Music had been in Charlotte's life ever since she was adopted, albeit never at the forefront. Woodwind music had been the soundtrack of her youth, her mother (a racoon faunus called Celia Brown) had been an avid player of the harp and had always been highly encouraging of Charlotte to embrace music. Though it had always been light and cheerful, more traditionally practiced music. Charlotte could play the violin and the guitar well, she could noodle on the piano to some success and had been known to dabble with a flute... but these were all much older, more normal, instruments compared to what she was about to face.
Standing before a decrepit old building, spray-painted within an inch of its life and not a single window fully in tact, she could already hear some metallic whaling from within and some screaming... or was it singing? Regardless Charlotte wasn't all that sure she wanted anything to do with it, was it not for this being a shadow mission she'd walk right passed this house as quickly as possible. It was a bizarre exception in its area, on either side of it were new style buildings (made of stone, likely earth dust, and fully polished) while this one was like a great and terrible wooden shack, at least two stories but she'd be surprised if the stairs worked at all. On the building dark green vines, blackened brambles, Almost all of the surrounding houses were up for sale, the two on either side and all five across the street. The stairs were cracked stone, the whole building seemed to be raised... maybe suggesting a basement? Regardless she slowly made her way up, trying to ignore the garbage in the front garden and pulled a great rusted chain she assumed was a doorbell.
There was no answer, she was left staring at the decrepit looking doors... noticing the rot starting to creep from the top of the door down in the direction of the doorknob. There was no answer, the screaming continued and so did the metallic screeching, drums more audible as she grew closer. She pulled the cord again, no response, one more time... no response. Charlotte knocked on the door with her albeit limited strength, and it swung open. Before her was an empty room, clothes strewn about the floor and mattresses where she assumed people slept. The mess wasn't what caught her eye though, rather the fact that the floor was vibrating... it was as though an aftershock was ringing through the building, the epicentre beneath the floor. No dust fell, rather it was relaunched skyward over and over again.
Charlotte gently crept in, attempting to shout over the music to no avail, scanning the room she saw not so much a door to the basement but what looked to be a hatch... this was going to be a might difficult. Pouting for a moment, debating giving up, she steeled herself. She drew her music bag from her back, utilised her semblance and slowly lowered the case down to the exposed wooden floor beneath the hole. Once it had landed Charlotte webbed up her feet, an action she hadn't performed in a while and squeezed her way through the wall, onto the roof beneath, and began to scale down into the building. She was almost too focused on maintaining her grip, while keeping her semblance active wasn't hard but keeping her legs taught so that she didn't pull a muscle was. It was easier on the wall... but then it became an issue of not falling forward rather than downward. She had been too focused to notice the enamoured stare of the woman she'd been meant to meet today, one Musa Wilhelm. Arriving back on stable-ish ground Charlotte looked around herself, she was in what could only be described as a musical venue; a large wooden stage had somehow been set up beneath the house. There was a huge amount of floorspace, the stage itself only taking up a quarter of the room but still being a good ten meters wide and twenty long. Down here was much clearer, the floor was dusty but cleaning a space this large would be incredibly difficult. If they had done performances down here then they had cleaned up pretty well, the piles of rubbish in the garden weren't mirrored down here. The stage was a bit nasty, she didn't like the torn banners, but all in all she couldn't really complain. The music came to a final halt, the white haired singer letting out some final guttural scream; sweat pouring from her forehead as though she'd just come out the swimming pool. There was a good minute or so of silence, her bent over and holding herself up by the microphone, Charlotte gently applauded... more out of politeness than anything.
Musa finally stood up straight again, well almost straight, panting with a giant smile on her face. "Alright alright! You guys take an hour! I'll deal with incy wincy!" The other band members, three of them, just as tired struggled their way from the stage passed Charlotte (all of them raising their hands for high fives that she awkwardly returned) before climbing their way out; using the actual ladder rather than jumping or the like. The last one, the drummer, nearly falling from exhaustion. This was... unlike other musical practices Charlotte had seen. With a thunk Musa dropped where she stood, panting, waving Charlotte over. Slowly making her way up to the woman, using her semblance to scale the stage, she found the young woman inhaling a water bottle. When she finally stoped she extended a hand to Charlotte; "Musa the one and only, you must be Charlotte then? Whatcha got in that case?"
She drew the guitar, earning a frown from the woman, but when she drew the flute she cocked a brow. She extended a hand, Charlotte passed it over, and despite the woman having sung for a considerable amount of time she began to blow a melody unlike Charlotte had ever heard from the flute. It was almost like her screaming in how it modulated, there was meaning behind it... probably, but Charlotte couldn't discern it. Taking the flue back she could copy the notes but the sound... the sound wasn't the same, it was more subdued... more relaxed. She had somehow turned what should have been a calm melody into one of violence and strength. Charlotte was thoroughly puzzled, and would spend the next three hours learning... but not truly understanding.
