Hanging out [For Echo]

Magic smiled a little at Lamia's giggle. It was honestly kind of cute but he would never say that aloud. When she said something about knowing how to play piano, it gave him an idea. Maybe they should try to play a piano duet sometime. If Magic remembered how to play.. He never attempted to play the recorder, but he could sing. It kind of came with his power. He could manipulate his own voice to sound nice, but he never really done it. When he sang, it wasn't the greatest voice in the world but it was pretty decent to listen to or so he thought.

Magic was about to say something when he noticed that Lamia seemed to be remembering something good, or so it seemed. He didn't really want to disturb her, but it disappeared as soon as she started coughing. He frowned in response to the coughing fit. Guess he could say what he wanted to say now. "I can sing.. Well it's not the best voice in the world but it's pretty decent. I guess." He said a bit unsure of himself. The only thing he was sure of his ability was his ability to fight. That was the only thing he was really confident in.

Magic was really lucky to have something that he was confident in himself of.

Lamia's self-esteem on the other hand, had dropped immensely, well... after that. She never found herself great at anything at all or didn't want to try anything new. Just stuck to old habits as much as she could - not that it did much. The entire idea... she's changed too much from before. It wasn't like she was the same person, but maybe it was kind of like taking on a new identity? She really had no clue. Even then, it wasn't like she took it on her own free will, sort of. "C-could I l-listen... O-or no?" The words had sort of come out unexpectedly, and she quickly covered her mouth with her hands out of embarrassment.

"O-oh, I-I'm sorry" She really sucked at conversations. This was honestly an excuse to give her time to think about what to say next. How to socialize. She really needed a tutorial on that.

She always apologized when there wasn't a need to. Most of the stuff she apologized for wasn't even her fault. Most of the time when she did apologize he didn't really listen unless it was something important. He gave her a reassuring smile. He gave her a small nod in response to her question. He was going to do it. He wanted to do it.

In that moment Magic closed his eyes and started searching for a song that he could sing along to. It had to be a song Magic knew really well, and by that it would have to be an old song. It would also have to be a song that would fit in Magic's vocal range, nothing that would go over it or under it.. hmm.. Yeah that song would work. Once he found the song, he began to feel nervous. He definitely had butterflies in his stomach. The only issue with this song is that he would have sto start singing immediately as it started.. oh well. He didn't want to take another ten minutes trying to find a perfect song.

He closed his eyes, and took a deep breath and exhaled. He started the music, and started singing at the same time. "I'm at a payphone trying to call home, all of my change I spent on you.." That was a good start. There was still a lot left in the song, he was trying to keep his nerves down. Even though I'm not typing it, he is still sinking the song. "Yeah, I, I know it's hard to remember the people we used to be.."  So far so good. No voice cracks.. Which was good. He was glad for that. He was also glad he didn't forget the lyrics and mess up. "When we called it love, but even the sun sets in paradise.." From there he went back into the chorus, then he started the next part of the song. "You turned your back on tomorrow, cause you forgot yesterday.." He continued with the verses the words flowing quite nicely. Still no mess ups.. "All of our bridges burned down.." He continued on with the words, and eventually hit the chorus again. To finish up the chorus, "One more stupid love song, I'll be sick. Now I'm at a payphone.." Now here was the part that had the weird stuff between the second chorus and the last chorus. "Baby I'm begging you, just please don't go.." Soon after that he finished what he thought was the bridge part, and then moved onto the last chorus. "Now I'm at a payphone.." He finished up the song finally. He didn't have any mess ups, that he knew of. He breathed a sigh of relief but the nervousness still didn't leave him quite yet. Hopefully he just didn't make a full of himself in front of Lamia. He opened his eyes but he was still afraid to look at the girl.

Lamia's eyes widened when he actually said yes, and because you know... she thought he wouldn't agree because it was really out of the ordinary and all of that and. She really needed to learn to socialize, goddammit.

Once he started though, she didn't regret her decision. Closing her eyes, she listened with almost a certain intensity. He had such a nice voice, too... For as much as she wanted to avoid people, Lamia had always wanted someone where she could share some kind of common interest with them. Music. Art. Anything. It wasn't really that she was a master and she wasn't being modest - it was true, she was mostly self-taught because her parents constantly fought after they moved. But at the same time, being able to let her imagination run free was one of her passions, her outlets, something she didn't normally share with others... with anybody really, because they thought it was weak. Cowardly. So for him to be completely okay with doing this favor, and even more, to try his best, it was easy to see why she was inwardly enthusiastic.

