Ling Ling Says | A TwoSetViolin Wholesome Tragedy

Uh oh. Part Five - Solutions, Salutations, and Scandals

What happened to that violin?

It got crushed by a ladder.

There's no way of saving that. I'm sorry. Do you want to come by the shop? I'll be free Thursday afternoon.

Brett couldn't. He and Eddy had a concert Thurs.

Well, I guess only I have a concert Thursday.

Brett tried to think of what he could do. Some ideas came to mind but they seemed so outlandish and stupid that he worries they wouldn't work anyway. He wanted to help Eddy get a new violin.

But Eddy was in a state of shock right now and probably somewhat in mourning. Plus, if Eddy were to get a violin, wouldn't he want to hear the tone of it for himself before buying it? Brett couldn't simply pop by his house and say,

"I got you a replacement, bro."

"Thanks, bro."

That would never happen.

But maybe Brett could raise the money to get Eddy a new violin. But how?

Definitely online? But he put something on the reddit or instagram or youtube, the fundraiser was bound to be found by Eddy.
It hadn't even been five minutes since Eddy had departed from Brett in his sulking state. Brett was a bit depressed to from seeing Eddy looking so defeated. He loved his bro, his colleague.

"Fuck- fuck- fuck." Brett murmured, arms crossed.

He earned a glare from a woman walking by with a toddler. He did an awkward wave as an apology and decided he needed to go home.

Once there, he sent Eddy a text.

Tonight was a bit of a shock, but we'll pull through this?

A bit? Really Brett? My violin got fucking smashed today. We have a concert in less than a week!

Eddy, I'm just here to support you.

Eddy didn't respond. Brett tried to imagine what Eddy was going through before retaliating or texting something he would later regret.

He decided against sending another text and turned his phone off so he could think.

...

A few minutes earlier

...

Eddy was taking the subway. It kind of smelled today but at this moment, he liked it. There weren't many people and he could let the few tears go down his face without worrying about anyone bothering him. Until a young lady sat across from him. She kept looking at him, probably wondering what was wrong, but she kept doing that thing where everytime he would catch her looking, she would look away. It was quite annoying and Eddy was already agitated.

He thought about getting up and moving seats but he didn't want to make a problem.

"Did your girlfriend break-up with you?"

"What?" Eddy was so taken a back by her sudden conversation, that he sounded insulted.

"Or did your boyfriend break-up with you?"

"No. What? No!" Eddy groaned and looked up at the lights of the ceiling. "I'm sorry. I'm a musician-"

"So you're sensitive?"

"Right now I am. Well- My violin got destroyed today."

"Oh my gosh I'm so sorry. Don't those things cost thousands of dollars?"

"Yes! They don't cost 50 bucks!"

"Alright..."

"Sorry- It's a long story. Today just has been a lot."

"Well I'm sorry for your loss." She left the the subway.

Eddy didn't know how to receive that. Yes, one of his and Brett's number one rules of instruments was to never harm one but how great a loss was this?

Shit who was he kidding? He was going to be out of work if he didn't get his shit together and get a replacement. Speaking of work, he dreaded the fact of having to inform not just one, but multiple .... of the tragedy that had happened.

Eddy, this is what happens when you treat the playing of  violin like a joke. You and Brett with your channel. You don't take this seriously enough. You shouldn't have left your violin by a ladder. That was ignorant Eddy and ignorance is not something we want in the pit.

What if people thought he did it on purpose? What if people thought he took violin playing as a joke. 

Part of Eddy knew those thoughts and responses were really extreme and probably wouldn't happen but his heart wrenched at the thought of his title changing.  Eddy knew in the far future, he would look back on this and- no not laugh. He would look back and tell someone not to do what he did. His phone pinged.

Editor-San in the basement: Hey, have you seen the video yet?

Eddy: Sorry, I haven't been in the right headspace right now to look over it.

Editor-San in the basement: I'm not talking about the channel, so don't worry. I can imagine why you aren't in the right headspace though.

So Brett had spoken to Editor-San about it. It's not like it was a bad thing but Eddy was ashamed of what happened and wished he could've spoken on his own terms.

But maybe Brett was put off by how Eddy had been acting and needed to talk to someone.

But wait- Editor-San was still talking about a video. What video?

Ping-ping-ping

Eddy turned his notifications off. There were notifications from Reddit and YouTube all from one video.

It was him onstage with his violin. His broken violin. The editor of the video panned it so the focus was on the violin the whole time. None of Eddy's talking was included, just some shitty early 2000s pop song over the video.

And the comments-

I've always supported TwoSet, but this is just sad. Canceled.

"Don't harm Violin-Chan!" They said,

Look at Brett's face. He looks more devastated than Eddy.

Really?

The closest these two will ever get to recking a G-String.

Some were meant to be funny. Some Eddy could not fathom like how many people were commenting on how Eddy's reaction looked. How his face wasn't sad enough, or devastated enough.

Dude if my violin was destroyed, I'd be bawling, not trying to make the audience laugh.

Eddy shut his phone off and got off at the next stop. Nevermind that his house was two more stops away. He just wanted to be alone with his thoughts.