Those Who Walk in Storm (The IC)

[The Xtreme One]

Chapter 1: “The Road Is Beckoning Us…”

“It was the summer of 1970; I was twenty two years old. My life up to that point wasn’t a strange one. My mother died giving birth to me and my father tried to raise me right. He was a hard man to love, tough, strict. He remarried two years after my mom died and from that second marriage came my half- sister, Stella. Although I never considered her that, as far as I was concerned she was my full blooded sibling. We lived in Greenwich Village for a while but my dad couldn’t stand that place and eventually we upped sticks and moved to the Bronx. Nothing got better when we moved, it got worse. Dad got more violent; his wife never said a word. I took the brunt of his malice; I couldn’t let Stella get involved with him.

Life only became strange for me on that day in the summer. I went to work that morning, still drunk from the night before. My boss called me into the office and he told get my shit together and go. So I did and went home. My father was sitting in his favourite chair, smoking his favourite pipe with a glass of bourbon in his hand and he just looked at me. He didn’t say anything but I knew what he wanted. I got all the stuff I could carry and walked. I just walked and I found myself sitting on my girlfriend’s bed looking at my reflection in her mirror. What was I doing with my life?

About three weeks later, I was at Café Wha? The house band had just finished their set and I was four glasses of beer into my night. By this time I had learned to surround myself with the crazy ones. The ones that took what they wanted, they never stopped. They were the ones that saw the magic in the world without forgetting about the dark. A storm was brewing outside of that little club and lightning, was about to strike…”

Cafe Wha?, Greenwich Village, New York City

It was like any other night for the regular patrons of Café Wha? In Greenwich Village. The jazz band had just finished their set and was getting ready for a quick encore before the next act, who happened to be Rachel Wortham came along. Every Friday night, the same people would be sitting in the exact same seats that they always do. They’d order the same thing every time; it was becoming a bit too routine. Eddie Sarcacen hated routine, he wanted to be free. Free from the oppression he had felt since he was a little boy. Eddie was ready for the shackles to come off.

“Let’s do something” He stroked his stubbled face as he looked across his table of friends. “Something different; something where we have nothing and no one to listen to but ourselves” He leaned back in his chair and took a mouthful from his bottle. “No rules, no expectations” As a crack of lightning broke outside, a light went on in Eddie’s mind. “Let’s go on a trip, just grab our stuff and go. No questions, no answers, just the road ahead of us”

[OlNoSoul]

Lee Valley

Lee was about half-way through the joint he had rolled beforehand and he was still waiting for Lokin to get here so they could share a few words. Lee was fond of everyone in the establishment behind him, Cafe Wah?, but Lokin was always someone he liked, a soul searching for who he was. Lee was reminded of himself, to be honest. He'd been fired two weeks ago from his job at his aunt's restaurant after exploding in a cacophony of angry yells and digging his verbal talons into the fact that his aunt had a debilitating addiction to heroin that would take her daughter's life as well as her own. The funny thing about it was that it was all started with a customer deciding to be a dick becuase his steak wasn't cooked all the way through.

Lee bowed his head, shook it softly and let the smoke pour forth from his lips with a quiet laugh. The joint pinched between his fingers was the only thing keeping him calm which really didn't make his high an enjoyable one. He'd always smoked when he was relaxing and smoking to try to relax never treated him well. It was better than trying to find happiness in the bottom of a whiskey bottle like his uncle, husband to the aunt who he had cruelly berated on that fateful day. He felt for his cousin, still at the fresh age of two years old and the girl's view of the world was obscured by her parents's shit habits.

It seemed like Lee's parents and their parents were the only sane people in the family. Lee was grateful for that, really grateful. So, grateful, in fact, that Lee's activities consisted of getting high and drunk, staying up late and sendiing himself flying down some backwoods road when he could. Lee's reasons for getting high were his own, he didn't do it because they were fun, he, of course, wasn't denying the fact that they really were, but he did them in the fashion of the hippies from the 60's. He'd often take strolls in the forest or some wooded area while the grass hugged his feet and the trunks of trees twisted and bent through his mushroomed mind.

