When Darkness is Alight with Song

by **Gwin** on September 9th, 2014, 9:50 am

Fall 21, 514 AV

When darkness fell, Gwin tended to wander away from the water, the magnificent sight and music of the great waterfall, and to more secluded locations throughout the city. She'd entered over half a season ago, yet Riverfall still surprised her. That evening she happened upon a park, smaller than Knirin or Semele, yet intriguing in its own way with rough stones thrown between ponds and benches. The Akvatari stopped at the entrance, deeply inhaling its grassy scents, and watched as lights popped up one after another in several places throughout the park.

The flickering lights beckoned her to enter. Akajia had spread her thick veil over the city, but the lamps in Lapis Park cast circles of light upon the most precious and colorful stones. Some benches were occupied and people were wandering the paths like silent ghosts. Some had a rugged look to them, torn clothes, bare feet.

Gwin was gliding through the park for some time before settling near a pond where several benches formed a loose circle around the water. Occasional ripples and reflections told of the fish beneath the surface. She curled her tail around the grass next to their home, shades of gray bleeding into each other, and unpacked her violin. A hand caressed the light wood that parted the shadows with a subtle glow.

The random notes of her tuning soon faded into the night. Only when the first clear note was released and followed by more did heads perk up. People began to notice the musician by the pond. Some who simply had nothing better to do stopped nearby, keeping a respectful distance. A dark shape sat down on a bench at the other side of the pond.

As always, Gwin plunged into the music. This time, however, she strove to set fire to the darkness and bring the park to life instead of merely blending in. The voice of her violin started with the surroundings, but then it grew from them and rose above the quiet trickle of water, rustling reeds and whispered words. Her melody rose crystal-clear and sucked everything into a consuming circle, every note following the previous seamlessly. She had to take care to keep the pace she'd set though. Her fingers still slipped and missed details occasionally. Closing her eyes, she let the beat ripple through her entire body, touch her wings and lead her fingers on the board. The strings were doing her bidding and the music poured out of that secret fountain inside her to light the darkness.

Song :

by **Sheaya** on September 12th, 2014, 6:28 am

Lapis Park had became a popular resting ground for Sheaya of her recent days of living in Riverfall. The area was beautiful with greenery, flowing water water over rocks that looked as if they were the heart of the ponds they sat in, yet not quite as crowded as some of the other parks the young woman had walked through. There had never been anything quite like this place back where she was from, not even when you stumbled upon an oasis did you find this much water and greenery surrounding it. This was a slice of paradise and the quieter nature of the park made it ideal for prayer.

Of her days being in Riverfall, the Benshira had taken to spending at least 30 chimes of the bell to praise her god and ask for guidance through the next day and to thank him for getting her through her current one. Her faith had been under trial she felt, and she could only wonder if this whole experience here in Riverfall was just to increase her closeness to Yahal; she was praying more then ever after all.
As she had done several days now, she could be found near the water, keeled on her blanket she brought with her always now for worship. She would normal spend her time praying and meditating, blocking out the sounds around her, but today something was different.

While in the middle of her meditation the sound of music came dancing over the water, echoing into the deepest reaches of her mind. Having been deprived of good music for so long, her concentration was broken at once, looking up for the source. She glanced around the area for a moment as she surveyed the area before locating the violinist not too far away by the pond. Wasting little time, Sheaya rose to her feet and gathered her blanket, not bothering to shake it off of potential bugs and grass before briskly walking towards the woman playing the music, the tinkling of bells from her anklet seeming to have a happy tune to them to reflect the wearer's heart hearing the sound of music.

Showing no shyness, she gathered in front of the performer and dropped her blanket at her feet so she could clap along to the beat which she was able to find easily in the song. For once in what felt like a long time she was smiling as she felt she could relate to this music, lighthearted and capable of moving to. If it hadn't been for the musical distraction and the night sky help hide the race of the performer which normally would have made Shea be more cautious due to her uncertainty of the Akvatari traits.

As the song carried on, the more Sheaya felt her heart soaring with joy. There had been few good things in her life of this year so far, and it was the small things like this that brought up her spirits when she felt small. The tone was beautiful to the point it moved the Benshira into dancing. She didn't care that there were people watching, this was good music that deserved respect and homage through dance.

She did nothing extravagant as the music didn't feel it needed it to express he beauty, instead Shea kept it to more simplistic that focused more on how the hands were moved and presented and the rhythm of the footwork to the song.

