Intermingled Melodies (Day 4 ME Vel'tin's Corner)

[Moyr Ahaya]

The previous performance had steeled her. This one could be delivered with calm resolve, wards of warning for men who don't give serious consideration to their prolific habits. When she had composed it, it had been prophetic. Now it was a thing of the past that had shaped her, and she allowed it to be heard in her sinister delivery, sharp and clean.

"My bed is now a cylinder of steel
Cold and hard and shiny
To match the way I feel
The dust in here is like a burning wind
Black as coal and thunder
Dark as all my sins

I took it for a long, long time
And a woman can take a lot
Two can be undone by three
But it only takes one shot

You were there
To see me beg and kneel
What kind of man would ask me then
If he could make a deal?
When lovers of the future read these lines
A sound of steel and thunder
Will echo in their minds

I took it for a long, long time
And a woman can take a lot
Two can be undone by three
But it only takes one shot

I took it for a long, long time
And a woman can take a lot
Two can be undone by three
But it only takes one shot

Ashes become speed
And turn to blood
It's strange to see
How sharp and clean
The things that come from love"

During singing she looked at Zane once or twice, but he didn't really expect him to take it personally. After all, she didn't know him that much. But the song was too authentic, almost painfully so, to think it was just a stage act on her part.

[Zanebry Varliss]

Perhaps he wouldn't have taken it personally if it had been a different day, but too many women over the last few days had been trying to tell him this very thing. The fact that Darwi's voice was so painfully authentic didn't help matters either. Still he didn't waver as he played his way through the song, he'd know this was the case for a long time.

Still there was a dark emotion behind his playing, that echoed the woman's pain and there was only relief when the song finally came to an end. "I don't know about you, but I think a man might have to rethink his ways after a song like that." He said teasingly to the audience. Taking a few moments to reset his synthesizer.

It was dark, almost hypnotic in a way, with a soft droning quality to it, and the intro drug one for a few moments before Darwi had the chance to add her vocals.

[Moyr Ahaya]

"He'd better do!" Darwi chuckled giving him a mock glare, using this as a way to leverage herself out of painful seriousness. The dark, hypnotic vibe he gave to the next piece was drawing her back into gloomy reminiscing, but she defied it, and actually conjured a feral smile, adding a playful, teasing colour to her delivery, hovering somewhere between forgiving reproof and provocatory poke.

"You can play the part of a golden heart
But you know what you've done
You can pluck a rose
While wearing sheep's clothes
But you know what you've done
You can save face while you're rigging the race
And even when you've won
You stand tall on shoulders you let fall
And you know what you done
You know what you done

You can wear 'em down
You can fly the blades around
But you know what you've done
You can fake in Hollywood
As a big time doing good
But you know what you've done
You get your way playing sycophants and slaves
A coward with a gun
Everybody sees you riding the big steed
And you know what you've done
You know what you've done

Yeah, you...
You're the one

Yeah, you
You're the one
You know it's true
We all know it's you
We know what you done..."

[Zanebry Varliss]

It took a while, but he let her drag him from his mood, it was no good if they couldn't match each others after all, that kinds of conflicting emotion would only serve to confuse the audience. He never quite managed to let a smile slip onto his lips, but the darkness certainly seeped out of his playing.

As the song ended he let his guitar fall silent glancing towards here as he started to adjust his synthesizer once again. she seemed to want to lead them somewhere else, at least emotionally speaking so he's let her set the tone for the next song.

[Moyr Ahaya]

She smiled warmly at him, seeing his mood finally turn. "Let's turn brooding thoughts around now. There is hope for all of us, no matter how much we've stuck in here. There's always a way out."

Darwi seemed exhilarated, as if she had already cleansed her soul of brackish brine and could actually trudge on being contemplatively uplifting. Smile was not leaving her lips. Her own fingers reach to the holo-projected cords.

"They say everything can be replaced,
Yet every system is not near.
So I remember every face
Of every man who put me here.
I see my light come shining
From the Core to the Outer Rim.
Any day now, any day how,
I shall be released.

They say every man needs protection,
They say every man must fall.
Yet I swear I see my reflection
Some place so high above this wall.
I see my light come shining
From the Core to the Outer Rim.
Any day now, any day how,
I shall be released.

Standing next to me in this lonely crowd,
Is a man who swears he's not to blame.
All day long I hear him shout so loud,
Crying out that he was framed.
I see my light come shining
From the Core to the Outer Rim.
Any day now, any day how,
I shall be released."

She was smiling broader at the parts they sang together.

[Zanebry Varliss]

If there was anything that Zane was good at it was wearing a mask, even if it was only emotionally, and his was perfectly back in place as he smiled over at Darwi. Something in him though didn't believe her words, even as she said them.

As her fingers touched the strings his followed, taking the lead in playing as she Started to sign, though his voice would join hers during the chorus, sharp and clear, with no touch of his previous emotions.

"They say everything can be replaced,
Yet every system is not near.
So I remember every face
Of every man who put me here.
I see my light come shining
I see my light come shining
From the Core to the Outer Rim.
From the Core to the Outer Rim.
Any day now, any day how,
Any day now, any day how,
I shall be released.
I shall be released.

They say every man needs protection,
They say every man must fall.
Yet I swear I see my reflection
Some place so high above this wall.
I see my light come shining
I see my light come shining
From the Core to the Outer Rim.
From the Core to the Outer Rim.
Any day now, any day how,
Any day now, any day how,
I shall be released.
I shall be released.

Standing next to me in this lonely crowd,
Is a man who swears he's not to blame.
All day long I hear him shout so loud,
Crying out that he was framed.
I see my light come shining
I see my light come shining
From the Core to the Outer Rim.
From the Core to the Outer Rim.
Any day now, any day how,
Any day now, any day how,
I shall be released.
I shall be released."

"Her voice, is angelic as always." He said to the audience as their song came to an end. "I don't know how I can even compare."

[Moyr Ahaya]

"It's not about comparing, silly, but about doing it together!" She laughed, making faces to the audience to get a supportive murmur. "After all a man doesn't have to say much or loud to show what he really means." She winked at him, keeping up her teasing demeanour. "Let's commiserate those poor men who didn't know how to show what they meant before it was too late." She clicked her tongue, and looked toward Zane to provide the guitar intro. "Silly, baby." Once he gave her the background, she started singing, half-sorrowful, half-ironic. But in joint parts she was toning down, to let his voice reverberate at same level as her.

"There's a wreck in the Rim, where your body lies
There's a plaque on the chassis, reads "this man did try"
If you look to the glint, you see your world there
Weathered and hollowed out by your mistakes

Oh silly, baby, we all know the truth
You were looking for love in all the bad that you'd do
Silly, baby, we all know the deal
Your row was hard and long and straight up a hill
Your daddy was gone, your mother did wrong
Your master hosed you with your own hand
Your girl tried so long, but you she disowned
The other heart-bled in strange land, in strange land

Every once in awhile, I still can see
Your shifty eyes searching for a way to be free
And I go to your grave, bottle in place
And drink for my freedom right there in the space

Oh silly, baby, we all know the truth
You were looking for love in all the bad that you'd do
Silly, baby, we all know the deal
Your row was hard and long and straight up a hill
Your daddy was gone, your mother did wrong
Your master hosed you with your own hand
Your girl tried so long, but you she disowned
The other heart-bled in strange land, in strange land"

In fact, there was satisfaction and schadenfreude in her voice by the end.

But this is when they had to wrap it up because to the chagrin of the audience the owners had other designs for the stage for the rest of the evening...

/scene