Slytherin girl. "I also play electric and acoustic guitar. Both are quite nice to listen to on off days. But I don't really feel comfortable enough to bring either here honestly. Just don't wanna get caught playing like I did my violin." They said, slowly and cautiously.

Azrael was hard to read. Mahlioz wasn't usually one who "read" people, but Azzy just seemed mysterious and intreguing. First they had smiled, then they seemed annoyed, then a little scary, and then careful as though walking on eggshells. Mahlioz had no idea what to make of it. She was going to ask why they were stressed, since they'd said they usually only played when they felt that way, but before she could get a word out they seemed angry at themselves, and distant and honestly slightly menacing. Mahlioz decided against asking the question. They may have been a little short, they weren't any less intimidating.
After a few moments, though, they started talking again, about other instruments they played. They had a different tone now, a careful one, although Mahlioz couldn't figure it out exactly. She felt a little awkward, but the air was no longer full of tension, so she decided to talk. "That's really cool. I only have the patience for violin." She laughed. "But where do you practice, if not here?" At the mention of getting caught playing, Mahlioz gave them a smile. "Sounds a little familiar if you ask me..."

At the next lull in conversation, Mahlioz said, "Hey, I love your hair, by the way. Did you dye it yourself?" After recieving an answer, she asked, "Um... if you don't mind me asking, are you a guy or a girl or... something else?" She realized there was an easier way to say that. "Like, well, what are your pronouns?" Wait, but she'd recently heard that pronouns weren't gender... and what was gender, anyway? She blinked rapidly as she started to get confused, then tried to snap back to reality. This was not the time or place to ask these questions. She hoped she hadn't embarrassed herself - or Azrael - too much. And that she'd asked the right question... was there a right question? Mahlioz! Focus! She looked up at her new acquaintance as she waited for an answer, trying not to think too much. Or at all.

Reducio

@Mahlioz Evethisawe

Azrael was sure they would get whiplash at how fast their mood was changing, it seemed that Mahloiz was getting whiplash as well. They watched the girls body language. She was confused on Azzy's whiplash of emotions. Reality? They were trying to adjust. They normally didn't socialize a whole lot. "I'm Non-Binary. My pronouns are They/Them. And yes I did dye my hair by myself. Believe it or not, It was red most of early semester. I changed it because of well... It changes when it comes to any form of major stress. Yeah I know, I'm mental. But you know what? That's alright. I would also like to apologize for my whiplash of emotions. I don't normally socialize and I don't have many friends. So my social battery is just... Wacky." They looked at the Mahloiz and gave a small smile. Hopeful that maybe, just maybe, the girl would grow used to it. "I do know a classic piece. By Claude Debussy. It's Clair de Lune." They said, trying to loosen up. They knew that they had probably made Mahloiz extremely uncomfortable. "What about you? What pieces do you like to play on your free time?" They asked curiously. They were actually kind of curiously.

Mahlioz nodded as Azrael explained their gender and pronouns. "Oh, that's cool," she said when they confirmed that they had indeed dyed their hair themselves. "My sister has green hair and she tried dying it herself the first time, but she kind of failed miserably. Her girlfriend ended up doing it for her. Or at least, her girlfriend now, they weren't together at the time." What in the world was she doing?? She was sharing way too much. She didn't usually do that when she was stressed, she just stayed silent and on her own, but apparently that part of her had decided to surface today. "I'm so sorry, that was way too much information." And maybe saying that was weird as well. Gah, social cues were so stupid!

It seemed Azrael was also going through the same type of problem, though. "That's completely fine," Mahlioz said, trying to reassure them. "I definitely understand that... spending time around others can be hard sometimes. Doesn't mean you're mental though, otherwise you would definitely not be the only mental person here." They had probably - no, definitely - already noticed how introverted she was. But it made her feel a little better, a little less awkward, knowing that she wasn't the only one.
"Oh, yeah, that piece is super famous," she smiled, glad the conversation was getting back to music. She was actually looking forward to playing with Azzy, and wondered what they would end up playing. "Oh, I, um..." it was a good question. She didn't usually play during her free time. But when she did... "I... I'm not good at playing it, but I actually really like folk music. Like, Irish folk?" She paused. "Sometimes I try playing it, but because I play classical all the time, it doesn't sound right. But I still do, because it's fun. I like Olympus and Ellipsis especially, by this muggle band called Fourth Moon?"

Reducio

@Mahloiz Evethisawe

Azzy smiled while listening to the girl. She was an open book and they appreciated that. And when it came to Irish Folk, Azzy couldn't say they listened to it much. "Yeah sorry, I normally don't listen to Irish Folk that much. It's harder for me to keep interest in. I could teach you Claire De Lune if you'd like? Or Fallen Down from Undertale. Either way works. I have alot of songs under my belt." They said. It was a joy that someone shared the same interest as them. "And maybe next semester I could bring either my Acoustic or Electric guitar. You'd be surprised how good it sounds compared to the violin!" They explained. They were feeling more and more comfortable around the girl. "And if you would like. I can make us some herbal tea after this. My moms recipe!" Azzy was growing excited, and for once they were not going to fight it. Azzy was dying to play the violin with this girl. Just to see where Mahloiz's skill level was. They always did that just to gauge how much was needed and how much wasn't, they didn't want to make the Slytherin girl self-conscious of her playing. But they also didn't wanna tone down their own skill at it. Heck, Azzy can do anything except sports.