Michelle was passing by the auditorium on the way to a training session with her practice swords. As she passed by, she heard a beautiful tune coming out of the vast room.

Opening the door, she found herself backstage, a beautiful brunette playing the violin expertly.

Michelle placed her wooden sword on the floor, leaning against the wall, losing herself in the music, closing her eyes, being quiet, not disturbing the musician.

Katarina took no notice of her new, captive audience. She continued to play the piece unerringly, her years of practice, performance, and repetition echoing through the halls of the auditorium. Most musicians seemed content playing and practising in the privacy of their own homes or in the company of other musicians and in that Katarina was different. Ever since her time at the Royal Academy had begun she’d learned that performing in public seemed much easier when one practised in public. Many young musicians found large auditoriums and theatres terribly overwhelming at first, though that was no longer true of Katarina. She had long ago learned, if you practised in the auditorium or always in the presence of an audience, neither would bother you. Today was the former, as she was slated for a second performance in the auditorium after the first had been such a rousing success.
Finally, Katarina brought the piece to a close; a contented sigh escaped her lips as she brought her violin down from her neck and opened her eyes. The darkness of the auditorium, combined with the light in the hall beyond casting the unknown woman’s shadow across the beam of light. Initially, Katarina cleared her throat, before speaking in a raised tone of voice that easily carried due to the auditorium’s acoustics, “The performance is next week, and it’s not nice to sneak in unannounced.” Her tone did not come across as terribly serious though, and her face bore a gentle smile.

Michelle stood there, eyes closed, losing herself in the beautiful music. As the piece ended and Katarina made it obvious that she knew Michelle was there, Michelle peeked her head around the corner.

"I'm sorry. I hope I'm not disturbing you, miss. That was a beautiful piece. I enjoyed listening to you play. Full of passion. Where did you learn to play like that? It was incredible."

She stepped out onto the stage completely, clapping.

Katarina offered a kind smile in return, as well as a slight curtsey. "I've been playing since I was a child...more than a decade now." She eyed the woman as she approached, she seemed to have a rather odd hair colour...never mind having quite a bit of it. Katarina wondered if she'd even be comfortable with that much hair. It took her a moment to realize she was staring and she was rather embarrassed when she did. A slight blush filled her cheeks, barely visible with the auditorium's main lights off, "I am Katarina, Katarina Marseilles."

Michelle bowed politely. "Katarina. That's a beautiful name. I'm Michelle Burntheart. It's a pleasure to meet you. What song were you playing just now? It sounded sort of familiar."

Katarina looked very elegant standing there on stage with her violin. Michelle found herself visually eating up her curves.

"The piece?" Katarina came across as distracted, though only for a moment. "Oh, I was just practising my part, its Paganini's Violin Concerto 2. You probably haven't heard it before but you might have heard some of the chords." She offered a slight smile with her words. Most people her age had no interest in the classical pieces, though they'd still come across as somewhat familiar. Modern artists often plundered them for parts.

"True, I don't know the piece. But, I love listening to string instruments. They're beautiful when played well, which you obviously have well in hand. I'd love to hear more, Katarina. That is, if you don't mind an audience. She said, her voice full of enthusiasm. She genuinely wanted to hear more of the violin.

Then Michelle found herself admiring not just the music, but the musician herself. Katarina had lovely curves. Curves Michelle was dying to explore with her fingers and lips. She forced herself to resist the urge to flirt directly, lest she annoy the musician. So, she sat down on the stage slowly, but not slow enough to arouse suspicion, just enough to make sure she didn't fall down, showing every curve of her body to the budding musician.

What other songs do you know? She asked, with the proverbial stars in her eyes.

Katarina looked slightly disconcerted at the request, but hid it almost immediately. “I had planned to wrap up about now…” her voice trailed off as she considered her audience. More friends was an opportunity she really couldn’t afford to pass on. “…but I suppose I could play another piece or two.” She conceded to the woman’s request and started into Paganini’s third violin concerto. Her body seemed to flow and sway with the music as calmly as a leaf in a stream, her eyes closed while she played. Her left hand played across the neck of the instrument with a master’s skill and her right was steady as stone as it worked the bow across the instrument’s strings.

