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Scout Harper Lincoln ([info]dont_be_shy) wrote in [info]disney_u,
@ 2008-08-19 16:40:00

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WHO: Scout and Jude
WHAT: Scout needs to figure out what to sing and Jude is going to help!
WHERE: A practice room.
WHEN: Tuesday, August 19.
RATING: PG if adult themes arise? I don't think they will but.. whooo knows.
STATUS: CLOSED/COMPLETE



It was going to come to this one day, she just didn't think it'd come so soon. She'd been spoiled rotten when it came to what exactly she was allowed to do and what she wasn't. If she gave her sister hell about having a singing lesson she didn't get a bad grade for it. She merely got a scowl from Jessica and maybe her sister wouldn't talk to her for a whole two hours, but never in her life did she have to worry about keeping up her grades.

Then she got to college and the music professor decided that if Scout was going to be barely there for his choir classes then she was going to fail miserably, and then her father was going to be made aware of her lack of enthusiasm for the subject. It was that threat that got Scout feeling antsy and got her asking for help so quickly. She turned to the one person that could possibly trust to make it all better: a Mr. Jude, the most gifted musician she could think of.

True to her word, Scout shirked doing her homework just so she could catch Jude while he was in his practice room. She knocked first, of course, but then she pushed that door open and made her presence known. "I'm heeeeere! Hi, Jude!"

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[info]bell_ringer
2008-08-19 10:31 pm UTC (link)
Jude turned, a little awkwardly, from his position at the grand piano and smiled crookedly at Scout. It definitely was his room, all things considered. It was the one closest to the handicapped-accessible exit, it had the most room to maneuver, and after three years of spending almost all his evenings here or at the Newman Center, it was just one of those understood things that this was his room. When they put out the sign-up sheets for the rooms, he didn't even have to fill one out anymore, he was just put down here, and that was that. It was a good feeling, knowing he had somewhere he belonged, and he liked this piano best. It was old, and sometimes the lowest octave was a little dodgy, but the keys felt right under his hands. Currently, there was a bag full of music slumped against one of the legs, right next to his cane, all the things he could think of for Scout's predicament. And what he didn't have, he was sure he could find. That was just like him. He was more than willing to help when asked to do so, and he did it gladly.

"I'm sorry if this wasn't really convenient for your schedule, I just thought it would be good to get you through your paces soon, figure out your plan and give you the chance to rehearse," he said, closing the book of manuscript paper he'd been working on as she'd come in, sticking the pencil behind his ear.

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[info]dont_be_shy
2008-08-19 10:48 pm UTC (link)
"Oh, not, it's fine I just.. huh?"

Suddenly, she felt very small. Her smile, which had been bright and carefree, shriveled into something more akin to a worried expression. It was hard to not feel worried when she was suddenly facing a very difficult truth: she had no clue what he was talking about. Paces? What were paces?

Her frown deepened and Scout quietly started fidgeting by rocking back and forth from heel to toe. "I don't know what those are," she admitted quietly. Oh, why hadn't she ever listened to Jessica! This was so embarrassing! "Maybe I should just drop this class! Maybe I'm not even that good of a singer."

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[info]bell_ringer
2008-08-19 10:55 pm UTC (link)
"No, no, no," Jude rushed to reassure her, shaking his head and losing the pencil in the process, the little thing clattering against the bench and dropping to the floor. "It's an expression, maybe it's a Boston thing, it just means we'll see what you sound like, what your range is, and then decide from there, it's okay. It'll be wicked simple, I promise. We'll do warm-ups. I'll do them with you, if you want, just so you can get the feel for them. Scales and arpeggios, things like that, stuff we do in choir all the time, just to get you into it all. Don't panic, and don't drop the class, it'll be okay, really it will."

He realized, all of a sudden, that he had managed to say all of that, all at once, without stopping to get awkward or to fumble or to apologize for his accent. Maybe, he decided, the practice room was magic.

