Lynn Mills Glimpses

**Lynn Mills** · May 21st, 2014 09:58 PM

Soft notes drifted through the air, placed there by the slight figure of a street corner performer; gently drawing forth an unearthly music in the dim twilight. There were no crowds for her to play for, but still she played; singing softly under her breath.

Lynn was waiting, watching an elderly couple sitting in an open courtyard across the street from her. They had been together for 50 years, the elderly gentleman had told her, and it was their wedding anniversary. He wanted to make it special, so he had requested her help in recreating their first date, where they had danced together to a tune played by a busker. He had offered to pay her handsomely for her help, but she had refused, saying that it was her gift to them, to recognize that some things in the world could really last. She would play for them for free, just for the chance to be close when that song was played.

It wasn’t as if she needed the money, after all.

Watching carefully, she caught the cue that the gentleman had asked her to watch for; crossing the street as she easily shifted the tone and tune that she was playing. Her music took on a nostalgic air, harkening back to the golden times that the couple remembered. She caught the moment that the elderly woman recognized the tune, laughing and crying both as she turned and kissed her husband. He laughed as well, taking her hand and gently leading her into a dance. Lynn smiled and played, drawing on the emotions of the two. This was love; the gold left after the dross of lesser emotions had burned away. This was what lasted, what she needed.

She played for half an hour, laughing gently as they thanked her profusely for her gift and tried again to pay her. She refused, claiming instead a gentle kiss on the check of the husband. She would have stayed longer, but she had heard through the streets that there was a gathering of all the Lost tonight, hosted by the Spring Lady. She may be new in town, but there would be no excuse for missing that. And anyways, who could pass up a good party?

**Trickster** · Aug 18th, 2014 09:18 PM

Lynn froze in the act of reaching through the Thorns. She had traveled into the Hedge in search of some fruit for trade and now she was regretting it. At least the fact that she had come in by herself. If she was with somebody, they might be able to tell her if that rustling behind her was because of some adorably cute Hedge creature that was straight out of a Disney movie; or the more likely alternative, something with far too many teeth that was looking to add her to the dinner menu.

Smoothly, she released the fruit that she had been grasping and drew back, straightening and reaching around to grasp her fiddle case. She licked her lips and drew a deep breath. She didn’t like calling him for help. But she might have no other choice.

With a faint gasp, she flipped her case open and grasped her fiddle, drawing it out and putting it beneath her chin. She spun at the same time and caught a glimpse of the thing stalking her. She was right, far too many teeth. It might even have more than one head. She now had no choice. With a faint cry of pain, she poured her gathered love into the fiddle and watched it change. Before it had been simply a finely crafted instrument; now it showed it’s true colors. It was crafted by a master hand, but the true horror lie in what it was made of. Made of bone, cunningly fit together and lovingly carved. She drew her bow across the silver strings and the fiddle fairly screamed in sorrow as a man’s form shimmered into sight in front of her. The face was as familiar as her own and belonged to the bones in her hands. It was her husband, her lover, her love. Jason Mills, whom she hadn’t seen in the flesh since she made that ill-fated bargain with the White Lady.

“Protect me, my love.” Lynn could barely speak for the sorrow that fairly drowned her. It was always like this. She could call on him, for protection and safety, but it was as if she lost him all over again. She watched the shimmering ghost in front of her nod once and fly forward, striking the thing in front of her a sharp blow. It screeched, tumbling backwards and thrashing in the vines. She ran past it, leaping over a fallen log and dashing down the Trod. She wasn’t too far from the gate, just far enough. She kept playing, even as she ran. She couldn’t stop playing, even while fleeing for her life. Behind her she could hear snarling and fighting; Jason was still between her and it and she had a chance to get away. Before her she could see the Gate, behind her she could hear the sound of pursuit. “Jason!” she cried as she felt claws rake through the air across her back. The faint form of her husband rushed between them again as she finally drew close enough to the gate to call it into existence. With a scream of sorrow and defiance she leapt through it, spinning and watching as it slammed shut behind her. With trembling fingers, she wound through a few bars of an old lullaby, watching as Jason’s form circled around her.

