A snowy TV screen then a picture of a bright eyed girl, adjusting the camera to fit her image in
"Is it on? Is it working? Sa-weet! Helloooo people! I'm Harmony, and this is my video blog! Okay so I'm 24 years old, and I live in New York, and this is my first blog, yay! My friends call me Harm, and they said I should start up a video diary, since… yanno Evvvverybody is doin' it. It sounded like fun, so… Here I am!
I guess though, I should start at the beginning?"
She holds up a picture of a well known band. A beautiful blond woman at the head of the microphone and a blond man playing the drums are circled
"This was my mom and my daddy. Wasn't she beautiful? Her name was Lily and daddy was named Stephen. The name of their band was called Authentic. They were pretty big during their time. They got together while in the band. The story of their relationship was SOOO awesome and romantic. They were an amazing couple. When I was born, they were very happy, or so I'm told… I had several wonderful years with the both of them, really. It was what happened quite a few years ago that really changed everything. The beginning of a waking nightmare.
But yeah… In a minute for that, okay? Let's just talk about what it was like growing up the daughter of a famous band! It was pretty awesome, a bit lonely at times sure, being home schooled, and schooled on the road. But I had my brother, you know? Along with the rest of the band members, we were all a family. I remember getting my first drum set when I was like, 7. Daddy was so proud and wanted to teach me everything. Mom wanted me to sing, and write songs. They sorta struggled back and forth with me, and I really didn't complain much. They were happy and I liked music so, it was all okay.
The thing was, I had an ear for music; it was in my blood. Daddy made sure I was partial to the drums, while my mother? She trained my voice. But I was very much daddy's little girl. He always said how his greatest job and desire in the word was to protect me, and make sure I grew up to be happy. And for a while I really was. But eventually, following in their shadow became tedious. I found that I couldn't burst out into my own thing, I would always be the daughter of the great Authentic. While I wanted to make them proud, I wanted to be my own person too. I wanted to be known as Harmony, rather than Harmony Roberts, daughter of— Well you get the idea.
For a while, me and my parents were a bit at ends, yet a job is a job, and the show had to go on. They booked a tour in England which was the day of the Eclipse. And… I remember everything happening so fast. I was sitting with daddy, and we were going over a song that he had written for me to sing. I really wasn't feeling the urge to sing, but he insisted. He could tell there was such anger in my voice, daddy had an ear for the emotion in singing. When he confronted me about it, and insisted that I suck it up, I remember hitting this note, and feeling.. I dunno, hot I guess. I couldn't really explain it back then but I would soon learn just what it would mean. Things just.. started to melt and the plane couldn't be controlled anymore. The door was fused to it's hinges at first, and then it just.. melted off!
Everything was chaos from there. Um… Several people were sucked out through the hole that was caused, my mother included. Daddy managed to save me from being taken, grabbing a hold of me before the pressure took me. He always wanted to protect me, and somehow he did that day. As the plane was going down, I was surrounded by this blue bubble of sorts. It wasn't from me, it was from Daddy. The last thing I remember seeing was his smile through his crying eyes before we hit the ground, and then I lost consciousness.
I woke up in the hospital, and they told me that it was a miracle that I had survived the crash; that I was the ONLY one who survived. Mom, dad… everyone was all gone. The only family I had left was my little brother, Nathan, who was safe back in America.
It took me some time to recover, and after my wounds healed, I was released and sent back to America, where Nathan and I were thrown into the social system, where we were bounced and adopted into foster homes. Even though we had a reasonable amount of money locked away into a trust fund. It wouldn't be available until we were of the correct age. I honestly wasn't quite sure what was going on with me at the time. It seemed to happen with heightened emotional states, but it wasn't as big of a degree as it initially happened on the plane. I was having a problem with heat, or rather feeling hot. The higher emotions brought it on, and eventually I discovered what it was Radioactivity.
I don't understand how, but I could generate high forms of radiation, which I seemed immune to, but everything else around me didn't. This was impossible of course, and I decided I would try my best to not let it happen, and keep it a secret. Perhaps.. it would go away. I didn't WANT to understand it.
But I did want to do something to make my parents proud, and complete their dream, so I tried out for American Idol. Needless to say, I made it. Though I had a lot on my mind all through the competition, what with these powers that just didn't seem to be a one time thing acting up, I only made it a bit further than half-way through. Well, a little more than that, but I didn't make it all the way is the point.
I did manage to get a small record deal, even though I didn't win. A small company saw my performances and was impressed, so they signed me. I was in the process of making my record when things took a turn for the worse. You know, the big bomb? In New York? Well? At the time, my foster parents at the time were there when it happened. I had lost them too, and I was a little devastated, so much so that I just sorta slacked on finishing the record deal. I hid away for quite a while, going under the light and just sorta disappearing. That bomb.. it hit pretty close to home for me, and I wondered inside, did I have something to do with that? No.. that was a silly notion, I wasn't anywhere near it at the time.
