Her Song (Open)

[neneparkes]

High noon. There was something about summer that had everyone walking about, even if it was the worst of times. Annie always figured that since it was near the end of the summer, people wanted to go out and about, absorb the sunlight’s rays, get a last minute tan before autumn, and then finally winter, sets in. The young woman lived for days like this. Sure, it was humid. Sure, people were probably going to pass out from heat stroke and exhaustion, but these days were the most beautiful.

She had waken just as the sun was peaking over the crumbling New York skyline, just like any other day. Pulling on a ill-fitting tank-top and form-fitting, yet old comfortable jeans, she grabbed a duffle bag and her beloved guitar and headed out the door. The Asian held her head high, her shoulders back. Sure, she was tiny…sure, she was built like a prepubescent boy—but if you carried yourself with confidence, people did not tend to mess with you as much. As she soaked in the sun’s rays, she walked from East Village to the heart of the city…in particular, where the few wealthy people tended to be. She had an assignment today. A big one. But she had rationalized it out. It made sense, too…when you didn’t think too much about it.

Annie set up shop across the street from a bank—a rather large one, mind you. Laying out a plastic tarp on the crumbling sidewalk, she stole a glance at a large clock—she had a 30 minute window. That was plenty of time. Her eyes met the eyes of someone else in the crowd. Probably her employer. Turning her head away, she snarled in disgust. These people in these three-piece suits disgusted her. She didn’t care which faction, or gang she was from. United? Reaver? She didn’t care if they wore tight jeans and burst into song about being a Jet or a Shark. Didn’t make a bit of difference—they all looked nice, but in the end, they were all thugs.

Setting a couple of pieces of created jewelry, a couple of scarves, a few new purses she had made, and unstrapped her guitar from her back. Opening up the guitar case for a few dollars people would probably drop off.

She let her calloused fingers strum against the strings, creating a melodious sound. She breathed out a sigh. Even if she was stooping to this level, this music was her salvation. Opening up her lips, she let out a couple of sweet notes, that lingered in the summer’s air.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah….”

[cage]

Leslie had been getting used to the hunger pain, though the darkness at night was something she certainly had a hard time with since the day she had been thrown out on onto the street. Luckily today was warm and sunny and it was on these days that Leslie's episodes came out the least. She always felt better while the sun was kissing her skin. It brought with it promise that warm and loving arms could always be found somewhere, even for her.

The disheveled thirteen year old shuffled the streets in exhaustion with a small smile on her on her lips. It was the first day that the sun had graced the city with its prescience since that terrible day for her, and she would enjoy it no matter what her situation. Her immediate concern had been finding food, but that was difficult here as people generally weren't that generous, though she did have the fact that she was a kid going for her. She heard an odd sound that piqued her interest coming from the direction of the main street where the bank was located, so she trecked that way slowly across the cracked sidewalk. Her eyes fell on a woman sitting down playing a guitar, something Leslie had never seen live before.

The small girl crept up toward the woman with a guitar and stopped about twenty paces away, frozen and staring. Her bottom lip jutted out just a little bit when the girl was curious. Silently she watched the woman play and sing, soaking the sun's rays into her porcelain skin. Leslie swayed slowly back and forth to the music, almost entranced by it, and it even made her forget the hunger.

She seemed to become just a little more healthy and radiant as the sun spilled on her skin warmly and her mind was taken off of her life for a moment. This music put the young girl in a state of calm she had never been in before.

[neneparkes]

Even through the tarp, Annie could feel the sun’s warmth up through the cement. Sitting down cross-legged like some stereotypical image of a Native-American chief, she balanced the guitar, tattooed with signs of being worn-down—carvings, knick, stains, and then being reborn again, in her lap and played her song. Calloused fingers expertly held down cords and fluttered like hummingbirds from string to string.

She tilted her head up to the sky, her eyes fluttering shut as she began to sing intelligible words; sure, she was not exactly the best singer in the world, not like the machines that sang that horse-crap in the clubs called “music”, but it was raw, and completely real. She wasn’t even on key sometimes—but everything was completely from within the soul.

“The sunlight moves around us, masking us within the ether…Sightless now, we are searching, and our voices cry out in vain,” she serenaded the collecting crowd. She never failed to draw a bit of a crowd. Though with eyes closed, she knew they were there—she could hear her own voice and the strumming of her guitar over the sound of city.

It at first sounded like it could have been a song of despair. But her songs were never completely about that; there was always a beam of hope, somewhere.

““But formless, we find freedom: loss can be an inspiration. The pain has cured my blindness,” she belted to the crowd. The song had taken on an almost folk-like sound to it. Breathing in, she let the tribal sound surround her. In her mind, she could hear the sweet sound of a djmbe, an African Drum, creating a rhythm to dance to—her voice and playing tried to convey this.

“I will go to the ocean that is made of tears, even though I am bound to this blood-red string,” she cried, painting the image of this imaginary body of water—of a girl standing near the edge of the end of the world.

She still had the time window—whatever was happening across the street was none of her business. Her almond eyes cracked open, as she searched the growing crowd for a friendly, or familiar face. There did not seem to be anyone she knew, not really. What was she expecting? Old classmates? Perhaps her parents?

Her dark eyes landed on a small girl who seemed underfed. There was someone she could relate to. ““Come, oh wind…! I will face you now, despite my fears! Come, oh waves, I will surely conquer anything!” Her chapped lips cracked into a smile. Just for her. Just for her.

