Jay and Inez - Twang
Jan. 15th, 2024 02:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsBackdated to Jan 15, 2024 Jay and Inez meet each other out in the woods.
Jay had promised Sam he'd stick around the mansion grounds, but it was easy to find an isolated spot to be alone, just him and Daddy's guitar. It almost felt like a betrayal to play music without Julia there to listen or sing along, but sometimes you just needed to cry to a Hank Senior song and Sam'd probably fuss if he heard Jay listening to the same record over and over.
Jay hadn't been able to cry since coming up north. His fingers were half froze in the January cold, but he managed to start picking out the chords to "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry".
He didn't sing and wasn't listening to anything but the twang of the guitar.
Inez was out for a walk around the grounds on her own, enjoying the crispness of the cool weather, the kind she never really experienced growing up in Texas but grew to appreciate in the colder climes. She had her hands in her pockets and frowned a little as she heard some familiar chords, though there was no one singing along to the tune.
Rounding a tree, she peeked ahead and saw an unfamiliar face playing a very familiar tune. Humming along, Inez sang the next couple of lines in tune to the strumming. "The midnight train is whining low, I'm so lonesome I could cry..." Her voice wasn't that of a singer, far from it, but she had a tune or two in the bucket she carried, enough for a fun night at karaoke... ok, if you had a few drinks in you.
"Nice pickin' there, kid," she said, nodding to Jay. "Y'must be new here, I reckon? Name's Inez, nice t'meet you," she said with a quick wave before putting her hand back inside of her coat pocket.
Jay's feathers ruffled a little in the surprise of hearing another voice singing the familiar lyrics. He hadn't expected to hear anyone else out here, let alone to hear the familiar lyrics. He looked up at her, a sad sort of surprise on his face like he couldn't manage the full emotion.
"Thank you, ma'am," he said and found that even though it was clear that this woman was a Texan it was a comfort to hear another accent from south of Ohio. Country folks recognized country folks from all walks, he'd gander. Still he held his guitar in his lap like a barrier between him and any connection that could be made. "My name's Jay. That obvious I ain't from around here?"
Inez blinked at the ma'am because, well, that wasn't something she'd heard every day. "Ma'am..." she replied, shaking her head a little but with a small grin on her face. "Sorry, ain't used t'that one just yet," she said, idly wondering how old Jay thought that she was but not wanting to ask for fear of getting an actual answer that she didn't want to hear.
"Well, I've been here a spell and y'don't look familiar, so I guess so," she reasoned. "But that ain't a bad thing, we get a lotta new folks in fits and starts 'round here, and it keeps things interestin', so glad t'have ya." She nodded to his guitar. "We don't get many who can play like you, though, so that's good... d'you sing too, by any chance?" she asked. "My singin' leaves, uh, a little somethin' t'be desired, not that it stops me, though I usually try an' keep it to t'shower."
Jay nodded at her mystification at being called ma'am. He guessed she was in her late twenties, but he'd rather be overly polite to the woman he had just met than not polite enough. She had a look of something like a sheriff about the way she stood.
"I don't sing," he told her, not wanting to weigh her down with the whys of it. That he could sing like a bird on a line if he wanted to, but just couldn't bring it out of himself. But he carried a sadness when he said it. "But you ain't as bad as you're makin' yourself out t'be, from the little I heard. Didn't mean to interrupt your walk."
"Aw, well, that's a pity," Inez replied, registering his sadness but not sure what to make of it as she doesn't know him, well, at all. "Bu they, with your great playin' y'might just attract someone t'be your songbird," she said, looking for a silver lining. "An' you weren't interruptin' much, I promise. Just lookin' for a little peace of mind, it can get kinda... busy in there, heh," she added with a chuckle.
"Where are you from, Jay?" she asked, figuring it was probably closer to her neck of the woods than where they currently were located, but wanting to be polite and not assuming anything.
"Maybe so," he said to her with a grimace, feathers ruffling slightly. Jay had spent so long with them bound down against his back that he hadn't yet learned the little body language tics his wings gave him. "An' back home I thought a house o' nine other people was bad enough," he agreed with her as he moved to stand.
"I'm from Kentucky, Cumberland County," he told her with a pain through his heart at the thoughts of home. "I'm guessin' you're a country girl too, Miss...?" He asked to prompt her for her name. Singing with someone should at least get some sort of name, he figured.
"Uh, Inez," she repeated, though she'd been singing just before that and startled him so she just chalked it up to that. "An' yeah, I'm from Texas originally, though I ain't been back home for a spell," Inez admitted with a frown and a little sigh. "Kentucky's real nice though, I've done some jobs there, been a few years or so but I remember it well enough."
She gave him a small smile and was about to ask him what he did when he realized, well, he had wings, so. "A flyer, then, are ya? Don't ask how I guessed that one," she said with a little chuckle and a wink.
Jay didn't realize that Inez had already told him her name. It'd been hard to focus lately. He nodded at her compliments to Kentucky and the confirmation she was Texan. He'd guessed as much, sure, but he would have been off.