Michelle failed to notice the slight momentary annoyance that Katarina had shown, mainly because she hid it so fast. As she pulled the bow across the strings of the violin, Michelle once again lost herself in the beautiful music radiating from the violin, almost like energy. She played like a professional. Passionate and beautiful, inspiring calm to Michelle's soul. Michelle watched as her fingers worked the chords masterfully, and very quietly began humming to the tune of the song. She knew this piece. It was one of her dad's favorite songs. She didn't remember the name of it, but she remembered the song in perfect clarity.

Once again, Michelle admired the body of the lovely woman, her grace as she swayed like a leaf in the gentlest of breezes. While Katarina had her eyes closed, Michelle bit her lower lip. She wanted Katarina, and she wanted her badly. Still resisting the urge to flirt with the beautiful musician, she listened to the music and admired her from afar, waiting for the perfect moment to make her move.

Katarina continued the piece for about five minutes, only a fraction of the entire concerto, but enough she hoped to placate her enraptured audience. As she brought the piece to a close she took a deep breath, relaxing in the wake of the performance before reopening her eyes. She offered a slight curtsy to Michelle for her applause and again offered a sweet smile. "It is good to get the audience's opinion ahead of time." she offered thanks in her own round about way. "If you enjoyed that you should come on Thursday evening, there will be a full orchestra present for that performance." While Katarina had glanced over the other woman earlier, she took no long stares or measured studies. It was little wonder she was oblivious to Michelle's appreciative eyes.

Michelle listened intently to her father's favorite song until she brought it to a close. She Jumped at the chance to her the beautiful Katarina play the song that reminded her so much of home.

"My dad listened to that song a lot when I was little. It reminds me of home. Thank you. I would love to come and listen to you play Thursday evening. What are your plans for right now though, Katarina?" She asked, hoping to start a different conversation. She didn't want to sound pushy, but she loved Katarina's playing. She could listen to it for hours.

The words seemed to pass over the brunette’s shoulders into nothing as she stooped down to put away her instrument. Carefully, her hands placed the instrument in the dark purple velvet as if it were a child going into its crib. The case itself was a thing of exquisite details, its material bearing the deep hue of oak with decorative carving across its sides and face. It was truly a thing of beauty that no machine could have made. Carefully she closed the case and ran her finger across the top of it slowly, the digit tracing a line across its intricately decorated surface bringing a light smile to her face. When she stood up her mind slipped from its venture and back towards her singular audience. “My plans?” her head quirked at the thought. Katarina paused a moment to consider her situation, honestly she had no plans, though if she said that right off it appeared certain that Michelle would. Her voice allowed no evidence of misdirection, for she spoke no lie when she said, “I’d thought about reading, or perhaps getting something to eat.” Her eyes traced a line down and up her audience once again, taking her in under the possibility of a new light. Still, her mind found no new questions, but rather wandered back onto its original musing. Before she had time to consider it, her mouth was already forming the words, “How do you deal with hair that long?”

Michelle was taken aback slightly by the question posed by Katarina. But she wasn't offended at all. In fact, she smiled at the question.

My hair? I've always liked it long. I did some pictures with some friends in school and the long red hair really made the pictures look wonderful. I can show you some if you would like. After you eat, of course. Would you care for some company, Katarina? I'm still pretty new here and I'm a bit of a social person unless I'm training.

She walked backstage where she had left her practice swords and picked them up, laying them against her shoulder, as if to tell Katarina she is ready to go whenever Katarina was. She walked closer to Katarina, getting the closer look she had been looking for to a degree. She would rather see Katarina with no clothes on, but she'd take what she could get right now. Again, she made small talk, this time about the oak violin case.

"This case is beautiful, Katarina. It looks handmade. Did you make this?" She said, gazing at it. Michelle was more interested in Katarina than the case, but she had to figure out where Katarina would be most receptive to her flirting. She really wished that someone else would make the first move for a change.