taxonomites | [Location: Park in Shelley] Second Performance [002]

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{ amy pond

[Location: Park in Shelley] Second Performance [002]

He’d sworn, once he managed to get off the street, that he would never perform on the corner again. That didn’t preclude finding a mostly-quiet place to practice, though, away from his room. Sure, he’d gotten used to less-than-luxurious accommodations, but that didn’t mean that they didn’t get stifling after a while.

So he had wandered for a long time, Rosewood slung over his back in a hastily-made leather case—just in case he decided he wanted her. Sure enough, he had ended up settling himself down in a park he’d discovered. Not playing on the street didn’t preclude trying to enjoy himself and calm down a little in a place that almost looked like something he could find at home in Haven if he closed his eyes and pretended.

First, of course, came the finger exercises that every Bard always did every single day unless they didn’t have fingers to do them with. Seeing as that was a relatively rare occurrence, he’d been doing them every morning, but it never hurt to warm up a little before playing. Once he’d gone through those, though, it was straight into a relatively easy song making damn certain to keep his Gifts out of it. There really wasn’t a reason for them, and he knew that he should save his energy for…something. He was always just a little on edge in this place.

The music helped him to relax, though, and he almost felt happy for the first time since he arrived. Which was a nice change.

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Hearing the music drift in her open windows, Amy got up to investigate. Less than ten minutes later, she found the source and stood back a ways, listening. She'd make herself known when he was finished, if he didn't notice her first.

Stefen had always had a habit of losing himself in a song, Gifts or no. He got himself all tied up in the music and he didn't notice anything else until he had stilled both his voice and Rosewood's strings. Sure enough, when he finally looked up, there was someone there watching. Not that it wasn't entirely unexpected--he was playing in a rather public place, after all. And he was used to having an audience.

"You don't have to stand all the way back there."

At being addressed, Amy comes right up to him. "Hey, you've got quite the talent." She tilts her head at his instrument. "That's not a guitar, is it?"

Stefen simply bowed his head at the compliment--he'd heard the same thing hundreds of times and would probably continue to hear it for the rest of his life, so it was best to just accept it and move on.

"No," he answered, brushing his hair out of his eyes with one hand. "She's a gittern."

"She?" Amy gave him a dubious look at that, but then shrugged and moved to sit beside him. "New to the city? I'm Amy."

Stefen only shrugged--he just knew that Rosewood was a she, but it was difficult to describe exactly how he did. Thankfully, she had continued and given him something else to answer.

"Yes, I think. I'm Stefen."

"What do think of this place so far? Pretty frustrating, huh?" At least it was for her, she who was so used to moving from place to place. Now she was stuck and it made her crabby.

"I don't think 'frustrating' even begins to cover it." Maddening, infuriating...there were a lot more words he would have liked to call it, but not all of them were exactly suited for polite conversation. "I guess...it's not the worst place I've ever slept."

"Yeah, at least it's... quaint, but that doesn't really make up for all the nonsense we have to put up with here."

Stefen wasn't entirely sure he liked "quaint." He had been a city-child all of his life, and this place just seemed too...empty. Even with all those doll-people he'd been warned about (they actually made it a little more disconcerting), it didn't feel like a city, and that was what he was used to.

"What kind of nonsense?"

"Oh, has no one told you yet?" She sighed and leaned back, staring up at the sky. "Where to start? Well, the aliens control everything here, and sometimes things break down, or they do stuff they think we'll like, but they're utterly wrong. We call those things glitches. Like releasing zombies, or everyone breaking out into song. Ridiculous things."

All of that dumped on him at once was...overwhelming at best. And trying to process it only made his head ache in a way it hadn't since he'd been overextending his gift. Things breaking down, messing things up, glitches... There were too many words that he couldn't assign a meaning to.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"What?" she replied, not understanding how he might not have caught all that. "Look, all you need to know is we have no control over what the aliens do here, so just stay on your toes and try to cope the best you can."

That was definitely a philosophy that he'd heard before--had lived, really, for a long time. Stay out of the way, don't make trouble, try and survive. That was easily enough understood. It was universal, really.

