Busking

[Elodie Kesslar]

Elodie made her way along the edge of the harbour her guitar case firmly in hand. The young woman had decided it was about time that she went busking in New Zealand. She has done it all the time in France. Finding an unoccupied bench in the shade Elodie unsanpped the case and pulled out her guitar. Sitting down she pulled her pride and joy over her knee and ran her fingers over the strings appreciatively. The cool metal strings felt familiar under her soft touch. Strumming a few chords she smiled and leant back in her seat. Elodie began to strum the opening chords to her favourite song of the moment, If I die young - The Band Perry grinning she began to sing:</FONT></COLOR></SIZE>

If I die young bury me in satin, lay me down on a bed of roses, sink me in the river at dawn sned me away to the words of the love song. Lord make me a rainbow I'll shine down on my mother, she'll know I'm safe with you when she stands under my colours...​

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So caught up in the music she failed to notice anyone who stopped to throw in their loose change into her guitar case. But as the song came to an end she strummed the final chord she noticed that she was in fact being watched. A faint blush crept onto her pae cheeks. "Can I help you?" she enquired keeping her tone as light as she could muster. She didn't mind people stopping to listen but if they hung around it did creep her out a little, she didn't know how long they hand been standing there either.

 

[Victor Dodge]

Victor, still very unfamiliar with the land in New Zealand, decided to go on a walk. He was still worried about Vicxen's health, but Johanna had convinced him she would be alright. He entered a candy shop. 'So many choices.' He thought to himself. He decided to buy a pack of cauldron cakes and a a pack of lollipops. Victor left the shop satisfied with his decisions. As he explored more of Obsidian Harbour he saw a girl playing a strange contraption thing. Quite a few people were watching her with curious looks. He got closer and watched her play and sing. Her voice was beautiful, and she looked dangerously focused on what she was doing. The contraption was making music.

Victor thought her voice and the music went along perfectly. After she finished her song Vic still stood there. He was lost in his thoughts. his thought about the songs lyrics. Why would anyone ever even think about dying young? The thought made him start worried about his sister, who was currently sick. Death was something he grew up with. First his father, then Sierra, and now his mother. He and Vicxen were the only ones left of the family. He snapped out of it when the girl asked him something. "What is that, er, thing?" He asked and pointed at the object in her lap. It must have been some type of Muggle thing.

 

[Elodie Kesslar]

Elodie chuckled quietly, "Have you never seen a guitar before?" she asked raising eyebrow, before realizing that not everyone was brought up with muggle instruments. Blushing she tried to redeem herself, "It's a musical instrument, you strum the strings and music comes out." she added strumming a few chords for emphasis, "See?" she asked.

Elodie strummed quietly as she looked curiously at the man in front of her, "I take it that you weren't brought up with muggle instruments then?" she asked. It wasn't uncommon that she came across magical people that didn't know about muggle contraptions and she had nothing against explaining how things worked. "Do you want to have a try?" she asked holding the instrument out to him.

 

[Victor Dodge]

Victor shook his head. "If I had I wouldn't be asking." He said. He listened as she explained to him. He nodded. "Interesting. Can you only sing to it?" He asked, and sat down on the bench next to her. He set his bag of candies next to him. Victor had learned how to rap during his years at Durmstrang. He was only good if had planned out the words first. He was not very quick witted most of the time, so free styling was his weak point. It had been a while since Victor had rapped. "Nah, I didn't grow up around Muggle instruments, but it always amazed me how their pictures stayed still." He told her. He looked at her strange when she offered him the guitar. Why would he want to try and make music withthe guitar when the girl was much better at it? "I'd rather listen to you play." and He pushed the guitar back towards her.

 

[Elodie Kesslar]

Elodie grinned sheepishly, "I didn't mean it like that." She didn't mean to come across as rude. She shook her head, "No, you don't have to sing to it." She said shrugging a shoulder. "Don't worry, I wouldn't know anything about muggle instruments either if my mother hadn't taught me about them. Without that I wouldn't be a guitar player." she laughed, "I always loved that. Non-moving pictures always made me laugh, I used to put muggle posters on my walls." Elodie took the guitar back graciously and smiled, "Okay, I'll play another one if you like." she said with a grin. "My name is Elodie by the way." she said before breaking into The Best Day - Taylor Swift. Her fingers strumming over the strings lightly and softly singing the lyrics:

I'm five years old, it's getting cold, I've got my big coat on, I hear your laugh and look up smiling at you, I run and run, past the pumpkin patch and the tractor rides, look now, the sky is gold, I hug your legs and fall asleep on the way home, I don't know why all the trees change in the fall...