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[info]dont_be_shy
2008-08-19 11:14 pm UTC (link)
The building panic was boiling up like a pot of water on a fire. It was nearing the very edge and just ready to boil over, in other words, she was just about to break down into about an hour's worth of sobbing. What the hell were arpeggios?! Jessica never told her anything about arpeggios! She felt the tears coming, felt them pushing up at the edge of her eyes, felt her cheeks growing hot and her nose burning.

She brought a hand up under her nose and shook her head, those dark red curls bouncing across the delicate curves of her shoulders. "I'm doomed," she managed. "I never paid a lick of attention, I can't even really read music, I just sort of listen and repeat. Oh, Jude." The tears never came, though. She sighed and dropped her hands after sniffing loudly. "No, I can do this. I can! Where do I start?"

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[info]bell_ringer
2008-08-19 11:22 pm UTC (link)
Jude pulled a clean handkerchief out of his pocket and handed it to her. "Here, blow your nose, you'll feel better. We'll work on it. I can teach you. If you can hear already, if you can do it all by ear, we can train your eyes. It's just a matter of patience. You know things, you just don't know you know them," he tried to explain.

Making a thoughtful little face, he turned back to the piano, running his fingers up and down the keys in a simple C major scale. "See, that's a scale. Do-re-mi, very simple. Arpeggios are just as simple, they're the chords. Do-mi-so instead," he explained, picking out the notes as they went. "Listen, just listen, you'll hear it and it'll click." He played the scale again, singing the syllables up and down, then did the arpeggio, just as he'd described, all in that sparkling clear tenor of his, round and pure.

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[info]dont_be_shy
2008-08-19 11:35 pm UTC (link)
She took the handkerchief gently between her fingers and held it to her nose. After a moment she got over the shyness that kept her from blowing her nose. She risked sounding like a honking goose so that she could clear her nasal passages for the sake of sounding better when she sang. She then folded the fabric up and sniffled once more before taking a seat beside him at the piano.

And listen? Who couldn't when he had such a commanding voice! Scout's mouth fell open out of surprise. "Oh, Jude, that's lovely!"

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[info]bell_ringer
2008-08-19 11:46 pm UTC (link)
Jude blushed and ducked his head. "It...it's just..." he stammered, not expecting the praise. "I just...open my mouth." It was a stupid thing to say, he practiced hard, daily, devoted his life to it, it wasn't as simple as opening his mouth. But saying those things, even thinking them, it seemed too proud. Besides, it wasn't really his instrument, it had been given to him, and he just tried to make himself worthy of it. So he just plowed on, still awkward. "But...do you hear? I mean, the arpeggios, the intervals? Major third to the perfect fifth to the full octave, and back down."

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[info]dont_be_shy
2008-08-20 12:26 am UTC (link)
His blushing was absolutely adorable and honestly, Scout hardly noticed that the boy's countenance worked strangely, if not at all how it was supposed to. Scout was the type to be so enamored with a person's personality that she couldn't quite recall how they looked but she could recite every world they said.

She could hear how he lept from note to note, but what notes were they? It didn't matter for now, she supposed, as long as she could repeat what he sang. "I do," she began. Her cheeks burned bright and she cleared her throat gently before she repeated the C scale. Up and then down, clear as a cloudless day, but she couldn't quite make eye contact. "My sister has tried to make me do my scales for years. I've never memorized them."

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[info]bell_ringer
2008-08-20 12:50 am UTC (link)
Jude nodded, listening to her tone. It was good, no faltering, no nasal elements, just sweet and pure, and that was a good thing. A mezzo soprano, he thought. "Don't worry so much about that, it'll come with time and practice. Let's just run some scales. We're going to go up as high as you feel comfortable going, and then go low. I want to hear your range, okay?" he suggested, playing the C# major chord with long, elegant fingers.

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[info]dont_be_shy
2008-08-20 01:25 am UTC (link)
The pink in her cheeks from the earlier breakdown was slowly fading until all was gone save for the color in the speckling of freckles over her nose and upper cheeks. She rolled her shoulders back, sat up straighter and took the deepest breath she could muster before allowing any of it to rush out of her lungs with the notes he asked for. She followed the natural progression from what he played, matching the best she could until she got to the point where she could go no higher.

