[Lawns] Tired of This

[mystri]

Eva brought her knees to her chest and rested her chin on her knees. She was looking out to the forest, lost in her own thoughts. It was forbidden to go out, unless someone wanted severe consequences.

Her hand went up involuntarily to her throat, as it so often did. She was --as she thought of it-- cursed with throat problems. Talking to much, shouting, anything like that caused her throat to hurt, and for her to lose her voice for long periods of time.

With a sigh, Eva turned her head and rested her cheek against her knees. It was hard, being quiet all the time. Many students just thought she was stuck up and didn't want to speak with everyone. She was just afraid of her throat hurting, or losing her voice again.

A breeze blew past and ruffled her hair, blowing it in her face. She shivered slightly and drew her knees closer. Leave it to her to forget a coat again.

[Amara Conway]

Amara was walking back from the Lake and across the lawns. She had a small book in her hand, the one on pirates she had been reading when she had met the older Claws and the crazy Gryffindor, Darren, and to her side was her guitar, floating a few feet above the ground as always. This for her was the easiest way of transporting it, by making it transport itself. It was a nifty little spell her uncle had shown her and she was happy he had.

The story was just getting good, with the king of the dragons confronting the pirate captain, when Mara happened to look up. The castle was big from the angle she was looking up from and it made her smile a little sadly. Though it was big, there weren't many she could share it with. Many thought she was a flirt or stupid or a hundred other things that could be a flaw in a person. She shrugged and looked down at her book. Her hand had closed it without her realising it and suddenly she saw something out of the corner of her eye.

A wind began to blow and it blew Mara's long brown hair into her face. She quickly tied it up with a bit of silver ribbon she had in her pocket and looked at what her eye had seen. It was a person, a girl judging by the hair, and she was alone. They hadn't spoken yet and already they had something in common. Amara tilted her head towards the girl and said to her guitar, 'come on.' She changed course and headed towards the lonely girl.

Amara sat next to her and for a moment didn't say anything. She wasn't sure if the girl had noticed she was there but didn't think she had. Her guitar set itself neatly on the ground next to her and Amara put her book on the guitar. Amara thought carefully about what to say. She didn't know why because she was usually brash or so she had been told but it felt like the right thing to do. Thinking carefully, Mara said simply, 'hello.'

[mystri]

Eva blinked, and glanced to the side. Someone had sat down next to her, which she found pretty strange. Most people were usually in classes right now. Luckily, Eva didn't have any classes today, for whatever reason.

The corners of her lips drew up in a small smile and she nodded to the girl. "Hello." Her voice was soft, barely above a murmur. That was usual for her though, she never shouted in her life. The loudest she ever spoke was probably a normal speaking voice for everyone else.

Her gaze slid down to the guitar, and she stared at it for a moment. "You play guitar?" Eva looked back up at the girl, a Ravenclaw it seemed. "Oh, I'm Eva Mystri by the way. Pleasure to meet you." She grinned again. "I don't have any nicknames as far as I know yet."

[Amara Conway]

Amara waited patiently (which was strange because normally Mara wasn't a very patient person), smiling at the girl as she lifted her head. She knew that simply being there for someone helped with whatever issues they had. Sure, talking helped too but Amara thought that talking did damage before it helped; being there did no harm. So she blinked and didn't nothing else but smile at the girl. She seemed surprised but if it was because someone had approached her or if it was because it was Amara, herself, she didn't know.

When she finally spoke, Amara nearly missed it. The Puff spoke so softly but she didn't care. She hadn't shouted at her to go away or simply ignored her, she had said something and that was a good start. The girl's eyes drifted to Amara's guitar and she looked at it too. It was of a light wood with a thick band around the sound hole that was red and green and black in colouring. The vines intertwined and never ended. It was apparently symbolic but she wasn't sure how.

"Course I play," Amara said and reached for the guitar, taking hold of it gently by the neck. The book slid off the shiny wood and landed with a light thud on the grass. She swung it and put it on her lap, ready to play. "Nice to meet you too. I'm Amara Conway but if you'd like Mara, Mar, Airy, whatever works to get my attention." She smiled brightly at Eva before looking up to the side, thoughtfully. "We'll have to change that, won't we," she said looking back to Eva, "and find you a nickname or two. I got so many I loose track of 'em but people seem to remember." She plucked a string, then another. "Would you like to hear something?" she asked, looking up with clear anxiousness on her face.

[mystri]

Eva nodded to the Claw. "I think I'll stick to calling you Mara for now, if you don't mind." She leaned back on her hands and stretched her legs out. "I like your name, it's very pretty. It suits you well." Tiri glanced back at Mara and grinned.

"Of course. I love when people play the guitar. It's one of my favorite sounds." She looked back at the guitar. "I wish I could play though, I'm just so-" Eva held her hand to her throat and started to cough. She turned away from Mara so she wouldn't cough on her, and covered her mouth with her hand.

After her coughing fit died down, Eva cleared her throat and tried to get her voice back. "Sorry about that." She whispered, her voice was softer than before. At this rate she wouldn't be able to talk at all.

[Amara Conway]

Amara grinned with pride as Eva spoke of her name. It, being her name, to her was the most beautiful name she had heard and she swelled with pride when others told her they liked it too. 'Thank you,' she said cheerfully, 'I like my name too. And Mara is just fine.' The Puff's modesty and softness was endearing, Amara thought with a big grin.

The guitar was not Mar's favorite instrument, in fact it was her third favourite, but out of all the instruments she played the guitar was the easiest to play around other people and easiest to transport (or charm to transport itself). Amara nodded with a large grin, practically from ear to ear, across her face and she set her fingers on the strings to play when Eva began to cough.

Looking up from her guitar, Mara looked at Eva as she turned away from her. It was curious, the reason for the girl's coughing fit but she wasn't going to push the issue before she got a chance to play for her a bit. Amara loved to show off and wouldn't do anything to endanger her chances to. She tilted her guitar's head down and reached out to Eva, patting her on the back as she coughed.

'Not at all,' she said, once she had stopped coughing. 'Nasty cough that.' And with that she looked to her guitar and began to play. The tune was one she had been working on but that she liked very much. It started slowly but got fast and changed pitch very often. It was a happy little tune and Amara smiled through the whole playing. With a flourish to finish, Amara looked up at Eva again and asked, smiling, 'so? What do you think?'