Juice and Jazz - Gaia and Jay
Sep. 27th, 2024 04:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsJay meets Gaia, feeds her, and introduces her to music.
Jay knew he probably wasn't supposed to go in the visitor's quarantine, but if she's had any sort of radiation, he'd have probably gotten it from the exposure to her powers. So he had come with one of the few liquid offerings the vending machine in the chapel was currently offering, in order to hopefully make peace and find out anything about her.
The drink was a squid ink black, but with shimmering pink flecks in it, like lights just flickering out. Jay couldn't read the script on the label, but it had what looked like cartoon black holes and big bangs on it, throwing up V for victory signs and thumbs ups.
Jay knocked on the wall. "Figured you ain't had anything with flavor since ya were woken."
The girl regarded him with vague interest, eyeing his wings in particular. She didn’t object to his entering, but didn’t welcome him in either. Merely watched from the bed.
He offered her the drink, moving to sit in the chair by her bed. "I ain't had one of these yet, but they only showed up in the vending machine since you came. Figured maybe you'd like it." He ruffled his feathers some. "I'm Jay. You got a name?"
“Gaia.”
She accepted the drink and took a small sip from the straw without hesitation. Whatever language was on the container, it seemed she recognized enough to ensure its edibility.
"Nice to meet you Gaia. You like that well enough?" He asked. Jay'd tried one a few days ago and it tasted like pawpaw fruit with cinnamon and ginger. In retrospect, maybe not the best thing to give someone on a mostly empty stomach. "Mind me asking what you did to make our chapel all turned around?"
“I asked.” Gaia looked at him as if this answer was obvious, accompanied with a loud sip of her juice.
"And here I thought it liked me cause it sang to me," Jay joked. He wasn't entirely sure if that statement would be helpful for the rest of Excalibur, but it certainly was something. Did that mean her powers were easy for her? Was there a verbal component? God forbid, was this normal where she was from?
“Sings? What does it say?” A tone of apprehension creeped into her otherwise neutral cadence. She appeared to be warming up to Jay, though, posture more relaxed now.
Jay smiled slightly. Seems he his guess was right and music was something that anyone who could hear it enjoyed. "It don't got lyrics, but here's what it sounded like when I was lookin' at it after you came through. It's been doin' this tune often lately."
Jay didn't often take advantage of his ability to, as he had put it before, "speak in tongues" with overlapping sounds unless he felt compelled, but for a strange visitor to a strange world he harmonized with himself as he sang out a few bars of the solemn, jazzy, reflective song that he had been hearing. It went higher and more reflective before coming to an emptier, deeper end.
Gaia watched him with wide eyes, fascinated by the sounds his mutation was able to produce. It appeared she didn't find whatever she was not wanting to hear.
"You got anything you want to hear?" Jay asked as he finished his tune. "I can get ya a radio or something, if ya like." He was sure that even if she wasn't allowed to read or watch TV yet she could listen to the radio.
“A radio?”
"You don't got them where you're from?" Jay asked curiously, making a mental note to write this down later for Meggan.
She stared at him a long while, before answering. “There was not much…. music.”
"Well that just can't stand," Jay said before handing her another pouch of juice. "You drink this while I find you something to listen to." He was pretty sure they had protein in them, so two would be good for her. He opened his phone to pull up some songs he thought might be similar to the Wormhole song that she had liked.
Gaia accepted the second juice as she worked through her first. The thing the winged man held mystified her. What secrets were held within that slender box?
Jay found a playlist of early jazz, which is what he had been most reminded of in combination of sounds and let a clarinet version of "Summertime" play through the tinny speaker of his phone.
"The audio on this ain't great, but this gives you an idea and we can figure out what you like."
She winced at the graininess of the sound. Everything in this world was so loud. Even alone in her cell, it was filled with sound. This sound was different though. Intentional. Tuning out the background, Gaia found herself beginning to enjoy it.
Maybe he shouldn't have started with recordings that were eighty years old, but it gave him some idea of what she might like. "I'll find you some CDs or something that can be played in here if you like it," he offered.
Looking up at him with big gray eyes, Gaia said, "That would be nice." Context clues suggested that these also contained music.
That puppy dog look made Jay want to take the girl into his arms like she was one of his little sisters. "You gonna be alright if I'm a few minutes?" He asked instead. "To get you CDs and something to play them on. Then we can listen together."
"I am alone most of the time. I will be fine."