She managed to go as far as the high E before she felt she couldn't go any further. Breathless she found herself laughing. "I don't know how I managed to squeak that one out!"

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[info]bell_ringer
2008-08-20 01:33 am UTC (link)
Jude laughed, too, his lips quirking in his crooked, uneven smile. "It's because you're not thinking about hitting a particular note, you're just letting your throat open up and the sound move through you. That's what you want, it's good, very good, your upper range is very nice, very clear, it's a good thing," he assured her.

He improvised back down the keyboard, just a few little trills before centering at G, never able to stick to straight scales for long, far too caught up in the possibilities of the keys over their realities. "We're going to do it again, only down and back up, okay? Just relax, let everything move through you. We're all only instruments, the music comes from elsewhere," he said, playing the chord.

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[info]dont_be_shy
2008-08-20 01:48 am UTC (link)
"Hmm, you're so much nicer than my old teacher. Jessica was the devil! She used to smack the back of my head because I'd mouth off to her in the middle of a lesson.. or she'd try chasing me down when ever I decided I'd rather go swimming or something," she sighed as if it were a fond memory. Jessica running along the beach in her heels, screaming at the top of her lungs for Scout to get back to the house. Jessica poppin' her upside her head when Scout mentioned something unladylike.

"Oh! I'm sorry, what are we..? Oh dear, I have to start off that high? Let me work up before I get down again." She worked from middle C up to High E, then down, down until she could go no further and she felt she sounded like a man.

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[info]bell_ringer
2008-08-20 02:00 am UTC (link)
"That's good, that's very good," Jude said encouragingly, playing a little trill down at her lowest, around F or so, but there was room to work still. "You're definitely a mezzo soprano, which is good, very versatile. With work, you could expand your range quite a bit, I'm very sure. And you'll grow into it, as well, female voices change around 23, 24, they gain depth, some real power. You've only just begun, really. I know my voice is going to stay like this, more or less, my range is going to stay where it is. You, there's no telling yet, and that's wicked exciting, it's all potential." He was animated as he talked, and it was obvious he was doing what he loved, his fingers still playing aimlessly on the keys until he hit a final chord, just popping the sound.

"So. The concert. I'd say it would be better to pick something simple and beautiful, and sing it very well rather than to try to do something complicated and risky at this point. Have you thought about a folk song, maybe?" he suggested.

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[info]dont_be_shy
2008-08-20 02:22 am UTC (link)
Seeing him so excited brought a wild thud to her heart. She loved seeing people so passionate, she could only hope she'd be that passionate about singing one day. She was close, though, what with his jumpy, bright passion it was taking over her emotions and telling them they ought to be just as bright. "It is?? Really? Potential?" She clapped her hands together and listened further, absolutely mesmerized by the way he spoke.

She was so mesmerized that when he questioned her about the type of song her elbow, which had been hovering up over the piano as she face him, fell down on the keys in a resounding clash of wrong notes forced together. She jumped out of surprise, leaped up from the seat and then sat down just as quick and bit closer to him. Her wide blues glared at the keys. "Honestly!"

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[info]bell_ringer
2008-08-20 02:52 am UTC (link)
Jude startled, then laughed again, rubbing his chest over his heart, listening to the jumpy rhythm, waiting for it to smooth out. Had she gotten closer? He wasn't sure. He was probably imagining things. Physical proximity, contact, he didn't expect it, and it was always a source of confusion and wonderment when it happened at the hands of anyone other than a family member or medical professional.

"Careful, there, I abuse this old girl too much as it stands, she can't take much more," he said, trying to joke, and there was something endearing about the way his eyes crinkled in the corners as he smiled. "She has to deal with my efforts every day, they're going to have to retire her when I graduate."