"Not supposed to be doin' much flyin' lately, but that's right," Jay confirmed, flexing a wing so that Inez could see the teal vet wrap on the radiale joints in his wings. "So many mutations I wouldn't know where t'start guessin' with you," he said, inviting her to tell him, as he moved to stand.
"Yeah, there's a lotta us here for sure, an' a lotta different ones, so I can't fault y'there," she admitted. "I'm just a plain enhanced human, I reckon you'd say... extra strength, stamina, speed," Inez said, counting off on her fingers. "Nothin' too fancy but I'm a good hand to have in a brawl," she chuckled. "Sorry that you're hurt," she added after seeing the wrap on his wings. "I hope it won't keep you grounded for too long?"
"There's something plain about all that?" Jay said with a raised eyebrow and a low, oriole-like whistle. "Coulda fooled me." What was this sort of place where that was run-of-the-mill? Some old part of him he was still learning to silence thought like laughing in God's face. "And I should be set soon. They say they just gotta reteach the healing factor- whatever that is- to heal straight and not sprained."
"Well, y'know," she drawled with a smirk. "What can I say, everythin's bigger in Texas, I reckon I might be a little biased," she chuckled. "Ahh, well, I ain't much for that kinda thing, I'll be real honest, but if someone's tellin' y'that then they know what's goin' on and you'll be right as rain in no time flat, I'd wager." Inez knew the people at the school knew their stuff, even if she was a little biased as one of them was Clarice and all. "Pretty girl tell y'that, purple skinned like?" she queried.
Jay shook his head. "No, it was a woman maybe 'bout middle age who did." He wondered, in passing, how many purple-skinned people there were at Xavier's. But he liked talking to Inez, even if he wasn't sure how much more small talk he could stand. "Listen," he offered, running his hand over the body of his guitar. "I ain't much good at talkin', but if you got a request for a song I sure wouldn't mind the company." It was nice, for a few moments, not to be lonely.
"Sure thing," she said, not the best at small talk either but more than happy to listen to some familiar music. While she wasn't a huge country fan, she did enjoy it, and hadn't heard much around these parts lately, so who was she to turn down such an offer? "Whatever you'd like'd be fine, but maybe... do y'know Gentle on My Mind?" Inez asked. "Was one of my dad's favourites," she added a little quietly.
Jay didn't respond to her, instead starting on the opening chords of Gentle on My Mind, letting the Glen Campbell song fill the silence between between them. He left Inez to thinking about her daddy and tried to think about his own. But it was good to play to an audience again and he liked the idea of maybe easing someone else's homesickness.
Jay had promised Sam he'd stick around the mansion grounds, but it was easy to find an isolated spot to be alone, just him and Daddy's guitar. It almost felt like a betrayal to play music without Julia there to listen or sing along, but sometimes you just needed to cry to a Hank Senior song and Sam'd probably fuss if he heard Jay listening to the same record over and over.
Jay hadn't been able to cry since coming up north. His fingers were half froze in the January cold, but he managed to start picking out the chords to "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry".
He didn't sing and wasn't listening to anything but the twang of the guitar.
Inez was out for a walk around the grounds on her own, enjoying the crispness of the cool weather, the kind she never really experienced growing up in Texas but grew to appreciate in the colder climes. She had her hands in her pockets and frowned a little as she heard some familiar chords, though there was no one singing along to the tune.
Rounding a tree, she peeked ahead and saw an unfamiliar face playing a very familiar tune. Humming along, Inez sang the next couple of lines in tune to the strumming. "The midnight train is whining low, I'm so lonesome I could cry..." Her voice wasn't that of a singer, far from it, but she had a tune or two in the bucket she carried, enough for a fun night at karaoke... ok, if you had a few drinks in you.
"Nice pickin' there, kid," she said, nodding to Jay. "Y'must be new here, I reckon? Name's Inez, nice t'meet you," she said with a quick wave before putting her hand back inside of her coat pocket.
Jay's feathers ruffled a little in the surprise of hearing another voice singing the familiar lyrics. He hadn't expected to hear anyone else out here, let alone to hear the familiar lyrics. He looked up at her, a sad sort of surprise on his face like he couldn't manage the full emotion.
"Thank you, ma'am," he said and found that even though it was clear that this woman was a Texan it was a comfort to hear another accent from south of Ohio. Country folks recognized country folks from all walks, he'd gander. Still he held his guitar in his lap like a barrier between him and any connection that could be made. "My name's Jay. That obvious I ain't from around here?"
Inez blinked at the ma'am because, well, that wasn't something she'd heard every day. "Ma'am..." she replied, shaking her head a little but with a small grin on her face. "Sorry, ain't used t'that one just yet," she said, idly wondering how old Jay thought that she was but not wanting to ask for fear of getting an actual answer that she didn't want to hear.
"Well, I've been here a spell and y'don't look familiar, so I guess so," she reasoned. "But that ain't a bad thing, we get a lotta new folks in fits and starts 'round here, and it keeps things interestin', so glad t'have ya." She nodded to his guitar. "We don't get many who can play like you, though, so that's good... d'you sing too, by any chance?" she asked. "My singin' leaves, uh, a little somethin' t'be desired, not that it stops me, though I usually try an' keep it to t'shower."
