10/8 Instance: Songbird

[fourpawsonthefloor]

Timeline: After Thanksgiving some time

rachel: Rachel finished setting up her mic before grabbing her guitar and making sure it was in tune. She felt like curling up in a corner and dying, at the moment. She was so nervous, but it was only her friends. she should be fine.

Josh: Josh lolled on the bench in front of the piano, his hands clasped behind his head as he kicked his feet in the air. The music for Rachel's song was laid out on the music stand. He watched Rachel with a smirk on his lips from his upside-down position. "Stage-fright, Red?"

Cessily: Cessily poked her head into the music room, a big smile on her face. "Oh... yes, yes! I guess I'm in the right place then, yes?" She ambled inside. "Rogue told me to come and have a look. She said a nice surprise would be waiting for us here." Her eyes went wide as she noticed the equipment they had set up. "Wow..."

sage: Tessa wandered in behind Cessily, blinking at the instruments and wires. "Well this looks like fun."

rachel: She glanced at Josh and rolled her eyes, "No, of course not. That's why I'm shaking like this," she held up her hands. "Hey Cess, Tessa."

Josh: Josh laughed. "You're cute." He didn't move from his awkward positing on the bench as the other girls walked in. "Hey, Cess and Tess, que pasa!"

Cessily: "Ooh, so you guys are going to are really going to play music for us?" She grinned in anticipation. "Awesome! This is going to be so great then." Cessily reached into her bag to take her camera out. "Good thing I have this with me. Oh, are you okay with me taking pictures?"

rachel: "Uh...yeah...sure, you can take pictures. I'm sure you have worse pictures of me," she shrugged, trying to keep cool.

sage: "It's going fine, Josh. Thanks for asking." Tessa mumbled it under her breath as she took a chair. "What are you singing, Rachel?"

rachel: "Attempting to sing Evanescence..." She shrugged her hoodie off, deciding that it was hot. Plus, she hated playing with long sleeves.

Josh: Josh pulled himself into a sitting position and rolled his head. "Ergg. I slept funny last night, or something." He swung his legs around the bench and banged out the C major scale on the ivory keys. "Which song in particular did you have in mind, Rae?"

rachel: "My Immortal." She made her way over to her amp and flipped it on before turning up the volume on her bass and testing it.

Cessily: "Ah, I love that song!" Cessily beamed, taking a seat next to Tessa. "And don't worry. You're going to be great."

sage: "Haven't heard it, but the title is certainly getting my attention." She leaned her head sideways onto the cap of Cessily's shoulder.

Josh: Josh squinted at the sheet music and hummed the tune to himself. "Maybe I've heard this before," he said. "C, D, A... You come in at the fifth measure, Rae. I'm ready when you are."

rachel: "Okay," she looked over the music she had for her guitar and picked out a few lines. "Need a few minutes to warm up and stuff..."

Cessily: "Take all the time you need, Rae." Cessily folded her hands in her lap and leaned her head sideways against Tessa's. "You'll like it, Tess." She told her. "I've heard
Rae practise a few times, she's really good. You'll see."

sage: "I'm sure I will. I look forward to hearing most anything." She scratche dbehind her ear. "Evanesence, they're American, right?"

rachel: She sighed and tried to keep down the food she'd just ate. It's only my friends. I'll be okay. She flipped the mic on and tapped it a few times, listening for some sort of response.

Cessily: "Yeah." She replied. "I really like most of their songs. And I think they're really made to be played by Rae. It fits."

Josh: "How is it I've never heard of this band?" muttered Josh, who wasn't much of a fan of music besides classical. He wiggled his eyebrows at Cessily. "You and I still have to make a date to play violin."

sage: "I can loan you some of the sheet music I have if you like. You two would sound good together."

Cessily: "Thanks, sweetie." She smiled at Tessa. "That would be lovely." Cessily gave Josh a nod. "Most definitely. I'm really looking forward to that. I love playing together with others." She leaned towards Tessa and whispered into her ear: "It would be nice if you'd
want to join us. Only if you feel okay with playing together with two other people, of
course."

rachel: She finished flipping through the music before glancing at the lyrics again to make sure she knew everything. Rachel ran through a few warm ups, quietly.

Josh: Josh ran through the song once on his own, hitting a few difficult spots, but smoothing them over expertly. His trained fingers fairly few over the ivory keys. At the end of the song, he smirked and launched into "Be Kind to Your Web-footed Friends."

sage: Tessa smiled at the song Josh was playing and and quirked her head towards Cessily. "I'd rather get to know him a little better."

Cessily: "Yes, of course. That's okay." She told Tessa, then let out a little giggle at Josh's piano playing..

Rogue: Rogue practically ran onto the patio, "Did Ah miss it? Did ya sing yet? Ah am so sorry, Rae."

Jay: Jay trailed after Rogue, guitar in hand, a slightly confused look on his face. "Dude....what?"

rachel: She shook her head, "No, I haven't, and it's cool," she told Rogue. "Hey, Jay. Uh..can you play something for me?"

Cessily: "Hey Rogue! Hey Jay!" She waved them over. "They are just about to get started." She told Rogue and patted the chair next to her.

Josh: Josh quit banging out children's songs to look up at the newcomers. "Hey Rogue," he said. "And... other people." He eyed Jay's guitar. "Sweet, man."

Rogue: Rogue grinned at everybody, "Awesome." She sat next to Cess and took a breath, "Sorry, 'bout that, Jay, sugah. Didn't mean ta bother ya. But Ah don't think Rae would sing without ya playin' f' her."

Tessa: Tessa tilted her with a puzzled look at Jay's guitar. "Couldn't you just as easily imitate the sound as opposed to playing it?"