Standing before a decrepit old building, spray-painted within an inch of its life and not a single window fully in tact, she could already hear some metallic whaling from within and some screaming... or was it singing? Regardless Charlotte wasn't all that sure she wanted anything to do with it, was it not for this being a shadow mission she'd walk right passed this house as quickly as possible. It was a bizarre exception in its area, on either side of it were new style buildings (made of stone, likely earth dust, and fully polished) while this one was like a great and terrible wooden shack, at least two stories but she'd be surprised if the stairs worked at all. On the building dark green vines, blackened brambles, Almost all of the surrounding houses were up for sale, the two on either side and all five across the street. The stairs were cracked stone, the whole building seemed to be raised... maybe suggesting a basement? Regardless she slowly made her way up, trying to ignore the garbage in the front garden and pulled a great rusted chain she assumed was a doorbell.
There was no answer, she was left staring at the decrepit looking doors... noticing the rot starting to creep from the top of the door down in the direction of the doorknob. There was no answer, the screaming continued and so did the metallic screeching, drums more audible as she grew closer. She pulled the cord again, no response, one more time... no response. Charlotte knocked on the door with her albeit limited strength, and it swung open. Before her was an empty room, clothes strewn about the floor and mattresses where she assumed people slept. The mess wasn't what caught her eye though, rather the fact that the floor was vibrating... it was as though an aftershock was ringing through the building, the epicentre beneath the floor. No dust fell, rather it was relaunched skyward over and over again.
Charlotte gently crept in, attempting to shout over the music to no avail, scanning the room she saw not so much a door to the basement but what looked to be a hatch... this was going to be a might difficult. Pouting for a moment, debating giving up, she steeled herself. She drew her music bag from her back, utilised her semblance and slowly lowered the case down to the exposed wooden floor beneath the hole. Once it had landed Charlotte webbed up her feet, an action she hadn't performed in a while and squeezed her way through the wall, onto the roof beneath, and began to scale down into the building. She was almost too focused on maintaining her grip, while keeping her semblance active wasn't hard but keeping her legs taught so that she didn't pull a muscle was. It was easier on the wall... but then it became an issue of not falling forward rather than downward. She had been too focused to notice the enamoured stare of the woman she'd been meant to meet today, one Musa Wilhelm. Arriving back on stable-ish ground Charlotte looked around herself, she was in what could only be described as a musical venue; a large wooden stage had somehow been set up beneath the house. There was a huge amount of floorspace, the stage itself only taking up a quarter of the room but still being a good ten meters wide and twenty long. Down here was much clearer, the floor was dusty but cleaning a space this large would be incredibly difficult. If they had done performances down here then they had cleaned up pretty well, the piles of rubbish in the garden weren't mirrored down here. The stage was a bit nasty, she didn't like the torn banners, but all in all she couldn't really complain. The music came to a final halt, the white haired singer letting out some final guttural scream; sweat pouring from her forehead as though she'd just come out the swimming pool. There was a good minute or so of silence, her bent over and holding herself up by the microphone, Charlotte gently applauded... more out of politeness than anything.
Musa finally stood up straight again, well almost straight, panting with a giant smile on her face. "Alright alright! You guys take an hour! I'll deal with incy wincy!" The other band members, three of them, just as tired struggled their way from the stage passed Charlotte (all of them raising their hands for high fives that she awkwardly returned) before climbing their way out; using the actual ladder rather than jumping or the like. The last one, the drummer, nearly falling from exhaustion. This was... unlike other musical practices Charlotte had seen. With a thunk Musa dropped where she stood, panting, waving Charlotte over. Slowly making her way up to the woman, using her semblance to scale the stage, she found the young woman inhaling a water bottle. When she finally stoped she extended a hand to Charlotte; "Musa the one and only, you must be Charlotte then? Whatcha got in that case?"
She drew the guitar, earning a frown from the woman, but when she drew the flute she cocked a brow. She extended a hand, Charlotte passed it over, and despite the woman having sung for a considerable amount of time she began to blow a melody unlike Charlotte had ever heard from the flute. It was almost like her screaming in how it modulated, there was meaning behind it... probably, but Charlotte couldn't discern it. Taking the flue back she could copy the notes but the sound... the sound wasn't the same, it was more subdued... more relaxed. She had somehow turned what should have been a calm melody into one of violence and strength. Charlotte was thoroughly puzzled, and would spend the next three hours learning... but not truly understanding.
