InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "He's my chance of a lifetime."

icarus. (pinkeffingwings) wrote in beyond_evo,
@ 2009-07-03 19:54:00

I still hope that you will miss me when I'm gone; this is the last song. (Open to all)
There were three bands on the bill that evening. The headliner was, of course, a fairly well known one, with the two before being of a smaller nature, but still with slight followings. Jay's band was the first act and slightly abnormal considering they'd never played a show before and had no fans to speak of, but the venue was trying to help the local talents out a bit and when they'd heard the band was comprised of mutants from Xavier's, they'd offered the spot immediately. Without saying that, of course. No one wanted to be accused of some kind of reverse racism, after all. It wasn't like the band was going to complain though. Exposure was always good, and it was what they'd been working towards anyway.

The club that was hosting them was a nice size, two levels and with several bars, located somewhere in downtown New York City. It certainly wasn't a concert hall, but was known for its good live music and so there was a decent crowd there that grew larger as the night went on. The band had finally decided on a name, too -- Gen X. None of them were old enough to be from that generation, and their music certainly wasn't, but it was more a nod to Xavier's and what they were having to grow up in the midst of anyway. There was definitely attention paid when the band got there and went backstage to help set things up. It would be ridiculous to try and deny the whole mutant curse of being ridiculously good-looking 90% of the time for one thing, not to mention the fact that Jay's wings were out, and at least three of their band members had been in clips on the news for the attacks.

They'd told people around the school about the show, although Jay hadn't gone out of his way to post on the journals. Still their friends knew and word had gotten out. The show was under-21 friendly, although the students all had to get the X-bands showing that they couldn't be served alcohol. Which didn't seem to be the case for the members of the band backstage, but hey. It was their first show together, but they did well. The songs were Jay's, and he made use of his mutation at times to multiply the voices that seemed to be singing during them. He was on guitar as well, with Rahne playing the other. Artie on bass, Kate drumming, and Gemma coming out for piano on the songs that she was needed on rounded out the band. The songs were general enough that the crowd as a whole could enjoy them, but did definitely seem to have some special meanings for the school and the people who went there; it wasn't like Jay was going to name names about who the inspirations were, though. The audience got into it and overall they were a hit; better yet, there were apparently no mutant-related disasters striking during or after the show.

((Open to all! Set after Gen X finishes; you can be in the audience rocking out, backstage if one of the band members gets you back there, or on one of the other bands tourbuses if you're with one of Gen X and are cute ;D. Songs played are Dirty Little Secret, Gives You Hell, One More Sad Song, Another Heart Calls (ft Gemma!), and The Last Song -- yes, AAR are being used for the band's songs and sound!))

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worthathousand
2009-07-04 01:54 am UTC (link)

Maybe this was old hat for others in the band, but getting the chance to perform in front of a real audience that wasn't manufactured out his friends or his father's money is a new experience for Artie. A really, really new experience that is very much like all those dreams he'd had as a kid about being some famous rock star, that he'd mostly given up on between his father's notoriety and his own mutation. He doesn't have any delusions that he's going to be some famous musician known around the world only as 'RT' or anything ridiculous like that, but the success of the concert has re-awoken at least the notion of the dream in him, and now Artie's excited, and looking forward to the idea of more concerts with this group (or some facsimile thereof).

Which would probably be why, instead of being composed and reserved or going out to see the other acts, Artie is instead bouncing around the backstage area as if he's made of flubber. He's trying not to be obnoxious about it, he really is, but there's some level of exuberance that he can't restrain in his interactions with his friends. It is, perhaps, a lot like the teenager he still was when he arrived, the teenager that he's largely grown out of being, these days. Artie, at least, is having a grand time.