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[info]dont_be_shy
2008-08-20 03:37 am UTC (link)
Scout noticed the faint touch to his chest and felt a twinge of guilt. He was a bit sick, wasn't he? Always feeling a bit of pain and she just exploded on him which wasn't the best thing to do. She hadn't meant to be so jumpy! "Oh, heck. I'm sorry, I'm just so excited! I've never.. it's just.. exciting," she finished lamely.

Her eyes followed the length of the piano from end to end and gingerly she reached out to touch the keys. She hadn't ever dabbled with actual instruments before, just her voice. The keys felt warm and practically alive under her fingertips. "Does she have a name?" She could tell that it was easy to fall in love with such an object, it really was quite beautiful.

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[info]bell_ringer
2008-08-20 03:43 am UTC (link)
"I call her Cecilia. Cecilia's the patron saint of music, you see, and I remember when I first took piano lessons, my instructor had a painting of her over the piano. She was looking up towards this angel, surrounded by roses and sheet music, and I couldn't tell what was making her happier, the angel or the music itself," Jude explained, smiling. No-one had ever asked that before, but it was an awkward thing, or maybe he was the awkward thing. He flushed, feeling like he was talking too much, and even still, it wasn't making sense. So he looked down at her hands. "Here, the tone's quite good, she holds her pitch well, try." His voice was quiet as he urged her on, and then, on impulse, he leaned over and covered her hand with her own, gently nudging her fingers into a rolling chord, drawn out by his foot on the pedal. "See? She sings."

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[info]dont_be_shy
2008-08-20 03:50 am UTC (link)
That wasn't the first thing she thought of when he said the name. She immediately recalled videos of her mother dancing to an old Simon and Garfunkel song.. Cecilia, you're breaking my heart.. The image of the red hair swinging about as she danced in lazy circles was painful. Her heart lurched and Scout's very faint expression of awe was suddenly drowned in the memory of a mother she never knew.

He was speaking of a saint, though, and an angel and music.. all sorts of things that were so much lovelier than thinking of dead mothers. She lowered her eyes to the keys he pointed out and very tentatively lowered her nimble fingers on the keys. She was not trying to press them down, but the sudden pressure from his hand caused the chord to sing just as he said it would.

Oh, how her heart ached at the sound. "I want to learn," she decided, words firm but soft. "Teach me?"

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[info]bell_ringer
2008-08-20 03:58 am UTC (link)
Jude looked up. "Piano?" he asked, just as softly. "I can teach you. You'll have to learn to read music. But once you do, there's no stopping you. The whole world is open there, in the folios, waiting." He smiled at her, crooked and boyish, his green eyes bright with enthusiasm just there, simmering below, barely given voice. "I can give you lessons. Happily. If you want to be trained, if you want to learn, voice, piano, whatever, I'll teach you."

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[info]dont_be_shy
2008-08-20 04:15 am UTC (link)
She hadn't ever had the patience to learn before, but then again, Jessica's teaching was the quickest way to be turned off from the whole thing. Whacks to the back of her head was not the way to teach anyone anything! But the gentle encouragement that Jude was offering was a whole new world that she was suddenly dying to be apart of! What would she give to have that kind of talent at her fingertips?

She was speechless when he agreed, rendered silent by the perfect, but crooked smile. Finally, after quite some time looking from the piano, to Jude, and back to the piano, she erupted like some sort of volcano of joy. "Oh.. oh, really?! Oh, Jude!" She turned her body and threw those slender arms around his frame in a hug.

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[info]bell_ringer
2008-08-20 04:22 am UTC (link)
Jude made a startled sound at the hug, his eyes going wide, but after a moment, he returned it, giving her a gentle sort of squeeze. "Anybody who wants to learn that badly, they should be able to learn. And it's good, it'll keep me on my toes, too," he told her, then pulled back, feeling awkward, uncertain about what to do and blushing a dark red. So he retreated, something that was becoming a habit, going to the safe common ground of music yet again.

