Walking the Pier (Lotsa de Open)

Claire had always felt that the Manor should have been built closer to the shore; however upon seeing how much the city had grown she understood now why the builders had placed it so far away. It simply meant that she had to come down here on her own.

Pulling the shawl tighter about her shoulders, Claire lifted her face to the wind and breathed deeply of the salt air. It did not look like the ocean of home but the water, its sights and sounds, soothed her just the same.

She moved to the edge of the pier and put the silver flute to her lips, playing a soft melody as she watched the waves. So wrapped up in enjoying being close to the ocean again, Claire nearly missed that she had come to stand near someone else. If he had not been humming also, she might have continued on without noticing him at all.

'How very absent minded of you this evening, Claire. You're becoming lax and that is likely to get you killed.'

Annoyed with herself, she decided further internal debate was rude, all things considered. She had walked in on someone else's private moment and began playing music that they might not appreciate.

"I'm terribly sorry. I should have asked first. Am I intruding?"

Edwin noticed the girl when she stood near him, wondering if maybe he should take a few steps away to give her more space. However, he didn't want to rudely run away from her, and he was enjoying the sound of her flute.



"Not at all," he said, though he was afraid of having to meet someone new. Even so, he wouldn't let that allow him to be inconsiderate and send her on her way. "If you want to keep playing, I don't mind listening...if you don't mind me hanging around."

Claire smiled the young man seated next to her and chose to join him. Dangling her long limbs over the side of the pier, she pulled the long white dress neatly around her.

"Certainly. It is a lovely night for company and though the ocean speaks to me, I don't find it is all that great for conversation."

She arranged the shawl that had fallen with her movements once more about her shoulders and placed the flute in her lap.

"Did you perhaps have any requests? I cannot say that I will know it. I'm afraid my musical repetoire is a bit out of date. "

Claire smiled and blushed slightly looking down at the flute again. It was then she realized she had not introduced herself. Really, she should be better at meeting people, was this not what she did for her clan?

Extending a long slender hand towards the gentleman seated next to her, she said.

"Claire Tremaine."

Edwin didn't know if he'd be any better for conversation than the ocean, but he'd try. "I don't think I've ever heard the ocean 'speak,' but it does have a nice melody at times. It can carry a good beat.

"I'll gladly listen to anything you want to play. After all, you have to do all the work so it should be your choice. Though, the song you were playing when you got here was nice."

He took her hand and shook it gently. "I'm Edwin Bishop."

Claire smiled and agreed.

"I suppose it more musical than anything else. When I was younger I would talk my problems out to the ocean. It was helpful despite not ever saying much and so far as I know, it manages to keep a good secret. "

"A pleasure to meet you, Edwin."

She picked up the flute again and looked at it.

"Oh that was an old lullaby. The words are:

Hush the waves are rolling in,
White with foam, white with foam;
Father toils amid the din;
But baby sleeps at home.

Hush the winds roar hoarse and deep-
On they come, on they come!
Brother seeks the wandering sheep;
But baby sleeps at home.

Hush! the rain sweeps o'er the Knowes,
Where they roam, where they roam;
Sister goes to seek the cows;
But baby sleeps at home."

Claire shrugged her shoulders and raised the flute to her mouth, pausing to say.

"It is simple but I like it for some reason."

She played it again softly, listening to the calming melody accompanied by the waves.

Edwin nodded. "Perhaps it's just more of a listener. I've lived in Dallas most of my life, so this is one of the few times I've ever seen anything besides pools and lakes, and they aren't even musically inclined."

Listening to the lyrics, Edwin realized that he had never heard of that before. They seemed to keep up a little with their water-themed conversation, though. "Was it sung to you when you were a kid?"

Claire laughed and set down her flute a moment.

'No, I would say pools and lakes are best for gazing down into or perhaps rowing languidly across with a book on a sunny afternoon. They are more silent companions I believe."

His question brought back memories of her mother singing while gazing into the fire when she was young but this was not one of the songs by her. She smiled and shook her head.

"No, it is not one that was sung to me but it is still a beautiful song. "

Claire looked over at him before picking up the flute and playing another song.

"So or you musically inclined yourself?"

Edwin nodded, imagining how peaceful it would be to curl up by a lake and read. Maybe even nap. But he'd have to wear a lot of sunscreen, because he burned easily. "It might be even better under an old, knotty tree, atmosphere-wise."

Edwin actually couldn't remember any lullaby being sung to him, but he figured that it probably happened, he was just too young to remember.

"I'm a little musically inclined. I play the piano and the violin, but I'm better at the violin. My grandmother is a music instructor, so I don't think there was any way she was going to let me go without trying something. Where did you learn to play the flute?"

"That would be nice"

She turned to listen to his explanation and smiled.

"Two instruments is hardly just a little musically inclined. You're quite modest. I would not be surprised to find you're very good"

Claire looked down at the flute and remembered the first time she was handed one

"My grandfather taught me. He made me my first flute out of wood when I was little. "

He used to call her Oiseau. He was her mother's father and actually from central France. It was unusual for one's grandparent to travel so far to live with them but when her grandmother died, he moved to the home of his youngest daughter who reminded him the most of her, spending a good portion of his time with Claire having been taken with her among all the grandchildren. He was perhaps the one person who actually saw her as something special apart from everyone else.

