Blue Muse, part 2
In which a veela violinist is acquired...
There were fliers pinned up in the hotel lobby, ads set to run in several newspapers the next day, a word-of-mouth campaign seeded in several bars known to be frequented by members of the music scene both known and unknown, and even a radio host someone had paid to drop an announcement during peak listening times. Miniver and Nikki were looking for musicians. They’d spent all day arranging for all this advertising, and after returning to Nikki’s hotel room, it hadn’t taken them long to decide how to spend the time while waiting for their intended audience to take notice and respond.
They’d gotten as far as sitting on the bed, still fully clothed, when SHE walked in. She didn’t knock, she didn’t announce herself, she just opened the door (had they really left it ajar so the automatic lock didn’t catch?) and walked into the bedroom with a violin in one hand and its bow in the other, her long skirt billowing and her blonde hair tumbling over her shoulders like a cascade of straw. She planted her bare feet near enough to where the two men were sitting to make them both want to scoot back, but that instinct was overridden by both of them being too startled by the situation to move. Thus they sat, frozen and staring, Miniver’s hand still down Nikki’s pants with the zipper half undone. Without a word, the girl lifted her instrument and began to play.
Her execution was flawless. She was a skilled and expressive performer, cycling through a fairly thorough sampling of different musical genres, from Celtic to classical to obscure artsy crap and rock. She played for all of two minutes or less, then lowered her arms to her sides and looked at them expectantly.
Nikki had, at some point, crossed one leg over the other. They both stared back at her, Miniver contemplating whether it would be possible to gracefully remove his hand from Nikki’s lap without making it blatantly obvious what it had been there for in the first place, Nikki contemplating whether it would be worthwhile to invite her to join the party as well as the band, and neither speaking for several long moments.
The girl raised one brow. It effectively snapped them out of vocal paralysis. Nikki grinned and crowed praises while Miniver stammered and drew his hand back and tried to coherently phrase some sort of acceptance speech that included a “who exactly are you?” clause and didn’t give away too heavily that his inner soundtrack was screaming “what the fuck was that?” on a repeat loop.
Eventually, they got it sorted out. Miniver and Nikki agreed that she should be asked to join them on a trial basis. As soon as the invitation was effectively communicated, she spoke up for the first time, promising in her high-pitched voice to return the next morning. She flashed a fay smile at them and turned to leave. She got all the way to the door before one of the many thoughts kicking around Miniver’s brain caught hold and he called after her.
“Hey! What’s your name, anyway?”
She looked back over her shoulder, halfway out the door.
“Jenna.”
True to her word, the next day, as Miniver was walking up to Nikki’s door with his own guitar and a mini-amp after spending the night with Sean back home, she was there, coming from the opposite end of the hall. Now that he was standing, he could tell that she was actually quite small-still barefoot, she might have been about five feet tall, giving Miniver an advantage in height he was not used to, being only around 5’6’’ himself. They went into the hotel room together.
From then on, she was part of the band. She came every day with her violin and proved herself equally efficient at organizing advertisements and scheduling auditions as she was at learning music. Her presence was easy and natural. Her chemistry with the singer and guitarist was electric. Though she politely refrained from taking part in Miniver and Nikki’s free use of drink, drugs, and sex, she demanded no propriety or abstinence from the two men. She seemed to have no obligations outside of band business-they never saw her make any calls, she had no regular employment, she never spoke of any family. Still, for all that, she was not hermetic, nor was she shy. She liked to go with the boys to clubs and dance. She flirted freely and seduced effectively, but never left with anyone. She was an enigma.
Miniver and Nikki decided one night after she had gone that she must be an elf. Veela, Nikki called her. It was a reputation she would never lose, though always it would be used fondly by the rest of the band.
So now there were three…
There were fliers pinned up in the hotel lobby, ads set to run in several newspapers the next day, a word-of-mouth campaign seeded in several bars known to be frequented by members of the music scene both known and unknown, and even a radio host someone had paid to drop an announcement during peak listening times. Miniver and Nikki were looking for musicians. They’d spent all day arranging for all this advertising, and after returning to Nikki’s hotel room, it hadn’t taken them long to decide how to spend the time while waiting for their intended audience to take notice and respond.
They’d gotten as far as sitting on the bed, still fully clothed, when SHE walked in. She didn’t knock, she didn’t announce herself, she just opened the door (had they really left it ajar so the automatic lock didn’t catch?) and walked into the bedroom with a violin in one hand and its bow in the other, her long skirt billowing and her blonde hair tumbling over her shoulders like a cascade of straw. She planted her bare feet near enough to where the two men were sitting to make them both want to scoot back, but that instinct was overridden by both of them being too startled by the situation to move. Thus they sat, frozen and staring, Miniver’s hand still down Nikki’s pants with the zipper half undone. Without a word, the girl lifted her instrument and began to play.
Her execution was flawless. She was a skilled and expressive performer, cycling through a fairly thorough sampling of different musical genres, from Celtic to classical to obscure artsy crap and rock. She played for all of two minutes or less, then lowered her arms to her sides and looked at them expectantly.
Nikki had, at some point, crossed one leg over the other. They both stared back at her, Miniver contemplating whether it would be possible to gracefully remove his hand from Nikki’s lap without making it blatantly obvious what it had been there for in the first place, Nikki contemplating whether it would be worthwhile to invite her to join the party as well as the band, and neither speaking for several long moments.
The girl raised one brow. It effectively snapped them out of vocal paralysis. Nikki grinned and crowed praises while Miniver stammered and drew his hand back and tried to coherently phrase some sort of acceptance speech that included a “who exactly are you?” clause and didn’t give away too heavily that his inner soundtrack was screaming “what the fuck was that?” on a repeat loop.
Eventually, they got it sorted out. Miniver and Nikki agreed that she should be asked to join them on a trial basis. As soon as the invitation was effectively communicated, she spoke up for the first time, promising in her high-pitched voice to return the next morning. She flashed a fay smile at them and turned to leave. She got all the way to the door before one of the many thoughts kicking around Miniver’s brain caught hold and he called after her.
“Hey! What’s your name, anyway?”
She looked back over her shoulder, halfway out the door.
“Jenna.”
True to her word, the next day, as Miniver was walking up to Nikki’s door with his own guitar and a mini-amp after spending the night with Sean back home, she was there, coming from the opposite end of the hall. Now that he was standing, he could tell that she was actually quite small-still barefoot, she might have been about five feet tall, giving Miniver an advantage in height he was not used to, being only around 5’6’’ himself. They went into the hotel room together.
From then on, she was part of the band. She came every day with her violin and proved herself equally efficient at organizing advertisements and scheduling auditions as she was at learning music. Her presence was easy and natural. Her chemistry with the singer and guitarist was electric. Though she politely refrained from taking part in Miniver and Nikki’s free use of drink, drugs, and sex, she demanded no propriety or abstinence from the two men. She seemed to have no obligations outside of band business-they never saw her make any calls, she had no regular employment, she never spoke of any family. Still, for all that, she was not hermetic, nor was she shy. She liked to go with the boys to clubs and dance. She flirted freely and seduced effectively, but never left with anyone. She was an enigma.
Miniver and Nikki decided one night after she had gone that she must be an elf. Veela, Nikki called her. It was a reputation she would never lose, though always it would be used fondly by the rest of the band.
So now there were three…