From Ashes [cameron x sachi]

nebula

私は日本語が話せません
Original poster
DONATING MEMBER
LURKER MEMBER
FOLKLORE MEMBER
Posting Speed
  1. Speed of Light
  2. Multiple posts per day
  3. 1-3 posts per day
  4. One post per day
  5. 1-3 posts per week
  6. One post per week
  7. Slow As Molasses
Online Availability
4 PM to 10 PM
Writing Levels
  1. Adept
  2. Advanced
  3. Prestige
  4. Douche
  5. Adaptable
Preferred Character Gender
  1. Female
  2. Transgender
  3. Futanari
  4. Primarily Prefer Female
Genres
Modern, War, Sports, Racing, Action, Romance, Yuri
c a m e r o n

GBOtxWx.gif

"We'll always be together, forever. I love you, Cameron."

"I'll never leave you."

"You're the best thing that's ever happened to me. I love spending every single second with you."

Lies. The whole lot of it. The sad part was that Cameron had actually believed it at one point of her life. The first day she laid eyes on this boy, the first time they exchanged words, all those late nights they spent texting to each other, and the countless amount of hours they had spent being in each other's company. Cameron had fallen in the trap known as "love" with this boy, and he did her, or so she thought. The fact of the matter was that he didn't really love her. He just wanted to use her and throw her away as soon as the next girl came along, which was what exactly what happened. She thought Michael Sheldon would be the love of her life, that they were soulmates, that they were meant to be forever.

Maybe in another world, yes.

However, Cameron didn't live in that world. The scars were still fresh for the poor nineteen year old girl, who had spent the past few days being paralyzed by the heartbreak. She didn't know what hurt her more, the fact that she had to find out from someone else, or the fact that she was betrayed by the one person she thought she could ever love. Lying in her bed at 4 AM, she wasn't due to wake up for another few hours, but there she was being kept up at night by the sheer stabbing sensation in her heart. Her heart beat out of her chest and her head spun as she replayed those texts... those pictures... and more important the confrontation between her and her ex-boyfriend as they broke up. It was hard for her to breathe, and it was even harder for her to keep herself composed and held together. The burden of depression was sitting on her, keeping her in the bed but yet denying her the sweet, temporarily bliss of sleep.

Everything was dark. Cameron felt numb. She didn't know if she was feeling too much or feeling nothing at all at this point, and quite frankly she was too scared to figure it out. She felt like a lone person in a sea that only continued to get more treacherous the deeper she waded into it. She was lost. A huge part of her heart had been ripped out of her and torn to shreds right in front of her eyes. As she saw those pictures of the supposed love of her life and a stranger in the same bed, she could feel her heart do a swan dive to the very tips of her toes. Disbelief, shock, and anger were the only things she could've used to describe herself that night, not that she wanted to remember it anyway. The last thing Cameron wanted to do was to remind herself of what caused her the pain, but yet the temptation was irresistible. As bad as it was for her to revisit everything and live it, the temptation was just enough, and Cameron didn't have the energy to fight the temptation back. Moving her hand out to her silver phone, she pulled up the text logs from that fateful day.

"Were you sleeping with Sarah?!"

"It's over, Michael. I can't believe this."

"i didn't mean to hurt you..."

"I'm sorry."

[READ 9/7/2018 at 1:23 AM]
Taking a deep breath, Cameron clutched her phone close to her heart. Why did she do that? She knew that the only thing that was going to come out of this was nothing but pain, but there she was. Putting her phone aside, she rolled over and stared at the ceiling, or what she thought was the ceiling anyway. Taking a deep breath, she only felt a tightness on her chest as she tried to calm herself down. As deep as she tried to breathe in, she couldn't manage much than a shallow breath according to her standards. It seemed like the burden of depression was still sitting on her, but at least it was going to be granting her the sweet release of sleep very soon. Depression at least seemed to be merciful enough to grand her that as she was finally temporarily released from her mortal coil.

Waking up a few hours later, her phone was blaring annoyingly as she cracked an eye open. All Cameron could feel right now tired. She felt tired. No amount of food, caffeine, sleep in the world could keep her from feeling like this. The bed was a magnet, and she was the metal. As much as she wanted to, she couldn't muster up the willpower to drag herself out of bed for a while. The alarm continued to blare in her face, but yet the only thing Cameron did was pull the blanket over her head, shielding herself from the light of the world and resigning herself to darkness.

However, the world wasn't going to wait for her. Despite her desires and her emotions, she had things to do today. She was a student, and today was her musical composition class. Sighing, she threw the blanket off of her, the brightness of the outside being an unwelcome presence in Cameron's dark world. She had to go and face the world today. Placing her feet on the ground, every step she took felt heavier than ever. It was difficult to gain the power to take the next, but Cameron had to soldier on. She had to soldier on for nobody but herself.

Somehow, she'd managed to get herself cleaned up and dressed for the day, and before she knew it she was on the bus to school. Sitting along the side, she clutched her backpack as she placed her earphones in to further isolate herself from the rest of the world. Music. She'd forgotten the healing power of music in her funk. Lately it'd just been silence and her own thoughts as she wallowed in her sadness, but today she felt she could take that next step and see if music would help her heal. Pulling up her music player, she simply hit play and see what it would bring her.