"Er. So. Yes. Concert. Concert. Folk songs, that had been my suggestion. What would you think about that, perhaps? Something simple. I'm not going to throw Mozart at you yet," he said, smiling a little. "Do you know any, are there any you like?"

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[info]dont_be_shy
2008-08-20 04:29 am UTC (link)
She slid back along the seat to give him space. She had forgotten he was a bit frail and that perhaps squeezing the life out of him wasn't the best idea. Not everyone liked being touched, either, but Scout didn't mind it. She loved holding hands, hugging, resting her body against someone else, she loved the warmth of it. She was going to apologize but he changed the subject and she simply went with it.

"Folk songs? Like.. kind of.. like.. well. I like Feist, have you heard Feist? And.. and I like erm, Samson, by Regina Spektor? Have you heard of it? I don't know if that's folk.. it's.. different, I guess."

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[info]bell_ringer
2008-08-20 04:39 am UTC (link)
"Samson, yes. I like Regina Spektor all right, she's good. But vocal music, serious vocal music, it tends to fall into a few vague categories. Folk songs, art songs and classical repertoire, sacred music, and musical theatre. Popular music is different. If we're trying to impress the director, which we are, then let's think along those lines," Jude explained.

He looked at the keys in thought for a moment, then he reached down into the bag at the piano's leg, pulling out an old, spiral-bound book of music, opening it to a piece. "When I think Thanksgiving, Harvest Home, 'Simple Gifts' comes to mind. Listen, tell me what you think," he told her, starting to play. The accompaniment was simple, almost sparse, but when he started the melody, that's when the tune came alive, something entirely heartfelt about it, his own voice becoming achingly sweet, hopeful.

'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free,
'Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be,
And when we find ourselves in the place just right,
'Twill be in the valley of love and delight.
When true simplicity is gain'd,
To bow and to bend we shan't be asham'd,
To turn, turn will be our delight,
Till by turning, turning we come round right...

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[info]dont_be_shy
2008-08-20 04:53 am UTC (link)
How embarrassing! She didn't know what the heck she was talking about! Her cheeks turned so red they practically matched those cherry curls that settled across her shoulders. She dipped a finger into the curls on her left side and began anxiously twisting them about her index and middle fingers. "Oh.. I guess.." but why should she stay feeling this way? A mistake was commonly made by the novice, she'd learn! She was determined to learn the difference!

She sat still and quiet when he began suggesting something to her, and when he opened the spiral to the music she leaned forward a bit to follow the endless black dots as they danced along the page through the lines. Her eyes followed the words as he opened his mouth and the tune was instantly familiar. She knew this, somehow. Maybe something her sister Christine used to play?

She didn't mean to interrupt him, but she did want to see if she could follow the tune with the words as he was doing. It seemed where the notes gathered in fours or twos it was like a roller coaster, a swift rolling of notes right where the tune rolled. The song spilled off her lips sweetly, softly at first and then stronger as it overtook her and drove through her.

Her heart swelled with every sung word.

And when we find ourselves in the place just right,
It will be in the valley of love and delight.

When true simplicity is gained,
to bow and to bend, we will not be ashamed
To turn, turn, will be our delight,
'Til by turning, turning, we come round right.

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[info]bell_ringer
2008-08-20 05:00 am UTC (link)
"Yes!" Jude said with obvious excitement as he hit the last chord, the joy just sort of bubbling up out of him. "Yes, that's it. That's what you need to do, Scout, absolutely it. You know the tune, I thought you might, so what we'll do is work on getting your intonation up to scratch--that's your pitch, hitting the note spot on, not high or low--and we'll map out where you breathe, that sort of thing. Expression, getting into the piece, feeling it move through you. I think our director will be impressed. I know you could do this, you're will suited to it, you've got the right kind of voice for folk music, sweet and plaintive. It'll be good, I promise." He grinned at her. There was nothing disingenuous about him. When he praised her, he meant it, and it was clearly, wholly, utterly obvious. "It will be really good. You just have to work at it."

