[EP] To tame the wind - OTA

[st_oneswidow]

Usually when Curnen played outside, she kept close to the buildings, halfway between practicing and performing. But this was different. She wasn't very good at woodwind instruments at all. And not wanting to make the other people in her building, or any other building, completely crazy with her efforts, she took herself out into the Secret Garden.

Anyway, she didn't want to be inside. Not when being cooped up here again rankled like it did.

Ireland had been good for Curnen. There was nowhere else a Tufa could go, even in a world without magic. Even if the people she loved best right now would not go with her. She had not been born until long after the exile had taken place, but she'd grown up hearing Bliss and her parents tell stories of the green island they'd come from. Grew up hearing the language of home that wasn't spoken outside the house much once white people came in, since it only confused them. So she'd roamed wherever she could in those two blissful weeks of freedom, exploring, busking when she could get away with it and her nerve held, and buying instruments.

She was of course limited by what was affordable and easy to carry. At first she'd tried to keep herself to a bodhran, something she'd been yearning for since "The Well Below the Valley" had lodged itself so firmly in her brain. But she didn't want to think about the why of that, and that, along with wanting variety and things to learn, she'd picked up a number of woodwind instruments. They were small and inexpensive. And given she was saving her lodging budget by couch surfing her way across the country, for once she thought nothing of spending money. It had led to a wooden flute, but also a penny whistle, a pan flute, and a jaw harp. In the moment she'd decided if she could learn to play a harmonica, she could at least try these other things.

And now she was back. It chafed. But she had distractions.

She sat on the deck in the garden with her distractions, the bodhran and the woodwinds all nearby, her bare feet dangling into the pond as she attempted to consistently get a clear tone from the flute.

And she was doing all right, but of course eventually something like a loud trilling squawk went out and she laughed brightly.

Hearing someone approach from behind her, Curnen called out, "I'd ask if you wanna try one, but I think my spit's in all of 'em by now. 'Cept the drum, the drum's okay."

Comments

[st_upidgravity]

"Not my kind of blowing, thanks," Steph responded with a laugh. She'd been out jogging, chafing against the confines of the inn after all that freedom in Europe. She was soaked in sweat now, blond hair dark with it and pale skin pink with exertion. "Got a piano? I used to play that."

Steph flopped onto the deck next to Curnen, but more importantly close to the cooler air rising off the pond. "Don't mind me. I'm just trying to summon the will to make it to a shower."

Curnen & Steph

[st_oneswidow]

Curnen laughed even harder at that, so hard that she lowered the flute to her lap for a minute and didn't pretend she was going to try again. "Ain't my kind either, usually, but I picked it up on our latest field trip. Seemed kinda like fun."

Re: Curnen & Steph

[st_upidgravity]

Steph grinned. "That sounds like a good use of our brief prison furlough. Did you play anywhere while you were out? I took the broody twin to Disney Paris. I made him wear mouse ears. My life literally cannot achieve a higher pinnacle."

Re: Curnen & Steph

[st_oneswidow]

Curnen put her hands together in supplication. "I beg you, tell me you took pictures of that."

Re: Curnen & Steph

[st_upidgravity]

"I come from the selfie generation. Of course I took pictures." Steph dug into her pocket and pulled out her mobile phone (not the one the inn had given out, but her actual phone with all its fancy Oracle tech.) She thumbed through the security and into the gallery. "Here, swipe right to get the full experience."

Re: Curnen & Steph

[st_oneswidow]

Curnen scrolled through the pictures, her smile widening with every shot. When she came upon Vax in his Mickey Mouse ears she gave a screech of laughter. "Augh, I love it!"

Re: Curnen & Steph

[st_upidgravity]

"Get you a man who will wear mouse ears for you even when he has NO IDEA why you're asking." Steph was certain that Vax qualified for sainthood based on that alone. Though given his relationship with his goddess, he probably already was a saint. Ooh, did that make her holier or more blasphemous for defiling him on the regular? She'd have to ask.

"I've never been to a Disney park before. I rate it 10 out of 10."

Coby & Curnen

[st_rummer]

"Wouldn't be the first time we've swapped spit," Coby answered, flashing a cheeky grin as he sat down beside her. "But my fingering might be a little lacking right now."

He might could hold the bodhran with his arm in a cast, although hand placement against the skin would be tricky at best. "Looks like you had a good shopping spree in Ireland."