Jay: Jay blinked. "Um...okay. What do you like....want me to play?" He ambled over to a cupboard and dragged an amp out, pugging in the guitar and running his fingers over the strings, sorting out the volume. Blushing slightly, he looked up at Tess. "Well....like....yeah, but....that's too easy."

Jay: "It feels good to play - and if I like, do my guitar, then why not the whole band and the singing too, dude?" He smiled, looking down at his guitar and pulling his wings against him.

rachel: Rachel handed him the music, "This..." she pointed at the music, "Really, it's just a solo..."

Tessa: Tessa scratched her side and shrugged. "Good point." She turned to Cessily, "How many people around ehre play musical instruments in a bad like this?"

Cessily: "I don't know." She answered. "There are many students who play an instrument, but as far as I know this is the first attempt to play as a band here. At least, it's the first time I get to see something like it."

rachel: Taking a deep breath, Rachel checked the mic again. She hated being nervous. It felt like she was about to throw up her insides, and it'd probably be worse after she started. The good thing: At least, Jay and Rogue had heard her sing before.

Jay: Jay looked over the music. "Oh! Dude, I knw this one." He grinned, thumbing a few notes. "So like....we practicing first, dudes? Or is this straight off the bat?" It had ben ages since he'd been part of a band. He missed the guys.

Josh: "Dude, what's your name?" Josh said as the winged guy bent over his music. "If this is a band, we'll need some damn drums. Eventually. I think we should run through it so we get used to playing with each other."

Jay: "Dude, like, it's Jay." Jay grinned at the new kid, sticking his hand out. "And you want drums? I can like....do drums, I guess, until we have a drummer."

Jay: "And like, that's a good idea. What's your name?"

Josh: "Josh Foley," Josh replied, reached around to shake Jay's hand. "That's great. OK then, Rae, what d'ya wanna do?"

rachel: "Umm...let's run through the music real quick. I have the words down. Okay?" She pulled a pick out of her pocket.

Cessily: Cessily put her head on Tessa's shoulder and whispered into her ear. "That reminds me, we should play violin together again. I really loved it the last time we did that."

rachel: Rachel listened carefully listened as Jay, Josh, and her as they ran through the song. After they finished going through the song, Rachel stepped up to the mic. Okay, I can do this...

Josh: The run-through went smoother than Josh expected. Jay was exceptionally talented. It was a thrill to get to play like this, with other people, for the first time. He'd only ever played solo before - rarely, with his brothers. "All right, Rae, take this baby away," he said with a big cheesy grin.

sage: Tessa turned to look at Cessily and whispered back, "We will...I need more practice yet. A few people have asked me to lpay. It seems nothing is a secret for long."

Jay: Jay grinned as they went through the run-through. It had been waaay too long since he got to practice with his bandmates, and he missed this. Maybe he should invite them up some day? He was sure Jill would like to see them all. "Go for it, Rae!"

rachel: This was going to be the worst part. Rachel took another breath and started once Josh had played the piano intro, "I'm so tired of being here, surpressed by all my childish fears..." She could feel her face heating up as she sang. Why was she so nervous? It was just her friends.

Cessily: Cessily beamed as they began to play and clapped her hands. "Woohoo! Go, Rae!" She hoped that she wasn't distracting her. Cessily turned to Tessa. "Sure, of course. If you want, I can help you practise."

Jay: Jay concentrated on playing his guitar and keeping the beat for 'singing' the drums, but he gave Rachel a smile. She was doing brilliantly.

rachel: Okay, halfway through. Rachel gave a small smile as she repeated the chorus after the second verse.

Josh: Rae really had a beautiful voice. She was a soprano, her soft voice litling sweetly through the haunting melody. Her vocals brought a different kind of tone to the song than had been there when it was just the instruments. This really is fun, he realized.

rachel: "I've tried to tell myself that you're gone, but though you're still with me, I've been alone all along," Rachel hammered on the strings of her bass, which she found to be somewhat difficult while holding along.

Cessily: Cessily sat back and listened to the music, the amazement clearly visible in her expression. "They are really good, aren't say?" She asked Rogue and Tessa. "And I had no idea that Rachel had such a great voice."

sage: Tessa nodded. "She's amazingly sweet. It's really beautiful." She laid her head down on Cessily's shoulder and closed her eyes, listening harder.

rachel: She finished up the song and let out a sigh at the end. Okay, she'd done that and was fine, at the moment. Maybe this wasn't as horrible as she thought...
Josh: The last of the piano melody trailed off. Josh wiggled his fingers, then stretched his arms behind his head. "That was fantastic, Rae," he said, swiveling around to face her.

Jay: Jay let the final guitar note fade and grinned. "Dude!! Awesome!!" He punched the air. "Rae, that was like....so cool!! And Josh - you are like, so cool!!"

Cessily: Cessily jumped for her seat and cheered. "That was so fantastic, guys! You all were so great!" She beamed at Rachel. "Rae! That was wonderful!"

rachel: She shrugged, staring at the floor, "Thanks..."

Josh: "You too, Jay, that music was kickin'," Josh said. He looked at Rae. "Don't be modest. You're really talented." Then he smirked. "Of course, my kick-butt piano playing could make anyone sound good."

rachel: Rachel rolled her eyes at Josh and gave a small smile, "Yeah, this is one of the only times I've sung in front of people."

Cessily: "Which is a shame." Cessily told her. "You should do it much more often."

sage: "You really should. You sound fantastic." Tessa smiled at Rae and gave her two thumbs up.

Josh: "Ditto," Josh said, grinning at Cess and Tess. "Talk about an oppressed talent. A guy could fall in love for a girl with a voice like that."

rachel: "Yeah, thanks for playing and coming and stuff..." She smiled, "Rogue caught me singing, and yeah..."