Violinist for Seoul Philharmonic Symphony.
Pansexual/Aromantic.
Single.
01/27/1998.
26.
Ox (Korea)
Authored by Redeim.
Offline.
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Post by Remi Young on Oct 19, 2015 11:21:22 GMT -8
((Admin Note: The site's location has changed since this thread!!))
Remiel leaned against the doorframe in the hallway, giving his mother a dissatisfied look as she finished cleaning up the kitchen. "Is this better?" He asked her with a click of his tongue. His hair was still wet, and he was in a simple pair of light jeans and a white t-shirt. His feet were still bare, and his hair was still messy and not brushed.
"Yes, I shouldn't have to fight you every day just to take a shower."
Remiel sighed, looking in the fridge for anything to snack on, grabbing a lunchables and shuffling over to the table. He sat in front of his computer, munching absent-mindedly on the crackers when his mother set his medication in front of him. He looked up at her, confused. "Mum, I took it already."
"Not according to the timer. You forgot again." His parents had invested in a new type of medication bottle, one that had a timer on it and could have an alarm set after more severe symptoms were becoming present with how often he'd forget.
The boy groaned, opening it and grabbing the pills before handing the bottle back to his mother. "It's just my teacher, mum, you don't have to clean every bloody thing in the house." He commented as he lifted his laptop off the table, the lunchables box balanced on top of it for his mom to clean the table.
"Well, it will be his first time here, and probably the first teacher you haven't threaten to strangle with piano wire, so I think he deserves to come in to a clean house."
"Whatever." Remi said, eye roll included.
"He'll be here soon, Remi, where's your sister?"
Remiel shrugged, "In her room, I think. Are you still hoping if she watches me she'll want to learn to play too?" He asked with a wince.
"Well, it'd be nice to have her find some sort of hobby, she can't always be watching television."
"It's not tv, mum, it's YouTube. There's a difference. And she likes it, and some of the things we watch are actually educational. The other stuff is in Korean and I don't let her have subtitles. It's a win-win." He argued.
"Well, still." She fought back.
He slouched down in his seat, rolling his eyes again.
"Go get your sister, please." His mother told him, and he stuck his hands in his pockets as he shuffled over to his sister's room. "Anya, mum wants you to watch my practice."
The eight year old made a face. "Why?"
Remi shrugged, "Pass. Come on, I think he'll be here soon." He said, glancing at his phone. It was about 2pm.
Right as he shuffled back in, sister holding one of his hands, his mother was giving the finishing touches to cleaning the dining room and living room.
"Mum he's a teacher how much nicer do you really think you have to make this mansion look?" He muttered under his breath.
"What was that Remi?" His mother scolded, giving him a look.
"Nothing." Remi looked as innocent as possible. Oops, did something wrong again. "Didn't say anything." He lied.
"Don't lie. Also, it's rude to insult a person's social standing."
"Kay." Remi said simply, beginning to play a game on his phone. His sister reached for a piece of cheese, and he lightly tapped her hand, any harder and it would've actually been a smack. "My food. Get your own." He told her.
Anya pouted, "But those are my lunches!" She argued.
"This one's mine now." Remi said simply, stealing another piece of cheese she tried to steal. "Mom, Anya wants a snack too." He called to her.
"Can you just. Can you get ready and get your violin out and set up? Please, Remi?" His mother begged, running a hand through her hair as she let out an exasperated sigh.
"I lost it."
"You lost your violin?"
He nodded.
His mother looked around, eventually finding it in the car. She returned, placing the violin on the coffee table in front of her son, knocking his feet off the table in the process. "If you took your medication when you're supposed to, you'd probably remember." She scolded him, returning to cleaning up her cleaning supplies.
Remi shrugged, letting out another sigh as he continued playing his game. His feet began going back up to the table, and his mother knocked them down again, causing her to receive a deathly look from her son. "Get ready!' She scolded him again.
"Are you just mad because I said he was younger and attractive?" Remi teased.
His mother returned into view from her spot in the dining room, hands on her hips as she glared at him. "I will not have any son of mine having a crush on a teacher! Forget those kinds of thoughts right now!" She scolded him. "I give up. Where is your father? I have appointments today, he said he'd be home." She ranted.
As if hearing her, his father walked in, "Honey, I'm home!" He called with a playful smile.
