This song is for the people who live this dream.

[against_all_trouble]

Arthur Black was sitting on the couch trying to tune his guitar, but his perpetually-indecisive roommate has decided that this week she is a singer again.

"Come on, Art, I'm a good singer!" Suzy pleads with big eyes and a bigger wave.

"Suze. That is not the thing that worries me, Suze," Arthur says as he sets down his guitar to the side, "The thing that worries me is that this week you want to sing and the next you'll be back to sculpture. Or painting. Or found-object collages. Or interpretive-freaking-dance!"

"Interpretive dance is silly, Art, why would I do that? And anyway, you know you want to try some of the vocals you wrote ♫ for ♫ high ♫ voices! ♫"

That's two things Arthur is not good at refusing: chances to show off and requests from Susanna Blue. The look he gives back, though, is definitely a scowl. Not a smirk at all. "One of these days, you're going to wear out your welcome... with everyone but me. OK, show up to tonight's practice a little after we start, I'll bring the guys around."

"Yay! You're still the best, Art." She really is happy, that hug was only about a third tackle.

---

Practice comes and goes, and the rest of No Rainbows goes along with Suzy's request. Arthur isn't explicitly in charge, but he's a big personality and the group started out of bluegrass jam sessions he organized, so they're used to following his lead. And her voice is pretty good.

A couple nights later, they are all setting up in the back of an Atlanta restaurant. Suzy's helping Arthur set up the amps while there's still space to move things around near the stage while the other three tune up.

Comments

[sing_for_the_tears]

Erica's been in Atlanta for a couple of weeks now. She's... managing. She knows all the shelters she can stay at, and she's found some places that will let her work for cash. Mostly restaurants, a couple stores that need help with restocking, those kind of gigs. It helps if she blanks the managers a little when asking for work. She's found nothing long term, certainly nothing interesting, but it keeps her in food, and occasionally she'll make a few bucks.

And here she's free.

That night, she heads for a restaurant near the shelter she's currently in. She's been there a couple times before; they do live music, some nights, and need the extra help. She'll get dinner and a few bucks for helping with the dishes. She walks in through the back door, trying to stay out of the way of tonight's band, and scans the room in search of the manager.

[against_all_trouble]

Art glances at the girl walking in, then turns back to Suzy. "Suze? You think that girl who just came in has a familiar expression?", he murmurs quietly.

[ladysunday]

Suzy is not great at subtle. Her look is less glance and more full-body turn. Her grin falls just as quickly. "We just found another stray, didn't we? I'll talk to her."

After the fifth or sixth time they let a kid stay on their couch, they developed a routine for this. Offers from Arthur sometimes come off as creepy, so Suzy is safer.

[sing_for_the_tears]

Erica talks to the manager quickly, after locating him; he recognizes her and agrees to dinner and $20 if she'll stay and wash dishes for the show. It's not a great deal, but she's heard worse. And it's a far sight better than what her parents paid her, which was "take your paycheck", so there's that.

As the manager walks off she notices one of the band members- rotate. Towards her. Well, that's weird. She's not on one of those stupid milk cartons or anything, is she? That would be bad. But- she doesn't think she is, she checks the news at the library sometimes when she can. And missing person reports usually take a while, they can only get milk cartons changed so quickly... So, probably just someone staring. She slouches back against the wall, arms crossed, and stares back rather challengingly.

[ladysunday]

Suzy walks around to come up along the wall, trying not to look like authority.

"Don't see many people taking night jobs here. You alright?"

She slumps to match.

[sing_for_the_tears]

Erica eyes her, just on the friendly side of wary. "I manage okay," she says carefully.

[ladysunday]

Well, if she wants to play it cool, so can Suzy. "OK, maybe I was wrong. Because my friend Art and me, we thought, 'I remember when I looked that tired, and that was right after we got out of foster care', and maybe you could use some free crash space."

[sing_for_the_tears]

Erica considers this for a minute or two. She decides it's probably nothing sketchy. It's the girl offering, she mentioned foster care, Erica kinda buys it. They work here, so they're legit enough to have gotten past the manager. (Well, so did she, but she did have to blank the guy the first time she came by, she'll give him a little credit.) It's likely to be better than the shelter, too; less crowded, less noisy, less pervading feelings of hopelessness.

(She stays in the shelters because they're free, she knows it makes the most sense on her non-existent budget, but- she's not used to them, not yet. She silently hopes she never is.)

Finally she nods. "If you have a spot, and it's not too much trouble," she says slowly, "I'd... appreciate it, yeah. Thanks." She cocks her head. "I can clean, or cook, in exchange; I'm good at those."

She's had lots of practice at those. And she doesn't like... owing.

[ladysunday]

"We always have a spot on the couch for a kid who needs it, yeah? And a couple of friends. I'm Suzy Blue, niceta meet you." Suzy straightens out and extends a hand.

[sing_for_the_tears]

Erica uncrosses her arm to shake hands. "Erica, you too." She risked it and kept her first name- too hard to forget, if she tried to switch. She's depending on the fake last name (and, really, Atlanta's sheer size) to keep her safe.

"So... I gotta go clean things. I'll stop by after the show," see if you meant it. "Break a leg, yeah? And... thanks."

[ladysunday]

Suzy grins. "No problem, Erica. See you later."

As Erica leaves, she heads back to the band. "She's pretty scared, I think, but took me up on it," she reports to Arthur, "And her name's Erica. Anything left to deal with before we start the show?"

Everything's set, and soon they go into the first song. It's one of the new songs Arthur's written that she tempted him with singing, an emotional seesaw called "Brighter Days" about the big changes in the narrator's life, and how she found hope during the dark twists and sadness even during the good parts. She pours her heart into it.

