Alone Again... Naturally (Rayne/Nate)

[Rayne DiCostas]

Rayne smiled. "Well, thank you," she said, nodding a little. She was terrible at surprises. She was always very straightforward and honest with people. So she didn't even think when she said, "You know, I'm probably just going to wear black. It goes with anything."

And owl came flying in through the window she was standing in front of, and hooted indignantly for her being in the way.

She watched him and turned back to Nate. "I think my owl is going to be a while before she comes back."

[nate]

"How far did you send her? Mine won't be back for at least a day. Did you want to go somewhere else?" Nate didn't comment on her choice of black though, he just wanted her to be happy regardless of what she wore. Right now he was just happy she was going to the dance with him and hadn't changed her mind about it either. He was truly just happy to be in her company for once while he wasn't acting like a blithering idiot. He had missed just ..talking to her.

[Rayne DiCostas]

Rayne shrugged. "She's not going far, actually. But she's going to someone whose not quite used to owl post, and his letters usually take a day or two.

She glanced at him and crossed her arms over her chest, shrugging. "I don't mind staying here for a while. It's one of the only places in the castle anymore where it's actually quiet. It gets hard to hear yourself think sometimes, you know?"

[nate]

Nate looked around for a place to sit that looked clean and spied a couple of benches on one of the walls out of range of the owls' perches and walked over to sit. "Then might as well make ourselves comfortable instead of just standing around chancing fate to hit us from above eh?" He looked wearily above him mentally daring one of them to do anything to embarrass him further and luckily they seemed to take the hint or at least that's what he told himself and she managed to sit on the clean bench without being used for target practice. He patted the seat next to him as he sat indicating her to join him.

[Rayne DiCostas]

She smiled. "You might not beleve it, but they're actually pretty nice about avoiding you. Most of them are sweethearts."

She pushed away from the wall and joined him on the bench. "Except that guy," she said, pointing to a rather fat barn owl. "He's pretty grumpy most of the time. But I think the other owls respect him. You must think I'm insane for knowing this," she said without missing a beat.

She gave Nate a look. "It's really hard to find anywhere quiet, lately."

[nate]

Nate hadn't realized just how often she came up here if she knew the owls by heart like that. "Why the owlery? why not I dunno the library or lake or astronomy tower or something?" He gave her a goofy grin as if she picked the oddest places to be alone. He also cast a furtive look at the big fat barn owl she indicated and made a mental note that the next time he came up here... looking for Rayne most likely... that he'd be careful to avoid being under that one.

[Rayne DiCostas]

Rayne rolled her eyes. So he did think she was insane.

"Have you been to any of those places lately? The library has too many students. Sure, none of them talk, but it's still a lot of noise. And the Astronomy Tower..." She trailed off. "It's usually occupied, let's leave it at that."

She liked it here though, and she always brought treats for the owls. She imagined not a lot of people did. Not for all of them at once, anyway.

[nate]

Nate looked at her, really looked at her this time. Not in a way that a guy normally looked at a girl, but in a half introspective way as if trying to look into her mind by just looking at her. Of course he couldn't actually look into her mind but he was still considering her.

No, she was not insane... she was.. unique. Something he liked actually. There was something about her that he truely enjoyed, and it wasn't all her looks. Someone who could stand here and watch the owls enough to be perceptive about their individual actions, someone who enjoyed quiet and inner reflection of being alone. She was special, and she had a good heart and that was not lost on him.

"I wouldn't know.. about the astronomy tower that is.. I don't ever go up there. Usually when I want to be alone I just go to the trophy room. No one ever goes down there really."

[Rayne DiCostas]

She quirked a smile at Nate. "The trophy room, hm? That's another one I will have to try." Then, because she should tease him for that, she raised her eyebrows. "But why there? Haven't you tried, I don't know, the library or the lake or something?"

Her eyes sparkled when she teased him, and she sighed, leaning back in the bench, her eyes going over the owls. She didn't even know which belonged to any given student, except she knew Evelyn's, she knew Nate's, and she knew Rabastan's. Evelyn had pointed it out to her.

She smiled. "Look," she said, pointing to a regal looking snowy owl. The bird's eyes seemed to glare at the other owls, and she was alone on her perch. Queen of the Owlry, Rayne always thought. "That's Lestrange's. Figures, doesn't it?"

[nate]

"All those books makes me feel stupid, the stars make me feel insignifigant, and I can't swim," he responded with a wink, of course he was only half joking... he really couldn't swim. He actually liked the trophy room though... for one thing nobody ever went there, and it was like looking a page of history to see all the old trophies and awards and names on golden plaques.

"Got a slingshot?" he said laughing... "too bad.. we could have started our plotting by giving his owl a fear of rocks." He really wouldn't ever hurt animals, but if it was Rabastans he might rethink that ... no he was only joking but it sounded good.