An old, mellow love song. She let out a breathy little laugh, not knowing exactly why. Curling her fingers into her palms and placing them on her lap, Lamia leaned back onto the chair, calming herself down from any previous nerves about this entire situation. Her eyes closed, and she felt so glad that she didn't mess up... Or maybe it was just luck again.

The quiet melody filled her head, and she listened as the song was practically spun around the tips of his fingers, her mind drifting back to how he had played that song back in the forest when they first met. It was almost the same feeling, almost, but this time she felt like his gift wasn't really coming into play as much. That made it so much nicer...

She'd been so enraptured by his singing, as simple as it seemed, that the sudden stop took her by surprise. Lamia blinked when she heard him let out a small sigh, before her eyes darted down to the floor again. She wasn't really sure what to say next. Should she compliment him? Apologize for the sudden request? Thank him for agreeing to it? Keep quiet and show no reaction? All of these options sounded so... plain. And rude.

Lamia felt completely ashamed of herself. She was so caught up in listening to him sing that she forgot about why she had asked in the first place. Now, she was completely stuck. Shoot. Flashing a nervous smile, her golden doe-like eyes flickering around the room as she tried to find the right words, she somehow found herself saying something she didn't really want to say.

"I-is th-there... uhm... a-any reason y-you chose... u-uhm... th-that s-s-song...?"

"I chose it because it fit into my vocal range, and it's a song I knew very well. There probably was another song I could have chose but I didn't want to spend 10 minutes trying to think of it." She didn't say anything about his singing though, but it seemed like she may have been lost in his song from his view of it anyway. So it wasn't that great nor was it that bad in his mind. There may have been more of a reason why he chose the song but he didn't know.

"O-oh..." This was stupid. What else was she expecting? She didn't think she was really hoping there was something else, but there was still that nagging feeling that she quickly dismissed as just another part of her fever. Lamia mumbled a few things under her breath, trying to recollect her thoughts as her fingers loosened from one another and tangling themselves up into other various shapes and forms. Another small laugh. Why the hell did she resort to that whenever she was nervous?

Was there even any other way to continue this conversation? Should she change the subject? Why was it that she was the one trying to lead it anyway? All of these questions that she had to ask herself and never knew the answer to because she just couldn't pick or figure it out. There weren't many things that she knew, but... come on. She found someone who had something in common with her. The least she could do was try to find out if they had a similar passion for it.

This entire time she had been speaking, everything was improvisation and on instinct. Lamia regretted the fact that she wasn't really paying attention to what she was actually saying. Her guard was lowered and down. She felt safe, yet vulnerable. Life was really just a big mess... Honestly. "Wh-what w-were you d-doing... b-before I c-came in..." her voice trailed of into nothing.

She would've definitely said something degrading about herself if she continued any further.

He had to think on that for a moment. "Right before you came in, I was just doing some small training with my power with the ball I was tossing. Before that I was doing some exercises, working some muscle.. Yeah that was just about it.. besides being lazy like normal.." Magic said as he recounted yesterdays events. "It was nothing too interesting.. Honestly.." He was trying to make conversation he really was. he just figured it was easier to ask a question for the person to reply to than reply to something that isn't exactly easy to reply to. I don't even know. He adjusted himself on the couch. Accidentally moving himself closer to Lamia, but he didn't notice.

Her first reaction to the sudden contact was to flinch. Her second was to move away a bit. And after that, her cheeks became rosier.

Gold eyes darted away as quick as a kitten playfully chasing after a yarn ball. Lamia started fidgeting with her fingers, her feet casually shuffling themselves underneath the blanket. Even if it wasn't exactly direct touch, all the same, it made her nervous. Her mind was constantly switching on and off on what it wanted or what it was telling her - sometimes she thought this whole "talk with a friend thing" was perfectly fine; other times, it seemed like one of her stupidest ideas yet. And after that her expression was somewhere between 'content' and 'nervous'.

Somehow, death seemed like a very pleasant idea at the moment. She wouldn't have to think about this and she wouldn't feel so frustrated about trying to get along with others. No, this entire concept of being sent to a school that was isolated from everything else was infuriating. Lamia wanted to get away from the other Winter at times but at others she just wanted to be around him. What was wrong with her head today?

