Beautiful Autumn Day

A black speck wheeled around in the gray sky above the courtyard. Dakota wasn't paying much mind to it. The girl was lying onto a bench with her eyes closed, humming quietly to herself. It was some old church hymn she couldn't quite remember the name of, "Nearer My God to Thee" or something like that. She didn't consider herself to be a religious person, but the song was nice. Her singing voice wasn't half bad either she figured, though there was no real way of knowing. It wasn't as if she had sung to anybody before. Well, almost nobody.

"Poliwag swims in the pond all day, swishing his tail every way. Swim Poliwag, swim Poliwag, how cool your life must be-!"
"You have a very pretty voice, madam."
"...Out! What are you doing in my room?! Out, Richards, before Seviper takes off your head!"
"Agh! Profuse apologies, m-m-madam, I did not mean...!"
"Ouuuuuuuuuut!"

Dakota had been maybe six or seven at the time, but the memory of it still made her blush. Howard Richards fortunately kept his head on his shoulders for the most part, though being thrown across a hall by a Zangoose had maybe left him slightly traumatized in his dealings with the Walker girl. Conversely, she mostly stuck to humming from then on and would only dare sing softly to herself in the shower. Even that she had to be wary of, with sudden new roommates.

The slight coolness made the air feel fresh and clean, and had the simply lovely effect of driving the entire student body inside. Aside from the distant quorks of far off Wingulls and her Honchkrow and the rattling of branches, the world was quiet. I've got this courtyard to myself. No teachers to bitch at her for lying down on the bench, no students to prattle on obnoxiously about gossip and ruin the scenery. All of it, mine.