"About time. Your son is being impossible."
Remi smiled to his dad, again trying to look as innocent as possible. "I think mum-the-psychiatrist needs a therapy session herself." He teased.
"Oh, today is the day your teacher begins the private lessons, right?" His dad asked, his energy level not seeming at all like he'd just worked 12 hours.
Remi nodded, and Anya spoke before her brother could, "Mom wants me to watch. I guess she wants me to try."
"There's nothing wrong with that, after all it's not-"
"Father I swear to God if you say it I will murder you." Remi said darkly.
"Remiel, no threatening or killing your father. Honey, thank god you're home, don't destroy the house. Anya, you're in charge of these monkeys." Their mother, giving them all a kiss goodbye and rushing out the door.
"I'm in charge so that means I get to open the door." Anya said, acting like a princess.
"Oh, so you can reach the door now?" Remi teased lightly, earning him a light kick to the shins.
His mother came back before his teacher arrived, looking a bit downtrodden. "My first appointment was cancelled..." She complained, slouching on the couch.
"Oh no mum, now you'll have to listen to my practice." Remi said, pretending sympathy. He glanced at the time on his phone. "You said he'd be here at 2:30, right? Five minutes now." He asked to no one in particular, finally moving to set up his violin.
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High School Music/Language Teacher.
Gay.
Engaged to Theo.
01/29/1992.
32.
Background
Authored by Etienne.
Offline.
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Post by Yunjin Lin on Oct 19, 2015 23:06:15 GMT -8
Yunjin had been happy to agree to give Remi private violin lessons when it had been brought up because he really liked Remi as a student. He had been quietly officially informed about the diagnoses that had been shared with the school since he was officially Remi's homeroom teacher even though Remi didn't actually go to homeroom, but it was something that even part time students at the high school got officially assigned. The kid clearly tried hard and was trying to be the kind of person he wanted to be, and well, Yunjin knew that student that Remi had managed to hospitalize because he'd gotten the student in trouble on several occasions for harassing the kids who were openly in the GSA. He couldn't say so because he was a teacher, but there was a part of him that had definitely cheered when Remi had taken the other student out, but he also had worried for Remi over it. Remi had literally never been a problem in his class though, and while he'd heard complaints from the math teacher who 'had to deal with' Remi, he mostly brushed them off as being frustrating and biased.
He was starting to get a little bit antsy driving up to Remi's house in his battered, over ten year old car. He pulled it into the street parking by the house that he'd been directed too, a few minutes early, and fidgeted for a moment. He was well dressed and professional, and he was being paid to be there. It wasn't his fault that while he could afford the stuff he needed, he'd never been a part of this well groomed lawns and two and three storied suburbia houses. He took a deep breath, grabbing his old and well worn violin case and preparing himself to brave the walkway up to Remi's rather imposing house. He stared down at the writing on the case, the same case he'd had since he'd first had an adult sized violin, with the violin that had been a gift from his grandmother and sister when he was ten and had gotten into the SF Youth Symphony inside. When they'd given him the violin, his sister had written on the case in silver sharpie, "For my bright and precious gentle cloud, don't give up on your dreams, and play with all your heart. Love, Yunjia." She had also written her name in characters, 云佳, strokes still clear and elegant despite the smudging on other parts of the writing that had happened over the years. The writing was part of the reason he had not replaced the case despite the number of times he'd since had to fix the strap and clasps. He appreciated the joke on his name, and while it made him miss her a bit, it also made him feel more confident. He was pretty sure that none of the students had actually seen the writing on the case because he didn't tend to move it around much at school, and it faced downwards most of the time.
He took another deep breath and got out of the car, going up the drive to ring the bell, even if he was a few minutes early. It wasn't enough to be impolite, and he muttered to himself in Chinese, "Might as well get this part over with." Remi wasn't the part that he was worried about, but he didn't always cope super well with parents. He tried not to fidget too much on the door step, especially when he noticed the glass windows beside the door that were the kind that would easily let someone see out but not let people see in. This couldn't be that terrifying, and he'd be getting to teach a student that he knew and liked.
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Violinist for Seoul Philharmonic Symphony.
Pansexual/Aromantic.
Single.
01/27/1998.
26.
Ox (Korea)
Authored by Redeim.
