A Study of Symphony (Sayuri and Rosabell)

Job Posting

Sayuri had to admit that she had entered the building with a feeling of... Trepidation. She had always loved music, really. And she sang pretty well, all things considered. But she'd never tried using a musical instrument before. Music just wasn't her major. The only bow she'd ever used was the kind she put in her hair, and the only duets were with sword in hand. But when she'd heard that some of the experienced musicians here offered lessons- well she figured she should take the opportunity at least once, even if interpersonal skills weren't exactly her forte.

Her shoes beat a rhythm of their own as she made her way through the halls, following the sound of the melodies drifting to her from farther in the building. Hopefully she would find a maestro with whom she could strike a chord, but she was worried her musical talent would just end up falling flat.

As she finally reached the room, the full scale of the project hit her. A slur of dissonant notes greeted her as she marched in, scanning to see what musical tutors might be available. She noted two that were unoccupied. The first was a reedy young man who looked a bit, well, full of himself. It was bad to judge people on first impressions, she knew, but something about him just... Bothered her. Something minor, most likely, but she decided she'd rather pitch her lot in with the other open instructor, and she crossed the room toward her smiling slightly.

"Hi. I've never played an instrument before, so I was hoping you might be able to show me the ropes."

It had been a rather normal day for Rosabell, she happily exploring the airship city, somehow still finding new things to pass the time with, and then she saw it. a request for experienced musicians to help some people learn how to play an instrument or two. As surprising as it may seem, Rosabell was proficient in quite a few instruments, her specialty was the flute but she knew how to play some string instruments as well, namely the shamisen, lute and violin. Before she joined Crystal Swan she was a nomad of sorts, travelling wherever the wind took her, and the easiest way to make money was for her to play music at taverns and such.

Seeing an opportunity to not only get some jewel but also to hop back into an old hobby was something she was extremely interested in, so without a beat of hesitation, she set off excited to show off some of her skills.  However upon arriving she was more than disappointed, most of the musicians were older men and women some even looking in their mid forties, people whose minds were fined tuned to set of refined strings. Of course there were some younger ones, but they too looked pompous and arrogant, some definetley not being here to teach. She looked completely out of place, a youth who was claiming to be a master, able to instruct people of relatively the same age.

Of course, she didn't get any cute litte pupils to teach, because all of the other options looked more impressive, elegant robes and finely trimmed hair, she even saw a guy with a moustache shaped like a musical note. Time passed and still she had no customers, and playing for no reason would just be rude while others are actually teaching, but then she saw it. An adorable brown haired lass was heading her way, Rosabell immediately straightened her back and tried to look a little proper, but ended up looking constipated in the end.

Sighing she returned to her lax position, there was no need act like the rest of the people she was Rosabell Belladona, and she was going to teach this student so hard that all of the others will be jealous! Of course she quickly snapped out of her daze and looked at the woman hearing her speak and giving a kind smile in response.
"Ara, Ara so proper, no need to worry I'll be happy to teach you, and since you're my first pupil I'll make sure to give you special attention!" She then gestured to the instruments behind her showing her the full range of options she could choose from.

"Ah, how rude of me, my name is Rosabell, now what instrument would you like to learn. I specialize in the flute, but I'm also very proficent in the shamisen, violin, and lute."

Sayuri couldn't help but relax a little bit at the other woman's friendly tone. Well, she supposed this was as good a start as any. Ignoring the irritated gaze of the tutor she'd passed up, she considered the question for a moment. In all honestly, she wasn't sure what exactly she wanted to try. She had just wanted to try an instrument, any instrument. She supposed that since she'd chosen someone with a specialty, she would be a fool not to learn the instrument her tutor was best at.

"The flute will do quite well, thank you. I'm not really sure exactly what type I'd like best. I have no experience with instruments. I'm more of a singer myself. But hey, this could be your chance to lure my over to your side."

