unintended horizons | brandon

[Jameson Hera Blishwick]

no care in the world.

THERE SIMPLY WASN'T ENOUGH TIME IN THE DAY TO DO EVERYTHING JIMMIE WANTED TO DO. Not enough days in the week, hands on a clock. Whatever the phrase, Jimmie simply felt that time was running away from her. She had always been a wound up kind of girl. As if constantly balancing on the edge of a cliff. Though most days Jimmie loved the thrill of it. Of new hobbies and goals and things. At least at Hogwarts she could explore multiple new avenues at a time.

Lately, however, classes dragged. For in her fourth year at Hogwarts, all Jimmie wanted to do was dance. She'd seen a muggle show the summer before her third year had started, a birthday gift from the previous year that had been disappointing at first glance. She had wanted a pack of hand-painted tarot cards. But, the moment she watched those simple, muggle dancers sweep across the stage as if floating on air... Jimmie had been entranced. It had stayed with her throughout the rest of summer and well in to her fourth year. She had no patience for potions or defences against the dark arts. No, Jimmie wanted to dance.

It was during this particular obsession that Jimmie walked across the green courtyard at Hogwarts, a pair of ballet flats slung around her neck by their ties. She'd been excused from lunch to attend a practice, of which she'd begged and stamped for permission to do so. And her feet hurt, so she padded across the grass barefoot. Dancing was fun to watch, but painful to practice.

It was as she did this, wandering at a leisurely pace, that she heard the dulcet pick of an instrument. Ever curious, it drew Jimmie away from her entrance at Hogwarts, through a cluster of trees and to a patch of grass where, upon investigation, a body sat playing guitar. Jimmie would not be deterred by the peaceful, solitary practice of a single individual. She practically skipped toward them. "Hey!" She said in greeting, folding herself on the grass beside them, as if she'd always been invited to watch. "That's an acoustic guitar, right?" 

@brandon

NEVERLAND at ADOXOGRAPHY 2.0!

[Deleted]

Fifth year and things were starting to get complicated in Brandon's life. Sure, he had a bunch of friends that he liked to spend his time with, but he also had complications. Well, a complication. Callie. He didn't even know how to define the issues he was having with her. It was just ... weird. So, as always, he turned to his music. That was what Brandon did whenever life got confusing or strange. His music. He wasn't even working on a particular song or anything right now, he was just letting the music flow, which happened to be his favorite thing to do. He was sitting outside in the open air, letting his music ring through the trees.

His eyes were closed as he played, until he heard someone calling out. Were they talking to him? He opened his eyes and turned around, looking curious at the girl approaching him. She seemed younger than him, definitely, but he didn't know how old she was, or even what house she was in. She sat beside him and he smiled, nodding at her question. "Yeah it is. It's a DR-100. I like the way it sounds." He could go on talking about his guitar, but he didn't know if this girl would care. He got too passionate when it came to guitar. "Do you play music?" he asked curiously.

Jameson Hera Blishwick

[Jameson Hera Blishwick]

no care in the world.

THE BOY SEEMED UNDETERRED BY JIMMIE'S SUDDEN APPEARANCE. Jimmie gained a ripple of satisfaction from not seeing a look of displeasure on his face. She was always looking at faces. The wrinkle of a brow, the shift of a set of eyes. She had read once that you could tell an awful lot about a person just by watching their expressions. It was just another way to be nosy, really.

Nodding her head heavily, Jimmie had no knowledge whatsoever of what a 'DR-100' was. She still listened. "I like the way it sounds, too." She said with a wide grin.

Leaning back on her hands, she pouted her lips and thought about his question. "Uh... no." She admitted, shrugging one shoulder. "I thought I preferred to dance to music... not play it." She'd always thought one was more interactive, but the look on the boy's face had said something else. He was in an entirely different world. It intrigued Jimmie. "We had a piano for a while, but I never played. Other than like... Mary Had A Little Lamb." She snorted, curling her fingers in the grass underneath her palms.

