Singing For Captives

by **Taylani** on November 17th, 2013, 5:28 am

The common the other spoke was much better then many she had heard from these people, but not unaccented enough for her to believe that she might not be Drykas. Taylani watched the other woman move, while she was no healer and had no practice in medicine she did have more then fifteen years in dance under her belt. She knew the human body, and it's normal gaits. This one did not have the same gait as others. Something for Taylani to note but not comment on just yet.

She lifted a shoulder to the other, in response to her question, "Does it matter? I could be a famous singer who travels from theater to theater..and it wouldn't matter out here now would it?" Taylani speaks coldly, not really angrily because if she was truthful then she really hadn't had anywhere else to go when the Drykas kidnapped her. Which gave her her own personal kind of hell, living in a state of unknowing. Could she have gotten the knights to let her back in? Would she have survived the night until her father came looking for her? Those will be forever unanswered, for the Drykas gave her no option..not after she told them no..she still felt the blow of the club behind her ear when she dreamed at night.

"I used to sing. My dance instructor felt that it would help me." blue eyes raised to look at the Drykas woman, taking in the other's form for a moment, "She felt that if I knew song then I would have more opportunities in the theaters."

She had to swallow to bite back the lump of sorrow that rose in her throat, too many Drykas had seen her cry as it was. So she shored up her emotions, taking a moment to contain and disperse the pain that swelled within her chest. "Do you people...do you teach your children singing..dancing..or do you simply teach them to kill and capture?" Taylani could not help the last quip, it is what got her in trouble with the knights, her sharp tongue that ran too easily. "I have heard of Drykas. I have never heard of a Drykas theater though.."

by **Iyone Semestrong** on November 23rd, 2013, 5:19 am

Settled upon the rock and her walking sticks nearby she was more at ease. Not exactly at ease with the woman but at least they could be less guarded then they were around the children. It was the fact that this redhead spoke her mind without reservations that drew Iyone to her. Iyone used to be more like that but hasn’t been as much as of late. And it wasn’t until this moment that she realized this and not wanting to dwell on it she figured it had something to do with Peora. Perhaps it even went further back to having lost a new family and becoming a tiny one amidst her old large one. If that even made a lick of sense.

Her dark brown eyes traveled to the woman again as she started to answer the question in a cold no nonsense way, which made Iyone smile slightly because in most cases it would be true, not many, would find it mattered. Iyone only made a similar shoulder shrug as if to say, “Perhaps not.” The thought of traveling around from theatre to theatre had been a small dream of hers when she was younger. But as she grew up and her brothers started their families and a few of them formed a group, that dream was no longer, because she found that need to share, was being fulfilled, right here in Endrykas.

Being brought out of that thought when the redhead spoke again, ”I used to sing. My dance instructor felt that it would help me." blue eyes raised to look at the Drykas woman, taking in the other's form for a moment, "She felt that if I knew song then I would have more opportunities in the theaters."

She felt and saw the redheads blue eyes look at her form being different and then finish her thought which then turned into a flash of sorrow before turning back to being strong. Iyone knew that feeling all too well, of not wanting to show sorrow so she only canted her head a bit and spoke again in common, “Did it help? Did it help with your posture, too?”

Perhaps it wasn’t nice to continue asking after seeing that flash of sorrow but Iyone was to curious. It was also at that time that the other spoke again overlapping Iyone’s last two words with, “Do you people...do you teach your children singing..dancing..or do you simply teach them to kill and capture?”

A tick or five later she added, ”I have heard of Drykas. I have never heard of a Drykas theater though.."

Iyone’s mouth moved up into a small smirk at the comment. It just sounded so preposterous that her initial reaction was to laugh at it but it quickly faded because it had happened. She shook her head then and furrowed her brows in slight confusion. It had happened. Before she could get her thoughts straight she spoke, ”We teach first rules, how we survive, our history, then we teach.. what we know.”

Iyone was struggling to explain, she couldn’t find the right words in Common, so she tried again but with simple sentences this time. “Capture not happen lots. This.. first time happen since I born.”

She wouldn’t elaborate on how she felt about it or on any more about the raids because while they were not in front of children they were still by the guards and she had Pey to think about so she stopped on that and moved on to the other topics in the questions.

”Teach survive first. Then everything else. Yes some dance, sing, story tell, act. No theatre, much to move. Not enough people do. Not worth it. Instead we just sit like this... outside.”

She made a half circle motion to convey the words “Gather around” and her hands were making signs all throughout her talking as if trying to grab the words from the air.

Edits :

by **Taylani** on November 23rd, 2013, 5:42 am

The dancer pulls her legs up close to her chest, bending her knees so she could wrap her arms tightly around them, resting her chin on her knee tops. This might have looked silly, considering she was long of leg and arm but since it was a position she often sat in she managed not to look awkward. Her plain unbleached dress covering her serviceably but with little decoration or frill, something that was completely functional. Her red hair spreading across her curved back to spill over her shoulders.

