[Lake] So Run, Little Rabbit, Run (Open)

[Haleigh Mains]

(( The song she is singing and playing is here: Click! ))

Nimble fingers wrapped around the neck of her guitar, soft skin brushing carefully against the strings before callused fingertips briefly took refuge in the pockets of her jacket. The day was warm and inviting without a hint of chill, but poor circulation had Haleigh's hands and feet always feeling cold. It used to irritate her, but the consistent need for her to wear moccassins everywhere she went wasn't that bad at all. In fact, they were so comfy and warm she started loving it. This afternoon though she had abandoned them in lieu of fashionable boots, just so the bottoms wouldn't get soaked by wet grass as she made her way down to the lakeside. The sun against the lake sparkled like diamonds, and her hand acted like a visor to shade her eyes from the harsh light as she stepped up to a large tree, its branches wide and its shade inviting. Hoisting herself up took some difficulty however, she would have been much less strained had she just sat down at its base. Twenty minutes later she had herself sprawled comfortably across a thick branch, her guitar in playing position infront of her and her hands cradling it. Haleigh hadn't bothered to check if anyone was around, she figured her ridiculous attempt at tree-climbing would have scared them off. Either that, or have them unconscious from laughing so much. Her lips parted as the strumming began, and a soft yet finely tuned voice lulled out:

Every sentiment hangs around,
no longer than a minute or two.
I find I keep falling for love..
But I can’t seem to follow it through.

At this her eyes opened slightly, as the bottled up disappointment and anger and emotion filtered through her song, giving it a skeleton and meaning. A name. When Haleigh sang, she sang, inflating her melodies up with her own experiances and giving them life. Seeming to remember something then, it distracted her, and she fumbled on the strings. Shaking her head calmly and composing herself again, she continued, her frustrations melting away with the snow.

So run, little rabbit, run.
Run, little rabbit, run.

I leave one good hand on the wheel.
Been counting mile markers for days.
Everything falls further behind..
I can disappear in several ways.

So run, little rabbit, run.
Run, little rabbit, run.
Run, little rabbit, run.

Lost in her song Haleigh failed to notice the presence of someone standing by the tree, ears perked as they listened intently. She continued to play, smiling softly to herself, the happiest she could ever be, ever, when she was here.

Sleep through the morning.
Don’t wake me up, dont wake me up.
Sleep through the morning..
One little man to one mighty sun.

Try to break away from yourself,
throw your broken bones in a heap.
All the blood and guts are exposed..
Your spirit has been begging to leave.

So run, little rabbit, run.
Run, little rabbit, run.
So run, little rabbit, run.
Run, little rabbit, run.

[/color]

[nate]

His head bobbed back and forth as it banged up against the tree trunk. The wind was cold, but the sun was shining, it was an odd combination. The was his favorite oak tree, a few inches from the water. He sat at the base and listened to the wind whip the water up and down and side to side to make waves! It was beautiful and soothing. A few books were piled at his side. This was Nate's perfect scene to relaxing and pretending to study. It makes him feel good that the thought of learning something from books had occured to him, but actually reading the book was another story. Humming to himself a little tune he had picked up somewhere in Finland, Nathaniel relaxed and drifted off to sleep. His head finally rest still on the bark and he had drifted away with the sound of the lake.

About fifteen to thirty minutes had passed and Nate woke up to the sound of kicking feet. He perched his body around the trunk of the tree to see what was going on. A girl that looked around his age was climbing the oak with a guitar on her back. Whacking the tree a few more times with the toe of her booted foot and swung her leg over and sat along a branch with her back resting on the trunk a little higher off the ground and on the opposite side of where Nate had fallen asleep. He gazed up at where the sun was shining brightly and lifted his hand to shade his eyes. Not helping but wonder why the girl didn't settle with the ground, but it was her choice. Laughing a little at the answered he had come up with he situated hisself in his previous position and picked up one of the books and opened it.

Reading a few lines, Nate was already sidetracked. The girl in the tree was singing and strumming the strings of the guitar she managed not to break on her way up. He listened hard to the sound and it was soothing. He couldn't tell what the words were, but the sound of her voice, was soft and lulling. She would be a good hypmitizer. This was perfect for his relaxation day. Music, the waves, the wind, a few books, and his oak tree. Going back to brushing his head up against the tree trunk, Nate stood up, walked to the other side of the tree, and glanced up at the girl. He couldn't catch a good glimpse of her face, because of the sun's extremely bright rays, but he was able to see her playing. He stood there for awhile waiting to see how long it would take her to notice him watching her.

[Haleigh Mains]

Exhaling calmly Haleigh opened her eyes, her tongue rolling over her bottom lip in a way not unlike waves softly meandering across the sand. "Mm." She murmured, broken from her reverie at the freezing of her own fingers against the strings. The music faded, and her eyes trickled down, her surroundings suddenly being made aware. Locking with the boy's now however they widened slightly, surprise at the audience flickering in her stare as her lips parted once more, a sharp intake of breath upon them. "I.." Haleigh started to say, voice barely above a whisper, as she came to the realization her position was compromised. "I'm sorry, I thought I was alone." She managed to say, soft as always, the only explanation she could come up with. The Ravenclaw had never played in front of anyone else before.. How much had he caught? Maybe he had just shown up for the last part. By the slightly drowsy look in his eyes it seemed he may have been taking an afternoon nap, though then again he could be one of those people who always looked tired. Whatever it was, she had resolved to ask, "Did I wake you?"