"I'm Jimmie, by-the-way."  She introduced herself, curious to learn more about the boy with the guitar. Maybe she would buy a DR-100... "How long did it take for you to be this good?"

@brandon

NEVERLAND at ADOXOGRAPHY 2.0!

[Deleted]

Brandon smiled when she said she liked the way his guitar sounded. That was nice. Since she didn't ask anything else, however, he figured that she didn't know much more about music, which she confirmed when she answered his question. He listened with interest as she spoke, saying she preferred to dance. His smile widened. "You like to dance? Do you want me to play something you can dance to right now?" He loved requests. Not because it meant he could show off, which was what he was sure some people thought, but because it could test his skills. He knew so much music, but he was always trying to find new ways to play it, to play the right song, yet change it and make it his own. 

He smiled again, pulled out of his thoughts when she admitted to having a piano for a while and playing Mary Had A Little Lamb. "Well that's better than nothing," Brandon answered. All music had to start somewhere, and he'd definitely played the simple song on quite a few instruments while he was trying to get the gist of them. 

"Brandon," he answered when she introduced herself. "Nice to meet you Jimmie." She was asking more about his music and Brandon shrugged a little. "I've always loved music. I started playing the piano and guitar as soon as I was big enough to try, but I get better every year, so my whole life?" He grinned at the sort-of joke. He wasn't trying to be evasive, but rather as honest as he could be and hoped she'd gather that. "How long have you been dancing?" He hadn't seen her dance, but he could still return the question.

Jameson Hera Blishwick

[Jameson Hera Blishwick]

no care in the world.

JIMMIE DIDN'T EXPECT HIM TO OFFER HIS TALENTS. She sat forward, an open mouthed smile on her face as she tilted her head. "Can you play classical on a guitar?" Her ballet teacher said that ballet was a dance performed only to the highest calibre of sound. Though she did always have a look on her face like she'd smelled something awful so Jimmie was under no illusion of her 'esteemed' opinion. "I've never danced to a guitar song before." For some reason Jimmie thought it would be wildly different.

He seemed too kind, Jimmie thought. He didn't even seem to consider her lame excuse for a past in piano. Only flattering her further. She'd never been as considerate in her life. "Trust me, it's not." Jimmie gave a self-deprecating snort. "If you'd heard me play you'd agree with me." She slid her hands across the grass and plucked a lonesome daisy by the head, crossing her legs and sitting forward so she could slowly pluck the petals from around the yellow middle.

"You too," She said with a perfunctory smile. She didn't quite know if it was nice to meet him, but so far so good. Her brows quirked, impressed by Brandon's extensive history in music. She'd never stuck to any hobby quite so long. Nothing fit. "Oh yeah? Tapping a beat in utero?" She joked, tongue poking between her teeth as she flicked a petal that had stuck to her thumb. "Is it like a family thing or something?" She inquired absently, a habit to pry without checking to see if she was crossing a line.

"About a week, maybe two?" Jimmie shrugged one shoulder, leaving the remains of her daisy on the grass as she uncrossed her legs and hopped to her feet. "Okay, I'm ready to perform..." She said theatrically, sweeping a hand in a downward bow and curtsying her legs like a Victorian madam. She tossed her pristine ballet shoes on the ground and made a rough estimation of 'first position', the french and fancy name of which she did not deign to remember. Arms bowed and almost elegant in appearance. Though her nose was wrinkled in a stifled laugh, eyes narrowed and cheeks puffed. "Begin..."

@brandon

NEVERLAND at ADOXOGRAPHY 2.0!

[Deleted]

Brandon smirked at her question. "I can play anything on the guitar." And on the piano. And on any other instrument he'd ever tried. He just had an affinity with instruments and music, all right? He still wasn't going to come out and say that outright. Not unless she asked, at least. He didn't want it to seem like he was trying to brag. He laughed, "Oh, then I guess you're going to come back to me whenever you want to practice," he teased. 

He shrugged when she said that her playing wasn't better than nothing. He wouldn't argue ... out loud. Any kind of music was better than silence, in his opinion. Then again, Brandon loved anything that could be considered musical. Unfortunately, most of his classes had nothing to do with music, which was why he didn't excel in them. Music was his forte. 

