Log:The Magic of Music

The Magic of Music
"And what will you be performing?"
Participants Franklyn & Oberon	2017.05.28 An open call for violinists leads to an unexpectedly emotional audition.
Location The Green Door Theatre - Practice Rooms
Sunday afternoon at the Green Door Theatre -- while the main foyer was bustling with locals visiting the cafe or booking early-bird tickets to goodness-knows-what, the practice rooms are comparatively quiet and serene. Spring sunshine filters through the skylights, bring warmth and light to the airy room, which today has been set up for music. There's a chair and music stand in the centre of the room, a short way away from a little chair and desk, on which a little web cam has been set up along with a macbook. An Open Call had been advertised recently, in the local papers. 'Violinists and Cellists needed, for potential co-production with regional choreographers. Prior experience with ballet a plus. Open Auditions at Green Door Theatre, on behalf of Hope/Feather Dance Troupe. Book a time slot with reception...' etc, etc. Pretty standard stuff. Only nobody is in the room, now. It is empty, save for dust motes floating in a sunbeam. Or is that smoke? Someone -is- here, lurking behind a stack of chairs. That person is Franklyn. She's half-hanging out a window: the long skirt of a very 90s daisy print dress all hitched up, so it doesn't get tangled in the back of the chair she's standing on. Dangerous violation of health and safety! Why is she doing this? So she can smoke a cigarette, of course, and have most of the smoke go outside. Most, but not all. Not very professional of our Franklyn... Oberon, obviously a violinist by the fact that he's holding a violin case, enters the theather. He looks around as he walks further in calmly. He grins in total awe when he sees the studios and all that marvelous place. A second later he reaches the place where the empty desk is and, glancing around, he cleans his throat loud enough so a possible staff can hear. He's pretty and young and wears a casual outfit. 'Ahem'. At the sound of Oberon clearing his throat, Franklyn jerks up - narrowly missing hitting her head on the window frame, as she hastily flicks the cigarette out into the great unknown outside. Litterbug! Quickly exhaling and waving her hand about her, she leans back into the room, turning to look at Oberon. "OH." The young Desrochers gets a very quick once-over as Franklyn attempts to compose herself -- jumping off of the stack of chairs with easy movements: skirts bellowing around her as she starts gliding towards the violinist. She is no fae, let alone Fairest - but she's got her own homespun Earthly grace about her, as well as total obliviousness to anything Wyrd and wonderful. Franklyn smiles wide - a vain attempt to charm herself away from embarrassment of being caught smoking. "Greeting, welcome - thank you for coming. I'm Franklyn Garreau, I'll be conducting the audition on behalf of the troupe: now for total transparency, we -are- recording these for the troupe to review in New York, and remember I am advising but not making final decisions on casting, so, you know..." A wide, bright grin crosse her face, as she continues to chatter. "Don't bother with bribes, unless you really want to. Now! Sit on over here, get set up -- aah, what's your name, again?" Franklyn stops at the little desk, looking down at a stack of notes, then back over to Oberon, her own smile fixed but curious. "And what will you be performing?" Oberon grins and poletily ignores the fact that the woman was smoking. Then he offers her a piece of paper. It says: "I'm Dave Desrochers. I'm here to play Katy Perry's Fireworks." While the woman reads, the young man takes a seat at the pointed place and retrieves his violin from its case. it is far from being a masterpiece but Dave adjusts it on his shoulder ellegantly. Then, he looks at the woman and waits for a command to start performing. The camera is ignored as the man looks rested and relaxed in front of the device. Franklyn pauses midway through smoothing down the front of her summery dress - at first confusion flashes over her face as she's handed the note, quickly followed by something like embarrassment, then sympathy as she reads the note. A mute violinist. "Oh, oh I see-- good to meet you Dave-- ah, I... See." Perhaps something about the note concerns her, though, as she folds it up quickly and looks to Oberon with a hesitant expression as the man makes his way to the performers post to get ready. With a slight flump, Franklyn sits down and waits, and waits, and... She hasn't yet given a cue to start. Instead, Franklyn's staring out past Oberon's shoulder, her eyes glazing over a bit. Perhaps it's heatstroke, or a long day, or... She's pulling some kind of power move, waiting for the violinist to make the first move and play. Hard to tell. Either way? Franklyn waits as well. It could go on, well, for a while