Singing solves everything!

Ask and RP blog for the Bard, from Wandersong. Sideblog -- follows back from Verduresapiens.

[wanderingearthsong]

“There’s so many different kinds of music here! I can’t decide what kind I like most, it’s all so good~”

[wanderingearthsong]

He’s hiding. Curled up in a tight little ball, shivering as he tries to redirect his thoughts away from dragons.

Dragons are dangerous, and so are those that befriend them.

[wanderingearthsong]

pyrekept​:

     “I did not attack you. It was just some good-natured ribbing, but…I’ll be the first to admit that I took it too far, and I take full responsibility for the events that transpired as a result. I apologised, did I not?” Those eyes, with such a capability for harshness, are mild and genuine, a gently rolling hearth more than they are a roaring inferno. 

     The little bard shares his woes, and Ave listens attentively, though partway through he reaches back onto his pack and draws out a small lyre, plucking softly and mindlessly away at it in what could almost be a peace offering. Perhaps it is - or, at the very least, it’s a demonstration that even a man who pretends to be so vehemently opposed to the existence of bards can be appreciative of music.

     “I imagine this realm is worlds away from the one you’re used to. I’m the same, and I see it too. There are fewer dangers here, but no shortage of apathy. Back home, most people would not hesitate to curse my family name, but if I were in need the un-affiliated would provide with little hesitation.” He smiles, and it’s predictably warm. “You will find your flock, little lark. There is a place for you in this world.”

“Good natured?” The bard’s tone turns from nervous to incredulous. “I thought you were making fun of me! I thought you hated me just because I liked to sing...! But you’re... you did. And I’m still thankful for it.” And then he goes quiet again, just kind of half-glaring in that not-at-all intimidating way of his.

If it turned out people here were just trying to be funny, well, Kiwi wouldn’t be impressed. It didn’t seem very fun to him, to make fun of somebody who didn’t know you. He forces himself to calm down, though - being mad wouldn’t get him anything, as much as he wanted to be mad.

“It is. Where I’m from, everybody is... nice. People have their problems, but everybody tries to be a good person.” Well, most people. Audrey was too obsessed with killing everything to try and be nice. “There aren’t a lot of really big cities, just a lot of close-knit towns. It’s much nicer there than it is here. People don’t get mad at you for trying to be friendly.” Thus far, he’d met more people that just wanted him to shut up, than were pleased to meet him. “But... I guess. Somebody else told me something like that. That cities have plenty of good things in them if you look. Right now I think I just wanna go home to Langtree. I’m not used to seeing so many angry people at once.” A breath in, then out, scooping a handful of seeds out of the bag and watching as one of the little flock of birds hops up to eat.

“I hope I find my ‘flock’. It’s not fun to feel so... outside.”

[wanderingearthsong]

pyrekept​:

     The bard’s reaction only causes Ave’s brows to pull together further. He’s got a hard face, and sharp, fiery eyes, and doesn’t much resemble someone willing to show much in the way of mercy, but he looks…sorry. Especially as Kiwi makes it very clear that he does remember their last interaction; and Ave shows no intention whatsoever go away, as he’s been told to.

     “I’m not going to yell at you. You have just as much of a right to be here as I do, and…well, Cricket and I may have gone too far last time, and I apologise.” He glances at the robin, who is attempting to bully a larger pigeon out of its Seed Territory. “No, I can’t put any blame on her. I didn’t expect things to go to shit quite as quickly as they did, but I recognise that you only got eaten because I riled you up.”

“...Just because you don’t like singing doesn’t mean you should attack anyone who does. Singing makes me happy.” He responds, eyeing the other man carefully. Another handful of seeds are scattered before him, briefly startling some of the birds before they resume puttering around.

At least there’s no dragon here to swallow him whole if they start fighting again.

“Thank you.” The small bard adds, after a moment. “But I’m starting to think that people don’t like me as much as they say they do. So far the only thing my singing has earned me here is nightmares and mean people. Maybe the people back home were just being nice about it...” He’s trying to look cheerful, but it’s really hard. Back home he tried to be as optimistic as he could, as friendly as he could manage - because being mean didn’t earn you anything.

Clearly, that wasn’t how anything worked.

[wanderingearthsong]

pyrekept​:

     Cricket watches the performance unaccompanied for a good few minutes, continuing to not attack - and after a while, that hard, beady look eases. She’s a bird, after all, and can’t resist the placating effects of a delicious seed offering.

     The person that joins her after those few minutes, however, is less likely to be swayed by said offering, should he need to be. He likely won’t need to be, however, since despite his previous display of disdain for Kiwi’s singing, his expression is fairly calm - with maybe the slightest hint of remorse - as he perches on the arm of a nearby bench, crossing one heavy-booted leg over the other.

     “Afternoon, bard.”

Kiwi tenses at the sound of the voice - he recognizes them, and debates the urge to run. there’s no movement, however, and only a slight hitch in his singing before he trails off, looking up nervously at the other.

“Hello.” Is the simple, quiet response. “Please don’t yell at me again to stop singing. I came out here to sing because there weren’t a lot of people around.” Singing made him happy. Kiwi didn’t know what he’d do if he was told he wasn’t allowed to sing at all. “If you don’t wanna hear me singing you can just... go away. This city’s really big, so there’s lots of places to be alone.” Tense. Nervous. He didn’t like this man. Where was his bird? Among the others? Maybe it was the angry-looking robin...

[wanderingearthsong]

An American robin, a very much non-native bird, joins the crowd of spectators, snatching up a couple of seeds before fixing the bard with what looks like a glare, though she might just have bird RBF.