[Rayne DiCostas]

She smiled. "Don't tempt me. She's a really mean bird. And he's... well." She stopped, giving Nate a look because he knew exactly what she thought of Rabastan. Although, she was a girl, and one of those smiles might make her heart flutter as well.

"Then there's that little guy," she said, pointing to a small pygmy owl. "He tries being friends with all of the other birds. He's like that really cute but annoying little brother. I think he's my favorite, next to the Duchess." The Duchess was her own owl, so named because she had a tendency to act like a Duchess at times. Rayne didn't realize how similar their personalities were.

"You probably think I'm insane... that's all right."

[nate]

Nate grinned at her again.. he noticed he couldn't stop grinning at her. But he was actually enjoying himself with her. "Who's owl is the little guy? He's kinda cute.. maybe I should try to get one of those guys. Mine is really old anyways probably needs to be retired or something, was my Grans owl." He watched the little pygmy owl as it siddled up next to Duchess and looked like he was gonna ... "Umm.. Rayne your 'cute little guy' is about to..." he trailed off watching the little owl.

[Rayne DiCostas]

Whatever the little guy was about to do, the Duchess hooted, spreading her wings and more or less shooing him away.

"I don't know who he belongs to," she answered Nate. "But he's only here about half the time I come in, so whoever owns him writes a fair amount of letters. I just like how playful he is."

She liked how he didn't really care about social graces or invading space or any of it. And for the most part, the other owls put up with it. They liked him enough to deal with his irritating behavior at times. She wished people could be more like that. But no... people weren't nearly so patient, herself included.

[nate]

Nate hid his snicker behind a hand, he knew how that owl felt.. poor little guy. He tries to get a little affection and gets shooed away, he was defiantly going to have get one of those owls to try to find out who owned that one and try to see if they'd sell it to him. If not, he was foreseeing a trip to the pet store in his future.

He felt more like that little owl than he'd admit he thought as he watched it getting half picked on or squawked at by Duchess. But he just patiently kept sitting near her and trying again to get her affection. Poor little guy, at least he was patient. Almost as patient as some of the other owls were with him. "I do to... I need one like him."

[Rayne DiCostas]

Duchess wouldn't even turn to look at the poor guy, unless he bugged her just enough that she turned around and hooted, or nipped at him. She was warning him when he go to too close or just tried too hard. She had no idea that she was watching her relationsip with Nate while she watched those two owls.

"She'll give in eventually," she said. "She already has. She used to not let him get even that close to her."

"You want a pygmy owl?" She asked. "They have endless amounts of energy. They're adorable though."

[nate]

"Rayne, do you ever wonder if there's always a person out there that we are just meant to be with? I mean.. like that owl.. where out of all the owls, why does he seem to want to be with the one who seems the least likely suited for any other owl. And yet if you watch them, that little pygmy one is really the only one who might have actualy been able to get past her indifference just because he's the most suited to not be rejected by her." He was a little to dense to realize that he was watching his relationship with Rayne personified. But it intregued him that perhaps for each person there was someone who was pre-equipped to be the most likely to win their heart.

[Rayne DiCostas]

"I don't know," Rayne said softly, giving Nate a contemplative look. It was an interesting question. "I hope not."

She nodded at this thought. Yes, she hoped not. "I mean, if there's only one person for us, what happens if you meet under the wrong circumstances, or if you never meet at all? Besides, you learn how to interact with other people. Relationships are a matter of adapting, I think."

She smiled and faced him. "But I hope you're right. Your ideas are more romantic than mine."

[nate]

"I dunno, I guess I like to think that people can be suited to each other sometimes. You hear about it all the time, even in divinations classes. But I've always wondered if it was true. That destinys can be entwined and maybe fate really does have a plan for us all. Some great design maybe where two threads are entwined to make them stronger together somehow. That they just... fit." He knew he was rambling but for once he was just being open and shareing something he believed in. He knew she would probably think he was a foolish and hopeless romantic but he was being honest and in a way being vulnerable to her ridicule. "You probably think I'm hopeless don't you?"

[Rayne DiCostas]

"You're romantic," Rayne replied, correcting him. "And that's never hopeless."

She often thought that the romantic ones had more hope than anyone else. They always believed, and no matter how bad things got, they still had hope that things would get better. That was in all of life, but especially romance, for them.

She wished she could be like that, but she knew it would set her up for failure, and to be hurt again.

[nate]

"But you're obviously not... why is that? Surely you have to have something to belive in so you can carry on each day and hope for something." He couldn't imagine, even with his parents dead, not having hope. If not for hope he wouldn't be able to laugh at the world and he would be lost. His laughter was proof of his hope, that he could see some happiness in his life worth laughing about. Surely she had something to hope for, instead of fearing everything.

"You know, my Gran told me something once... she said "Nate, never forget your heart and your hope and your wand, and you'll get through anything, and if you loose hope or heart than you're wand will never save you from forgetting to truely live." and you know what? I think she's pretty smart woman, my Gran. You have to have something to live for to be happy otherwise you just glide through life and never truely feel alive."