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Post by Ninon Costes on Dec 21, 2012 0:29:04 GMT -5
You can’t take gym as an elective, every time you choose an elective. Her administrative advisor had so bluntly put it, when they’d been deciding on what classes to put her in that semester. You have to at least swap once a semester, if you ever want to get what classes you need.
Unlike some clubs, which met during electives, sports did not use the same time slot... due to obvious complications. So, Ninon was one who had to pick something to do every semester. Going over the list of what electives there where, though...
Ninon had been very unhelpful to her adviser when trying to choose one. She didn’t like the looks of shop class, one too many horror stories. Art class was an obvious, do not place me in there, due to the way Ninon would... probably clash with art. Computer Science was a nightmare, just a nightmare to imagine.
Her technical level on the student chart would probably be bottoming out in the lowest percentage. Technology escaped her, computers disobeyed. Blinking blue boxes...
After they went through each of the electives... and Ninon hadn’t found a one that pleased her, save what she couldn’t have... The administrator had just ceremoniously drawn her an elective out of a hat, a sheer sign he’d given up.
So, there was a nice surprise waiting for her on her schedule, the first morning of school.
Music Class.
Of which, she had absolutely no business being in.
So, here was Ninon Costes, the toughest seven-grader to ever smash the living daylights out of a tenth grader, sitting amongst the metaphorical orchestra hugging a battered trumpet that the music teacher had handed her, staring at the 'scales' sheet on her stand.
Ninon didn't even know how the silly thing worked.
It was going to be a long semester.
She found herself plunking down into the rows of metal chairs and metal stands, wearily glancing around at her accompaniment...
Stuck between the strings and the tuba...
Behind the twiddly instruments... and in front of the piano and the drums.
"... what does it mean by scales, anyway?" She decided to idly ask the two boys she was stuck between. The tubist was giving her a incredulous look. She decided to glance at the one with the...
Uh... oversized violin?
... No, that wasn't it.
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Post by Nolan Ogan on Dec 21, 2012 1:26:08 GMT -5
"Uhhhh" He said, turning towards the girl. He had never seen her in class before, or around school. She must have just transferred to the class this semester. She was a very small girl, but Nolan thought that she would be able to hold her own in a fight. There was something about her that Nolan just couldn't put his finger on.
He noticed he hadn't answered her after a couple of seconds and quickly said, "A scale is a series of notes, going from one note, to the same note, but one octave higher" He said, but he wasn't sure if she would understand what he was saying, heck if Nolan didn't know as much about music as he did, neither would he.
Like this! He said, playing a quick D scale. After he played it, he explained it even more. "This is my D string" He said, playing a long, strong note, "And this is my high D," He said, placing his fourth finger on the A string and letting out another loud, confident (much higher pitched) note.
"My name is Nolan by the way... Are you new here?" He asked.
"Ugh, of course she is!" He chastised himself in his head. "She doesn't even know what a scale is..." Of course, he didn't say this out loud, it was all in his head.
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Post by Ninon Costes on Dec 21, 2012 2:13:00 GMT -5
For a long moment, she thought that the other boy was giving her the same treatment as the tubist. The look plastered on his face was even more startled than the other boy’s. Had... uh...
Had she just asked a really, ... really... stupid question?
Probably’, Her brain mumbled at her in thick french, as she prepared to sink into her seat and fiddle with the brass instrument in her hands. That was when the stranger had shaken himself out of his stupor, and noted exactly what ‘scales’ where, in the context of music.
Ninon felt herself staring at him like the tubist had stared at her.
... I’m sorry. You just spoke alien to me-
That was her brain numbly trying to figure out what an octave was, while squirreling away the knowledge that scales were notes being... played in a row? A specific kind of row... to do with what sort of notes they were?
... maybe she should of taken up the offer of a computer class.
Unknown languages seemed to be widely accepted and spoken within the school. She might have been better off with a teacher calmly droning on, Now open your applications folder...
Her brain took more kindly to his invitation to simpler conversation, and she latched onto his name fairly quickly. It sounded sort of like hers... just a tiny bit. Consonants, and all.
“Ninon! Uh, Ninon. ... mostly go by my middle name, Ree.” She said quickly, glancing Nolan over. Her brain did a very quick scan of him: noting a ruffle of dark autumn tones in his hair and eyes, the blue overtones in his clothes, and that he was a bit older than she was. There wasn't much more to try and discern while he was in a chair.
It wasn’t often she took in a person’s look while trying to figure out their deal. It barely factored, as the boy had been kind enough to answer her question, without giving her a hard time about it. She had this feeling the tubist would of been sassy, had he told her what scales where.
New... well, certainly not new to Kadic.
“Erh, not really. To music, yeah... I’m thinking this is the administration’s idea of a joke, actually.” Her tone was only slightly amused, “I think they didn’t know where to stick me, for electives.” The tubist made a face, trying his best not to look as if it was rather funny.
