unholyterror | Unsolicited Introductions

Continued from here

Of course, Jake had not warned Davy, or Jerry, or any of City Charms or anyone else that he was bringing people backstage. He could apologize later if there were problems with it. He did get caught up with Niko though and then had to rush to get ready and down to the venue. He pulls up on his chopped out motorcycle right behind the black car. He can see that security is talking to them and pulls the bike around the car.

"They're with me." Jake calls over the sound of both the car and the rumble of the motorcycle. He's obvious, even in the dimly lit parking lot. Not many people look like Jake. Tall, white streaks in his hair, fangs, and all the leather. The motorcycle was iconic too for the red and silver bats painted on the tank.

Security does give pause and then waves the black car to park in the lot. They could park relatively close to the door in the back, clear by the light and exit sign above it. Jake was throwing around his family ties right now which was fine. That was a big part of any entertainment career. It was all about who you knew and were associated with at the end of the day.

He pulled up on the other side of the car and got off the bike. Walking over to greet Dee, and he assumed his partner, while trying to push his unruly hair into some sort of controlled mess.

Current Mood: cheerful
Current Location: Jerry's Bar and Club
Current Music: "Mean Man" - W.A.S.P.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only | Expand All

“Yes.” Dee nodded energetically, though it might not have looked that energetic. “I found her through CalArts. They helped me set up private lessons… That’s your aunt?”

Suddenly, the realization struck. The last member of the City Charms, the one named Davy.

“Your guitarist… is the same Davy Sutton? Her son?”

He’d met him once or twice, he swore. But it had been years ago, back when he was still a student and could still generally walk everywhere under his own power. And, obviously, before Davy had joined City Charms.

"Yes, she's my dad's sister." Jake clarified as they started walking toward the bar.

Syn nodded. "Lead guitar and back up singer." On some songs Davy took the singing lead, especially when Syn was playing sax. "I've been taking lessons with her the past two years."

“I’ve been one of her students since before she used her home studio.” Dee smiled. “I’ve been to multiple City Charms shows. I’ve seen Davy on stage… probably a dozen times. I don’t know why I didn’t put two and two together.”

He had to laugh about that.

Granted, he’d seen him in old pictures more often than live. He’d probably seen a few old pictures of Jake in there too.

Jay laughed. “I swear, I’ve told you, at least, that they had the same last name.”

“Was I listening?” He laughed in reply. “Hang on… the Rekker you mentioned… He wouldn’t be the same Rekker that did all the charity work with Jan, would he?”

Dee hadn’t seen him since he left CalArts. He wondered if he was still making guitars.

If he had seen pictures of the family, then Dee probably knew what Lex, Jake's older brother, looked like as well. They spent time together like brothers, even now.

"Sutton is a common last name." Syn encouraged after hearing the oversight.

"That one." Jake asked while pointing as they stepped from the hall into the main bar. Rekker was there and there weren't too many 6 foot tall men with red hair to their waist. He's there with Davy looking over Davy's treasured black '78 Les Paul. There's a much shorter man with them in all leather with spiked white hair.

The others are out there drinking by the stage while talking to Jerry who is up on the stage with the people setting up.

Jay shook his head in a light-hearted way that roughly translated to, ‘I love you, but sometimes you really are oblivious.’

Granted, once Jay got a look at that guitar, just about anything somebody said would be going in one ear and out the other. Because it was stunning.

Dee, however, was far more focused on Rekker. (Which was nowhere near as common of a name as Sutton…) This was definitely the man he remembered.

As they approached, he called him out by name. “I haven’t seen you in years… the CalArts fundraisers? With Jan Sutton?”

Maybe he remembered him. Maybe he didn’t, but he’d probably remember the event.

Rekker was deep in conversation with Davy about how to refurbish his favorite guitar. Like Jay, guitars made Rekker oblivious to his surroundings, especially when working on them. Davy looks up first when he hears his mom's name. His eyes narrowing as he tries to figure out who these people are but he figures one of them is a student given how the one is staring at his guitar.

Rekker slowly comes around when he sees Davy staring at someone. Rekker's eyes narrow too but it's more a look of attempting to remember. "I have donated to a few."

Rekker didn't always remember faces that he didn't see repeatedly. Students at a university he visited maybe once or twice a year wasn't going to be someone he remembered without more information. "I'm doing one with Jan at the end of next month."

Which explained why Rekker knew Davy, even if the ginger knew Lex more than either of the other boys.

Vars was the one who stepped in for etiquette. He might be hard to understand for anyone not used to Scandinavian accents since his is thicker than most.

"Vars Hagan." He offered his hand and was keenly watching the exchange enough that he knew these people were aligned with some part of the music industry. "Bassist of the Hammers."

It probably didn’t help that the last few times Rekker would have seen him, Dee wasn’t in a chair. He wasn’t nearly as thin back then either.

“I walked away with one about two and a half years ago. Still one of the best made guitars I’ve ever played.” Jay smiled, continuing with the introductions. “Jeremy Andrews. Pleased to meet you.”