As it would turn out... that would be a big mistake. Cameron and Michael's song had come up first thing. Feeling the proverbial knife plunge itself in her heart, twist, and rub salt in the wound, she immediately shut off the song and pulled her earphones out. That was the last thing she'd wanted to hear at this moment, next to Michael's voice or that dirty slut's voice. She had forgotten that she still had the playlist she made for her ex-boyfriend on her phone. She had been much too busy with herself to worry about plunging Michael from every facet of her life. Guess silence would have to be her world for now.

As the bus arrived at school, Cameron stood up and made her way out in total silence. Stepping onto the bustling campus, there was plenty of energy. Energy that was, in fact, incompatible with her own. People were smiling, people were laughing, and couples were happy. Cameron was none of those. She stuffed her hands in the pockets of her jacket and made her way, looking down to avoid eye contact with people and any unnecessary social interaction. The last thing Cameron wanted to do right now was to talk to people or even worse, see Michael. She had made the unfortunate mistake of having a class with him this semester, which was something she REALLY wasn't looking forward to being in later today.

But first, it was music composition. Making her way inside the rather decorated classroom, Cameron took her seat in her unofficial officially assigned seat. It was the second row from the front, which was perfect for her. She wasn't too close to the instructor, but she also wasn't too far either. As everyone else was continuing to fold in, Cameron quietly pulled out her sheet music. She was supposed to have studied it... but depression was a fickle thing. Staring at the sheet music, she couldn't help but to hear it in a minor key. It was, in fact, in D major, but she was hearing it completely wrong.

This was going to be fun.
 
  • Bucket of Rainbows
Reactions: Chaotic Moth
Posting the flier on the high school bulletin board, Sachi took a couple steps back and admired her handiwork. With her black-painted fingernails, she mimed a frame with her fingers and closed one eye. Reading:

NEEDED: SINGER & OTHER MUSICIANS FOR BAND

  • WHO: THIS PART DOESN'T MATTER ... ANY MUSICIAN WILL DO
  • WHAT: NEEDED DEFINITE SINGER, NEEDED POSSIBLE GUITARIST & BASSIST
  • WHEN: AFTER SCHOOL TODAY @ 3:15 PM IN THE AUDITORIUM
  • WHERE: SEE ABOVE, YOU FUCKS. THE. AUDITORIUM.
  • WHY: CAUSE MUSIC IS AWESOME & I NEED MORE MUSICIANS ... CAN'T HAVE A BAND WITH JUST A DRUMMER
SIGN NAME BELOW ON PROVIDED LIST, IF YOU WISH TO GET MORE INFORMATION
  1. BUTT SNIVELY
  2. ADAM SECARO
  3. PENELOPE HUNTERS
  4. ________________________
  5. ________________________
  6. ________________________

To the odd college student who may happen to be watching her, they would probably say something along the line of what every one else did.

Freak.
Gothic Wannabe..
Whore.

The insults were never really creative per se, though it didn't mean that they didn't sting any less. The last one had some truth to it -- she had been caught sleeping with a very particular student faculty member who had since been terminated. But it was kismet that they were supposed to be together; or so she had believed at the ripe age of fifteen. She was now eighteen, but she was never able to escape the story. Wizened by her idiotic and tumultuously horrible tryst, she had been branded "Goth Whore" and Mr. Yenvron had been labeled as "Gothic Fucker." Needless to say, she was abandoned by her supposed best friends, started failing classes from then on, and wholeheartedly lost herself to music. It was the only thing in her life that didn't talk back, leer at her, or purposefully fail her term papers simply off of a colossal mistake. But such was life. C'est la vie.

It was time for her class. Making her way over to Music Composition, she drug her boot-clad feet one at a time. One of her four music classes for the year, it was thoroughly the one the interested her the least. As necessary as the class was to learning basic functions about music, her eyes never failed to glaze over about five minutes in. At the closed class door, she noticed that she may have lost track of time. The class was already in session, with Mrs. Jansen pointing to a rudimentary music scale on the white board.

Trying to choose between skipping class, and actually going to class was not a hard choice. But, she had been warned by the teacher that if she skipped the class one more time, she would fail for the year. She needed the music credit. So, begrudgingly she gingerly opened the door and tried to appear as small as possible. Naturally, all heads whipped in her direction at the sound of the door clicking behind her. Plastering a nasty expression on her face was enough to get most of the faces to stop looking at her. Over the years, she had perfected the art of "bitch face" as a way of keeping people at a distance. She truly was a sweet girl. But the years of being tormented had built up a Bitch Facade. No one was going to get through her defenses.

Taking her seat in the very back, she hung her backpack off of her chair and took out a pen and notebook. Pretending to take notes off of the board, she was really writing another chapter to her fan-fiction. It starred a lovable super hero who couldn't use her ray eyes without her glasses, and her best friend who accidentally got burned by one of her ray eyes. Sachi leaned into her desk, and wrote fervently about the lovers, all the while wanting to have an experience like that of her own.
 
