Of Music and Misadventure [Edge/Ilchymis]

[Marshmallow]

Ilchymis had been growing steadily more confident in his wandering. While he couldn't very well navigate the entire breadth of the city without help, he was able to manage the area around "home" well enough. Simple routes from the house to the nearby parks, grocers and shops had been easy enough to memorize once he had a grasp of the grid-like structure of the neighbourhood. He'd even managed to learn what the coloured lights overhanging the street corners meant, and therefore when it was safe to cross. Transport methods of this world still perplexed and unnerved him - those rolling metal boxes were too much like cages for his liking, nevermind the noxious clouds they belched behind them as they moved. Thus, despite living near a bus stop, Ilchymis staunchly avoided the growling steel behemoths. He was content enough to walk. Besides, if anyone needed him in a pinch, he could usually call on Sohl.


Today was a quiet day. Calm, sunny and pleasantly warm. But when Ilchymis found himself left alone to his thoughts for too long, he sought an escape - a distraction, a task to perform. Anything to get him away from those spiralling thorns in the back of his head.

The canvas shopping bag looped around one arm provided an excuse to get out. He had meant to wander to the bakery down the way, and then continue up to the park to throw crumbs to the birds there. He padded down the sidewalk in his flats, floral skirt billowing with the breeze as he traced the memorized path. A turn here, a cross-street there. Trees and houses passed into the background as he went, gaze fixed ahead as he moved almost mechanically along his route.


The music caught him off guard.

Ilchymis skipped a step when he noticed it, and his clockwork thoughts ground to a sudden halt. There had never been music before. Why was there music? It was unlike the odd clips of noise caught from the windows of passing vehicles, but more constant, more melodic. It drifted over the trees and houses from somewhere deeper in the neighbourhood.


Well, he had been looking for a distraction...
Previous plans abandoned, Ilchymis took a right where he would have otherwise continued straight ahead and struck out on a new and meandering path to track down the source of the sound.

An unknown number of streets and corners later, and the construct found himself at the edge of a large park he had not visited before. The space was filled with people, all milling about between clusters of stalls and carts. Streamers decorated the branches of trees in colourful pastels, balloons floated lazily on too-long strings overhead, and the smell of many sweet and savoury treats filled the air. Somewhere at the back, he thought he could see a makeshift amphitheater or stage. And there was such music! The sound and style he couldn't place - this world's musical tastes were so bizarrely varied and foreign - but it was not unpleasant.


Ilchymis stood at the edge of this odd little neighbourhood festival, curiously watching and listening to the buzz of casual conversation and the gentle, lilting tunes. While the atmosphere was inviting, he felt too much a stranger here... With no Kit or Stenson to grant him permission, and no Sohl to encourage him along in exploration, he felt it was somehow not his place to intrude. And so he merely lingered at the fringe like a spectre, watching but not participating.

[NightshadeVII]

The festivals of Wathais sometimes proved to be an effective method of dealing with the darai’s homesickness. With the many colours and lights, the stalls offering so many different experiences, as well as the smells and sounds of chatter in the air, they seemed to have gotten the basics of what made a festival right in this world as well. It was relaxing to be in such a familiar setting, even if he didn’t socialize the way he would back home, he enjoyed just taking in the asmosphere, watching the coloured lights above flickering in the air, knowing how beautiful they would become once night fell. Edge couldn’t help but smile every time he saw someone, be they young or old, completely mesmerized by some item they had found in a stall or by a performing musician, it gave the entire scene a sense of quiet value to him. These people perhaps didn’t think of it the same way as he did, this concept of quiet value, but either way, it attributed to the good atmosphere.

They were far from the festivals his kind hosted, of course, and a part of him still yearned from the festivals of his home, the sounds and smells, the clothes and face paint, music and dancing and creating. It had been wonderful coming together around something, especially when different settlements collaborated, sharing and teaching the little things that made their home unique compared to others. A vivid memory came to mind of a mountain settlement having showed off a dance of theirs, full of energy and pride, contrasting so sharply with the songs of the river settlement also participating in the event. Had it been an eclipse festival? It might have been, now that he was thinking back on it.
However he remembered the preparation for the festivals just as well, the time spent tailoring new clothes and testing out face paint to go with the occasion. The sounds of cooking and woodworking a constant in the air. The last few days before a festival back home was always a constant buzz of noise and life.