“Dee Ferguson… the Prophet.” He reached out to shake Vars’ hand. The accent was extremely thick, but he was able to make out most of his name. He added, for Rekker, “I’m one of Jan’s students… studied music composition at Cal Arts.”

He gave Davy a nod as well.

"Which one?" Rekker was curious now. He liked knowing where his guitars ended up and he was glad to hear it went to someone who played.

The ginger realized he should introduce himself too even if these people seemed to know something about him already. Rekker also offered his hand after handing the guitar back to Davy. "Rekker Sterling."

Davy nodded but he's glad that they didn't try to shake his hand. The American didn't like touching strangers, especially after the incident last year. He stared at the two closely and nodded. "You're the Tuesday student, or were?"

Davy didn't so much remember names of his mother's students but he did remember the pattern of seeing them around. That was all the fault of his father and his stalking.

With how specific Jay was in describing the guitar, Rekker could probably date the exact auction he made it for, even if it was nearly three years ago. Dee was still at Cal Arts back then, and Jay was still in the ‘try to impress your boyfriend’ phase in the relationship. Not that he had any regrets. About the relationship or the guitar.

“Mmhm. Still am.” Dee nodded again to Davy. “Though, if she’s having a bad day, sometimes it’s Wednesday or Thursday now.“

He understood what that entailed.

His music projects were the closest thing he had to a job these days. So he could afford to be flexible. (How much of his monthly disability check went to voice lessons would probably make a critic’s eyes roll. But Dee swore by her. And Jay made more than enough to make ends meet as a nurse.)

Once Rekker heard about the guitar he could definitely identify the exact guitar and how he built it. If Jay is interested in guitar building Rekker will talk about it in depth.

"She hasn't had a bad day in awhile." Davy mentioned, but bad day was relative at this point. He tried not to worry about it too much but Davy did. "She won't be here tonight because she has other plans."

And that was another worry of Davy's, his mother dating again. People could tell him that the person was good until they were blue in the face and he still couldn't believe it but that wasn't something for a stranger to know.

Like Dee, having known Rekker primarily through charity work, it was still a little hard for Jay to reconcile the man in the news with the one now talking at length about how that guitar was made. It was incredibly interesting, though. And he was immediately drawn into the conversation.

“I’m glad for that.” Dee nodded - about her having mostly good days, not about her having other plans. “Doing something fun, I hope.”

Dee would never say that Jan was like a mother to him. Their relationship, even when discussing medical issues, was strictly professional. Though, he would go as far as to call her a hero.

Unfortunately, the media rarely gave any information about why he acted. They favored painting him as out of control and crazy, which weren't exactly wrong but weren't exactly true either. the Brit usually didn't try to correct them either.

Davy was starting to get a sour expression over the topic but Jake came up laughing. "Don't mind him. He's getting princessy because mom is dating again." Jake was prodding at his cousin but knew that Davy had his reasons. Anyone who knew about his father could easily imagine the guitarist's worry.

Dee honestly didn’t know much about his teacher’s personal life. He had assumed from the various photographs he’d seen in her home studio, none of which contained a significant other, that she was likely divorced. But he never asked, and never pried. He didn’t even know if his own parents were still together, or if one of them left after he did…

“well, good. She is doing something fun, then.” He smiled.

(And yes, he said someTHING, not someONE. This wasn’t the person he wanted to make THAT kind of joke about.)

He couldn’t help but glance up at his fiancé after saying that. The contented smile went entirely unnoticed, though. Jay was completely focused on guitar talk, and asking if Rekker had ever built any other instruments.

Jake noticed Davy's expression and rolled his eyes. "Stop being so sassy. We all know you miss your gym rat."

Jake would have went on teasing but the look Davy had that mixed sadness and I'm going to slap you shut his mouth. "Come on, we all know he'll be here before the show starts with roses or some shit for you."

Jake glanced over at Jay and Rekker and knew that conversation wasn't going to end anytime soon when he started hearing them talk about building instruments. He had no idea about instrument building but he did have a brother who built vehicles and knew how these went.

"Don't we have to get your guitar up on stage and tuned?" Jake immediately switched gears and subjects without a hitch. Davy could be prickly in the best of moods.

Davy finally nodded and then glanced at Dee. "Are you a vocalist?"

He thought he might as well make the best of this and be polite, especially since these seemed to be Jake's friends.

Oh, the conversation had progressed all the way into the rabbit hole in which Jay was describing some downright mystical-looking dream violins. There wasn't going to be any surfacing from that for a while.

Now it was Dee's turn to shake his head at obliviousness.

He turned to Davy and nodded. "Vocalist and composer. I perform as The Prophet. We are still looking for the right people to complete the ensemble, but..."

He reached into his bag and pulled out a demo ball, holding it out for Davy. The artwork on the cube had that name, as well as photos of him and Jay decked out in warpaint and post-apocalyptic clothes against a fantasy landscape.

"...We have a demo... that I am currently shopping around."

If asked to show what he could do, he would in a heartbeat. (Jay would too, if anyone could get his attention.)

