NO ONE EVER LISTENS ▲ Private, Elyx

And while you are sitting indoors
waiting for the storm to pass
I will be outside dancing in the rain

❧

The start to this morning had been a hard one. Normally when the violinist was preparing herself to go to bed in the evenings she would take out her hearing aids and place them upon her dresser for easy access when she woke up the next morning. There had been a few times when she had accidentally left them in, causing her ears to be quite red and raw when she awoke, but that rarely happened since she knew from experience how much it could hurt if they were left in overnight. This was why she was very careful about knowing where they were at all times. It'd be a shame to wake up with throbbing ears yes but it would be even worse to lose them all together and not be able to hear anything at all.
These weren't normal hearing aids after all, only helping the people who needed to hear better. No. These were one of a kind, made by her grandfather. Instead of helping a person hard of hearing these specifically were made for the deaf. This, included Astrid. A musician who was born deaf and was only able to hear thanks to her grandfather's invention. So of course losing them would be a big deal since she depended so much on them.
Which was why today was a bad day.

Silence. The mage was scared of it. As she passed down the street, groceries hanging daintily from the plastic bags within her grasp, she was reminded of how much not being able to hear anything frighted her. She saw people laughing, things crashing, talking, and yet all they were to her were silent actions. No noise. It was just her and her thoughts, along with the vibrations of her body's functions.
Every now and again she would move her fingers and rub the plastic of the bags to remind herself she was still out in the open.
She had spent so much of the morning looking for them. She knew she had placed them on her counter the night before, the image was clear. But as soon as she woke up they were nowhere to be found. At first she had assumed maybe they had fallen off, however when she checked the area around her stand they weren't there. For a quick minute the thought of Lucius having moved them crossed her mind, but it was quickly removed. Her brother would never do that. He knew better than to touch her precious hearing aids. He could be a bit sadistic at times but he would never be that way with her.

Eventually giving up out of frustration she had gone out to the store to buy their weekly groceries, figuring maybe her eyes were playing tricks on her and she'd find them more easily when she came back, the same you do when you're looking for your tv remote. You always find it when you're not looking for it. Maybe it'd be the same kind of thing.
Though at first a little hesitant to go out like this she had pushed herself to do so. It was a little tricky at first, getting use to silent movement again but it was not like it was very hard when she was just buying food. She simply acted a little distant when it came time to pay, not making eye contact with the cashier. He must have gotten the message, as he only seemed to talk when greeting her. Or at least she assumed he greeted her. All she did was give a small nod at whatever his words were, acting as if she had heard them before locking her gaze onto the wall behind him for the rest of the time.
Astrid let out a small breath through her nose, squeezing her hands into fists to make herself concentrate on the path in front of her, her expression hardening. Normally she'd let herself zone out, going into her own thoughts as she walked home. However doing that now was dangerous. She could cause some real trouble if she didn't know where she was going and didn't have any sort of sound signal to push her back into reality.

702 words ● @elyx ● notes

And while you are sitting indoors
waiting for the storm to pass
I will be outside dancing in the rain

❧

She could not remember the last time the city had been so rowdy. The amount of ruckus in the city differed from day to day and depended on what was going on, usually getting pretty busy if there was a parade and quite docile on any normal day. On the way to the store it had been rather quiet since it was so early in the morning. But now ever since she had left things had felt a bit more lively. More people were about, more things were moving. What had changed in those few minutes she spent getting food? Was there some sort of celebration about that she wasn't aware of?
Her thoughts were interrupted as she felt something collide with her, almost knocking the breath from her chest as one of the bags filled with groceries fell out of her hands and landed upon the ground, spilling the contents out onto the pavement. She stumbled back a few steps, taking a moment to process what had happened before she looked to the side, watching as a group of uniformed men sped pass. Looking from them to the spilled food Astrid allowed a frown to cover her lips, slightly annoyed by the lack of apology she had received from them for knocking over her goods. They seemed to be in a rush, but the least they could do is apologize if not help pick up what they had knocked out of her hand. It was basic human decency. Though now that she thought about it maybe they had offered a quick apology, but she just didn't hear it. Who really knew.
A whine bubbling in the back of her throat she bent down, picking up the spilled contents one by one before grabbing back onto the handles of the plastic bag and lifting them up once again.