Last edited:
  • Spicy
Reactions: nebula
c a m e r o n
Cameron had paid no mind as the last straggler came in just before the class had started. To be honest, she hadn't really paid much mind to anything that wasn't in that dark, lonely world of hers. Ever since that unfortunate day, it was like goggles had been placed over Cameron's view of the world. She couldn't see anything that besides the things in front of her, which were clouded by the overwhelming weight of her depression and shadowed by the constant feeling of betrayal and anger going on inside of her over and over again. The sheet music stopped making sense to her, much like the rest of the world as the professor stepped up to the front of the class and cleared his throat.

"Alright folks, welcome back. I hope you've had a great day so far and those pieces of yours are coming along."

Much like everything else, the words that were coming out of her professor's mouth had faded into the background, before becoming nonsensical noise that she had very much tuned out. It was bad for her, but she couldn't keep herself from mulling over the "what ifs?". It was a vicious cycle that Cameron couldn't have gotten herself out of. It was apparent by her lack of attention as the professor explained what they were going to be doing. To anyone else, it looked like Cameron was just spaced out and fidgeting with pencil. Through Cameron's eyes, everything started to become a living reminder of her now failed relationship. The one she thought she was going to have for life.

Rolling the pencil around her fingers, she was biting her lip to resist the temptation of breaking down in class. It was taking every single inch and fiber of her willpower to maintain her composure, and so far it was working. But by god, she could feel the tears well up in her ducts and her voice catching in her throat. The last thing she wanted right now was to break down in the middle of class, where everyone could see. Luckily, the professor had something in mind that would've helped Cameron break out of her funk - by way of distraction.

"...and today we'll be peer-reviewing each other's pieces! I've taken the liberty of assigning you partners. Check the screen up above and go find your partner."

Those words had actually managed to process through Cameron's mind. Looking up, she saw the partner assignments. She was paired up with someone named... Sachi? That was a weird name. She'd never heard of someone like that before. At first assumption, she thought that person was Asian. Upon further observation, it looked like she was the only Asian person in the room, anyway. So great, she was back to square one. Who was this Sachi person, and where did they sit? Cameron really didn't feel like putting in the effort to find this person, but it seemed like that they didn't want to either.

Sighing, Cameron removed herself from her seat and grabbed her things. So much for taking time for herself. Clutching her belongings close to her, she started to roam the classroom. The further she traversed throughout the classroom, the more likely she was going to be able to find Sachi. Everyone else was starting to find their partners, which left only a handful of people left, which for the most part were also finding their partners as well. The remaining person didn't even budge from their seat, which, by process of elimination, meant that this was presumably this Sachi person.

She didn't exactly look like the type of person envisioned Sachi to be... even though she didn't really have a preconception in the first place. If she were to have one, though, this wouldn't be it.

Stepping over to her seat, she saw that she didn't really have sheet music at all. As a matter of fact, that was about the furthest thing from sheet music on her desk. Was she writing... a story? What kind of nerd wrote stories? Clearing her throat, Cameron made sure that her throat was free from anything that would've made her sound like she was in distress. The last thing she wanted to do was to make someone uncomfortable with the emotions that were plaguing her, let alone suffer a breakdown in the middle of class.

"Sachi? H-Hi... I-I'm Cameron. I'm your partner for today..."
 
Sachi's glazed over eyes, only slightly registered that something different had happened in the classroom. For some reason, people were beginning to mill about the room and connecting up with another person. Clearly, some sort of partner-oriented activity had been discussed and Sachi had been too immersed in her smut-filled fan-fiction to notice. Almost panicky, she started darting her eyes back and forth for some sort of clue as to what was going on. There on the board, she found a list of names and a corresponding name next to her's. Taking note that Sachi had never even taken the time of day to even notice, let alone learn her classmates names, she had utterly no clue who 'Cameron' was. So, she had been partnered with a dude.

Great, she though snidely. I'll get to be hit on the entire time, and also have fun jabs at my expense.

Quickly, and surely almost everyone was partnered up, and Sachi still hadn't made any move to get up. Deciding to be defiant, in her usual fashion, she planted her butt and determined that this Cameron guy was going to find her. But, when no guys made their way towards her, she started to get a false sense of relief. Maybe the guy skipped class , or was sick! So, she turned her attention back to her notebook and began absentmindedly doodling in the margin's corner.

A few moments pass, and lo and behold someone was making a shadow over her notebook. She looked up to see who was standing there, only to see some female looking at her notebook. Sachi reflexively covered it with her arm as the girl spoke to her.

"Sachi? H-Hi... I-I'm Cameron. I'm your partner for today..." she said. Sachi raised a suspicious eyebrow, still covering her notebook. She quickly slammed the cover shut with a rude look on her face. So this was Cameron - not what Sachi was expecting. Narrowing her eyes at Cameron, she dissected the person before her. Cameron seemed to be distressed about something, not that Sachi cared. This was not what she wanted to deal with today; why couldn't she be left alone in the back of the class like normal. But here was this girl standing before her, obviously upset because she was going to have to work with the "Goth Whore." At least, this is what Sachi told herself that the girl was upset about.

Pushing her notebook to the adjacent desk, she slid over to the empty desk next to her. Grabbing her notebook, and backpack, she sat in the empty seat. This desk had been empty all year. Gesturing with her pale hand, she offered Cameron her seat.
"So," Sachi spoke lazily, but still there was that familiar bite behind the tone in her voice. "I wasn't paying attention to what Professor Jansen was saying." Lowering her eyebrow, she side-eyed Cameron and waited for some sort of cue. Sachi played with her see-through, black mesh long sleeve.

