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 Posted: Sat Apr 11, 2009 6:43 pm
Thali frowned slightly. That must have done it, the koolaid. "Well, Josh has been studying..." She paused. Josh had helped her make it. "I know how to turn you back." The elf said suddenly. "You two have to sing again."
Josh assumed Anna had to be Casia's real mom. "Seriously. I'm not Casia." He paused. "I'm not lying, or pretending, if that's what you think. You probably don't believe me anyway.." He sighed.
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Posted: Sat Apr 11, 2009 7:25 pm
Casia looked alarmed. She'd have to sing with Josh? He couldn't even keep up with her! Never mind the fact they wouldn't even be using their own voices. Sure, she had wondered what singing in a different voice would be like, but she didn't expect the stakes to be so high. She eyed Thali suspiciously. This could be a trick, and the siren still didn't trust the guardian, but she didn't see any harm in trying the farfetched proposal at least. "Groovy, but there's one problem. We don't have Josh here."
Jane's eyes widened. Whether this... person was telling the truth or not, something had to be wrong. She had quoted the Beatles and Casia hadn't even blinked. But how did two people change bodies? It was impossible.
But so were sirens until a short while ago.
The guardian narrowed her eyes. "Whatever's going on, I'm going to find out." she muttered and went back into Thali's house. "Thali?" she called.
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Posted: Sun Apr 12, 2009 1:30 pm
Thali just nodded at Casia, catching her look. "Trust me, I've seen this kind of thing before." She said. Well, not when it came to singing. And then it had been a fight between sisters. "Just do your best." She said. "And I think Josh'll be here in... now." The elf looked up to catch sight of Jane.
Josh walked in behind her. He was surprised the guardian believed him, but it wasn't an unpleasant surprise. He ran over to Thali and gave her a hug.
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Posted: Sun Apr 12, 2009 5:39 pm
Jane frowned once more. Casia was definitely not the hugging type, and she didn't know what weird stunt was going on here but she sure as hell was going to find out. "Thali, what's wrong with Casia?" she asked, almost looking as suspicious as the siren in Josh's body did from across the table. "She's not acting right."
Casia looked relieved as Josh and Jane ran in. "Come on, let's do it!" she demanded, ignoring her guardian's confusion. THere would be time for explaining later, she wanted her body back NOW!
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Posted: Sun Apr 12, 2009 6:23 pm
Thali frowned at Jane, before thinking of how to word it. Even that didn't seem to help, because what she came up with was... "She's not Casia." She said bluntly. "They switched. I don't know how they did it, I don't know why. They just did."
"Do what?" Josh asked, confused.
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Posted: Tue Apr 14, 2009 3:14 pm
Jane shook her head, biting her lip. "That's not possible." she said slowly. "Children don't just switch bodies!" She was fairly sure of this and it was all her mind could do to cling to it because the only other option was accepting it, which boggled the mind.
Casia clicked Josh's tongue impatiently and counted to ten. Like it or not, the nutcracker who had stolen her voice and body still needed explaining to or this wouldn't work out even if it was a feasible plan. "Sing." she told him quickly. "We have to sing together in harmony, dig?"
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Posted: Tue Apr 14, 2009 7:20 pm
Thali frowned. She would never understand mortals need to demean magic. "Well, explain to me what you think's happened." She said dully. "And keep in mind that you're speaking with an elf. I usually know what I'm talking about." That said, the elf shrugged.
Joshua nodded at Casia. It seemed like a reasonable solution, after all, this had happened after singing, so the only logical way to undo it was by singing. "What song?" He asked.
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Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 1:44 pm
Jane shook her head, looking back and forth at Casia and Josh. She didn't know what was going on, she couldn't offer any answer. Something was wrong, and she didn't think that both Casia and Josh could act that well. "But... Even assuming true, how did it happen?" she said, bewildered. "You were here, weren't you?"
Casia bit Josh's lip. It didn't seem like she and Josh had any songs in common. He was a princely guy, she was a 60's girl, and nothing they thought or believed seemed to agree at all. Where would she find a happy medium? Tugging at Josh's sleeve absentmindedly, she looked up. "Josh," she said carefully, "You ever heard of West Side Story?"
