• Solo • Along the Merry Waves (Graded)

[Ricky]

Ymiden 1 718, Midday

Location: The Orm'del Seas

The Windrunner bobbed a little as she smoothly tread the vast open waters of the sea, by now their progress had been well in accordance to Qit's direction. Enrick had made sure to keep his ship more closer to the coast line since their departure from Scavloris, following the coastline of the Eastern continent southward until finally there was no more coast to stick with. For trials it was arguably one of the more unnerving part of the trip just making sure they remained southbound, whereas several times Enrick honestly struggled and slipped up since they were in big open waters. And the storms? By the Gods they were naturally unforgiving, testing the resilience of his ship as they continued in the direction towards Desnind.

While the trip had definitely made him a more hardened sailor at best, Enrick found life abroad quite fulfilling if not a little less lonesome. The lack of people and society wasn't all bad, but a bit of an adjustment he started to miss the longer they were out at sea. To-trial however there hardly seemed to be much in the way of storms, just smooth waves that carried the vessel onward; as gulls overhead cawed in flight as they followed along the Windrunner's speed. He could still see far in the distance to his left the shoreline of the southern continent, which had also been a promising sign that even with all his setbacks; Enrick's sloop was somehow on the right track.

Thus he looked from his left to the horizon forward; the corner of his lip upturned into a smirk as he somewhat leaned from the wheel, with only a hand kept on it to keep the ship's piloted in direction. He raised a hand up into the air to get a feel for the air, the wind currents a little difficult to predict due to the speed at which they traveled. So far he could only tell that meant they were getting full gusts of westward wind, a promising sign that they were well on their way to their destination. With a drop of his hand Enrick looked to the wheel and tested the thought, a little glad to see that the wheel itself moved slightly but no where near enough to affect the ship.

Good. Now he could go ahead and take bit of time for himself, while the wind pretty much carried the ship the rest of the way. With steps made to head into his cabin, with little regard as to whatever Qit was doing at the moment, Enrick simply reached for the ukulele he had bought before leaving Scalvoris. He had spent the entire second half of Ashan worrying about the success of their trip, and whether or not the ship would make it in one piece to Desnind. Thus he quickly moved back out into the deck as he felt the boat change just a little, hopeful that it was just a wave they caught and not the wheel playing dirty tricks on them. Thankfully with just a minor readjustment two clicks counterclockwise, Enrick fixed the change that occurred before taking a seat next to the wheel.

[Ricky]

As he sat down with the ukulele in his arms he realized that he hadn't the slightest clue as to what he was doing, really he'd bought the instrument mostly out of boredom now that he thought about it. All this time he'd spend abroad so why not bother trying to learn how to play? Looking at the slightly small instrument he held its neck in one hand, and the other end was propped onto his knee as he plucked at a couple of strings. He'd remembered Miri when she played her instrument a couple of times, and of course he was no stranger to the buskers that played theirs in the streets.

So remembering how he watched them play, he thought he'd try and mimic a few hard strokes with his fingers. Flat sounds vibrated from the strings after he did so, the tone of the notes stale and quite honestly an ear-sore in his opinion. Then he remembered that they did something with their fingers on the neck of the instrument, something along the lines of pressing down on the chords in certain places. Come to think of it if he spent a moment learning each cord, then he could come up with an actual tune once he found familiarity with them.

Thus he pressed an index finger on one cord all the way near the base of the next, the chord resonating a deep and low note in response to his strum in turn. He moved a little higher on the neck, the sound still a deep low tone but in an octave barely higher than the first. He repeated this until eventually he reached the top of the neck, where the headstock was with some of those metallic pieces. They almost reminded him of teeth with their shapes, and when curiosity led him to investigate he found he could twist them. "Oh..." Closer observation helped him realize that those were used to tighten the chords, which thankfully he only gave a light twist to one to find out.

The last thing he needed was snapping one of those damned things, since he'd just got the instrument shortly before they left Scalvoris! When he plucked at that chord softly it resonated a note way higher, sharper actually, than what he heard compared to earlier. "Ohhh dat makes sense now." So turning those things tuned the instrument, enough to where the notes were either sharper or flatter depending on how stressed the strings were. Enrick made another adjustment to loosen the chord he tuned earlier, and after a few strums he finally found the original tone to match the first chord.

So next was getting familiar with the other chords, which pretty much became a process of rinse and repeat when he started. The second chord he started to learn sounded another octave higher already, and it looked slightly less thicker than the first chord he started working with. Come to think of it the chords got thinner and thinner, when he looked at the ones closer towards him anyways. So when musicians actually composed songs with their instruments, they arranged their composition not just from strumming chords wildly; but actually using different notes to compliment their sounds together. As difficult of a time he would've had being patient with learning, Enrick honestly found himself unexpectedly fascinated with learning about the instrument.

Most likely because he'd grown bored of watching the sea consistently.

Thus he kept working at it like he did before with listening close to each note, remembering each sound with his ears while he occasionally checked the wheel. Eventually he finished sound checking the last chord, and brought his fingers to individually press on a spot of the neck. With the thumb of his other hand used to brush a stroke across all the chords, there came an array of notes that still sounded badly thrown together; but thankfully not as bland as when he first started playing with the instrument.

Enrick noticed while he toyed with the strings a little that the wind picked up, and he took a moment to look up from his spot to the mast. The sails responded in turn with a bigger pocket of air caught within them, as the waves that the Windrunner rolled over started to feel heavier with each climb. They were still fine so far but if he had to guess, the sudden draft was a sign of a weather front coming in somewhere. Storms weren't something he wasn't used to by now, if anything they helped make him a better sailor. He returned to practicing a few more notes individually, trying to remember the ones he paid close attention to once more. After several reminders he started to mentally think of which notes he wanted to hear in his mind, and make an arrangement for them with slow and awkward fingers.

Sure enough he had started to grow a little tired and impatient with the practice, and eventually he gave up as he felt he'd wasted quite a bit of time trying to learn. He certainly didn't have the gift like other musicians did with their instruments, but nonetheless the fisherman considered it a small dose of fun. Yet again the winds picked up and even changed direction, the sheets of the mast jiggling frantically in the gusts that brushed past them. Enrick took that as a sign that he needed to put away the instrument for now, and let his focus remain once more on sailing since a possible storm was coming.

[Strange]

Thread Review

Enrick

Enrick

Skill Points: +10 (cannot be used for magic)
Magic XP: None.

Renown: None.

Injuries/Overstepping: None
Wealth Points: None
Loot: None

Skill Knowledges:

• Instrument (Ukulele): Flat Notes
• Instrument (Ukulele): Sharp Notes
• Instrument (Ukulele): Tuning
• Instrument (Ukulele): Higher Octaves
• Instrument (Ukulele): Lower Octaves
• Discipline: Patience With Learning Instruments

Non-Skill Knowledges:

• none requested.

Notes: n/a.

Enrick is such a quick study when it comes to figuring out music. Great full descriptions of the scenery, premise, and act of learning how to play chords. Hopefully Enrick won't be so bored while he's at sea now.

Enjoy your rewards!

PM me if you have any questions, issues or concerns.

Total Word Count: 1501 words.

Review Request Link: viewtopic.php?p=117172#p117172
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