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pinkeffingwings
2009-07-04 03:20 am UTC (link)

Jay had played shows before. The towns around his home in Kentucky didn't exactly have venues as large as this one, but still; he'd preformed on stages for packed houses before, and this honestly didn't feel all that different from before, in execution. There were some slight changes, obviously. This was a band he'd had a little over a month -- his one in Kentucky had been together for years, and had all been extremely close. He liked Rahne and Artie and Kate and Gemma, of course, but it wasn't quite the same. The music was new too, rather than just recycling things from years before. This was the first time he'd preformed in over a year and a half. And then, of course, the biggest difference -- Julia wasn't in the audience.

He wasn't going to talk about her or anything like that. He knew that people probably thought that he was bizarre for still feeling the way that he did. But tonight brought it rushing back strongly. He'd thought he was ready for this, that he was getting better and that he was dealing well enough that he could do this without a problem. Maybe that it would even help him to continue getting over her, seeing that life went on. And while he was preforming, it did. He was back in the zone, in his space, playing and singing for people just like he'd always wanted. But when they were done and he'd left the stage, it hit him. Hard.

He thought he'd seen her. Some random girl turning a corner backstage, something about her build and her hair had made his heart seize suddenly and leap into his throat. And when she'd looked up and he could see her face, his heart shattered into a thousand pieces. And it all felt empty. The high from playing was gone and that sadness roared to life again, like getting punched right where a bruise was trying to heal. He sat down on one of the couches, letting his head rest in his hands for a moment, not noticing the compliments from passers-by. Shows would never be the same because she'd never be in the back, cheering him on.

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transiently
2009-07-04 01:31 pm UTC (link)

Out of all the members of the band, Kate was probably the most likely to get caught backstage doing something dumb (like cocaine) or just leave outright once the set was finished. While she had enjoyed the club scene some, lately she wasn't quite herself. Not since the cure deal, not since she had someone else in her head -- she felt sort of like someone had traced her on a piece of paper, left out a few very important details, and sold the carbon copy to the world at large. It sucked, but the more alcohol they fed her here, the less she seemed to care.

A few vodkas in -- not enough to get her drunk, just smiling -- was when she came upon Jay, sitting on the couch looking as though someone had just killed his golden retriever. Or his girlfriend. To say she couldn't relate at least on some level would be a lie; after all, to see Brian or Jason there in the back smiling, to laugh about all the notes she missed, would've felt great. But that was, perhaps, the difference between the two of them. While Jay could at least own up to his feelings, Kate was the type of person who banished them all together.

Sitting down next to him, close enough that their sides were touching and she could give him a half-hug easily, she moved a bit of the hair from his eyes and squeezed with the one arm. It felt vaguely maternal to do so, but she couldn't help it.

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pinkeffingwings
2009-07-04 11:42 pm UTC (link)

Not only was Jay pretty much floating around in his own mental world, he lacked the animalistic mutations that so many others seemed to have that would let him know when Kate was getting closer. It wasn't until she'd sat down and put her arm around him that he realized she was there at all, his head lifting a bit to look at her. When she brushed the hair back from his face he gave a half-smile to the gesture. The hug felt good. Well, good in one of those painful ways, like the person was stabbing you in the heart and giving you a kiss all at once.

There weren't any tears on his face or in his eyes, but said eyes definitely were red (although hey, there was always that possibility of the aforementioned cocaine at a show), and he looked tired. "Hey. What're you doing over here?" Besides being a good friend, obviously. There was a concert going on, and other than that there were people to socialize with and drinking to be done and fun to be had. Jay knew that he was kind of a party-killer at the moment, and he didn't want to end up dragging someone else down with him. He didn't need the secrets to be told that he kind of redefined emo and needed to get over things already, but that didn't mean he wanted others to have to suffer through it too.

So, might as well pretend like this is nothing out of the ordinary, right? Even though it probably was. Joking aside, Jay had been making progress since coming to the school, and he was definitely good about in general not moping when other were there -- he was too used to taking care of younger siblings and needing to hide the sometimes-badness of his moods for that. This impending breakdown? Not the norm. "You were pretty good out there tonight, you know." Another half-smile, slightly teasing.

