littleladylord (littleladylord) wrote,
@ 2012-06-12 02:14:00

Exiles AU
"Foxglove lyrics," Cindy said, looking at Sarah excitedly. "The Tallus is spouting Foxglove lyrics. Wow. That's why you're not seeing any of your heroes or your newspapers. This is more like my New York. Specifically, it's George's Tongue. I have the album that was from. Released in 1998, but she admits in the liner notes she got the idea for the song in November of 1991, when that hurricane inexplicably hit New York out of the blue."

After that little rant, the little redhead paused for breath. "Oh dear. I'm going to go get a newspaper and check the date."

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littleladylord
2012-06-13 05:32 am UTC (link)

"I don't think this year was known for too much beside the hurricane. '92 was one of those hell-years, to hear Dad tell it, but there was a bit of calm before it. And as for here, New York's not a major costumed lunatic hub like in yours, or Jersey in mine. More regular criminals. The local superteam's one of the senior groups, they should all have long since retired by now but some haven't. If things get bad with the hurricane, Superman may show up. Great guy. Think your Dad and ...well, you. Superstrong invulnerable flier that everybody looks up to."

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	rogue_star 2012-06-13 05:33 am UTC (link)
	"But, if we're here, then something is bound to go wrong. I'm guessing no major weather controllers among them, at the least?" (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	littleladylord 2012-06-13 05:38 am UTC (link)
	Cindy shook her head. "A few of the great magictypes can do a bit. I think that's it." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	rogue_star 2012-06-13 05:41 am UTC (link)
	"Ok, but no villains behind it, or anything? I'm just trying to figure out what the possible points are for things to change bad enough to bring us here." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	littleladylord 2012-06-13 05:44 am UTC (link)
	"Not that was ever proven. A hurricane just randomly turned, hit New York, killed three people and dispersed." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	rogue_star 2012-06-13 05:45 am UTC (link)
	"Ok, so that seems unnatural, at the least. Anything especially notable about those three people? And any villains where that sort of thing fits their MO?" (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

littleladylord
2012-06-13 05:56 am UTC (link)

Cindy thought for a moment to remember the last time she went on a binge of researching her favorite folk-rock song lyrics. Fortunately, she'd done that with thorough vigor. "A homeless lady, a drag queen, and a guy who couldn't be identified except the neighbors said his name was George. They couldn't even do dental records, because there wasn't enough intact. What was left of his body was in his bathtub when they went through the wreckage of his building, but his tongue was found someplace far from it. I remember thinking it was funny that the families of the homeless lady and the drag queen came to get them, but some whitebread, white-collar guy was just a bag of medical waste....sorry, getting too gruesome. But hurricanes aren't really anybody in my world's calling card that I can think of offhand."

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	rogue_star 2012-06-13 05:59 am UTC (link)
	"Ok, that is odd. And you say there's a song about this... or... something?" she asks, trying to recall precisely what the tallus said in trying to piece this together. Currently not making a lot of sense. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	littleladylord 2012-06-13 06:10 am UTC (link)
	" 'Anyway you look, you know it's on the level,/ and I don't care how it appears./ I am not afraid of the world, the flesh, or the Devil. / I am just afraid of no more tears,'" Cindy quietly sings what the Tallus ahd said. "Opening verse of 'George's Tongue' I... can't think of anything else the Tallus would quote it for but that it was written during the storm." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

rogue_star
2012-06-13 06:15 am UTC (link)

"Second time its quoted song lyrics... and I /hated/ the last time. I'm really terrible at these types of guessing games. but regardless, it seems like it definitely has to do with the storm. While I'm resting, any idea where to even start looking into any of the victims, maybe... since we have a head start this time on it? Something will go different... someone else will die, someone is controlling it... something. Or we wouldn't be here... and we have... a song to go on."

She sighs. "I'm sorry. This is just the worst part, sometimes. Trying to guess."

