Practice Session

Who: Khaine and Zorya
What: Zorya happens across Khaine while he's practicing a song.
When: September 8, 2008


'The World of Pern(tm)' and 'The Dragonriders of Pern(r)' are copyright to Anne McCaffrey (c) l967, 2000. This is a recorded online session, by permission of the author but generated on PernWorld MUSH for the benefit of people unable to attend.


Harper Hall - Practice Rooms
This is a small room, square in shape. Though chairs and music stands are provided for four or five musicians, that many people would find themselves cramped. The room is windowless, but well lit by a single row of electric lamps in the center of the ceiling and painted white to enhance the light.
A small shelf of dark wood is fixed to the wall, allowing temporary storage of music or instruments. The solid stone walls prevent more than the faintest disturbance from neighboring rooms.

Outside, the sky above Harper Hall is pleasant. The blue is pale at the horizon line, deepening to something of a more vivid hue towards the zenith - where the sun isn't stared at with its ferociously bright white-yellow glare. Thin cirrus clouds are wisping across the sky with the occasional thicker cumulonimbus thrown in for good measure. The temperature isn't too hot, nor is it faintly chilled as it was in winter. It's a perfect day for flying on a dragon, sitting outside with a picnic, or just enjoying the day somehow outdoors.

Which brings to mind the question of why Journeyman Khaine is standing in a practice room with the door open and sheet music on a stand before him, given the penchant he and his twin, Xhaine, have for slipping off to do any of the above activities?

Khaine has a warm, caramel tenor that's as smooth as it is gorgeous. He's trained it as part of his focus. It's one of the ways to tell the twins apart: Khaine is a tenor, and Xhaine is a baritone. He's singing the male part of a classical piece at the moment, having already warmed up. The swell and abatement of his voice is clearly audible what with the mostly-open door - he doesn't particularly care who hears, after all.

Zorya is one such that happens down the hall and hears, curiosity driving the girl towards the open door there to stand an listen for the moment. The question may come too why she hasn't found the time on such a lovely day to be outdoors. Trying to be quiet so as not to interrupt and actually managing it however are two very different things, and as the girl moves into the doorway (being that its open) rather than settling for standing in the hall, not only do the hinges squeak but she hits her shin on the edge of the door. "Oh ow!" she winces, quickly moving a hand to cover her mouth. Okay, that… not supposed to happen.

Khaine continues on to his periods of rest, where the music is supposed to swell and be an interlude. It's as good a place as any to pause. The eyes that glance over beneath their long, too long really, lashes are those of a wildcat - green as envy, electrically so. Dark brows lift, but so do the corners of his lips. "I probably should have left it wider," he concedes to her. "Mostly for just that reason." He sounds amused, and the tenor of his singing voice matches the quality of his speaking voice as well. He tips his head at her briefly. "You're an Apprentice?" he asks curiously.

Zorya nods, perhaps a bit too quickly, in response to his question. Her hand pulling from her lips as she looks up towards the young man with crystalline, ocean blue eyes. "Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt…" her apology trailing off as it seems that he's not overly upset by the fact that she has. "I just.. well I heard and…" He gets the idea.

Khaine nods a little. "I don't mind if people hear," he offers with a chuckle and a rueful smile. "Xhaine and I have this plan to start up a band and travel around playing music at weyrs and Gathers," he explains. "That and I'm a Harper. If I was really bothered by people overhearing my singing at this stage, I'd be in deep trouble wouldn't I?" He shakes his head and glances back over at her. "You have to forgive me if you've been here a good while. Xhaine and I were fairly inclusive to one another while we were apprentices ourselves. It wasn't until just recently, I suppose, that we finally started breaking away from that." He glances over at his music again. "It's a little hard to do when you've been literally a part of someone since your conception, though," he admits.

Zorya shakes hear head. "No, I haven't been here all that long. Long enough to know where things are, but short enough that I still get lost sometimes." she laughs lightly, "Though I do suppose you would be in trouble if you didn't like to be heard by now." she agrees, pushing the door open just a bit more so that she hopefully doesn't end up doing the same thing on the way out. "I guess… I mean two of my sister's are twins and they might as well be tied together for how they do things."

Khaine nods quickly. "Tied together. Yes. That was exactly how we were before," he admits. "Then I got chosen to stand at Ista for their clutch, and that… strained everything. But it turned out for the better that I didn't Impress." Despite his words, there's a brief look of sadness on his face. "Anyway, I have an older sister and a younger brother." He pauses. "Well, /we/ do at least. Xhaine's actually the older of us." He smiles over at Zorya again, sheepishly this time. "Bigger, older by a little bit, tougher… if you see a guy that looks exactly like me skateboarding around, that's him."

"I just came from Ista…" Zorya says, pausing a moment to watch his expression as he continues. "Impression's not for everyone." the girl offers with a smile, "Like you said, if you had it wouldn't have been the same with your brother. "And that's Xhaine?" she half questions having heard the name a moment ago. She nods slightly, storing the note for later.