He never was one for acid, though. The trip was fun but it left him feeling less than great, unlike mushrooms, which had one feeling fulfilled at the mental journey they had returned from. Lee had quit with getting caught up in a drunken stupor but he was more than willing to get lost in a high, which he was doing at the moment. He flicked the tiny piece of paper encased plant matter into the street, nodded to a passerby and returned to his seat in Cafe Wha?

"What y'all talkin' bout? Some kind of road trip n' soul searching?" Lee closed his eyes, leaning back and smiling as the music caressed his ears.

[RawrItzRP]

Laci Grace Lester

Café Wha? was a hangout that Laci didn't often choose, but after going to 3 other bars previous to that, she was bored out of her mind. She'd been trying to pick up guys that night, as she usually did. But it seemed that she'd slept with just about everyone in Greenwich, and the only guys who hit on her were the ugly, from-out-of-town guys. "Been there done that." she always thought.

So instead she found herself drinking some scotch, being hit on by a drunk middle-aged dude who smelt of cannabis. The only reason she was really putting up with it was because he smelt like her hippy days, although really, hippy was still in fashion. She just realised she didn't care about peace. Just sex and drugs.

"And then he said... w-what are you talking 'bout?"

The man burst out into drunken laughter and Laci scowled. She hadn't even been listening to his story, but she knew it mustn't of been very good.

"Well it's been lovely meeting you..." Laci paused, she couldn't remember getting his name, but she probably had done at one point. "Bye now."

Laci scanned the place for any potential late prey before she gave up, and didn't see anyone of interest. She could attempt to get a cab, which seemed like the best option at that moment in time. But another part of her yearned to stay. Maybe it was the drunk guy that smelt of drugs, or the fact she couldn't pick up a guy, but that night she just wanted... more.

Her life had gotten to the point where she was sick of it. She wanted something else. At least when she was doing drugs she was trying to keep peace. Laci wanted something like that again. Some purpose. She didn't even know where she was going to sleep that night. Without a guy to sleep with, she didn't have a bed, and she wasn't going to try and stay with a friend. She didn't even have many friends anymore, but she wasn't ready to start complaining about that.

Laci smelt something else in the air. Someone passing by, he smelt strongly of cannabis. She inhaled the scent. How long had it been since she'd taken drugs? It had been a while. She watched as the guy sat down with some others not far from where she was sitting at the bar. She wasn't eavesdropping but...

A road trip? Soul searching? It sounded like everything she wanted in that moment. To get away from Greenwich and discover herself. That sounded good.

[tirgesfu]

Lokin


“It’s about time you pansy ass whites get out of your own fifth and touch the sky.”

Lokin snickered as he slid into the stool next to Lee. He inhaled and smiled. For the last few weeks Lokin had wonder what the hell he was doing in New York Fucking City. It just didn’t make sense. And yet here he still was. He knew as much as he might hound these guys he was as stuck as they were.

He could pretend he was lining his pockets getting ready for an escape. His connection with his skin brothers who grew for religious reasons made cash find its way in his pockets for the first time in ages. When he first setup the deals he never imagined it would be in the rotten apple. But as much as he wouldn’t admit it he caught a buzz for the city. It had energy. It had people who were not as tight and closed as the backwoods of conservation northern California. Still the air was heavy and the lights began to blur all together after time. He was ready.

“Best idea I heard. Let’s get the hell out of town.”

He added as he waved to, what was her name again, behind the bar. He nodded to Lee and looked over at Eddie. He didn’t know the dude all that well. Hell, he didn’t really know any of them. He was sure they let him hang with them because of his nice selection of mind altering natural stuff. Sort a new buzz for this crowd. That and it might be the first time any of them party with an Injun. Lokin didn’t mind. He found them different than any group he had ever hung on the edges of. It was the music that first brought him in. Lokin had never heard live jazz before. He fell for the stuff hard and fast. He could sit in his corner all night and just find the groove. A slight high helped.

When his beer arrive he counted pulled some bills and placed them on the counter.

“What are we still here for anyway?” Then he turned toward the small stage area as if that was the answer.

