In Sincerity

[Dante Vrael]

In times of confusion and clouded thoughts, Dante could always be found on a beach, guitar in hand, and mind in a far away place. This particular day, was one of those days. He honestly couldn't understand or explain why he felt the way he did, but yet, here he sat. Struggling with so many emotions that ran through his body, all looking to consume him at once, he sat, somewhat cemented to the spot, staring out across the harbour. The day wasn't an exceptionally hot one, but it was warm, and the harbour gave off a nice breeze. The sand felt warm under him, and each time he moved, he could feel it shift in place. His depression since his mother died had plagued him worse then he liked to admit, and on this particular day, it didn't seem to want to leave him alone. Like a wave of water crashing over a sand bank, his emotions ran rampant inside of him. He longed for, and craved so many things at once, and yet at the same time, they all seemed tasteless to him. The feeling was always strange to him. Like an anchor, tied to his feet, and striving to pull him under. These days were often spent alone. Who was he kidding, every day was spent alone. Thus was the life of a man who had shut out the world.

Today in particular, however, saw a shift in his usual routine. For the first time since his mothers passing, he found himself on the beach of Obsidian Harbour. For the first time since his mothers passing, he found himself in a magical community. He wasn't sure what had led him here, so far from home. And yet, here he sat. Tearing his eyes from the deepening stare of the harbour, he looked down to his guitar. It had apparently been his fathers. He hated it, more than anything in his possession. And yet, he cared for it more than anything he had ever owned. To go into too much thought on it, would create more confusion than he had the will power to deal with. But for some reason, this guitar held a lot of meaning and longing for Dante. Or maybe it was the fact that he had woken up this morning, feeling more alone than he ever had. He couldn't place his finger on why he felt this way. He had spent the last few years completely and utterly alone. And yet, in light of what he had gone through, he longed for something. For someone. He could only really pinpoint this feeling on his recent two interactions. For the first time in almost three years, he had sat through, and not run away from, two social interactions with two different girls. Things seemed to be changing. And with the change, came more longing.

Shaking his head, he tried to dispel these clouded and confusing thoughts from his mind. Every time he got to this stage, the next step was always the hardest to come back from, and that sense of dread was one he didn't feel confident contending with today. Taking the neck of his guitar in his left hand, and his pick in his right, he strummed a chord, checking that the acoustic was in tune. And yet, as his pick flicked the last string, he already knew that it would be in tune. It always was. Clearing his throat, he sighed to himself. He just didn't know how his life had gotten to this point. A single tear rolled down his right cheek as he started his song.

 

[Sofie Caris]

Sofie was tired. She had been up all night trying to create a work sheet for some of her students. One in particular was more advanced then she was used to, so it was strange for her to be working with him. She shook her head and yawned as she looked up at the time. It was early in the morning and so she decided that she would go out for some air. One thing about living in Obsidien Harbour was that she was close to all the cafes and restaurants that she liked. There were a couple of good bars too. Not that she was all that much a drinker anyway. It was just that she preferred to be the designated driver in those instances. Or rather the designated apparater. Not that she didn't have any muggle friends. She had alot of muggle friends actually, considering she was a Half-blood and her mother was a muggle. She yawned again and threw her arms up over her head, trying to be still the tiredness. However it was not working and she realised that she was probably going to need a coffee to go with her walk. So she changed her clothes and freshened up. She didn't want to look like she had just gotten out of bed, though she felt that she still did. You just could not tame tiredness. And Sofie was never one to wear too much make up, so one could see that she was rather tired still. Of course she was not going to be sleeping today, she had far too much she had to do. She had to see one of her students at Lunch time. Though it was hours away yet, if she went to sleep, she felt that she would never wake up again.

Sofie headed out her front door and walked slowly down the steps being careful not to wake the other tenants with the noise of her heels. Slipping off of the staircase, satisfied that she had not made enough noise to warrant any investigation by her neighbours, Sofie continued walking along the path looking around for a cafe that caught her attention, but as of yet she had not found one. The early morning air was nipping at her fingertips and she quickly shoved her hands into her pockets to protect them from the cool air. If Sofie wasn't mistaken, it had to be at least eleven degrees. She sighed, why did it have to be so cold? Nobody likes the cold. Sofie was sure that no one would have any complaints if cold weather suddenly just disappeared and there was never another cold day in all of the world. Sofie would certainly be happy in any case. Although, she would miss her beloved Danish snow. Even though she had always hated the cold, for some reason, the thought of snow, just always seemed to make her happy. It was something that she missed about living in New Zealand. It really didn't snow much in this country.