Khaine nods at her. "I realized that," he replies quietly. "My brother and I had a talk, and he pointed out that I shouldn't want a dragon for status, but because I wanted to be a rider and the like. He didn't take my Searching without him being Searched as well… too well." He shrugs a little. "But that's beside the point, I think. He made a good point, and in the end, the one dragon that resonated completely with me was the one I told Xhaine would be my dragon or no other dragon would suit me." He smirks suddenly. "And lo, it was the gold. I could only laugh, really. I suppose that's a sign, isn't it?" He chuckles. "And yes, that's Xhaine. Blustering, loud, obnoxious, and tends to goof off more than I do now, given I learned a bit about responsibility at Ista." He cuts his green eyes towards her slyly. "Not that it means I don't find trouble to get into still."

Zorya giggles, "Well trouble doesn't always mean causing actually trouble either." she notes. Sometimes it's just doing something you probably shouldn't… "But now I know all about you're brother and you time at Ista, which I have to say was quite a while before I arrived there, but I still don't know much about you. Or a name for that matter… Your singing on the other hand, that was absolutely beautiful." the girl babbles a bit.

Khaine grins at her. "What? Can't take the mystery any longer?" he teases her gently. "I'm Khaine. I'm the one who looks up all the legal stuff after our pranks go awry so that I can get us out of the majority of trouble." He looks suddenly innocent. "Which may also be why I'm the one who eggs on Xhaine to do stuff too… which may be why he affectionately terms me the Evil Twin." He spreads his hands. "Who knows, though?" He bats his lashes at her. "What's your name? I suppose that mystery thing swings both ways here."

Zorya nods. "That could be," she agrees, giggling at his teasing as well as the thought of him being the 'evil twin'. "I'm Zorya." she offers the name then. "Nice to meet you I'm sure."

Khaine waves a long-fingered hand towards her. "Eh, I'm sure there are less-pleasant people to meet, so sure." He nods at the music that he's been singing to. "This was written for a male, mind. I have another that has a female part to it." He draws his fingers back through his long bound hair. "I suppose you might say I have troubles with it," he admits with a little wry grin. "But you're welcome to ah… try it, if you want?" His hands move to the pages and fumble with them a little.

Zorya blinks. Her? "Oh no, that's okay." she replies with a shake of her head, taking a step back as she puts her hands up. He has the wrong person to try that. "I don't know…" The girl stops then. "Maybe if I knew what it was supposed to sound like..?"
Connected players on Harper Hall's knot:

"Oh, come on…" Khaine teases her, encouraging her as well. "Be adventurous! You never know your limits until you try to find them, you know." He places the music there, but then pauses. "But all right, I'll try to sing the part first. It'll be horrible, but the only thing that I can say is that it's meant to be lovely and feminine, as it's the part of a Lord Holder's daughter who has fallen in love with a bronzer from the nearby weyr. Which, honestly, I can't do well given I'm male and all that and haven't ever considered being in love with a bronzerider from Ista."

Zorya giggles. "I think I might be scared if you had." she comments, "Being that I know some of them." That'd just be a very odd thought to say the least. "You don't have to thought… If you would though it'd help." Maybe. To the setting explanation however the girl nods, "I suppose I could give it a try…"

Khaine clears his throat and winces a bit, trying to get up to an alto from his tenor. He can hit most of the notes, but a soprano he is not. Which becomes painfully obvious as he runs a scale in that alto and cracks the first of the higher notes, coughing and blushing afterwards without looking at her. "Sharding male hormones," he offers in amusement. "Anyway." He clears his throat again, and then offers her a rare "treat" - Khaine singing an alto part. He actually sounds a bit feminine when he does it, having to hit the falsettos the higher up that he goes. He does an admirable enough job with the moderately slow, romantic piece. The girl is in love and declaring it to the world from a wall, down the stairs, and across courtyards like a young thing might. The only marring of the pretty little song is the occasional note that he has to bring down an octave - it sounds out of place, and is most likely due to his inability to hit it at the proper octave. And though he does manage to make it pretty, it's just not quite toned right. It sounds much like a man singing a woman's part, rather than the delicate, ethereal quality of a young woman singing about her first love.

"That was… good." Zorya settles on the rather uninformative term as he finishes. "You really didn't have to you know." But now he's going to want her to give it a go isn't he. "What's it start on?" she asks for the note, humming the sound to herself until she's found what she thinks is the right pitch based on what she's heard.

Khaine moves back to the beginning of the piece and thinks on it for a moment. She starts to hum and he joins her with the proper note, letting her match it and hold it as long as she needs to know where it starts. He smiles at her afterwards. "Just give it a try," he finally tells her, nodding and stepping back a little so she can have front and center with the music. "You aren't supposed to be perfect the first time anyway. And I can even close the door so nobody hears you, if you like?"

Zorya nods, taking a breath, and stepping into the place he's made for her. "Yeah.. I don't know that I'm as comfortable with people hearing me as you are just yet. She's still only an apprentice, and a new one at that! Once the door is closed she wets her lips to begin. She can do this. Yes? Clearly it needs work, but the sound is there as she begins. Quiet at first, but once she's found the place where 'no one' is listening her sweet voice rises to meet the notes, well… a good handful of them anyway. Its a fine first try for any apprentice. It may be noted that the most troublesome points are those very same Khaine had, though her voice fits the piece much better being a girl. Her hands working the air just a touch here and there to add expression to the word, and one might note, if they were to notice, that the girl's eyes are closed as she sings.

FTB…

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