 

[Victor Dodge]

Victor nodded. "Understood." He smiled. He could tell she had not meant to sound rude. "My mother introduced me into a ton of Muggle things. She was a Muggle born." He told her. Victor chuckled. "I think it would be bit weird having pictures looking down on you." The thought actually creeped him out. Non moving pictures staring at you. Looking into the depths of your soul in a way. It was strange and very creepy. Victor slouched on the bench as He listened to the girl, Elodie, play the guitar. There was a chance that He would never see her again, so he was very reluctant to tell Elodie his name. When she finished her song he clapped for her. "I'm Maurice." He told her simply. He felt better telling her his middle name.

 

[Elodie Kesslar]

Elodie smiled, "My mother just thought it was best that I knew the ways of the muggle world as well as the magical world." she explained. "I loved muggle posters, I never really thought of it as creepy at the time. I guess it kind of is when you think about it." she said cocking her head in thought. The thought had never occured to her before but when she really thought about she understood his veiw. As he clapped for her as her song ended she blushed. No matter how many times she played she still found it weird to hear applause in response to the songs preformed. Leaning back on the bench she smiled, "Nice to meet you Maurice." she said offering her hand after she set her guitar down beside her, "What brings you to Obsidian Harbour on this fine morning?" she asked with a hint of a smile playing at her lips as she glanced at the bag of sweets that sat next to him.

 

[Victor Dodge]

"I understand. My mom was like that too. My sister is more into Muggle things than I am though." he told Elodie. Vicxen was crazy about anything Muggle. He could never understand how she was so fascinated by Muggles. Victor always tried to avoid them. He was not very tolerant of Muggles. Victor looked at Elodie's hand. He shook it firmly. "It is nice to meet you too Elodie." he said smiling at her. Victor thought for a minute. "Shopping for candy. Do you want some?" he smirked and he held out the bag to Elodie. Victor looked up at the sky. It was warm, but the sun was covered up by the clouds. "I've seen finer mornings." he took a strawberry flavored lollipop from the bag, unwrapped it and popped it in his mouth.

 

[Elodie Kesslar]

"You have a sister? What's her name?" Elodie asked carefully, she didn't want to come across as prying, she was just curious. She had always been curious, it had often got in her into trouble but it never seemed to stop her asking questions. "Oh, thanks." she said dipping her hand into the bag and pulling out a toffee. Unwrapping the brightly coloured cellophane she popped it into her mouth and rolled it over her tongue. Smiling she leant back against the bench to enjoy the sweet candy. Elodie chuckled quietly, "To me this is a perfect morning. I don't like the sun much, I burn a lot." she explained, "I always envied those who could go out and get a tan. I go bright lobster red!" she said with a hint of a sigh, "Stupid fair skin."

 

[Victor Dodge]

Victor nodded. "Her name is Vicxen. With a 'c' before the 'x'. She attends Beauxbatons." he told her. His sister got so emotional over her name. It was unatural, but he loved his sister that way. "Do you have any siblings?" he asked Elodie. Victor looked at his skin. His light brown skin made it hard for him to tan. Not that he wanted to. He never purposely tried to tan his skin, but sometimes in the summer he ended up darker than usual. Victor looked at Elodie. He thought her fair skin color was very pretty. There wee cons to being as light as she was, but skin color did not matter much to him. Victor finished his lollipop and smiled. "Personally, I think your skin is very nice." he said and grabbed a butterscotch flavored hard candy from the bag. "I don't understand why a person would want to tan. Maybe it is probably 'cause I don't need to."

 

[Elodie Kesslar]

Elodie grinned, "That's a really pretty name. I graduated from Beaubatons two years ago. I don't think I remember her." Elodie didn't remember many people from Beauxbatons though, she had kept her head down most of the time and tried to forget her years there as much as she could. "I have a half-sister named Jaymie. She's eight but she lives in France still so I don't get to see her much." Elodie loved Jaymie but she never got to visit her because of her father. Elodie blushed and twisted the lolly wrapper in her hand, "Thanks." to say that she wasn't used to compliments was an understatement, "Er... your skin is nice too." she said trying and failing to reciprocate the compliment. "I don't know, maybe it's just the idealised figure of a woman is supposed to have a tan." she shrugged, "I guess I would rather tan then burn."

 

[Victor Dodge]

Victor nodded. "I had the pleasure of naming her." he boasted. Originally, he had meant the name to be a burden to his sister. The word 'vixen' was usually associated with 'quarrelsome', 'malicious', or 'provocative'. Sierra decided to ruin his fun by adding an extra letter to their sister's name. At the time Victor was smart and very mean. He had changed since. "I have a nephew that I really want to see, but it is likely that I'm not going to see him." he expected Elodie to be a bit confused, or to just leave the topic alone. If he ever saw Scott again he would freak out, and in a bad way. The jerk left and took Henry, his nephew, with him. If Sierra was alive she would have been disappointed. Victor chuckled. "Fail." he said with a smirk playing on his lips. Victor scratched his head. "I don't understand. 'Rather tan than burn'? Does that make sense?" he asked looking at Elodie.

