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Date Posted: 00:38:32 12/11/01 Tue
Author: Laurel and Tristan
Subject: A regular Mozart!
In reply to: Corum & Valhorek 's message, "All in a day's work" on 21:31:30 12/10/01 Mon

Laurel couldn’t help laughing when Marz leapt to his feet with the lute, excitement written all over his face. Quickly, she covered her hand with her mouth, but it was hard not to giggle at his antics. The others didn’t seem too appreciative of his new “talent,” but Laurel thought it was positively adorable.

“I am now a full fledged musician!” she heard him declare, making her laugh again and shake her head at him. He played her little ditty of a tune over and over again, earning a rather equal amount of annoyed and amused looks from their companions. It was strange to see Tristan smiling so easily, his head turning to Tia every so often, though his eyes remained focused on Marz. The little thief seemed to find their tender musician amusing as well, as did Jeremy, who started to offer the chords to something called, “AC/DC.”

Barry appeared to be the only one of their group (although the tribespeople did a good bit of wincing themselves) who was truly upset. The floating skull wandered over toward Marz and belched out a couple of hairy tarantulas over his head before drifting off to hover beside Tia again.

“Mercy!” Laurel cried, her mind searching frantically for a transformation spell to change the spiders into harmless butterflies or sparrows, but before she could settle on any one thing, Corum reacted first. Marz didn’t seem to appreciate having Yorik swinging so closely to his own skull, but the two friends worked their differences out as usual, with Corum backing down with a hasty explanation and Marz simply leaving it at that.

Laurel met the boy’s expectant, slightly cocky glance and smiled. “If you promise to listen to what I try to teach you,” she said, giving him a playful wink, “I suppose you may keep---

Valhorek, who had been sitting quietly some ways away, suddenly stood up and approached them. Laurel paused in the middle of her sentence and raised an eyebrow at the man, curious as to what he would say.

“May I?” he asked simply, and Marz handed over the lute, though he looked a bit reluctant. At this point, Laurel remembered the spiders, who were still scuttling around the campfire. Alarmed that they may as yet cause harm to someone present, she waved her hand and muttered, “Mutate in mures!” With a puff of grayish smoke, the tarantulas transformed in little white mice. The creatures scurried harmlessly away, although Urchin the ferret immediately bounded off in hot pursuit, chittering happily.

She listened interestedly as Valhorek tried to introduce Marz to the concept of major and minor chords. She wasn’t sure whether the boy would be able to pick up on it so quickly, but one never knew. He did seem to have an ear for music.

“If you like,” she finally spoke up, her voice sounding a bit dry, “I can teach you a few more songs.” She nodded to the lute, which didn’t look like it would be making its way back to its rightful owner any time soon, but she didn’t mind. The little instrument was relatively cheap, anyway; it would be no great loss to her should something ill befall it.

“And if you’ve some ink and parchment,” she added, “I’m sure Valhorek and I can even show you how to read the music…if you’re interested, that is.”



Tristan liked the way Tia thought. It was kind of nice to imagine that all the fighting he and Marz did with one another would eventually wear away, so that they could “pave the way for future contentment.” But all right, he’d admit it: he was content with Marz, just as he was. Maybe Marz was the one who wasn’t too happy about things at times. Guess I’m pretty irritating to be with sometimes, he thought, frowning unhappily.

He started a little when she said she shouldn’t be giving any advice to him. Wait a second, had he asked for advice? What the hell was he doing discussing their problems with an outside person in the first place? He was a little alarmed at his unconsciously open manner, and wondered what it could mean. Maybe he was unsatisfied in some small way. And maybe he was just anxious to talk to someone about it, even if he didn’t even realize it.

He shrugged when she added that all their fighting was probably no big deal, since they were still together. “It’s only been about a week,” he admitted, then he blushed, cursing himself inwardly. There he went again, talking and blabbing out his inner thoughts as if he were high on something.

She made him smile when she bit into the chocolate, giggling at the thought of it being an aphrodisiac of some sort. “My people think so,” he said, grinning slightly and biting into his own candy bar. “Course I wouldn’t have known back then, but who knows?” He stopped himself before he could finish the thought about him maybe being able to try it out now. What the hell’s gotten into me?

They were both interrupted from the conversation by Marz, who suddenly bounded up and knelt beside Tristan, playing his new song. Tia giggled again and he almost echoed her when Marz proclaimed himself a full-fledged magician before springing to his feet and yelling for everyone to start dancing. He looked awfully disappointed when no one joined him on the “dance floor,” turning to stomp back to Laurel and demand a better song.

“I thought it was okay,” Tristan said, smiling wistfully, although he probably wasn’t loud enough for Marz to hear. As Valhorek stepped forward to continue the instructions, he turned to Tia again, a quizzical look on his face as he remembered something she said.

“What do you mean, you make potential lovers see you as close friends?” he asked, tilting his head curiously. “I mean, you aren’t very plain. You’re even rather pretty, I think, for a girl.” (You would never get anything but brutal honesty from a dragon. All you could do was hope he just thought well of you.) “Look at me,” he pointed out, putting his hand on his chest, “I’m nothing special, right? If I can do it, then so can you.”

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  • Valentino -- Barry, 02:52:23 12/11/01 Tue
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