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The weather began to feel colder in the middle of autumn, especially when it became foggy in Toon Lake City, with leaves flying from the gale wind. The toons and Matthew were staying in the house as usual, as they went on their day doing their hobbies.
Though one particular cartoon character in mind was Stanley the Half-Man Half-Camel, who was walking around and practising his trombone lesson. It was awful, more so neutral, as some notes comically appeared from the bell that went through the floors, both below and above him, showing that notes were zig-zagged or spiky, proving the point how it sounded a bit diabolical that even Squidward's clarinet lesson sounds better (No hate to Squidward). Some other cartoon characters hated it that toons who were close to him ran, crawled, or flew past him, and even Matthew hates it.
However, this caught the attention of a half-dragon, half-human person by the name of Pearl, the one who is quieter than the rest of the cast. They were albino, with blue eye on the left and red eye on the right, wearing a tunic and a pearl necklace. They were following him while the half-human, half-camel was enjoying his trombone playing, as if their hearing was so excellent that they could hear that music, yet they were sensitive like human ears. They have traits of a dragon, after all. So, Pearl had to follow them a bit farther from him and the sound.
Then Stanley noticed them when he heard the wings flapping from their torso from the dragon body and back from the human body, and then stopped playing. He turned around, still holding his trombone that had the same color as his shaggy golden blonde hair, fur, and goatee. His amber eyes were glued to Pearl's icy blue ones for a brief moment.
"Oh, hello!" Stanley spoke to Pearl with his usual happy tone and a smile on his face. He was happy to see them.
"Hello," Pearl responded with a neutral tone, their expression curious. "I heard music somewhere while I was reading a book and collecting trinkets, and I wanted to know who did that." They continued.
"That's great! I was just practising my trombone lessons just to remember that I will still use them, but I don't know when or how I got it in the first place." The half-human, half-camel admitted and shrugged. "Well, I never realized it until now."
Pearl just looked at him, still confused. "Affirmative, but why outside in the hallway instead of your room?" Pearl asked.
Stanley thought for a moment, pondering while possibly trying to awaken his brain cells that are still there in his head.
"I never thought about it, thanks!" Stanley cheered and walked past them, his hoofs clicking on the floor.
"Wait!" Pearl exclaimed, Stanley, stop! "Why do you need to practice your trombone exactly?"
"I’m practicing it for a play. It's called the Nutcracker." He responded. "There are a few days left until the play is about to start, and I don't want to be late for that."
"Can I join?" Pearl asked. "I have known some things about music, and maybe I can help you with that."
"Sure!" He accepted, which Pearl didn't expect. They expected rejection, but they were happy to help their friend with music, even when he was as dumb as a box of rocks.
In Pearl's room, it felt like they were from ancient Rome. It had that aesthetic connecting to such an era, with beautiful artworks plastered on the walls, some decorated with a string of pearls on top ot the golden canvas. The walls and floor were made of marble.
The room is echoing with an off-putting sound of Stanley's trumpet. He was trying to play Act I: March, yet most of the tones are off-tune.
The half-dragon stopped with a makeshift concert baton by tapping it on the music stand.
"Desine!" They exclaimed in Latin, which made Stanley stop playing immediately, albeit he didn't know Latin, just heard the sounds of tapping, which he thought meant stop.
"What's wrong?" He asked, pointing at himself in confusion with question marks appearing on top of his head, only visible to him.
"Well, you used a B sharp note instead of a B note." They responded, glancing back at their music sheet and pointing at the notes and signatures with their concert baton.