“Jason….” tears streaked down her face as she gazed for one last moment on his beloved face. He seemed to look through her, he always did. She could call him, he would protect her, but something kept them apart. If it was death itself or some lingering enchantment wrought by the White Lady, she didn’t know. But it was far crueler than anything else she had done. They were always together, always and forever. And she could never touch him, never see her love reflected in his eyes.

“My love….” Lynn finally broke down, sobbing as her fingers stilled. Desperately she reached out, trying beyond hope to touch him once more. But as always, he faded like mist before the dawn, disappearing before she could touch him. Lynn, cradled the fiddle to her chest, watching as the carved bone twisted itself back into the more prosaic carved wood and inlay. She fit it into the case carefully, like a mother laying a child to sleep. And she cried, sorrowing for all the lost hopes and dreams that she could now remember, feeling his loss as if it was just yesterday.

**Trickster** · Sep 25th, 2014 08:29 PM

Lynn stood on a street corner and played.

It was the only thing she had left after waking from the dream the White Lady had kept her in. Her family had aged and most were gone. The home that she and Jason had started building had long been sold and started to fall to ruin. There had been nothing holding her to that corner of California where she had emerged and so she wandered, following Renaissance fairs and other festivals up and down the coast in order to support herself. She had the money from the bargain the White Lady had struck, but the thought of using that made her feel ill.

She played with her eyes closed, not even really noticing the world around her until the rumble of thunder broke through her concentration. A sudden spring thunderstorm had blown up out of nowhere while she was lost in her music and she cursed her lack of attention as she ran for a nearby tree. She barely made it to the sheltering branches, tucking her precious fiddle away in safety when the first drops started falling.

It was funny, the way that memory worked…..

She and Jason ran for the shelter of a tree as a sudden thunderstorm struck the hills of the little mountain town they had grown up in. Neither of their parents knew they were out together, and they both would have been in massive trouble if they were found out. Lynn giggled as she scrapped her dripping hair out of her eyes and shivered slightly as a breeze plastered her shirt to her skin. Jason grinned at her and raised one eyebrow, peeling off his own shirt and wrapping it around her.

“So, what are we gonna do while we’re waiting for the rain to stop?” Jason grinned and wrapped his arms around her, drawing them both close together. Lynn grinned back and leaned closer and . . . .

Lynn felt a blush rising up across her cheeks as she blinked her way out of her daydream. It had been a while since she remembered that! But the rain had stopped and as she stepped out she could smell the sweet scent of dust just after a good rain. And she smiled, because it almost seemed like she was connected a bit more closely with the rest of the world.

**Trickster** · Oct 18th, 2014 10:06 PM

Lynn yawned and rubbed at her eyes as she made her way through the early morning crowd at the swap meet. All of the truly serious shoppers where already here, eyes narrowed as they scanned the offerings; looking for that really great deal or unique items. She smiled slightly as she reached out to taste their anticipation.

It took her a little bit, but she eventually managed to find Mike, he of the tin foil hat.

“I never stay in the same place for too long; make it too easy for them to find me.” He had explained when she asked about why he was always moving. When she had asked if it hurt his business, he had just cackled and shook his head. “Business is good enough. Don’t want to make waves, might give somebody ideas.”

Honestly, she wasn’t sure where he got the technology he was selling; she suspected a combination of junkyard finds and “things that fell off a truck”. That was fine with her, as she didn’t always want to leave a paper trail. Which was something that Mike excelled at.

“Fiddler Girl!” Mike called out as soon as he saw her. “You get that unit set up all right?” She had bought a small PC off of him not too long ago and it was surprisingly powerful for what she paid for it.