She was teasing him now, sticking her tongue out and Brandon chuckled, "Of course. My mom said that before she got me a guitar I was always banging on her pots and pans to make music." She'd teased him a lot for it, to the extent that sometimes he got out the pots and pans now to bang on them, just for his mother. Then he shook his head. "No, not really. They all like music, but no one plays it like I do. Does your family dance?" Then she said she'd only been playing two weeks and he realized that the rest of her family probably didn't dance or she'd have done it longer, most likely. 

She got up, curtsying and saying she was ready and Brandon strummed his guitar quickly. He looked at her and she looked quite ready when she told him to begin. He started playing, making the song as smooth and flowing as he could. He'd never really tried classical music on his guitar- he normally saved that for the piano- but he was proud that he was actually doing a pretty good job! It took him a few minutes to feel comfortable to look up and watch her while he played. 

Jameson Hera Blishwick

[Jameson Hera Blishwick]

no care in the world.

THOUGH IT WAS A RATHER COCKY DECLARATION, Jimmie didn't deny him the arrogance. Somehow, he managed to say it in a way completely devoid of ego. As if merely stating a rather impressive fact. She admired that internally, knowing that if she had said the exact same thing, she'd have sounded like a right arse. So, instead of challenging him on the fact she pouted her lips and nodded, thoroughly impressed.

"You might regret that offer," Jimmie joked drily, knowing that she wouldn't be opposed of taking him up on it. In fact, she'd have no shame on it at all. Filing it away for future use. He seemed the type that wouldn't refuse, even if he wasn't serious. Jimmie would often file a person like that under 'easily taken advantage of'. It was a brief and quick assumption that she didn't put much thought in to.

Jimmie laughed out loud at that. Imagining a tiny version of him whacking on all the cookware. She had a belly laugh, never one to giggle behind her hand. The 'throw your head back and cackle' kind of person. "That's a picture," She snickered, coming back to herself quickly, though her shoulders still shook. As he asked about her family, she thought about it briefly. "Don't think so," She shrugged, her dad wasn't exactly the fancy-footed type, but she didn't know about her mother. Maybe... It was a rather depressing line of thought and so was quickly discarded.

"I saw this ballet performance over the summer." She recounted , using her hands as if they were feet moving to a floating beat. "It was... transcendent..." Giving a dreamy shake of her head, she smiled as if she were still there in the audience. Coming back to reality with a loose shrug, biting in the inside of her cheek. "So, I thought, why can't I?"

And that is when she decided to dance. She didn't experience shame easily. Jimmie had tried and failed at many hobbies. Displaying her talent, or lack thereof, could be as fun as mastering it she reckoned. It was about drive, and passion. Especially with hobbies like dance. Though her teacher was already becoming weary of this lackadaisical mentality.

In first position, Jimmie waited until Brandon began tentatively strumming a beat to practise the few moves she'd been taught so far. The lengthening of one leg, the bend of the back, feet facing all kinds of different ways. By the time Brandon was confident enough with his playing to look up, Jimmie had gone entirely rogue. She was on her tip-toes, the grass pillowed under her bare feet, pirouetting like a spinning top, her arms above her head and then in front of her.

When she became too dizzy to continue, she pranced, jumping and skipping in a circle around where Brandon sat. "You see, I'm quite professional," She deadpanned, her voice a little breathless. No rhyme or rhythm to her choice of moves. She abandoned ballet moves altogether by the end. Just shimmying and dancing her arms to the beat. When she grew tired, she stopped where she began, flopping on the ground beside him with a belly laugh, arm lax over her middle.

"You know, I'm starting to think ballet isn't for me." She admitted, scrunching her face and eyes closed. It was a piece of honesty she hadn't been expecting to voice today. "It's too... rigid." She lifted her other arm to pillow it under her head, turning her face to see Brandon's expression. Did he disapprove of quitters? 

@brandon

NEVERLAND at ADOXOGRAPHY 2.0!

