Chrysalis Ch18: Debutante (pt2) (Patreon)

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          The house lights flick off. The cacophony dims.
          Silence.
          A spotlight erupts around her, blindingly bright. Practice hadn't quite prepared her for just how different the sight would be, vague outlines crowding tables and shadows surging along the wall. The world outside herself has vanished into darkness
          L sways on her feet, trying not to squint. She can make out the hulking form of Cadogan… maybe? Most of the crowd is lost within the murk, anything beyond the first few rows a blending blur. She tries to take some comfort from that. It’s a bit frightening having so many eyes on her. She’s spent years skirting away from stages of any kind. It just makes her feel exposed.
          But… too late now. L takes a few hurried steps to the microphone, her wings flicking, twisting her bracelet. What if it doesn't work?
          What if it does, and they know?
          She picks up the microphone, her fingers numb. Briefly fumbling with the handle, L clears her throat.
          Is she supposed to just… start singing? Would that be… dramatic enough?
          Are there any words at all flowing into her brain that she can use for an opener?
          She absolutely doesn't dare to find out. L clears her throat… again. And one more time, just to be safe. The microphone crackles.
          "Um. H-hi." It crackles again. L's cheeks light up.
          There's a murmur of laughter in the audience. One or two people cough.
          "Thanks for coming out, e-everyone. I'm L, from… uh… the posters.” Fuck.
          "Give ‘em hell, lassie!" Cadogan's unmistakable voice echoes around the hall, his loud clapping close in pursuit. “That’s my girl! Whewwww1”
          L gives him a little wave, laughing nervously. "I’m a-afraid I can't. I’m getting paid to give heaven." She dips a wing back at the curtain, hoping that this joke, at least, will land.
          It doesn’t.
          “I-I've just got one song for you tonight." L breathes in. Out again. Hoping that the song does what it's supposed to.
Please. Just… stay asleep. Let me do this.
          The silence is ear-piercingly loud.
          "So when you've heard it… make sure you all let Hedrick know his marketing budget went to the right place. Thank you! I-I hope you enjoy it!"
          Another deep breath. L clasps her hands in front of her, the microphone shaking between them. Her finger creeps out, surreptitiously flicking the switch.
          A warm pulse moves down her wrist, and the song swells up within her, rising through her chest and throat. As the lights shift into a mixture of deep blues and moody pinks that blend to a purple hue…
          L begins to sing.
“Deep night,
Star’s light,
Burns bright in me."
          It's an odd feeling, her voice being used like some musical instrument. Her vocal cords stir like a violin’s strings. The note curls in a vibrato as the sensation shakes through L’s body.
          But they’re her cords, her strings. It's still her. She's still here, behind the controls. L's stance steadies, her antennae lifting. The next note lifts with them.
"Devouring,
Forever flowering,
Inferno she calls me."
          As the note holds, L surveys the audience, panic and terror ebbing away as her vision at last adjusts to the shadows.
          There are so many eyes. Hundreds of them, sparkling like the constellations. Their focus is entirely on her: scanning her, devouring her, consuming her with gazes hungry and heavy in desire. She was a lamb singing to a den of wolves.
“Take to this wick
and from cold, ignite,
Binds to be held
and warm by my light.”
          Instinct begins to crawl up L’s gut. She wants to hide, to conceal, to flutter away and pray they forget her like they always have. But the song doesn’t care. It rolls through her lips, as strong as before.
“So she tells me,
but does she see
who I am?”
          The last note drifts through the air, soft and slow, echoing through the room in a blanket of blissful sound. L can’t stop herself from burrowing into it, letting it cover her even as it forces her to the spotlight. The song will keep her safe.
          The song will let her belong.
"Locked door,
chained for delight.
Here for, near for,
my near dear and loveless.”
          For a moment, L is caught by her own song, letting the lyrics guide her movements. The tension is starting to fade. As her nerves calm, as her breath steadies, she opens herself back into the eyes that once terrified her.
          No longer a den of wolves. Now, a crowd, waiting on every word to cheer for her.
“Aching to stake
in a want I’ve known,