He actually laughed lightly, and turned away from the two for a second, which Ninon noticed immediately. She didn’t know the guy. If he was laughing at her for the scales thing, maybe it was deserved, but she didn’t like being laughed at.
“... what’s so funny?” She couldn’t help but ask as she turned back to the tubist for a moment, slightly irked.
Eventually, he managed to get back to his normal self, musing aloud for her to hear, “... this is advanced music. Eight through tenth.”
Okay, she could see where that would of been funny to the rest of the class.
Ninon sank slightly in her chair. “...” She shook her trumpet for a moment, “I dunno how to hold this thing, let alone even play this copper-heap.” Insulting the trumpet probably earned no points in music class, but she did feel slightly more masterful over it with the insult.
Ugh, advanced music?
She didn’t even, well, she hadn’t even known what scales where!
... and glancing at the oversized violin, she didn’t know what it was either!
A fiddle?
... one of ‘em Vee-ol-ahs?
She was pretty sure those were the tiny ones, though.
Double Bass! ... Contra! ... no, that was a game, or something.
She was going to go mad staring at the mysterious stringed beast.
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Post by Nolan Ogan on Dec 21, 2012 11:56:15 GMT -5
Nolan knew the tubist that was laughing at Ninon. That kid was a tool. "Hey man, it's not funny. It's just a screw up by the admins." He said, partly because he wanted to defend...Ree... And partly because he hated that kid and wanted to make him feel insignificant in any way possible.
He turned back to Ree and said, "Okay, maybe it is a little funny, but not because you have no idea what to do..." he said with a short, light laugh. You might want to get a transfer to the beginners music class, but as long as you're here, you might as well blow into your trumpet and get a feel for the instrument." knowing exactly how it felt to start a new instrument, (although it had been forever since he had) he didn't want Ree to feel uncomfortable with her peers while she was trying to learn a new instrument. It made you too afraid to make mistakes.
He noticed her staring at his cello. "Uhhhh... Hello? Is my cello really that interesting?" he asked in a playfully sarcastic tone. She probably didn't even know what it was, but most people who weren't in music class did. Nolan himself called it his violin on steroids.
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Post by Ninon Costes on Dec 22, 2012 1:31:14 GMT -5
The tubist was taken aback when Nolan told him to more or less shut up, and seemed to go back to whatever it was you did in the minutes before class started. Ninon kept the grin off her face. It was rude to grin like an idiot when someone defended you.
It still warmed the heart, though, a smile tugging at the edges of her lips.
Her brain was still on the matter of figuring out the mystery name of the giant violin. Thankfully, Nolan seemed to notice her staring at it. Or, he seemed to think she’d been staring an awfully lot at it.
That’s what it’s called!
Ninon’s eyes lit up for a moment, as she straightened back up in her chair. “I... uh... yes?” The reply was sort of noncommittal, as Ninon blinked at the two, cello and boy. She shifted her gaze back towards her scales sheet, muttering, “... I just couldn’t remember what it was called.”
So, she should attempt to play the brass monstrosity the teacher had foisted on her...
That was his suggestion, anyway.
She turned the trumpet about in her hands, trying to get a feel for how she was supposed to hold it. When trying to recall if she’d ever seen someone actually hold a trumpet, all she could muster up was the image of a bag of rice and a trombone. Which left her to sit for a second, fiddling with the trumpet, until she had one of her hands in the right position... her ring finger sitting placidly in the slider below, hand wrapped about the pipes...
And the other accidentally tugging out one of the slides, which took to clattering onto the floor.
No. That... no. That hand elsewhere. She felt herself feeling a bit flustered with it. Ninon muttered at the poor thing, as she attempted to get the slide back into the pipes it’d been connected to. She eventually managed it, snapping it back into place.
“Why the heck would you need these to move?” She inquired, somewhat rhetorically, before settling her fingers on the valves. That... felt more right.
“...” Staring it down, Ninon eventually put the thing against her lips and tried to see if she could make a sound. Any sound at all. It was supposed to be loud right?
For a long minute the horn just spat air out.
Welp, she wasn’t doing something right.
“Suggestions?” She jokingly quipped, glancing at Nolan.
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Post by Nolan Ogan on Feb 22, 2013 23:02:02 GMT -5
"Ah, it's no big deal." He said, laughing at his own social awkwardness. He would probably think of a super cool, clever way of saying it in a couple of days, not that it mattered. Nolan quickly became a little flustered at his own, what he would consider, stupidity, and was glad for the fact that Ree was focusing on trying to play her instrument for the first time.
Nolan laughed warmly when he saw Ninon flustering around with, he remembered the feeling of being clueless all too well. After she had picked up the piece that had gone flying from her hand, he heard her ask for any suggestions.
"I've never played any songs on the trumpet, but try puckering your lips and spitting into it." He said, still smiling. The noise of all the other players in the room picking up a little, so he had to speak a little louder. Nolan decided that he better get his strings in tune as well, so he started playing his open strings, adjusting and readjusting them.
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