[Deleted]

She didn't say anything when he mentioned that he could play anything, but that wasn't a problem. Actually, it was kind of a relief that she wasn't arguing with him like most people did. Others often demanded that he show them by playing songs upon request. As long as he'd heard the song before, he hadn't encountered problems playing yet. He chuckled and shook his head when she said he might regret offering to play for her when she practiced. "Naw, I love any excuse to play," he told her easily. Brandon would never be upset or annoyed because someone asked him to play for them. Never.

She started laughing at his story and Brandon grinned, pleased that he was able to make her smile. Most people weren't too hard to make smile, but it always made him happy when he was the reason. He nodded, "Yeah, I'm sure it was. My mom still talks about it all the time." Whenever she wanted to tease him or was reminiscing, that is. 

Brandon didn't say anything when she started thinking about whether or not her family danced. She seemed a little disappointed or something, so he wasn't going to ask more questions about it. She started telling him about a ballet performance she saw during the summer and he suddenly understood. She saw something beautiful and wanted to be able to make it herself. "I'm sure you can," he told her. Brandon was of the firm opinion that anyone could do anything they wanted to, as long as they were willing to work for it.

Jimmie was full on dancing by the time Brandon looked up and he couldn't help but smile at it. He loved seeing people doing things they loved to do. It was inspiring to watch them and Jimmie was no different. Eventually she stopped spinning and danced over to where he was, talking about being a professional. He thought she was teasing, but he wasn't entirely sure about that. Eventually she was on the ground. "I thought you looked great." Then again, Brandon knew almost nothing about dancing ... maybe she should know that? "Not that I'm an expert or anything."

The next thing she said was that she didn't think ballet was for her, being too rigid. Brandon smiled, "Then just have fun with it. You don't have to end up doing it professionally to enjoy yourself." To Brandon, that was what hobbies were all about: enjoyment. Whether it be your enjoyment or that of the people around you, same difference.

Jameson Hera Blishwick

[Jameson Hera Blishwick]

no care in the world.

THE WAS PERFECTLY PLEASANT, JIMMIE THOUGHT. The kind of pleasant her father lived for, and that she was typically suspicious of. But he seemed to have no ulterior motive. A performer with a pleasant smile and plenty of stories about his mother, which he said with such honesty that Jimmie had immediately cracked up.

"Man, if that were me..." She was still snickering slightly, holding her stomach as she sniffled. Her dad told plenty of stories about her, though Jimmie found them much less amusing. Say, for example, the hilarious tale attached to her infamous given name 'Jameson'.

Telling him about her experience at the ballet performance was much more enjoyable. Casting her back to the moment it stole her breath and imbued her with that singular passion. She looked up when he was finished, half expecting to find his expression removed. Far away from her endless rambling, but he simply told her with finality that he was sure she could. She liked that. She liked it a lot. "Yes, I can." She agreed, unravelling the potential for defence in her spine. Why was it that she always felt the need to defend her hobbies?

She danced to the music was carefree abundance. The lack of structure and reprimand making her light in the head. When she was done she was breathless and smiling. Dizzy with delight. Laying down in the grass, Brandon could have disappeared and she didn't think she'd have minded at all. It was what she had needed. To end the tension in her frame. The unacknowledged reality of how she felt about dance as a class. In that it was entirely unfulfilling.

"Thank you!" Jimmie laughed, knowing it was probably just politeness. "But I don't believe you..." She joked, not looking at him because she wasn't serious. As he declared himself no expert she pulled her hair at the scalp gently. "Consider yourself lucky..." She sniffed, thinking of Madam Tulle and the stick up her arse.

It was easy to admit that she was thinking of quitting with her eye on the clouds above. Cotton-y strands of white against a pale and unblemished blue. Unable to help herself, however, Jimmie turned her head to see his expression this time. She wanted to know if she had been wrong about him. He was smiling. She sat up.

