In The Sun

Akala Sillar Alias: Tessalonikka Hart, Margaux Black, Jennifer Rachels 25 Neutral

[reganmcauliffe-deactivated20160]

Thought so. Dunno why you’re so shamed about it, nothin’ wrong with playin’ music for money. He shakes some ash off his cigarette into the gutter off to the side and turns back to her, eyebrows raised. Actual money’s a nice thing to have about. Beats starvin’ in gutters any day. Depends on where all you’re willing to go, but I know of more than those two places that’re lookin’ for musicians.

[akalasimagination]

Not ashamed of it. I wasn't just sure how you knew that I played. [She managed to smile at him without appearing too stiff. She really couldn't be too careful. Anyone could've been a Rogue or Nexus agent. And she certainly wasn't willing to take her chances. She found it more difficult to trust people now a days.] Could you perhaps give me the address? Please?

[reganmcauliffe-deactivated20160]

Just guessed as much from the way you were talkin’, that’s all. Ain’t much else of a reason t’go lookin’ for restaurants and bars by the kinda music they’ve got. He frowns slightly, eyebrows knit in thought while he sorts through places in his head. There’s a place up ten blocks north, bit off the alley but the food’s decent. Think it’s called Castillo’s or somethin’ like that. And there’s some cafe my little sister’s always ravin’ about in Brooklyn, The Willow Tree. That’d be a good one to try.

[akalasimagination]

Okay fine. So I am looking for a place to perform. The restaurant I used to work at just closed down-- and I need you know-- actual money to survive. [She fibbed. She had enough money for herself and her little brother for a lifetime but keeping still in one corner would leave her to her thoughts.]

[reganmcauliffe-deactivated20160]

I’d hope so, jaysus, or I’d be wondering if you were all kinds of mental for going there anyway. It’s halfway across the bloody city too. He frowns slightly in thought, this is hardly his subject of expertise. Depends on what all you’re looking for. Most of the places I’m thinking of offhand are bars and pubs, but maybe you’d not want to go to a place like that. What kind of music are you playin’? Acoustic’s a bit loose of an explanation.

[akalasimagination]

Anywhere will do, to be honest. I have time to waste. What made you think that I play? I might be just really interested in acoustic music. Anything vaguely acoustic? I'm sure you'll know a place.

[reganmcauliffe-deactivated20160]

Regan was out of cigarettes again, and with no one that he saw regularly that he could bum some from anymore, he ended up at the newsstand down the street from his apartment rather than deal with the paranoid minimart owner at the end of the block. He had noticed the red haired woman when he first stepped up to buy his rest of the week’s ration of cigarettes, but being incurably nosy, his interest wasn’t piqued until he saw her circle one of the shittiest restaurants he’d ever eaten at. When she then mumbled something about ambiance and good food, well, he couldn’t just let her continue under that delusion, could he? Besides, the owner was an asshole. Nah, don’t go bothering with that place. S’got the ambiance of a portable loo and food to match. You’d be better off eating in the dumpster behind the building, honestly.

[akalasimagination]

 [She had looked up to the source of the voice when she heard someone speak up.] Well, I can't have that. Thanks, that would've cost me a lot of time. Would you recommend a place for me then? Preferably somewhere they play acoustic music.

[akalasimagination]

[The restaurant Jenny used to frequently play at had been closed for weeks now and she was stuck doing almost nothing. Today, she decided, was going to be spent scouring newspaper ads for places looking for an acoustic singer. So she stood in front of a magazine stand and bought one of each newspaper there was.] Let's see here, [she mutters to herself as she points her red Sharpie idly on each ad she skimmed through. Of course she had to have a red sharpie, she needed to do things right.] It should be somewhere with good food. That's important. And ambiance. [She thought out loud.]

