strangetrip | [GP/EP] Check-in Day

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[GP/EP] Check-in Day

The woodwinds in her collection were for noodling mostly, and the violin was for memory of her family, but when Curnen really wanted to play she turned again and again to her guitar. This would probably always be her best instrument. It was the first of the month, she’d been here over a year, and it was probably a check-in day. So she sat on the lawn with her instrument in her lap, sending out a subtle magic to call anyone stranded in their little world this way.

At one point, though, she set aside the guitar and turned her face to the sky. For just a few minutes she required a different kind of magic.

It had been a week now since Scanlan had vanished in the battle. And Pike, too, though Curnen honestly couldn’t have cared less about her going away if she tried. Still. The two of them were family to people very dear to her, people who missed them. And Scanlan had been her friend. You marked something like that with a song.

Of all the money that e'er I had
I spent it in good company
And all the harm that e'er I've done
Alas, it was to none but me
And all I've done for want of wit
To memory now I can't recall
So fill to me the parting glass
Good night and joy be with you all

It was a traditional Irish goodbye, a farewell to friends said with love, drinking, well wishes, and the hope of meeting again. She couldn’t think of a better one for the occasion. And as she sang she twined her magic into her voice in a new way, sending the song to any ears that needed it, ears of those who knew and missed the departed. Not all of them might understand it, not all of them knew what she was, but she didn’t particularly care about that right now. The song was more important than the hiding.

Once the last note had dissipated she picked up her guitar again and resumed her work. If there were anybody out there, they had to know where to go.

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Maria couldn't find Liz, but the man at the front desk confirmed she was here. She was probably busy doing something important which was typical of Liz.

She heard the music. It was pretty. She had never heard that song before. As she approached, Maria was all smiles. The person singing was also playing guitar.

She stood and watched.

There was a feeling you got when somebody was watching you, even when you weren't particularly paying attention or looking for anything like that. It was also, in Curnen's experience, rarely a wrong feeling. So when the last notes died away, she stilled the strings and opened one eye before she grinned at the kid. "You're new, huh?"

"That obvious, huh?" Maria said with a half laugh. "Yeah. Just got here like an hour ago. Still don't really know if I'm just hallucinating or not, but I heard you singing and thought I'd take a look. Whatever you were singing sounded really nice."

Curnen shrugged. "Ain't many of us here. Couple shy ones'll keep you on your toes, but 'side from that you'll see pretty much every face inside a week. But," and here she leaned forward lightly on her instrument, "where and when're you from that you haven't heard 'Wayfaring Stranger' before?"

Is it a song I'm supposed to know? Crap

"Uh. Roswell? 2001?" She said with a grimace. "Sorry. Sort of more into alternative and rock with some boy bands on the side. And my mom's way more into ABBA and anything between the decades of the 60s to 80s. "

That explained it, and Curnen nodded. She smiled to show she was mostly teasing. "It's an old standard, the sorta thing lots of people take a crack at. Like Scarborough Fair, 'cept worth learning and listening to." It was really hard to make Scarborough Fair sound like anything worth listening to with the huge exception of Simon and Garfunkel in her opinion.

"You mean for guitar," Maria said. "I'm not the best with instruments. I can write songs, but playing them is, like, way hard. I can play Blackbird and that's it."

Maria didn't think she did that very well either.

"I have...had a friend who was good at guitar." She said, thinking of Alex. "He even had a band and let me sing with them."

That got Curnen's eyebrows up. "But you write. That's impressive. That's hard." Both intellectually and emotionally. At least, if you did it worth a damn it was. You put a piece of you into music you wrote.

"And you sing. The world's first and best instrument, if you ask me. Curnen, by the way."

"Oh right." She said, smiling. "Maria."

Curnen was the first person she met that seemed to understand why song-writing was important to her. Maria wanted to be famous like everyone else, but she wanted people to here her music.

"You're right." She said. "Being able to sing - it's the best feeling. I mean, don't get me wrong. If I could sing and play an instrument at the same time, I know I'd look way cooler, but if I can at least sing, I'm good."

"It ain't walking and chewing gum at the same time," Curnen assured her with a laugh. She wasn't about to judge. "I'm more a singer than a player, but... well. My sister ain't here to do the playing, so I gotta polish up best I can." She'd never be able to handle a guitar as well as Bliss could, though. Bliss could take this thing out of her hands and make it recite goddamn Shakespeare.

Maria tried to learn, but she didn't have the patience for a lot of learning. She got bored easily and moved on.

"Are there a lot of musicians here?" She asked. "Anyone have like, a band or something?"

Now that would be interesting

"Nah, not enough of us for that." Which was a strange statement to make as far as Curnen was concerned. At home, everybody played or sang or something. You get fifty Tufa together, you could throw a party for a week switching out musicians. "Most people here wouldn't sing if you paid 'em. Just me an' Coby an' Miguel. We jam, but ain't no band."

She didn't mention Scanlan. Talking about people leaving to a new arrival just raised hopes that didn't need raising. It wasn't like he'd done it on purpose, or like anyone knew where the fuck he'd gone.

"That's too bad," she said. "But maybe once I figure out this place and feel like I'm not on some weird reality tv show where this is all staged or whatever, we could play stuff together too. I mean, if you want. I know we just met and you have no idea who I am other than my name."

Maria realized she was rambling and stopped.

After a year in this place, Curnen had largely given up on meeting many more people who would want to make music together, so she almost needed to run those words through her mind again to really believe she'd just heard that.

Then she grinned, as people said at home, like a Tufa, wide and white.

"You wanna make music," Curnen told her. "That's all I need to know."

The excitement was evident from Maria as she matched Curnen's grin.

"Cool." She said. "Cool. I can't wait... and maybe you can introduce me to Coby and Miguel, too."

"If you don't find 'em first, I'd love to," Curnen assured her. "They've got their instruments on 'em a lot, too, and Coby performs in the bar some nights."

"Public performances?" Maria said practically with stars in her eyes. "Can anyone perform at the bar?"

Curnen tried not to let her smile turn indulgent, but the enthusiasm really was rather sweet. "Anybody who's got a mind to, yeah. Crowd's never that big 'round here, which has its ups and downs."

"The only time I've played in a big crowd was when I went to Vegas with my friends," She replied. "Otherwise it's usually karaoke at the dive bar down the street. So I'm not used to glamorous by any means."

Maria smiled, but shrugged.

"Maybe this way I can really focus on music for a while without all the other crap in my life getting in the way." She said.

"It's what I'm doing," Curnen agreed, looking at the guitar in her lap. "Been getting in a lot more practice than I have in an age." Her mouth quirked almost apologetically. "We got lots of free time here."

"Yeah, I'm getting that here." She said. "But for a while I'm sure it won't suck."

Maria knew she'd get bored quickly, but right not the Madonna Inn felt like a vacation.

"Anyways, I should get going." She continued. "I'm looking for a friend."

Emotions flitted through Curnen so fast she didn't have time to register or hide them all, and her eyes changed in little ways--perhaps jealous, perhaps sad, perhaps relieved that the kid had someone here. Ultimately what she said in any case was, "Yeah. Do that. And don't let go once you find 'em."

Maria saw Curnen's expressions, but she didn't know what to make of it. She didn't feel comfortable to ask, either.

"Thanks." She said with a nod. "I'll do that."

With a smile, Maria turned and headed back in to try and find Liz.

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