Log: Emily and Liam - Music and Mutants
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xp_logsBackdated to Wednesday July 17th - Midday
Emily tries to get to know Liam and maybe find a connection. It doesn't go as well as she would have liked.
Laying on the back porch in the sunbeam might be the best place Liam had found recently. It was covered, but the sun still angled through to give a nice warm sunbeam without all the drama of being fully outside. And there were fans overhead spinning lazily to keep the air from getting too stagnant in the heat. He had his leg up on a chair as he lay on the ground and a sweating sippy cup next to him. Stupid covered tumblers like was a toddler.
Emily for her part had started spending a lot more time outside than in after the whole ‘kidnapped to another dimension’ incident - not that outside had been particularly helpful given they'd been on a hike but the back porch of the mansion with its shade and at least wide angle view did seem to provide at least some comfort.
“Liam,” she said, sitting down on the porch swing not far from his sunbeam. She'd seen him up and about but they'd not exactly had any time to get to know each other between the multiple kidnappings. She knew the long-term residents must be quietly having kittens over how often these things were happening, not that she would put any blame on them. They seemed as far as she could tell, quietly competent when it came to weirdness. Besides, she didn't have a choice of residence until she either learnt control or somehow managed to rid herself of magic entirely. It was something to think about. “Enjoying the sunshine?”
Cracking one eye open, he gave a short nod. "Emily," he acknowledged, with a jaw-cracking yawn that exposed his elongated teeth, "It's warm."
“Those are so cool,” Emily noted, getting a good look at his teeth with the yawn. “Do you have to eat a fully meat diet or can you eat cereal and stuff too? I can't see from here if you have molars or bicuspids.”
She realised only after her suddenly excited babble that querying people about their teeth was considered fucking weird. She blushed slightly and waved her hand in a ‘don’t mind me’ kinda way.
“Sorry, um, I’m kinda a dork when it comes to all this and um, not opening my big yap to put my foot entirely in it. So ah, yeah, warm. It's not as hot here, you know, but the humidity kinda makes up for it. It's like being in Queensland.”
"You're so weird," he sighed, not that this was truly a bad thing. "I can pretty much eat whatever. Sharon's the one with a more sensitive stomach. She'll eat grass. And yeah, it's hotter and more humid than where I live in Maine, too. I like the warm spots."
Emily laughed at that, letting her head rest back on the cushion of the porch swing, one foot moving her back and forth with an idle motion.
“Mate! Although, can't really argue it. Even the parentals wondered if I’d been left by the fairies a time or two. Sharon’s cool, although Madin was a little upset with the whole ‘I’m a cat’ thing she does. Don't think they understand cats much.”
"What? That's not a secret," Liam made a face at the mention of Madin. "They definitely do not. Or anything else. And they need to mind their own business." He clearly still had opinions on it all.
“They mean well,” Emily defended, wondering what Madin had done to cause such a strong reaction from Liam. “They just see her as human first, whereas she sees herself as a cat. It's bound to confuse. I'm sure they'll work it out.”
Emily pulled her new phone out of her pocket as it made a sound and smiled at the text she’d gotten. She still had to check in with whoever it was who did tech support to see if she could give her number to her old friends but for now, she was content to just have family chat.
She sent a gif to her Aunt and closed down the chat, giving Liam a curious look.
“Are you doing okay? After all the stuff, I mean.”
"You probably shouldn't be giving opinions on things that aren't your business and you know nothing about," he said finally, running through a few different responses in his head. "And no. I'm not. I'd be more worried if I was doing fine."
Emily blinked in confusion, giving Liam a ‘what?’ look for a moment before speaking.
“Mate, how is how Madin reacted to Sharon coming into my room at night not my business?”
Okay, they were not talking about the same thing. "I thought you were talking about the crap they pulled in my room the other day," he responded, "I don't know anything about your room."
"Oh, um,"
What had Madin done? She'd known they were upset but she hadn't thought they'd do anything silly. Maybe she should have tried harder to make Madin understand that not everywhere was Australia, or the Brotherhood.
Not that she knew much about whatever the Brotherhood was but she'd seen them talk about it on the journals when she'd backread to try and understand where exactly it was she'd ended up. She'd very carefully not told her parents there was a paramilitary group working out of the basement here.
It wasn't like they had anywhere else to help train her powers but she could almost guarantee they'd try.