Re: Coby & Curnen

[st_oneswidow]

Under normal circumstances, Curnen would have said that spit was easily the most innocent fluid they'd swapped, grab a thing, but under these circumstances, she only clutched the flute tightly in one hand and threw her arms around him. When Coby had texted her after the accident she had wanted to go to him. But their freedom was so brief and he'd assured her he was fine and fuck she was a shit friend that she hadn't been able to make herself go back to Amsterdam, but she just hadn't been able to do it.

"I'm sorry," she murmured.

Re: Coby & Curnen

[st_rummer]

His right arm, the one not broken, wrapped around her and held her tight, and Coby breathed in the scent of her hair. "Sorry for what, butterfly?" She hadn't done anything to be sorry about as far as he knew. But she was hurting, and of course he wanted to make it better. If he could. Or at least be there if he couldn't.

Maybe that was it? How he'd left her to go to Ireland on her own?

Re: Coby & Curnen

[st_oneswidow]

"I shouldn't've left you alone," she said, burying her face in his neck. "I knew I shouldn't've."

Re: Coby & Curnen

[st_rummer]

Coby kissed her hair and held her a little tighter with his good arm. "Or maybe I should've gone with you to Ireland, instead of spending the whole time getting blitzed in Amsterdam. Last I remembered, I was a grown man. I mean, not as old as you," he added lightly, trying to lighten her sadness some.

Re: Coby & Curnen

[st_oneswidow]

But Curnen only continued to wind up, shaking her head. "You weren't well." she whispered. You aren't well, she didn't say. "You didn't abandon me when I was..."

[st_illsinging]

"These are all great instruments." He meant both the instruments in general, but also the make and Craftsman of the ones she chose.

"Almost makes me a little jealous." He smirked. "Almost."

Curnen & Scanlan

[st_oneswidow]

Curnen smiled back. "It's what I chose to do with my funds on our last outing. Seemed like a better use than fancy hotel rooms." They had all they wanted of that when they were here, after all. Much more pleasant to make a friend in the local pub and find a couch to crash on.

Re: Curnen & Scanlan

[st_illsinging]

"Makes sense. We're already stuck in a fancy hotel." Scanlan had camped out like back home. "Turns out there's still money to be made singing at pubs, too." Pubs, he had learned, were basically taverns.

Re: Curnen & Scanlan

[st_oneswidow]

"I went for street corners myself," Curnen agreed with a nod. Then she paused and couldn't help asking, "How'd you manage?"

Re: Curnen & Scanlan

[st_illsinging]

"Not too bad. I noticed not a lot of humans appreciate live music anymore. I saw one place where they preferred some guy turning what looked like black plates that made some really strange music." He didn't exactly hate it, but it didn't sound natural either.

Re: Curnen & Scanlan

[st_oneswidow]

"Records," she said absently. Then Curnen shook her head, "No, I mean... how'd you keep them from asking questions?"

Kash & Curnen

[st_ingofthehundred]

Visiting Curnen when she was playing music had become something of a tradition. So when Kash heard unusual sounds coming from deck, he was drawn to see if it was her. Sure enough, she sat at the edge with her feet in the pond and a couple of instruments he hadn't seen arranged around her.

He slipped off his shoes and padded over. "No, thanks. The spit's not a problem, but the instruments deserve better."

Re: Kash & Curnen

[st_oneswidow]

"Might be we got different ideas about better, then," Curnen teased without looking back at him, remembering Kash's efforts at singing. The poor man couldn't hold a tune to save his life. "My idea of better is instruments that get played."

Re: Kash & Curnen

[st_ingofthehundred]

"Like I said," Kash protested as he settled off to her side. He let out a quiet sigh as his hot, sweaty feet sank into the pond. "You couldn't call what I'd be doing 'playing'."

Re: Kash & Curnen

[st_oneswidow]

"Oh, like I sounded so great just now," Curnen laughed. "Though if that's what you're implyin' I'll thank you and wonder what's wrong with your ears."

Re: Kash & Curnen

[st_ingofthehundred]

"I wasn't implying anything." He reached over and straightened out a flyaway lock of her hair. "Just telling you straight. I'll try if you want me to, but if it bursts your eardrums, you have only yourself to blame."

Re: Kash & Curnen

[st_oneswidow]

Curnen made herself hold still, even if what her body wanted was for her to lean into that little touch. "Ain't gonna make you, promise."

And almost as if trying to prove she meant it, she asked, "Did you go anywhere?"