She was unnerved by having to work with someone. It was rare to have partner work being a music major. She was used to her drum solo's and practicing rudiments for hours on end alone in the music room. It's not like she was in any rush to be even more alone and isolated in her studio apartment off campus.

Sachi bent down and reached inside her backpack to fish out another notebook, put her other one away, and then get out blank music sheets.
"What's the game plan?" Sachi looked at Cameron once again.
 
Taking the recently vacated seat, Cameron set her things down on the desk. She was careful not impose her presence any further on this girl. It was clear that this girl didn't really want her around. Not a big surprise. Who would? Cameron felt smaller than an ant right now. Despite the assignment that was just given to them, Cameron had a feeling that things weren't exactly going to go smoothly. The girl let out a small sigh, brushing a lock of her hair aside as she thought about what they were going to do. Well, at least she tried to think about what she was gonna do.

Just like that night, she felt incredibly helpless. Even though she had all the reason in the world to let it go and let herself be happy after banishing the poison out of her life, she was still bogged down. It was like a ball and chain had been shackled onto her legs... as well as the rest of her body. Life didn't feel like it was worth living. Truth be told, she wasn't really paying attention to what Sachi was saying. Her sadness had yanked her from reality from time being and sent her to a position where she had to relive the day she found out over and over again. It was like her brain wanted her to break.

Cameron had a feeling in the back of her mind that Sachi really didn't want to work with her. That was understandable. Why would you want to work with a girl who was clearly suffering from depression and not exactly in the best state of mind? Cameron wouldn't want to work with herself either if she was like this. But, she had responsibilities and the world didn't stop for her or her sadness. Pulling herself back into reality, Cameron regained composure and was presented with a question she had to answer for her partner.

"I think Professor wanted us to swap pieces. I give you mine, you give me yours, and we critique it? Like if it's on key.. if it flows well... and all of that stuff." Cameron put a hand on the piece of sheet music in front of her and slid it toward Sachi. Hopefully her partner had a piece of sheet music to show her in return. Cameron had a slight feeling that wasn't the case, but she had been wrong before. The horrible irony of the sheet music she'd given to Sachi was that it was written in tribute of her ex-boyfriend. It was a beautiful (at least in her opinion) piece of music, composed to bring out feelings of love and serenity. All feelings that Cameron swore she wouldn't be able to feel anymore.
 
Sachi watched the stranger sit in her chair, she felt strangely possessive of it. Why the hell was she weirded out by someone sitting on her chair? Plenty of other people during the day sat there during their classes. She didn't purchase it; she didn't bring it from home. Quickly realizing that she was staring at this girl, she shook her head and snapped out of her weird daze.

At what point in my life, Sachi thought, did I become so weird and warped? Sure Sachi was into some strange and outlandish things, but she never used to be so ... mentally bizarre with what she thought about. She shook her head and long black hair, and snapped into what her new partner was saying. True to her spacey nature, she came halfway into what Cameron sentence. Sachi only caught something about "give me yours, and critique." Making an O with her mouth, she figured out what the context was.

"Oh, okay. I finished my assignment a couple days prior," Sachi said hesitantly. She was funny about being critiqued and judged, as that had been her whole life since the age of fifteen. Almost robot-like, she turned down to the bag that rested on the floor. Opening the zipper, she dug around for her music folder. Luckily for Sachi, she wrote tons of songs almost as much as she wrote fan-fiction. She almost always had either a pen in her hand, or her drumsticks. She lived and breathed writing and music.

Slowly going through all of her note-filled music pages, she searched for something usable that wasn't just scribbles on a page. She settled on a aria that she had composed during a drunken-stupor at three o' clock in the morning. It somehow, had turned out alright. It was also the least written on with suggestions from Sachi's own brain.

Sachi looked at Cameron, and slowly slid her music composition across the desk with tight-lined lips. She was not happy about sharing anything music-wise, but she had little choice. She needed to pass the class, so she had to bite her tongue, shut up, and do things that she didn't want to.
As Sachi had slid hers over, Cameron returned the favor. She flicked her eyes immediately to Cameron's piece and felt her breath suck in.

Automatically playing the song around in her head, she could hear the lilting rises and dramatic lows. She played it once and twice in her head, and wanted to read it a third time. It was a happy song, where Sachi almost could feel how Cameron must have felt while writing it. Before Sachi could wipe it off her face, she started grinning.

score_1.png
 
Looking down at Sachi's piece, Cameron picked up and studied it carefully. Right off the bat, she could already get a gist of the mood she was aiming for. It was beautiful, for what it was worth. It was fairly obvious that this was made in a not-so-sober state of mind, but it didn't discredit the beauty of this piece. Cameron could actually feel herself be lifted ever so slightly out of her funk. It flowed incredibly well, and it even had a little cadence to it as well. There were a lot of advanced music techniques being deployed here, whether it was intentional or not. To sum the piece up - it was simply gorgeous and Cameron was more than stunned to be looking at such a piece. It was rough for sure, but in its rough stages, there was more beauty to it than she had previously anticipated. Clearly, Sachi knew what she was doing here.