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[info]dont_be_shy
2008-08-20 05:10 am UTC (link)
Her knees were immediately drawn up so that the edge of her heels could rest on the edge of the seat. Then, she dipped her chin low and hid her face so that only her wide, bright blue eyes could peek up at him as he praised her. She was hiding that terrible color in her cheeks and the insanely huge smile that was impossible to get rid of.

"Oh dear," came the muffled reply. "I really did okay? That's such a good song. You're an excellent teacher, too. Oh, dear."

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[info]bell_ringer
2008-08-20 05:16 am UTC (link)
Jude looked over at her and his own eyes widening a touch. "You did fine, you really did, what's wrong?" he asked, though it all came out in one breath, concerned since he couldn't see her smile, and reading facial expressions had never exactly been his forte. So he opted to reassuring, reassuring had to be good, hadn't it? "Is everything okay? Please don't be bashful, please. You really did well. Your pitch was good, we're going to work on your breathing, what's wrong?"

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[info]dont_be_shy
2008-08-20 05:21 am UTC (link)
Bother! He was worrying now, and Scout hadn't the heart to keep him worrying like this. It just couldn't be good for him to be worrying about her when she perfectly alright, just a bit shy.

Scout very slowly lifted her head and then lowered her knees the slightest bit so that he could see that she was smiling like an idiot. "I was showing off my fangs, they're horrible," yes, those tiny slightly pointy teeth people had at the front of their mouth were not supposed to actually be so pointy. Her's were much like Kirsten Dunst, slightly pointed and sticking out awkwardly. She wiggled her nose and placed a hand over her mouth.

"That's what is wrong. I have my mother's mouth. Come to think of it, I have my mother's everything. I don't look a thing like any of my sisters."

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[info]bell_ringer
2008-08-20 05:33 am UTC (link)
Jude shook his head. "There's nothing wrong with your mouth. I wouldn't have noticed if you hadn't pointed it out, really," he said, shrugging, and he leaned back from the keys, rubbing his chest again through his t-shirt. "I look a little bit like my father. I mean, he's huge and really strong, he's a cop back in Boston. Irish cop in Boston, that's almost a joke, right? Same hair, though, that's something." He realized, mid-way through, that trying to talk about what he looked like was ridiculous. He looked strange, that's what he looked like. Sick and small and frail and his face still drooped sometimes and he knew the road map of scars and deformities across his body like he knew the map of Massachusetts. He couldn't not look. After all, wasn't that the original meaning of monster? Monstrare, to show, to point out, to look.

He ducked his head, looking away. It was stupid to have even gone down this line of questioning. He should've stopped. How could he find anything wrong with her teeth--he hadn't even noticed there was anything even different about them--when she was ignoring how he looked? "If...if...I mean...you have a lot of sisters, sounds like. So you looking like your mother, that must make you the special one," he finally said, stammering terribly.

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[info]dont_be_shy
2008-08-20 05:42 am UTC (link)
She watched his movements very carefully, took in every single bit of what he was doing. That small rub across his chest, the leaning away from the piano and how thin he really was. Compare to her newest friend, Erik, he was very small.

It was hard not to start comparing him to Erik. His hair was much nicer, longer and darker. His mouth, crooked permanently, was still beautiful when he chose to smile despite the inability to smile fully. And those eyes! It made butterflies erupt in her stomach when she gazed into them far too long. She began twirling her hair about her fingers again.

"Mm, if your father looks like you," not if he looked like his father, she continued, "then he must be just as handsome." She honestly didn't find anything wrong with the problems he had physically. Why, she had vampire teeth and hair as red as cherries, and to her it seemed the more terrible look of the two of them.

"Huh? Oh... I guess. I'm the bad one," she giggled. "I'm the one that decided to not get married at twenty. Could've... oh well."

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[info]bell_ringer
2008-08-20 06:02 am UTC (link)
"You, the bad one?" Jude echoed, and he laughed a little. "I can't even imagine. You're nice to me." It was so simple, and yet so very true.