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transiently
2009-07-05 04:14 am UTC (link)

Truth be told, Kate was likely to both kiss someone and stab them just about anywhere simultaneously. Then again, anyone who had ever called her balanced or completely sane would be a liar, don't you know? Being somewhat unhinged and then staying at Xavier's for so long would, eventually, take it's toll. For a moment she lingered there, hugging him a little tighter as though it might reinforce the idea that she felt for him, before moving away some. Linking her arm with his, Kate gave him a friendly, gentle nudge.

"Checking up on the only worthwhile person back here." While that may have sounded like some cheesy compliment or exaggeration, it wasn't. Not that she was particularly hostile toward anyone in the band, but just because they practiced and played shows didn't mean she had to like them. Jay though, was good people in her book, which was a very small book at this point but he was there just the same.

With one arm linked to Jay's, the other held both her drumsticks (why did she even have those still!) and a ubiquitous red plastic cup of something alcoholic. For a moment she took a sip, shaking her head at the semi-compliment. "It isn't that hard to beat things up all night. You, though, and those wings? That's something. As if the voice wasn't enough, I think you just sort of paralyzed everyone for a few seconds." The grin on her lips hopefully made it obvious that this was not a bad thing.

Lowering her voice, the grin faded quickly. "I won't fault you for being sad."

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dead_poets
2009-07-04 03:30 am UTC (link)

He almost didn't make it, stepping into the venue when the band was already in the midst of its set but the crowd hadn't solidified into one throbbing mass just yet so Jack was able to beat a path closer to the front of the stage and yet far enough to the side to be inconspicuous. He sported the dreaded black X's, a fixture on underage hands on nights when it was too obvious for the event staff to turn the other cheek but paying for overpriced well drinks wasn't all that high on Jack's list of priorities. Besides, he was beyond that kind of simplicity now, a trip into the city never as casual as meeting up with the other kids from school to see their own perform, taking care to distance himself from most of the people he recognized though he was quite tall and easy to pick out if you were looking.

It was warm enough out for t-shirts only, his white with a well-worn hole at the sleeve, his jeans tight and frayed at the knee and enough belt wrapped around his narrow waist people probably wondered how he managed to stay upright. Luck and skill my friends, which included a penchant for possessing a moderately placid mood when under the influence, his eyes bloodshot and glazed, lazily watching Jay sing into the microphone. He wasn't bad. They weren't bad although they weren't Jack's style, idley smiling at his drug-induced thoughts like how Jay with his wings was kind of like a parody of a rock and roll band or something. Like maybe Jack had stepped into a deleted scene from This Is Spinal Tap, prompting him to laugh and throw devil horns in mock support. He didn't care about this fucking band, he only cared about Gemma and even then his motivations weren't wholly innocent but he was here, like he said he would be and he had thus far been on his best behavior.

She had impressed him. Jack never expected her to get up there and sing like that and she sounded pretty good and he imagined this was something similar to the effect guitars had on women--how no matter how ugly a dude was his attractiveness sky-rocketed once he slipped on a guitar and rocked out. Of course it helped that Gemma was already beautiful but this was probably the first time where Jack found himself really liking the idea of her being around and into him. What a groupie slut he was turning out to be.

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cutstrings
2009-07-04 06:57 am UTC (link)

When the set started and Gemma didn't see Jack hanging out in the crowd, she hadn't been too surprised, merely anxious. He seemed to be playing hard to get and had been feigning a lot of disinterest -- or maybe it was genuine because he still had those feelings for Charlie? -- and she knew that as pathetic as it seemed, she'd be glad if he showed at all, no matter how late. She didn't know how she felt about her friends seeing her up on stage for the very first time, but she felt unequivocally weak-kneed and with a stomach full of butterflies at the thought of performing with Jack's face tilted gently up to watch her from below. He could make her forget what a fool she felt like with her dark sunglasses in the dim club and maybe she could sing to him a little bit, too.

