Yoshi is forced to shield his nose and mouth from the incoming dust from moving the unused and old lamp post. He fights his way through the swarming dust as he prepares to check each box for that instrument.
"I mean -Cough!- I usually place all of my belongings that I don't need. Most of my very old very outdated -Cough!- music documents rest here."
The maestro picks up two boxes and retreats away from the corner to regroup himself and recollect the fresh air that his lungs desperately needed. He opens the box and... nothing. Nothing but his old musical pieces that were grossly scratched, wrote over, and ultimately thrown away. Yoshi turns back to the corner, this time with his mouth and nose covered by his hand, to check on the rest of the boxes.
Teo continues to wave away the dust, one hand covering his mouth and pinching his nose shut. He opens the first box to find an old cello inside, only a small amount of dusting covering it thanks to the box being decently airtight. He moves onto the next few boxes carefully, finding more old and some exotic instruments. The young yordle also finds some stacks of sheet music which interest him, making him pause his search now and again to read a few lines. Some of the music is too scratched up to read while others are simply faded.
About halfway down the room Teo finds an interesting set of bamboo pan-pipes, lightly dusted from years of not being used. He blows off the dust first, then waits for the particles to settle before slowly inhaling and putting his lips to one of the pipes, readying his embouchure, and calmly blowing in to create a soft, single G note. The musician smiles and giggles a little, finding the sound to be interesting. Come to think of it, he'd never played the pan-pipes before. He begins to fiddle around with the pipes a little, figuring out which pipes match which note.
The next set of boxes stack on the old set of boxes Yoshi opened earlier. Once again, no shamisen appear in any box although he did find a Mothership vase. He has no clue on what he planned to do with it before and he still has no clue if he will need it. As he close the box and sets it aside along with the other boxes, he smiles a little as Teo fiddles with the pan flute, trying to figure out the possible notes he could play.
"Enjoying yourself, huh?" ask Yoshi as he takes out the next set of boxes.
Teo immediately pauses when he's brought to attention, blushing a little and almost dropping the pipes. Quickly he sets the instrument down and resumes his search post-haste. "S-sorry, I'll get back to work."
Sure enough, his search speed increases significantly, only searching in boxes big enough for the shamisen to be stored in. It only takes him another minute or so to find the instrument, sighing in relief and turning to his master once again. "I found it, master."
Yoshi's ears pick up and the maestro turn around to see Teo holding the shamisen in his hand. He still covers his mouth and nose with his arm, making his words muffled but still clear to understand.
"That's great! Now -Cough!- let's leave this dusty -Cough!- attic! Ugh... I hate dust..."
The maestro descends from the attic with Teo (surely) following him. He instructs Teo to sit in a couch with a finger point while he heads to the kitchen for a glass of water to filter down all the dust that might have infiltrated inside. After breathing a sigh of relief, he fills up two glasses with water and moves back to the main room. He sets both of them down, one for himself and one for Teo, in the table that divides them.
"Now that we're back here," resumes Yoshi. "What do you plan to do with the shamisen?"
Teo sits with the shamisen in playing position, the instrument a little big for the small yordle. He plucks each string once to check for tone, then starts to tune the instrument. Unfortunately, his knowledge of how to do this properly is a little fuzzy, so the process moves slowly. The cup of water placed before him doesn't seem to catch his attention. "Well... erm, like I said, I was hoping you could accompany me. I-I could teach you the part. It's pretty simple."
Once he feels the three strings are properly tuned, he starts to practice a few scales to refresh his memory on how to play each note. Afterwords he'd begin to pluck out the lines for "Sukiyaki".
Yoshi analytically leans forward, his head poised forward and ready to learn. Obivously, he has never heard of the song and trying to play the piece that has been untouched for years felt like playing a new instrument. But a few strings and a couple of chords doesn't seem to be hard to play. Once Teo's done, Yoshi moves to the other side to sit next to Teo. He may need help from the little yordle in playing Sukiyaki.
Teo hands over the shamisen to his master when he feels he's taught the chords well enough, then readies his embouchure and picks up his flute. "Okay, um... m-maybe you should give it a few plucks for the notes one more time, and then... I'll play the melody on my own once and then you can come in."
Yoshi experiments with the different strings lengthened from one end to another. His fingers strum softly which produced a quiet sound and a forceful strum which produced a more definite loud sound. The maestro mimics each chord in a sequence, repeating it until he has the beat instinctively learned.
"When you're ready," Yoshi signals. For him, he worries if Teo will exhaust himself like the last time and he doesn't know why.