"So what kind of music is your favorite to play?"

Edwin smiled shyly at the compliment. "Well, I've had a lot of practice with it. Eventually, you practice so much that you get things right."

All this talk about grandparents teaching them to play instruments made Edwin a little homesick again. He'd have to call his Mimi sometime tomorrow.

"I like a lot of music, actually. I like playing classical pieces, since there seems to be a lot for violins there. But I also like modern stuff too. I love when a rock band uses instruments besides guitars and drums and basses. The Smashing Pumpkins were marvelous at that."

Claire laughed and thought Edwin's modesty was charming.

" This is true but the end result is still being talented. I have seen those with a true gift for music be surpassed by those that simply practiced harder and worked at it longer. Not that you don't possess such a gift but it sounds as if you work to maintain it and that's a wonderful thing.

Claire found his variety of musical interests refreshing in one so young and looked thoughtful at the name.

"Smashing pumpkins. I have not heard of them but then I don't get a chance to listen to much modern music I shall have to search for them."

"Do you prefer to play solo or with other instruments?"

/ooc Sorry visting relatives this past week end.

Edwin smiled a little more, encouraged by her laughter and her words. "I don't think I have any musical gift. I just like to play.

"If you check out Smashing Pumpkins, be sure to listen to a song called, 'Tonight, Tonight.' It really has a lot of strings in it, which is why I like it so much. As for how I like to play, I don't think it really matters. When you have more instruments, you get a richer, fuller sound, especially if you have a variety of instruments. But there are reasons for solos. What about you?"

"Tonight, Tonight..." Claire murmured the title back to herself, though in truth it was unnecessary.

She nodded her agreement to his assessment of more instruments.

"Well the flute is generally unnoticed on the whole in large orchestras. Its there, it completes the sound but its not something that is as bold as violins or brass. Still I like the company, more for the experience I guess."

She shrugged and put the flute to her lips, playing another song before setting it back down.

"So what instruments does your grandmother play?"

Edwin shook his head in disagreement, a very bold thing for him. "With the flute, you have to know what to listen for. It can blend into the din, but if you listen for it, it's very easy to pick out and it's quite a beautiful sound."

When she played another song, Edwin did think that the notes were played beautifully. "That was very nice," he said when she was done.

"My grandmother plays the violin and piano, of course, but she also plays the trumpet, clarinet, and cello. Do you play any other instruments?"

Claire smiled at him and looked back down at the flute in her hands.

"Thank you, perhaps it seems that more people listen to the loud attention getters and not the more subtle instruments."

It was true with everything from what she could see, the loud and even obnoxious get noticed before the quiet ones. It would seem in these times quiet politeness was not acknowledged while rude, loud behavior was rewarded with attention instead of reprimanded for the unkindness that it was.

She sighed and turned her thoughts back to Edwin; he was good company, quite the gentleman.

"I'm afraid not. This is my one talent with music. My grandfather played it while he was out in the countryside to entertain himself so it was the only he knew to pass on. "

She turned to him and smiled.

"So aside from being multi musically talented what else do you like to do?"

Edwin nodded, understanding what she was saying. "I actually kind of prefer not getting a lot of attention. But in your case, with the flute, after a while, people become acclimated to the louder noises and then a softer, sweeter sound can really stand out."

When she explained about how she learned the flute, Edwin smiled a little. "He taught you well. As for what I like to do, well..." he thought for a moment, "I like to bake. I like to play ping pong too. Do you like to play that?"

Claire smiled shyly at his statement about the flute and when one would notice it.

Someone who had never heard of ping pong? That was very odd. Edwin thought everyone knew about that. Like PacMan, which was an awful game, by the way.

"Umm...I don't know if it's from Asia or not. Never given much thought to its place of origin, really. But, it's pretty much table tennis. You have a table that looks like a tennis court with a net in the middle, and then you have a small, hollow, plastic ball and a paddle, and you try to hit the ball over the net and onto the other side of the table. But you have to do it just right so that it hits the other side of the table and bounces off without the other person hitting it with their paddle."

Giving it a thought, Edwin didn't know if that sounded appealing or not to someone who had never played it. "It can really get quite competitive. It's a lot of fun. And the ball makes a nice thwap whenever it's hit."


(OOC: Sorry for the slow replies. I've had a tough week or so.)

"Oh, I have seen that. Table Tennis. It looked more interesting than the outdoor version but admittedly I've played neither."

She had to give a little giggle at the mention of the sound, it was one of the things that made it more appealing to her, there was a nice steady rhythm when two people were talented at the game and she could imagine that it was probably quite satisfying to hear the ball connect with your paddle and then the knock of it successfully bouncing over to the other side.

"It does make a nice sound and it makes it easier to keep track of."

Claire stood and pulled her shawl around her shoulders.

"I should be heading home, It is quite the distance. Perhaps I will find you here again sometime?"

She looked hopefully at him, not having many friends in the area as of yet.

/ooc Claire out pending a response