Are You Out There?

Casey was sitting on the edge of the Astronomy Tower, staring at the moon. Her hands were braced on the ledge beside her and her feet dangled over the edge, but she wasn't scared of the height. She swung her bare feet little and thought of her sister, wondering if the girls were staring at the moon together or if she was alone. She began to sing quietly.

"Cause tonight I'm feeling like an astronaut
Sending S.O.S. from this tiny box
And I lost all signal when I lifted up
Now I'm stuck out here and the world forgot
Can I please come down?
Cause I'm tired of drifting round and round
Can I please come down?"

Spoiler:

As Hunter came up the staircase, guitar in hand, she thought she heard a humming of sorts. A song she knew and loved very much. Usually, no one would come up at this time, and it gave her privacy where she can practice playing in utmost peace.

But she couldn't help strumming as the person hummed the words of the song beautifully. She frowned slightly when she stopped, but continued playing, while singing the rest of the song quietly.

Casey twisted around at the sound of a guitar. She saw a Ravenclaw girl playing the song she was singing and stopped for a moment in surprise. She hadn't thought anyone else would come up here. But then she grinned, and sang along with the other girl, harmonizing with her perfectly. They finished the song together and she turned fully, swinging her legs over the ledge.

"Hey," she said quietly, smiling. "I'm Casey. What are you up here for?" She looked at the moon. "I came to think, maybe a little to sing."

"Hello," She greeted her, smiling slightly, "I'm Hunter McCoy. Feel free to call me either Hunter or McCoy. I'm here to practice..."

She gestured to her guitar, strumming the last three strings of it. "I'm a grade 5 at playing guitar, and I need to keep practicing to stay good at playing."

When Casey stated her reason for being where she was, she replied, "Well, if you're here to think, should I just leave then? I should be giving you your privacy - and besides, I'm sure there are other places to practice..."

Casey nodded. "Nice to meet you Hunter," she said sincerely. She still enjoyed meeting girls after years of making friends much more easily with guys, and while she was completely straight, she enjoyed a little female companionship as much as any other girl.

Casey's eyes widened and she smiled. "That's cool. I used to play flute, but I'm super out of practice. Besides, I like singing better now anyway. I tried guitar once and couldn't get anything resembling a melody out of it." She laughed a little at her own shortcomings.

Casey shook her head. "You have as much right to be up here as I do, which is actually none because we're both supposed to be in bed." She smiled mischievously. "What's life without a little rule breaking, eh? But anyway, I definitely would not mind being distracted from these thoughts."

She looked at the younger girl, who seemed to be nearly two years younger than her. After getting used to the darkness, her eyes roamed over her, looking for anything suspicious about her, trying to find more information about her. She glanced at the crest on her robes and found that she was indeed a Gryffindor. She looked for any bumps on her clothes, checking if there were any daggers or guns hidden somewhere around. Finding that there was indeed nothing she was hiding, she poked her hand out for this Casey person to shake. She touched her robes, making sure her dagger was hidden, yet still there, in case she needed it.

She looked down at her guitar once more and played a quick melody, not quite sure why she was being nice to thee girl, and not quite sure why the girl was being nice to her. She was used to cold, distant people, unless it was her mother or brother. And yet, she was still nice to the girl, nothing like she usually is. Maybe it's her friendly exterior, or her sincerity, she mused to herself for a moment.

"I can teach you to play some guitar, if you like," she said softly, suggesting that she really didn't care if the Gryffindor agreed to the offer or not.

She managed a ghost of a smile at her next words, although it wasn't as genuine, as no one knew. She gave a smile she practiced in front of the mirror every day, to make sure no one asks about her, to make sure no one questions her. "Oh right, I forgot," she muttered, although they both knew she was lying, as she was a sixth year, and has been going to this school for nearly six years, making it unlikely that she would forget. Then again, no one has ever caught her on her escapades.

Instead of commenting on her next words, she lifted her guitar and poised her fingers on the strings. "What song do you recommend we play next?" She asked her.

Casey waited patiently for Hunter to finish looking her over. She knew that some people were suspicious of everyone and she also knew that the only thing to do was wait and prove herself. She smiled when Hunter offered her hand and shook it firmly. Look, she does have an ounce of trust in her...

Casey smiled as Hunter picked out another melody, then offered to teach her. "That would be nice, if you're patient. It will probably take a while for me to get it."