OOCI hope you don't mind me joining.

by **Salumi Ahera** on September 12th, 2014, 2:19 pm

The rough landscape surrounding Lapis park was by far the least tame of the city's features. It spoke to the heart of the Akalak, in Salumi's opinion; here was a city of otherwise thriving prosperity with a stone cold lump of wildness in right over the wall from the winery. She could smell the churned earth and the faint scent of fermenting fruit, even from here. It mingled with the swampy water smell from the garden and gave the place a strong, earthy scent.

The Charoda had been sitting on the bank of a tree; her sandals beside her, feet immersed in the cool water, small fish nibbling at her toes from time to time while she admired the outdoors. She'd always felt the weather was something to be endured, not enjoyed; she had the basic tactics of survival, but not the key to thriving, tonight was clear and clean and she exhaled lightly. It was a good night. She chewed lightly on a leaf of a flower that had a sweet scent and had tasted reasonable when she'd first tried it. A single flower from a wild bush wasn't likely to bother her, and she needed to get better at working out what was and wasn't poisonous on land.

Soft, animated music rose from a ways of the park and Lumi smiled lightly, grabbing her shoes and standing up; the melody reminded her of home and she'd been feeling oddly homesick recently; something that she'd never expected to feel at all once she started learning so many things about the world of the land-locked. She picked her way through Lapis park gently and delicately, taking her time to follow the sound of music until she saw the source; an Akvartari woman was playing on a violin. Near, an exotic human-looking woman danced. Lumi watched them, entranced; she'd not seen such style of dancing or music much at all, and the dancer seemed to have such different form and carriage to what she saw in Riverfall itself.

by **Alia Beaudouin** on September 12th, 2014, 8:24 pm

21st of Fall, 514 AV

For the first time in what seemed like forever, Alia had headed out with her mandolin in hand. Or, rather, on her back. She somehow had lost her inspiration to play up until that day; Even her acting incentive had taken a fall. It was as if, with the changing colours of autumn, Alia had changed too. It was like a subtle itching at the back of her mind; For all of fall thus far, something had been… Off. That was all she could describe it as. Off.

Then again, maybe this was a good thing.

Even as her mind wandered, Alia kept her feet on a set path through Riverfall. Set path, that is, being a loose term. The woman had no idea where she was going, nor what she could expect from going there. All she knew is that she had abandoned her regular sheet music, encased in notebook, in favour of her memory. It seemed like an easy choice, and Alia wondered why she had even chosen otherwise. Carrying a heavy, unnecessary book around really wasn’t needed, especially not now. Not when the darkness of the night could so easily allow things to be lost.

Alia had taken a liking to the dark hours of fall, despite usually avoiding Akajia’s domain before. The nighttime was so… Peaceful. So quiet. So sincere. A welcomed change from the bustling day by day grind. That was why Alia was walking in the first place. She enjoyed the crisp, clean air of the fresh autumn season, especially at night. It was a refreshing change from the heat the summer had wrought. Until, of course, someone decided to interrupt it.

At first, the sound was an assortment of jumbled noise, as if someone was blindly playing the notes of whatever instrument they held. From the sound of it, viola, or maybe violin. A fiddle, even. At any rate, Alia was determined to find out where the noise was coming from. Where this determination came from, she didn’t know. All she knew was that the music- Which had now begun to actually take the form of a song- Was coming from the park. Lapis Park.

It was a bit like being blind, walking around that park. The moon illuminated the landscape enough so Alia didn’t trip over anything, but she had to rely entirely on sound in order to figure out which way to go. At some times, the music was so hard to locate Alia found herself passing the same landmarks- trees, rocks, benches- twice. Or were they the same? It was incredibly hard to tell.
Eventually, Alia found her way to the source of the music, but not before nearly walking into a pond. That had been a close call. Mandolins weren’t waterproof, as Alia knew well.

The musician, a woman, it seemed, sat across the pond to where Alia stood, going on with her merry song. It was quite impressive, actually, playing an string instrument such as a fiddle not only without sheet music but in almost complete darkness as well.