Why had they been in such a hurry? Did it maybe have something to do with whatever was causing the city to become so lively all of a sudden?
Blue optics gazing around her as she turned her head it was only after a few seconds of looking did she spot exactly what was going on. The uniformed men from before stood at the base of one of the many houses, seemingly yelling upwards at someone or something as a crowd of people began to form around them.
What in the world was going on? It seemed as though she missed some sort of memo that everyone else had recived.
Out of pure curiosity alone Astrid walked over to the growing crowd, looking upwards to try and get a better look at whatever was up there. She squinted her eyes before they widened, instantly spotting the bright strings of a violin. Someone was up on a roof, playing their instrument. Wasn't that a bit dangerous? Surely there was a better way to get attention than standing on a roof of all things. Though no matter how dangerous it was, it seemed to be working.
Who was this hooded person? Astrid couldn't quite get a good enough look at them since they wore a hood. But their movements... For some reason they felt familiar.
If only she had her hearing aids, she could get more out of this. It was a bit sad, standing there, trying to place the song on the movements alone.

561 words ● @elyx ● notes

And while you are sitting indoors
waiting for the storm to pass
I will be outside dancing in the rain

❧

A bow, indicating the end of the performance. Though sadly she was not able to hear any of it the violinist still gave a small applause. It might have been good, it may also have been bad. Whichever one it was it didn't matter, clapping at the end of a song was the right thing to do, showing appreciation to the musician for taking time out of their day to preform for them.
From what she could gather, looking around at everyone's cheerful and content faces, it must have been an amazing one. If only she could of heard it herself...
Almost scaring her out of her skin Astrid stepped back as the hooded figure landed before her, blue eyes widening as she stared at him. Before she could even make a sound her hand was held delicately in his. She had no idea what to do other than stare in confusion. She almost wanted to pull away, but unaware of what his intentions were she could not bring herself to do it. It was fine when someone she knew held her hand... But when a stranger did it out of nowhere it was a little weird.
But then his head moved forward, laying a single, gentle kiss upon the back. She suddenly became aware of the heart inside her rib cage as it started to beat quicker than normal. The mage's face beamed a bight red, becoming very flustered as she let out small sounds of confusion, jumbling her words together. Holding her hand was one thing, but then kissing it? It was far from the true act of kissing someone romantically, but since this was a complete stranger and it came from out of nowhere it was a bit embarrassing and strange. Elyx had done the same exact thing when they first met. Though she knew who Elyx was, and knew it not to be romantic in any way. But the hooded person's intentions were unclear. It could mean anything.

In the middle of hyperventilating herself to death the flustered violinist recognized the face very quickly from under the hood when he paused to let realization dawn on her. The brown hair... The brown eyes... The face. It could only be one person.
Blinking wide, blue orbs the red from her face vanished, along with her flustered aura. "E... lyx?" She questioningly tilted her head, the words slightly distorted due to not being able to hear herself. She had not seen him in a while! She assumed he went on some sort of mission like usual. But if so why was he wearing such a strange hood? It was almost like he wanted to disguise himself.
Though the little details and questions were very quickly erased from her mind as happiness filled up within her. It had not been a stranger at all. It had been her mentor, who had now been gone for some time. She had missed him. A smile overtook her expression.
Letting her emotions get the better of her the girl lunged forward and attempted to wrap her arms around him, laughing as all the tension from the little fright began to melt away. The bag in her hand dropped to the street, thought right now she could not care what happened to her food.
They would not fall, as Astrid was a very small girl, but the hug was strangely very tight.
She did not know what he had said to her, but whatever it was, she hoped to transfer her answer with the hug instead. She could not be more happy to see him.

604 words ● @elyx ● notes

And while you are sitting indoors
waiting for the storm to pass
I will be outside dancing in the rain

❧

The girl also released herself from his embrace, blinking dark blue oculars up to the man's face as she regained her composure. His once joy-filled expression turned sad so suddenly as he spoke. It confused her. He was so happy one moment ago, playing his violin upon the rooftop for all to hear. But as she watched his lips move up and down, trying so hard to figure out what he was saying, she wondered what had changed in what seemed to be a mere split moment between their hug and now.
Not able to stand his pained expression and her inability to understand Astrid parted her mouth to speak, but quickly closed it as a realization popped into her mind. What would happen if he found out about her disability? The one she looked up to the most? Not many people thought a deaf musician was a realistic goal or even something that should be done. It was because of her deafness that her own parents decided to drop her off at her grandfather's and leave her there for her entire life, barely bothering to visiting her. So what would happen if her precious mentor knew? Would he leave her like they left her? Would he tell her it was no use to keep battling her disability? Just the thought alone made her stomach ache. It would be devastating.
Almost like an involuntary reflex the violinist's hand reached up to her ear, tracing the rim with her fingers. She hated being deaf. It was nothing but a burden. And these hearing aids were clearly not the best solution if she kept losing them like this. There had to be a better way to help her be able to hear again.
Her gaze traveled downward to the pavement, a deep frown etching onto her lips as her eyes turned solemn. She didn't know what to do. Respond and try and make it like she could hear him? Or maybe the best option was to turn away. Anything would be better than telling him the truth. But which was the better one?

351 words ● @elyx ● notes