Participants:
| Scene Title | Authentic Hope Pt. 2 |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Seeking Liz at the safehouse, Harmony find Ygraine instead, who fills her in a little more on the musical plans being made for she and her brother. |
| Date | April 13, 2011 |
This three story industrial structure was once the home of Cliffside Apartments, now just a fire-gutted shell of a building. When an inferno tore through the lofts and studios nothing was spared. Only the crumbling brick walls of the building still remain, roof gone leaving exposed sky to where wooden supports and flooring have all collapsed inward. The skeletal frames of tall studio windows are devoid of glass, and all the shards of people's ruined lives lay buried in heaps of slag and charcoal.
Liz probably won't be happy, but things happen and for a very good reason, she is visiting the safehouse. A combination of hormones and needing to go to the bathroom caused a bit of damage as Harmony let a little EMP slip which took out her phone. The phone that had all her numbers in. The old ones she has elsewhere but the one from Liz she doesn't. Under the cover of noon.. which isn't much cover at all.. She creeps to the safehouse, still very pregnant and looking a little warm, almost feverish. It is simply an aspect of her power interacting with her hormonal state. She is used to it. She doesn't do much to disguise her presence, as sneaking around here can get you shot.
Knocks on the door are not exactly a customary part of life in the safehouse, and they initially prompt Ygraine to move in quite a different direction - going to check in a small mirror set up to give some hope of seeing who might be outside. For long moments she eyes the stranger, then ventures cautiously down towards the door, listening intently as she goes. Curse Liz for not being here at the moment.
Knocking doesn't seem to work. Of course it wouldn't.. everyone is on edge. Fortunately, Liz told her how to get in, so with some assistance from a nail file, and a bit of luck, Harmony pops open the door and almost stumbles in. "Good lord.." she complains about the door, hitting it. Closing it behind her, Harmony looks around, "Liz, are you here? I know what you're gonna say.. I shouldn't be here bit it's a little important.. kinda.."
Freezing, crouched on the stairs, Ygraine frowns as she listens to that… before deciding that one way or another the safehouse has already been found, and concluding that she really ought to resist the urge to dash off, grab her stuff and flee underground.
However tempting it might be.
Instead, the Briton rises to her feet, and trots rapidly down - emerging into view with a quizzical expression on her face. She's clad in a loose sweater, sagging low over one shoulder to expose a close-fitting and high-necked top, with boots and tight breeches - all in near-black tones. Her hip-length braid of hair matches them, though the swaying end of it is dyed a brilliant, warm blue.
"I'm afraid we're really only open for business by appointment in most cases", she announces, tone dry and crisply educated, clearly betraying her origins on the far side of the Pond. "And it seems that we need better security on the door."
Color Harmony a bit embarrassed. She neglected to think about the possibility that many others are staying here. That is her problem most times, she tends not to think first. In doing so, the pregnant girl is left looking a little sheepish as she is confronted, her jaw a little slack, trying to find the words to speak with. "Uh.. sorry. I didn't think anyone else was here. I'm.. looking for Liz? I'm Harmony. Kinda connected to Richard in a way?" her hands moving to her swollen belly, giving it a light pat. "She told me to avoid coming here much, but I kinda had an accident."
"You're…?" Then Ygraine registers the last bit, and her expression turns from surprise to worry. "Are you all right? Do you need me to try to find someone for you?", she asks hurriedly, closing most of the remaining distance. "At the least, I can let you sit down…"
"Oh no. No no." Harmony shakes her head and her hands about in front of her, "It's.. nothing bad, just inconvenient." She is a little mad at herself for slipping like she did. She is also pretty sure that Ygraine is someone in the know, if she is here, so she isn't really on the defensive. "Um.." she makes those awkward movements, walking like a pregnant girl, as she looks further along than she actually is, in part to the fact she is carrying twins. "I had a little accident, involving my phone. Which contained the number that Liz gave me to contact her. Phone is busted, basically, so I risked dropping by to get the number, and to keep her from freaking out because she can't reach my number. I thought it was a better idea then having her go ballistic with worry."
