14. Orion
If being stuck here wasn’t bad enough, they decided to throw an extra turd in this shit sandwich. The classes were boring, but the three of us didn’t have a full course load and they kept us together. Our time here revolved around making art, but we couldn’t perform it.
The only time Misha and I got in front of an audience was when we performed other people’s work.
Azriel wasn’t allowed to paint on stage like how we did our shows and he couldn’t show anything new in galleries.
It was impossible to keep Azriel contained though.
Murals kept popping up on the sides of historic buildings and so did installation pieces that bordered on obscene.
Faustus knew it was him. Any arsehole with half a brain knew it was him because they started at the beginning of the semester when we got dragged here and he was the only art student acting like he knew he couldn’t be expelled.
That was because we couldn’t. We had rules we had to follow, but we didn’t have to be nice about it. And Azriel wasn’t vandalizing the school. He was making art just like he was supposed to.
But I didn’t fucking sign up to be an assistant for Aurelia Barclay, even if she was probably the only professor in the music department I actually respected. She played the cello, but she was also a fantastic composer.
Aurelia was just about the only person here I’d ask for advice if I was stuck with a composition or I was unsure about a movement. That didn’t mean I wanted to fetch her coffee and help with the morons she was an advisor for.
She gave me a knowing smile when I walked in. She was teaching here because she was mostly retired. Arthritis had mostly killed her ability to play the cello, but she still composed.
“Did you do it or are you taking punishment for your boyfriend? It’s the only reason I can think of that I was told I have an assistant and it ended up you. Did you help him put another twelve-foot penis sculpture in the quad?”
Maybe this wouldn’t be absolutely terrible.
I respected Aurelia as an artist, but I actually liked her as a person too.
She raised all kinds of hell when she was younger and had led an interesting life.
She found Azriel amusing, and she’d helped Misha more than once, even though he wasn’t even in her program.
“Azriel never does the same thing twice, and it’s usually Misha that helps him with that because he has trouble sleeping. Azriel is working on something way more offensive, but I won’t spoil it. I actually don’t know why I’ve been assigned as your assistant.”
“I’m also now the advisor for a new student who was brought here now instead of next semester.
I decided to look into her and found a video of her busking in the subway.
She’s talented, both as a violin player and a composer.
She deserves her spot here, though it doesn’t make much sense to bring her here right before finals.
She’d actually give Immortal Nightmare a great layer if you ever get back together. ”
Nope. It was the three of us. We had other musicians and dancers with us, of course, but we worked well creating art together. We could put together a beautiful show and we worked well on a personality level. We didn’t need outsiders.
Still, we didn’t find a video of her playing when Azriel was trying to stalk her.
Azriel got deeply obsessed with people and things and then he’d just get bored.
It was what made him such a good artist. He’d spent months learning a style and then never use it again unless he was in a mood.
People were more complicated because Azriel was the perfect boyfriend until he just disappeared.
Misha and I were the only lovers Azriel never ghosted.
I wasn’t worried about the new girl and his obsession. We slept with girls separately and together, but we always came back to each other. Azriel would get bored soon enough. He always did.
And Aurelia was laughing at me. What the fuck? She was just about the only person I’d let get away with that outside of Azriel and Misha.
“That girl has you twisted up. Get over here.”
I went to stand behind her desk while she pulled up a video. It was Harlowe standing in the subway playing her violin. Ugh. I was never letting Azriel see this. Misha either. This was…shit, I was getting hard.
It wasn’t just her outfit or looks because those were pretty spectacular.
She was good. Harlowe wasn’t just technically proficient on the violin.
She made it sing her emotions. I recognized that look on her face.
She was lost to the music. I knew it because I did that.
Azriel did it when he painted and Misha got like that when he danced.
The music she wrote was haunting and called to my soul. Aurelia was generally right, even if I sometimes didn’t want to hear it. I didn’t know her personality. She could be annoying as fuck with an ego impossible to work with.
But while I was listening to her play her composition, my brain was whirring.
I could picture exactly how a piano could compliment it.
I could see Misha doing his gravity defying leaps and mashup of classical ballet and modern dance to us making music.
The music and dance would speak to Azriel and he’d whip out the perfect visual art for it.
It felt like a loss when Aurelia stopped the video. I wanted her to play it again.
“See? It makes sense someone snatched her up. I’m excited to be her advisor and see what she can do here.
Someone didn’t think about how it was going to look to the other students bringing her here now.
There are countless amazing musicians out there busking at any given time who could be at the school, but finding a double threat with that little extra something in the wild is rare. ”
It was rare, but not impossible. Playing an instrument and writing music were two different skills that took years to learn. Most people tended to focus on one or the other.
It made sense, but Aurelia didn’t have all the details about this place like I did.
The new girl couldn’t be a part of Immortal Nightmare because Immortal Nightmare would never be seen on stage again.
As much as I wanted to be close to that kind of talent and make music with her, she had way too much attention on her.
And then Aurelia told me something that made me realize I wasn’t going to have a choice. Chess was being played with my life again.
“She’s supposed to be here in five minutes. Your office hours and her advisor hours interact. So, adjust your erection and don’t be an asshole.”
Motherfucker.