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Post by susan on Oct 24, 2008 23:29:59 GMT -5
It had been a few weeks, and still Susan didn't feel like she'd settled into Willowbrooke the way the psychiatrist had hoped. She wasn;'t stupid though, she knew why she was here, why she couldn't settle in. She had managed to get to know who most of the students were, by watching during classes, she avoided talking to most of them, through fear mostly. Not fear of the other students, but, fear of actually getting to know them enough to care for them. She didn't want to care for anyone anymore, it was dangerous. In all the weeks here, Susan had almost immediately discovered her favourite places. The lake was one of them. To sit and watch the cool water rippling, it made her feel as though nothing bad had ever happened, as though she was safe, and her family and her friends were safe. Today, she had pulled her violin out from under the bed in her room. She hadn't played it since she'd come, but today, she'd found this unforgiving shame of neglecting her instruments. Singing along with an iPod was fine and dandy, but playing a melody on the cello, or her violin, that was something nothing could replace. She knelt down in the grass by the shore of the lake and unzipped the violin case. Her hands gently stroked the smooth surface of the dark wood and a small smile graced her lips, a smile that hadn't been present since she'd arrived. She took the Bow out of it's place first, and tightened the strings, running her thumbnail over it to make sure that the rosen was still coated on the strings, she then pulled out the violin, and stood. "My old friend, it feels like forever." She muttered as she moved the instrument into place. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes and started to play Canon, by Pachebel. The piano meldoy was playing in her head, keeping her in time and tune, and it felt as though she had never neglected the beautiful instruments. Canon
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Post by luke on Oct 26, 2008 10:27:28 GMT -5
It was a quiet morning for Luke, most mornings were quiet at Willow Brooke for Lucas. Even with Tom always at his side, except no-one but himself could see Tom. Obviously Luke didn't know this, but no schitsaphrenics did know. Their minds made up some reason, and Luke's was that Tom was hiding, running, from the police, therefore he was never there when he was talking to another person. In Luke's mind, Tom was a tall lean nineteen year old. Very handsome and incredibly intelligent. Luke wasn't unintelligent himself, he had a gift for practising as he could get rather obsessive. Languages were one thing. Music another. French he'd learnt at school, Portugese as well, Latin had just been an odd subject but he'd taken it up, Spanish and then Gaelic. He wasn't fluent in any except Portugese and he wans't bad at French, but he hardly ever let on, he didn't let on about anything. He'd learnt the piano but had stopped at grade five, GCSE music he'd done in his nineth year at school, passing with an A grade and after that had managed to pick up the guitar an instrument.
Tom walked in front of Luke down towards the feild where a large group of foals were standing together under the shade of a tree. The largest was the foal Luke was looking for. A almost fully grown black colt called Cobalt that he was looking after at Willow Brooke. Tom stayed by the gate as Luke fetched the two year old. What do you intend to do with him today? Tom asked, his dark eyes following Luke around the gate. Luke paused, thinking. "I wanted to take him around to the lake." Tom mearly shrugged and Luke led the colt up along the path leading to the lake. Tom walked beside him, quiet as the silence. Cobalt thre his head, pulling at the lead rope and breaking into trot every so often. Luke let the foal frolic, he wasn't a bad colt, just excitable, he'd calm down. Coming up towards the lake, the notes of Pachelbel's Canon played in D on a violin flooded through the trees. Cobalt immediately became alert, long before Luke could hear it, but he stayed alert, ears twitching. Luke turned a group of treees to see the lake. Cobalt snorted, flicking his half long tail. Tom had vanished from Luke's side, which made sense to Luke, he was hiding from the police after all. "It sounds better with the accompaniment." He commented blankly towards the violinist, holding Cobalt steady.
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Post by susan on Oct 26, 2008 11:46:58 GMT -5
Susan didn't realise anyone was nearby until the voice broke through the notes. She blinked, stopped her bow after one more stroke, and lowered the violin, looking towards the boy who had broken her from the reverie of music.
