A Bunch of Tangled Strings (OPEN)
The luthier sat, once again, with a viola perched upon his knee, a few pegs held tightly between his teeth. He sat in the lobby, his undivided attention set on the instrument before him. Contrary to his usual endeavors, the young man was not trying to fix the instrument, in fact, he was doing quite the opposite.
Grinning slightly in triumph as he removed the top of the instrument, he set it beside himself briefly before placing the rest of the instrument on the floor next to the already removed fingerboard, bridge, and tailpiece. Turning the top over in his hands he examined its backside, mumbling quietly to himself.
"Let's see what we have here..."
As he ran a finger along the bassbar, he caught a glance at the small crowd that milled around him through the f-holes. Lowering the top of the viola, he scowled at the other students in the lobby.
"Th' hell're you branleurs looking at? You need something with me or are you just gonna continue gawking like that?" he demanded as if he had been doing positively nothing that could have attracted the others' attention.
