(no subject)

[x-icarus.livejournal.com]

Wednesday afternoonish, Jay accidentally interrupts Terry in the music room. She gets him to sing with her, and even to play guitar for her. The inspiration bug bites, he composes something on the spot, and all is good. See, Jay doesn't always have to be a jerk!


A week spent in solitude had done wonders to calm down Jay. With the weekend coming to an end, though, Jay wanted to get in at least another couple hours of recreation. Feeling not as drained as usual, he picked up his guitar and went downstairs to the music room. But as he approached, he heard a voice from within. Well, actually a few voices. Curious, he poked his head inside and saw only one person. "Oh, sorry. Didn' see no one here," he apologized.

Terry broke off mid-voice, just barely catching herself before her control slipped. “Sure and you startled me. Come in, won’t you and shut the door?” She studied him for a moment then grinned, “You must be Jay of the angelic voice. Come to sing with me?”

"Um, sure." Jay slipped inside and softly shut the door behind him. "If ya' don't mind me sayin', ya'll got quite the voice. Es. You're Terry, right? Ah'm Jay, yeah."

“Nice to meet you in person, Jay. Clarice has been wild making designs for you.” She waved him over see the choral piece she’d been practicing. “The voices are a perk of the mutation. And much prettier than the force version.” Her grin was cheeky. You’d never have known that she’d used her power in earnest on more than one occasion.

"That's one crazy gal," he muttered, shaking his head. Nice and sweet, but way too perky. "What was your power again? Something' 'bout screamin' real loud?" He looked at the sheet and sang the music in his head. Not really his style, but something he could pull off if he tried.

“Something like that, yes. Have ye ever seen a cartoon of an opera singer shattering a glass?” Her voice was only lightly accented with her native Ireland, barely a suggestion of its soft lilt remaining. It had vanished entirely when she was singing.

He couldn't help but smile as she spoke. Accents of all kinds had a certain appeal to him, despite the sex of the speaker. "Like the fat lady in Harry Potter? And no, Ah didn' see that cuz Ah wanted to, Ah was dragged to it." He grinned.

“No harm in liking Harry Potter. The mansion stopped dead in its tracks when the last book came out. Only Amanda is really vocal about hating him and she’s English so we ignore her.” Her jibe was good natured, delivered more for form’s sake.

"That's just sad," Jay said mournfully. Although that had been the case in his own home; all of his siblings had dropped what they were doing when the book was released. "So anyway, 'bout your singin'. Care to have another go? This time without any o' mah interruptions."

“Gladly.” She refocused on the sheet music and pretended that she didn’t know that Alison would kill her for singing dual voiced with another unprotected person in the room. “If I tell you to cover your ears, do. Wouldn’t want to break your eardrums.” She figured it was enough of a warning and began the soprano solo that led into the piece which was written for a four part harmony. She could only manage three and even that was risky.

Jay nodded and set his guitar down on a stand in the corner of the room. As Terry began singing, he closed his eyes and began swaying a bit. She was good. She was singing at a much higher pitch than he could manage, so he didn't try to sing along, and just let himself enjoy.

Terry added in the lower harmony and then the high though she could feel her control get reedy at that point. No way could she even attempt four. Dropping the lower harmony, she continued to sing the two others and motioned for Jay to take the lower two which should be in his range.

Jay walked over to stand next to Terry so he could read the music, and after a moment to familiarize himself, easily added two voices. The good thing about his power was that there was no sonic scream to worry about, so he could work with six or seven without straining himself. It had been so long since he'd exercised his talents, so it felt pretty good to let this out. He smiled at Terry and winked.

She grinned, delighted to have someone who could really sing with her. Alison was good, of course, and Doug had an excellent voice but finding someone with her same split voice ability was one of the more exciting things that had happened recently. She dropped the higher line briefly and spoke while continuing to sing the melody, “Can you handle a round?”

Okay, that was freaky. While Jay could handle the multiple voices thing, he couldn't say different things with each voice. The surprise startled him out of singing, so he said "Okay", and waited momentarily before joining again.

Terry picked back up the high harmony with an apologetic shake of her head startling him. As they neared the end of the song, she could tell she was getting tired and figured she really should rest a bit once they were done. She’d been practising for quite a while before he’d shown up.

Jay finished his part soon after her, but let the higher voice linger for a few seconds longer. "Nifty." Jay was grinning like an idiot. He hadn't sung like that in weeks. "Just . . . cool. How long ya'll been singin'?"

“Like that? Less than a year. My control wasn’t very good before so mostly I just sang with one voice and tried not to hurt anyone. Alison is really the only one who can be in the same room with me and not get hurt.” She made a face. “Well, and my dad. You’re amazing. How long has it been for you?”

"That's amazin'." Jay whistled, impressed. "Ah've been singin' for . . . Lord, forever, Ah think. Since before I got my baby," he indicated his guitar, "And that was way before Paige 'n Sam came here. The voices came when the wings did, but that wasn't so long ago."

Terry gave the guitar a greedy glance, “I play harp myself. Been wanting to learn guitar. Jono offered to teach me but, what with what is going on, I don’t know if he’ll still want to.” She edged a bit closer.

Jay nodded solemnly. "Ah haven't met him yet face ta face. He any good? He seems like the kinda fella who'd only do dark 'life sucks' kinda tunes."

Terry nodded, “He’s a broody one, for sure but he can play. He’s a Metallica fan so you’re right in thinking he prefers dark music.” She continued to dart avaricious little glances at his guitar, her fingers itching to play.

Jay made a face. "Metallica? Ugh." He noticed Terry's gaze, and followed her eyes to see what she was looking at. "Have ya had any practice with a guitar before?" he asked her.

