Oh god, its a harpist.

Nerys Milburga Ó hÍceadha

Life went on. Nerys had anticipated this but the idea of what came after Starlight Academy had always been a faint thought on the horizon, a distant star whose distance away could never fully be closed. It had been crossed now, and she had no idea where else to go from this. She had encroached on the kindness of the Academy long enough, Nerys feared. A part of her called out for so-called higher education to continue under its fostering wing but in truth, Nerys had tired of merely learning things ages ago. There were things now that she wanted to do, though they remained vague ideas with no concrete setting.

There had been an abandoned harp in the park. Or, rather, the pieces of one. She had passed by it on those few times she ventured out of her tiny, island-paid for apartment, spying it hiding in the underbrush. This time, she had decided to see if she could do anything about it, bringing about duct tape (a wondrous invention, truly) and a full set of strings. It had taken all morning and through the light lunch she packed but eventually, she managed to bring it to some workable order.

Feeling a little thrilled, she plucked the strings, tuning as needed. The pegs were no longer perfect fits so she did what she could with gratuitous amounts of tape. A chiming, meandering tune spilled out at her fingertips, leading nowhere in particular. That was how the stranger found her, skirt arranged around her on the grass and the harp before her. She startled for a moment, the music breaking off into confused notes.

"Thank you," she said in faint surprise. "It was nothing much, merely a tune I thought of on the spot. I hope I did not disturb you."

Nerys Milburga Ó hÍceadha

Bemused, Nerys watched as the young man flopped down on the grass by her side, seemingly without a care in the world. She wondered what it was like to be like that. Or, had she already gotten to that point? It was true, with the support of the island, she could continue living as she had without any worry towards her basic necessities. It simply seemed so bare and devoid of life. It was like the moon, but with the knowledge that endless possibilities were constantly hovering just out of her reach.

"This is a rare occurrence," she said, glancing down along her harp. "I found this quite some time ago and decided to repair it. This is the best I could do under the circumstances." Perhaps if she had better materials, she could have properly repaired it. Perhaps not. It had been well ruined when she found it. Now that it was mentioned, she found herself marveling over the thing she had produced. It was far from beautiful but it worked and that was what was important.

Nerys plucked at a string, frowning at the dissonance. It was already out of tune so she moved to fix that. "You live nearby?" she asked, unsure of how to carry the conversation. "My apartment is quite a distance away so I do not come as often as I would like."