Even though the festivals and holidays from this world were so vastly different, so forgeun to him till, it was a pleasant experience to walk though it all like this none the less. Somehow, it both soothed and strengthened his homesickness.
Some part of him couldn’t help but feel like he was dressed wrong, despite his casual, albeit alternative get up being completely normal and acceptable for the setting. He’d probably stand out more if he wore his traditional garbs, with all its patterns and flashy colours.
Absentmindedly, he toyed with his necklace while he thought, walking through the crowd.

One of the bigger groups that had been hired to perform has just finished their set, allowing the music of the stalls and a few smaller musicians to stand out again, accompanied by laughter and chatter. There was such a wonderful mix of genres here, and it was inspiring to see other artists combine genres in ways he would have never thought to do himself.
While it hadn’t been a conscious part of his decision to go here, it was always nice to meet other musicians, chatting about the craft, getting new ideas and new inspiration. He already felt like he could write a few songs when he got home. He just didn’t know what they’d be about yet.

Edge had just grabbed a warm drink from one of the stalls, enticed by the warm smell of spices and now warming his hands on the cup, when he noticed someone standing awkwardly right outside the festival.
This person, whoever they were, was dressed in wonderfully colourful clothes and their silvery hair danced in the air behind him. Now that wasn’t someone you saw every day, how wonderful was that. Just because of their clothes alone, Edge already wanted to strike up conversation, after all, it wasn’t every day people in the city actually wore something so different and colourful. However, soon after he noticed just how... nervous and downright conflicted this person looked. All at once, they seemed to feel awkward and out of place, and yet their eyes were fixed on the festival, filled with a timid, yet strong curiousity. Perhaps they hadn’t seen something like this before? If that was the case, it would make sense they seemed so timid about actually joining in.

It didn’t take long for Edge to make up his mind and approach the silver haired stranger. Hoping to not intimidate them, he made sure to step into their field of vision in advance and wave in their direction. The Darai knew that he could often appear intimidating to people who didn’t know him, so he hoped to negate that effect as much as possible.
“Hello there”, Edge greeted the stranger softly, a gentle smile on his lips and warmth in his eyes, “you lost? Or is it just your first time visiting a music festival?”

[Marshmallow]

As Ilchymis watched the goings-on of the festival, gaze curiously tracking from on group of milling people to the next, a figure stepped out from the milling crowds. The stranger was directly in his line of sight and seemed to be looking directly at him. Then they raised an arm to wave in Ilchymis' direction.

He did not recognize this person. Suddenly self-conscious, Ilchymis turned to check the road behind himself. Perhaps he had accidentally stepped between two companions and was presently blocking their reunion. But as he looked the street and footpath both were empty, save for a handful of parked cars and a passing cyclist.

Which must mean that...


"Hello there."


Ilchymis spun back around to find that the stranger was much closer. The man was intimidatingly tall, but wore a gentle smile as he asked Ilchymis if he were lost, or if this was his first festival. The construct blinked back at him, at first too timid and surprised to respond.

"Um..." Ilchymis started, shuffling his feet nervously. Even his wing rustled, though it was hidden by a glamour. He averted his eyes to stare at the ground between them. "I.. I'm not lost," he said after a moment - though, now that he thought about it, he wasn't quiet certain how many left turns he had taken to get here... He fussed with the shopping bag and sheepishly raised his eyes. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to intrude. I was just curious."

[NightshadeVII]

The stranger was obviously confused by Edge addressing them, at first unsure of whether or not he was actually talking to them, and then unsure of what to do with themself. Perhaps they were from out of town? Either way, they were obviously nervous, stuttering and shuffling, averting their eyes even. Edge sure hoped he hadn’t scared them into silence.
Either way, hoping to put the other more at ease, the Darai attempted to make himself a little smaller, broad shoulders slumping down a little, his posture loose and relaxed.

“Intrude?”, Edge chuckled softly, “this is a music festival, everyone’s welcome here. I take it you haven’t been to one before then? They’re pretty simple, luckily, all about having a good time and enjoying yourself really.”
He gestured out across the festival in a casual manner, as if to underline his explanation. But then again, he could understand the other. If you weren’t used to something, it was easy to feel like you were intruding, even when you weren’t. It was like going to the library for the first time in some town you didn’t know, there could be loads of unspoken rules you were unknowingly breaking and plenty of ways to upset the locals without meaning to. Now Edge was far from an expert, a lot of conventions in this world were still new or strange to him, so he probably wasn’t the best to explain things, but hey. It never hurt to try and be helpful.

“What kind of music do you like?”, Edge asked, hoping some casual conversation might help the other feel more at ease, “maybe there’s some musicians you’d like around here.”