19 Jan 2025, 19:27
A Symphony of Strings and Strife
They/SheIt had been too long since Pax had picked up their guitar. In fact, they'd completely neglected to even bring it the last year. Any distraction to quidditch had to be left behind last year - but they had finally begun to learn better now. Over the last summer, they'd finally gotten into a habit of practicing daily, and managed to find the enjoyment in their music. They remembered how much they had dissed the arts in their first year - but everyone did and said stupid things when they were a kid. Now, they finally got it. Maybe not in the same way that someone could appreciate the classical arts, but their own form of art nonetheless.
Over Christmas, they'd bargained with their parents to get an electric bass guitar, which they'd been quickly picking up over the holidays, especially with the poor weather preventing them from being able to go out too much. Unfortunately, they knew better than trying to bring something electrical to Hogwarts, so they were back to their acoustic bass guitar until they were next back home. That wasn't to say they didn't enjoy their acoustic bass, but the electric one was just so cool.
Nonetheless, on this quiet evening, people could hear the gentle freestyling on a bass guitar from the Rehearsal Room as the door lay slightly ajar. It was by no means at a professional level, but that was something Pax was working on. Lost in the music, they wouldn't notice if anybody was to enter.Reducio
20 Jan 2025, 01:35
A Symphony of Strings and Strife
by Elena Clark
The weather was crummy today, and he didn't feel like flying outside. Rather than waste his time procrastinating on his homework, why not trick himself into feeling at least a little productive, by practicing the violin? For once, he actually felt like he might make some progress in his practice today, feeling a bit of a renewed determination to break away from the violin slump he'd been getting into recently.
However, when he heard some music from a guitar(?) drifting through the open door, he almost groaned. Darn it, the Rehearsal Room was occupied already? It seemed like someone else had the right idea to stay inside this evening, and probably not write papers. But the door was open, and that was enough of an open invitation for him to stick his head in. If they didn't want other nosy musicians poking around, they'd have shut it, right?
He caught a bit of bright blue hair, and it could only be one person -- his pal Pax Zhang. Come to think of it, he never even knew Pax played an instrument, though he had to admit that the bass guitar they were strumming suited them very nicely. They were both pretty cool.
He approached Pax with his violin still strapped to his back, and waited until there was a break in their music, and clapped. "Pax, I didn't know you played bass guitar! What type of stuff do you like to play?" he asked, eager to find out a bit more about his friend's interests other than quidditch.
"Mind if I take the other corner in the room and practice, too? It's just so hard to find any space to practice these days. I swear, there are more quote-unquote 'musical' underclassmen these years," he laughed, because, half of them obviously didn't even know what they were doing, and were just creating cacophony in the common room or wherever, and taking his own practice spots away from him.
@Pax Zhang
23 Mar 2025, 12:14
A Symphony of Strings and Strife
They/She
I blame writer's block for how long this took >.< - apologies!As they concluded that section of freestyle, the round of applause caught them off guard, and they whipped around to see the source: Avery Chen. A smile crept on their face as they noticed, as it had been some time since they'd caught up with each other off of the quidditch pitch, despite Avery being what they'd consider an old friend by now (3 years was a long time, right?).
"Heh, thanks," they thanked him, albeit embarrassed. Freestyling was usually their safe space with music, but they were aware that it didn't suit everyone's tastes and seemed a bit rudimentary, especially compared to classical musicians, which apparently Avery was, considering he had what seemed to be another string instrument strapped to his back in its case. "I hadn't touched it in a while, honestly, so that's not surprising," they admitted. "And I'm not very good at reading music really, so I just freestyle a lot nowadays. I can do some of the basic chords so that's what I use, but otherwise I don't always have the patience to learn an actual piece of music."
"Yeah, go for it," they grinned, nodding to the other half of the room. "Not like I'm using it anyways." They weren't really sure how the mixture of classical string music and a bass guitar would sound to anyone else passing by, but that wasn't their concern.
However, Avery's final off-comment caught their attention, and they raised an eyebrow, tilting their head ever so slightly. Maybe he changed, but that comment was uncharacteristically cruel by Avery standards at least. They'd never known him to talk bad about anyone, especially his younger year peers - and that didn't sit too well with Pax.
"I mean, I'm glad that they're finding a way to express themselves at least," Pax responded, their tone not combative, but also not fully sympathetic to Avery's statement. "It's better than, I don't know, vandalising the portraits or something, isn't it?"
They didn't want to confront him just yet on his word choice, and risk getting into a big fight when he'd just shown up here. But, after that, Pax could just sense that something was up, and they wanted to know what.Reducio