Descending from the oak was the easy part, she wasn't that high up. All she had to do was swing her legs over the side of the branch and hop down, hopefully not snapping the neck of her guitar in half as she went. As Haleigh clambored down, the moment her feet hit the ground she inspected her instrument for bruises or striations, though thankfully there were none. "I remember you." She recalled gently, with a smile. "You're Nathan." They had a few classes together, and a few days ago she had introduced herself to him by the lake too. Still Haleigh was unsettled at the knowledge that someone else heard her singing; she had unwittingly convinced herself she was terrible, when in fact the truth was quite opposite.[/color]

[nate]

Just a few more lines of the song were sang and the last few chords of the guitar were played. Then the beautiful music stopped suddenly. Nate didn't know exactly why, because he was blinded by the sunshine, but he had a good guess that what he had been waiting for had finally happened. He shook his head and looked down and then glanced up to find the girl kicking her leg back over the branch and jumping down. Yep! She'd seen him. He laughed... it hadn't been that long! The girl started studdering and appologizing and Nate had suddenly felt sorry for her. "Oh no! No don't appoligize it was lovely! Best playing i've heard for awhile!" Nathaniel admitted. It was true, he hadn't met too many great musician, but she beat them all by far!

She skipped, hopped, and jumped, and they ended up on the subject of her waking him. That was a hard answer. Yes and no, but what did he say. Thinking hard he answered,"Yes and no... I woke up to you playing and listened to it for awhile, so no harm done!" He laughed. The girl was amazing and he couldnt' help but wonder where she had learned to play liek that. "Your playing was incredible... where'd you learn to play?"

Once she was down from the tree she walked over to him and immediately he recognized her. It was the Ravenclaw from down by the lake, who happened to save him from a bunch of nonconversational Hufflepuff's. Watching her as she scanned her guitar for scrapes or niches and he smirked. It was nice she cared about her belongings. Then she came to realize that they had met. Holding out his hand for a shake, he said,"Nathaniel... but most people call me Nate and in your case Nathan." He racked his brain for her name and it came to him. Haleigh. "You're Haleigh... right? I never got to thank you for saving me from the not talking Huffies'." Her face tensed up and she blushed a bit. Nate didn't know why, but he figured it would come out sooner or later.

[Haleigh Mains]

His cheery responce and the way his face lit up with compliments towards her gave her the impression he was a very happy person by nature. She hadn't met many people who were walking smiles, barrages of happiness, in her time. The ones she had though were really nice to have around, decent and true personalities that you didn't find often nowadays. When he questioned how she came to aquire her musical prowess Haleigh opened her mouth to say something then paused, frowning slightly. "Picked up it and started playing to pass the time, I guess. Fell in love with it." Well wasn't she a woman of many words; her responce didn't give him much to work off of. But then again she wasn't the type of person to break the walls down the moment she met someone. Nathaniel, there we are. Thats who he was. One of the teachers must have called him that, which is why she shortened his name accordingly. In case he'd prefer the other nickname, though.. "I can call you Nate if you want." She replied simply, accepting his outstretched hand and seeming to surprise him with how firm her handshake was. Not many expected it, with how gentle she carried herself and how soft she spoke. "Haleigh, yes."

At mention of her swooping in and saving him from the untalkative Hufflepuffs Haleigh shrugged and smiled. "You would have managed. Made them laugh or something and had them falling all over you." They were a nice bunch, those girls, from what she had observed. Hufflepuffs usually were, unless threatened by snakes. Then they either beefed up or ran for the hills. Then again, a fair few people, no matter what house, usually ran for cover when the snakes slithered by. Flicking a covert glance at his ears--to make sure her singing hadn't made them bleed, of course--her eyes quickly fell back in match with his, hoping he assumed she was just looking over his shoulder at the lake. Seeing as they were not squirting out crimson liquid, and being he didn't seem terribly offended by her voice but the opposite in fact, Haleigh relaxed. "Studying?" She asked, noticing the books at the base of the tree.[/color]

[nate]

The sunshine was brightening as the minutes flicked on by. Nate always wondered what people spent their time doing and since he'd been at Hogwarts it seems studying was what they do best. He had left his books beside his spot on the other side of the oak. He had realized that Haleigh was not a girl of many words. Her response to his question, how did she learn to play the guitar, was on a few long words, but a fine explanation if you looked hard enough into it. "Oh that's cool, so technically you could say that you just taught yourself." Nate restated her answer.

It wasn't a big deal that she had called him Nathan. He kind of enjoyed a change. Barely anyone besides Professors and his own family called him Nathaniel, everyone else decided on Nate along time ago, so he actaully kind of wished she would continue calling him that. "Actually Nathan is fine, it's nice to have a change." He wondered if it bothered some people if they didn't have nicknames. He liked his name, because he had many names to choose from, but what about people that can't shorten theirs? "Does everyone call you Haleigh, or do people shorten yours too?" His question was just out curiosity and Nathaniel hoped there was no offensiveness it there.

He blushed at her expression and saying that he would have survived. He had been told never to get caught in a bunch of Hufflepuff girls. They could be very vicious if it was needed, but they always seemed so blah didn't understand how they could even giggle, they just looked so serious. "Well if you have faith in me then you're a step ahead of the rest of the world... their money is on that I would die withing fifteen minutes." It was meant to be a joke, but when he replayed in his head a few times it seemed that Nate had just spoken the truth about what his friends say. It was pathetic that they thought that of him, but reassuring that someone outside of his possee thought he would make it.

Laughing at her remark of studying Nathaniel glanced at his stack of books. "Um not in the least... it was my last resort to be honest. Reading is sort of my escape when the world get bad or if i'm just really bored." he said. Potions was his worst subject, so if it got late or nobody around him was in the mood to start a conversation he would catch up on some information about the horried class, but so far that doesn't seem to be happening. "The weather was just so sunny and nice today that I couldn't resist doing something outside. I hoped to be out here all day, so I brought some books along just in case.... what about you?"