probably. Awkward. GAME: Oberon spends 2 Glamour -> >> Oberon to Here << <-============================================ Rolled 0 Success < 1 4 5 5 6 > ==========================-> >> Presence + Expression [No Flags] << <- -> >> Oberon to Here << <-============================================ Rolled 2 Successes < 1 2 6 6 7 8 9 > ===============-> >> Intelligence + Expression.Violin [No Flags] << <- Seeing that the command to start is not coming, the violinist takes a deep breath and closes his eyes. There is a second of tension on his shoulder but then, it's gone. starts his performance. It's nothing otherwordly. But at least he doesn't make any mistake. The young pretty man is a show appart, though. He closes his eyes and goes with the flow. He smiles when the music asks for it and gets more sober when its necessary. And when it comes to an end, he slowly opens his eyes and smiles cutely to the camera. -> >> Franklyn to Here << <-========================================== Rolled 0 Success < 6 > ====================-> >> Resolve + Composure - 2 - 2 [No Flags] << <- Perhaps the opening warm-up falls shy of enchanting, but doesn't mean Oberon's performance doesn't have an effect on Franklyn - the only problem is it may not be the effect he's aiming for... She sits, still and attentive as the young violinist begins to play: but as the instrumental of Katy Perry's 'Firework' hits its chorus, the theatre director's body tenses up a bit - her mouth compressing as she takes a short little intake of breath. Her lip wobbles, and those big green eyes of hers start to glaze over - not with inattention, but tears. Franklyn is crying. Worst yet, she's attempting to look like she -isn't- crying, and she's failing rather spectacularly. Hopefully whatever little sniffles and stifled sobs she makes aren't being picked up by the mic that's positioned over by Oberon's performance post. Seems like she's mighty sensitive! So emotional! Eye contact is avoided as the song ends, and Franklyn gulps - attempting to compose herself, while searching for a tissue in the pockets of her dress. "Whu-wh-whunderful, tha-thank you, one, one..." Her voice breaks a bit, and she doesn't finish that thought. Dave sees what his music has caused to the woman and stands up. He calmly lands his violin over the chair and heads to the table to offer the woman a tissue he managed to retrieve from one of his pocket. He offers her a polite smile in an attempt to cheer her up. A second later, he gestures her to wait and quickly heads back to his violin and gets ready to play another music. At the offer of the tissue, Franklyn gives Oberon a nod of gratitude - swiftly dabbing at her eyes, and taking a deep breath. "Tha-ank you, I'm so sorry -- I had, I mean, it's not your playing, don't worry, I just had a... It's unrelated." She sniffs in sharply, then leans back in her chair, tissue scrunched up in her hand. Poor Oberon's offered smile just gets met with a rather queasy nod, and a gesture to his violin. "Let's... Let's do this again. I did not mean to throw you off. By all means, play something... Else. Please?" Maybe Frank has a complicated history with Katy Perry, or something. Still. Tears are dabbed at, and Franklyn offers up a wan smile. She'd be a virtual emotional cornucopia for Winter -- but Spring? Might have a harder time harvesting from these soggy fields. GAME: Oberon spends 1 Glamour GAME: Oberon spends 1 Willpower -> >> Oberon to Here << <-============================================ Rolled 6 Successes for an exceptional success. < 1 1 1 2 2 5 5 5 6 6 6 7 7 7 8 8 9 9 9 10 > ===============-> >> Intelligence + Expression.Violin + 3 [Rote] << <- Dave needs to her and starts executing Viva la Vida . Contrary to his previous try, this one comes out just heavenly. It's so well executed that it makes feelings sprout from everyone's hearts out. Once again, the violinist goes with the music and smiles when the music demands. Though, a moment later, he stands up and starts to dance merrily along with the music. If the rendition of 'Firework' somehow inspired sorrow of a deep and unexpected nature, Oberon's playing of 'Viva la Vida' takes Franklyn down an entirely different emotional path. The crumpled tissue is lowered from her cheek as the song starts to pick up tempo, and the mortal woman sits back in her chair a bit. Notes rise and fall, and Franklyn's entire demeanour changes: grief forgotten as she sits, as if enchanted - green eyes wide and round as she watches Oberon play, her mouth falling over with shock. A careful observer would note that the fine hairs on her arms, they literally stand as she listens, as she watches Oberon stand and start to move in time with his playing. There is a little 'eep!' of delight from Franklyn at an unexpected key shift, as the melody plays out so exceptionally from the violin: but she makes no other noise, as if any contribution would break the spell. The Fairest has her full