[akalasimagination]

Our Last Song || Reye

[emryscantor-deactivated20161113]

"Oh sure, you must understand every bit of it bloody perfectly from the way you’re talking." He almost wanted to laugh at how damned ridiculous the whole thing was, let out the harsh, angry sound he could practically hear echoing in his mind as he repressed that urge. "If you didn’t blame me for for leaving you wouldn’t be pulling the guilt trip every time you pretend you’re okay with what I did." If he hadn’t already smoked two cigarettes in the past twenty minutes, he would have loved to pull another out of his pocket just for the soothing effect of the gesture and to have something to do with his hands. "It’s alright that I left to keep myself from falling to bits, but I deserve whatever I got turning myself in." Reese held a finger up for each half of the statement and pointed from one to the other as he went through the mental list of what she’d said. ”You’re over the whole thing but you had to go saying that I abandoned you, that phrase seems a bit much to match that, doesn’t it?”

The laugh, though it was mirthless and hardly more than a harsh snort, slipped out after that, and he took a step backwards, turning to stare at the doorway of the club rather than the woman he had once loved."Writing that song doesn’t sound like you’re okay with a bloody bit of it, I was actually listening to the lyrics, thank you kindly. If you’re trying to convince me you’re not blaming me for what I did, you’re not doing all that well." He shoved his hands in his pockets when he swung a foot back over to stand facing her again, biting the inside of his lip for a moment while he sorted through all of the things his mind had thrown up in its flurry to snap back at her words. "Aye, I went home after they’d let me out of lockup and tattooed me, I’ve gotten a green card too, and a flat of my own. I go to therapy like a good little boy, go to the gym now, but go on, tell me why I shouldn’t have gone and changed myself at all since you saw me last." 

He stared at his shoes for a long moment, batting around the last thing he had wanted to say to her long before they ran into each other, something he’d thought about after a few too many after he had come back to the States. It didn’t really matter, did it? She wasn’t going to want to talk to him ever again after this, he may as well say it before his captive audience threw a punch at him and left. “D’you want me to be brutally honest, Kaye? No sane person goes and runs away with someone they’ve known half a year, especially not when it’s to hide away in some stranger’s flat. We’re not living some fluffy romance novel, thank you kindly.” Perhaps it was a bit too harsh, but it was true enough, the few friends he had trusted enough to explain the whole situation to so he could ask their opinion had pretty much said the same thing he was saying to her now. ”I may have loved you once, maybe part of me still does, but you really don’t know me if you thought I would have done something like that, even with the kind of man I was a year ago. I’m not angry all the bloody time by the way, I’m just angry at the fact that you seem to think I’m some sort of vicious, selfish bastard who went and hurt you on purpose when you didn’t even bother to give me the chance to explain myself or fix anything later on.”

[akalasimagination]

If there was a part of him that she once loved, it was hard to remember. It all seemed foolish to her now. She completely remembered who she was talking to but she seemed to have forgotten what feeling she used to associate with him "I don't claim to understand everything, thus the song. But I understand enough to respect your decision. I'm not guilt-tripping you, if that's what you think. I would never do that, and you should know that. Emotions aren't objects to be manipulated." She took in a shaky breath, "Do you really think that it's some sort of miracle that I don't hate you for what you did? Clearly, you didn't know me well enough to even think of the possibility that I am capable of forgiving."

"I don't blame you." Her tone was softer this time, in hopes that he will realize that she meant it. For Kaye Sillar never said things she never meant. And she might have appeared to be Jenny Rachels, but she was speaking for herself. "I couldn't have blamed you.And I'm sorry for asking you to come into hiding with me. Sure, I was upset. A little bit more than upset. Just because it hurt doesn't mean I blame you for it. It was as much of my fault as it was yours, if not greater." It was she who was running in the first place, and she still was. Who was she to expect him to just drop everything and follow her to the ends of the earth?

She had once had the fantasy of their lives falling back into place once it was all over. But now that she was facing reality, she realized that what she gained from seeing Reese again was something else entirely. Closure. They needed closure. And Kaye just knew there wasn't going to be a chapter two to their story-- at least not any time soon-- because whatever was here, wasn't here anymore. And that was when Kaye realized, it was too good to be true, to dream of something that would last. Nothing was ever constant in her life anymore and Kaye had a feeling that that was the only thing that was going to last at this point.

