CHOKING ON HIS WORDS && L U T E

[larkspurkit !]

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larkspurpaw !
elysium !
tags !

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[div style="width: 310px; font-family: verdana; color: #c48d85; text-align: left; padding-top: 15px; padding-left: 10px"]keep your head up !

larkspurpaw had quickly returned to the beach the moment he could, looking across the old territory. his wanderings led him to the warship, a semi-submerged battleship of some sorts. the apprentice, ever so curious, had wandered inside of it. most of it had been picked clean it seemed. remnants of what old sunhaven members had kept inside were waterlogged or outright unusable. the old creaky wood was unsettling, giving it an even creepier edge that crawled up the tabby's fur. he couldn't contain the chills that riddled his body as a sickly groan erupted from the floorboards he padded across.

lark's gaze set on a hazardous set of stairs and his immediate first thought was to climb up them. the tom quickly jumped up the first few steps without hesitation, though halfway through one of the boards had broken beneath his weight. he gasped, leaping for the next and digging his claws into the soaked wood. the rush of adrenaline send his heart soaring, but no fear in that moment. giddy, he giggled as he jumped the next few steps to the second floor. not all of it was entirely accessible, unfortunately. some of it was still submerged beneath water. what wasn't though, was an old dilapidated chest in the corner underneath the remains of a what would have been a wall. larkspurpaw jumped for it, practically tiring out his little self by pulling off what he could.

the locks of the chest were no longer effective, but it had done its job preserving what was inside. there were a few things that interested him; an eyepatch wrapped around some strange walking stick. he took that out first, wrapping it around him. it was a little big, covering almost half his face.

he pushed away the walking stick, revealing some strange instrument beneath. it was small like some sort of child's set. lark pulled it from the chest giving a curious strum. he gasped as his senses came to light with soft shades of pink and blue. "oh... yum!" something hinted blackberries, but when he gave another strum it led him to think of maple. weird... he never had anyone or anything have multiple colors or tastes...

whatever else remained in the chest was quickly forgotten as larkspurpaw took the instrument around his back and headed straight for the stairs. he narrowly missed plummeting from the missing step but recovered, darting out of the warship and heading for the mainland.

he ended up remaining on a little stone perch for a few hours, testing all the different sounds coming from it. he managed to make a few actual pleasant sounds to outside ears, but larkspurpaw would thoroughly enjoying himself nonetheless.

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© MADI

[Warringkingdoms]

  [font=trebuchet ms]In or out of tune, the sound of plucking strings was unmistakable to Rin's ears.

  She whipped around at the first note that rang through the air, her eyes flickering across the living room. No one was there, polar bear, white feline or otherwise. She was ready to dismiss the sound as a figment of her imagination when another note echoed in her ears, at a lower pitch than the first. The tone of the notes was... different somehow. It was neither guitar nor ukulele, but it was nonetheless achingly similar.

  Furrowing her brows, Rin stepped out of the doorway and walked in the direction that the notes sounded from, each note approaching closer to its proper pitch as she approached closer to the source. As Larkspurpaw came into view, the lute held in his paws, Rin felt the tension in her muscles melt away, her posture deflating with it. At least she had a tangible explanation for the sounds of strings, rather than her own instability...

  She realized you aren't worth it.

  It was a hollow victory.

  "Where did you find that?" Rin asked softly, the exhaustion in her voice clear as crystal. Maybe if she got Lark talking, his voice would keep her distracted from... well, everything.

[nemhain.]

Instruments were yet another thing that Nemhain was mainly acquainted with through Rin's memories. Never had the fenghuang ever held an instrument of her own within her talons, and her only experience with the tools when she had been a true shadow had been seeing other personas with them. Personas from users with a great appreciation of the arts and music, or just rebellious ones that wanted to take joy in the activity of song. Either way, music had never been an outlet that Nemhain had indulged in herself, and so the beginning notes of an unfamiliar instrument reaching her ears made her lift her head in confusion, glancing around from where she was perched. She was in her usual place atop Rin's house, seemingly nursing her wounds from the battle with The Captain, when suddenly an unpleasant feeling rolled over her, making her tense. It was a mix of anxiety and confusion, and she knew it well enough by now to know that it wasn't coming from her, but from Rin. Immediately her head craned downwards, ready to check in on Rin, but the magna was already stumbling forth from her house, making her determined way towards the source of the strange noise. Nemhain opened her beak to say something, or perhaps to ask Rin where she was going, but eventually just shrugged, leaping from her perch on the roof to follow after her user. She could always ask what was going on when they got to wherever Rin was so intent on going, after all.

Before long, the pair arrived where Larkspur was seated, the boy looking very pleased with himself as he strummed absentmindedly at the lute he had clenched in his paws. The former anxiety and excitement that had been rushing through both Rin and by extension Nemhain drained near immediately, and was instead replaced with cold exhaustion. Ben had to stop herself from falling over at the sudden change in emotions, a sense of unpleasant whiplash passing over her. She dug her claws in the earth to steady herself before listening to what the magna had to say, a soft frown coming to her beak at the mundanity of it all. Why had Rin gotten so panicked? Shooting a questioning look in the feline's direction, Nem found herself thinking, what's going on? Are you alright? Before she turned her attention to Larkspur. She watched the male for a moment before she spoke up, trying not to look too displeased or irritated whenever the apprentice messed up a note or played out of tune, since it was obvious he didn't know what he was doing, "Larkspur... have you ever played anything like the lute before?" The fenghuang was fairly certain she knew what the answer would be, but she might as well make conversation.