[Video] Rabbit Day 3... with Rabbits

[achickenformylove]

[WangJi was in greenhouse carriage as usual. It was usually his place for making any sort of posts on the train as he enjoyed it there. This time, there actually was a reason... because he had two rabbits and it was the month of rabbit.

You know... appropriate.

So Little Carrot was sitting inside his robes with his tiny head sticking out, nose wiggling as WangJi spoke]

Good day. I wanted to inform those on the train with a musical inclination that I have ordered a guqin so that others may try and play it.

[He adjusted the video to show the very long zither instrument sitting on the ground near him. It definitely wasn't his own. The colors were different and it didn't have any of the markings showing it belonged to a Gusu Lan disciple.

There was also Little Radish the white rabbit next to it, sniffing it and trying to figure out what it was]

If anyone would like to learn more about it, feel free to ask. This one, I will leave in the music carriage.

Comments

[happyends]

[ Oh! Hold on, that seems especially interesting to Madoka. Her eyes are wide with curiosity. ]

They have different songs for different ages?

[ It makes sense. After all, if young people are too small to reach all the notes, they'd need to have songs that don't use those notes.. ]

Wow.. That was so smart to think of! The people who made this instrument really must have been very wise..

[achickenformylove]

[WangJi nodded]

Usually for those younger and new to playing the instrument, the music is not as difficult. As you progress, it begins to get harder, but it is not something that I would ask someone new to play a song with all the hui immediately.

[happyends]

How long have you been playing this instrument for, mister Wangji?

[ All this talk about children playing it has just made her a little curious..

Especially since he's so good! Madoka figures that he must have practiced for a really, really long time to have gotten that good at it. Maybe there one day was a tiny kid Wangji playing the instrument.. It's kind of a cute thought. ]

[achickenformylove]

I have been playing the guqin since I was a child. I was practically fluent in qin language by the time I was a junior in my sect. [aka a teenager]

My son knows how to play it as well. I started teaching him as soon as he was able.

[happyends]

[ There it is! A little Wangji, already doing his best to play the instrument.. It's such a cute mental image, and Madoka smiles a little as she thinks so. Even more so when she hears that Wangji's son also played it. That must have been just as cute..

She can't help but wonder if Wangji was already as serious as a child as he is now. It's hard to imagine an actual child-like version of him. ]

That's so cute! You're passing it down.. like a family tradition!

[achickenformylove]

[She probably had the right mental image in her head. He had always been a very serious person, even when he was a little kid. His mother, when she had still been alive, had playfully teased him for never smiling.

He nodded]

Not many play the guqin because it is considered more difficult than other instruments. There are a lot of guqin players in Gusu Lan, however.

[Well, when your sect was based on training, mediation, and bettering ones' self, there was plenty of time to practice a difficult instrument]

[happyends]

Is it because you all pass it on like that?

[ Because it does stand out, doesn't it. Such an uncommon hobby, and yet it's something so many people do in the direct group around him.. There's got to be a reason for that! It wouldn't just happen randomly! ]

In that case it'd make sense that everyone there would learn how to play something like this.

[achickenformylove]

Yes. We have many seniors who play it and they pass it on to the juniors so it continues.

[It did make sense. If there were players, more people would be more likely to learn them]

Everyone in Gusu Lan learns at least one instrument. My older brother plays the xiao.

[happyends]

[ No wonder Wangji is so good at it. Or that so many people where he comes from are. Sure, it's not like playing an instrument is not supported at all where Madoka comes from, but it's definitely a little bit more rare than how things sound in his world..

So she nods, trying to follow along. ]

What kind of instrument is the xiao? Is it a little bit like this one..?

[ Since this is the first and only reference she has for what instruments are like where Wangji comes from. ]

[achickenformylove]

[When there weren't as many technical things to do and music was considered one of the core aspects of a gentleman, Gusu Lan definitely took it and ran with it, given that music was what they were known for]

It is a flute played vertically.

[Like a recorder]

[happyends]

Like a recorder!

[ Yes, apparently Madoka echoes that exact same sentiment.. because it sure is the first thing she thinks of.

It's the classical first instrument every modern kid touches, after all. ]

Or.. um, do you know what a recorder is, mister Wangji? Do they even have those where you're from..? [ Considering all these other instruments have such fancy names. And recorders are.. well, fairly simple. It's what makes her second guess here. ]

[achickenformylove]

Yes, it seems to be like a recorder. We do not have something called a recorder back home, but I have seen one of them here. In the music carriage.

[happyends]

Oh, then I know about those! Kind of.. After all, we have recorders where I come from too, so I can imagine what they're like in your world too now.

[ Not looking exactly like a recorder, but sounding like something that's similar enough that it makes sense to the girl, nodding. ]

We tried learning how to play those a little bit at school, but I can't say I was really good..

[achickenformylove]

I see. Sounds like they are quite popular if they are played in schools.

It is alright if you are not. Not everyone is good at every skill.