Cappie had become a regular fixture at the Lightning Brew Open Mic. He had started booking himself in for a fifteen minute set now too, as opposed to the single-song slot he’d started out with, as his confidence and repertoire had grown. If someone had told him, before Breckentale, that he would be found up on stage every weekend, singing about his emotions, he would have laughed in their face. Still, he’d come to discover that singing about his feelings was a lot easier than talking about his feelings ever had been. His psychology modules had taught him people connected to music on a very personal level and the cynic in him liked the idea that the audience would be too busy projecting their own experiences into his lyrics to think too deeply about why he’d written them. It was a way for him to let out some of feelings and his pent up frustration without having to open up to any one person. He didn’t know why the idea had never occurred to him before.
Pausing between songs, Cappie picked up the beer bottle from where it had been sat on the stage and took a long swig before placing it aside again. The applause which had followed Waterfall had died down and people were moving around again, making trips to the bar and the restroom, talking amongst themselves while the speakers were dormant.
“Don’t get too comfortable,” Cappie said into the mic, lifting his eyebrows with a smile. “This is Hung Up.”
He stepped on the repeat pedal with his foot as he began to tap out the song’s beat on the muted strings of his guitar, nodding his head in time with the rhythm. Once he had a good couple of bars down, he pressed the pedal again, letting the loop run and run as he began filling in the opening chords.
The time he spent on stage always seemed to fly by and, before he knew it, he was playing the final song’s final chord as he killed the loop. He grinned at the applause which followed an instant later and stepped out from behind the mic to give an overexaggerated bow. The applause never got old. He turned and begun collecting up his stuff, stowing it all away safely in his guitar case. Once he had everything, he swung the case over his shoulder and gave the audience a final wave before bouncing down from the stage as the next act started setting up, heading straight to the bar to swap his empty beer bottle for a full one. He thought he deserved it. It had been a good set, even if he did say so himself.
Tallie found herself at the Lightning Brew sort of by accident. She hadn’t meant to end up there, but she was wandering around town and the open mic sign got her curiosity. She had always enjoyed music, even more so since she arrived to Atlantis, where she had access to all kinds of music.
She hadn’t expected to see Cappie there, but it didn’t surprise her either. She had seen his guitar in his room, so she figured he at least played. She sat down on a table on the back and enjoyed his music with a soft smile on her lips. When it was over and he moved to the bar, she followed him.
“That was really good,” she said as she leaned on the bar next to him.
The bartender had just placed a fresh beer down on the bar in front of Cappie when he heard the familiar voice beside him. The smile was already etched on his face when he turned to look at Tallie. He was coming to find that he was always pleased to see her.
“Thank you. I always aim to please,” he replied, before adding, “but you already know that.” He bit his lip as he lifted his eyebrows pointedly.
“Which song was your favorite?”
His smile was contagious, she realized. And it didn’t help she just really liked seeing him. Even thinking about him made her lips curl in a smile. “I do know that,” she teased with a small smirk.
“Hung up, I think,” she said after she thought about it for a moment.
“Yeah?” Cappie said, looking pleasantly surprised. He took a sip of his beer as he studied her. “Why that one?”
“It takes a lot to admit you’re hung up on someone. Or someones,” she added with a small smile. “Not everyone can even admit they’re still attached to an ex. I’ve dealt with that, although I was on the other side of the attachment.”
Cappie’s brows rose higher on his head. He wasn’t sure he liked someone talking so frankly about what his song lyrics meant about him, even though he hadn’t exactly been subtle in them. He was even more surprised that Tallie didn’t seem too bothered by it, considering the little thing they had going on.
“Wait,” he said, narrowing his eyes. “You were the one someone was hung up on? How did that work out?”
She discovered his songs were a way to learn more about him. We all had some baggage, and we and others around us had to learn to live with it, whether we liked it or not.
She nodded. “He eventually realized we weren’t good for each other. It took him a long time and a lot of effort, but he moved on when he met someone who was right for him.”
“Is that your prescription for me too?” Cappie asked, turning to face Tallie more fully, so that his body was square with hers. “Time and a lot of effort?” Somehow, he managed to make the question sound suggestive, laced with memories of the time they’d already spent together.
“Each person is different, but I’d say that’s the general prescription for everyone.” She couldn’t help but chuckle a little and smile at his question. “I think you’ll know when you’re over them. When you find that other person.”
Cappie wished he shared her certainty. He’d loved Em, Octavia and Rebecca, each in their own right and for completely different reasons, but not one of them had helped him really, truly get over Casey.
“What if the person you’re trying to move on from is your soulmate?” he asked. Despite the gravity of his question - a question which had weighed heavily on his mind throughout his time in Atlantis - he kept his voice jovial and flirtatious, not wanting to give Tallie unbridled access to his state of mind. He didn’t like giving anyone too much insight into exactly how he was feeling. That reputation, which Tallie had commented on the first time they’d spoken, was a much safer persona to project.
Tallie bit her bottom lip as she thought about it for a moment. “If she’s truly your soulmate, you would be together.” She shrugged. “Love is a complicated thing, and even when you think you have all the answers, you don’t. I think, and I’m speaking from what my father told me when he met my mom, who he always said was his soulmate, when you meet your soulmate you know. Something deep inside you tells you that person is the right one for you. And the other person feels the same. So I don’t know if you could even try to move on from your soulmate... Do I even make sense?” she chuckled softly, not sure if she had spoken clearly.
“Maybe you don’t. Maybe you just write songs about hung up on them you are…” Cappie smirked, lifting his beer to his lips for another sip.
“Does it bother you?” he asked after a moment.
Tallie shook her head. “No. I suppose it should, I guess? But I don’t know, maybe living a war has made me just enjoy the present and not think about the future. Or the past,” she said with a smile. “I like what we have, whatever it is,” she admitted.
A genuine smile spread across Cappie’s face and he nodded in assent. He felt the same way about living in Atlantis. He knew that he wasn’t the most emotionally available person on the island and he’d stopped trying to find the kind of deep connection he’d had with people like Em and Octavia - it only ever ended badly - but he wasn’t about to become a monk either. Whatever it was that he had with Tallie, it made him feel good and, if it was doing the same for her, he didn’t see it as a bad thing. In fact, he saw it as a bit of a blessing that she’d heard his song and it had prompted this conversation. At least he knew they were on the same page now.
“Do you play pool?” Cappie asked, sensing a good opportunity to change the subject.
She frowned a little as she thought what pool was. No, it didn’t sound familiar. “I don’t think I have,” she said as she shook her head. “Do you wanna teach me?” she asked with a flirty smile.
“I would love to,” Cappie replied, excited by the way her smile had taken on a mischievous look. He was going to enjoy this.