Sliding off her own instrument, Alia took a seat opposite the musician, watching her play with an intensity she had never seen before. In the dark, at least. It really did seem like the woman was trying her hardest to produce light out of sound, to illuminate the darkness surrounding her and the small crowd that had gathered around by now. Even now and then, someone would flash a lantern or the moon would come out from behind a cloud and Alia would get a flash of the mystery musician’s face, but the instances were few and far between. As of yet, Alia didn’t even know what race the woman was. She felt really, truly blind, with nothing but the music to describe the scene to her.

It was a wonderful feeling, and once the music stopped, Alia decided to contribute to the party of sorts. She decided that, since she wanted to show off more than anything else, sticking to a song she knew well was the best move she could make. As the applause for the violin died down, the sound of Alia's mandolin took it's place.

OOCI don't want to crowd the thread, but I already had the majority of my post typed up when Sal & Shea replied. On a lighter note, woo! Two hundred posts!

by **Gwin** on September 20th, 2014, 1:21 pm

.

Gwin kept her eyes closed and her torso rocking from side to side as the melody rose and fell under her hands. After the first chime or so, the rhythm had entered her blood stream and her fingers rarely slipped anymore. Lost in the music, she didn't care about any listeners.

The subtle tinkling of chimes broke through her play and caused her eyes to open though. For a moment she saw a petite shape moving in front of her, chimes sweetening the air and her melody with every stomp of feet that were mere shadows. The dancer had a feeling for the rhythm and was adding life to the song in their own way, so Gwin felt content playing for that body. It almost felt as if she was moving those limbs, invisible strings attached to the notes flying from her violin.

The song seemed to flow on and on, winding around the trees and spreading in swirls and knots over the still pond. If her music was any stronger, it'd ripple the surface of the water, yet it remained as smooth as a dark mirror. Moments before or after, Gwin would be irritated at that lack of perfection and would ask herself what she was doing wrong. Her music seemed an eternal search for mistakes, she felt sometimes, but for the time being, she was still playing. Still caught in that bubble of music that lit her surroundings and moved people.

Then it died away, not slowly, but suddenly and with certainty. The candle was lit and the task fulfilled. As Gwin opened her eyes, the shape in front of her had multiplied. There was another with skin that reflected the light of moon and lamps in an odd way and one whose hair shone red as fire even in the night. With a vague smile the Akvatari put down her violin and stretched her fingers. "Thank you," she whispered to all and none.

The skin of the dancer seemed darker, her hair longer than usual, she noticed as she was squinting out of turquoise eyes. Her movements had spoken of hot places, endless dunes and whispering lakes. If Gwin wasn't mistaken, a Benshira had found her far away from Eyktol. She'd play a song for her... later, after the mandolin had exerted her cheerful voice. Leaning back, she gladly surrendered the stage to the redhead, curious about her instrument and style... for the time being anyway.

Boxcode by Nyxie Nadira Draer

by **Sheaya** on September 20th, 2014, 7:36 pm

Sheaya seemed unaware of the other people who had gathered around, lost in the sound of the music. When she closed her eyes and focused on the sound and the emotion placed into each note there was nothing else for her to focus on but that. Violins had never been a popular choice with her family with who she had commonly danced with, but this sound was lovely, the way the string's music echoed off the water and reverberated back was beautiful in it's self and it inspired.

The bells on her foot kept singing to the song, laminating of the home that had been lost though the performance. She kept stomping her foot, slowly turning on the spot, each stomp only turning her a faction of the way around as she raised her hands up to the sky to her left and clapped to the beat. As the music grew in power so did the energy of the dance; her spins became faster with her hand gestures telling the story she heard in the song, of light in the darkness she could feel. She raised her open hands to the air and slowly closed them until her index fingers touched the pads of her thumbs. With a flick of her wrists she brought her hands down near her jawline and flared out her other fingers as she stomped the heel of her right foot four times to the song. The only thing that was missing was the sound of drums and flouts to add more depth to the melody of the woman's violin song.

As the song drew to a close Sheaya drew a conclusion to her dance, breathing heavily but was left exhilarated from the experience as it was everything she could have hoped for in a song.
"Beautiful. She told the performer with a smile when she ended and gave a small clap to show her appreciation, but there was hardly any time there to fully take in the moment until another woman by the violinist started her song. The Benshira turned to watch her play her mandolin, a sound she was a little more familiar with and enjoy it, searching for the story in the song to dance to, swaying every so slightly as she was touched by the sound as well. Her heart was swelling with joy at the music, feeling she had a slice of home in just sounds.

OOCI hope you don't mind me joining.