She said the last part with a slightly mischievous smile, making it clear that she was joking. Well, half joking. But she would never pass up an opportunity to learn something new. If the lesson went well enough, maybe she could actually stick with it long term. And Rosabell seemed very friendly so far. She found herself genuinely liking her.

"Of course, I'll try not to hurt your ears too much. I'm hoping my first attempt won't be too disastrous."

Lord knows she'd had some... Interesting first experiences so far. For example, the time a friend of her had invited her to go sailing with him. He'd offered to let her steer and... Well, they made it back about twelve hours later, minus the boat. That had been the last time she'd talked to him. Or when she'd almost burned her parents' house down trying to make her mother a birthday cake. Yeah, that had not gone very well. She could have the worst luck sometimes. But she couldn't think of any ways that learning an instrument could end up being deadly, so hopefully they'd be safe enough...

Rosabell's eyes lit up with glee as Sayuri choose the flute, she was hoping that the musician to be would pick that one, as she not only would have the easiest time teaching it, but would also be able to show more advanced techniques and maneuvers if she decided to stick with it. Giving the woman an even bigger smile she would clap her hands happily to express her joy. "Well since you have experience with singing I'm sure that includes a microphone, the flute is probably the most akin to what you're used too. by the way..if it's not a problem I would like to know the name of the one I'm training?"

She would then grab her flute and show it to her. It was a beautiful thing made of gold with red highlights underneath all of the keys. She would then pull it apart showing her the three pieces, before handing Sayuri the one with the hole for blowing. . "Before we can do any fancy stuff I want you blow into this, It is called a headjoint and probably the most important part of the flute because without it you can't make any noise. First just put your mouth to the whole and blow, a tip is to make your mouth into a U shape as the air will come out easier."

Rosabell would then demonstrate grabbing a spare headjoint and blowing into it making a sound more akin to a train whistle than a melody, making a few people even begin to look at them with curiosity.  "It won't sound all beautiful and elegant yet, as we're just trying to get you to find the bsaics of your musical voice. After you do that I want you to simply assemble the three pieces to create a whole and we'll get to the real exciting stuff, I know it might seem tedious at first but trust me once you get going you wont want to stop!"

Doing this brought back memories of when she first started out, a curious young lass wanting to try something new and learning to love it, eventually turning into a solid way to make some profit. If she didn't have her musical instrument skills she highly doubted she would be as well off and as happy as she was today, teaching someone just like herself a new hobby that might even turn into a favorite pastime

Sayuri flushed slightly as she realized her mistake.

"Oh, I'm so sorry! I totally forgot! I'm Sayuri. Sayuri Katsuya."

She eyed the flute with a great deal of appreciation. It was certainly a beautiful instrument, she didn't have to know much about music to recognize that. The woman must be a very good musician indeed to make enough money to pay for it, much less think it was worth spending money on.

She took the mouth piece, or headjoint as Rosabell had called it, and studied it briefly. She could see what the other girl was talking about, and for the first time Sayuri realized that her singing experience might actually be helpful for this. If there was one skill you had to have to sing, it was breath control. It didn't matter how great your tone and pitch were if you couldn't hold notes. She supposed the flute was probably worked the same way.

She held the piece up to her mouth, hesitated for a brief moment, and then finally blew into it. Wow that was loud. She winced slightly, glancing around at the other people who were giving her annoyed looks. She never really liked drawing too much attention to herself. Then again... Well, none of them were experts when they first started, now were they? If they weren't willing to cut her some slack then that was their problem, not hers. She straightened her position, determined not to let them get to her.

She picked up the other pieces of the flute, trying to remember how they had all gone together. It took her a couple of tried, but she finally managed to get it reassembled. She held the instrument out toward her instructor.

"Alright, what's next?"

Rosabell gave Sayuri a warm smile as she gave her name, satisfied that she had a more comfortable way to address the musician in training.  