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	littleladylord 2012-06-13 06:18 am UTC (link)
	"I guess we could go where the damage was worse, where they all died? I mean, where they're all gonna die, or suppos.... is it okay to say that someone was supposed to die? I don't know." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	rogue_star 2012-06-13 06:22 am UTC (link)
	"When time went correctly, three people died. We may be able to save them this time. Hard to say... but if we don't interfere, something will happen above and beyond what happened when it went right... at the least. Ok, so... lyrics aside... what is the song /about/?" (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	littleladylord 2012-06-13 06:24 am UTC (link)
	"Well, there were seven people in the place that was completely crushed.... maybe they do something different and they all die this time? Um? Honestly, most of the song is about problems with her girlfriend. They apparently had a big fight during the storm, so George and his Tongue I think are just poetic imagery for unhappiness." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	rogue_star 2012-06-13 06:28 am UTC (link)
	"Are you sure its poetic imagery? Didn't you say something about one of the deaths in the storm being really odd? Something related, maybe?" she asks, trying to remember everything Cindy has said while piecing this together. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	littleladylord 2012-06-13 06:31 am UTC (link)
	"Yeah, this totally whitecollar guy named George was found with most of the body all messed up in the bathtub, and his tongue was found far away, but I think that just inspires the imagery of --- how...does...anyone...get inspired /during/ a storm by something they can't know about until after..." Cindy pauses. "I am feeling really silly right now." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	rogue_star 2012-06-13 06:35 am UTC (link)
	"You shouldn't. Easy enough to miss amidst all the bigger details and all. Ok... so... think you can investigate that a little? Because I still have to deal with the storm itself... but I think its a cover for something. And maybe that's the key... whatever goes wrong isn't with the storm, its some change in what its covering up. If we can prevent that..." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	littleladylord 2012-06-13 06:44 am UTC (link)
	"..then we're good. Okay. Yeah. I'm on it." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	rogue_star 2012-06-13 12:24 pm UTC (link)
	"You're fantastic, thank you. And whatever happens out over the water, just focus on this. The important thing is that we all do our jobs so we can move on." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	littleladylord 2012-06-13 01:48 pm UTC (link)
	"....right. Yeah." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

rogue_star
2012-06-13 02:53 pm UTC (link)

She sighs. "I know this is one of the hardest things for most people to get used to. The usual team dynamic is everyone looking out for each other, all of that. And that's important... but sometimes not as important as success. We frequently get one shot. We can't retreat, lick our wounds and try again after a daring escape... if we fail, the world may well be destroyed or lost in time, and we're all stuck there. There's no margin for error. We've almost failed several times... but actually failed our mission twice. We were able to salvage it both times... but those were near things. The boys will do their jobs - we need to do ours, and then rendezvous afterwards. I'll be ok."

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	littleladylord 2012-06-13 06:08 pm UTC (link)
	And Cindy listens and nods, with an almost chastened look. It's not that she doesn't want to be professional, or doesn't logically see that saving a world is bigger than one person's safety, but ..... but... "You're right." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	rogue_star 2012-06-13 06:26 pm UTC (link)
	Sarah draws her in for a one-armed hug, giving her other arm all the time to heal she can. "I have trouble with it too. A lot." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	littleladylord 2012-06-13 06:30 pm UTC (link)
	Cindy uses both arms, just silent for a moment. "So... when should i go check out my future favorite-folk-rocker's neighborhood? I'm finished eating, but should I wait until tomorrow?" (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	rogue_star 2012-06-13 07:06 pm UTC (link)
	"Why don't you go scout it out now. It'll be easier than when things get chaotic. Learn what you can and get back. Then, if nothing else, you'll know the people and ways around when things get messy." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

littleladylord
2012-06-13 07:52 pm UTC (link)

"Good idea." And out Cindy headed. After all, the storm didn't hit until the next day, right? So it couldn't be that confusing there right now...

An hour later, just as it was getting late, she called up Sarah on the comm.

"...No one's answering the door, and I hear crying in the building. Lots of crying. So I went up the fire escape, and the crying was coming from more than one direction, and I smell blood and I'm not scared of blood, Sarah, but... what... what do I do?"