Teo nods, bringing his flute to his lips. He starts by playing the melody of the piece, all the while listening to the calm chirp of the birds out the window. When Yoshi comes in with his supporting role, the young bard smiles warmly and closes his eyes. In his head he starts to hear the strum and pluck of other instruments, soon visualizing the room with a few familiar faces. He visualizes Horatio next to Yoshi, strumming along with a shamisen of his own. The sound of violins flows in through the window, and the piano in the other room seems to start playing as well.
Soon, the images in Teo's mind shimmer into reality, illusary reflections of his memories.
Yoshi plucks the strings in a sequential tune, repeating the chords in beautiful succession. This signals Teo to join in with his flute and the older maestro pauses to listen to the flute alone. The flute's soothing sound flows through the room like water streaming in a soft river. A soft and beautiful feeling dimly radiates from him and Yoshi immediately joins back in to do duet with the younger musician. And as the two continue to play, the two musical notes intertwine together in marriage. Yoshi can hear other musical instruments joining in together in his head. This piece is simple and easy and yet beautiful...
But the resonance of pianos and violins are all too real for him. Yoshi's ears suddenly pick up and his hands tense up. Then Horatio appears out of nowhere, besides him and slightly swaying his head left and right to the rhythm. His breathing rate rises as he might be insane. Is this all real or is he that nuts?
Teo continues playing on, though after a little longer he hears his mentor start to breath quicker. Worrying for Yoshi's health, the young yordle opens his eyes and turns his head to the other, still playing his song.
The moment his eyes open all extra visions and sounds fizzle out, leaving only the sounds of Teo and Yoshi's instruments.
The images disappear, the sound of violins and pianos fade away and the only sound remaining is Teo's whistling flutes as Yoshi ceases strumming altogether. For Yoshi, it felt too real. For a moment, the maestro truly thought he lost his mind.
The sense of reality settle down around him. Yoshi slows himself, along with his breathing, and places the shamisen on the table. Then he quickly turn his head towards Teo, thirsting from more unanswered questions.
"Teo... Did you cast a... spell on me? Everything... felt too real! Horatio! How did you conjure him? And the violins and pianos! How did you do that? Was there some kind of trick Teo!? It seemed to be illusory magic, isn't it!? Or you hired someone else to play the piano! Well!?"
Teo stops playing as soon as the questions start spilling out, backing into the chair and pulling up his legs in fear. The questioning feels so loud and angry to him that his ears pull back, eyes going wide. He's unable to breath, his mind going numb with misunderstanding. Soon he's crumpled into a ball, eyes wet with tears, and he wraps his arms around his legs so tight the circulation is cut off. Soft sobs escape his throat as he squeezes his eyes shut, forcing out more tears, his voice hoarse and shaky, just like his quivering body. "I...I-I d...d...d-don't know! I don't n-know...!"
Everything after that is sputters and whimpers mixed with his quiet sobbing, his pants starting to get soaked with tears. His hands are so weak and shaking that he drops his flute, which bounces off of the couch onto the floor, leaving the young yordle to roll to his side and curl up further in fear and embarrassment.
Yoshi overdid it. His slight panic forces Teo to curl up in fear and Yoshi threw his head crashing into his hands in self frustration. He covers himself in guilt, a long shameful groan escaping from his concealed face. He showed his generosity by buying him clothes and cleaning him and now Yoshi scares Teo with submission with panic and harsh questions.
He places the shamisen at the table and kneels in front of Teo as he slowly removing his shaky legs and arms, wiping off any tears shed.
"Teo," he somewhat impatiently said, then shook his head and calm his tone. "Teo... Teo... No need to cry. I- I shouldn't have snapped. I'm sorry..."
Welcome to Maelstrom, Original Characters, Summoners and Champions alike. We are a divergent setting roleplay forum for the ever-popular MOBA by Riot, League of Legends. This means we are based in Riot canon, but your characters' actions can have a real, lasting impact on the world. Together, the Maelstrom community endeavors to bring the League of Legends setting and characters to life through collaborative storytelling and meaningful development. We welcome you along for the ride.
Hang out in a citystate, visit the Institute of War, explore the uncharted recesses of Runeterra. Whatever you decide, good luck, have fun and happy writing.
hello new skin yes. gonna work out some kinks but let me know what you guys think. it's not all that flashy but i didn't really like the tabs so the side bar is back. oh and the cbox has also made it's appearance. -rurin.
Maelstrom was created by Swain. Written content is copyrighted to their creators on this site. The skin is created by Wolf and mini-profile template by Kuroya of Gangnam Style. The board and thread remodel is by Kagney and has been heavily edited by Rurin. League of Legends is owned by Riot Games. Maelstrom does not claim ownership to any images used unless stated otherwise.
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Chat box has been removed for the time being. Please contact me at Wyerden@gmail.com, or skype name DearCryophoenix with for any questions or concerns.