"You'd make a terrible dance teacher, anyways." Jimmie said bluntly, sitting up and crossing her legs. Her cheeks were a little red from the dancing. The tip of her nose shiny. "You're too nice." She shrugged, picking a strand of grass from the knee of her tights. "Can I hold your guitar?" She asked after a beat of silence. A familiar fizzing in her gut. The same kind of reaction she got whenever a new thing made her eyes go shiny. "I'll be careful."

@brandon

NEVERLAND at ADOXOGRAPHY 2.0!

[Deleted]

He shrugged, assuming she was saying she wouldn't like it if one of her parents brought up a story like that all the time. "She doesn't try to ridicule me for it or anything. She just thinks the story is funny." He didn't mind. He kind of even liked his mom teasing him. He always found some way to tease her back.

She seemed a little defensive when she said that she could do it. Brandon smiled and nodded, glad to hear her determined tone. He liked helping people do things they wanted to do. Or at least to help them with their confidence. He wasn't sure he'd really helped her at all, but her determination to succeed was admirable and he admired it. Watching her dance only confirmed those feelings within him. She might not be the most precise dancer, but to Brandon these sorts of things were all about passion, which she seemed to have plenty of. 

Brandon's jaw fell open when she thanked him, and then said she didn't believe him. "What, why not?" he demanded. "I don't just give compliments like that to anyone." Well, he would if they deserved them. Brandon really just liked making other people smile and feel happy, but he was always honest about the compliments he gave. He lifted an eyebrow when she said he was lucky to not be an expert, wondering what prompted an attitude like that, but deciding that he didn't really want to ask about it. 

"Too nice?" Brandon laughed. "I guess it's a good thing I don't want to be a dance teacher then, or you would've just burst my bubble." He couldn't keep from smiling, appreciating her bluntness. Brandon didn't like it when people lied to him, but he was sure that she wasn't. He paused for a moment, thinking, "Does that mean I wouldn't be a good teacher at all?" Dance didn't interest him, but teaching music might ... someday. His thoughts drifted in that direction until she asked to hold his guitar. He smiled at her, "Of course," he extended it out towards her. There were few things she could do to it that couldn't be fixed, so he had no qualms about it. "Go ahead and strum it if you want," Brandon encouraged with a smile. Man, he loved that guitar.

Jameson Hera Blishwick

[Jameson Hera Blishwick]

no care in the world.

JIMMIE WASN'T AS GENIAL AS BRANDON, THAT much was for certain. Her patience for her father's tall tales lasted about as long as her venture in cross-stitching. Which was about five minutes, three if you didn't count the time it took her to collect the supplies. She admired it in him, sure, but it wouldn't change her own lack of ability. So, she shrugged.

Laying on the grass, puttered out and red faced, Jimmie enjoyed Brandon's compliment. Though hearing it came with a certain degree of well earned suspicion. She turned her head when he defended it, her brows pulling together but her lips still smiling. She narrowed her eyes as if to say 'I don't believe you', but he seemed so earnest that she held her tongue for once. "Okay..." She settled with, rolling her eyes a little as she fell back down.

Jimmie was only being honest when she had told him he was too nice. A simple fact that she had decided almost immediately after meeting him. "Hate to break it to you," Jimmie said with small laugh and a helpless shrug. She knew he was joking, but even if he hadn't been she wasn't the type to back track.

Sitting up, she felt that hankering. The bubbling desire to learn something new. When she'd asked to play his guitar, she hadn't really expected him to agree. So, when he did, she shrugged with glee. Carefully handling it when he passed it over, she caressed the wooden silhouette as she sat it gently in her lap. The way she'd seen him do it. "Am I doing it right?" She asked, face serious under a fallen curtain of blonde hair. She carefully ran her thumb over the tight strums, so light no sound was emitted. On her way over the second time she gently plucked the first string. A quiet laugh erupted from her as the sound faded.

"I want to learn..." She said passionately, lifting her head to look at Brandon with large green eyes. Her ballet shoes were forgotten. All she felt was the hollow shape of the guitar in her hands and the sound echoing in her ears. She wanted to be good. "Will you teach me?"