"No. It didn't help my posture, in fact it kind of hurt the dancing angle..I kept trying to sing along with the words to the songs too much." A rueful smile was given before the far-off look left her eyes and she was back in the present, a captive in a foreign camp. The smile fades slowly, before she shrugs. "Just because you don't kill someone often, doesn't make the one murder you commit okay." She said in a matter of fact tone of voice.

She hadn't been told much, of course she hadn't really been receptive to much of any explanation. She also felt that she was dwelling on her captivity so much that her mind must explode if she thought about it any longer. She didn't want to discuss it, or Syliras, or why she was outside of the walls, or any of the other glaringly obvious things that would not let her mind rest.

"That first song, did you write it? Do you play any instrument to accompany or is it always sang without accompaniment?"

ooc infoThis is the trouble with threading a thread so early in the season. I have done several threads around the Auction where other people, Fallan mostly, gave Taylani a lot of answers such as why the Drykas were raiding etc and so forth. So I can't really have her get that information here or it puts several other threads in jeopardy

So sorry my posts kind of suck and I don't give you many RP hooks :x

by **Iyone Semestrong** on December 4th, 2013, 3:20 am

Despite the language differences they managed to overlap the questions and answers to one another. Her eyes watched as the woman curled up more into herself and Iyone shifts again on the rock. The woman’s voice came out again to address both subjects broached,

’ "No. It didn't help my posture, in fact it kind of hurt the dancing angle..I kept trying to sing along with the words to the songs too much." A rueful smile was given before the far-off look left her eyes and she was back in the present, a captive in a foreign camp. The smile fades slowly, before she shrugs. "Just because you don't kill someone often, doesn't make the one murder you commit okay." She said in a matter of fact tone of voice.” ‘

Iyone’s own smile matched the redhead’s as the girl remembered and Iyone saw a version of it in her head, whether the two visions were even close to the other is highly unlikely, but it was a shared moment before the break to reality. And Iyone heard the response about taking the captives. Iyone noticed that the redhead chose to use ‘kill’ rather than ‘capture’. Iyone usually does notice the words people choose to use. Sense having started writing songs she pays attention to each word because the right word can make all the difference.

She only nodded in agreement to the woman because in a way Iyone could understand her feelings. Both being able to be free and frank to the other about their feelings of how they have been able to even meet each other, seems to lift a wall between the two and they can now move onto the shared interest.

’ "That first song, did you write it? Do you play any instrument to accompany or is it always sang without accompaniment?" ‘

Iyone took in the words the other said. She understood the first question and the start of the second, it stopped making sense after the word ‘accompaniment’, what was this word? She nodded then to her and said, “Yes, I wrote. I, no instrument." She paused and looked to the woman with question in her eyes as she repeated the confusing word, ”Accompaniment... What is word mean?”

Head canted to the side as she awaits learning this new word.

OoC & Edits :

by **Taylani** on December 4th, 2013, 4:31 am

Taylani sat comfortably curled up into herself, well as comfortable as someone in her predicament could be. The Drykas were not terrible 'hosts' they weren't cruel or mean spirited. At least they hadn't been to her yet, if they simply meant for her to join the Drykas out here as had been hinted at by the men who had originally captured her then perhaps she could tolerate that. Perhaps. It is not as if she hadn't been in a pickle before hand anyway.

"Accompaniment. It means to go along with..for example often times someone might sing while a flautist plays the flute. That would be a song sung with a flute accompaniment." Taylani answered the question easily enough, still she kept a suspicious eye on the other girl. No one had harassed her, no one had put chains on her...though it had been threatened before she settled down at the original healer tent.

"I haven't tried my hand at composition or writing really. It was never an area that I was interested in, perhaps because I didn't really have anything to write about."

by **Iyone Semestrong** on December 6th, 2013, 8:06 am

' "Accompaniment. It means to go along with..for example often times someone might sing while a flautist plays the flute. That would be a song sung with a flute accompaniment." '

Iyone was looking at the girl focusing on what was being said and translating it in her own mind and then trying to find the Pavi word that meant the same thing. That it took her several ticks before her face or body even registered comprehension. Finally it came to her and her face lit up in excitement and her hand came up as she spoke again, "Yes I know now. Accompaniment." She smiled as she said it again so that she would hopefully remember this new word.

Then she nodded and added. "Yes that song with accompaniment, rattles, clappers. Some drumming on wood. No real drum yet. And if friend or brother free. They play the.. Uh." Now she frowned in frustration because here she was stumped by yet another word. So instead she brought up her arms and one hand was held up by her shoulder and her thumb and fingers were about an inch apart and her fingers wiggled and moved up and down as if pushing down on strings and lifting up on others. Her other hand moved up and down in front of her stomach as if strumming the strings. And she looked hopefully at the redhead that she'd guess the mandolin.

Once that was guessed the other said, "I haven't tried my hand at composition or writing really. It was never an area that I was interested in, perhaps because I didn't really have anything to write about."

"I thought that before. My Dad said it a story. Tell story then write what you feel. That got me started. Now to many ideas and feelings." She gave a slight laugh at that because it was so very true. She writes about everything now even though it doesn't always make for good songs.

Edits :

Flashback Singing For Captives