A car had pulled up behind her, one she recognized to be Daniel's old car. She raised her hand at the driver to tell him to wait, although she couldn't exactly see him through the tinted glass. "Are we done here because Walter's waiting."

[surrealbackgroundnoise]

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The Guy That Says Goodbye To You Is Out Of His Mind - Griffin House

You don’t need to change a thing about you babe I’m telling you From where I sit you’re one of a kind Relationships, I don’t know why, they never work out and they make you cry But the guy that says goodbye to you is out of his mind

so this is kinda cute.

[akalasimagination]

Our Last Song || Reye

[emryscantor-deactivated20161113]

"What I put you through…" He was supposed to feel guilty, that was the intent behind her words, or at least the most likely one, and he had felt guilty for a long while, so intensely so that he was put on suicide watch several times over during his stint in PROTECT lockup. Part of him wanted to let out the bitter laugh building at the back of his throat, but he bit it back, sinking his teeth into his lower lip and looking away from her for a moment to clear his head. "I didn’t go leaving to hurt you, I did it because I couldn’t bloody well stand running anymore, because I was falling to bits, but I suppose that doesn’t matter compared to whatever I put you through." It came out far bitterer than he would have liked her to hear, but he had a feeling that he wouldn’t be able to erase the anger still tied to those memories, just tame it. She was smiling at him, with tears in her eyes to boot, and what did he feel? Frustrated, mostly. A little bitter, but exhausted as well, drained past the point of feeling much of anything.

The laugh slipped out as she gushed about him being alive and well, he couldn’t quite smother it after all, but the sharp little sound suited how he felt about that remark better than anything else. "Aye, I’m alive. Okay’s quite a stretch though, don’t think I’d go pushing your description that far. Six months of lockup tends to go skewing your definition of okay, believe me." An exasperated sigh followed not long after, brought on by her litany, and he raised a hand to the bridge of his nose, closing his eyes for a moment against the combination of beer, exhaustion, and this mess of a conversation. "I’m not after asking you to, I’m just wondering why you’d go letting yourself suffer like that when I’ve got bloody business cards, I’ve a phone number you could call. I’ve gotten a Facebook page, for Christ’s sake. I don’t know what you want, Kaye. S’not my place to go speculating, neither is it my place to ask anything of you other than to tell me why." He let his hand drop to his side after a moment, pinching the bridge of his nose wasn’t going to stave off the headache he could feel building in his temples. "You didn’t have to wait, but you could’ve sent a postcard, a text, something. I had a good enough reason for vanishing, but I’ve had a proper phone since even before I went home for a bit."

[akalasimagination]

There it was-- the anger she seemed to have misplaced, back to haunt her heart. It meant that she still cared but it meant she wasn't as willing to do so. "Right. I'm sorry. I forgot you're the victim here." She let out an exasperated sigh as she rolled her eyes. They seemed to have perfected misunderstanding each other since the last time they met. "I never blamed you for leaving, Reese. I totally understood why you had to. We're both adults here. And I wish our circumstances back then had been similar, then I'd have gone a different way than I did." She let out a hollow chuckle, "You can't have expected life to be easy when you chose to turn yourself in. I wasn't saying those things to make you feel guilty. I don't hate you for looking out for yourself."

She swung her guitar case in front of her, grasping the handle with both hands now. "You went back to Wales?" she asked, honestly curious of how that went. He finally did what she had wanted him to do so long ago. She would've smiled if she could bring herself do so.

She was completely aware of how cold her fingers were and the crispness of the night wasn't responsible for that. "Look for you?" she shook her head. "I could've very well done that, true. But I would never ever look for someone who so willingly just walked out of my life. I didn't do so with my biological family and I wouldn't do so for anyone else. You might call them abandonment issues, I just say that's just my way to make sure I don't get hurt again."