 

[Elodie Kesslar]

"Aw that's so sweet." she gushed. Elodie had wished that she would get the chance to name some one but given the cirumstances she didn't think she would ever get the opportuninty to. Elodie picked up the slight change in Victor's tone at the mention of his nephew, and although curious she felt it best if she left the topic, he didn't sound as though he really wanted to talk about it. Elodie blushed, "Shut up!" she giggled nudging Victor in the side with her elbow. "I'm not very good with compliments, giving or receiving." she admitted, the blush slowly fading from her cheeks, her voice taking a slightly more serious note once again, it wasn't her fault that she couldn't deal with them, it was her father's fault. He had made her feel so worthless for so long that it couldn't help but affect her. Elodie shrugged, "Probably not, but if you saw me sun burnt I think you would agree with me. That it would be nicer if I tanned, that is." she laughed visions of Victor looking shocked at her crimson red arms and face filling her mind and making her continue to giggle.

 

[Victor Dodge]

Victor laughed. "At the time I didn't mean for the name to be sweet." he said honestly. Vicxen did not know that he had named her. He wanted to keep that a secret. The only person that would be able to her though was Victor himself. His mother, father, and older sister were now dead. It was only Vicxen and him. "Anyways, my sister is such a bully to me. She is always nagging and pushing me around." he complained. Victor hated when Vicxen tried to act like their mother. It annoyed him. He never really liked his mother. He wanted to get out of the house as soon as he could, so then he would not have to see her. "Well then, if that is the case. I like your hair too." he said. He touched a purple lock of Elodie's hair. It reminded him of his sister, but Vicxen had blue highlights in her hair. "My sister would like your hair too. She put blue highlights in her hair." he said thoughtfully. He had been talking about his sister a lot. He missed her. He had not seen her since she went back to Beauxbatons. He did not like being at home alone all the time. Victor looked at Elodie in the eyes. "What is so funny?"

 

[Elodie Kesslar]

Elodie grinned, "Most siblings are like that. It's like part of the criteria of being sibling." she laughed, from what she had heard from talking to people, it seemed like it was the whole idea of being a sibling, that you got pick on your siblings or vise versa as the case maybe. What was the fun of being a sibling if you couldn't pick on your brother or sister? Elodie blushed again as Victor touched the purple streak in her hair. "I think you enjoy making me blush." she laughed looking down at his hand as it stroked the dyed hair."Cool, blue was my second option if I hadn't dyed it purple." after purple, blue was her favourite colour. Elodie bit her lip, "I was just picturing you're face if you ever saw me sunburnt." she admitted looking away quickly before her face began to redden again. She hated blushing so readily, it was her ultimate downfall.

 

[Victor Dodge]

"Yeah, but some siblings have had it worst then we have." he said and stopped touching Elodie's hair. Victor nodded. Her blushing was adorable. It made him want to pinch her cheeks, but he did not do that. It would be awkward. He was actually starting to like the girl's company. "You blush so easily. It is very cute." he complimented her again. Victor thought about what Elodie was picturing in her head. He started to laugh. "I guess that would be funny." he smiled at Elodie. He saw she was blushing again. "What else can I say that will make you blush?" He asked himself. He crossed his legs, looked up at the sky, and held his chin between his index finger and thumb. He pretended as if he was thinking.

 

[Elodie Kesslar]

Elodie nodded in agreement, “That is true.” She said watching as the hand dropped away; she felt her cheeks cool, the blush slipping away. “I know, all I do is blush.” She said with a slight eye roll. Blushing sometimes got annoying. Some people didn’t take her seriously when she blushed; then again everyone could tell when she was telling the truth, because she would blush. “It is funny.” She laughed. Watching his next actions her mouth dropped open, Elodie raised an eyebrow at Victor and nudged him with her elbow again, “Don’t you even try!” she laughed. The last thing she wanted was to have bright red cheeks. Even at the thought of it she felt her cheeks begin to redden.

 

[Victor Dodge]

Victor looked at Elodie. "Did you enjoy it at Beauxatons? Vicxen likes it there." he told Elodie. He was curious to what her time at Beauxbatons was like. He had gone to Durmstrang, so he did not know what kind of environment. Beauxbatons had. Durmstrang had a very dark and black environment. It was not an atmosphere for those that were easily scared because Durmstrang was a very scary and intense place. Victor sat in his normal slouch when Elodie nudged him in the arm. "My arm is going to get sore if you keep doing that." he smiled at her.