Putting the piece down after the third runthrough, she was met by a rather uncomfortable looking smile from Sachi. What was she grinning about, and why wasn't she stopping? Cameron's mind started running through a plethora of possibilities. Was she mocking her? Was she laughing at her about how bad her piece was? Was she just smiling because she did something wrong? Cameron didn't know, but it was disturbing, yet unsurprising that she immediately jumped to the worse assumptions.

There was an awkward letup in the conversation, and Cameron was beginning to feel more and more awkward with every second that passed where nothing was said. Cameron felt increasingly more obligated to break the lull now. Clearing her throat, Cameron figured she would start with the critiquing of Sachi's piece. She grabbed a pen out of her backpack just to circle a couple of things and make some reminders for Sachi when she would start on the second draft of this piece. This piece really did have potential, and Cameron was actually kind of excited to see where it would go despite the rough start.

"So first off... I really like this piece. I think it's absolutely gorgeous. But there are a couple of things that I am curious about." Cameron circled a section with unnecessarily high notes. "I feel like if you toned this down an octave, it'd drive home the motif you started on originally. I guess the sudden high notes out of nowhere are really jarring? It feels like it's breaking up the flow and rhythm." Cameron looked at the piece once again, and circled a couple of notes again, "These aren't in key." Staring at it once again, Cameron couldn't really find anything else to critique before handing it back to Sachi. "I really liked it overall! I thought it was gorgeous."
 
Realizing that she was grinning like an ape, she quickly smacked a face of disdain in its place. How had she let her so carefully practiced guard down? Music was always something that helped to cheer her up; perhaps it was a way through her wall as well. Sachi side-eyed Cameron once more and watched as a red pen was now swooping all across the page. Sachi knew that it had flaws and cadence issues, but she didn't expect to have one of her best pieces be ruined with a strangers markings.

You need this class, she reminded herself. Just grit your teeth and deal with it. Sachi ground down her teeth and soothed her stupidly rising temper that it was a rough draft in the first place. She could rewrite it, anyhow. Sachi then looked down at Cameron's piece in front of her with a different set of eyes. With the initial rose-coloured glasses removed, she finally started to pick apart the once perfect piece of Cameron's. Using her pencil, she crossed out a few unnecessary notes, raised the octave at the last refrain, and turned an eighth note into a sixteenth.

As Cameron started speaking, Sachi's demeanor changed. She listened with intent and realized that there was no reason to be nasty to this chick. She was legitimately trying to help, not rake her over the coals with the quality of her piece. As Cameron placed Sachi's score back in front of her, Sachi stared dumbly at it. She couldn't believe that there wasn't more that Cameron had critiqued or tore apart.

"I--," Sachi stammered. "I appreciate your honesty." Sachi's full lips were pressed into a thin line again. She knitted her dark brown, and began to play with a lock of her hair while staring down at Cameron's music sheet. "I believe that yours need some work, as well," She began again. She made sure that her tone was even, but there was sometimes an edge in her voice that she could never fully work out why. "Right here you have the tempo too quick. With the sweeping notes you have at the third measure, the tempo should be more grandiose and full. And over here at the second to last measure, one of the words just doesn't work with the tone. You also haven't quite worked out what the last measure should sound like. It seems weirdly out of place." Sachi slid Cameron's piece over to the desk that she occupied. Still with her eyebrows furrowed, Sachi wondered why she was always so nasty.
 
Cameron forced a small smile on her face as Sachi looked over the critiqued piece. She felt bad for having to deface such a beautiful peace, but she hoped that the next rendition of this beautiful piece of art would be better. Cameron really hoped that for once, something went her way and that Sachi would take these edits into account. If there wasn't any beauty in her life left, the least she could do was to at least provide it to other people. At least Sachi would be able to enjoy having a piece as beautiful as hers, even without the marks that Cameron had to make. But then came the criticisms of Cameron's piece from Sachi. She was just waiting for her to tear it apart.

As hopeless as Cameron felt, she hoped that Sachi would tear this piece apart. It was the least that she deserved for being so dumb and deciding to dedicate her effort and time into something that ultimately fell through. The piece was written in vain, at least in Cameron's eyes. She wanted to have every single note scrutinized just as much as any other note. She didn't feel as if it deserved the praise and song that Sachi had earned. She wasn't Sachi, no. Cameron didn't deserve a thing right now. Not when she had been so stupid as to write something for someone who didn't even deserve it.

Watching Sachi look at the score, she was expecting nothing but the worst. It was what she had deserved, anyway. The last measure in particular was something that Cameron had expected to be scrutinized the most. Her ex had left her right before she was able to finish, so as a result the last measure was out of place and very rough. Fitting when it came to how her relationship was. She had a finger tied up in a strand of her hair as she listened to Sachi criticize it.

As much as she was hoping to have it be destroyed, it wasn't destroyed. As a matter of fact, Sachi 's criticism was extremely constructive. Cameron didn't know how to react to it. Having the piece be returned back to her, she looked down at it. Now that it was painted in a different light, she felt somewhat better about it. Even despite the circumstances of the inspiration, she found comfort and solace in the fact that someone else had actually appreciated it for once and went against Cameron's expectations. She didn't know what to say. "T-Thank you." Cameron added, before brushing a lock of hair away from her face, "Your piece was really good too. I really, really liked it. Have you done this before? It feels like you have."
 