[cage]

Enthralled with the sound of this music, Leslie continued to sway to it, her eyes locked on the woman's fingers that were plucking away at the guitar. Music was something Leslie had almost entirely forgotten existed as her parents didn't listen to it often, it hadn't been allowed in the asylum, and now she was homeless and she didn't really have any source of music. As the sun warmed her skin, and the music flowed around her, Leslie was beginning to feel just a little more lively.

The woman playing had met Leslie's gaze and it was as if she was singing the song just for her. A small timid smile spread over Leslie's flushed face as she was brought back to reality for the sake of interaction with another. Getting comfortable, the young girl took a seat on the cracked sidewalk pavement and placed her elbows in her lap and her chin in her palms. She had completely forgotten about being hungry as all that really mattered at this particular moment was that sound and the sunlight.

In a complete state of melodic relaxation, the sunlight her skin had absorbed began transforming of its own accord, the way her mysterious power often work. This was a form that had never happened before, and the girl was so calm that she didn't even notice the manifestation taking place right in front of her on the pavement. In time with the music, following the singing woman's voice, golden sparkles just sort of unfolded from the ground and solidified into palm-sized flowers that were like see-through glass sculptures with a tint of gold in them. The flowers would start as a bud and blossom slowly, the sparkles shivering with the sound of the woman's voice and then the whole flower would disappear in a cloud of sparkles before another one simply sprang up.

[neneparkes]

Chapped lips cracking into one of her rare smiles, the performer grinned as she strummed the guitar. It was not very often that she was able to express such joy…it was really only when she was performing. Sometimes she had that whole existential crisis about which personality was the real one...though those never really lasted long. There was not much time to think about it. Never was. When she was not in survival mode, she was writing music. And that took up a good deal of her time.

Knowing now that she had the attention of the young girl, she beamed, almost as brilliantly as the sun, and got up to her knees—and then up to her feet, covered in shoes that looked like they had been sewn over and over and over again.

“Now, why does war entice us? Beckon to us like a lover?” she said, and swayed. Pulling her eyes gently away from the young girl, she made almost a cold eye-contact with a member of the crowd who was wearing a suit. It was as if she were saying that particular lyric very pointedly. Holding out her hand, she took his hand in hers, and let go quickly.

“How can we see the beauty of a flower grown on a grave?” she crooned, twirling away from the man—there was a bit of disdain in her face…she almost looked a bit disgusted, as she slipped her hand into her pocket, and then out. “I will seek out the future, as fragile as it is precious…I’ll wait for it to find me!”

And then the flowers appeared. Her eyes widened in wonder as she continued to sing—was she doing this? No one was really giving her strange looks—like the ones that usually happened when her left eye ignited in flame. She searched the crowd, and jumped back when it exploded in sparkles….Either way, it was beautiful. Gorgeous, even. Almost as pretty as star-shaped things!

It intensified the feeling in her song:

“I will go to the place where radiance appears! There, I know I will grant the prayer within my soul! Come, oh wind! I will face you now despite my fears! Come, oh waves, I will not let you impede my goal!”

She felt that kind of high when she was floating—perhaps today she would go a little bit above and beyond, as she danced among the flowers. Twirling, she held her hand out to the little girl—as if to say, “Dance with me.”

[jimmydalad]

Andreth was back on the streets. He liked the streets for some reason. He lived on them for quite some time that they became a home to him. He became used to the many sounds that bellowed from the streets, the rock solid tarmac below... It comforted him for some reason.

As he was walking, he heard music. It was strange to hear music on these streets. He was intrigued by it. It seemed to be a woman or a girl that was singing, Andreth couldn't tell.

As if his feet we're being controlled by the enchanting melody, Andreth found himself walking towards where the music originated from. The music flooded his ears and it travelled in his body, reaching all over. It caused him to want to find out even more who was doing this.

He eventually found his way to the source of the music. He found a woman and a girl. The woman held a guitar and was evidently the one producing the music. The girl swayed to the music, the only audience for this woman's music. However, the woman didn't seem to mind her at all, on the contrary, it seemed as if she wanted the girl to dance, as if enjoying their own private party.

Now Andreth didn't know what to do. Approach and possibly ruin the moment or stay away. He hadn't a clue as to what to do and decided just to stand there, watching them. He wanted to go closer, but was afraid of the possible repercussions that could happen if he ruined this moment.

[cage]

Thought Leslie was not quite at a high enough level of understanding for the lyrical content of the woman's music, she was entranced with it, her light powers acting of their own accord. The woman had begun a more lively set and started dancing around to her own music and interacting with the people who were curiously crowding in on the area. After a moment, the woman offered her hand to Leslie who's small innocent eyes widened. Hesitantly she took the woman' s hand and followed weakly in dance next to her. The small crystalene flowers formed at their feet where ever the girl was led and if the delicate flowers were stepped on or touched at all, they would shatter soundlessly into bursts of golden sparkles.

A few of the faces in the crowd seemed to be catching on to the unnatural glass flowers budding out of the pavement, and a few eyes grew wide while others simply stared in disbelief with dropped jaws. Leslie hardly noticed them through the music, however. The crowd was joined by a younger teenage boy later in the song who seemed hesitant. Leslie enjoyed the music, her lips forming into a shy smile as she danced with the woman.