“Oh!” He pauses in his singing just a moment. “Hello there~! I don’t think many of you around... You’re so pretty~” And he’s back to singing. He doesn’t mind the face - or just can’t tell it’s glaring. It’s not attacking, so he doesn’t mind it’s presence. Maybe it just didn’t trust him, or feel comfortable around him. That was fine.

He just wanted some kind of happy moment before the next miserable event reminded him how nasty the people here were.

[wanderingearthsong]

He’s decided he doesn’t want to be around people right now. Animals are always willing to be friends, if you talk to them the right way. People are less genuine. At least in this city. It feels like the towns back home, on the surface, but beneath, it’s just like Chismest. Dirty and cruel and determined to break people’s spirits.

He doesn’t want to stay here long. He’s already found two people he hates, and one he doesn’t think he’ll ever be able to completely trust.

Kiwi fills up a bag with various shareable foodstuffs - only small things, as he doesn’t imagine there’s much more than birds and squirrels in London - and moves to the park. He sits for a while, enjoys the peace and quiet... then starts to sing. It’s quieter than he normally would, because he’s since learned that people around here hate singing more than Audrey hates being nice, but loud enough. Specifically, loud enough to gain the attention of whatever wildlife happens to be near. He can see a few birds, and his mood lifts when they come close - he’s been craving some positivity after all the chaos and nastiness that’s been happening to him.

Seeds are scattered around before him, encouraging a few of the birds to come close, and Kiwi doesn’t even flinch when some of them bounce around on his person, trying to get closer to the bag he’s got near him. When the squirrels start investigating, it just makes him calmer, more relaxed.

Singing always makes him feel better. And he’s desperately craved a moment alone to just sing for days.

[wanderingearthsong]

“...I hate Jean. And I hate Teddy too. They’re both monsters.”

[wanderingearthsong]

megxlo​:

Then congratulations. You just got thrown into another cell, albeit a warm, fleshy one. You didn’t get eaten, because if you had been eaten, you wouldn’t have lived to tell about it.

[ Something about Kiwi’s reference to Teddy’s self control has Jean go quiet again, and his enthusiastic defence of the dragon turns into something colder and sharper. Again, he crouches just slightly, until they’re eye to eye, the tips of metal fingers scraping across his other hand’s knuckles. ]

Are you going to stop?

“Just because something isn’t being digested doesn’t mean it wasn’t eaten! I was in his mouth, and went down his throat - that is by definition ‘eaten’! Just because he wasn’t digesting me doesn’t make it any less terrifying to be swallowed whole by some huge beast!” He sounds a bit less angry now, and more scared. “I had nightmares about it! About being devoured by some huge monster!” Even if Teddy’s a nice person, he can’t help but be scared of the man, now.

Scared that anything he does might get him snapped up again. And that maybe next time he won’t be spat up, because some people think it’s easier to just kill a person than to tell them what’s wrong. And, as Audrey proved - anybody can lie about being a good person, only to stab you in the back later.

“Not until he apologizes and promises never to do that again.” Kiwi says, arms crossed. glaring at Jean. “I don’t like him, and I don’t like you - all I wanted to do is make friends with people. But everybody here is horrible.” All he’d done was sing a bit, and now everybody wanted him dead. Or at least that’s what it felt like.

[wanderingearthsong]

“I know Mr. Ringabel said there’s always good to be found in big cities but so far everybody I’ve met in this city is miserable and hateful. I hate it here.”

[wanderingearthsong]

megxlo​:

He’s a dragon, and you caught him at a bad time! [ …Jean assumes. If he was present, he doesn’t remember it, which isn’t much of a surprise by now. ] He may have thought you were in danger! Or - god, fuck it. You’re not going to listen to me, are you? Thick skull, like I said.

“I’ve caught lots of people and lots of creatures at lots of bad times!” Kiwi snaps. He doesn’t remember the last time he felt so agitated. “But the worst that ever happened was I got yelled at, or tossed in a cell! None of them ever ate me! I’ve met animals with more self-control than him! And I wasn’t in trouble - I was singing! I was perfectly safe!”

[wanderingearthsong]

megxlo replied to your post “Right. Because I’m sure everybody would feel totally safe around...”

As someone who has been eaten with intent to kill, pipsqueak, you’re talking out of your ass when you insinuate that Teddy is evil for what he did.

“He’s not evil! I just don’t trust him! Why would I trust somebody whose first thought to ‘too much noise’ is ‘eat them’? It’s just like Audrey - her solution to things in her way was to electrocute them! I bet you’re the same way - your solution to everything is probably ‘be a jerk’.”

[wanderingearthsong]

“Right. Because I’m sure everybody would feel totally safe around something that’ll eat them because they happened to make some noise around them. I’d rather be electrocuted by Audrey again than go through that ever again.”

[wanderingearthsong]

“I met a man named Jean and I don’t wanna be friends with him. He’s mean and nasty and I don’t like him at all. Him and his scary dragon friend can be mean somewhere else.”

[wanderingearthsong]

“...This place is making it really really hard to make friends... Is everyone so mean? I wanna go home...”

[wanderingearthsong]

“Today’s been really nice! Quite, calm - I was able to practice a bunch songs! And nobody got angry at me!”

[wanderingearthsong]

nexusofmuses​:

With @wanderingearthsong​ from here

“Well, I grew up in and around large cities. And while they have their fair share of sadness and pain, there are plenty of moments of happiness too, you just have to look for it.”

----

“I grew up in a city too. It’s why I don’t like them. Chismest was very... lonely. Loud and dirty and lonely. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a city that wasn’t.” A rare moment of clearly-not-happiness on Kiwi’s face. “But maybe I just haven’t been going to the right cities!” There’s that happiness of his. “They can’t possibly all be that bad. Maybe I’m due for another adventure...”