Her fingers intertwined themselves again on her lap, and her gaze was fixed straight to the ground. Uneven bangs concealed part of the upper portion of her face, and she was honestly hoping that he didn't notice how red her cheeks were. "O-oh..." She was starting to repeat herself like a broken track. Stupidstupidstupidstupidstupid.

"S-s-so... u-uhmm..." Lamia didn't want to say it out loud, but she was starting to run out of ideas on what to talk about already. But, if she didn't lead the conversation then he'd start asking about her... And she hated talking about herself. "Wh-what e-exactly is y-your f-fami--- I-I-I mean... f-favorite pl-place t-t-to visit o-one day?"

That was a terrible save. A really bad one. She forgot how Magic didn't like mentioning family... and while she had met Vincent, they really didn't seem like they got along.

Right when he heard what sounded like 'family coming out of her mouth, he shot her a half-glare. He never liked his family. His family caused most of his issues in the first place, but when she quickly corrected herself his eyes relaxed. Thats when he noticed how close they were.. She was probably freaking out. "Sorry.." He said as he moved back over. Giving her space. He didn't mean to move that close to her. He was just trying to get comfortable again. He really didn't mean it. He just hoped he didn't freak her out too much.

Though now he had to answer her question. He hadn't really thought about it. Where did he want to go one day? He still had that one free trip from getting second place in the tournament. "Uhh..." God this was a tough question. After taking a moment he finally decided. "I think I would like to go to London. I hear it rains a lot, and I really like the rain.. It's my favorite type of weather." Magic said. Yeah that was a pretty poor reason, but that was the only place he could think of even going too.

Was it bad that she was shrinking back from his glare, even if it seemed half-hearted? It wasn't that she was scared of him at all - honestly - but she wanted to convince herself that she only seemed smaller because of her mistake. But... what mistake? She's made so many last night and this morning that she wasn't even sure anymore. What an absolute clutz she was. So, it definitely wasn't wrong that she was trying to move to the other side of the couch as far away as him as possible. As unlikely as the possibility was, Lamia felt a bit more comfortable there and he might mishear her at one point. That was so stupid of her to think, but somehow, she held onto the hope that it might work.

"N-n-no... u-uhm... hehe... s-sorry..." she stuttered out rather poorly. He had every right to be mad at her now because she accidentally tried to bring something up that he clearly didn't want to talk about. Death was becoming a lot more pleasing. Or you know, she could always break of the conversation awkwardly by running away.

Lamia blinked - it seemed like it was out of surprise but rather, she was just shocked. Europe? That wasn't a place she would like to err... "visit". Why the hell was she laughing nervously... again? To be honest, the fact that he hadn't gotten irritated of her and kicked her out was almost baffling. Maybe she just needed a drink. Alcohol apparently helped fix things, even if temporarily. Or so the rumors say. "Th-the rain i-is nice... L-London r-rains q-quite a bit," she mumbled rather pathetically. She was pretty much rephrasing what he said in shorter sentences. "I-it's th-the kind of r-rain th-that feels n-n-nice to be outside f-for."

He frowned as she moved away. He let out a sigh, and looked forward. He didn't meant to do that.. It was just something he did whenever someone mentioned his family.. or his real name.. except he had been doing the thing at the mention of his family a lot longer. Except before he came here, it always resulted with a punch to the face. Honestly he just wanted to punch himself in the face at the moment.

"I like the rain because it drowns out the world's noises.." He mumbled. There were only so many noises he could handle. This is why he like staying in his dorm. He would only occasionally get noises from the outside world, but if he left his dorm he would hear a lot of other things. That was mostly why he didn't like to go to Rosebury.. Last time he was there he heard a couple arguing about an affair.. He didn't need to hear that. He always felt like he was being nosy.. "I am in misery.. there ain't nobody who can comfort me oh yeah.." He sang softly.. Lamia probably didn't hear him.. who knows anymore cause I don't..

She had slipped up before. Thank goodness he didn't realize she was talking about London as if she already knew about it... This is why you don't try and get one kinda ant-social kid and a practically mute kid to try and converse with each other. It doesn't work. Actually, any combination with a super mute kid was a bad idea in general. Lamia wanted to shoot herself in the head. Her past was not a pretty one, and she had been very cautious about not disclosing it to anyone. And she was mostly positive her twin had shared the same sentiments... Hopefully. It wasn't like they had this special bond or something where they could constantly know what was on each other's minds, as plausible as that sounded in a school filled with abnormal students with superpowers.