He pushed his hair back from his face, the wavy-almost-curls perpetually messy. He didn't know what to say about the handsome comment. He had no earthly idea what to even begin to say. No-one had ever called him that. Well, his mother, when she was trying to make him feel better, but still. He was just floored by it. "You're so nice to me, you really are," he repeated earnestly.

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[info]dont_be_shy
2008-08-20 06:09 am UTC (link)
"Let me tell you what!" To get her started on all the horrid things she did in her childhood and young adult life was to really open a can of worms! "I once stuck gum in my sister Jenny's hair because I was jealous of her getting a perm and so she had to get it all chopped off. I constantly skipped studies to go swimming in the ocean, I made my sister Stephanie pee her pants after I purposely scared her into thinking there were monsters under our bunk bed, I completely ruined Elizabeth's husband's proposal by running at them after I snuck out after my bedtime to see what the heck she was doing with him on the beach at such an hour, you see, I thought he wasn't Terry but rather an attacker and so I tried to scare him away and.. well. I ruined it, ha ha.. oh boy, there are stories! It's not like I'm that mean to anyone else.. my sister's just get more tough love than most, is all."

She frowned a bit when he repeated himself. Did he think she was saying that to be nice? Because she pitied him. "I can be mean if you want," she offered. "I can stick gum in your hair too. Honestly, I was just telling the truth... you don't think you are?"

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[info]bell_ringer
2008-08-20 06:15 am UTC (link)
Jude spread his hands, a sort of hopeless little gesture. "I know my limits," he said, shrugging. The same limit again and again, really. The one he tried not to dwell on. The one that had handed him ever circumstance he knew. But hope and faith were supposed to get you past them, and he'd never questioned that. He just knew where they were, and what they meant for him.

"I don't think...I mean...I don't..." he tried to explain further, but he couldn't find what he wanted to say. "I just...I never know if...why...rabbits." (And that was as close to profanity as he was ever going to get.) He looked up at her. "I'm not good with people. I don't...have many friends and...it's..." He sighed, wanting to bang his forehead on the piano. Why couldn't he spit out a coherent sentence?

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[info]dont_be_shy
2008-08-20 06:23 am UTC (link)
She let him stumble over his words and she even found herself having to hide a grin when he spit out 'rabbits' all of the sudden, as if he were cursing. She didn't meant for him to get all in a tizzy but he was getting there anyways whether she liked it or not. After a moment of just letting him breathe and think over his words, she reached out her hand.

That was a bold move on her part, but this was Scout: she loved being touched and loved to touch others. She didn't really care for personal space, as it were. Her fingertips grazed his cheek just above the bad side of his mouth. "Jude, you have a very good smile," she confirmed. "And your eyes are as green as grass and I think that's.. well that's grand and very handsome. I just love eyes and yours are about the best I've ever seen. I think you need to be told that more often."

Yes, she would simply make a habit out of it, he needed it! Unfortunately, lifting her hand meant lifting a wrist that held a watch on it. Boy, it was getting late and she hadn't done a lick of homework! Save for the choir practice, of course.. still! She sighed and lowered her hand to his, giving it a quick squeeze. "I've got to go. I'll have those cookies for you next time!"

She moved to her feet and just as she was heading out the door she poked her head back in and waved goodbye with one hand. "Night, handsome!"

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[info]bell_ringer
2008-08-20 06:30 am UTC (link)
For a long, stunned moment, Jude stared at the door where she had been, one hand coming up to touch his cheek where she'd touched him. She touched him. And thought he was handsome. Very, even. All he could do was gape and stare, wholly convinced that his alarm clock was going to go off any minute now.

But it didn't, and a brilliant, beaming smile blossomed across his face, slow like honey and dazzling. Maybe there was hope for him yet. Hope was such a small bird, but he was holding on the best he could. These lessons, he decided, were the best thing he'd ever offered anyone, ever. Turning back to his piano, he put his fingers to the keys again, letting all that joy pour out of him, right through the keys, and out through the dark to the ears of the angels.

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