Slowly, realisation dawns. "Ah. That kind of accident. Christ, that's a relief", Ygraine says with a laugh, ushering Harmony through to what passes for luxury in the derelict building. Well, there's a stool, at least.
"I'm Ygraine, by the way. Liz isn't around at the moment, and I probably shouldn't give out numbers without her say-so, but… are you good to hang around for a little while?"
"I pulled a Harmony with my phone. Liz will probably give me a lecture or two, but that isn't anything new." Ahh, a stool.. a seat to rest her sore back upon. Anytime she can have a seat is a good day for her. Pulling herself up to sitting with a little groan, then a sigh of relief, she hunches her posture a little. "Nate isn't going to be happy, either. I think I took out his laptop in the process. So it was a good thing for me to get away from the apartment, so yeah, I'm good to hang around."
"Nate?" Ygraine cocks her head, moving to prop her rump on a wall, head cocking as she peers at Harmony, gaze flickering over the younger woman's face. "Would this be a brother called Nate? And the pair of you called Roberts?"
Harmony perks up a little bit, "Mm-hm. That's right. Nate Roberts." Not really being a stupid girl, just a little irresponsible, Harmony makes a connection, "Oh wait.. you're the Brittish woman that he talked about. I remember that now.. at the time we were having a little crisis, so.. it slipped my mind. Hey, it's a bit of a smile world." she smiles.
Ygraine laughs softly, then steps forward to offer a hand. "Ygraine FitzRoy. And yes. I didn't want to leap to conclusions… but it's good to meet you. I hope that you were favourably impressed by what your brother had to tell you about my idea."
"Ahh." Harmony smiles, taking her hand, "It's nice to actually meet you. Nate has been a little late in arranging a meeting, but yeah, I was pretty stoked about what he had to say. As you can see… and I'm not exactly sure how—" she realizes now that she had done the exact thing Liz said not to do, "Ugh.. I forgot that quick.." She mentioned Cardinal as the father again. "Anyway.. As you can see, I have very little to do as of late. I can't be as active as I used to be."
"Well, I'm hoping to get you to write and record, rather than perform on stage", Ygraine says warmly, smiling as she reclaims her hand. "But I confess that I don't really know how you personally best work. Would you be doing things on your own? Intending to do something jointly with your brother? Interested in a broader collaboration with other artists?"
"Well, before Nate surprised me with moving to New York, I basically just did a little DJing and open mike, while working with songwriting which really sorta took hold around Christmas time. I had some down time to where I could churn out a few ballads, but no real direction for them." She thinks back on the short time that her musical agenda went through changes. "When Nate showed up, I briefly considered a band with him, following after our parents, but.. I think I'd rather go the record route. After American Idol, I sorta put stage performance on the back burner."
Ygraine chuckles softly, then looks abruptly apologetic. "Sorry. Would you like a drink of anything? Or something to eat? Not that we exactly have a gourmet chef working here, but…. I could see what I could rustle up. But… yeah. We'd be delighted to have you help however you can. There are a few people who've expressed interest or support, and a couple of others I'd like to try targetting to bring in. But it's all gone… vastly more slowly than I'd hoped. Thus far, I'm aware of precisely one new song that's been written and got to a stage where it could be taken to a studio to see how it actually sounds. So anything that you and Nate can do, providing your own work or chasing other people, I'd be really grateful for."
"Oh, no.. nothing to drink or anything for me. I am pretty sure I'm gonna have to go the the restroom here in a few minutes, but otherwise I'm alright for now." The bathroom trips are almost the worst part of it. Harmony having these babies is sure to teach her lessons about the consequences of irresponsibility. "I'd be glad to help out. Nate wasn't exactly forthcoming with information, but I got the general hint. He gets excited sometimes, and it just so happens that the day he told me is the day that I stopped being a telepath, and returned to being a radiation emitter. So no more mind reading.."
Ygraine looks surprised, then chuckles. "I thought I recognised you. The meeting, here. Yes? I was… a bit overwhelmed during that. Barely understand half of what was being talked about, and… got a bit distracted by at least one of the people there. And some of the discussions…."