She looked at him for a second, breathing slowly, feeling the faint thumping of her heart against her chest. "Stupidly enough, I waited for you to come back. But you seem different-- and I can't say if it's the good kind. Guess when you lose someone-- it's never the same person who comes back. Tell me I'm wrong." Her eyes stayed on him as she waited for him to just tell her exactly how wrong she was.

[akalasimagination]

Our Last Song || Reye

[emryscantor-deactivated20161113]

Perhaps if he hadn’t watched her for the past hour onstage, slicing open old wounds with every note sung, he would have been able to dredge up a little surprise at having her standing so close. Then again, very little surprised him these days; seeing the dead on a regular basis tended to beat that sort of thing out of you. He wondered momentarily just how far up the creepy scale it was to stare at your ex for a moment while she waited on the pavement a good ten feet away, at least until it occurred to him that he had been there first, and there was no use wasting a cigarette just to scurry away like a guilty schoolboy because she was close enough that he could see the streetlights glinting off her hair. No, he was going to finish his cigarette first, breathe in a little more poison before he shoved himself into the fray, and he had just dropped the butt to the ground, ignoring the half-whispered protests of a spirit lingering by the doors, when she turned around.

Timing was everything, or so the cliche ran, and he took his time stepping forward into the light, careful not to stand too close to her with how she had jumped the last time they had ran into each other. Not that he had known it was her, but the pieces had all fallen together in his mind while he sat at his table earlier, nursing half a beer. "Hello Kaye." He said softly, just loud enough for her to hear in the rare silence of the street. That was simple enough, wasn’t it? Not any of that dramatic Nicholas Sparks crap, he felt no need to throw himself at her feet and beg forgiveness; months of therapy had taught him better than to think putting his mental health first was something you owed an apology for. "I was going to go saying something trite like what a beautiful song you’d sung towards the end, but I think you’d smell the lie out of that a bit too quick to make it worth saying. Chords were lovely though." A look of resignation took the place of any other expression on his face, though there was a hint of pain in there as well. "I’m not that hard to find Kaye, and I did come back, though I couldn’t even begin to find you when I finally got the chance to look. Assumed you didn’t want me to anyway, but I’m not so sure about that now I’ve heard your song. You can set me straight or walk away, s’up to you. But I wonder."

[akalasimagination]

There was a tidal wave of emotion that left her there, grip tightening around the handle of her guitar case. It didn’t even cross her head to just deny it. There was no point in doing that because it was Reese who figured out who she was. And it wasn’t just echoes this time. It was really him. And he was saying her name. And that just made the dull ache inside grow a thousand fold.

It was the song that gave it off, she realized. When she had written it, she thought she’d never have to see him again. But here he was, living, breathing right in front of her. And he knew. The song was meant for him, so it was only fitting that he would hear. And it was their story threaded carefully into the song, so it was only natural he would know.

"I don’t know," was what she managed to say when she found her voice once more. "I’m scared. I am. I don’t want to go through what you put me through again. And yet everyday… Everyday for the last year I wished I could see you."

"And now you’re here…" She closed her eyes as she felt warm tears against the back of her eyelids. She smiled although she was fighting every urge in her body at that point to just throw herself at him and hold him just as she wanted to at night when she was alone. "You’re here and it makes me so happy, that you’re alive, that you’re okay. But it makes me scared of the things I might do. Believe me, I have planned out an angry rant— and not even a single word can come back to me. And I want to be angry but I’m not. And that scares me. It doesn’t mean I’m willing to just rush into your arms and pretend the last year didn’t happen."

She opened her eyes again, and the yellow lamp light gave a bit of color to his skin. Her jaw tensed to a point where it was starting to cause her pain. “I wanted you to come back, but I couldn’t have waited for you. I moved out, moved in with Andrew.” She took a deep breath. “Kieth is very happy. And that makes me very happy. And I can’t,” she shook her head. “I can’t just jeopardize what I managed to make for him— a safe home.”