attention, that's for sure. When the music finally comes to the end, Dave grins and exales heavily. Then, he lowers his violin and bows like a master performer would do. When he returns, he stays still at his spot and waits on Franklyn's next move. The pretty man, though, already looks victorious and very proud of himself. Song over, Franklyn leans back in her chair and covers her mouth with both hands - her eyes all big and bright. It's possible she's a little shell shocked, sitting in the silence which echoes around them now the violin has stopped playing Oberon's tune. A few long moments go by, then Franklyn lowers her hands to applaud - shaking her head with disbelief. Who'd of expected such a performance, at a small-city open audition? Not Frank, apparently. "Holy shit." Said under her breath, then Frank clears her throat and speaks up a little louder. "Mr. Desrochers, that was... That was an unexpected delight." Delight! The Spring has pulled it off and delighted the sour and morose discontent which is Franklyn Garreau. She even seems tongue-tied! Shaking her head again, she runs her hands through her hair and sighs breathily. Such music! "You must share your contact details, for Hope-Feather troupe. Like I said, I'm only advising them on casting decisions, but... Wow. Where on -earth- did you learn how to play like that? I didn't see you at Juilliard -- did you go to Berkley, or?..." Looks like she's forgotten Oberon is a mute, or at least that she presumes he is. GAME: Oberon spends 1 Glamour -> >> Oberon to Here << <-============================================ Rolled 3 Successes < 2 3 5 7 7 9 10 10 > ===============================-> >> Wyrd + Composure [No Flags] << <- Dave grins as he stores back his violin. Then, he heads to the table where the woman is. He smiles to her and with a quick movement of his hand, he brings from thin air a business card. A magic trick. Stage magic. It's plain glossy white and has his name and contacts in one side. The other bears a pair of butterfly wings in bright green. -> >> Franklyn to Here << <-========================================== Rolled 1 Success < 3 4 10 > =================================-> >> Wits + Larceny [No Flags] << <- -> >> Franklyn to Here << <-========================================== Rolled 0 Success < 3 4 4 7 7 > ============================-> >> Resolve + Composure [No Flags] << <- And now a magic trick! Such a -strange- magic trick... Franklyn watches Oberon do that fancy bit of 'stage magic' with rapt attention, taking the card and turning it over in her hands. The delight that had dominated her expression so recently falters a bit - tendrils of worry creeping their way through. What a -perfect- business card. What a /bright/ butterfly. So... So informative and glossy and eye catching. Yet something doesn't sit right with Franklyn. She places the card down on the table, then after a moments hesitation, pushes it to the far side of the desktop. Like it was somehow spooky. Swallowing hard, Franklyn looks up at Oberon with an uncertain smile on her face. It's been a roller coster of emotions for her, ever since the pretty young man started playing. And he's so -quiet- too. "...Okay Mr. Desrochers, I think we've, uh, we've got what the troupe needs to make their decision... Yes. Do you, uh, have any questions or, uh, anything you need to know?" Dave bites his lower lips. Pondering for a second or two. Then he retrieves a tiny notepad from his pocket and a pen. He writes down a humble message and rips the piece of paper off of the notepad before delivering it to the woman in front of him. The paper says:"I'm sorry for making you cry with my first music. I hope the second one brough you some warmth to your heart. If you're still feeling a bit off, I can buy you coffee at the Crossroads Cafe." Franklyn waits patiently as Oberon goes to get his notepad and write his message. When she takes a moment to read it, there's a flash of embarrassment and something sad, close to grief perhaps, that crosses her face -- only when she looks up at the exceptional violinist, she's smiling wanly. "Don't, uh, worry about it - I... I lost someone, or rather, they changed: the song, it just reminded me and, uh, I lost myself for a minute there -- no need to apologise or anything, your second performance more than made up for it." A slightly stronger smile to the Fairest, then Frank is looking over to the names listed on the desktop papers. "And as much as I'd love to spend the rest of my Sunday drinking coffee and eating peach pie at the Crossroads... I have to finish up working here. Thank you very much for sitting down for Hope-and-Feather. I am sure they will be in touch. I'll see you around town, no doubt." Oberon steps backwards and bows again. When he returns, he smiles brightly and makes 'call me' gestures with his free hand while the other holds the violin case. Then, he waves a goodbye before turning around and heading outside.