Shaking her head, she finds another smile. "But… well. There's a campaign called Liberty, that I've been involved with. The idea is to use the powers granted to all US citizens under the Constitution, to get the government's recent laws taken to the Supreme Court for review. Any removal of rights from the people is automatically subject to the Supreme Court, and any citizen has the right to ask it to step in to review his case. Liberty's raising awareness of that idea, and is also drumming up money for a separate trust fund - that exists solely to pay for the legal costs of Supreme Court cases in support of civil and human rights. Since the administration can shut down even the New York Times's efforts to run independent stories - as seen with its expose on Moab - we took the decision to focus on alternative routes to get our message out. And that's where music comes in."
Softly chewing on her bottom lip, Harmony listens, "See, he didn't explain all of that to me. I think he just figured I'd simply be glad to just be doing music again, which is true.. but even more so with a cause behind it." She frowns a little, remembering a possibility with her own brush with rights, "Especially this one.. Richard mentioned the possibility about the government taking away our rights to have children freely."
Ygraine winces and nods. "Yes. There's… there's been at least one vision that would suggest that will be the case", she says quietly. "I can't promise that being associated with Liberty will be wholly safe. But everything it has done has been scrupulously above-board. That's one of the reasons for me not taking a visible role in it, really. The other being that I have no real right to appeal anything the administration says should be done to me. It's citizens who have the right to get the Supreme Court to step in to defend them."
"But the chairwoman of Liberty is Adelaide Xylander, or Adelaide Naimarc in some references. She was already a released singer herself before she got involved in this. And she did the song we released online last year. We've also got a media specialist helping out. And there are a few others who've said that they'll record things. But if yourself and Nate could chase people up, it could be great. Adelaide can book people a recording studio. There might be other options for using things freely, but again we're eager to make sure that everything is absolutely above-board and we don't give any legal reason for things to be tied up in disputes over declarations of gifts of financial value or the like. But music industry professionals can probably advise more on how that works than can I…. Still, the hope is that we can get at least a few people to record material, and have an album to release. And in theory, we have a friendly DJ or two, as well as the ability to get things some publicity online."
Harmony ahhs softly, comprehending, "It sounds like things are aligned up to go well. I'm probably more versed in the behind the window things of music than my brother. He brings much of the talent. What I'll have to do.." she ponders, "Is get some samples out, or.. if you can get me the song, we can try it out, studio or non and see what everyone thinks. Currently, my schedule is pretty open."
You paged Elisabeth with 'Sleepy now. I've been up far longer than I should.'
"Adelaide's song? It's already out there online. Just search for Liberty on YouTube and you should find a stack of videos for it. We've been running a contest for schoolkids - edit your own version of the video, or do work with some of the Creative Commons artwork, and get a day in a recording studio with a professional singer. But the album, we're hoping to have people produce their own work for - make it a mixed bag of styles and influences, and hope that there's at least something to appeal to everyone there. Though if a skilled supervisor could mold it into a coherent-sounding whole - a musical journey, rather than just a random assortment - that'd be fantastic."
"I can give you the names I passed on to your brother, if you like. Not that the list is as long as I'd hoped - at least two people I'd hoped to get involved aren't… well, they're not really available for public recording any more, at the least."
When nature calls, Harmony can deny it an answer for about 2 seconds. It hits her pretty hard and fast, and is mostly not as predictable as she would like. "That sounds like a good idea to me. I'll take care of any connections and paperwork that need to be done. And" And there comes the face, it's a discomfort that washer over and and she wrinkles her nose. "Um You'll have to excuse me for just a second. Calling of nature and I can't not listen." she waddles herself up to her feet, and tries to find a bathroom like she were on fire. It is one of those moments.
A startled look, then Ygraine hastens to assist - directing Harmony to what passes for a luxurious bathroom in the derelict house. At least she doesn't need to worry about how to work the bucket-assisted shower array. "I'll draw you up a list, and a few notes. But… take your time. And you can lie down for a bit if you need to", the Briton assures her visitor, closing the door after her - then setting off to make a cup of tea for them both. She suspects it might be needed.