"Yes, but, it's in my head." She said quietly. She held the violin and the boy by her side and swallowed a little. She glanced at the boys horse and licked her lips. She was never sure how to handle it when people tried to talk to her here, she tend to let them carry the conversation, just making sounds occasionally to show she was listening.
If she was ever close enough to anyone to open up, or show any emotion towards them, she would probably have made a few friends, but that part of her had been lost before she had arrived her. She had seen the boy around, in classes mostly. She tried to avoid seeing people on a regular basis, that often led to friendships, and, well, she wasn't sure it was safe to make any friendships anymore.
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Post by luke on Oct 26, 2008 11:55:39 GMT -5
Luke nodded. Cobalt snorted, pulling at the leadrope again. He was definately a self minded colt, but Luke liked that. He couldn't stand the factory horses that his family bred, they were so dull and boring. At least Cobalt had a bit of fight in him. Luke let the rope slide through his fingers and the colt took an eager step towards her, stretching out his neck towards her. "He won't do anything, he's very docile." Luke said with a shrug, watching the black colt nudge her shoulder. "It sounds better in C as well, with a guitar accompaniment." Luke sighed, looking over the lake's surface.
Tom's voice was in his head. Making friends, Lucas? Good, you'll need them. Luke didn't respond, he knew it was better not to draw attention to Tom. Keep talking to her. It makes everything easier. His voice was a purr in his head. "I'm Luke." He said, shoving one hand in his pocket as he spoke, his shoulders hunching a bit as he leant his weight onto one foot.
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Post by susan on Oct 26, 2008 12:06:30 GMT -5
Susan looked from the boy to the horse, her blue eyes twinkled a little uncertainly as the horse stepped towards her. She wanted to step back, but, it was pointless, she watched the horse nudged her shoulder and a small smile came to her lips. She shifted the bow into the same hand as the violin and slowly reached up a hand to touch the horse back.
She tried not to force herself onto her own horse, she liked to let him come to her, that's how she thought good relationships worked, if you let something go, and it loves you, it will come back to you on it's own.
She looked from the horse, so close to her, to the boy and her smile grew a little more evenly. He seemed to know a bit about music, maybe, it wouldn't be so bad to talk to him, it wasn't like she needed to talk about herself did she?
"Susan." She said simply, her voice was quiet, not shy, but obviously uncertain. Most of the kids here had problems, most of them, she figured were more serious than her own, but, she wondered with all the kids, what their problems were, and, how they had come about. Her problems, in her mind, were simple of cause, something had gone wrong and they had errupted from there. But she knew others were much more complex.
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Post by luke on Oct 26, 2008 12:24:07 GMT -5
Talk to her. It doesn't matter if she doesn't reply, that's your job. Luke wanted to reply that he really wasn't a people person at all. Talking to peopple didn't come easily, even in a different number of languages. He prefered to just talk with Tom, but it was hard when he could only really talk to Tom alone. He liked to watch fire, he was a complete pyromaniac and an arsonist. He'd gotten a few calls in by the police, but had been too young to be properly charged. Law enforcement couldn't do anything to him here.
Sit down, you look awkward Tom's voice purred at him. Luke took his advice and sat down, stretching his feet down onto the edge of the lake. Cobalt rubbed his head against Susan's shoulder, itching it. Luke gave the rope a little tug, gently. The colt stopped and snorted, pawing at the ground. He could be a drama king at times. Ask her a question. How long has she been here, which horse. Anything. Luke thought for a moment. "What instruments do you play?"
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Post by susan on Oct 26, 2008 12:34:30 GMT -5
Susan smiled more as the boy's horse continued to nudge her shoulder. She almost let a giggle escape at his apparent friendliness. She put a hand on his nose, (or did they call it a snout?) and gently stroked it.
"Hello..." She said quietly to the horse.
The boy sat down and she looked down to him as he asked her a question. She thought about the answer.
Did she want to answer? It was a question about her, true enough, but, it wasn't about why she was here, or who had done it to her. She swallowed a lump and held the violin up.
"This." She started. "And the Cello, um, a little bit of Flute, Piano, I sing a bit." She stopped herself there, she actually played a lot better than she let on, she had thrown herself into her music lessons the entire time she had been at school. Music had been her life, music and looking after people, but now, now she knew she had to be careful. People were dangerous.