As Cameron thanked her, she nodded stiffly and let go of her strand of hair. So Cameron actually found her comments and suggestions ... helpful? There was no snide comments thrown her way, no leering look, no horrified look of disgust. This wasn't something that Sachi was used to, and found herself unnerved. Why was this girl being so nice to her? Didn't she know that Sachi was the worst human being on earth, the breaker of relationships, the fucked up one?

Tilting her head at Cameron, Sachi forgot where she was and openly stared at Cameron trying to figure her out. The girl in front of her had a hollow look about her, almost seeming lost. Sachi found herself wondering what happened to her so that she seemed so defeated. Though, it wasn't any of Sachi's concern.

As Cameron spoke again, Sachi adjusted her gaze so she wasn't staring at her partner. Though, what Cameron said had Sachi shaking her head.
"Heh," Sachi laughed. "No it isn't. I was plastered at lord knows when in the morning, writing down vomit on a piece of paper. It's trash. But yours, you have feeling in it. You were obviously thinking of something, or someone." Sachi wiggled her eyebrows weirdly, trying to be funny. "I was just playing around with different riffs and octaves, with no feeling. I was thinking of a certain man called Jack Daniels, and I remember singing show tunes. It was a weird night." Sachi clasped her hands over her mouth and blushed a brilliant crimson. It wasn't like her to be so candid and talk so much. Was she relaxing a little around Cameron?
 
Sachi's guess that Cameron was thinking of someone as she was writing this had hit very deep. Suddenly she was in a whole lot of hurt again, and it showed on her face for a very brief second. Damn. Just when she thought she was going to have something to lift her out of this. All of a sudden, in a matter of seconds, she was back to where she started in the day, struggling to maintain her composure and being blinded by the mist of depression on her way to recovery and getting over it. But, the piece was dragging her back. It was one of the many things in life keeping her from getting over this and being freed from the banes that plagued her on a daily basis. It was difficult for her to think about, but she couldn't just keep Sachi hanging.

"Y-yeah I guess we could say that." Cameron said very hesitantly, not wanting to make eye contact with her partner for the time being. She knew that if she locked eyes with Sachi, she might have just lost it right there and then. It was taking every single fiber of her willpower to make sure that she could at least keep up the facade for the class. She didn't want anyone to know the pain that she was going through. The more she thought about it the deeper in her sadness she had fallen. As much as Sachi was opening up, Cameron was only turtling up as a result. It was a natural reaction to the circumstances she was faced with. She really didn't want to talk about the subject matter.

A stroke of genius had hit her momentarily, though. Instead of having the conversation on her, she was going to turn it straight back onto Sachi. Yeah. That would've made things a lot better. At least she would've been able to think about whatever Sachi was saying, instead of wallowing in her own sadness and sulking. Summoning the bravery to look at her class partner, she flashed yet another fake smile before clearing her throat to turn the conversation back onto her. Seemed like she had a better night than she did then anyway.

"Tell me about that night. What made you so fond of this... Mister Jack Daniels?" Cameron totally understood what Sachi was getting at, but she wanted to know a little more about the process that lead to this beautiful piece's creation. Maybe Cameron could even take a page out of Sachi's book.
 
Sachi blinked a few times at her partner. Cameron was asking Sachi about her personal life? Sachi was so warped from years of being tormented by her peers, that she automatically assumed that Cameron had an ulterior move. As her own mind churned with possible reasons for what Cameron could gain by asking Sachi about that night, she couldn't think of one. Sachi didn't quite catch Cameron's sudden mood change. Sachi wasn't self-absorbed, she just was always on the look out for who was going to screw her over next. She couldn't help it; the behavior was ingrained at this point.

"Ahem," Sachi cleared her own throat. "Mr. Jack Daniels is a suave and silky man. He's got a husky voice, and will make you laugh over the stupidest of things." She was taking a calculated risk talking. But, then again she hadn't really said anything about herself, yet. Sachi looked at Cameron, and noted something behind her partners eyes. She seemed to be hiding things of her own, something that Sachi could understand and respect. She found that she was comfortable with Cameron, and was beginning to think that maybe she didn't actually pose any sort of threat.
"He can also make you find certain things buried in your mind that you can't access most of the time. He makes you feel funny in the pit of your stomach, but does it in a way that makes it feel like butterflies."

Sachi wasn't even sure if Cameron knew what the hell she was going on about. But this was Sachi's weird humour level.
"Have you ever danced with a Daniels' man?"
 
So this Jack Daniels was someone who Sachi was very fond of, apparently. It seemed like this person really gave her a lot of courage, even if it wasn't in the most tangible form. Cameron propped her head up on an arm as she listened to her partner talk. Another observation that she gathered from this was also the fact that Sachi was also apparently more than familiar with the effects this Mr. Daniels had on her as well. It was good to know the effect men had on you, even if they weren't exactly in the most orthodox form. Cameron knew that this was a euphemism, but she preferred to take it literally. It comforted her more that way. The way that Sachi was talking about this Mr. Daniels had actually comforted her a bit. Something about her.

