New Friends, New Place (Rachel)

[Walther Ebersbacher]

"Hey-low... Heh-low. Hello."

He found himself muttering the basics throughout his daily activities. Even while Walther was rubbing shampoo deeply in to his black locks, he was reciting words, reciting pronunciations. It was odd, really. He had nothing else to be directly motivated about at the moment, so the prospect of just learning the local language seemed like something that could really help him out.

"Hhh... Mm... How arh you?"

He furrowed his brow a bit, letting the hot water run down on his head, rinsing all of the soap out, and down the drain. He knew he was laying that sound on /just/ too thick, and yet, that was his language. Sometimes, it could be a lot on the throat. And having a language that just wasn't was a bit of a hump in and of itself.

When he was done, he'd stepped out. Putting on the clothing, little by little, he ran through those two phrases. He had a little bit more under his belt, but he wasn't ready to hold any sort of deep, meaningful conversation.

With hair wet and messy, and glasses finally hooked on, Walther emerged from the dorm, and really just started to wander yet again. There was another wing of the school that he'd yet to traverse. Hopefully, though, inference led him to believe that this must have been where most of the extra-curricular activities were hosted. Maybe that meant things regarding music?

After a brief walk, pushing on some double doors flooded his ears with something that made him smile widely. Piano. A real, non-synthetic grand piano. Deep notes stringing in to higher notes, with some bumbling in between. Not wanting to interrupt the noise, he entered in a very silent slink.

Whoever this girl was, she was around his age, tapping away at the keys... He couldn't resist himself, he really couldn't. Not a moment sooner, the music she created was joined by a ballad of other instruments. Violin, harp, flutes, even. It seemed to, in some round-about way, match with her tune to create something much more vivid, much more complex... That much deeper.

But even then, he didn't approach. He stood static in the middle of the room, really just taking it all in.

[Rachel Kells]

Rachel just needed time to think.

She really couldn't believe her daddy would do that, especially not at Christmas time. She couldn't believe it, didn't want to believe it. She just wanted her daddy to be back. Her power wasn't scary, or wrong, was it? She knew she was a bad girl for having these powers, but she couldn't help it.She just felt so hopeless.

It was all she could do not to cry as she sat in the auditorium playing.

She had escaped her dorm so she could come practice piano, something she had neglected a bit because her dad wasn't there to tell her too. Maybe if she practiced hard enough she could earn her daddy's respect again. That why was she was here, playing the piano in a way that most eleven year old's wouldn't bother to learn.

She was playing such a simple tune, something she couldn't remember the name of, but remembered the notes. Rachel played from memory, especially since she forgot the book in her room. She was too busy to notice, after she put her clothes on and came here. Her blue long sleeved shirt kept her warm and her black pants were matched by the snow boots on her feet.

She had first found this place with a little following and spying, but since there was barely anyone on campus she had no problem coming here to practice. It let her get her mind off things, horrible things her daddy had said in the letter and she wasn't going to think about that now. Now Rachel was going to play and she was going to play what she knew.

Pulling her minion hat over her head Rachel smiled as she played, adding in the ups and downs firstly going soft then gradually going louder. She thought she was the only one who was around, the only one who was playing piano and hearing her play. Rachel loved music, and it was something to keep her mind off of her dad.

All of the sudden as she was playing suddenly there were more sounds, more instruments! Rachel was astounded! where were they coming from? The music was too pretty to stop playing though and she continued with a smile calling out. "Who ever is doing this please come forward, I want to know! This is amazing!" She hoped they could hear her, the music was getting louder as she continued to play her way through the piece. "Please?"

Even with Rachel looking around the music didn't seem to be coming from any source and she didn't see anyone else in the room. She sighed as she ended the piece, wondering if the music was going to continue when she ended it. She hoped so, the sounds and melodies flowed together nicely. Oh she wanted to meet whoever was making this music.

[Walther Ebersbacher]

She seemed a lot happier when he first saw her. The way she was playing, had that slight hunch over the keys. He figured she was just practicing, doing it for fun. But that look he saw on her face totally dashed that idea. She was sad. So she must have been new, like him. If he had to make a guess, it was really just the timing of it. This time of year had everything to do with family, with home. And here they were, Hammel. It was like they didn't even care about the students.

And that stupid legal authority they just had. His aunt couldn't do or say anything but watch as he was just taken away. Nobody did anything! They just /went/. That was kidnapping, he thought... But, no. He'd later found out all of the power they possessed. How 'prestigious' they were. That didn't matter to him, he felt a mixture of rage and simple sorrow every time he thought about it. Maybe it's just because he hadn't settled in yet.