Watching with interest, she was happy to see that Sayuri was able to get the basics down rather easily, even gaining a little courage after some rather rude glares. Of course Roasbell made sure to level those select few with a rather harsh glare which made them immediately avert their eyes. They were professionals and she just picked up her instrument, there was no excuse for giving her snotty glances. If anything she was doing better than most, it usually took a couple of tries to even get a sound out.

Looking back towards Sayuri she was happy to see that she had assembled it just as instructed albiet with a few tries, eventually it would become second nature to her though. Seeing that she was ready for the next step, Rosabell once again grabbed the spare flute and reassembled it, putting the entire thing up to her mouth and holding it to the right side of her face. She then straightened her back and sat on the edge of her seat so that both of her feet were flat against the ground. "When playing you flute your posture should look like this, feet flat against the ground and back straight, while holding the flute to either the right or left side of your face depending on your handedness."

Rosabell would them flex her fingers drumming them along the keys, while pressing some down and making a low harmonious sound come out, then immediately switching to a higher pitched sound with the same finger position.  "Your fingers should naturally land on the key position that that they correspond to, and from there all you have to do is alternate which fingers are pushing keys down and which ones are not to make sound, of course a decent amount of keys can play both high and low sounds and the way to change that is by amping the speed of your blowing. Faster for higher notes, and slower for lower notes." She would then demonstrate by playing a scale, going from low to high, making sure to take a pause letting her see what fingers she was using she did so.

She would then glance around slightly before letting a mischievous grin appear on her face. "and if you do that well enough..I'll show you how to do this!" Rosabell would then look over to a fellow flute instructor with a glass vase sitting next to him, then without hesitation she would play an unusually beautiful high note, which almost immediately made the vase shatter causing the man to be scared out of his wits before staring at his own student accusingly. "Looks cool doesn't it?"

Sayuri watched Rosabell carefully as she demonstrated how to play the flute. Whenever she'd watched anyone play in the past it had always looked so complicated, but as she listened to the explanations, it didn't seem too difficult. Or at least, the theory wasn't. She was sure the practice would be a whole different matter. And she couldn't help but laugh at the horrified expression on the face of one of the other instructors. She might feel slightly more sympathetic if he hadn't been one of the ones to give her a dirty look earlier.

"I don't think that's something I should learn to do. I just know I'd end up using it... Irresponsibly."

She felt the corners of her mouth raising slightly. "Although I'm sure it can make for a very useful distraction at times."

She took a deep breath, steeling herself for failure, then carefully raised the instrument to her lips, straightening her posture to copy the Rosabell had showed her. She began carefully blowing into the flute, trying to imitate the scale from earlier. It was a bit shaky, terribly slow, and a couple of times horribly off-key, but at least she had the musical knowledge to recognize that, even if she didn't always know how to fix it. She decided to keep trying, figuring Rosabell would stop her whenever she was ready to impart more instructions.

Rosabell's grin only grew wider at the girl's response to her little glass shattering trick, she had expected her student to be a little stuck up if not at least refined, judging by the average brat that walked in. Yet Sayuri's actually seemed to enjoy her little ruffian trick she had picked up in her travels making her belief in their possible friendship only grow further. "Aww, but being irresponsible is what makes the whole process fun! The whole point is to use it for...less than savory purposes, but I suppose you're right, it does make a fairly useful distraction."

Seeing Sayuri moving in to practice what she had been shown, Rosabell quickly sealed her lips, the last thing she wanted was to mess up her student just because she wanted to ramble a little bit.

Sayuri was actually doing pretty good with the instructions she was given, Rosabell could've gone much more into detail with certain techniques and whatnot, but cramming all that information into a single session would only serve to confuse the woman, Rosabell figured she would give a watered down version, see if the woman enjoyed it and if she did- offer more private sessions to go more into detail on certain aspects.