It was the only connection she could think of.
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Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 8:07 pm
Thali could only frown at Jane. "I wasn't watching the entire time." She explained. "I was in kitchen making lunch for them. They were singing at first, but then... everything went quiet." She paused, and picked up the book she'd been reading.
Josh's eyes widened. Casia knew about West Side Story? "Of course I do!" He said. "Do you know any of the songs?"
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Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 9:10 pm
Jane stared. How could Thali read a book when her child was trapped in a different kid's body? And not just any kid, JANE'S kid. The person that the mail carrier was supposed to be protecting, she felt a strange twist in her gut as she looked over at Casia, or was it Josh? Some job she was doing so far. But in this situation, what good was a mail carrier? She didn't even know what was going on, much less how to help. She had never felt so powerless, not even when she had been living with her mother.
Casia frowned thoughtfully. Her memory for songs was better than most, but she had only seen the movie once and it had been a little while ago. She would much rather perform a song she was sure of when the stakes were so high, but they had finally found something they might both know. Trying to remember and see which one she recalled the best, the siren blinked as one came to mind. That one, it still burned like fire in her head, the groovy, desperate energy twanging her heartstrings. "America?" she suggested tentatively.
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Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 9:27 pm
Thali had reasoned that mortals were stupid, and they would never solve anything unless they left the two children alone. "Come along Jane." She said, looking over at the woman. "They know what to do." She offered the other woman a book. "The series is really good," She explained. "You can borrow it."
Josh nodded, he knew the song. "But what part do I sing?" Did he sing Anita's part, since he was in Casia's body? "Do you want to start us off?" He asked politely. "I think I know all the words."
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Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2009 7:18 pm
Jane shot Thali an amazed look. "Borrow... it?" she asked slowly. "No!" The fact that Thali could even leave the children alone at a moment like this suggested the grossest sort of negligence to the meticulous postal worker. This wasn't what she had intended when she had brought Casia over! She stared worriedly at the duo chatting about West Side Story with tones usually heard at a multigovernmental peace conference.
As Jane's thoughts settled around the tone of the two children and the fact that this calamity might actually be real, more than an elaborate ruse, she felt guilt writhe at the bottom of her stomach. Somehow, she knew this was her fault, not just the seemingly careless elf's. Singing, all she had been thinking about was for Casia to work on singing while she was at work and in doing so she had forgotten to ask the siren if she had even wanted to go. Remembering it, she hadn't seemed that thrilled.
But she hadn't said anything. Why hadn't she said anything? What was so ridiculously hard about telling Jane she didn't want to go, for Go-, for goodness' sake, the atheist corrected herself, she was a siren. They were supposed to command words and get their own way, not just let themselves be pushed around by postal workers. The idea was ludicrous even if the postal worker happened to be the siren's mother.
Blackbird singing in the dead of night... Jane heard Casia's hums from the first evening she came home in her head. Not just a siren, a hurt girl, a siren who had been raised by humans, used to singing Beatles songs to stave off pain, to escape into colourful 60's worlds to avoid problems. A real little girl, and the first time Jane realized that, she had changed her plans to raise Casia. Had she changed them enough? Not many little girls told their mother they were raising them wrong. They just waited and waited and then had a temper tantrum when something finally tipped the scales. Jane knew well enough, she was raised by a controlling mother too.
Say the little girl was also a mythological siren. Jane's eyes widened in alarm and she turned to Thali urgently. Just in case, she didn't want to take any more chances today. "Do you have an oven mitt I could borrow for a second?" she pleaded.
Casia seized Bernardo's part. "You sing the chick bit." she commanded quickly. If she was going to be stuck in Josh she could at least get the chance to sing a male part. Anyway, she preferred Bernardo's lyrics- Anita's soothed her but deep down she thought that Bernardo's were truer. And who better to illustrate them than Josh? Hadn't she always wanted to be accepted by that kind of princely person? And she never had been accepted by a one of them, not Antony, not Josh. Princely people, real ones, they didn't exist. No one just accepted everyone graciously and lovingly, everyone hated somebody at the end of the day, whether you acted wrong, looked wrong, walked wrong, or talked wrong, in the end, someone was going to push you away. And Casia had been pushed away, oh yes.