I gave up all that my mother and father had worked towards, and all of the dreams I had of stardom in order to live a much simpler life. Plus, this ability I had? It just wouldn't go away! I could do serious harm to other around me. I felt TERRIBLE about this. It meant.. back then on the plane.. It was my fault! I caused the plane to crash.
I had a hard time with my music, even bringing myself to focus to play, let alone write anything. I wanted to give it all up, but somehow, I just couldn't. It was a part of me. But for right now, I couldn't seem to be the great legacy that I was conditioned for. For now, DJing does it for me, really. DJing, small gigs, karaoke, KJing… It's safe. Safe feel good right now. Maybe someday though… I'm just not too sure if I can get too close to people, it could prove to be very dangerous. It also seems like I lose them at some point.
*END OF FEED*
*The video feed cuts on a giant blue eyeball being the only thing seeing. It blinks.*
I think the lens is dirty. It looks dirty to me, is that gonna affect the—
*Harmony backs away in view of the camera.*
Oh! It's totally on! Ohmygod!
*A short bit of laughter just before the feed cuts off. It returns a few seconds later with Harm sitting a good distance.*
Ok, we're good. It's been a bit since I did one of these. So… it's exactly 24 hours until what? That's right! Graduation day! Yes! Yours truly, Harmony Roberts, will be a proud graduate of Toronto University, receiving her Masters of Science! After 5 long and mind crushing years, I will have attained enough credentials to officially call myself a nuclear engineer! If that doesn't make someone proud, then they can just suck on fallout sector.
Annnnway, before all of that, it's been rollarcoster of a half a decade. My experience in New York was a mis-mash of new beginnings, endings, and self-discovery. After moving there, I met the acquaintance of one Richard Cardinal, who very quickly became the core to the chaos that was my life back then.
There was a curfew, and I was out late and one thing lead to another, and I crashed on his couch for the evening. That is just how it started, and before I knew it, he employed me at his company Redline. My particular set of skills… or should I say abilities, were of some interest to him, and under the guise of the business was Endgame. I won't get into details on that. But there was a lot of cloak and dagger stuff that went down, which put us right into a threat of the world ending on Christmas. Weeeeellll… Richard and I were alone, we thought we were gonna wake up dead, one thing lead to another—
*5 year old Ricky and Lily jump into frame, pouncing on Harmony, forcing her to catch them and laugh.*
Well we got Ricky and Lily, my two greatest creations! And from there the excitement just mounted. When they were born, the world went pretty crazy, with the government and time travelers, Evo's vs Non. But— well… thankfully I had a battery of super support to help keep these two safe. Liz in particular.
Liz… went above and beyond for the sake of the twins and in the end, we lost her. And I say lost because? Well? let's just say that my opinion on the matter differs than most others but it's whatever. But there isn't a day that goes by that we don't talk about the twin's fairy godmother, right? I read you bedtime stories about her, right?
*She kisses each kid on the head when they nod.*
Yeah… Liz was a pretty big turning point in this whole story. Turned big heroic daddy into super daddy! And Liz lives on in these little gremlins! Huh?
*Childish laughing occurs as Harmony wrestles and tickles the two of them.*
But things got worse before that got better. After things got really heavy, and war was imminent, Richard, I and the twins, along with a group of others, escaped into a bunker down in Kansas, while I immersed myself the twin's every need while watching Richard take up to broadcasting messages of hope for the next two years. Two years in an enclosed space, with the same people surely forged some bonds obviously. We almost had enough for a full on community in there! Lets see, we had: Richard, Jared, me and the twins, Kaylee and Joseph with kids, Warren and Elle, Raquelle and his boyfriend and more kids; Noa for a bit, and periodic visits from others. So it wasn't the most terrible two years of the twin's lives.
But you know, once the war stopped, I decided that the twins needed a little bit of a better atmosphere for a little while. And as much as I didn't want to put distance between Richard and the kids, it was better if we were not nearby while he had a huge target on his back, just until things cooled down just a little bit. So with Richard's help, I got accepted into Vancouver university, where I spent the next 5 years being a mom, and working on becoming a nuclear engineer! Which has helped me to understand my ability immensely!
So, with my Bachelor's in hand, as of about t-minus 12 hours or so, the twins and I will be on our way back to New York, for the next two years of the next step of my education. That's about the timeframe of my next degree. I'd stay here in Canada but, I've been offered an internship at Richard's company, at Raytech, which also puts the kids and Richard back into daily proximity, so it works out for everyone. I'm sure I can handle the challenges of living back in the states one step at a time. And Brooklyn University isn't so bad. Annnd at least I'm not alone.
*END OF FEED*