Participants:
Scene Title | Die Happy, Chorus |
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Synopsis | Time that we waste While we wait for the future to land |
Date | January 5, 2019 |
Half lidded eyes stares into a prstinely shined vase, staring back at their owner with just the slightest haze. No one could blame Robyn Quinn for being tired, at least if they knew about her previous night. She hadn't slept well the night before, not after… what she had seen.
She had abandoned what she had been working on for the rest of that night, despite it's time sensitive nature, in hopes sleep would offer relief. It didn't - only nightmares followed her. There were only so many "You look tired, Robyn. Did you sleep well?" questions she could stand at Fort Jay before she cut out early for the day.
Without filing a report on her vision. Not this time.
Once back on the mainland, the only real inclination she'd had besides going home was to take part in a long standing and time honoured tradition of distraction: Spending money. With the expenses she would be facing in the near future, she couldn't go absolutely nuts at the Vault like she had in the past, but it still meant she could pick up some new accoutrement for her soon-to-be living space.
Her eyes move slowly across the aisles, across racks, across furniture set across the floor. Her new place is where a lot of her furniture in Rochester would be going to once she finished her time with Wolfhound. It's still hard to believe that that's coming up so soon.
A part of her is sad, a part of her is relieved. So, the same as ever.
That thought helps offer her the distraction she's asked for, but it's when her eyes land on something that must be a new addition to the inventory at the shop that she truly forgets about her troubles for the moment. Sitting on one of the shelves is a dirty old turntable, two foot tall speakers plugged into the back of it.
A small "try me" sign sits next to it, which just tells her that it wasn't the shops owner that set it up like this - perhaps one of the other employees had. But still, she appreciates the gesture, looking to small pile of donated and scavenged vinyl sitting next to it.
Quietly she flips through it. All of them are albums she already owns, it seems, or are incomplete parts of multi-vinyl sets. But her eyes finally settle on one that catches her attention that she doesn't recognise, and she smiles.
Pulling it out of it's sleeve, she turns to the record player and slides the album down on to it. There's a small pop from the speakers - old ones who's functionality is probably questionable at best. At the very least, they're likely blown.
Smiling, Robyn lifts up the arm of the device, carefully moving it to the very edge of the vinyl as it starts to spin. She waits a moment for her hand to steady before she drops the needle, watching as it falls down to the-
She had barely felt it.
And yet, it had knocked some of the air out of her lungs as she had slammed into it.
Precious air.
And once again
I find myself out on the waters
Eyes open, blurry and murky.
Roux gasps, bubbles exploding forth from her mouth.
She wishes she's taken swimming seriously.
I am the sun
I am the captain and the ship
The water is cold. It soaks into her skin, a slow feeling of numbness.
A hand breaks through the surface, reaching for her. It comes up short.
Her lungs begin to burn.
She thrashes in the water, reaching up for the hand.
Just out of reach.
Sinking.
Spinning.
And once again
I find myself out in the waters
Screams, yelling penetrates the water.
Fragments of sentence, single words.
Help. Daughter. Vanguard. Faster. Grave. Drowning.
I am a thousand fish
I feed on every shore
Clawing upwards, reaching. Fighting the pull downwards.
Something whizzes through the water past her.
Her throat tightens as light headedness sets in.
Once again I find
I can’t break the line
She tries to remember her favourite song. How it went.
Piano notes play in the back of her mind, reverberating through her watery prison.
She stops fighting.
Once again I find
I am frozen
She is adrift. She is at peace.
She mouths the final line of the song plays in her head.
Nothing can stop me now.
Eyes lazily drift close.
She feels something break the water above her.
And just before everything fades away, something grabs her arm-
A loud gasp for air. Wide eyes. Trembling. Arms wrapped around herself, Robyn stares down at the floor, just a moment before she starts coughing harshly. One person has looked around a corner of an aisle to see if she okay, before at the moment it really doesn't seem like she is.
Another coughing fit, and still shaking as if the cold of the water had permeated through to her reality, she slowly rises up to her feet. The record has transitioned to a new song, but she isn't paying attention to it anymore.
"M-merde…" is said in a quiet way that lacks any conviction the curse normally has when uttered. Letting her arms fall back to her side, her shaking hand reaches over to pick up her bag. Even as a voice near her speaks up, "M'am, are you alright?" she steps away, moving a bit quicker with every few steps until she reaches the door..
As she steps out into the sunlight, it blinds her a moment. Not uncommon. More ill advised and less common is how she tilts her head up towards it, before quickly averting her eyes as a throb of pain shouts back through her head.
She fidgets for a moment, and turns to head home, the sounds of a piano echoing in the back of her mind as she does. The words she had heard burned into her mind. The voice, muffled, but…
Daughter.
Could it have been?
Robyn stops, looking down at the sidewalk again. Another word bubbles up to the tip of her tongue.
"Vanguard," she says quietly, looking to her bag. A hand reaches in and pulls out her copy of Wolves of Valhalla. She trembles again, feeling compelled to flip through it, stopping at a picture of Eagle Electric. It tugs at her, like an invisible thread drawing her hand to the picture. A compulsion, of some sort.
Maybe tomorrow she would do some sightseeing of a place of local historical note.
For now, she gently closes the book and slides it back into her bag.
For now, she just wanted to go home and lay down.