[DizzyIsabella]

The days flew by just the same. Work, sleep, eat, work, sleep. Life was tiresome and routine, but it was something Lilly had grown used to. But she couldn't complain. At least she had good friends, money and a roof over her head. She always wanted more though, there was always something missing. But of course, that was a relationship, but her person of choice was out of the equation, so it just wasn't top of the list. Reality sure was a bitch, with an attitude problem to match. *In true Lilly fashion, she tried to see the good side, tried to find the silver lining, but at this place, she struggled to find one.*

Her nose would wrinkle in disgust at the thought of another few hours working behind the bar. The only thing that made it bearable was the company. She knew what everyone would want off by heart, someone signalled to her? They wanted a beer, unless otherwise specified. That was the way things worked around there, you could always tell if someone was a stranger to the bar. Lilly sighed lightly, bringing her bottle to her lips, taking a mouthful. The slightly bitter liquid dripping down her throat made her think of a perk, finally. Free alcohol, all night. A grin would play over her lips before she'd catch sight of Lokni beckoning to her. Reaching down Into a refrigerator she's grab out a fresh bottle of beer and slide it over the bar to him. He seemed content enough with it, so she took the money with a polite smile and tucked it into the cash container behind the bar. She eyed him lightly. She wasn't too sure about him yet, but that was Lilly, un-trusting until you earnt it.

A voice piped up from the table nearest the bar, and a soft smile would curl at Lilly's lips. The voice stroked at her ears and mind, and it was one she had in-depth knowledge of. She shook her head lightly at the suggestion of "doing something", and sighed inwardly. She couldn't go anywhere for another three hours, so she'd be left out. She grabbed a few fresh beers from the refrigerator before stepping out from behind the bar, depositing them fresh on their usual table, before reaching for the empty ones. As she turned around to face the bar to put the empty bottles down on it, she heard Eddie suggest about dropping and going on a trip, there were a few agreements, and a couple of ears perked at the idea, but all it did was make Lilly sad again. She couldn't just drop her job, and flounce off on a trip somewhere. She needed money, to save, to one day try and get back into art school. She'd grab her half drunk bottle of beer from behind the bar, before moving to settle down next to Eddie on a chair, one leg crossing lightly over the other. "Some of us have to word, Eddie. But I'm sure you'll have a lot of fun wherever you go" An almost sad smile would Creep over Lilly's features, but she'd cover it by taking a sip of her beer.*

"Hey, sweetheart. I don't pay you to sit around on your pretty little ass all evening, do I?"

Lilly would visibly cringe. Mike Yankovic, her boss' voice called from behind her. She hated him, with a passion. He was always too close into her personal space for her liking, and he reminded her of her father, big, loud and unpleasant.*

"And did you and your little friends fucking pay for those? Whatever. I'll just take it out of your pay check, baby" *

Her back would tense a little as she felt a heavy hand drop down on her shoulder, a thumb stroking over the crease of skin where her neck met her shoulder. "Alright, get off me, I'm coming. Pay me better for less hours and I might not have to sit down from aching feet." Lilly would turn to Eddie and wrinkle her nose a little before pushing herself up from her seat, grabbing her bottle of beer. She'd resist the urge to turn around and punch as she felt a hand land on her backside in. A sharp hit, but she ignored it, her jaw tightening a little. Pig , she thought to herself.

She could practically feel Eddie tense in his seat. He hated her boss too, with a passion. Eddie was like her big brother, always protecting and looking out for her. But she didn't want that kind of relationship with him. Her stomach would flutter sadly as an image of him and his girlfriend Rach popped into her head. Get a grip girl, her inner goddess would scream at her, if he didn't want her, someone else would, eventually.