"That's...probably for the best."

"Mmm hmm." It was frustrating for Amy to just have to take whatever the aliens dished out, but so far, there hadn't been an opportunity for the residents to get the upper hand on their captors. For the moment, the best solution was just to act complacent while waiting for an opportunity to get out of there to present itself.

"Is there anything I can answer for you? I'm sure you got some help when you arrived, but maybe there's some questions you've thought of since then?"

He really hadn't--not questions that had an answer, anyway, or anything that he would understand when he asked, apparently. So, he was reluctantly forced to sigh and shake his head. "Not really, no. I don't think there's much that would make any sense, to be honest."

"Not if you're not used to this sort of thing, no." Amy, on the other hand, was pretty used to aliens with nefarious plots.

"So have you found a place to live, or are you staying in the Sanctuary?"

Stefen wasn't all that sure that he would ever get used to this. It wasn't exactly a normal occurrence for a Bard. Heralds, sure, Herald-Mages even more so. Bards were supposed to be relatively safe.

"I've just been staying there. It's not the worst place I've ever slept."

"Here? As in outside?" Well she supposed with the weather cooperating it couldn't be that bad. She wouldn't want to be harassed by squirrels though.

"No. 'There' as in the building." It wasn't as if he'd never slept outside, but a bed was much preferable. And it wasn't much better or worse than his old room back at the Collegium.

"Oh, well that's good. I envisioned you fighting off bunnies for a moss pillow or something."

Something about that particular mental image was hilarious enough to make Stefen laugh out loud. The entire thought was just too ridiculous.

"No, I actually have a bed. Inside."

She smiled at his laughter.

"Good to hear. Hey, you know anymore tunes?"

At the question, Stefen put on his best Court grin, shifting Rosewood a little in his hands.

"Why, my Lady, if I only knew the one, I'd not be much a Bard."

"I'd say not! So what are you going to play now?" She scooted around into a better position to be his audience and got comfortable.

Stefen shifted Rosewood back into a position that he could play from, getting himself ready for whatever song he decided to play next.

"What are you in the mood for, Lady? A love song, a tragedy, a tale or two?"

"Oo, Lady! Aren't you a sweet talker?" She preened for a moment, then laughed and said, "A tale or two sounds right up my alley."

No need to mention, then, that it was his job to be a sweet talker. "A tale it will be, then, Lady. I pray that my humble skill will be to your liking." And without wasting any more time, he launched into another song. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52Z0t9imjAk)

As she listened, Amy tapped a hand against her knee and added a bit of sway to her shoulders.

"Did that really happen? Was that Vanyel person real?"

Stefen's smile wavered only a little as he felt himself growing more and more somber thinking of Vanyel. He was good enough at his job to keep from looking it, though.

"Yes, he is." And off doing Lady knows what now that he's got no one to tell him "no." "And he'd be the first to tell you that it doesn't happen like in the songs, and I'm inclined to believe him."

"You know him? And here I thought this was some ancient tale." She laced her fingers together, setting them under her chin.

"Stories always talk things up to make them more exciting."

"Yes, I know him." Easy enough and it didn't give anything away. "I mean, it's pretty hard not to." There were songs about him and everyone could tell you who he was. "But I guess I might know him a little better than everyone else." Friends. Just go with that one.

"Pretty famous, huh?" Amy figured that in Stefen's world, a guy like Vanyel would probably be like a football star to the UK.

"Ah, friends with a celebrity. That's got to be tough. The screaming fans, fan mail, paparazzi..." She honestly didn't expect him to understand what she meant, but it was amusing to her.

"The papa...what?" That was not a word he'd heard before, and he knew a lot of words. It kind of came with the territory. Doubtless, he'd just have to file it away under "this city is strange" and leave it at that.

Amy smiled. "The paparazzi. They're people who follow celebrities around to see what they're doing and where. Nobody really likes them."

"Well, I can see why." He certainly wouldn't want anyone following him around everywhere just to see what he was doing, and he could certainly agree that Vanyel wouldn't either.

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[Location: Park in Shelley] Second Performance [002]

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