When the question was directed back onto her, she shrugged. "I've never danced with a Mr. Daniels." She shrugged, before glancing back at her piece. Thinking about it, it sounded more and more appealing as time went on. At least this Mr. Daniels had the ability to make her feel warm inside. Not many other things in the world had the ability to do that anymore. "I haven't really danced with anyone lately, actually..." Cameron sighed, before tapping her fingers impatiently on the desk. She didn't really know what else to say, as she started to space off and try to figure out an escape from this situation that had gotten awkward rather quickly.

Glancing up at the clock, she realized that the class was pretty much over. It was the end of the class block and thus everyone was packing up. Thank goodness. She could finally escape from the awkwardness that was consuming her. However, she couldn't just leave Sachi hanging, as much as the awkwardness was killing her. Putting her papers back in her folder, she took a moment to glance over at Sachi. "Well... I'm done for the day. Phew. What about you? What do you have going on after this?" Cameron was looking forward to going back home and staying in her bed the whole time. Her bed sounded good right now.
 
Sachi followed Cameron's line of sight and saw that class was near done. She scanned for the teacher, and saw her grading papers at her desk. Back to Cameron, she shook her head. Her immediate inclination was to lie, to make up something like she had a friend's house to go to. Sachi was still trying to figure this Cameron out. It unnerved her how she couldn't get a clear reading on her partner.

"Well, my dance skills aren't the best, if that is any consolation! It's not like I have been to a club in years." Sachi reached absentmindedly for a strange of hair and held tight to it. Looping it around, and around she quickly was sucked into a rather uncomfortable memory. It was one that was particularly violent, and was part of the cause for why Sachi was the way that Sachi was. With another loop of hair, she had managed to get out of the bad memory.

Looking back at Cameron, she decided on a response.
"I, uh, made a flier." She cleared her throat uncomfortably. "I'm looking to make a band. Know anyone who would be interested?" Sachi bit her lip hopefully.
 
A band, she said? Well, Cameron definitely would have some tools that would've come in handy with a band. Throughout the years, Cameron had dabbled in the guitar and singing over the years. She wasn't too bad at it, but she also wasn't the greatest. However, she was good enough to hold her own in a band. Maybe this was an opportunity for her to get out of her funk and find something else to do? As much as her heart was telling her to go back and heal, every single bit of her rational being was telling her to see if she could take that opportunity. It was better to be distracted than to have all the opportunities in the world to just continue to let the emotions hurt her.

But at the same time, she didn't know if she could still play the guitar or sing a song. It was like everything was shifted down to a minor key ever since the breakup. She saw life in a darker light, and she heard music in a much different perspective than she usually did. The music she once loved had become music she couldn't bear, and the music that made her sad was the music that she related to more. She was such a pathetic piece of shit, but yet she couldn't help herself. She couldn't tear herself from the breakup, but the band was a great opportunity to do something about it and maybe even get over it.

"I could be interested. Are you guys looking for a guitarist or singer? I can do those things." Hopefully Sachi would take up Cameron's request. Lord knows that she could definitely use it.
 
Sachi oddly perked up at hearing Cameron's interest. When Sachi had visited her flier before class, she had seen that there were a few names put down. Though, one was clearly a prank as they had written: Butt Snively. It did get a small chuckle out of Sachi, but she had truthfully expected no less. Sachi purposefully had not put her name on the flier, in hopes that anonymity would help gain interest.

The girl reached into her bag, and dug around for a moment before producing a flier in front of Cameron. Sachi's face contorted as it took strenuous effort in actually initiating human contact in this way. She gave a half-smile.
"Mind the language, but this is the meeting place." Sachi held the flier still, with her smile waning. "Either singer, or guitarist would be great. I am a drummer by nature, and don't have the confidence to be in the limelight to do lead vocals."
 
Receiving the flyer, Cameron looked curiously at the piece of paper that was handed to her. So, it turned out they needed a guitarist and a singer, hm?Luckily for the band, Cameron was capable of doing both of those things. Now, she was no Yngwie Malmsteen or an Adele, but she had just enough skill to get the job done and fufill whatever purpose the band needed her to fill. Looking down at the flyer, examining the text on the piece of paper, it appeared that the audition was in a matter of hours. This really fucked with Cameron's schedule. Not because she had obligations, but because her time to lie in bed and be sorry for herself was cut down significantly with this audition. However, it also meant that she couldn't be in bed and be sorry for herself. It was a great way for her to distract herself, and she knew she could use it. As much as she didn't want to, it was sort of a vital thing to do if she wanted a chance at defeating this depression.

"I'll see what I can do." Cameron smiled, holding the flyer by her side. Looked like she was going to have to get home, grab her guitar, and haul ass back to campus if she wanted to get to the audition on time. "I can play the guitar and sing... so I can cover both of those at once if you guys don't mind having one person do two things..." Cameron trailed, before looking back up at Sachi. "I'll see you at 3:15, then." She perked, before turning around and walking toward the door, a bit of a pep in her step as the mist of her woes had temporarily cleared with the prospect of having something to commit her time to shining through.