She smirked, amused by the girl's faux exterior. Casey could tell Hunter's emotions as easily as if she shouted them. She raised an eyebrow. "Oh right, you forgot." She rolled her eyes, laughing. "Just like I forgot to let Headmaster Chaos know I was coming up here."

Casey shrugged. "I don't know, what do you know?" A sudden idea came to her and she grinned. "Do you know Cupid's Got A Shotgun? I quite like that one."

Hunter refrained from raising an eyebrow at the curious Gryffindor girl. She noticed how her expression implied that this girl knew she was suspicious of her, yet she didn't exactly care. Better yet, the girl seemed determined to show that she was trustworthy. Her actions seemed genuine, sincere, which Hunter really appreciated from her.

She chuckled at her words. "I'm very patient. Trust me," her emotions darked so quickly when she said that sentence, although nothing showed on her face. She had to be patient. She had to be patient enough to not just full out and attack your father when her mother was being abused. She had to be patient enough to let her father do what he did until things went too far. Until her father brought the alcohol.

The Ravenclaw laughed at Casey's comment. What she found odd was that her laugh was different than the rest of the time she laughed. But this was because the other times she laughed, she wasn't laughing. Not really. This laugh, this beautiful laugh, was genuine. Completely genuine. The realization of this fact caught her off guard and she stopped apburplty, but managed to pull it off as a hiccup and then a fit of coughing.

"Cupid's got a shotgun?" She asked once she got out of her 'coughing fit.' She frowned slightly and starting humming the tune, trying to remember the melody she was supposed to play. After a moment or two, she nodded and started strumming the complicated chords.

Spoiler:

Casey dipped her head to Hunter, acknowledging her acceptance and intrigue. She honestly hoped the girl would learn to trust her in time.

Casey wondered what caused Hunter's abrupt darkening of emotion, but refrained from asking. Instead, she smiled at the Ravenclaw. "Thanks. If guess I'll be playing guitar like a pro in no time with you to teach me."

Casey grinned at the first real laugh she'd heard the girl give and laughed along, especially at Hunter's surprise at the fact that she was laguhing. "You should laugh more often," she said sincerely. "You have a beautiful laugh."

Casey beamed and came in singing with Hunter. She really loved this song and she was glad Hunter knew it. She harmonized effortlessly with the older girl, creating a beautiful piece of music.

She knew there was something different about Casey, she just didn't know what. This girl was acting curiously, mainly because she had absolutely no clue why anyone would be so eager as to want Hunter's trust. Hunter's trust was like diamond, you could say: very hard and dangerous to find, and a really big reward afterwards. And that was putting it modestly.

She smiled at the Gryffindor slightly at her words. "I'm not that good," she murmured offhandedly, "I still have three grades to finish and problems to fix..." Her problems including her newly-prison leaving father, and an abused mother.

She smiled ever so slightly at Casey, wondering silently if she was really human or if she was imagining her. No one's that nice, she thought to herself, Unless she wants something...

She shook her head mentally and muttered, "I only laugh when I find something funny or laughable." She didn't comment on the fact that she never found anything funny or laughable, as she didn't want to reveal any vunerability she might've had.

As she sang with the younger girl, she couldn't help but make her mouth stretch into a grin as the words slipped from her mouth. A couple of minutes later the song was ending, ans he played the last remaining chords of the song.

"Yeah Cupid's got a shotgun
But right now he's running from me, wooh..."

She smiled when they ended the song at the exact same time. "You're a really good singer," she commented, being completely honest.

Casey shrugged. "Well you sound pretty professional to me. Better than anything I can do anyway. Besides, I think it would be awesome to learn guitar, no matter the level I achieve. Anything's better than nothing, yeah?" She wondered about Hunter's problems. This girl seemed to be unconsciously dropping hints of a bad time left and right in the conversation.

Casey shrugged, grinning. "Well yes, that's when most people laugh. But I was saying you should stop faking it. I'm fairly... intuitive to people, whether or not they're being genuine. That was the first time your laugh was true and you looked happy. You should laugh more often."

Casey ducked her head, blushing at Hunter's compliment. "Thank you. I love singing and I try to sing in front of others. Doesn't always work. Terrible thing, stage fright. I'm only scared when I'm singing or attempting to act. I can do something completely stupid or insane in public any time." She shrugged, grinning sheepishly.