"Sharon found me having a nightmare a while back and I was looking all fiery, so she dumped water on my head. Which was nice of her, honestly. If I'd actually been all fiery I could have set things on fire. But anyway, Madin was all about how adults shouldn't be wandering into my room at night. Which, you know, if she wasn't a cat would have been a perfectly valid reaction, but she is a cat. Anyway, I promised I'd lock my door from now on, so it's all good, no worries."
Emily pushed the porch swing again, not voicing the 'whee' that she might have done if she'd been alone. Sure, things like that were considered childish but if you couldn't spend time enjoying small things, then were you living?
That sounded like Sharon. "Madin came in my room and....I don't even know why? But Sharon and I were both on my bed and Shatterstar was sitting right by us and they freaked out. I'm not even sure why?" Liam had been there, but still pretty high on pain meds. His dosage and pain levels were much lower now. "Sharon jumped out the window and I moved too quickly and threw up on them." He was kinda proud of that.
Emily scrunched her nose up, unable to particularly defend someone wandering into another’s space and then freaking out so badly it caused another to run away. She wasn't willing to play armchair psychologist on anyone. It wasn't her place.
“Does Sharon need anything, do you think? Or do you? Beyond getting to lay in the sun, anyway.”
"Can you magically heal my knee?" Liam asked. He was pretty sure she couldn't.
“Yeah, no. Soz.” Emily replied as she looked down at her hands for a moment and focused the way Amanda had been teaching her. “Just this so far.”
She held up fingers and nails that had lengthened and widened into rough black claws before they faded slowly back into her normal human hands.
Emily hadn't worked out yet how to keep anything but fire up for more than a minute without some kind of counter-reaction. It wasn't worth it for what came down to showing off.
"I can do that," Liam unsheathed his claws, waving them at her. "Fun, but not that helpful right now."
“I don't suppose they are,”
Emily kept up the slow rocking back and forth of the swing, using her feet to keep the momentum going.
“I could just be here? If you wanted the company. We don't have to be all talky.”
Liam shrugged, "I'm not great company right now. Who's your favorite artist?"
“That’s a hard question,” Emily replied with a smile, looking out over the lawn and the blue sky beyond. It was a wonderful day. “Music or Art?”
"Music," because who knew anything about art? Or cared? All he knew was if he liked it or not. That was all he needed to know.
“That’s even worse, cause that depends on genre and whether I’m currently working on something and need to sample,” Emily noted with the air of someone who had discussed this before. “Pop I’m a big fan of Alison Blaire but I also had my Taylor Swift era too. Mum loves Pink so I kinda know some of her stuff too. Baby Metal is kinda awesome but I think that's considered more J-rock”
"You're so weird," Liam reiterated. "Just say you like Taylor Swift or whatever, it's not meant to be a hard question."
Emily’s smile wavered for a moment, and her hands rubbed against her knees as she stared out at the blue sky, taking a moment to just breathe before her shoulders straightened and she shrugged.
“It's not that. I do still like Taylor Swift but I’m not as obsessed anymore as when I was thirteen and it's not that it's a hard question, it's just that it's a large question. I mean, there's so much music out there and so many different kinds and each kind is so different that you can't say you have just one favourite of all time unless you only really like one kind of music. Even then, when what you think or feel about something changes depending on the moment, it can change daily unless you're obsessed with one artist and that's just not me. You see?”
It was the most she’d said to anyone in days but she supposed music was one of her special subjects. She could truly talk about it for hours if given the opportunity.
"I really like Avicii, but I've been listening to a lot of country recently," he answered, sitting up and making his way to his feet, "See? Not that complicated. Tomorrow, my answer might be different, but today, that's where I am."
“I was sad when I heard he passed,” Emily said, pulling her legs up to curl her arms around them so she could lean her chin on her knees. “He was one of my inspirations, you know? Sadly, he couldn't see a reason to stay.”
She didn't see things the way Liam did but that was okay. People were different, and if they were exactly alike it wouldn't be near as interesting to talk to anyone else as it was. Who only wanted to hear their voice parroting back at them?
Liam huffed, "Do they not have normal conversation in Australia or something?" he asked, "Cause you clearly can't have one. And it can't be that you're from small town nowhere, because I'm from small town nowhere and I can hold a conversation." She overthought everything and answered everything with a question, which just made things more complicated than it needed to be! Then a thought occurred to him, "Or are you on the spectrum or something?"
Emily’s hair which had to this point been normal burst into flames as she gave him a look that could best be described as shocked.
She'd only been trying to find common ground. Why was everyone here so mean, or angry or both?
She wanted to go home but home wasn't home anymore.