(( Outfit -*http://www.polyvore.com/lilly_70s/se...263#stream_box))

[Deamonbane]

Crappy day at work. Crappy studying hours. Crap. That was about the sum of it, he supposed. He was making his life better, he knew, but the way that these kids that came from richer families, drove nicer cars. They downplayed him. He was smarter than the lot of them, but he didn't have a doctor or a lawyer for a father. He had a mechanic for a father. That was enough for some chicks to like him, and he liked a few of them too, but truth be told, barring a few flings he had, they all knew that he was a step lower in the social rung than they were. Nothing serious would result. So, just about every afternoon, after studying, he would head over to his dad's shop in his car, and work. Work, until his hands were numb, on a car that wasn't even his, and get paid lousily for it. He would work a bit on his own car, making a few customizations, and head back to his apartment to work until late on homework. But tonight, homework was easy, and he finished it. And didn't feel like going strait to bed. He was tired enough, but he just didn't feel like bed. Not his own, at least. Waking up in a girl's bed did seem intriguing, although a dumpster, which was more likely, did not.

He made his way to his regular haunt, the Cafe Wha?, and sat down at the bar," Hey Lilly," He smiled at her tiredly," How have you been?" She would be too busy with her ass of a boss ready to smack her ass the minute she slowed down, to answer him. She was pretty, but he just wasn't in the mood right now to resist breaking the guy's nose, and, of course, getting her fired, so he just sat at the bar, sipping a beer. His eye caught a familiar face, one of a girl that he guessed he had seen before. Ah, right, he thought. The date of his friend... what was her name again? He usually good with names.

"Laci," Ryan said, waving a little to her," long time no see," She would probably also ignore him too.

He finally turned his eyes to his friend, Eddie. Well, I could do worse thing with my night than to hand with him, he thought. He walked over, picking up his beer as he walked over," Hiya Eddie," He smiled," What are you talking about?"

[Katelyn]

Rachel brushed through her long blonde locks one last time, smoothing them with her hands as she looked in the small dressing room mirror and applied a little bit of lip gloss. She wore make-up, but rarely. She didn’t need it or want it.

How society decided that women needed to paint their faces to be beautiful was beyond her sense of reasoning, but she refused most times to conform to what was expected of her. She wanted to be a trendsetter and change the world from the inside out, doing it in a new and exciting way that left people breathless – a friendly fuck you to precedence.

Marco knocked on the door and she answered him with a resounding invitation to enter the room. He was a pudgy little thing, but she liked his style and the way he carried himself. He didn’t let them convince him that he was anything less than attractive and full of life. She smiled at him and stood.

“Is it time, my friend?” She walked toward her guitar, her tight jeans and wispy white lace shirt and white bra perfect with her knee high brown boots and blonde hair that hung around her face.

He smiled warmly at her. “Yes and all your friends are right up front, pumpkin.”

She frowned in a playful manner. “I told you not to call me something that reminds people of a large round vegetable.”

“I think it’s a fruit..” he said thoughtful as she slapped his chest and walked out, strumming a bit on her guitar a bit to warm it up and make sure the strings were in tune.

She stopped at the edge of the stage, no worries about performing at all because her talent was at the core of who she was and to share it just gave others the opportunity to understand that they too should be doing something they loved – something worthwhile. Marco walked over and handed her a shot of vodka. She smiled and threw it back, wincing at the burn.

She walked out onto the stage and sat down on the stool, pulling the mic a bit closer. “Hey guys.. I’m Rach for those of you who don’t know me. Glad to see some familiar faces and the new ones as well. I’d just ask you to sit back and relax and remove yourself from everything that burdens you tonight.” She looked at the crowd, her eyes stopping on Eddies, “Come. Join me in this moment.”

She looked down to strum her guitar and her blonde hair fell forward, cascading around her as she picked up a soothing rhythm, her smoky voice joining it and pulling those with ears to hear toward the soothing reprieve she offered them. She looked up and tried to catch the eyes of each person in the room, letting them all know that they were important enough for her to sing to… that the words of her songs were written just for them.

She finished a few songs and stood, the room clapping in effort for her as she moved toward the edge of the stage, Marco stepping up to offer her a hand and help her down. She smiled and took the shot he had waiting for her.

“That was…. Incredible, Rach.” He smiled and she patted his arm.

“Thanks, buddy.” She walked toward the table of her friends and propped her guitar up, sliding up a chair and smiling at everyone. “Who’s buying me a beer?”