Lamia only gave a small nod to what Magic said. It made sense, but she wasn't going to try and pretend she understood it because she definitely didn't. Her hearing was normal - she didn't have enhanced senses or anything, so she didn't really know what it was like to be in a crowd with that power when the person couldn't control it. Must not be great... How did he manage to stand the bell that rang for each classes' start and end? It must be terrible to have it constantly echoing in his head minutes afterwards.

And unfortunately, no. She didn't listen to that last bit. Because she was too far away. Yeah, that's my excuse. ;w; I'm sorry, we're going completely OOC now. What now though? It wasn't like she could continue off of that... Sort of. Well, she could, but maybe it would get too personal? Not that kind of personal - what the hell was she thinking? - but the one where he didn't want her to know too much about his past as well... Maybe?

"U-uhm... wh-what's i-it like to h-hear things p-people don't normally hear?" Well, she went for it. But the way she phrased it sounded so dumb and idiotic, like it was a kindergartner asking the teacher how to count to ten. At this point, she wasn't willing to blame herself anymore for her mistakes. Or maybe it was her fault and she didn't want to admit it. Or maybe it was because... something. Out of admiration that she didn't want to make mistakes? She didn't know at this point.

Stupidstupidstupid Magic. What the hell was I thinking? It's all because I didn't want to hurt him or anything.. O-or... I don't know. Something about him makes me frustrated.

Magic's gray green eyes looked down to the floor. There were so many bad things about his power, but there were also some good things.. Might as well get the bad things out of the way first and end on a positive note. "You hear things that you don't want to hear, that you would rather ignore, but they get stuck in your head. You hear things people don't want you to hear, then you get mad at yourself for listening, when they get made at you even though it wasn't your fault.. You hear a lot of thins you don't want to hear.. Not to mention the head aches it causes... and it makes it kind of hard to sleep sometimes.. And that fucking annoying dog that barks everyday but most people don't hear it." He brought up the last part as he finally heard the dog start to bark. He thought he would get away with not hearing it today but so much for his luck..

Magic sighed, and rubbed the back of his head. "But.. It helps with somethings too.. It helps me hear someone who is in danger and allows me to help them.. It allows me to hear things most people wouldn't hear even though they needed to. It also allows me to not fall for things like siren song, and sleep song and stuff like that. It allows me to hear a robber before they even reach the door.. It allows me to hear storms coming before they even get to the area, and determine the intensity... thats really the only things I can think off.." He said. He tried to think of more but couldn't think of anything. He was probably only driving Lamia away at this point..

No, it was rather the opposite.

Lamia was so absorbed in the explanation. What a unique power... It had so many different uses and ways to manipulate it that her own gift seemed to pale completely in comparison. Sure, she could heal wounds or save herself from life-and-death situations or even have immortality, but... it was all at the cost of some other creature's expense. She had to steal away their own life force to continue keeping her own clock running. There were way too many times were she had overestimated how much time she had left and wound up having to steal some pour soul's days away. Her power was rather plain. Time Theft. Audiokinesis. Anything with -kinesis is far more versatile than any other power.

She didn't understand why he was so nervous about the topic or didn't seem proud of it. It was his own potential that brought him to the finals in the tournament, right? He had more strengths than he gave himself credit for. But now, well, she understood the problems with his powers for sure. She had figured it out, but... having the ability to hear something so far away must be a pain. Especially when trying to sleep. Combine that with nightmares about your horrible past, and voila. No rest/one of the worst the person would ever experience. Magic had every right to constantly want to pick fights with such a terrible life. No offense to him.

And by this point, Lamia wasn't freaking sure what she was doing. Slowly slipping close to the other Winter, she brought her knees up onto the couch to boost her height a bit. Her hands came up and covered his ears, and with the same nervous giggle, she mumbled softer than she normally would, "D-does this help a bit...?"

It probably didn't, but she really wanted to help him somehow. Maybe she should buy one of those expensive soundproof headphones for his birthday... Whenever that was. This was really stupid on her part. And she was going to pin all the blame on her fever making it hard for her to think.

He froze when he felt Lamia's hand on his ears. He looked up at her with puzzled eyes for a second, then he realized what she said. He gave her a soft smile in response. While it didn't help with something it got rid of the soft dog bark he heard. His whole facial expression was soft. That was very nice of her to do that for him.. After he had freaked her out by accidentally sitting to close. And maybe some other things he didn't even notice that he did. Even though it made things sound a bit weird now, he still appreciated what she was attempting to do. It was a really nice of her to do so.