Emily stood, smoothed down her shirt and then left without another word.
Emily tries to get to know Liam and maybe find a connection. It doesn't go as well as she would have liked.
Laying on the back porch in the sunbeam might be the best place Liam had found recently. It was covered, but the sun still angled through to give a nice warm sunbeam without all the drama of being fully outside. And there were fans overhead spinning lazily to keep the air from getting too stagnant in the heat. He had his leg up on a chair as he lay on the ground and a sweating sippy cup next to him. Stupid covered tumblers like was a toddler.
Emily for her part had started spending a lot more time outside than in after the whole ‘kidnapped to another dimension’ incident - not that outside had been particularly helpful given they'd been on a hike but the back porch of the mansion with its shade and at least wide angle view did seem to provide at least some comfort.
“Liam,” she said, sitting down on the porch swing not far from his sunbeam. She'd seen him up and about but they'd not exactly had any time to get to know each other between the multiple kidnappings. She knew the long-term residents must be quietly having kittens over how often these things were happening, not that she would put any blame on them. They seemed as far as she could tell, quietly competent when it came to weirdness. Besides, she didn't have a choice of residence until she either learnt control or somehow managed to rid herself of magic entirely. It was something to think about. “Enjoying the sunshine?”
Cracking one eye open, he gave a short nod. "Emily," he acknowledged, with a jaw-cracking yawn that exposed his elongated teeth, "It's warm."
“Those are so cool,” Emily noted, getting a good look at his teeth with the yawn. “Do you have to eat a fully meat diet or can you eat cereal and stuff too? I can't see from here if you have molars or bicuspids.”
She realised only after her suddenly excited babble that querying people about their teeth was considered fucking weird. She blushed slightly and waved her hand in a ‘don’t mind me’ kinda way.
“Sorry, um, I’m kinda a dork when it comes to all this and um, not opening my big yap to put my foot entirely in it. So ah, yeah, warm. It's not as hot here, you know, but the humidity kinda makes up for it. It's like being in Queensland.”
"You're so weird," he sighed, not that this was truly a bad thing. "I can pretty much eat whatever. Sharon's the one with a more sensitive stomach. She'll eat grass. And yeah, it's hotter and more humid than where I live in Maine, too. I like the warm spots."
Emily laughed at that, letting her head rest back on the cushion of the porch swing, one foot moving her back and forth with an idle motion.
“Mate! Although, can't really argue it. Even the parentals wondered if I’d been left by the fairies a time or two. Sharon’s cool, although Madin was a little upset with the whole ‘I’m a cat’ thing she does. Don't think they understand cats much.”
"What? That's not a secret," Liam made a face at the mention of Madin. "They definitely do not. Or anything else. And they need to mind their own business." He clearly still had opinions on it all.
“They mean well,” Emily defended, wondering what Madin had done to cause such a strong reaction from Liam. “They just see her as human first, whereas she sees herself as a cat. It's bound to confuse. I'm sure they'll work it out.”
Emily pulled her new phone out of her pocket as it made a sound and smiled at the text she’d gotten. She still had to check in with whoever it was who did tech support to see if she could give her number to her old friends but for now, she was content to just have family chat.
She sent a gif to her Aunt and closed down the chat, giving Liam a curious look.
“Are you doing okay? After all the stuff, I mean.”
"You probably shouldn't be giving opinions on things that aren't your business and you know nothing about," he said finally, running through a few different responses in his head. "And no. I'm not. I'd be more worried if I was doing fine."
Emily blinked in confusion, giving Liam a ‘what?’ look for a moment before speaking.
“Mate, how is how Madin reacted to Sharon coming into my room at night not my business?”
Okay, they were not talking about the same thing. "I thought you were talking about the crap they pulled in my room the other day," he responded, "I don't know anything about your room."
"Oh, um,"
What had Madin done? She'd known they were upset but she hadn't thought they'd do anything silly. Maybe she should have tried harder to make Madin understand that not everywhere was Australia, or the Brotherhood.
Not that she knew much about whatever the Brotherhood was but she'd seen them talk about it on the journals when she'd backread to try and understand where exactly it was she'd ended up. She'd very carefully not told her parents there was a paramilitary group working out of the basement here.
It wasn't like they had anywhere else to help train her powers but she could almost guarantee they'd try.