[Katelyn]

Brent smiled down at her as he zipped his pants, reached down to help her up. He leaned down and kissed her quickly and winked at her.

"You're the best, Allie..." he wiped the corner of her mouth and rubbed her cheek, a smile on her face.

"You really think so, B?" She pulled him close, hugging him. He hugged her back and kissed the top of her head.

"Of course I do. I'm so sorry to do this... I have to run." He said with a "what's a guy to do" look on his handsome face.

"What? Brent... come on, baby. You never stay long." She whiny and pushed out her bottom lip. "I thought you were spending the night tonight baby."

He leaned in and kissed her lips once more. "Sorry babe. My kid sister is playing at a cafe tonight and I promised her, muffin."

She nodded, "I understand, I'll just got with you."

"No.. I mean.. no.. you don't need to do that. Besides, my sister is a little.." He swirled his finger around his ear as if Rach was crazy. Far from it... but this always worked. "Very possessive and possible that she'd attack you if she thought we were together."

She looked a little taken aback, "Ummmm... that's not healthy, Brent."

He sighed and turned to go, "I know... I know, but all I can do is love her through it. I'll call you." He make the phone motion and walked out, adjusting himself and cursing. He was late and Rach was going to fucking kill him.

He drove like a bat outta hell and walked in as Rach pulled up a chair and sat down, sliding in and waving at everyone.

"Hey, Sis... what time do you go up?" He leaned over and ruffled her pretty blonde hair.

"I already did, Brent." She growled at him and picked up a beer she'd just ordered.

Fuck... this wasn't good.

[Yzza]

Stella was too young to be in a bar but the owner of the Café Wha? Didn’t much care. He was a sleazy kind of guy and so pretty much let any good looking girl in no matter what the age; even had a guy out that ‘checked’ Ids. Eddie didn’t much like the guy but seeing as Rachael and his best friend worked there he wasn’t going to say much. As Stella walked in, her blonde hair laying on waves down her back, she gartered a few cat calls from the bartenders. They were friends of her, as most people, were and so she soon rushed over and gave them each a hug as the commented on how she looked in her tight jeans and lacy top. She had sold several photos and decided to treat herself to the well fitted and flattering clothes.

After a few hi and such Stella made her way over to Eddie and sat. “What is this you are talking about?” She had walked in after Racheal’s show and so had sadly missed a good deal. Her father had been upset at how much time she was spending at her brothers and soon a fight hand ensued, marking the girl with two matched circular bruises on her arms. It wasn’t going to ruin her spirits though, not when Eddie was around. “Do I hear a road trip? I hope you plan on taking me.” Stella needed a break and a chance to roam.

[The Xtreme One]

Eddie

“That is the fucking point, buddy” Eddie smiled as his Native American friend Lokin made the point of asking what they were still doing here. “Why are we still here? Let’s just go grab some stuff, say goodbye to your loved ones if you need to and we’ll just fucking go. Anywhere and everywhere. We don’t need to plan it, we just go” He listened as Lilly chimed in saying she had to work. “You should just quit, Lil. The money you make is crap and the asshole you work for is exactly that, an asshole” Before she could reply, Lilly was whisked away by her boss and Eddie clenched his fists. He truly hated Mike Yankovic with a passion; the mere sight of the fat little bastard made is blood boil. “Hey Ryan, we’re just talking about going on the road. This place is fucking dead, there’s nothing here for any of us”

Before he could say anything else, Eddie was mesmerised by the angel on the stage. Rachel had been his girlfriend for nearly a year, having met one afternoon whilst she played her guitar on a street corner. He listened intently as she sang and his light coloured eyes never left hers. When Rachel played, the rest of the world dissolved and as far as Eddie was concerned it was just her. Once the beauty had finished her set, she came and sat next to him and asked who was buying her a drink. Eddie smiled. “I already got you one, it’s on the way” He kissed her cheek just in time for her older brother Brent to walk in and take a seat on their growing table.

Eddie’s sister, Stella soon found her way to the table and sat down. “I don’t know, Sissy. It might not go down too well with the old man. Plus, you got school to think about. I don’t want you to fuck up your future for shits and giggles, sweetie”