Hopefully this was going to turn out well.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Chaotic Moth
Nodding at Cameron silently, she watched her go out the door and into the hallway. Sachi had one more class after this, but she wasn't excited for it like she normally was. She was half-tempted to skip it and just go straight to the auditorium to make sure that everything was aligned and ready for the auditions. Hah, not like she expected to have a bunch - if any - of people lined up on the auditorium doors. She only really expected to have one person. Sachi didn't even really know whether Cameron was serious about coming or not.

All in all, skipping her music theory class had been a great decision. As she wound her way around all of the college students, she made her way back to the flier, and found one or two more names written on the roster. She also found another fake inappropriate name scribbled in almost hieroglyphic writing. Sighing, she angrily yanked the flier from the tack on the bulletin board. She then began her silent, internal war about how she should never have posted it in the first place, no one would come, she was stupid for even thinking of this, and how she should just quit while ahead.

The flier was bunched and balled up in her left fist as she pushed the auditorium door open with her right hand. She let it close loudly behind her as she entered through the doorway. She would need to clean up the things that she had pre-laid out. It was just best to cancel this whole thing. She unplugged cables, wound up cords, and locked up the spare college-owned guitars. She was in a horrible self-induced mood and it was best that she get out before she started to break things. Sachi was being a little too rough with the poor instruments as she angrily slammed them into their velvet prisons, and latched their locks forcefully. They hadn't done anything to her, Sachi was just starting to break a little. She couldn't keep doing this. She couldn't keep wallowing in self pity due to the fact that people were, for some reason, still holding a grudge against her. She had only been fucking fifteen!

Freak.
Gothic Wannabe.
Whore.

The words twisted around all gnarled up in her mind. It was a wonder she wasn't crying at that very moment as 3:15 came around.
 
Last edited:
The trip back home had been one that had lasted shorter than Cameron had expected. Upon reentering her home, she could feel the alluring temptation of her bed calling at her like a magnet. She couldn't, not while she had obligations to fulfill. It was a good trick to do to herself, because now she had someone waiting on them back at school. Even though she barely knew Sachi, the guilt that Cameron would feel upon knowing that she stood her up would not be something that Cameron wanted to deal with on top of all the pre-existing depression. It was hard enough for her to function as it was already. Anything could have been the straw that broke her back, so she was much more careful with how she proceeded about everyday tasks.

Stepping into her bedroom, the temptation was stronger than ever. She really wanted to just hop into bed and forget about Sachi. But no. She had to trudge on. Grabbing her guitar from the corner of her room, she darted back out of the room to break the attraction between her and her bed. It was better this way. She kept telling herself as a mantra. It was better that she stayed out of bed than in. Cameron knew that once she got into bed there was no way she was getting back out. It was just simple mathematics that Cameron didn't want to be the subject of. Not right now. Cameron only stepped with haste as she made her way back to the bus, making good time with her progress back to school. At this pace, she would've gotten back on time.

Getting on the bus was a slight dilemma, because now she had to account for herself AND the big guitar case that hung on her back. It might have inconvenienced some bus riders, but there was literally nothing Cameron could do about it. She would much rather keep it on her back than have it swing around and smash into the various poles on the bus. That was less than ideal considering the fact that it would've gone out of tune very quickly. The bus ride felt like it took forever, despite it being the same route she took every single day. Nervousness and anxiety were starting to set in the closer to the auditorium she got. What if she wasn't good enough? What if she lost her touch? What if she just couldn't produce? A lot of thoughts were starting to plague her, but they were better than what she was thinking a few hours ago. At least she had that going for her.

Finally arriving onto campus, Cameron made a bee-line straight for the auditorium. There was no time to waste if she wanted to be there at 3:15. There were likely to be other people wanting to audition too. She wanted to make a good impression, and the first step in doing so was to make sure that she was there on time. If she wasn't punctual, then she might as well been good as bad. However, the closer she got to the auditorium, the louder the silence got. She couldn't hear anything coming from it, which was strange. She would've expected some instruments to be making some noise from outside, but she couldn't even hear the feedback of the microphone. That was odd.

Stepping into the auditorium, Cameron looked around to see that there was a whole lot of nothing. Did nobody else show up? Based on the sounds of locking and crashing in the background that now filled the air, that seemed to be the case. That meant Sachi was here, at least. And that meant she could listen to her audition... even though she had no competition. "Hello? Sachi? It's Cameron. I'm here for my audition?"
 
  • Like
Reactions: Chaotic Moth
Sachi was almost to the door as Cameron walked in announcing her arrival for the audition. She was caught like a deer in headlights as she stared at Cameron with a guitar case in her hand. She was stopped mid-stride and had to remind herself to put her other foot down that had been in the air.

She-she came!, thought Sachi incredulously. Cameron actually showed up; Sachi was unsure of how to feel about it. Genuinely deep down, she was excited, but she didn't know how to properly display her emotions. She set the guitar case down gently, having let her slight meltdown wane.

"H-hey, you showed up. And you have a guitar, cool." She looked around panicked. She had closed up everything and packed it all away. Shit.
"So, uh, what song did you want to audition with? Did you bring an acoustic, or electric guitar with you?" Sachi craned her neck to see, but couldn't quite make out the shape of the instrument.