"Sharon found me having a nightmare a while back and I was looking all fiery, so she dumped water on my head. Which was nice of her, honestly. If I'd actually been all fiery I could have set things on fire. But anyway, Madin was all about how adults shouldn't be wandering into my room at night. Which, you know, if she wasn't a cat would have been a perfectly valid reaction, but she is a cat. Anyway, I promised I'd lock my door from now on, so it's all good, no worries."
Emily pushed the porch swing again, not voicing the 'whee' that she might have done if she'd been alone. Sure, things like that were considered childish but if you couldn't spend time enjoying small things, then were you living?
That sounded like Sharon. "Madin came in my room and....I don't even know why? But Sharon and I were both on my bed and Shatterstar was sitting right by us and they freaked out. I'm not even sure why?" Liam had been there, but still pretty high on pain meds. His dosage and pain levels were much lower now. "Sharon jumped out the window and I moved too quickly and threw up on them." He was kinda proud of that.
Emily scrunched her nose up, unable to particularly defend someone wandering into another’s space and then freaking out so badly it caused another to run away. She wasn't willing to play armchair psychologist on anyone. It wasn't her place.
“Does Sharon need anything, do you think? Or do you? Beyond getting to lay in the sun, anyway.”
"Can you magically heal my knee?" Liam asked. He was pretty sure she couldn't.
“Yeah, no. Soz.” Emily replied as she looked down at her hands for a moment and focused the way Amanda had been teaching her. “Just this so far.”
She held up fingers and nails that had lengthened and widened into rough black claws before they faded slowly back into her normal human hands.
Emily hadn't worked out yet how to keep anything but fire up for more than a minute without some kind of counter-reaction. It wasn't worth it for what came down to showing off.
"I can do that," Liam unsheathed his claws, waving them at her. "Fun, but not that helpful right now."
“I don't suppose they are,”
Emily kept up the slow rocking back and forth of the swing, using her feet to keep the momentum going.
“I could just be here? If you wanted the company. We don't have to be all talky.”
Liam shrugged, "I'm not great company right now. Who's your favorite artist?"
“That’s a hard question,” Emily replied with a smile, looking out over the lawn and the blue sky beyond. It was a wonderful day. “Music or Art?”
"Music," because who knew anything about art? Or cared? All he knew was if he liked it or not. That was all he needed to know.
“That’s even worse, cause that depends on genre and whether I’m currently working on something and need to sample,” Emily noted with the air of someone who had discussed this before. “Pop I’m a big fan of Alison Blaire but I also had my Taylor Swift era too. Mum loves Pink so I kinda know some of her stuff too. Baby Metal is kinda awesome but I think that's considered more J-rock”
"You're so weird," Liam reiterated. "Just say you like Taylor Swift or whatever, it's not meant to be a hard question."
Emily’s smile wavered for a moment, and her hands rubbed against her knees as she stared out at the blue sky, taking a moment to just breathe before her shoulders straightened and she shrugged.
“It's not that. I do still like Taylor Swift but I’m not as obsessed anymore as when I was thirteen and it's not that it's a hard question, it's just that it's a large question. I mean, there's so much music out there and so many different kinds and each kind is so different that you can't say you have just one favourite of all time unless you only really like one kind of music. Even then, when what you think or feel about something changes depending on the moment, it can change daily unless you're obsessed with one artist and that's just not me. You see?”
It was the most she’d said to anyone in days but she supposed music was one of her special subjects. She could truly talk about it for hours if given the opportunity.
"I really like Avicii, but I've been listening to a lot of country recently," he answered, sitting up and making his way to his feet, "See? Not that complicated. Tomorrow, my answer might be different, but today, that's where I am."
“I was sad when I heard he passed,” Emily said, pulling her legs up to curl her arms around them so she could lean her chin on her knees. “He was one of my inspirations, you know? Sadly, he couldn't see a reason to stay.”
She didn't see things the way Liam did but that was okay. People were different, and if they were exactly alike it wouldn't be near as interesting to talk to anyone else as it was. Who only wanted to hear their voice parroting back at them?
Liam huffed, "Do they not have normal conversation in Australia or something?" he asked, "Cause you clearly can't have one. And it can't be that you're from small town nowhere, because I'm from small town nowhere and I can hold a conversation." She overthought everything and answered everything with a question, which just made things more complicated than it needed to be! Then a thought occurred to him, "Or are you on the spectrum or something?"
Emily’s hair which had to this point been normal burst into flames as she gave him a look that could best be described as shocked.
She'd only been trying to find common ground. Why was everyone here so mean, or angry or both?
She wanted to go home but home wasn't home anymore.
Emily stood, smoothed down her shirt and then left without another word.
