Rouxls Can Be A Sweetie When Wants To Be + Doesnt Have His Pride Biting Him In The Ass Yk - Tumblr Posts

The feeling is familiar. Comforting, in a way.

He is far from perfect. ━ The way he holds the flute in of itself shows a muscle-memory touting his knowledge of how to use it, the particular way the fingers were trained to hold an instrument engrained into him, and awkward still, how one does when it has been a long enough time to know how to place the fingers but not how exactly to move them; practiced and timed and only slightly clumsy, the fingers still move, and his breathing still narrowed and trained to make the flute sing. ━ sing, sing, for a concert of one.

( maybe he'd deny it if the others caught on that he had been playing for her, and her alone. he hasn't decided yet, what to do when the group came back. )

He fumbles the notes by the end, the way someone does when they forget how it goes and must improvise; then Dandie speaks, and he ━ as though remembering himself in the same strokes of gladness that at least, in some way, it had helped enough to offer words ━ pulls the instrument from his chin.

" You doth not know a great deal about myself, Lady 'Lion. " Rouxls answers, soft in the remark like a gentle reminder as he picks something off the end of the flute with his nail. It's made of a silvery metal and dark red wood, maybe the same kind as all those passed trees in the forest. ━ It looks old. Well loved.

" But as for mine r'corder, it hath beenth a longe time last I'd played, " he admits, almost embarrassed for a moment " I am quite rusty, t'is impressive even to myself how much I recollected of the tune... "

After a moment, Rouxls' head turns, body still stern & straight like a coat-tailed tower 'gainst the dark and endless sky, and offers a smile that tries to be kind, almost uncharacteristic if not for the hesitance plaguing beneath it. Uncertain, as if unfamiliar, or more unknowing what he himself wants to do. Why he's done this at all. ━ to repay her kindness, however brief, however simple. a part of him wonders, as he looks at her, if this is how all Darkners feel when looking 'pon Lightners. The impulse, itching like instinct, to help, to soothe, to do something to make it good again, make it happy.

Rouxls does not try to make this this happy. Rouxls only tries to let it be better, let the sitting with worry of which he can feel in the darkness that makes him be a little more bearable, a little less lonely.

" Pence for thy thoughts should you wish to share, mayhaps? " he inquires, before adding as though feeling he must offer reason, " You seem troubled. "

@quillheel planted : Rouxls has noticed the absence of such a jovial attitude, and after a while of silently sitting by her, has taken to playing a tune on his flute for her. It has been a long time since he'd practiced, but- well... if Dandelion had brought such life and music to his world, he ought to try to return the favor, no? if only to prove her inspiration did not go to waste.

𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐫𝐤𝐬 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐚𝐲. the tune stops her heavy thoughts in their tracks, if only for a moment. how would they get home? would the kids be safe? would they all be stuck there, forever? concepts that settle, some, when music is offered. soft and lilting, she can't help but glance over, as though she didn't quite expect the duke to have a prowess for woodwinds.

a smile comes, then - genuine, even if her worries persist.

" ...i didn't know you could play. "