Season of Summer, Day 18, 513 AV
Jorin gave Dust his best smile when she asked what kind of show it was.
"A fun show!" he replied brightly. Then he realized he should probably give her a bit more detail than that.
"Well, it's a play about a really depressed man who wants to meet his beloved, except she's being held by this really nasty man who, well I'm not really sure why exactly, but he kidnapped her. One thing leads to another and the depressed man ends up saving her and then they kiss. Or was that backwards? I can never remember. Anyway afterwards they all go home."Jorin shrugged.
"There are a lot of details in between of course, but that's the general idea behind the play. It's lots of fun! You should see it, they're playing it at the Knirin Gardens if you're interested." Jorin's smile threatened to crack. They were not going to see him there, he wanted to say. But the words died in his throat, leaving only a coppery, bitter taste.
Jorin nodded when Rinya noted the dangers for her to fish in these waters. Prudent of her. He liked that, the girl had a head on her shoulders. Not that Dust didn't, but Jorin had the distinct impression she was a lot more of a "jump first, check if there's water on the way down" kind of girl. He smiled at them both. They were so different! And yet for some reason that Jorin couldn't put his finger on, they also seemed so similar.
He chuckled good-naturedly when Rinya suggested roping him into singing.
"Trust me, ladies, you do not want to hear me sing," he grinned mischievously. He was half-tempted to sing right then and there to show them why, but thought better of it. No need to traumatize them on the first day that they met. First impressions were everything, after all.
"Dogs have been known to howl. I think I curdled milk once," he joked.
Jorin grinned at Dust's serious face. Somehow even though dust wasn't smiling, instead looking at him intently, she still seemed to be grinning ear-to-ear. Perhaps it was the laughter in her eyes, or the almost palpable aura of excitement she exuded. Regardless, Jorin couldn't help but give a small chuckle.
"Well," he began,
"You typically start with a subject, that you want to base your poem around. Most poems follow certain rules. Like, every two lines should rhyme, or every other line should rhyme. There's even meter, which is the cadence of the poem. The most common of which is called iambic pentameter."Realizing he needed to explain in words non-poets would understand, he specified,
"Well, basically what that means is that there's a ... beat, to poetry. Almost like music! So I guess you were right about the singing." Jorin grinned at Dust. She was clearly more observant than he'd given her credit for.
"And the poem's supposed to follow that beat while rhyming! Now the subject can be anything. It could be the sky, the birds, even a rock! In fact, rocks are fascinating subjects, sometimes." Jorin picked up a small pebble from the ground. It was smooth, brightly colored but otherwise more or less unremarkable. He shrugged. It would serve.
Jorin removed his book from the bench and began writing, his pen flying over the page as he wrote down line after line. Occasionally, he crossed out a word that he did not feel truly fit, and he glanced up sheepishly at how long the poem was taking to write.
"The process isn't as fast as you'd always like it to be," he explained as he scribbled away another line.
"I mean, I'd love it if I could come up with perfect lines every time, but a lot of times you need to think of the right word for the right lines. Otherwise, your poem might have the right beat, but all the notes are wrong, you know what I mean?"Finally finished, Jorin wrote down the last word with a dramatic flourish of his pen. He grinned at the two women and read his new creation.
"Observe this tiny rock,
here on this lonely shore
Where many will come to stand,
and many have stood before
Here on this rocky cliff
Across the Suvan sea
The rock stood watch
Over all that came to be
What wonders this rock could tell
If only it could speak
What histories it could relate
Of sea and lofty peak
For rock though it may be
And humble in its mien
Yet few have ever bore
Witness to what it's seen
From wars to loves to stars
That twilight sky do crawl
Princes and kings and gods
This rock has seen them all..."Jorin smiled at Dust, as he handed the rock to her, and spoke the last lines of the poem.
"Art is everywhere
For those who see, it's true
Look past the obvious
And see the world anew."Jorin was silent for a moment. Then he shrugged.
"Well alright, that was definitely not my best work, but still better than some of the really bad ones," he admitted, with a self-deprecating grin.
"But hopefully it gave you a general idea of my thought process. I tend to go with the flow, so to speak, and seek words that match my generally desired meaning." Jorin shrugged.
"And sometimes I really can't. In those circumstances, I leave an 'NC' note on a poem, denoting not complete. Sometimes I come back to it." Jorin's smile fell a bit.
"Sometimes I don't ... well. Anyway! So how do you two know each other?"