Offline.
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Post by Remi Young on Oct 20, 2015 6:15:45 GMT -8
It had been Anya who was paying attention to the outside while her brother and mother were still bickering. She leapt off the couch excitedly, chanting "he's here, he's here!" as she ran to open the door.
"Anya..." Remi called after his sister, getting up to follow her at a much slower pace. Still, longer legs allowed him to get to the door first and he put his hand on it as Anya tried to open the door. "Even if you can reach the door, you're still not supposed to, squirt." He led her out of the way before opening the door himself, letting a smile come across his lips as he saw his teacher. "seonsaengnim!" He said, moving out of the way and gesturing for Yunjin to come in. He'd gotten into the habit of calling him "teacher" in Korean at some point, probably after the first talk of getting Yunjin to Korean teacher status as well, but by now he couldn't remember how he'd started it, just that that was what he called him and it was habit by now.
He smile faltered when Anya came back, and his mother appeared in the doorway. "Hello, you must be Remi's teacher! It's so nice to meet you, I'm his mother, Elena, and this is Remi's sister, Anya. Do you mind if she watches your practice?" She asked.
Remi shoved them out of the way of the entrance to the hallway, "bloody hell mum give him some breathing room, will you?" He complained.
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High School Music/Language Teacher.
Gay.
Engaged to Theo.
01/29/1992.
32.
Background
Authored by Etienne.
Offline.
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Post by Yunjin Lin on Oct 21, 2015 2:30:08 GMT -8
Yunjin hesitated in the doorway, slightly overwhelmed by the sudden onslaught of people. He composed himself after a moment, though he noticed only after he started that he had reached over to fidgit with his shuzhu, and he made himself adjust it slightly and then stop. He pulled himself back together, making himself stand up a little bit straighter, and smiled at Remi, "Hi Remi, it's good to see you."
He took another deep breath before turning to Remi's mom and smiling at her in turn, "Hello, Elena, it's good to meet you in person instead of just exchange emails about the lessons. And I am fine with Anya staying to watch if she is interested."
In the middle of saying that sentence, the familiarity of the girl and her name clicked, and he glanced down at her, with a slightly wider smile, "Wait, Anya, you're Taijia's friend, aren't you?" Realizing that the sentence might have seemed like it came slightly out of nowhere to Elena though, he added, directed to her, "My nephew Taijia, I'm his guardian, is I believe in the same class at school as Anya." He faltered a little bit, fingers finding his shuzhu again, and glanced between the three people in the entranceway. He realized all of a sudden that he was partially feeling vulnerable because he'd been looking at Yunjia's note on the violin case, and that it was showing because of the way he was holding the case. The urge to set it down somewhere was only adding to his nerves.
Remi being disconcerted about the spacing made him calm himself down again, and he said quietly and gently to his student, "It's alright Remi. Are things ready for your lesson?"
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Violinist for Seoul Philharmonic Symphony.
Pansexual/Aromantic.
Single.
01/27/1998.
26.
Ox (Korea)
Authored by Redeim.
Offline.
|
Post by Remi Young on Oct 21, 2015 12:44:02 GMT -8
Remi nodded and began walking toward the living room where his mom had put his violin, giving just a simple gesture for Yunjin to follow him.
Anya, however, got a look on her face and nodded excitedly. "Oh yeah! How is he? Can I come over sometime? He's so cool!" She then looked to her mother, "Mummy! Taijia's the friend I said was like oppa!" She said excitedly, not noticing how much that made her mother pale.
Elena swallowed nervously, her eyes moving from her daughter, to her son messing around and setting up his violin quietly, to Yunjin. "Y-yes... About that... Not to be rude but... your nephew isn't...?" She faded off, leaving the question open-ended as she glanced back to Remi.
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High School Music/Language Teacher.
Gay.
Engaged to Theo.
01/29/1992.
32.
Background
Authored by Etienne.
Offline.
|
Post by Yunjin Lin on Oct 22, 2015 0:52:15 GMT -8
Yunjin tensed up for a moment, fingers catching on the beads of his shuzhu and fingers clenching around the handle of his violin case. He kept his voice as steady as he could and focused on smiling down at Anya when he said, "I'll see what we can do about inviting you over sometime, but of course you will have to have permission from your parents. Can I talk to your mom about something for a minute?"
