Video | welcome, hallo, buenos días, ohayō, etc, etc! | UN: Newt

[groupiedrifter]

[Newt comes shuffling into view on the screen, holding a cup of coffee in his hand with a bag of what seems to be Sour Patch Kids harrowingly hanging out from beneath the pinky finger of the very same hand. Disheveled but more than happy to provide his services after dragging himself out of bed, he taps his knuckle on the chalkboard beside him — one that used to be Hermann Gottlieb's, may he rest in peace (in a not dead way — may he rest in peace on a beach or something while wholly alive and thriving).]

Noticed an influx of new and kinda-new faces over the last few days or weeks or whatever.

So here's my handy dandy welcome board! Recently updated, to keep with the times.

Read it over and get a feel for how this place goes; I'm gonna finish off this coffee before I take any questions.

[As he takes the world's most obnoxious-sounding sip and burns his tongue, here's the board in question:]



[And then, after a bit of time, he turns the board over to the other side:]



[No worries, current crew, if you can't get one of those introduction papers in person!

Because he's attached them in file format, too.]



[And in case you wanted a text format copy:

Name:
Age:
Birthday:
Favorite color:
Favorite food:
Favorite subject:
Favorite toy:
Favorite animal:
Favorite candy:
Favorite activity:
Favorite place:
Favorite book:
Favorite TV show:
Favorite movie:
I am good at:
I want to learn:
Least favorite subject:
Place I want to go:
If I could make one wish, it would be:
If I could have one superpower, it would be:
This is what I want my teacher to know about me:

(Have at it — threadjacking is encouraged).]

Comments

pretend i didn't use text font up there and *also* pretend it isn't like, nearly 20 days later...

[doooooog]

[ Her ability to filter him is as impressive a feat as her singing voice, honestly. ]

Time and place, sugar, time and place! Y'know, violas have a similar range to singing voices... though maybe not yours, I'm not gonna lie. [ Fetching a viola from the Ximusic room is a bit daunting when he's so comfortable where he is, but that's what stretching his arm across the ship is for. It's down the hall by the time he continues. ] Got a favorite? Maybe I could try to learn it.

[edraith]

Oh yes, that sounds lovely! My friend would oft play his flute as I sang — but a viola should provide a beautiful contrast. [ because, indeed, her voice is much higher. ]

The Lament of the Trees is one such song, one taught to me by my mother. It tells of the two Trees of Valinor, ones that provided light to all, and that were cruelly destroyed by Morgoth. [ cheerful, that's the elves ]

[doooooog]

[ Cheerful, indeed, but Jake is smiling despite the glum song choice. Sometimes a dog can have a very innocent crush on a lady and it doesn't have to be weird, okay? ]

Heck yeah, I love me a bummer. [ That he genuinely does mean. Tragic ballad's were the viola's bread and butter, and Jake can already feel himself getting excited to play when his hand closes over the bridge of his instrument. He made sure to keep it out of its case, leaned up against the door to the music room... Y'know, just in case he needed it and wasn't feeling up to the walk. Which translates to "always." ] Tell me the story while I reel my girl in.

[ To that end, Jake begins tugging on his own arm to speed up the stretching process, attention otherwise focused on Luthien. ]

i cant believe you made me write a whole-ass song

[edraith]

[ instead of singing, she speaks the words like poetry — there is a tune to the song, of course, but he did ask for the story above the melody, and that is what she delivers. her voice rises and falls, brightens when she speaks of the trees, darkens when she says the name of Morgoth. ]

When the world was young and green,
from song were two trees born,
silver Telperion, golden Laurelin,
watered by tears from a vala drawn.

Proud they stood on a hill in Valmar,
blessed were the days of their light,
but it would soon fall away,
unseen went their plight.

For jealousy gripped the heart of Morgoth,
and in unlight's dark cover,
the spider Ungoliant crept close,
her poison the trees made suffer.

Not Yavanna's song, not Nienna's tears,
nothing could them revive,
but their last fruit, last flower,
their love made thrive.

Given they were to Tilion, Arien,
spirits would them carry to the sky,
and so the silver Moon, the golden Sun,
watch us even now from high.

i can't believe you've done this and also i waited this long to tag you back, we're really champs

[doooooog]

[ Aside from being the most beautiful instrument in the world, in Jake's humble opinion, the viola's greatest strength was its register. It couldn't achieve the shrieking highs of a violin or the deep, sonorous reverberations of the bass, but it had something better: an almost note for note analog to the unique qualities of a voice.

Listening to Lúthien speak the song, voice lilting with the same unconscious melody she imbued into all her words, Jake had very little work to do. A simple octave change, a rising tempo, and the harmony was all but decided for him. Baked into the very nature of the ethereal woman's natural ebb and flow from dark to light.

It's with a final tug that Jake's viola is suddenly at his side, rolling his now-unstretched shoulder before placing it under his jaw. He plucks out a few notes with his fingers, finding the tones he wants that best match the song still living fresh in his memory. With a quick nod toward Lúthien, wordlessly encouraging her to flow back into the top of the verse, Jake dives in with a slide of the bow across the strings.

It's a special thing, jamming. You have to really listen, adjusting to each slant in tone or speed or cadence from your partner. A conversation, made musical. It's something he'd been missing here, where talking felt like the preferred means of... well, everything. So much talking.

As Jake's viola cants deep into the low end of its register, matching the natural rumbling of Morgoth's name, he's pretty sure no exchanged words could so effectively center himself in a specific place and time. A story of young love and tragic endings. The names were all different, the story new, but the sentiments were as old as music itself. Even between dogs and elves. ]