Of Music and Oddities (Raylan)

[Vondra Valencia]

25th of Summer, 512AV Vondra heard the shout, felt the tightening of a hand briefly followed by a swift tug. She gasped as for once there was no grace in her movements and tightening in the pit of her stomach. She didn’t even dare ask the boy what he had done because she was sure it would not come as it was meant to. Not angry, a far cry from it and she still felt the pleasant tingle of the slap. Though what she had done to invoke it she could not say. By the time they stop, her lungs did not burn but her guide had not yet loosened his grip, instead she felt an object thrust into her hands. Her harp. And a non-to-gentle shove. Whatever had transpired with her little guide was obviously not her concern and she would respect his wishes (for the most part). Still a bit of fear welled up a being left alone until his voice reached her ears. “Seems to be a few buskers here, mum. Entertaining peoples. You should go relax.” She bit her tongue hard and nodded, she wanted nothing more than to pelt him with questions but a softer nudge this time sent her towards the sound of music and laughter. “Go on, then. I’ll come back for you later. ‘Sides a lady needs to have an artistic talent, remember?” Nodding suspiciously she had the sudden nagging suspicion that she had read the situation wrong and carefully walked forward, one hand curved around her harp protectively while the other hung onto it for dear life. She continued to walk until she stubbed her toe against something solid, grinning and patting it lightly to make it look as if she was not ensuring it was, in fact, a seat before her, she set her harp between her legs. Only now did she realize she only knew one note. Little brat had swindled her again. She would get him back for this, oh yes she would. For now though she was content to sway slightly to the music, her nails tapping against the wood of her instrument.

[Raylan Ramsey]

Raylan grinned as he weaved his way through a small crowd of people after arriving late to the festivities. Their were already others playing music which meant it was time to dance, looking around for anyone to entertain as he found a elderly women. Flashing her a smile before offering his hand to dance with her. She laughed and nodded when people spurred her on to dance with the younger minstrel. He wasn’t the best dancer but at the moment he was doing better then any of the other dancers along the dance floor of the tavern. His mother had long ago taught him how to move gracefully with music to keep an audience interested. Unlike a normal day, he wore were his shirt completely unbuttoned to show his well toned body to at least try and catch the eye of ant women who would tip him more based off of his looks. Once the music had slowed to a stop, it signaled the end of his dance with the elderly women who only smile at him for giving her such a lovely time. Normally he would have taken her tip but waved her offer off. “No need, It was a pleasure to share a dance with you.” In all honesty she reminded Raylan of the Lia who was the matriarch of the Svefra pod who took him in after his parents had died. It was his conscious not allowing him to besmirch that memory. *** Stretched his arms up, smiling while walking towards the table where his mandolin rested. He was surprised to see a young women holding a harp sitting by his things. Looking at the Harp a small song came to mind that he started to sing to the women as a greeting. “~Consciousness was in the strings~ and wind that poured against them ~ Set them vibrating with memories and dreams~ Past, present, and future things~ went on across this broad, warm world~” The words were spoken poetically with a singsong kindness. The song itself describing how music effected feelings and emotions. Once his song finished he introduced himself to the women with the harp. "Hello my dear, Raylan Zallow at your service~"

[Vondra Valencia]

Her head raised to face the voice and she felt herself automatically try and search for things she could not see before settling down. The tune was sweet and laughter bubbled up from within her and she plucked the only string she knew a few times as if trying to keep beat before stopping and holding out her hand. “Nice name to go with your voice. I’m Vondra.” She held out her hand slowly, waiting for him to grab it rather than thrust it out and take the chance of jabbing him in the stomach. Nodding lightly she then gestured around her making vague motions as she spoke and leaning forward slightly. DEciding swiftly she figured rather than suffer another argument like earlier this days she would practice her lessons on this man or boy. Then her mama would not be able to say anything. “I take it I’m in your seat?” Rather than get up she leaned back delicately and made herself comfortable with a lazy grin, “We can always share though, don’t you agree?” Fingering her harp she felt at a loss now though she tried not to show it, usually she was much more confident. Licking her lips that had suddenly become dry she shoved away propositioning him, sometimes it was easier to speak if she did not actually think of it as a job. And it wasn’t, not usually, but lessons were always so much harder. “You must be a busker of some kind then? Or a similar profession?” she patted her harp and scooted over now, her grin less coy and more easy-going gestured (in hopefully the right direction) for Raylan to take a seat with her. “Maybe we can play a few cords then. Come, sit.”

[Raylan Ramsey]

Smiling warmly he reached out to take her hand into his own lightly turning her hand so the top of her hand faced him. “It is a true pleasure to meet you my dear.” His lips formed a perfect bow at the top, while soft tender on his bottom lip. Leaning down to kiss the top of her hand with the formal grace of a gentlemen, only holding the kiss for a few seconds to leave a lingering notion of his clearly tamed passion for the stranger. The harp became the draw of his eyes as his lips touched her hand, shifting to the instrument that reminded him of his mothers harp he had resting in his room at the boarding house. Pulling back from the kiss, he let her hand go. Being a people person he enjoyed the presence of other people especially if they were easy on the eyes. Since she clearly wasn’t going to go anywhere anyway he had no reason to even continue to think about asking her to leave. “Its just a seat, what matters more are the people you sit with” The subtle hints were there that he found curious. She made wide gestures to the general area as if someone was behind him causing Raylan to look over his shoulder. Puffing out his cheeks as he observed no one in his near line of sight his cheeks deflated as if her were a frog. Casting his eyes back to her Raylan nodded to her question. “You would be correct, I am an Entertainer.” And a thief, but he left that information to himself. Without hesitation Raylan sat down with her sharing the same seat, sitting in a way so they both sat comfortably. When it came to string instruments Raylan had some basic knowledge that he had learned from his parents. The mandolin was an instrument he had leanred from his father as the harp was something he had learned from his mother. While his ability with the harp was less then awe inspiring he had practiced with his mothers harp from time to time for a nostalgic family feeling. Most of the songs he played on his mandolin he had self taught himself by simply sound to play the basic ones on the harp. Taking his Mandolin in hand he rested the body of the instrument on his lap as his shoulder rubbed lightly against hers with every small movement he made. “What shall we play? Songs of courage and valor, or Love and romance..” The tone in his voice became higher as he spoke of romance as if nudging her towards that topic.