His voice was much firmer when he turned back to Elena, once Anya was out of earshot. He said, "Look, I am a little bit uncomfortable with telling you this because it is part of my nephew's privacy, but Anya is one of the first friends he has made in school. He has been through some extremely traumatic experiences for a seven year old kid, including being a passenger in the car wreck that killed my sister when he was three, which he remembers, vividly, and following that an extremely difficult custody battle that brought up a lot of very negative stuff pointed at him from his grandparents. He is doing much better now, but the officially diagnosis is of childhood PTSD, and he has had a rough several years of it. He is sometimes very quiet, and sometimes pretty angry, and I can see where Anya might draw the comparisons to your son, even if the behavior behind it is quite different. I would jump through a lot of hoops to not have you sabotage his friendship with Anya because it is one of the first dynamics with a peer that he has had that has not involved him being bullied or ignored, and she is a very sweet kid."
He paused for breath, and looked at her, clearly shaken and resisting the urge to pull his violin up in front of him defensively. He took a few deep breaths and added, "I believe that I was here for Remi's violin lesson though, and I wouldn't want to keep him waiting."
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Violinist for Seoul Philharmonic Symphony.
Pansexual/Aromantic.
Single.
01/27/1998.
26.
Ox (Korea)
Authored by Redeim.
Offline.
|
Post by Remi Young on Oct 22, 2015 8:59:53 GMT -8
Elena looked a bit taken aback, albeit apologetic, and a hand went to her heart. "Oh, my goodness, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to pry, but I'm sure you can understand my... worry when she said she'd made a friend that reminded her of Remi." She said. She looked to the ground for a moment before giving Yunjin a sincere, still apologetic smile. "I do apologize, but greatly appreciate you letting me know. I hope the best for your nephew, though, and I'm sure in time he'll get better." She told him, trying to add a positive note to the suddenly dreary conversation. She gave him another, more reassuring smile. "And I'm sure he and Anya will be long time friends." She stepped aside to give Yunjin space to go further into the house. "Yes, of course, he doesn't wait very well."
Remi, meanwhile, was side-eyeing his mother and making sure his violin was tuned properly, patiently explaining what he was doing so Anya would know. The little girl was listening intently, even though sh originally protested to having to watch.
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High School Music/Language Teacher.
Gay.
Engaged to Theo.
01/29/1992.
32.
Background
Authored by Etienne.
Offline.
|
Post by Yunjin Lin on Oct 22, 2015 23:01:58 GMT -8
Yunjin noticeably relaxed when he walked over to where Remi was getting set up, putting his violin case down on the table. His fingers lingering for a second over the silver lettering on the side of the case was the only cue that he was still rather upset. As he got his own violin out and set up, he nodded at Remi and said, "Alright, we're just about ready then Remi. Good, you remembered to tune it first this time."
He glanced around the room, a bit surprised by how much audience he had, and then said, "Since I've been working with Remi for a while, we can totally forgo this step, but when I first start giving private lessons, I generally offer to do a demonstration of what a student is working towards for, uh, family as well as the student..." He let the comment hang there, waiting to see how the other people in the room would react.
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Violinist for Seoul Philharmonic Symphony.
Pansexual/Aromantic.
Single.
01/27/1998.
26.
Ox (Korea)
Authored by Redeim.
Offline.
|
Post by Remi Young on Oct 23, 2015 7:01:05 GMT -8
"Oh, that'd be lovely, if you don't mind." Elena cooed, her hands clasped together.
"I'm working towards being able to play anything, mum." Remi muttered with a roll of his eyes, applying rosin to his violin bow. A bit louder, he added, "But mum, maybe ask what he could teach Anya, since I'm already in band class?" He suggested, staring at Yunjin's violin case. Comparatively, his was brand new, even though it was already a year old, which was a record considering he broke all the clasps off the last one. He had noticed the silver writing on the case, figuring it was some sort of sentimental thing he didn't really understand. He'd looked up the premise of sentiment, it was kind of like empathy, he supposed. He had the exact opposite reaction he was supposed most of the time.
"Oh, that would be good. We could pay you for separate lessons for her, and she goes to public school, so it could be on the weekends or a time that hopefully wouldn't interfere with your teaching." Elena said happily.
