One Melody (open)

[Deleted]

Since coming to Blue Ridge, Kate hadn't practiced her violin as much as she should have. Before she'd gotten a roommate, she'd practiced in her room, but now she was more hesitant to do so. Frankly, the girl intimidated her, which said a lot since Kate was hard to intimidate. She figured that the girl's ears would be judging, and maybe not the most appreciative. It had gotten to the point where she could only go so long without practicing though, so she had to find someplace to do so. She'd go outside, but not until it got warmer. The last thing she needed was her violin protesting about the cold and going out of tune constantly for the next couple of months.

The most natural place to do so was the music room, so that's where she was headed. Hopefully it would be empty so that she could practice in peace for at least a little while on her own. Luckily when she found it it was. Even if someone else came in, they would certainly be musical themselves and not mind her playing. She was rather good at it, so it wasn't as if she would be causing a terrible racket for them. Years of private lessons had paid off for her, and she was now pretty skilled for her age. Flicking on the light switch as she entered, she looked around, smiling at the sight of the empty room. Setting her case down on the floor near a chair, she wandered over to get a music stand, tempted to wander over to the piano and fiddle around on it.

She kept her task however, and got her stand set up with her music before her chair. Opening her case, she pulled out her violin and fastened the shoulder rest on. Tightening her bow and swiping rosin over it, she looked down at the instrument. It was one of her most prized possessions, quality made and quite pretty. She remembered picking it out from a row of instruments, knowing that she would have it for a long time. The grain of the wood was lovely, with a single pieced back and delicate mother of pearl details inlaid on the tuning pegs. She loved the way it hummed in her hands when music was playing around her, as if it were alive and trying to sing along. It had music inside it, just like Kate.

Ruffling through her sheet music, she chose one of her simpler pieces to warm up. Eine kleine Nachtmusik was a favorite of hers, and it would be a nice way to start. She played the first beat which was a chord, stopping for a moment to enjoy the way it sang through the room before continuing on, completely emerged in the music.

clothes

[Cortney Smit]

Cortney sat at her desk, letting the words of Daniel O'Donnell wash over her. She closed her eyes, letting the music sink deep. Although she had been at the Academy for almost a year now, there was so much of her old life that she still missed. Most of all, she missed Myriam. She didn't think, no matter how much time passed, that she would ever feel that a part of her was missing. The freshman glanced up at the photo of her and her sister with their ponies that sat on the shelf above her desk. They had been frozen in time in that photo, a photo that had been taken of the girls at home after a lesson on their ponies - who were as different in looks as the girls were identical - a week before the accident that ended the twins' life. When her sister had died, part of Cortney had died as well.

"Stop it!" She screamed at herself, pleased that she had the double room currently to herself. "Just stop it!" She pushed herself away from her desk and jumped to her feet. "Myri is gone now, and nothing you do will bring her back! So just pull yourself together and grow up!" She'd had this battle with herself since her sister's death, but it seemed to be a battle that she would be fighting until the day she died.

Feeling the need to leave her room, she turned the stereo off and headed out of the room and the House. She then headed to the academic building. She needed to get out of her room, but she still felt the need for music and there was no better place than the music room. Not only was the room full of musical vibes, but it also had great acoustics and made her feel both alone and surrounded by people.

As she approached the music room, the sound of Mozart's Eine kleine Nachtmusik met her ears. Her steps slowed almost to the point of halt, knowing that if she had been the one in there playing she'd want her privacy, but she also wanted to know who was playing. Walking up to the door, she stepped around it and stood there listening, waiting for the violinist to finish the piece and notice her arrival.

[Deleted]

Kate forced herself to finish before stopping her playing. She had a habit of cutting herself short of finishing a piece when she practiced, usually because it started repeating and she was eager to start other things. This was short though, since she was only playing the first movement, and it was abridged. She placed her bow down on her lap, balancing it so that it wouldn't fall, and held up her violin with her chin resting on the scroll. She ruffled through her music for a couple moments before realizing that someone was watching.

Looking up, she was a bit unnerved at first to see the figure in the doorway, but smiled after a moment. It was Cortney, the singer from the library. Also Cortney from Dance and Choir and pretty much all of her academic classes. Straightening her shoulders, she arranged her signature grin on her face and greeted the other girl, "Hello again." Last time she'd seen her outside of classes she'd been drawn in by Cortney's singing, and she wondered if Cortney was here as a result of the music too.

She twisted her wrist idly around, trying to get the achy cramp out of it. It's what she got for not practicing enough anyways. Her wrist should have been looser rather than the way she'd had it snapped back to avoid it from falling forwards. It wasn't as if she didn't practice at all, but she certainly didn't as much as she used to when her mother made her. She smiled as she thought about how her body showed the marks of her activities. Her feet showed the stresses of a ballet dancer, and she still had a "violin hickey," even if it wasn't as bad as it used to be.  As for riding, that showed everywhere else.

Focusing her attention back on the girl in the doorway, she tried to think of something to say. Perhaps Cortney was here to do her own practicing, and if so, Kate would try to cut her session a bit short, though she'd still get as much in as possible.

[Cortney Smit]

Cortney listened as the music came to a close, running her hands down the hot pink velour tracksuit that she was wearing, and smiled when the girl playing turned to look at her. "Hey Kate." She replied. "You play well." She'd never got into playing any one instrument, which meant that she was alright with playing a number of different ones, but wasn't good at any one single instrument.

She was only slightly disappointed that the room was already in use, after all, she just wanted to muck around with her voice, and she could do that anywhere. "How long have you been playing the violin?" The instrument was too small and the pitch too high to be viola.

She finally stepped away from the door. "I'm sorry for interrupting your practice." She said with another smile. "I'll see you in class." Which she knew was a fact as she shared most of her academic classes with the other girl. She would head down to the dance studio, since the music room was currently occupied.