[Vondra Valencia]

Her grin got a little sharp as he kissed her hand, her eyes darkening slightly at a pressure on her hand before allowing it to fall back in her lap gently. Saying nothing more she waited until she felt the warmth of another’s body close to hers. Without any shame she subtly leaned in on Raylan, her voice coming out softer than intended and there was no denying the playful smirk in her eyes. “I’m sure you could find many ways to…entertain anyone.” Sure they would eventually fall off the chair but enjoying the way their bodies brushed together Vondra laughed delightedly as he agreed to play, his not exactly subtle hints of romance pleasing her immensely. It made her wish to return the favor and surely if music was something he enjoyed it would be twice as fun. Nikali, you would love this. Most fun I’ve had all week! Nodding her head she placed her hand on the harp and shifted it a bit to get more comfortable before running her hands over the strings, the vibrations sending a pleasant tingle through her arm. Easing her left hand back down she left her right against the inner strings finding her C chord. Simplest chord and one of the only ones in her repertoire that stuck in her head or perhaps it was the fact that the C cord was dyed red. Either way she took her middle finger and plucked it lightly, lifting her left hand to pick at another red chord a bit farther down. It made an interesting melody, very simple and something any child could do but it made Vondra grin with glee. Still she could do a bit better. Keeping her middle finger on the C chord she placed the next finger one chord over and followed suit with her thumb, plucking them all together while her left hand lifted to pluck another random C chord to keep time, the slightly off beat melody that she enjoyed even better but it never kept a good time. All the same she smiled over at the general direction of Raylan, “Songs of romance, indeed. Play with me now, let’s hear that voice of yours again. And then you can tell me why I've never met you before!” She winked once more and grinned at her little hint before focusing on the harp once more, well, mostly. She couldn’t help but enjoy the company of someone who enjoyed company.

[Raylan Ramsey]

Listening carefully to Vondra’s playing, Raylan held his mandolin into a playing position. Closing his eyes he allowed himself the time to relax, to would find that his mind could take him to places they he could only ever dream In essence, he took himself to a place were he allowed himself to see sound. When all romantic notions of seeing sound were stripped away he was actually trying to determine the rhythm of the harmonic pulse; The harmonic pulse being how often she changed chords. Before he began to play, a sweet hum began to emanate from his throat, trying to find words to sing but simply could catch anything and simply just hummed a counter to her playing. The tempo was slow and only one chords appear to be outlined by her. Raylan took it on assumption she was simply taking the simplistic way so they could just have a nice enjoyable time. Leaning his index finger down towards the bottom string so that he touched the first string with the side of the finger tip. He muffled the first string so it didn’t ring out when he plucked it by mistake. His fingers began to accompany her playing with, long colorfully vibrant notes, plucking a repetitive counter melody hers playing with an F chord. His humming suddenly turned to words as his mind caught the inspiration to sing a small phrase. ~Overhead twelve swallows flew, to rearranged the stars for you~ And down I walked upon the ground to watch as looking up to hear a sound~ The song of birds up on high, singing the song of her crystal skies.~ While it wasn‘t much he would no doubt work on it later. Once he was content with the sound of the music Raylan opened his eyes to see that more then a few of the distant tavern patrons were watching at them playing. Holding a constant smile he turned his head to back towards Vondra continuing to play. “I have only just recently arrived to this city from a long travel from Nyka.” His leg rubbed gently against hers playfully. “But is has been moments like this that have made the journey worthwhile.”

[Vondra Valencia]

Strumming the harp, even with her minimal knowledge was always something that soothed her, the vibrations in her fingers running up her arms and sending gooseflesh all over. A few times she missed her strings, a slight rumble going through the harp but she paid it no head. Her instructor was always telling her she needed to just continue playing, always make the audience think it was an accident. Besides the music was only a little out of key with both of them playing and did not sound too terrible. In fact the other players around them joined in. Making make-shift versus to go with Raylans and Vondra even tried one herself, falling into laughter before she could actually make any sense. A could hear the laughter of a few people dancing and the steady slapping of feet as people paused to sway for a moment and even the tinkling of what was probably a coin a two. Feeling Raylan’s rub against her she smiled delightedly. She enjoyed it much more when people flirted back or at the very least ignored her obviously cheesy lines and simply enjoyed the game with her. Abruptly stopping her play she stepped away from the chair, not too worried for the others in the little group continued playing. Giving a low bow and reaching her hand in Raylan’s general direction, “May I have this dance?” She didn’t wait for an answer, instead reaching for the other and interrupting his playing as she tugged a bit instantly. It was only once she had the other’s attention did she realize that she didn’t actually have any skill in dancing, she had always told her mama it was a pointless skill because she found more pleasurable things to dancing. Now she flushed lightly and shrugged it off. Dance was dance. Besides it’s not like she could see their expressions if she fell on her butt. “Come on!” she gave him a wink for good measure, “This can be practice for another type of dance!”