“Yeah Mike, no problem; I appreciate you pointing me in the right direction. I’m looking for some stuff for . . . a project.” She didn’t even bother making up a story. Anything Mike came up with would be better than she could come up with. “I need a few antennas. Metal preferably and as big as one person can carry comfortably.”

“Hmmmm.” Mike looked over his gear, scratching thoughtfully at his scalp. The distinct sound of crunching tin foil could be heard in the early morning quiet. “Could be I got what you need.”

Marcus Evan

**Trickster** · Oct 19th, 2014 08:33 PM

Lynn sighed and cracked her neck, taking deep and even breaths. She had spent the last few hours sitting quietly in the shadows outside a bar, communing with Darkness, learning a new contract. Now it was time to test it out. She’d also spent the past time thinking of the best tune to work with. The past decades had given her a wealth of new music to call up certain images and she’d made a concentrated effort to learn them.

Lynn stood up and brushed at a bit of grit that was stuck to her dress. She’d prepared for this test by wearing a screaming red, skin tight, low cut dress and a pair of sky high heels. There was no way that any straight male with a drop of blood or an ounce of booze in their system would ignore her. She cleared her throat, sighed and started forwards.

Nobody notice me.

If someone stood up in a crowd
And raised his voice up way out loud
And waved his arm and shook his leg
You'd notice him

If someone in the movie show
Yelled "Fire in the second row
This whole place is a powder keg!"
You'd notice him

And even without clucking like a hen
Everyone gets noticed, now and then,
Unless, of course, that personage should be
Invisible, inconsequential me!

Lynn licked her lips and started whistling softly to herself and to the night.

Cellophane
Mister Cellophane
Shoulda been my name
Mister Cellophane
'Cause you can look right through me
Walk right by me
And never know I'm there...

A couple of guys staggering out of the bar almost caught sight of her, before a passing car laid on their horn, pulling their attention away. A bum sleeping on the sidewalk could have seen her, if he hadn’t noticed something glinting in the gutter.

I tell ya
Cellophane
Mister Cellophane
Shoulda been my name
Mister Cellophane

A couple of prostitutes were walking towards her and started to glance over before the calls of a couple of potential customers drew them off to the right.

'Cause you can look right through me
Walk right by me
And never know I'm there..

Lynn grinned in satisfaction as she made it down the block without a single person noticing her.

**Trickster** · Nov 16th, 2014 10:13 PM

Lynn hummed softly to herself as she figured up her finances. The ill fated deal that she had made with the White Lady gave her what would be a quite comfortable living, if she was comfortable with using it. As it was, using it more than she had to made her feel….dirty. She was currently living in a cozy little upstairs apartment that somebody was renting out and the busking was quite good lately; so she wasn’t hurting for funds right now. In fact, she could afford to pass some of it along, in the belief that she could bring a bit of hope to somebody else.

A quick check of the homeless shelters in Sacramento had turned up one named Next Move – Family. They took in families of all kinds and their waiting list was evidentially so long that they didn’t even take walk ins. They were good people. They could use a bit of help. Sealing up her donation in a sturdy envelope, Lynn took the bus down to Parker Avenue. It took her a bit of doing, but she was able to request a quiet moment with the director. He looked tired and stressed and very much like he was afraid that he would have to refuse whatever it was that she was going to ask for. She was happy to put that fear to rest fairly easily.

Lynn simply smiled and handed over the envelope with the information that it was a donation. He accepted it with thanks and wasn’t crass enough to count it in front of her, anything in it was more than they had a moment ago. She merely ducked her head and made a quiet exit. She hoped that the nearly $2,000 she had tucked aside for them made a difference.

She had the feeling that Jason would have approved.