[taylorsraresongs]

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Come Back… Be Here - Taylor Swift

[youholdmyliquor]

[akalasimagination]

Our Last Song || Reye

[emryscantor-deactivated20161113]

  Generally he left before the performances started; he didn’t like the crowds or most of the musicians who graced the stage, but it was one of the few bars in his neighborhood that wasn’t full to the brim with the wandering dead. And tonight, well, tonight there had been a name on the sign out front that seemed familiar enough to warrant sticking around for a few minutes to see if his memory was correct about Jennifer Rachels being that woman he had run into outside the laundromat, though honestly he had little to no interest in seeing if she was more talented than most of the people who took to the stage in the far end of the bar. It was the same woman, he made note of that at the beginning of her performance before he decided that he did want another beer after all, but it wasn’t until she began to sing that a shiver ran down his spine.

She sounded like…no, it couldn’t be, people could have singing voices that similar, couldn’t they? Entirely possible, that was the lie he told himself as he sat at his customary table in the back corner, and it held water until she launched into her last song. Instead you ran the other way, no, that was too much coincidence for one evening. He hadn’t felt like stepping out into the humid air to smoke before, but by the end of the song, he couldn’t stand to be inside the building any longer. Two cigarettes went by in the time that it took the rest of the crowd to walk past him as he stood just clear of the designated clear air space around the doors, but he still felt like a marionette with cut strings, hands shaking ever so slightly despite the fact that he could easily just go home and try to forget the whole thing. He didn’t have to wait around here to see if she’d talk to him, spurn him, throw a drink in his face, or just do something to acknowledge his existence, but that song…he wanted to know just how she really felt, in spoken words. Some sort of closure would be worth the slap he might get. So he waited.

[akalasimagination]

When the crowd had thinned, and Kaye felt her tiredness seep through her bones. Jenny packed up her equipment from the stage, her work sloppy after a long day. All her energy had been spent, and she could not have been more satisfied of how her day went. The truth was, tiring herself out was the only way she could come up with where she didn’t have to lay down in bed at night and think. The life she had rebuilt as Jenny was an easy scapegoat from her past— even if she would give anything to live one more day in the past. She was here in the present. And her priorities have changed when Keith was left to her care. Kaye felt like she was simply surviving from day to day instead of living it. But she always let her paranoia get the best out of her. At least, she always reassured herself, at least Kieth is okay. And Reese is alive and freely walking somewhere in New York. Her thoughts begin to wander to him again. Even when she was too tired to think, he’d find a way to weedle his poodle face into her head.

Reese had come back, just as he promised her. Except he had nothing to come back to. Not when Kaye had dropped her life as Margaux and started fresh. He had no way of finding her— no one had anyway to find her. But he was back. And he didn’t know Kaye was Jenny. And Kaye didn’t know whetxher or not it was a great idea to change that. But it was only one time that he had met her as Jenny— what were the chances that they’d meet again with the population density and the area of the entire city?

As it turned out, the chances were pretty high. She set down her guitar on the pavement for a second to be able to move her hand and call the attention of a cab. But the first few attempts that she failed at just made her give up all at once. She was far too tired for that. It was already pretty late, so she couldn’t call Andrew to come pick her up. No, the best idea would be to call her butler, Walter. And when she had put down the phone, she began her wait.

It was the smell of nicotine that gave it off that someone else was there with her. She felt her heart stop all at once when she turned to see him standing there. This wasn’t another of her dreams. This was Emrys standing right in front of her, and that somehow made her forget to move.

[akalasimagination]

Pay It Forward || Mara and Jenny

Kaye was never really one to eavesdrop, but sometimes the task was impossible when the waiter was arguing with the person at the table next to her, and the fact that Kieth was staring at the said girl wasn't helping even a bit. It wasn't like Kieth was the only one staring, though. The table was getting quite a lot of attention from the rest of the customers that night.

She had hoped to have some alone time with her little brother. Life was definitely different when they lived with someone else. But it was a good kind of different-- almost like their family were less broken. Kieth was less lonely with Andrew around but Kaye sometimes felt that she left Kieth with Andrew far too often. That was why she decided to take her little brother out for dinner.