With headache forming due to the noise, he stepped out, grimacing a little bit. He waved at the girl, not feeling as nervous about it, any more. She was so young! Maybe even younger than him. It was just nice to see someone and not have to worry about if they were going to go out of their way to harm, or prank. No, there was no way she had that mean bone in her body. With those tear-stains on her face.

"Hello." Walther's beam was pretty wide. He loved music, as well. And just that look of astonishment he'd witnessed. It really made his day already. He didn't even need to know anything about her just to be really warmed by that. With all of the teenagers that would just blow a sound like that off, like they would a text from someone unimportant... Seeing another person who appreciated was just fantastic.

"I'm Walther." he awkwardly introduced himself. "What is your name?"

[Rachel Kells]

Rachel had found a way to hide that pain she was feeling. The piano made the pain go away, if only for a little while. Her dad wasn’t here and she couldn’t do anything about it. She couldn’t go home for Christmas and she didn’t know what she was going to do. Her mom was busy, her dad and her mom had finally been getting along, not now. Now they would fight again. It was all Rachel’s fault. She sniffled as she played, trying to forget where she was.

Somehow, it was her fault for manifesting. If she hadn’t her daddy would still love her, her pains wouldn’t be here. Somehow this was her fault. Her whole world was crashing down and she didn’t know what to do that was going to make it better. No matter what she did the reality was that she was still here, that she had to stay here, that no matter how hard she wished her ability would go away, it wouldn’t. She had to stay here, the only thing she could do was forget.

When the music stopped and the boy stepped out Rachel gave a grin, waving at him. He looked a bit older, but he made that music happen and that was amazing. It blended and added layers to her piano. She was so excited to meet him, he was amazing to make all that music. Rachel loved music, and she definitely loved someone who could make music out of instruments that weren’t there. She had been playing Piano since she was five, same with violin, but that was amazing.

Rachel smiled and stood to go over to him. “Hello!” Had this boy really made all that music? It was awesome none the less. She couldn’t wait to hear more, and he looked interesting. Who was he? Rachel hadn’t had a chance to meet all that many people yet here, other then Doctor Neville, and she sorta had been keeping to herself since the letter.

“Oh! I’m Rachel!” Rachel had no trouble introducing herself, and gave a little curtsy, remembering her manners. “How do you do?”

[Walther Ebersbacher]

He rubbed his temples quite hard, but he met her curtsy with a little bow of his own. It was silly, being that proper in this day and age, but nonetheless, he was willing to accommodate this girl. Walther noticed it, the tear stains, the sadness. She must have been so frightened out of her mind. He was, too... But at least he was making enough friends, old and young, to give him a piece of sanity back. He missed Mother and Father both, maybe he would more-so if he didn't have what he had.

Hammel was very much a turbulent place, though. He could see how this girl was having a hard time fitting her niche, so to speak. Chaos, teenage drama and hormones up in the air, and bullies. So many bullies. He had to admire the fact that she decided to come here alone. But maybe that was just a routine of hers. Maybe that was something she had been doing all along. If this was sanctuary, well, he didn't mind one bit. Maybe he could start coming here, too!

Walther couldn't manipulate sound or music too much at one time. He was already feeling like he came off of one of those spinning rides at an amusement park. Headache, and nausea. 'I will never get used to that feeling.' He thought to himself, as he stepped on stage, and took one end of the piano bench. Those ivory keys, in such pristine condition, beckoned to him. If only just to hear their sound. He had no formal experience in piano or instruments, and unlike the crowd of self-righteous people who thought they were a lot greater than he would, he knew he couldn't play a song.

The most confusing part about it all was just how many keys there were. And they all had names, letters, numbers. Things he just wasn't as good at keeping his mind wrapped around. It was the very same principal reason he never learned guitar beyond what he could do with his mind. Because when all of those frets, and keys blended together, it just got terrible. He admired those (on a low volume, of course), who played so well on TV, from old bands like Van Halen, to some of the newer ones on the roster.

He tapped a key, the highest one up. It produced a little 'tink' as a result. He shivered a bit. Then, all the way down, for the vibrating 'bummmmmmmm'. He could hear the very string wiggle in the piano. This close, though, it hurt a little bit. That was discernible visibly. "You seem like you.....'re sad." He turned around, to face her. "Do you want to speak of it, maybe?"