Up on stage wasn't nearly as scary as she thought it would be. Maybe in some part it was because Noah was in the back of her head the whole time and she could focus on him, whatever support his presence could offer, or maybe it was just because they'd practiced this so many times that she felt like she could sleepwalk through the songs if she wanted to. She wasn't, however. She was really enjoying it. Jay sounded magical, of course, and the rest of the band had really come together professionally; being the youngest, she felt like she had a lot to live up to, and thus was making a real effort to carry her weight of the show. Jay had given her real responsibility. In her short dress and thigh-high stockings, she wore her confidence with a cute, verging-on-sexy flair that made all the difference for her stage persona, and it was in the middle of that wonderful experience that she finally saw Jack.

Coming off the stage at last, she couldn't have felt higher. All she'd really had to settle her nerves was a quick sip of something alcoholic backstage before the show, but she was practically floating from the pure adrenaline as she weaved her way over to Jack, cheeks flushed and smile wide beneath the nearly opaque frames of her sunglasses. She honestly couldn't see all that well and had to make some apologies to people she elbowed. When she reached Jack, it was with a stumble and a laugh and she had to catch herself on one of his long arms to keep from bringing them both down. "I saw you when you came in!" she shouted inanely over the noise of the club. "I'm glad you didn't miss the duet!"

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dead_poets
2009-07-06 01:21 am UTC (link)

Jack had pretended like he couldn't see Gemma making her way over toward him, staring blankly at anything but her because he was good at 'aloof' but when she had finally made it close enough that the charade could no longer be passably rude but downright mean, Jack's eyes lazily focused on her petite stature and woke up slightly. "Hey," he greeted her, or at least tried to over the din of the crowd, offering her a devious half-smile because he possessed no other version of happiness he could honestly portray. And it was then that Jack extended his long arms and pulled her in toward, finding it necessary to publicly claim her some how since that's what he did whenever he wanted something. Plus, he knew there were bound to be people from Xavier's watching, try as they might to act like they didn't care and Jack wanted to show them all that he was winning yet again.

He took both her arms in his hands and slid them around his middle, looking down at her cherubic face and his own reflection in her sunglasses. Stevie Wonder, the secret was awful yet poignant and Jack smiled more broadly for a moment. In fact, he appeared downright affectionate, quiet in a seductive way due to the fact that he was high as fuck but that obviously didn't stop him from doing much these days. "You were great," he complimented her and held her body tighter, unfazed by the heat it was causing or that she had just gotten off stage and was probably damp with sweat. In fact, he liked it. "You're song was the best one." That might have been a lie since he hadn't heard them all nor did he particularly care about the band.

It sucked that Jack couldn't see her eyes, see whatever she felt or whatever her reactions were and he'd always liked their color. They were memorable and eerily bright but he was listless for her and couldn't wait for that momentary connection...that awkward pause before it became obvious that the only natural thing to do would be to kiss. He leaned his head forward, or down really because he was so much taller, but made sure to find her lips with his.

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cutstrings
2009-07-08 09:02 am UTC (link)

His aloof attitude fazed her a bit as usual, but the warmly possessive gesture of his arms closing around her body shook off whatever lingering hesitation that she had left completely. He seemed so comfortable and cool in the crowd, exactly the kind of guy that a member of the band should slide off the stage to go hang with after her set. He was clearly on something, she realized with a bit of nervous excitement; as dangerous as he might seem at times between the warnings of others and his own risky behavior, the fact that he was holding her so snugly made her feel so safe. Whatever might happen, no matter what insanity went on around them, Jack was like a mast that she could cling to in a moment like this. He'd forgiven her for whatever harm she'd caused him during the Cure attack and that only made her trust him more. Besides, he was being so physically tender and verbally complimentary that she was almost overwhelmed by the attention. Coming from anyone else but him, it might not seem like such a big deal, but from Jack, the overflow of affection felt like an injection of pheromones to her system.

