outlierdirector: ▮ <lj user="outlierdirector">. (stare▸lighting to the.)
ᴊᴇssᴇ ғᴀᴅᴇɴ | ᵗʰᵉ ᵈᶦʳᵉᶜᵗᵒʳ. ([personal profile] outlierdirector) wrote in [community profile] synthneon 2024-05-03 08:27 am (UTC)

—the anderson farm.

[ Barry finds a car and they drive to the Anderson Farm. It takes time, given it's further out from Bright Falls than even Cauldron Lake. They have to pass radio towers. Broadcast from Pat Maine comes over the airwaves. Jesse thinks they may even see dawn before they see this farm, but that turns out not to be the case. They arrive at an old farm and head into the barn first.

A television (somehow) is broadcasting Night Springs. Barry drags Alan over to reminisce over it. The episode isn't one that Alan writes for but the two have a brief conversation on how Alan started as a writer. Their conversation echoes in the barn as Jesse continues to move forward in it. The feeling of an outsider grows inside but she keeps it locked away. The attention instead turns to the items in the barn as she quickly notices the Viking motif--then a banner of an old tour. Dates. Locations. The band name.

The Old Gods of Asgard.

Jesse stops in her tracks and simply stares at the name. The familiar name and logo, almost like something that haunts her from the past. Her dad's favorite band. She was a fan too, but, hasn't listened to them in a long time. It brings back memories of times when her life was ... different. Really different. Whole. A family--even if that family would rather have nothing to do with her and Dylan it seemed.

« Alan even knows the Old Gods of Asgard? How many things connect... I don't understand. »

She moves on as she hears the footsteps behind her. She doesn't want them to see her lingering over things that will cause questions.

They can't get too close.

All she can describe that happens next is something of a fever dream. They stand on a homemade stage of the Old Gods, blasting Children of the Elder God. A song she knows--because she knows all their songs--but that song has a sinking feeling inside her now. Almost as if she's witnessing what the song is really about. Living it. Barry shouts at how great the moment was and checks in with Alan while Jesse begins to shuffle off to the farmhouse. Never lingering too long because then those thoughts will have to catch up to her. Questions.

The power is cut in the farmhouse. It takes some time to find it, but Alan gets the lights on. A faint tune hovers in the house. Jesse knows it immediately, moving from the dining room to stand in the entryway to the living room. An older in house stage sits at the back of the room, a pair of couches in front of the table besides a fireplace. She shuffles out of the way for Barry and Alan, nodding to them to move into the room. Yet, she stays where she is, ever on the outskirts on the events but somehow still present.

Barry sets the record on the player and hands Alan the cover. The slow melody, for a rock band, sings about the local legends. The poet and his muse--Thomas Zane and Barbara Jagger. Jesse glances down once more. That sinking feeling returning of living events that the songs are truly about. Any other rock band making songs about local legends wouldn't be a problem. However, it should be quite apparent that these legends are real. The people were real.

The art is real. ]


And now to see your love set free,
You'll need the witch's cabin key,
Find the lady of the light gone mad with the night,
that's how you reshape destiny


[ Barry shoots up from his seat pointing out that must be it. They just need to find the "crazy lamp lady" in town and see what to do next. He moves in excitement to get right in front of Alan, which Jesse finds herself grateful for. It makes the fact she silently slips from view that much easier. The men are distracted which means she can do what she does best: disappear.

She's perfected the art of making no noise and shifting into the background. Barry and Alan's conversation echoes over the music. As does the celebratory excitement from Barry and finding moonshine. Jesse glances over her shoulder at the men before silently moving to the upstairs. A few glances at each room before she finds an open door and slips inside. She doesn't close the door all the way behind her. Just enough to put a barrier between her and everything else.

Hell, she would go outside if a storm wasn't coming in. The thunder and winds echoing throughout the farmhouse.

« All of this is about them: Alan and his wife. Zane and Jagger. It all surrounds them and just... loops back. Everyone has a place in it but me. Don't they? I'm just HERE. Almost inserted like I don't belong. Not that it's surprising. There's nowhere I really belong anyways. Not anymore. »

Jesse sits down against the bed, pulling the backpack off and sitting it between her legs. Her lips press together tightly as she feels that feeling bubble insider her. That loneliness that can threaten to consume her but she never lets it. Instead it hovers there, ever reminding her that she is.... an outlier. For a brief moment she hugs the backpack to her and listening to the sounds of the men downstairs drink. Jesse stares down at the backpack before opening it and pulling the binder out that she keeps all the manuscript pages in.

« Might as well be useful and play the part I'm here to do. »

She begins sorting through the manuscript--moving pages. Shifting them into the order she thinks is best. Pages that have her name are ones she barely considers. Just a part in the story, a role to have, and a name on the page. There's not much more to it than that. Regardless of how she feels... how Alan may feel. It doesn't belong.

An hour or so passes before she closes the binder and sets it to the side.

Then, she moves the backpack to the floor. She turns, back to the door, head on the bag, and curling up slightly. She hugs herself and refuses to move to get a blanket or pillow.

« It's... probably a good idea to get some sleep while they do whatever it they're doing. Even if it's only a few hours. » ]

Post a comment in response:

This account has disabled anonymous posting.
If you don't have an account you can create one now.
No Subject Icon Selected
More info about formatting