Virgil sat at the piano in the lounge watching his older brother pacing in front of the window staring out at the rain, it didn't rain much on their island due to the location but when it did, no-one in the family got more stressed than the eldest Tracy.
"You don't know how to deal with stress do you Scott?"
Scott jumped slightly at voice "is it that obvious?"
"Scott you've practically worn your own path into the carpet."
He sighed and fell into a chair "I'm sorry, it's just I'm so bored with this weather."
Virgil bit his lip thoughtfully "come here Scott."
Scott walked over to the piano and raised an eyebrow "what's up?"
Virgil slid down the bench "sit down."
"Why?"
"Just sit. Now, I'm going to teach you my way of dealing with stress."
"How? You know I don't know how to play music like you" Scott laughed.
"Well I'm going to teach you."
Scott frowned slightly "I hope you have the patience with me Virg."
"Of course, now look, I've chosen something relatively easy" Virgil placed a sheet of music on the stand and Scott laughed.
"Are you crazy?"
"Come on, you've performed harder rescues than sight-reading a piece of music, just put your fingers here" Virgil took his brother's fingers and placed them on the keys.
"But what do all these symbols mean?" Scott pointed along the left hand line and the bars.
Virgil followed the line with his eyes "the jagged line is the pedal mark and those are rests."
"Ok, I'll give it a go" Scott began to play slowly with an intense look of concentration.
"Now release the pedal, here" Virgil pointed to the arrow mark "quickly."
Scott lifted the pedal and back down again "like that?"
"Yep, you're doing really well by the way."
"Thanks Virg" Scott smiled as Virgil joined him on the left hand accompaniment for help "you're a pretty good teacher."
"Alright don't get soppy" Virgil winked.
In a few places Scott got stuck but Virgil soon got him on the right path again.
"Y'know Virg, I think I might take up the piano as a second instrument, it's very relaxing."
"I thought you would like it, the music helps me to forget stressful missions and other things like that" Virgil smiled "how did you know to take a pause there?"
"What do you mean? I've just taken a break to talk."
"That symbol over the chord is called a pause."
"It looks more like the eye of Horus" Scott laughed.
"Well, the pause is in the right place" Virgil praised as Scott chuckled and continued to play.
For the rest of the piece Scott followed all the markings and glided to the end without a fault all except the last chord.
"How do I play this Virg?"
Virgil laughed "budge your foot off the pedal for a moment."
"Don't show off now" Scott grinned as Virgil stretched his leg out to the pedal.
"Like this" Virgil spread the perfect cadence across the keys.
"So, you don't have to keep your fingers on the notes?"
"That would be impossible, even for me" the honey eyes glistened with amusement.
"Let me try, I want to finish this piece" Scott laughed and copied the movements Virgil had made across the keyboard.
"Well done Scott, and with all of that, it's stopped raining."
"Cheers Virg, but with this instrument, I don't mind what the weather is doing now."
"Hey, don't steal my position" Virgil winked and stood up from the stool.
"See you later Virgil" Scott smiled and moved onto the centre of the stool.
Scott found himself some of Virgil's music books and browsed through until pausing on a film piece, as he got more confident in his performance he looked up to the window where the sun had come out and now glistening off the rain drops on the plants outside, he smiled slightly and continued to play, Tintin came up the patio steps and stopped short seeing Scott at the piano, she opened the door quietly and walked in, Scott smiled as she came to stand next to the piano.
"Sounding good Scott."
"Thanks Tintin, I've only started learning today."
"Really? That's incredible, who taught you?"
Scott laughed lovingly "Virgil, he was teaching me how to release stress."
"Well, keep it up" she smiled and left the lounge feeling warm.
In his room Virgil was sitting on his windowsill playing the classical guitar when the piano music reached his ears, he lowered his leg and left the room to talk to Scott.
"Say Virg?" Scott asked locking his dark eyes with Virgil's "what do the two other pedals do?"
"Another time Scott" Virgil chuckled and settled down onto the sofa watching his brother's experimenting at the white grand.