When he brought his head down, it was only natural for her to rise to her toes. Her fingers curled to take a tight grip on the back of his shirt for balance as she met him halfway and her eyelashes fluttered closed behind the shades. His mouth was warm and soft, those almost girlish lips of his easy to kiss and wonderful to connect with, and the buzz in her only grew; she pressed closer to him on instinct, oblivious to the people around them. The awful sunglasses immediately got in the way. She wished she could take them off entirely and spend the rest of the night just staring into his eyes without the barrier between them, but that would be a terrible idea. Still, the sunglasses had to go. With a little moan of annoyance, she tried to use Jack's face to somehow push them back up her forehead. Awkward.

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dead_poets
2009-07-09 10:55 pm UTC (link)

It was always meant to be a simple kiss, not a full on makeout session but it had been enough of one that Jack had forgotten that they were standing in the middle of a crowd, at least until she started doing something weird with her face. His hands had held her pretty tightly against him, one sliding down to playfully grab her ass in a manner that implied he owned it, that it belonged to him too, and then he finally let her go. "What the fuck was that about," he stared down at her with an amused yet slightly perplexed smile at her whole attempted sunglasses maneuver. Girls were honestly so weird and confusing sometimes, it was no wonder Jack had issues. Well beyond his mom being a prostitute and working from home.

Taking a step back, Jack took a quick look around and gently wiped his lip with his thumb, letting his hand then fall and rest against his abdomen as he tried to figure out where to go from here. Part of him felt like he had done his job and showed up and should now be rewarded with copious amounts of debauchery in Brooklyn somewhere, while the other wanted to stay and do whatever Gemma wanted. "So what are you doing now? You gonna go party with band?" He laughed at that, trying to envision what this particular band's after party shenanigans might be. Probably a lot of staring at one another or making Artie do stupid things with his weird ass thought bubble things.

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out_of_africa
2009-07-04 04:38 am UTC (link)

Hell hath no fury, etc., and man was Madeleine feeling the fuck out of some good old-fashioned girl revenge. It didn't matter if Prince was going to be there (okay, it did a little bit) but boy did she knew how to turn it on. Likening herself, quite dramatically, to a prisoner when at the school these days, Maddie would never have admitted that she'd let some of the more finer aspects of herself go. Less makeup, simpler clothes when she bothered to venture down into the kitchen in anything other than lounge pants and t-shirts, it was a sorry state of affairs for a girl who loves to dominate the attention of a room. No wonder she was commandeering a reputation of being absolutely insane because her mental state was apparently starting to manifest itself physically and there was no more Prince Baines around to not care what she looked like either way.

On the contrary, he had been doing his damnedest to move on and hurt as it might, Maddie was beginning to understand that everyone around her was screaming at her to do the same. There was no reason a girl like her ought to be pining for some stupid boy in lame attempts on the internet or in text messages or God forbid, late night phone calls. Maddie couldn't force Prince to be with her as tempting as that notion was so she was just going to have to settle on turning back into her more irresistible version. It would start by weeding out the bad from her core group (she's looking at you, Eudora Ross) and surrounding herself with the likes of Charlie and Emma and Caroline. Normal girls who looked good in a dress and who wouldn't talk at her in some fake accent and try to steal her boyfriends. Well, Caroline might but Maddie had her eye on the Southern belle and hoped she'd learned enough via Eudora and Charlie to be prepared for those kinds of surprises.

An X on her hand? They wouldn't dare, plus with that kind of make-up and that kind of body, well let's just say Jaya didn't get everything wrong when she'd called Maddie old-looking or whatever and while she could have been thinner no thanks to the Ben & Jerry's she was finding comfort in, the girl could work a room like a high-class hooker. Her mission? Appear as busy, loved and fun-loving as possible to provoke the optimal number of rumors. Crazy? Yeah, as a fox.

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