John, finally seeming to make his presence known, smiled to Yunjin before standing up and going to his wife. "I'd love to hear the demonstration, but then, honey, maybe we should make some tea." He looked to Yunjin. "Would you like some tea?" He seemed to pick up on Yunjin's nervousness better than his wife.
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High School Music/Language Teacher.
Gay.
Engaged to Theo.
01/29/1992.
32.
Background
Authored by Etienne.
Offline.
|
Post by Yunjin Lin on Oct 24, 2015 1:57:17 GMT -8
Yunjin finished checking the tuning on his violin quickly, a routine he could do almost in his sleep after having played the instrument since he was four. He was slightly startled by the idea of lessons for Anya as well before he even started properly giving Remi lessons. He said tentatively, "If Anya would be interested, I would of course love to teach her."
When Remi's father offered tea, Yunjin was slightly surprised, but he smiled reflexively at the older man and replied, "Tea would be lovely, but I wouldn't want to be an inconvenience, or delay Remi's lesson too much. Perhaps we should start with the demonstration..."
He glanced around at the three people he didn't know well in the room, then glanced at Remi with a quick smile. He said first, "This is something that a student would be looking at being able to play within the first year or two of taking lessons, it's an arrangement of Aaron Copland's 'Variations on a Shaker Melody' from Apalacian Spring."
He launched into the simple familiar melody, which had been one of his favorite performance pieces from a very young age. It helped to start demonstrations with it because people generally seemed to like it, but it was also one of Yunjin's warm up songs most days. When he finished the last triumphant flare of the piece, he glanced around at his audience, trying to judge a reaction.
He continued slightly nervously, hoping that he was making a good impression, and said, "The other half of the demonstration that I give is to show the level of music that a student can achieve if they keep working at playing the instrument for a long time with a fair amount of dedication. This is Locatelli's Caprice number 23, which get's called 'Labyrinth.'"
He was sometimes a little bit hesitant to play "Labyrinth" for an audience in this sort of setting because it was an incredibly challenging piece, though it was one he'd played in concert a few times, but he had the sneaking suspicion that Remi would like the slightly sadistic difficulty of the piece.
When he finished, he looked over at Remi, checking for his student's reaction, then glanced around at the rest of the family.
((First song mentioned, "Variations on a Shaker Melody" from Apalacian Spring by Aaron Copland youtu.be/FMtCh0VuoKg (not a violin arrangement because I can't find one on youtube though I've heard someone do one before).
Second song mentioned, "Labyrinth" Locatelli's Caprice number 23 youtu.be/puXdsiAkYCQ (this is notorious for being incredibly difficult, basically something that is going to get played by really good soloists in symphonies).))
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Violinist for Seoul Philharmonic Symphony.
Pansexual/Aromantic.
Single.
01/27/1998.
26.
Ox (Korea)
Authored by Redeim.
Offline.
|
Post by Remi Young on Oct 24, 2015 7:35:22 GMT -8
Remi was busying himself with other things, because he wanted to get the lesson started with but was letting Anya see what he'd one day be able to do. He recognized the first song, though he hadn't learned to play it yet, and he was rather impressed by Yunjin's ability to play it from memory. But, he figured the teacher had to have some substantial knowledge of violin in order to teach it. It was the second song he showcased that made him stare at his teacher, wide eyed, envious even. It looked difficult, like something he'd want to play perfectly one day, just to prove he could. He noticed Anya also looked pretty amazed, even like she was finally interested in learning to play, and not just because her brother was.
John moved into the kitchen to begin setting up the tea, pulling his wife into the kitchen with him, whispering, "we can listen from here, there's another adult with them now." "That was lovely." He said, louder so Yunjin could hear, after the teacher had finished.
After the song was finished, Remi was still staring wide-eyed at Yunjin, or his violin, rather. "I want to learn it." He said breathlessly, even though he wasn't yet any near that skill level.
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High School Music/Language Teacher.
Gay.
Engaged to Theo.
01/29/1992.
32.
Background
Authored by Etienne.
Offline.