“It’s not so bad once you get used to it. Sort of grows on you actually.” Terry shook her head, “Not yet. Alison and I always do voice work and Jono’s been gone.” Her hands flexed.

Jay took a seat on he piano bench and opened the case to carefully withdraw his guitar. "Ya wanna touch it? It won't bite, I promise."

Terry very nearly squealed, which surely would have broken strings and eardrums had she not suppressed it as the last second. She quickly sat next to him. “I thought you’d never ask!”

Jay smiled and carefully handed the guitar over to her. "Put your right hand here, and hold this with your left . . . There. Now don't break it."

Terry curled her hands as he told her, getting used to the uneven weight of the guitar on her lap. Though holding down the strings cramped her hand, at least her fingers were well calloused thanks to her harp playing. “Don’t break what? Your guitar or my hand?”

"Exactly. It's a fragile thing. Clarice already made me break the strings once." Jay shook his head and put his hands on Terry's to position them properly over the strings. "Guitar's pretty easy once ya get the hang of it."

“So I’ve always heard.” Terry frowned in concentration, letting him correct her fingering and getting a feel for how much pressure she needed to use. “So what is this that I’m doing?”

"Holdin' down A. Here, just strum it like this," he said, guiding her fingers, "An' just listen."

Terry did and grinned as the chord sang sweetly through the air. "Show me another!" she demanded, releasing that chord.

The fact that Jay was still smiling surprised him. He hadn't felt this good and light in weeks. Actually, he hadn't sung or played the guitar in just as long, now that he thought about it. "Sure. Here's C." He moved her hands to the right position and had her strum again.

She caught on quickly and managed to play every chord at least once, though she had trouble stretching for F. She was getting used to the odd way she had to hold the instrument. Finally when her hand began to protest the unfamiliar positions, she handed it back, “Play something?”

Taking he guitar back, his face fell. "Oh, I dunno . . . Ah haven't really been able to play anythin' since . . . in a long while."

She picked up first one of his hands and then the other, examining them critically, “They don’t look broken. What’s stopping you?”

Jay shook his head. "Stuff. Don't got that . . . that drive ta play much anymore. Can't seem to find where it ran off to neither." He shrugged. "It's pretty complicated."

“Haven’t you noticed? Everything here is complicated, we all get very good at sorting them out.” Terry shrugged. “This one seems pretty simple to me. You’ll never know where the drive went if you never play at all. Sometimes you just have to keep playing even if you don’t feel it.”

She made a good point. And if anyone else had made it (especially Sam or Paige), he'd bite their heads off. But Terry seem liked too nice a girl for that. "Ah guess," he said reluctantly. Shifting his guitar so he could hold it more comfortably, he played a chord. And then another. He could feel something poking him, and he tried to follow it.

Terry grinned and sat back to listen as he slowly picked his way through a song. She watched his hands closely to see how he changed chords. She didn’t recognize it but that didn’t really matter. She would have been disappointed that he thought she was nice—she tried to discourage that, having great scorn for sweet little girls.

The melody he played was a slow one, kind of sad and mournful. He was making it up as he went along, but it just seemed to flow from the second he strummed the first chord. If he'd known it was this easy, he'd have done it a long time ago. It felt good.

As he finished up, Terry refrained from saying ‘I told you so’ through a truly huge effort of will. “That was lovely. What’s it called?”

"Ah dunno. Ah just made it up." Jay bit his lip and thought. "'He Lies With Angels,' Ah think. Yeah, that's what Ah'll call it."

“Sounds perfect.” Terry hummed a snatch of it. “You should write it down. Alison’s has paper stashed in here just in case.” She darted up off the piano bench and shooed him off it as well. From under the seat, she produced a notebook and a pencil. Waving the pencil at him, she got set to write. “Play it again.”

Jay nodded and started again. It came easily, and he hummed softly, the beginnings of lyrics coming to mind as he strummed his guitar. He felt liberated. It was a feeling better than flying.

Terry scribbled down the chords, allowing some space for him to add lyrics if he wanted to. Though there was nothing of Ireland in the music, the song made her think of home anyway. It was a song for remembering that which had been loved and lost. It made her smile in wistful regret.

Jay's eyes were misty by the time he was done, and he sniffled and wiped them with his hands. "Sorry," he muttered. "Didja get all that down okay?"

“Aye. I think so.” She handed him the notebook for him to check it. Her accent had deepened and it lilted richly as she spoke. “Ye should show that to Alison. She’ll love it.”

"Ah think Ah wanna work on it a bit more before Ah make it public," he said softly, accepting the book from her. "Where're ya from? Ah don't recognize the accent. Definitely not American."

“Ireland. County Mayo. I lived there until I was 12.” She was proud of it and it showed. Her uncle had been fiercely patriotic and so she was too.

Jay nodded, both at Terry's explanation and at the transcription. "Looks good ta me." He ripped the pages out of the book and stuffed them in his pocket. "Thanks. That was . . . actually really good."

“Pleasure was mine. We should do this again sometime.” She stood and stretched then gave him a speculatively look. “How do you feel about Matt Damon?”

"That would be nice, yeah." Jay was feeling weary now, but he smiled at her anyway. "Matt Damon? You mean sex in size 11 shoes?"

Terry laughed, “See, I knew I liked you.”

"Just so long as that hack Affleck stays clear, then we're all good." Jay put his guitar back in his case and slung it up on his shoulders. "Ah'm gonna go write somethin' before I lose it. Just give me a poke next time you wanna collaborate."

“I will. See you later, Jay.” Terry waved and turned back to the piano to continue practicing.