**Trickster** · Dec 2nd, 2014 10:09 PM

Lynn whistled under her breath as she made her way up the steps of the soup kitchen. She wasn’t there as one in need, but hopefully to help. She had made a private promise to start helping bring a bit of hope to the people of Sacramento. After all, she had been snared by the Fae because she thought she had no other choice but to take the White Lady’s offer. Maybe, she could prevent the same thing from happening to any body else. Or, failing that, she could at least hand out a bit of food to some hungry people.

She wasn’t surprised to find that they could do with a bit of help sorting and the fact that she kept her fiddle slung across her back brought some raised eyebrows, but since she was able to get around easily enough, nobody really gave her any trouble about it.

The director of the place caught her eye first. She noticed he was walking with slumped shoulders, as if a weight had settled down upon them. Nobody who worked here did it for the wages, so she chose to believe that he was doing it because he cared. She started humming under her breath, at the same time reaching out with the Gift of Spring.

Gift of Warm Breath

She had thought long and hard about the song that would best call forth the right mood for drawing on Spring and she had come up with The Firebird Suite, as portrayed in the Fantaisia remake. The imagery itself worked, the embodiment of Spring awakening and calling forth the bounty of a mountain, and while it yielded to fire and destruction, it was always reborn. She was rewarded with seeing the poor man’s demeanor change and he strode off with a gleam in his eye and new strength in his voice. Lynn stayed for several hours, drawing on the strong emotions of those working and coming for help in order to ease a few other burdens.

Gift of Warm Breath - random people.

**Trickster** · Dec 6th, 2014 07:10 PM

Lynn groaned as she curled up on her couch and stared at the ceiling. She’d spent the past week searching for various work from home options. It was all well and good for somebody to suggest that she try waitressing or some sort of temp job, but when one was Wyrd bound to a musical instrument, it really did narrow the options available. She’d started trying to find a more permanent position anywhere, but the act of searching ended up reminding her so much of what happened before she was taken that she’d spent two days huddled in bed, crying. So she’d ended up with some sort of data entry gig, which would just barely help her make rent. Luckily her third floor studio came cheap.

More than anything, she was coming to realize that she wanted an audience. Maybe even a platform to start trying to get some recognition. Weeks ago, someone had suggested that she try posting video’s of herself online, as a way to find more of an audience. There were even some people who’d become famous doing so. So right before the flea markets closed for the season, she’d dipped into her savings and found a decent camera and microphone. Many online tutorials later, she’d figured out how to do some basic video editing and how to post it online. She’d also done a lot of research into other musical videos and found that the most popular ones didn’t just have a good tune, they had some sort of hook. Much like the Ren fairs she had sometimes attended, the audience needed to be reeled in before they were, well, reeled away.

So, she dressed in a black velvet corset top and took special care with her hair and makeup. Then, she readied the camera and started to play.

She started with her own favorite, The Devil Went Down to Georgia. It was a personal anthem and she’d always wondered about just how much the original songwriter knew about the dark and twisted world that hid just of out the sight of normal people.

Then she took a moment to break so that she could edit the songs later, before smoothly moving into an old traditional, Drowsy Maggie.

Next was a old waltz , by the name of Southern Solider Boy.

That try didn’t go so well, so she tried again.

It still wasn’t good enough, that one probably wouldn’t make it through the final cut.

Finally she just started playing the way she normally did while busking.

Random Songs starting with Reuben's Train

She’d managed an pretty good rendition of Reuben's Train, but everything else was mediocre at best. Still it was a start. She loaded the video into the computer and started editing.

Please note, I'm shamelessly 'borrowing' these songs from people with actual talent. If you like them, let them know.

**Trickster** · Dec 9th, 2014 07:44 PM

Lynn had been posting videos of herself playing the fiddle for the past week of which, only one was receiving any amount of positive feedback. Of the others, there were mixed reviews. Granted, she knew they weren’t the best she could do, but it rankled a bit anyways. She try some more later, but for now she wanted to try her hand at writing music, something she hadn’t done in a very long time.