[sing_for_the_tears]

Erica finds herself enjoying the music rather more than she expected. The music here is usually fine, nothing special, but these guys are pretty good. She hums along as they sing, feeling a little more lighthearted for no particular reason.

[marrinikari]

Meanwhile in the front of the restaurant, enters a group of men. Something about the group, the Authority and Gravitas with which they're walking, is screaming Important People. They're an odd sight here, that's for sure; rigid posture, nicely dressed, sticking firmly together like a nervous herd of some kind.

Except, they're not nervous. They clearly have A Purpose Here.

And right now, they'll be watching the show. Very, very closely.

Isn't it interesting?

[against_all_trouble]

Arthur is absorbed in the music and doesn't see them come in. He only notices them when ripples of faint unease in the crowd reach the stage. It hits the same niggling note in the back of his head that's been overactive during performances recently; he's used to it.

The new song finishes, and he calls the next one, House of the Rising Sun. He arranged it a bit; their version trades off between the perspective of the mother and son, and vocals trade with them.

[ladysunday]

Suzy notices even less. She's flowing with the music, eyes half-closed.

There's a beat or two between songs where she's creeped out, but then she's back to Being the Singer.

[marrinikari]

The group seems- not content, they look too intense for that, but what might be called content in other circumstances- to wait for the show to be over. It shouldn't be long. Meanwhile, they'll just be sitting here.

Watching, and thinking.

[sing_for_the_tears]

Erica is, for the most part, working in the kitchen. (It's where all the dirty dishes are, after all). But the few times she sees them, she's wary. They don't fit here. She doesn't like things that don't fit. Why are they here? What do they want?

She has a moment of panic, thinking is it me they're looking for, but attempts to calm herself. It's fine. They're watching the show. (Weirdly closely, but whatever.) They haven't looked at the kitchen. It's probably not related to her at all.

Not to her running away, or her- Things.

All the same, she's glad Suzy made that offer. She's stayed in this shelter before, but never at Suzy's. If Suzy doesn't bail on her- which, to be realistic, she very well might- it would make her that little bit harder to find

She keeps her head down. She gets her work done. And she stays as close to the door as she can. As soon as the show's over, she's talking to Suzy and going anywhere else.

[against_all_trouble]

The rest of the show goes OK. The bunch of bland people clogging the audience dampens some of the atmosphere, but they get some good jams in, a couple standards, a couple more new songs.

Arthur gets slightly more nervous with every song. These guys aren't moving with the music, just staring at the stage. Normally he's got his Large Ham mask on for shows, but it's slipping tonight. He doesn't sing much.

[ladysunday]

Suzy doesn't get nearly as rattled. She's singing and it's great and so what if there's some obnoxious people being dull, this is The Best.

After a few hours of The Best, the room is starting to empty out and the restaurant's getting toward closing time. As the last bars finish, Suzy moves to the front of the stage with a big smile.

"I'm Suzy Blue and this was No Rainbows, check out our website for updates on future performances, love you all, good night!" she rattles out, going straight into a big bow.

Now, where was Erica?

[sing_for_the_tears]

Erica does not come in search of the band quite instantly. She gets her food and her money from the manager first. She packs the food up carefully in a bag, holds it so it won't spill (she only has so many clean outfits) and goes in search of Suzy.

Most of the people in the restaurant have left by now; it's closing time, no one's sticking around. There's one server left at the bar cleaning up for the night, but he's not paying any attention to the far side of the restaurant. The rest of the staff's in the kitchen in back, getting their free meals.

That leaves Suzy, Erica, the band (what's left of it, at least, a couple of the guys seem to be moving audio equipment into a van out back), and- the weird guys from earlier.

They beat Erica to the band. She slows to let them, in fact, and starts edging away from them as she approaches. As she's nearing the band, they reach Suzy, form a semi-circle around her, and with a couple wordless notes-





-fade into nothing.






Erica wants desperately to scream, but they were singing when they did that, she can't draw attention to herself-

She backs right into someone without even realizing she'd been backing up. "Oh god oh god oh god what the hell-"

[against_all_trouble]

Arthur walks back in from the van, just in time to see the semi-circle, Suzy starting to look scared, and... they're gone?

His mind races in circles, Suze! What the hell? They just...vanished? Am I nuts? Suze!. This might have gone on for a while, but he's then he's jostled by a girl walking backwards.

He blinks, then turns a bit toward her. "You see what I just saw?", he says, in a shocked, slightly hollow voice.

[sing_for_the_tears]

"They sang her away," Erica babbles brokenly. "What did they- how did they- Oh god, oh god, if they're looking for singers-" her eyes open wide, panicked. "I have to go, what if they find me-"

[against_all_trouble]

Arthur blinks away the confusion. That sounds like a yes? Also, a ton of questions. Which should definitely happen at not-now. Right now, he has a focus. Take care of this kid, deal with the immediate crisis.

"Hey, it's alright. I have a car, I'll give you a ride." Though... maybe not our place?. "You're Erica, right? I'm Suze's roommate, Arthur."

[sing_for_the_tears]

She nods, rather frantically at first but slowly calmer. She is supposed to be better than this, she is supposed to stay calm and figure things out.

First step- get out.

"Yeah, I'm Erica. A ride- that sounds great. Thanks." She looks towards- where Suze was- shudders, pushes it down and looks back at Arthur. "Are you all set? Need help with your stuff?"

Generally anything she can do to help get them out of here as fast as possible?

[against_all_trouble]

"All my stuff's in the van or my car. If you're good to go, we'll be off quick."

With a bit of guiding, they get to the car and pull away. "So I'm not really sure we should to my place immediately. You sounded like you understood a little more than me, mind if we get some coffee and talk? There's a diner on my way home from here."