Chapter 770: One Man’s Dream, can be another’s lifetime.
[Okay, it took us a bit of time but it looks like Hurricroak’s trail ends here. I can sense her Chaos from here.]
[Same…]
Following Harriet’s signature, Frederick and Nicole eventually tracked their froggy counterpart’s prescene at a tavern called the Siren’s Cove.
The two of them didn’t even have to cross the establishment’s threshold before they started hearing the music pouring out of the premises.
[Why does it make sense for our resident musician to get enraptured by an interesting song?,] Nicole asked while rolling her eyes.
[Perhaps…there…is…something… interesting…about…this…musician?,] Frederick replied with a shrug of his shoulders.
[If you listen to Hurricroak, she’d say all musicians are interesting. Let’s just go find her already.]
Not wanting to waste anymore time on idle chitchat, the kaijin duo proceeded to enter the tavern as quietly possible, as to not attract unnecessary attention.
That and it was bad manners to interrupt a performer when they were applying their craft to an adoring audience.
Fredrick and Nicole, however, were not there to enjoy the music. They were there to find a certain frog woman.
Luckily for them, they didn’t have to look for too long.
[Alright, where the heck did she…oh.]
[I…know…that…look…]
Unfortunately for them, she wasn’t in the best of states to be approached right now.
From where they were standing, Frederick and Nicole could see the formation of tears at the corner of Harriet’s eyes.
An unusual sight to see given their shared natures. Regardless, they still had a task to do.
[Should…we…get…her…or…]
[No… not yet,] Nicole said as she decided to lean against the bar. [Might as well listen and see what the big deal is. We got time.]
[Hmm…okay…]
But that task could wait until this song was over at least.
________________________________________*Bing-Bong.*
…
|…|
I’m not reading the removal message for this one.
|Why not?|
Because this is actually decent and emotional, which is weird to see coming from you.
|I…thanks?|
Also, being embarrassed is a terrible reason to not write out a scene. Think like a mangaka!
|I don’t make that kind of money.|
Doesn’t matter.
*Bing-Bong*
________________________________________
If we only had more time together, I’d have shown you the world and then some…
‘Tsk, silly old bastard. You really couldn’t have shared this song with me back when I was truly Wyvara?,’ Harriet quietly chided.
As Harriet continued to listen to the nostalgically sad love song, she began to remember some of the details and events that had happened to her once upon a time…such as the first time she had ever heard Draigo play this song.
‘Or would it be more accurate for me to say, that I’m remembering her memories?,’ Harriet wondered as the dream-like thoughts in her head suddenly felt a touch more…real.
…
Nobody ever gets famous over night, not unless there’s a miracle or if they happened to have an amazing level of personal might.
In the case of a pair of childhood friend turned young musicians though, they had neither.
“Another day, another case of us being underpaid. Weren’t we suppose to get twice this amount?”
“I think it’s fine. It’s enough for us to buy bread for the week at least.”
“That’s the bright side, I suppose. At least we won’t starve.”
It had been about a year since these two youngsters decided to leave their hometown in the pursuit of fame and fortune through music, and frankly put, it was a lot more arduous than they had originally anticipated.
The duo had done everything from busking to begging in order to get enough money to avoid starvation. They had succeeded in that regard…but it was only just barely.
One would think it’d be easy to get a regular tavern gig, but the places that did offer such a job tend to have already a musician on payroll.
One would think it’d be easy to just be a street performer, but there were a surprising amount of people on both sides of the law that made such a life difficult to achieve.
It was a hard life to be sure, but it was a life that was theirs, and they wouldn’t have it any other way.
Well, mostly.
…
“Wyvara, I’m not gonna lie…I am this close to just giving up music altogether.”
“I feel ya, Draigo. I feel ya.”
Once again the duo had been rejected despite doing their damnedest to impress.
Was it just that their songs not good enough?
Was their music so unbearable to listen to?
Were their talents just mediocre at best?
Or did people really think that their instruments were too “exotic” for the average man to enjoy?
Did the duo really have no choice, other than to give up their dreams and pursue an entirely different path of life?
People have always said that the road to fame and fortune would be full of ups, downs and bumps in the road, but a person can only take so many lumps before it gets to the point that they just want to give up.
“Hey…do you think we made the right choice? In leaving town to do all of this? This is our fourth audition this week and we still got rejected.”
“Honestly…I would like to think so. We didn’t really have anything to hold us there in the first place anyways. Other than each other, of course.”
“Yeah…other than each other.”
…
It finally happened!
After so many rejections, after so much heartbreak, the two of them had finally managed to land one of the biggest gigs in their lives.
While the two of them didn’t know whether or not this was going to be start of a long and fruitful career, they ay least knew this was going to be the start of…something.
“Hey…Wyvara…did we finally make it? Is this the start of something great?”
“I’d argue what we had was pretty great already…so this will be the start of something greater.”
“Yeah…I can believe that.”
…
“Draigo? Where you at? We got to practice for our show tomorrow,” Wyvara called out to her partner.
At this point in time, Wyvara and Draigo had managed to gain a level of fame that allowed the two of them to enjoy rather luxurious conditions before any of their performances. However, this also meant that the two of them would end up getting separated due to their temporary abodes being quite large.
It was in this occasions though, under these conditions that Wyvara heard something rather interesting.
How long have we…”no, that doesn’t sound right…”
“Hmm? Is Draigo…writing his own song? Interesting…”
Whenever the two of them had to write and practice their songs, they tended to do such activities together. This way they could properly coordinate their performances ahead of time.
So the fact that Wyvara had stumbled upon him in the middle of practicing a song she never heard before, on an instrument that he never performed on no less, was pleasantly surprising.
A part of her was tempted to interrupt him, perhaps tease him on having grown so much as a musician that he was doing his own songs now…until she heard him say this.
“Dammit! Whoever said writing a dedicated love song to someone you care about can go and suck an egg. This still ain’t good enough for Wyvara.”
‘A dedicated love song? Wait…to me?!’
To say that she was flattered about this revelation was a massive understatement.
The funny thing about unexpressed feelings, is that they have tendency to burn hotter and hotter as time went on.
‘Well…I guess I’ll wait to tease him when he finally finishes it,’ Wyvara determined. ‘But maybe I should…nah. He’ll share his feelings when he’s ready…as will I.’
This small moment would soon become a new routine for the two would-be lovers.
Draigo would practice and refine a song he could never properly finish, Wyvara would listen without his knowledge while quietly hoping he would be ready soon.
Although, it should be mentioned that at some point during this peculiar routine of theirs, Draigo began to notice her presence as well but never said anything.
Unfortunately for them…this “ready” would come far, far too late.
________________________________________
And if I couldn’t spend the rest of my life with you, at the very least I would’ve like to say…goodbye.
I would’ve liked to say…goodbye.
As the last note of his song played out, Draigo could practically feel the emotions of the crowd before him.
A majority of these feelings were that of the sympathetic variety.
The concept of losing a loved one was, unfortunately, a very universal one.
However, amongst this crowd of sympathetic vibrations, there was one that felt…oddly familiar to him.
‘Wait…this sensation…it can’t be…’
Draigo had closed his eyes during his entire performance, it was his own way of getting into the groove of things, so when he finally opened them to see why this familiar sensation was setting of his senses…well…
“No…way…it can’t be…”
An incredibly indescribable feeling came over him.