(Per Core Rulebook, writing a song is an extended roll of Wits (2) + Expression (4). Under the doodle vs masterpiece rules; shooting for a 15 with one roll equaling 30 min. STs feel free to correct me if need be.)

Three Suxx total

She’d managed something that could be considered a good start when it all went wrong somewhere around the end of the first hour. When she played through it on the fiddle, it sounded remarkably similar to a cat trapped on a hot tin roof.

Brilliant Failure

After ceremoniously burning the paper in the sink, she set to work again.

Five Suxx total

At the end of several hours worth of work, she had something that was at least the start of a song. It was meant to be a song about the melancholy mood that so many of the Lost faced. Right now it was somewhere around emo. It was getting there. She’d work some more later.

Deciding to take a break, she walked down to the nearest dinner and indulged in an ice cream sundae. After that she took a long walk, stretching muscles made stiff by sitting and writing.

Getting back she pulled up the home page for her YouTube channel, and renamed it. She’d been reminded of the practice of Kintsugi, repairing a piece of pottery by filling the cracks with a resin filled with precious metals. In this way, something broken became something beautiful. It was a mentality that she was determined to follow.

Hey everybody,

Some of you may wonder about the name of my channel. Kintsugi is the art of repairing something in such a way that it becomes better than it used to be. It’s a practice that speaks to me and where I am in life.

On a less philosophical point, I’ve started writing my own songs again. I’ll post it up as soon as I’ve got something worth showing. If any of you want to hear it faster, feel free to contribute!

**Trickster** · Dec 13th, 2014 09:54 PM

Lynn sighed, chewing absently on the end of a pen. She’d had a long couple of days scaring up odd jobs on the internet and around town and she really should be resting. But instead there was thing song, beating at the edges of her mind. It wouldn’t go away, it wouldn’t be quiet and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t ignore it.

It had been like this before . . . before. She’d never been that good at writing her own pieces, but the need had always been there. And for a long time after she got back, she hadn’t heard a thing. For a while she had wondered if it was gone. But now it was back, and the urge to finish what she had started the other day was overwhelming. With a sigh, she pulled out a pad and got to work. The first hour was dismal, soon her tiny apartment was littered with torn notebook pages, angrily crumpled up and thrown aside.

(Five Suxx already on this project from the scene Kintsugi Productions)

Two Suxx

She’d managed to make a bit of headway, but somewhere along the way it went all wrong again. This set of papers she tore into itty bitty little pieces, shredding it over the garbage can. It was remarkably cathartic.

Failure

After that she managed nearly two more hours of work, pacing up and down the length of the living area and probably annoying the downstairs neighbors to no end. But she was making real progress and finally getting somewhere. She wrote feverishly, her pen scrawling across the paper and her hand leaving ink smudges. She wrote until her brain started going numb and she finally fell asleep, surrounded by torn scraps of paper; her fiddle propped up against the arm of the couch, as if it was watching over her.

Five Suxx

(that makes twelve suxx altogether)

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2014-10-18 21:53:06		Lynn Mills rolls 5 to Harvest Glamour [Wits (2) + Composure (3)] (10 Again)		3, 2, 4, 1, 8		1 success

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2014-10-19 20:07:14		Lynn Mills rolls 3 to active Darkness 2 [Wyrd (1) + Stealth (2)] (10 Again)		2, 8, 6		1 success

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2014-12-02 21:25:38		Lynn Mills rolls 4 to to help somebody feel better [Mantle (2) + Resolve (2) + Survival (0)] (10 Again)		7, 2, 9, 1		1 success

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2014-12-02 22:04:39		Lynn Mills rolls 4 to to help somebody feel better [Mantle (2) + Resolve (2) + Survival (0)] (10 Again)		5, 4, 2, 8		1 success

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2014-12-02 22:05:36		Lynn Mills rolls 4 to to help somebody feel better [Mantle (2) + Resolve (2) + Survival (0)] (10 Again)		1, 5, 4, 8		1 success