Neena Thurman pours drinks, kicks ass. (fallsinplace) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2013-08-13 10:45:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, luthien tinuviel, neena thurman (domino) |
Who: Luthien and Neena
Where: a deli
What: meeting, Luthien sings
When: during the bodyswap
Warnings/Rating: PG, Neena might curse a little.
Status complete
Neena was enjoying the bodyswap a little. Not only was she extremely lucky, thanks to Thomas’s powers, but she could drink, run, stay up late, eat spicy foods, and a whole long list of other things that either made her stomach upset or were too much energy for her body at the moment. She kept up with his training schedule, but it wasn’t that much harder than her own. The only difference was that he did more lifting than sparring.
All that work meant she had to make sure to eat, and she’d come to love the deli close to his gym before the swap, so it was natural for her to go there after her session with his trainer. She didn’t have to think to walk like a man anymore, and most of her more feminine mannerisms were gone. She examined the menu (because Thomas didn’t come here a lot and he’d still need to look at it), and pretended to contemplate her choice.
Luthien had stopped into the deli while taking a long, meandering walk. She liked to travel around the city, see new places, meet new people, and right now she was famished. She ordered something to soothe her throat, and another thing to fill her stomach, which protested at the lack of food. She brushed hair away from her face, briefly exposing pointed, elfin ears. For just a moment, she seemed to shimmer in the sun.
The shimmering was cute, but Neena was relatively used to that. She ordered her sandwich and waited at an adjacent table for it to be done. She wondered what the little elven girl was doing there, but she couldn’t exactly ask. So she played with her phone a little and waited.
Luthien wasn’t all that little. She was of the taller sort of elf! She took her food and water, and gave the cute man a smile as she turned to find a seat. Her accent placed her as somewhere vaguely between France and Italy. “Is that a Starkphone?”
Neena looked down at her phone and nodded. “Yeah. I got it a couple days ago. Funny story, actually.” She smiled at Luthien. “
“It’s quite lovely, I think. I’ve been considering getting one myself, but I hear it’s such a technological wonder it might take over my schedule!”
Neena shrugged. “It’s just a tool. A really nice tool, but what you do with it is your choice. You here alone? I could use some company.” Crap, that probably sounded like a come-on. Neena wasn’t used to that aspect of having a cock, yet. She was embarrassed every time she got someone’s phone number.
Luthien laughed, the sound of someone who was used to music. Making it, listening to it, loving it. “I wouldn’t mind the company. I’ve been searching for inspiration, different from my usual needs.”
Which sounded pretty bad, itself.
Neena laughed. It was a strange but slightly pleasant sound. She loved to make Thomas laugh, and though it was stranger for his voice to be hers, it was still one of her favorite sounds. “Have a seat, then. What are your usual needs?”
“I spend a lot of time in quiet places. I like trees and caverns.” She winked. “So bustling areas with people are a different thing entirely. But I think it helps to expand my music.”
“The solitude or being around people?” Neena asked, taking a couple bites of her sandwich.
“Being around people. The solitude is where my usual music comes from,” Luthien replied. She lifted her sandwich to her lips and took a bite.
Neena nodded and chewed. “So what do you sing about? Nature and shit?”
“Sometimes. I have more poppish songs. Love ballads, the relation between the soul and the world around us, and the stars above.” She took a drink and smiled again. “Some of my songs tell stories.”
“Is that what you do for a living?”
"Yes." Luthien nodded, enthusiastically. "What better way to make a living than doing the songs you love? Song and dance are the current of life."
“I can think of a few, but I can’t carry a tune in a bucket.” Neen said with a laugh.
“Can you dance?” She asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Nope.” Neena put her sandwich down. “I’m the least musical person in existence. All I can do is whistle.”
“Show me.”
Neena frowned. “Uh, no. I’m not going to start whistling in the middle of a deli.”
“Why not? I’ve started singing in stranger places!” It looked like she was about to start.
Thomas’s eyebrows shot upward and Neena laughed. “Because I’m old and grumpy.”
“That makes you most in need of a good song,” Luthien replied, a song song, playful note to her voice.
Neena snorted. “If you really want to sing, go for it.” She could handle a little music with her lunch.
Laughing, Luthien got to her feet, performed a quick set of notes to ready her throat, and then began to sing. It was haunting and melodic, foreign words drifting through the air as though she were weaving a tapestry. In her world, nothing held as much power as word and song, and even here, her voice resonated.
The girl was pretty good, and Neena understood most of the song. It was impressive. She ate as the young girl sang, and clapped lightly when she was done.
Luthien gave a little bow and took a seat, her smile pleasant. “Thank you. I spend hours a day just singing.”
“I can tell. You’re really good.” Thank God. It would be pretty embarrassing if she wasn’t.
“I’ve spent my whole life singing. It’s just practice.” And some natural talent but Luthien only rarely boasted about it.
“Yeah, but you need a good starting point to have skill like that. A crow can sing all it wants but it’ll never sound like a mockingbird.”
“You might have a point. I probably get my talent from my mother.” She sighed. It was a fond, but slightly frustrated sigh. “I do miss my parents, but a little bird must grow on it’s own.”
Neena nodded. “I’m sure she misses you too. You were close?”
“Very close. With my father, too, but he is very, very protective.” Luthien rubbed her arm and chuckled. “Chased away my first boyfriend.”
“Dads are like that.” Neena noted vaguely. She never even tried to date when she was living at home.
“My dad is epically like that,” Luthien said, shaking her head as she thought about it. “In my dreams he sent Beren on an impossible quest. I often wonder if he did the same here.”
Neena shrugged. “Sounds like you really did need to get away to live your own life.”
“Yes. I think they thought I would do better out here and get into less trouble. Little did they know...” She’d told her mother about Elphaba, but they were still deciding how to tell Thingol.
Neena snorted, and assumed she was talking about the general weirdness of Orange County. “That’s a fact. It wasn’t always this weird.”
“That too.” She touched the points of one ear self-consciously. “What do you dream about, if I might ask?”
“Nothing good.” Neena noted, and the expression on Thomas’s face became more neutral and reserved.
“I’m sorry. I’m prying.” She held up a hand in apology.
“No harm in asking.” Neena assured her. “There’s a need for all kinds of people.”
“I’d say there are some good things, and some bad things in mine, and a lot of fantastical things.” She smiled wryly. It still boggled her mind what she could do with her voice in that world. Nothing like a super hero. Just song.
“I kind of got that impression.” Neena said with a laugh.
“Was it the ears? The ears are a dead giveaway!”
“At first, but the singing’s a better dead giveaway.” She finished her drink, smiling at Luthien. “But it’s a reminder that the dreams can bring good things, too.”
Luthien ducked her head. “Thank you.” She tucked some hair behind one ear. She hoped there were good things for this woman, too.