[teeeaaaach heeer]

@brandon

NEVERLAND at ADOXOGRAPHY 2.0!

[Deleted]

She didn't seem to really believe Brandon's compliment, but instead of arguing she said "okay", which Brandon decided to take as acceptance. She wasn't openly arguing with it, so why not just pretend like she was agreeing? It would keep things from getting into an argument, though he believed a real argument over something as trivial as a compliment would be more funny than serious.

He rolled his eyes, but said nothing when she continued to tease him about being too nice. He wasn't going to argue about that either. Not worth it. He smiled when she took his guitar carefully, touching it gently. His smile widened when she asked if she was doing it right and he nodded. "Yeah, that's it," he told her, watching as she strummed it before plucking a string and laughing.

Suddenly he was remembering the first time he'd ever touched a guitar. Apparently his father hadn't known what to get him for his tenth birthday and his mother told him about how much Brandon loved playing the piano. So his father decided to expand his horizons. His delight when he opened the guitar made everyone in the room laughed, before they watched in awe as Brandon started strumming the guitar and started to figure out the chords and different sounds it could make. Within a few hours he was playing songs. Since that day, his guitar went everywhere he did, including Hogwarts.

He came back to the present when Jimmie told him she wanted to learn. She was looking up at him, pleading and he found himself smiling. "Of course," he told her easily. He loved playing music, but he'd never tried teaching before. This could be a good thing for him. "Do you want to learn a few things now?" he asked, unsure if she wanted to wait a while or start learning immediately. He could do either.

Jameson Hera Blishwick

[Jameson Hera Blishwick]

no care in the world.

IT DIDN'T MATTER WHAT NEW SKILL PIQUED Jimmie's interest, it always felt brand new. That feeling zapping down her spine. She was 100% committed - until she wasn't. And she felt that with the guitar in her hand. Running her hand along the smooth varnished body, strumming tentatively. And Brandon didn't seem at all reluctant, which Jimmie looked for more than once.

"I have nowhere to be," Jimmie shrugged, grinning wildly. She scooted closer enthusiastically, balancing the guitar in her lap. Brandon hadn't looked put off by her suggestion and this only spurred Jimmie on. She was ready to learn. "What's first, Teacher?" 

@brandon

NEVERLAND at ADOXOGRAPHY 2.0!

[Deleted]

Brandon smiled when she said she didn't have anywhere to be. Apparently she was interested in the guitar! He didn't mind that at all. Brandon always liked to show people things. He'd just never tried to teach anyone to play before. It could be fun. Brandon thought for a moment and then nodded. "Yeah, uhhh let's start with a few simple chords," he told her. Might as well let her jump right in. That way she could get a better handle on whether or not this was something she was really interested in. He told her where to place her fingers for three simple chords, reaching forward and adjusting her grip when necessary. 

He took the guitar back for a moment and showed her how to play "Mary Had a Little Lamb". "You ready? We'll take it slow," he said, giving her the guitar and nodding encouragingly. He wanted her to like it. 

Jameson Hera Blishwick

[Jameson Hera Blishwick]

no care in the world.

JIMMIE DILIGENTLY FOLLOWED BRANDON'S concise directions. A wrinkle forming between her brows as she allowed him to direct her to various chords, moving her fingers in to the correct position when she slipped. In time, it almost sounded... nice. Though she was only strumming three single chords and not yet from memory.

When the stuttered sound of the lullaby began to form from her own fingers, no hand hovering over her own, Jimmie let out a laugh. It jilted the repetition of the tune but she still felt the overwhelming joy of creating something. "I'm doing it!" She exclaimed, pressing her hand flat against the strings to stop the twang as she looked up. "I mean... it's no apparating exam, but it's- it's cool." She nodded her head happily.

"How long until I'm better?" Jimmie asked, leaning against the guitar naturally. She was joking, her smile saying as much, but part of her was serious. "Like, on average, when did you advance from Mary Had a Little Lamb to, say... Humpty Dumpty." 

@brandon

NEVERLAND at ADOXOGRAPHY 2.0!