However as she observed Sayuri she noticed that she was having problems keeping her air steady which in turn made her notes shaky. Making a motion for Sayuri to stop, she would quickly begin to explain an easy solution. "So I noticed that you have trouble keeping your air consistent, which is why your notes keep coming out shaky. While my solution could be considered cheating, I think of it as using your natural advantages. I want you to channel some magic power into your lungs and circulate it, this will stabilize your esophagus and help keep your breathing consistent and steady." She didn't have to ask the girl if she was a mage because she had already sensed her magic power when she walked in, only making Sayuri a better student for her to train.

Sayuri paused as she listened to the other girl. She smiled a little ruefully at her critique, taking it in stride. After all, she'd hardly expected to be an expert on her first try.

"I guess I'm a little nervous. But that makes sense. I'll try it."

Then she decided to comment on her answer about her little vase-shattering trick earlier.

"Oh believe me, I'm very good at distractions. I've also been known to set buildings on fire and sink ships. Good thing we're not on a... Oh wait, we are on a ship! Guess I'd better be a little more careful, huh?"

Her playful tone make it clear that she was making a joke at her own expense. That was something else she was very good at. After all, you may as well make the best out of a bad situation, and there was no use getting upset over something you couldn't change. And of course, it was a nice bonus if you made someone else's day a little better because of it.

She took a moment to concentrate, trying to do what the girl had suggested. It was an odd feeling, she had to admit, but once she thought she had it she started the scale again, pleased to note that it had improved at least a little bit. Still not an prodigy, but she was one step closer now, and it felt good. Even if she was still a hair off key. But at least she wasn't drawing nearly as many dirty looks anymore. They had probably just accepted that they were going to have to put up with her bad playing for a while.

Rosabell laughed heartily at Sayuri's sharp response to her distraction comment, boosting her happiness even more. Magic power, willingness to learn, and a sharp tongue? She couldn't have asked for a better pupil to impart her musical knowledge onto.

After she managed to stop giggling at Sayuri's antics she managed to stay quiet enough to listen to the trainee's playing happily finding that she applied her tip and was playing much better than she had before. It wasn't perfect or anything, but for someone who had just started less than a couple hours ago it was damn impressive. Of course her happiness at Sayuri's success was extremely apparent due to the beaming smile on her face.

"See, that is much better, you're actually doing extremely well for someone who had just started less than a couple hours ago, and seeing as this is my first time actually well..teaching someone I think it's safe to say that both of our endeavors were a success!" She would then stand up and look out the nearby window happy that it didn't seem that late yet. As much fun as she was having, she still had stuff to do as music wasn't really her main career.

"It's getting a little late, and I hope you enjoyed- but uhm I have to get back to the guild soon, however if you enjoyed our session I'll be happy to have another.." She would then gesture to some of the musicians staring at her. "More private session, so I can teach you some more advanced techniques."

She would then quickly spin on her heel and bend over reaching into the bag behind her, pulling out a worn out looking book, before slinging the bag over her shoulder, and picking up the spare flute along with it's case.

"And before I forget, in case you do decide to practice more on your own- here's a spare flute, along with a training booklet that will teach you all the basic notes as well as some classic songs for you to play. The book will instruct you on how to clean your flute as well, and the case comes with all the cleaning supplies you'll need."

Sayuri smiled, glad she had made her trainer happy.

"Well, for someone who's teaching for the first time you're pretty good. You should try it more often."

She took the spare flute and book from Rosabell, her smile widening. She wasn't usually very good with people, but she had the distinct feeling that this could be the start of a great friendship. And friends were something she was always lacking in, so she had no intention of letting the opportunity get away from her.

"I would definitely appreciate some more lessons, whenever you have time. I should probably head out too. I'll need to earn some rent money if I want to actually find myself a permanent place to stay. And maybe in the meantime I can get in a little practice."

She definitely wanted to practice the techniques Rosabell had taught her today before the next lesson, so that she could move on to the next thing to learn. And who knew, maybe the flute would become her next hobby.


This job offers either 5k jewels or 1 D-rank spell slot as a reward. Rosabell and I would both like the spell slot. Thanks!