#if you look closely im in the video of sleigh ride that's linked | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

jelzorz · 5 months

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You don’t know how long i’ve been waiting for you to say that (i do—and it’s been about 20 months lmao)

Continuation of ia67? Please? 🥺

166.

do you know how far I had to scroll for this @captainjamba??? Rest of the series linked here for convenience

The Katolis Symphonic Orchestra has a Christmas concert every year. Usually it's all the classic stuff: arrangements of Silent Night, and Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas that are easily recognisable and never fail, and it's, y'know, fun and all but the classics are getting a bit too classic, even for Callum. Opeli is a bit like that as a conductor: straight laced and maybe a bit too serious, which is why this year's set list is such a shock when it's sent out to him that afternoon.

It's Wednesday, and Barius' cafe is packed given it's the awkward time of two PM. It's been, what, almost two years since that Valentine's Day he came here with Rayla after rehearsal, and busy rehearsal schedules aside, it's been a pretty good two years. Rayla disappears in the early mornings for rehearsals at the studio, and Callum isn't home until nine on some nights because so many of his own rehearsals are after work (the KSO is great, but it doesn't quite manage all the bills), but they've made it work, and Callum would rather work around the weird hours than not be with her at all.

This life suits them. He hopes it will for a while yet.

The bell at the cafe door rings, and Callum looks up and grins when he spots Rayla in the doorway brushing snow off her coat. He stands as she edges her way through the crowd towards him. "Hey," he greets brightly, leaning over the table for a kiss. "How was your day?"

Rayla grimaces. "Eh."

"That bad?"

She pauses. The way her brow furrows over her eyes says it all.

Callum frowns. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I—" Rayla presses her lips together and takes a breath. "If I had to move, would you move with me?"

There's a pause. A long pause. Callum studies her over the menu on the fake-marble tabletop. "Would you want me to move with you?"

"I—" Rayla sighs and fiddles with a napkin. "I couldn't ask you to," she says quietly. "Things are going so well with the KSO, and you're sharing first chair with Claudia now, and things are good here, so I wouldn't—couldn't ask you to leave all of that behind for me, but..." She blinks like she wants to cry. "The director of Spire Ballet called me today. They've got an opening for a principal, and they want—they want me to come and audition."

"What?" Callum's lips twitch upwards. "Rayla that's amazing!"

"But I'd have to leave—"

"And I'd go with you," says Callum firmly. "No question about it. No doubt in my mind. I'd go with you if you wanted it."

"But—the KSO," says Rayla. "All your friends and family, your brother, how could I ask you to—"

"You aren't asking me," says Callum. "They don't need me. They've got Claudia. And you—" He reaches for her hands across the table and presses her knuckles against his lips. "I'd be a shit violinist without my muse."

That draws a laugh out of her, and Callum grins, pleased he managed it. "Callum..."

"I'd go with you," he says again. "Always. Wherever you went—as long as you want me along."

Another pause. Rayla blinks and lets herself smile a little more genuinely. "Really?"

"Really."

Rayla swallows and grips his hand tighter. "It's just an audition for now. I just..."

"You don't have to explain," he says. "I can see how much you want this. You deserve it. And if we have to move, we will. Okay?"

"Okay." Rayla grins at him at last, the first hints of excitement lighting her eyes. Callum's heart warms at the sight of it, which only strengthens his resolve. "Sorry," she adds. "I didn't mean to ambush you like that. It's... a bit of a shake-up, y'know?"

"Oh I know," chuckles Callum. "KSO's getting one too. Look at our setlist." He slides his phone over to her to let her see, and Rayla barks out a laugh.

"Sleigh Ride?" She squawks. "The ridiculous one with the horsey-trumpet at the end? That Sleigh Ride? That's not Opeli's style, what's gotten into her?"

"I dunno," says Callum with a laugh. "Maybe it's just a good time for change."

Rayla grins and slides his phone back. "Maybe so."

#in anticipation #fess up jamba what do you play and how long have you played it #sbc #rayllum #if you look closely im in the video of sleigh ride that's linked

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