Better to try
than die all alone!"
          Two eyes lock with hers in the crowd. Piercing blue, like a clear sky.
"And be wanted...
Or ever haunted…
Here I am."
          The song goes silent, with only the foreign warmth in her arm to tell her she isn’t finished. The band's music rises to take her place, filling the Glade with a sweeping refrain. L smiles as she focuses on the eyes, coloured lights dappling her skin.
          His expression is open. He crosses his hands over his thighs as he watches her, leaning forward as if to reach out. It’s not lust filling his face. Or mere entertainment fuelling his smile.
          It’s wonder. Awe. Amazement.
          Utterly amazed by her.
          L fixes on that face, a similar wonder in her thoughts. Could she… cause that? With just a song? She can feel it rush back into her. Her wings drift open, extending to their full width as she soars back into the music.
"Take me,
embrace me,
and lace me in you.”
          She narrows the audience down, wolf after wolf leaving her focus. She doesn’t want to sing for a crowd, for their cheers and applause. That felt terrifying.
          But singing for that look, for the awe on that man’s face.
That felt liberating.
          “To love,
no one above.
Perhaps when the sun,
and the moon,
can be together..."
          Her voice quivers on the last word, a vibrato that pushes her body like a cool stream of water. L bows her head as the spotlight lingers for a moment longer… then pops out. She lowers her hands, using the darkness to cover another furtive fumble at her bracelet. As the music dies away, her nerves come rushing back in. Had it worked?
          Had… had something finally gone right?
          Without music, an inescapable silence fills the Glade, as if the building itself, and every crammed body in it, were holding their breath. The man with the piercing blue eyes smiles at her, rises, and claps.
          After him, it feels to L like a torrent opens. The sky itself seems to rain her with praise. Her existence is flooded with whoops and cat calls and cheers. Hedrick is loudly jumping behind her, feet crashing into the floorboards. L looks up, startled by the applause.
          Was that really… for her? Could it ever be for her?
          But she knew it was. For. Her. As the noise crashes over, a broad smile breaks over her face. L spreads her wings, sets the microphone down, and takes a bow.
          She rushes into the backstage before the lights can come on again, flushed and grinning, her antennae still tingling from the noise. It hasn't stopped yet. They're still applauding.
          She’d done it. It worked. She was safe, and…
          … and something more.
          Eyes sparkling, L peers out from behind the curtain, one last time, taking it all in. There's Ian and Trystan, leaning out from behind the bar, Ian’s voice the loudest of anyone in the room. Cadogan's fist pounds on the table, and he bellows into Grady's ear while pointing at the curtain. She smiles at all of them, absorbing their pride.
          Finally, she turns to the man with the piercing blue eyes, still on his feet, applauding with abandon. At first, L smiles widely at him, too, but her expression breaks as she gets a better look.
          The grey of his thick coat. The gilded blonde of his hair. The white of his teeth, the peach of his skin.
          Apart from Ian, he's the only other human in the room.


continue reading ->


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A bit of a shorter chapter as I aggressively learn video editing.
Below are the Flickerlight Lullaby Lyrics!   For anyone who wants to obsessively speculate about the meaning behind the song <3

The lyrics were written by Heart
and song composed / performed by plasterbrain

Flickerlight Lullaby

Deep night
Star’s light
Burns bright in me

Devouring
forever flowering
Inferno she calls me

“Take to this wick and from cold, ignite
Binds to be held and warm by my light”

So she tells me
But does she see
Who I am

Locked door
Chained for delight
Here for near for my near dear and loveless

Aching to stake in a want I’ve known
Better to try than die all alone

And be wanted
Or ever haunted
Here I am

+musical interlude+

Take me, embrace me
And lace me in you

To love, no one above
Perhaps when the sun and the moon can be together

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Oh and JUST IN CASE YOU MISSED IT, click the title image to play the song =3

The final part of Chapter 18: Debutante is set to post Friday October 7th! Where we get to meet Keira's favorite character: the man with the blue eyes.

Until then, thanks for reading!
And thanks for stopping by!