But when Kaye had caught on to what was happening-- her attention was turned completely to the situation. Apparently, the girl had no means to pay the meal she just had-- the poor thing. Jenny craned her neck as she spoke loudly enough for the waiter to hear. "You can just add her tab to my bill," Jenny offered. When the waiter turned to her, she straightened herself up. "Will that solve the problem?" Somehow that didn't lighten the waiter up, but he couldn't say no to that. He unceremoniously took the lady's bill and retreated back into the front counter.

Jenny turned to flash a friendly smile at the customer she had just helped. "I hope you didn't mind my intruding..."

[akalasimagination]

Our Last Song || Reye

Jennifer smiled as she scanned the crowd, as if she could see every single face in the bar. But of course with the spotlight directly toward her, and the rest of the room dimmed out to fit the mood, she could only see the few tables in nearest to the stage at most.

It was a long night. It definitely felt longer than most. She spoke into the microphone as she set down her strings, "Ladies and gentlemen, thank you so much for having me here. I had such a wonderful time. I couldn't have asked for a better crowd." She sighed as she brushed her hair to one side of her shoulder. "My last song tonight is going to be-- something else. It's my original and I really hope you guys enjoy it as much as I enjoyed making it..."

She moved toward the keyboard and pressed on the blacks and whites.  She leans into the microphone as another round of applause erupts from the crowd. "This is Our Last Song..."

"It's the silence that makes your absence so real. It's the echo of your voice that's keeping me here. I thought you'd run away with me, but instead you ran the other way, baby."

She glances once into the crowd as she continues to sing but this song really wasn't meant for anyone in the crowd tonight. This was for a set of ears that probably will never get to hear her.

"I'll sing one last song to tell you, 'you're my melody'. Don't know which part of 'I love you' meant you had to leave me.

"There was a once upon a time when I dreamed of you. There was a once upon a dream where you came through. And our promises were kept, and our love kept pushin' through, but the coldness on my hand tells me that's no longer true."

She closes her eyes and sings each word likes she means it. And she does.

"I'll sing one last song to tell you, 'you're my melody'. Don't know which part of 'I love you' meant you had to leave me.

"But there's no point in standing here as I constantly fall. But there's no point anticipating when I'll hit the wall. So I'll step back, I'll try to fly on my wounded wings. Let me tell you, baby, this is how the end begins."

Jennifer takes a deep breath as her hands continue to dance on the piano keys.

"This is my last song to tell you, 'I want to be free.' Maybe I really loved you but there are things that'll never be. And maybe someday we'll have another version of our last song where you and I, where me and you, we're singing along.

But the silence, makes your absence so real. And the echo of your voice says I shouldn't be here."

Her fingers run across the keys as the song slows to a stop. That was when she pushed herself away from the keyboard, bid her final goodnight to the crowd and disappeared into the back of the bar.

[spratman]

[whitewingednoa]

Noa begins walking in step and nods at the introduction. If you did I don’t remember, but it’s alright. I’m Noa.

[akalasimagination]

[Jenny keeps pace with Noa as they head toward the next cafe.] It's a pleasure to meet you, Noa. You have a very lovely name.

[grayestminds]

[Richard grins.] A telepath who recognizes that the mind is the one place that many people can feel truly safe to be themselves, and hates to intrude on that. [He nods.] I’ll let you know— so far, you’re no louder than anyone else, and I’m well practiced enough at ignoring them. And it is a pleasure to meet you, Jennifer— yes! Onward, of course. [He sticks his hands in his pockets as he walks in the direction of the coffeeshop he has in mind.] 

[akalasimagination]

[Jenny follows Richard as he leads them to the coffee shop he talked about.] You have no idea how true that is for my case. [She shakes her head.] I better keep my thoughts to myself before I get myself into trouble. I would've thought that silently, but I figured there's no point, you're going to know I thought it. Might as well come from my mouth.