A Musical Interlude (Job/Solo)

Elvira, still recovering from the most recent time Vincent Gauss tried to have her killed, wandered the bustling streets of the Crystalli; it was Saturday, before noon, and she was fairly disgruntled at having been kicked out of bed. She had been blissfully asleep atop a giant pile of Rin's stuffed animals when Lily had shaken her awake and told her to skidaddle; apparently Theo was dropping by and Lily didn't want Elvira around cracking lewd jokes and ruining the ambiance. When Lily wanted something there was simply no arguing with her, she'd learned that lesson quickly, besides the young wizard always had this...feeling...when she looked into the bunny-cat's red, lifeless, eyes that defying the creature was not in her best interest. So there she was --muttering to herself and trying to slip between the throngs of people enjoying their day as she pushed her way towards the concertium.

Finally arriving outside she noticed, much to her chagrin, there was a crowd of people there was well. She saw Mr. Price standing beside the door with a lacrima screen and bypassed the line, walking up to him. The gaunt man with angular features and a well kept, pencil-thin, moustache looked up as she approached.

"Hohoho Elvira! Wonderful to see you. I didn't think you would be interested in becoming an instructor, it's a pleasant surprise." He said in his typical melodramatic cadence. The truth was she was just there to try and go back to sleep in the prop room.

"Become a what now?" She responded, still trying to shake off the fog of sleep.

"An instructor dear, it's Saturday morning after all, this is when our volunteers tutor those aboard our humble ship interested in the fine art of sound production! I say, you must have been really excited if it got you out of bed at this hour!" He said with a mischievous grin. Mr. Price was many things, but he was no fool, he knew exactly why she was here and had decided to railroad her into the job.

"Yes..of course I'm excited." She responded with a glare.

"Stupendous! The students await inside..." He said with a flourish of his arm.

"I need a drink..." She muttered as she stepped passed him into the concert hall.

The concertium, normally so brightly lit and filled with energy, was a different animal altogether on days without performances. It lacked the heat, the ethernanos, of a packed audience; the meager gathering down by the stage was as much as the current collection of gently-used instruments could support and they, collectively, looked like a mouse that had wandered into a dwelling designed for a vulcan. The well-designed acoustics of the area carried the unpleasant sound of novice musicians blundering their way around on equipment they had no business with. The wizard's eye twitched, her hands clenched...then relaxed.

"I sound like Madame Moriseau...I didn't know how to play once either..." She thought as she shook off her disdain. The brat, the aristocrat, the spoiled child that even her own parents had tried to gently nurture away from her sometimes still reared it's ugly head but, the longer she stayed with the guild, the easier it was to let those feelings slip through a relaxed hand.

Elvira made her way down to the stage, noting several of the prominent crystal swan musicians that she was vaguely aware of already in attendance. A plethora of old and contemporary instruments were spread out around the stage for people to examine and play. Elvira was midway through planning the most inconspicuous route through the assembled group to her nest in the prop room when she saw a little girl with shaggy brown hair; her small hands were gently cradling the neck of a guitar as she looked desperately for a free instructor where none existed. The wizard sighed and walked over smiling down at the child.

"Hello, I'm Elvira, what's your name?" She said in a sympathetic tone.

"Tomia, do you teach here miss?" She asked, staring up at the wizard with doe-like eyes.

"Yes...I suppose I do; you're interested in the guitar?" She gestured at the almost comically over-sized instrument the girl was dragging around.

"Yep! I wanna play mama's song!"

"Which song is that?" Elvira inquired, taking the guitar from Tomia and sitting down at the edge of the stage, letting her legs dangle down into the orchestra pit. She strummed experimentally as she adjusted the tuning keys.

"Landscape!" The small girl said, sitting down beside Elvira.

"That's not the easiest place to start for a beginner..."

"Pleeeeeeeasssseeee, it's her birthday next week!"

Elvira relented and pulled Tomia into her lap, setting the guitar in her hands as she began showing her its different parts. Once the absolute basics were out of the way she put the child's hands in place and began instructing her on the simple notes and chords, focusing on the ones she needed for the song.

People came and went behind the pair of them as the day wore on, however, they remained constant, both intently focused on the task at hand. To her own surprised Elvira was determined to help Tomia figure this out. The child was getting frustrated, as children often do, when Elvira took the guitar in her hands and started to play, softly singing the words:

"It’s not a coincidence, but fate, that we met and began walking barefoot one spring afternoon." She sang, nudging Tomia with her chin: The girl seemed to get the idea.

"We hesitated so many times at each fork in the road, I can't remember."

"Left or right?" The wizard sang with a smile, letting Tomia pick up the words while she shifted to the chorus. Elvira closed her eyes, losing herself in the music as she listed to the girl's sweet voice; she was actually enjoying this feeling --hearing someone else become enthralled with the beauty of sound.

It took her a moment to realize the song was over, her eyes looked down and, to her shock, Tomia's hands were on the guitar with Elvira's placed over them. "How much of it did she play?" She thought, amazed.

"I did it!" Tomia beamed.

"Yes you did." Elvira said happily, glancing around to notice they were the last ones in the concert hall save for a man and woman standing almost out of sight near the side exit with huge grins on their faces: Tomia's parents she assumed --the girl hadn't noticed.

"Alright Tomia...once more, you start and I'll help if you get stuck." She whispered, making eye contact with the girls mother.

"It's been a good day." She mused.