Jay patted the space of the mattress next to her. "Well, I'll be back in a few," he promised with a smile.
Jay knew he probably wasn't supposed to go in the visitor's quarantine, but if she's had any sort of radiation, he'd have probably gotten it from the exposure to her powers. So he had come with one of the few liquid offerings the vending machine in the chapel was currently offering, in order to hopefully make peace and find out anything about her.
The drink was a squid ink black, but with shimmering pink flecks in it, like lights just flickering out. Jay couldn't read the script on the label, but it had what looked like cartoon black holes and big bangs on it, throwing up V for victory signs and thumbs ups.
Jay knocked on the wall. "Figured you ain't had anything with flavor since ya were woken."
The girl regarded him with vague interest, eyeing his wings in particular. She didn’t object to his entering, but didn’t welcome him in either. Merely watched from the bed.
He offered her the drink, moving to sit in the chair by her bed. "I ain't had one of these yet, but they only showed up in the vending machine since you came. Figured maybe you'd like it." He ruffled his feathers some. "I'm Jay. You got a name?"
“Gaia.”
She accepted the drink and took a small sip from the straw without hesitation. Whatever language was on the container, it seemed she recognized enough to ensure its edibility.
"Nice to meet you Gaia. You like that well enough?" He asked. Jay'd tried one a few days ago and it tasted like pawpaw fruit with cinnamon and ginger. In retrospect, maybe not the best thing to give someone on a mostly empty stomach. "Mind me asking what you did to make our chapel all turned around?"
“I asked.” Gaia looked at him as if this answer was obvious, accompanied with a loud sip of her juice.
"And here I thought it liked me cause it sang to me," Jay joked. He wasn't entirely sure if that statement would be helpful for the rest of Excalibur, but it certainly was something. Did that mean her powers were easy for her? Was there a verbal component? God forbid, was this normal where she was from?
“Sings? What does it say?” A tone of apprehension creeped into her otherwise neutral cadence. She appeared to be warming up to Jay, though, posture more relaxed now.
Jay smiled slightly. Seems he his guess was right and music was something that anyone who could hear it enjoyed. "It don't got lyrics, but here's what it sounded like when I was lookin' at it after you came through. It's been doin' this tune often lately."
Jay didn't often take advantage of his ability to, as he had put it before, "speak in tongues" with overlapping sounds unless he felt compelled, but for a strange visitor to a strange world he harmonized with himself as he sang out a few bars of the solemn, jazzy, reflective song that he had been hearing. It went higher and more reflective before coming to an emptier, deeper end.
Gaia watched him with wide eyes, fascinated by the sounds his mutation was able to produce. It appeared she didn't find whatever she was not wanting to hear.
"You got anything you want to hear?" Jay asked as he finished his tune. "I can get ya a radio or something, if ya like." He was sure that even if she wasn't allowed to read or watch TV yet she could listen to the radio.
“A radio?”
"You don't got them where you're from?" Jay asked curiously, making a mental note to write this down later for Meggan.
She stared at him a long while, before answering. “There was not much…. music.”
"Well that just can't stand," Jay said before handing her another pouch of juice. "You drink this while I find you something to listen to." He was pretty sure they had protein in them, so two would be good for her. He opened his phone to pull up some songs he thought might be similar to the Wormhole song that she had liked.
Gaia accepted the second juice as she worked through her first. The thing the winged man held mystified her. What secrets were held within that slender box?
Jay found a playlist of early jazz, which is what he had been most reminded of in combination of sounds and let a clarinet version of "Summertime" play through the tinny speaker of his phone.
"The audio on this ain't great, but this gives you an idea and we can figure out what you like."
She winced at the graininess of the sound. Everything in this world was so loud. Even alone in her cell, it was filled with sound. This sound was different though. Intentional. Tuning out the background, Gaia found herself beginning to enjoy it.
Maybe he shouldn't have started with recordings that were eighty years old, but it gave him some idea of what she might like. "I'll find you some CDs or something that can be played in here if you like it," he offered.
Looking up at him with big gray eyes, Gaia said, "That would be nice." Context clues suggested that these also contained music.
That puppy dog look made Jay want to take the girl into his arms like she was one of his little sisters. "You gonna be alright if I'm a few minutes?" He asked instead. "To get you CDs and something to play them on. Then we can listen together."
"I am alone most of the time. I will be fine."
Jay patted the space of the mattress next to her. "Well, I'll be back in a few," he promised with a smile.