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Post by Yunjin Lin on Oct 28, 2015 0:00:14 GMT -8
Yunjin was relieved when he got a positive response to his choice of pieces. He smiled at Remi and said, "I had that reaction the first time I heard that piece too. I was so excited when I got to choose my solo the last year I was in the San Francisco Youth Symphony as the first chair because I had been working on the piece for a few years at that point. It's still one of my favorites, and we can definitely keep that as a goal, but it may be a while before you're ready to even try that piece."
He glanced towards the kitchen, guessing by the noises that tea was being made and that there might still be an awkward interruption. He saw the look of interest on Anya's face and asked, "So what do you think? Do you want to learn violin? Or is there another instrument that you think would be cooler?"
He looked about the area where Remi was set up and asked, "Remi, where has your sheet music ended up? I'd like to hear how the piece that you've been working on is coming along."
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Violinist for Seoul Philharmonic Symphony.
Pansexual/Aromantic.
Single.
01/27/1998.
26.
Ox (Korea)
Authored by Redeim.
Offline.
|
Post by Remi Young on Oct 28, 2015 11:52:31 GMT -8
"Is there a youth symphony around here, too?" Remi asked, even though he only technically had a couple months of still being considered a "youth." He wanted to perform, he wanted fame. He wanted access to things he wouldn't get otherwise. Get started by something like a youth symphony seemed promising. Even if he'd have to cooperate with other peers.
Anya nodded excitedly. "I knew oppa was good but wow! I want to learn too if I could play that good!" She praised, still looking a bit starstruck as she gazed at Yunjin. "But I still think piano is prettier." She looked down. "Especially when oppa plays it."
"Anya, we've been over this, I can't actually play piano, you just think the five-key 'Twinkle Twinkle' is actually playing something." Remi muttered, digging through his case. He let out a sigh. "I don't know what happened to it. I..." He paused, getting up and going to his room. "Found it!" He called a bit later, coming back into view with a folder where he kept his sheet music. "I put it in my backpack for some reason." He explained, furrowing his eyes as he shifted through the papers, trying to find the one he had been working on.
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High School Music/Language Teacher.
Gay.
Engaged to Theo.
01/29/1992.
32.
Background
Authored by Etienne.
Offline.
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Post by Yunjin Lin on Nov 3, 2015 0:39:49 GMT -8
Yunjin contemplated Remi's question seriously and replied, "I know that there is one in LA proper. But it is extremely hard to get into and normally gets its players referred to it by smaller local youth symphonies. I don't know if there is one in Huntington Beach, but there is probably one nearby. We can definitely look into getting you to the point where you would be ready to audition for a youth symphony, especially since most of them allow people to keep playing in the youth symphony until they are twenty one, and with your parents permission, I'm sure that we can find one that isn't too far away for you to audition for."
Yunjin couldn't help but chuckle a bit at the exchange between Anya and Remi, and he told her earnestly, "I do teach piano, flute, and guitar lessons as well as violin, though violin is my best instrument. I'm very good at all four of them. I started playing piano when I was just a bit younger than you though. If you would rather learn a different instrument perhaps your parents would be interested in letting you do that."
He blinked a few times and laughed lightly again when Remi returned with his sheet music and told Remi, "Well, there are certainly worse places that you could have put it. That's even where it goes when you're bringing it to school, which could explain why it ended up there. Would you like me to get those in the correct order again while you run your warm up scales for me?"
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Violinist for Seoul Philharmonic Symphony.
Pansexual/Aromantic.
Single.
01/27/1998.
26.
Ox (Korea)
Authored by Redeim.
Offline.
|
Post by Remi Young on Nov 3, 2015 12:05:30 GMT -8
Remi nodded, "yeah, I'd really like that." He looked at his violin, playing with one of the strings a bit. "You'd have to convince my parents, though, probably." He said, sounding a bit discouraged. They never outright stopped him from doing something, but he had a feeling something like that would make them as hesitant as letting him going to school again did.
"Then I want to learn piano!" Anya said, but then shook her head, "No, wait, guitar!" She made a face and shook her head again, "Or maybe flute would be fun..."
Remi put a hand on her head, "Why not ask what mum and dad are willing to buy you, first." He suggested. He looked at his folder of music before giving a nod to Yunjin, muttering a small "thank you" before setting up his violin. "I will give fair warning, I've had a bit of difficulty since that bloody baseball player took out my hand." He grumbled, getting situated so his hand could still be comfortable despite the brace on it.
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