Soon, the sweet smell of coffee beans found its way into her nose. Sofie closed her eyes and smiled and she made a beeline for the coffee house. She loved her coffee, she would drink any type. She hadn't met a coffee that she didn't like. Of course her favourite, and the one she would be ordering this morning was the espresso romano. A normal espresso with just a hint of lemon. After she ordered her drink, Sofie continued along the street until she could see the beach. It was then that she began to hear music. It was a good song and who ever was playing was doing it very well. Music was part of her life, it always had been, she loved music. It was this fact of her personality that made her decide that she would seek out the musician. She loved musicians. They were her second favourite people, comedians coming in first. As she came upon the music, she noticed that it was a good looking guy. She smiled. A chance to make a new friend was an opportunity that Sofie could really get into. She walked over to him and sat next to him. She hoped that he wouldn't find it weird. She was quite content just to sit next to him and listen to the music.

x- Sorry its so crap.
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[Dante Vrael]

Lost in his mindless trail of thought as he played and sang the song, Dante didnt notice the girl come and sit by him. Eyes closed, mind lost in an endless circle of confusion, his voice felt like barely a whisper to him, and yet it was loud and clear as it drifted across the harbour. He never quite noticed how loud his voice was when he sang. Dante always just kind of let it flow, but when he finished the song, he always ended up embarrassed, as people stopped to watch him. When the last note of the song rang out, he opened his eyes, and took in his surroundings. And that was when he noticed the girl sitting next to him. And in an instant, his awkward shell crashed over him and he was stuck to the spot. Staring at her, with an awkward and embarrassed look on his face, he wondered how long she had been sitting there for. And that was when he panicked slightly. He wasnt sure exactly how much of the song she had heard. Studying her more, he realized exactly how attractive the girl sitting next to him was, and that made him even more awkward. 'Oh god, what do i do?' he thought to himself. He wished he was drunk. At least then he would be able to make conversation with the girl. Except he wasnt. He was dead sober. And he was awkward as hell.

Dante wasnt quite sure what he was supposed to do. Obviously, she was going to expect him to say something, but he wasnt sure if he could actually manage speech at this point in time. The inner struggle he was having at the moment read clear on his face. Finally, he decided to just man up. In a quiet, and awkward voice, he asked "Um, hi... How much of that did you hear?".

 

[Sofie Caris]

Sofie listened quietly to the song as the boy continued to play. It was a lovely song and she was getting into the rythem of it. She had not heard the song before, but as she sipped at her coffee and found herself beginning to wonder what other songs that he might know. It occurred to her that maybe he did this for a living, or perhaps he was in some sort of band. Either of those, Sofie thought would be a fitting job. However, just as she was really getting into the song, it finished and she came face to face with the anxious eyes of the guitarist. Sofie bit her lip. She had done it again. She always managed in some way to make someone uncomfortable about something. She didn't understand why, it was just some sort of unconcious desire of hers to make people anxious. Of course she did not do it on purpose, it was just that she would say or do something that others would consider weird or uncomfortable. Obviously this poor guy was weirded out by the fact that she was sitting next to him and had not spoken the slightest sentence to him. Sofie shook her head. She really had to stop doing that. She was sure that she was not going to make many, if any, friends out of it. Sofie, took another sip of her coffee as the guy spoke and shrugged awkwardly. "I am so sorry. I do this all the time. I think I have this unconcious desire to freak people out by doing weird things like this. I hope you don't think I'm weird. I mean I probably am, for doing something like this, but... you know?" Sofie had to clap her hand over her mouth to shut herself up. Coffee and no sleep tended to make her rather talkative. She did not want to make this person think any worse of her. It was just that when she wanted to get her point across, she tended to keep talking until she was sure they were listening. Though in this case it was highly unlikely that she was being ignored.

Sofie brought her hand away from her mouth and smiled. She had to atleast answer the guy's question right? What kind of a person would she be if she did not use her manners. "Oh, to answer your question, I was here from about a third of the way into the song. I am sorry, I just really adore music and well, I don't really have to be anywhere in a hurry. So do you mind if I hang for a while. If you don't want to talk you can just go back into another song. I would be okay with that." Sofie told her companion, smiling.
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