She looked from the violin, to the horse, and then to the boy, Luke. "Do you play?" She felt silly asking the question, he seemed to know enough about music for her to assume he played, but, she felt this was a safer way of asking.
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Post by luke on Oct 26, 2008 12:49:09 GMT -5
Cobalt shook his short mane. It was at the stage where it just flopped from side to side, not being long enough to stay straight up. His tail was half way down the second bone in his hind legs. He was about 13.2 hands now and would grow to be about 16 hands or so Luke thought. It was a good height for him, but he wasn't sure how long he intended to stay here. He was more likely to make one of his big exits. Being an arsonist, they involved large flames, and with barns full of dry hay, it could get dangerous.
You have something in common. This is good, very good. Don't mess this up, Lucas. Tom commented. Luke didn't look at Susan, prefering to look out over the lake. Cobalt had taken a liking to Susan, resting his head against her shoulder slightly. The question she asked caught him off guard. Reply to her, Lucas. He nodded in reply, pausing before he replied. "Piano, guitar, bit of violin, woodwind." He replied with a shrug, still not looking over. He ran a hand through his short, dark hair, letting the rope stay in his lap.
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Post by susan on Oct 26, 2008 13:10:29 GMT -5
Susan looked back from the boy to the horse as his head rested on her shoulder. It was the most warmth she had felt since... Since the car.
She rested her head gently against the horses and closed her eyes, her fingers losened around her violin and she let go of a gentle sigh.
She felt lightheaded suddenly and opened her blue eyes, moving back a little from the horse and looking back down to the boy. "You play?" She looked down to the violin in her hand and wondered if it was safe to offer it to him to see. She didn't know if he would break it on her, and well, she needed her music. She doubted her parents would buy her a new violin if someone broke it.
The old Susan would have suggested that they play together sometime, but, that would be making friends, and Susan had told herself over and over since that last job, people were dangerous. Granted, he was a kid, someone she probably would have taken to within seconds if it had been a few months ago they had met, but now...
It broke her heart to see all these kids needing someone to help them. She thought she could do it, but, fear held her heart locked in a cage.
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Post by luke on Oct 26, 2008 13:20:19 GMT -5
Maybe you should let the horse go, it would be so much easier to talk to her. No, actually that wouldn't be good. Just let the horse roam, he's not going anywhere. Tom's voice suggested inside Luke's head. Luke untied the rope from Cobalt's halter. The colt didn't really stir. After a few minutes he took a step towards the water and bent his black head in. Luke watched him with interest. He was a leader of sorts, growing to be a herd stallion, leading the young foals around. He liked that it was hard to push Cobalt around, he was very stubborn at times.
Of course you play, you play a lot of the time, drives me insane you know. Answer her, but decline if she offers you the instrument, it wouldn't do. Luke risked a single glance at Susan. "Yeah, been playing since I was four." He replied shortly and stiffly. He wasn't very good at communicating with people. Horses were much easier. "What horse do you have here?" He asked, pulling his legs up and then crossing them, still looking into the water.
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Post by susan on Oct 26, 2008 13:41:19 GMT -5
Susan watched on as the boy untied his horse and there was a short quiet between them. It wasn't a completely comfortable quiet, but, it wasn't one that was totally awkward either.
"Four?" That was young, he must be good. She still didn't offer her violin though. There was something in his tone that made her feel a little cold, perhaps the stiffness.
He changed the subject and she felt slight relief. "His name is Colt." She said, looking to his horse near the water of the lake. She looked down to her violin and felt like playing again, but, playing while someone was around wouldn't do, she wouldn't do it. She sighed inwardly and knelt down to her violin case, putting the instrument away.
Luke had sat down and seemed to be making himself comfortable, it didn't seem like he was going anywhere fast. She gently tucked the violin into place and then losened the strings on the bow before putting it back in its place and closing the case.
"I... I haven't seen much of him." She added quietly. In truth she was a little scared the horse wouldn't like her because of the danger she felt in getting close to someone, something.
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