Jay nodded at her mystification at being called ma'am. He guessed she was in her late twenties, but he'd rather be overly polite to the woman he had just met than not polite enough. She had a look of something like a sheriff about the way she stood.
"I don't sing," he told her, not wanting to weigh her down with the whys of it. That he could sing like a bird on a line if he wanted to, but just couldn't bring it out of himself. But he carried a sadness when he said it. "But you ain't as bad as you're makin' yourself out t'be, from the little I heard. Didn't mean to interrupt your walk."
"Aw, well, that's a pity," Inez replied, registering his sadness but not sure what to make of it as she doesn't know him, well, at all. "Bu they, with your great playin' y'might just attract someone t'be your songbird," she said, looking for a silver lining. "An' you weren't interruptin' much, I promise. Just lookin' for a little peace of mind, it can get kinda... busy in there, heh," she added with a chuckle.
"Where are you from, Jay?" she asked, figuring it was probably closer to her neck of the woods than where they currently were located, but wanting to be polite and not assuming anything.
"Maybe so," he said to her with a grimace, feathers ruffling slightly. Jay had spent so long with them bound down against his back that he hadn't yet learned the little body language tics his wings gave him. "An' back home I thought a house o' nine other people was bad enough," he agreed with her as he moved to stand.
"I'm from Kentucky, Cumberland County," he told her with a pain through his heart at the thoughts of home. "I'm guessin' you're a country girl too, Miss...?" He asked to prompt her for her name. Singing with someone should at least get some sort of name, he figured.
"Uh, Inez," she repeated, though she'd been singing just before that and startled him so she just chalked it up to that. "An' yeah, I'm from Texas originally, though I ain't been back home for a spell," Inez admitted with a frown and a little sigh. "Kentucky's real nice though, I've done some jobs there, been a few years or so but I remember it well enough."
She gave him a small smile and was about to ask him what he did when he realized, well, he had wings, so. "A flyer, then, are ya? Don't ask how I guessed that one," she said with a little chuckle and a wink.
Jay didn't realize that Inez had already told him her name. It'd been hard to focus lately. He nodded at her compliments to Kentucky and the confirmation she was Texan. He'd guessed as much, sure, but he would have been off.
"Not supposed to be doin' much flyin' lately, but that's right," Jay confirmed, flexing a wing so that Inez could see the teal vet wrap on the radiale joints in his wings. "So many mutations I wouldn't know where t'start guessin' with you," he said, inviting her to tell him, as he moved to stand.
"Yeah, there's a lotta us here for sure, an' a lotta different ones, so I can't fault y'there," she admitted. "I'm just a plain enhanced human, I reckon you'd say... extra strength, stamina, speed," Inez said, counting off on her fingers. "Nothin' too fancy but I'm a good hand to have in a brawl," she chuckled. "Sorry that you're hurt," she added after seeing the wrap on his wings. "I hope it won't keep you grounded for too long?"
"There's something plain about all that?" Jay said with a raised eyebrow and a low, oriole-like whistle. "Coulda fooled me." What was this sort of place where that was run-of-the-mill? Some old part of him he was still learning to silence thought like laughing in God's face. "And I should be set soon. They say they just gotta reteach the healing factor- whatever that is- to heal straight and not sprained."
"Well, y'know," she drawled with a smirk. "What can I say, everythin's bigger in Texas, I reckon I might be a little biased," she chuckled. "Ahh, well, I ain't much for that kinda thing, I'll be real honest, but if someone's tellin' y'that then they know what's goin' on and you'll be right as rain in no time flat, I'd wager." Inez knew the people at the school knew their stuff, even if she was a little biased as one of them was Clarice and all. "Pretty girl tell y'that, purple skinned like?" she queried.
Jay shook his head. "No, it was a woman maybe 'bout middle age who did." He wondered, in passing, how many purple-skinned people there were at Xavier's. But he liked talking to Inez, even if he wasn't sure how much more small talk he could stand. "Listen," he offered, running his hand over the body of his guitar. "I ain't much good at talkin', but if you got a request for a song I sure wouldn't mind the company." It was nice, for a few moments, not to be lonely.
"Sure thing," she said, not the best at small talk either but more than happy to listen to some familiar music. While she wasn't a huge country fan, she did enjoy it, and hadn't heard much around these parts lately, so who was she to turn down such an offer? "Whatever you'd like'd be fine, but maybe... do y'know Gentle on My Mind?" Inez asked. "Was one of my dad's favourites," she added a little quietly.
Jay didn't respond to her, instead starting on the opening chords of Gentle on My Mind, letting the Glen Campbell song fill the silence between between them. He left Inez to thinking about her daddy and tried to think about his own. But it was good to play to an audience again and he liked the idea of maybe easing someone else's homesickness.
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Date: 2024-03-17 05:22 am (UTC)