Melody of Rain

Since folks wanted me to continue a little more with the story, I did with a set of prompts that seemed perfect for it. Again, thank you @Aditus

Playing with the music theme, I wanted to flesh out Brad's character a bit more. Brad is an independent non-identifying queer blind male pianist, which I think fits him more than anything else. A free spirit yearning for human connection. Most people with full abilities can have connections easily, while disabled people have to risk their trust and bodies to explore. Being disabled makes a lot of things harder, including hookups or dating. It takes a bit of courage to do what Brad does, maybe a lack of sense as well, but for a romantic like him, it's worth the risk. I can't say I have done as much risk-taking as Brad, being low vision myself, but I've had some odd and scary near hookups. You have to dust yourself off and just put yourself out there again, sadly to a greater extent than most people realize.

As music was the core of the last story, I wanted to narrow the musical choice down to 2 musical pieces this time: First, "Chopin's Raindrop" is a classic masterpiece that really highlights a flurry of emotions. Chopin composed this piece, while he was ill on the island of Majorica with his lover George Sand, a famous 19th-century biologically female author who portrays herself as a male in everyday life (to some queer historians, one of the greatest transgender male authors of the 19th century). I thought it would be a good piece of reference for folks into music or history. I may not be as good of a historian as @Mark Arbour, but I do like to throw in a few references from time to time for those into that stuff like me. The second musical choice is the iconic "The Sound of Silence", which I recalled had a stanza near the end contemplating raindrops falling into a well of silence due to the lack of expression. I thought it was a good way to express something from an artist to the object of his affections, reflecting on the lack of expression between them with more than just mere conversation.

I hope readers enjoy this new short story