strangetrip | [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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Bucky felt like he was in a daze. New place. New people. A room with his name on it. Being pulled out of time and space. The more information he collected from everyone, the more unsure he felt about his own situation. Friends. Enemies. New people. All his senses felt like he was on high alert. The worst part about it all was he had nowhere he could run to. Four hours and he'd come back, that's what he'd been told.

He was trapped.

Tempted to just go to his room and disappear, Bucky turned and came face to face with Lillith. He tried to smile for her, tried not to look as awkward as he felt. At least, with the others, they had all appeared human. This one, there was something about her that he couldn't put his finger on. It wasn't just the pale skin or the eyes, but the fact that she opened with the fact she didn't want to hurt him.

How badly could she hurt him?

"Bu... Bucky." He nodded his head, trying to keep his features neutral. "I... Okay." He nodded his head. "Yeah, I... New. Uh, as of today." He looked around the room, then back at her. "You're not, huh?"

"It is all right. I am used to people staring. I know that I look like the demons of most worlds," she reassured him although he had said nothing of it.

He was trying not to stare, but she understood. A Tiefling with her horns and fangs, claws and hooves and tail, was an unusual sight for most everyone. An albino Tiefling...she was doubly marked.

"I am not new and I do not often appear in public on arrival days such as today, so not to frighten the new arrivals. But I had need of listening to Curnen's song. I apologize that I have caught you off-guard. Would you like for me to appear to you as a human?"

"No, just..." Bucky frowned. "Don't be something you're not, for me. I... I'll manage." He struggled with the words, shaking his head slightly. He didn't want her to have to hide anything. Hell, he was the man with the metal arm. "You're fine. Honest."

"I... I don't know what demon you think you look like. To me, you look like one of those things out of mythology." And to him, those things weren't demons. "I... You, er... You're pretty."

Shaking his head, Bucky looked at anywhere but her. "So, the song..." His shoulders slump a little as he relaxes around her. "The song. I... I heard it. It was beautiful, but I didn't know where it was coming from," he murmured.

Lillith's smile was not so bright as to expose her fangs, but her tail swung happily behind her--not as though she were a dog pleased to see her master, but in a figure eight that ceased once it had been made.

"Thank you. You are very sweet," she told him. With a gesture toward the front doors, she added, "Curnen will be outside, often on the roof, on arrival days. To her people, music is as religion to others." Magic, properly, but she had learned not to introduce magic as a complication on arrival day, since many seemed not to know of it. "She often sings and plays to help newcomers find their way here, only this day, she is singing in memory of departed friends."

Bucky nodded his head in understanding. "Can... Can we go listen to it?" It sounded rather dumb, probably, but he wanted to listen to the music. It would allow him to relax and not have to think for a little while. the song was pretty and the melody seemed to draw him in, even if that's not why she was playing it.

It wasn't often that someone told him he was sweet. A part of him wanted to question it and ask her just what she was drinking, but he didn't. His actions of trying to be polite could have come off as sweet to the right person. He smiled awkwardly as he followed her outside. "This place will take some getting used to."

"Of course." Lillith wavered then, uncertain whether to offer her hand. It seemed kind but also it might be misinterpreted and she did have quite unpleasant claws.

She settled for resting her hand gently on his forearm--which was interestingly cool and metallic!--and then cocking her head toward the front doors as she led him out. "Come. It does take getting used to, but it is a good place. The people are kind and most often it is safe."

When the emerged into the out of doors, Lillith gestured to a space on the grass where they could look up and see Curnen. She waved and smiled a greeting to her friend and Sent a quick mind-to-mind message to see if Curnen would play some gentle welcoming music for the new man.

"Right."

Bucky nodded his head and followed along after her. When she pointed to the grass, he sat down immediately. He was used to taking orders, but this was almost different. He smiled up at her, nodding his head and then glancing up at Curnen. His lips turned up into a smile as he sat, listening to the music. It was like nothing he had ever heard before. And yet, it was oddly comforting.

Maybe being here wouldn't be so bad after all?

When Curnen finished the song she'd been playing, she responded to Lillith's Sending with a yes. It took a moment, but Curnen began to play something new.

The song wasn't anything Lillith had heard before, but it felt appropriate. So she settled into the grass to listen. If James had anything he wished to say, then he would say it.

[ooc: Curnen modded by permission, song chosen by Umi.]

James nods his head, listening to the song. While it doesn't sound familiar to him, it makes him smile a little. His eyes close and he listens to the melody, letting it wash over him. It was serenely peaceful, something he had not had a lot of in a long time. Peace. Quiet moments.

That was what he'd been searching for when he was on the run. He wanted a fresh start. He didn't want to be the soldier anymore.

"You will have to thank your friend," he murmured, his eyes still closed. His metal hand moved to rest on his knee as he had made himself comfortable there. It was a beautiful tune. People were really lucky to have the musician here with them, he thought to himself.

He seemed to be calming down, Lillith thought, and that was undoubtedly a good thing. People who were jumpy and frightened did dangerous things; not that he had seemed a danger, but he could easily become so with that arm of metal. And as she had living proof, anyone could become dangerous if the circumstances called for it.

But these did not, and Lillith favored him with an easy smile. "You should thank her yourself," she suggested. "It will mean more coming from you. And Curnen is wonderful. She deserves that."

[GP/EP] Check-in Day

Re: OTA

Re: OTA

Re: OTA

Re: OTA

Re: OTA

Re: OTA

Re: OTA

Re: OTA

Re: OTA

Re: OTA