She shook Josh's head briefly, clearing her head. "That means you start." The artificial smugness was forced into her voice, if Josh knew how badly she was afraid this wouldn't work, he might mess up. And she needed to get back to her own body, badly. A siren mind without siren powers was as much fun as the Beatles breaking up, full of bitterness and a sense of loss without proper music to express it and distract from it.
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Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2009 8:01 pm
Thali noticed the urgency in Jane's voice, and went to get an oven mitt. Maybe the woman really wanted to make cookies or something, she didn't know.She walked back into the living room. "Here." She said, handing the mitt. Then the elf walked over to Casia.
"Keep emotion out of the song." She warned the girl in her son's body. "If you don't, everyone in the house will be feeling the same one as you are, or that you're protraying." She paused, and looked at Josh. "Same goes for you. I don't know Casia's powers, but she undoubtedly has them." The elf clearly doubted that any child her son had met so far was normal.
Josh just nodded. He had to get this song right. Everything was set upon it. He took a breath, and began to sing.
Puerto Rico,
My heart’s devotion--
Let it sink back in the ocean.
Always the hurricanes blowing,
Always the population growing,
And the money owing.
And the sunlight streaming,
And the natives steaming.
I like the island Manhattan,
Smoke on your pipe and put that in.
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Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2009 2:53 pm
Casia looked at Thali in shock. Not sing with emotions? how did that even work? How was she supposed to push the song away and still make it sound cherry? How did Josh do it?
"I like to be in America,
Okay by me in America,
Everything free in America -"
If he could do it, she could, she tried to convince herself as Josh sang in her voice. Anything he could do, she could do too. Rising to the challenge reluctantly, she heard the part where she had to jump in. Don't think about it!
"For a small fee in America!" she blurted. Focus on the notes, she had to focus on the music in her head and not the tantalizing, all-important words. Forget about the marrow of the piece!
"Buying on credit is so nice."
"One look at us and they charge twice!"
"I’ll have my own washing machine."
"What will you have, though, to keep clean?"
"Skyscrapers bloom in America,
Cadillacs zoom in America,
Industry boom in America!"
"Twelve in a room in America." There was no room for thought, no room for analyzing or getting caught up and for the first time Casia found herself just singing to sound good, measuring the beats and distancing herself from the alluring pull of the music. What was the point of singing if you couldn't feel it?
"Lots of new housing with more space."
"Lots of doors slamming in our face."
"I’ll get a terrace apartment."
"Better get rid of your accent."
"Life can be bright in America."
"If you can fight in America."
"Life is all right in America."
"If you’re all white in America." She paused, this was where an interlude was in the movie and she looked to Josh for his cue. How could he stay so optimistic about things when his power made it so he couldn't even sing safely in front of people? He had more in common with her than she had thought all along, but...
The difference was, he hadn't let it bother him. She felt a surge of guilt. He hadn't let himself be overwhelmed or afraid, he had been able to shine past that. And Casia would always feel the niggling doubts weighing her down. The last time she had really sung without worrying about anything or anyone was when she had whispered Blackbird. Josh had inhibitions that would always weigh him down, in ways more obvious than siren song and he let his voice out so freely. The siren was starting to see him in a different light, and though she would perhaps never like him and would never admit it, she offered him grudging respect.
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Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2009 7:36 pm
Josh really only kept in emotion when singing to people outside the family. His mother was slowly growing immune to it, after that time he'd put the entire household to sleep. Still, Thali was cautious. This was an easy song to get into, the beat, the words, it just fit. It was fast paced and fun, and he was slowly getting the hang of Casia's voice.
"Here you are free and you have pride."
She didn't seem to be having trouble, so Josh wouldn't let his worries show. What if they messed up? Would they really get along better? He somehow doubted this. They didn't have much in common, almost like Anita and Bernardo's opinions in the song.
"Long as you stay on your own side."
"Free to be anything you choose."
"Free to wait tables and shine shoes."
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