They may never resurface. Rekker had never made a violin before and that alone would spur him into wanting to see if he could. A challenging project like this would help his mental state too.

"Classical?" Davy asked since composing could mean anything in his mind. After all, the sound stage things that Jake did to make horror sounds was also considered composing. Jake would fall in to push Dee's chair once they started toward the stage. He realized that Jay was gone.

Davy continued. "I started singing early." He was singing with him mom as soon as he could talk so he was destined for this in a way.

Davy took the demo and had the same response as Jake. "Have you given one to Jerry?"

Davy pointed out Jerry on the stage working with Sam to get the drum kit up. Jerry was obvious with a lion mane of platinum hair and a muscular 6 and a half foot tall. He was imposing to a lot of people but in general a good man. Unless you got out of hand in his bar.

And Jay had already mentioned more than once that he'd be willing to pay for it. This was quickly leaving the realm of hypothetical.

Dee had no qualms about Jake taking over the chair.

"I like blending classical with rock. It's a more... melodic metal, I suppose you could say." It wasn't quite the popular glam rock or punk scene of the moment, but it fit well with both of those. "I've performed in choirs alongside the LA Phil a few times. But would rather create something more exciting."

His final recital at CalArts showed a glimpse of what The Prophet would become. But his primary compositions were largely written for piano (which he performed) and violin (which Jay performed). Though there were some brilliantly written vocal pieces as well, with poignant lyrics. Dee was good at this.

As they approached the stage, he added, "Not yet. I've been told to look out for someone named Missy. As well as someone named Tom."

Davy was listening carefully now. He could be hard to get along with but talking music was a way to quickly get Davy's temperament to settle. "Power ballads."

That was what Davy thought of when he heard the mix of rock and classical. Davy took a moment to look around at who was already here and shook his head.

"Missy isn't here." He mentioned but it made sense that her name would come up. "I know when Hexed isn't working she's a promoter and band manager."

Tom on the other hand, Davy wasn't sure what his job was but the man seemed to do everything. Mikkel had caught on their conversation where he was standing next to the stage talking to Joey.

"Tom won't come to a bar." Mikkel mentioned because they had tried. They had tried to get him to go out so many times until he told them why. Then they stopped asking about bars.

"Savior, less so than what we did with Savior II..." he referenced the songs on the recording ball. "But some of the pieces I'm working on now... have a more subtle influence to them. They're harder, more reliant on guitar, bass and drums."

He had the music, but he lacked the musicians. He needed someone who could really shred. And he needed a steady rhythm section to ground the sound.

Also in Dee's bag was a small journal. He never went anywhere without one. This one was nearly full, pages filled with lyrics and musical notation. He'd been trained in a classical way, that much was evident. He stopped on a page that had the chords for two guitar parts, overlaid with each other. In the margins, there were also notes for violin and cello. Halfway down the page it said, 'In the End - ??' which was the song he was thinking of using that part for.

"Something... like this..."

Just because they weren't here didn't mean he might not get introduced to them eventually. At the moment, he needed all the connections he could get.

Davy nodded while listening. He knew some musicians that didn't have bands but he wasn't about to speak for them in anyway. "What sound are you looking for from the people?"

That was a question that might allow him to match people up more effectively, if any of them fit. He wasn't sure how well Dee or Jay would do with a wilder musician. Davy had his hands full with Joey most of the time.

Davy took the journal and started looking over the notes. He did have his guitar hanging on him and by the time he was handing it back he was trying through a few of the chords. Some were definitely on the more challenging side but Davy was self taught on the guitar so he was used to things maybe being harder than they should be. Playing would give more clue to what they needed.

"Jake, is Lex around?" Davy felt something in the chords that was familiar. Then slowly remembered Dee and shrugged. "My cousin wouldn't call himself a guitarist, ever, but he can play." Both in speed and intricacy. Davy suddenly realized that he didn't know if Lex had ever written any of his own music. "I think there are a couple of guitarists at the apartments, Rekker's brother's boyfriend and..." Davy realized he didn't know the names of the others without bands. It was more something that came up in passing.

"He's off today." Jake responded. His brother didn't live far from here if they wanted him to come down

The journal probably answered that question better than descriptions of genre or individual temperament could.

When Davy started fingering notes, Jay finally took notice. (The riveting conundrum of whether or not you could carve a violin to look like a skull could wait.)

“Is that what we were working on on last Saturday?” He asked.

“Mmhm.” Dee nodded. “Part of it.”

“You were right… it does sound better in f minor.” Jay admitted. Even from the Davy’s first attempt, he could extrapolate his fiancé's vision. They’d been making music together from the very beginning of their relationship.

As Davy played a little bit, Dee sat up straighter. He sang some lyrics on top of it. “…it’s the end, and I’m not afraid - I’m not afraid to die.”

Dee’s voice, in the baritone range, was smooth but surprisingly strong. He was typically rather soft spoken and polite. Those who heard him really sing for the first time were sometimes a little shocked that voice came out of that body. He hadn’t warmed up, but Jan’s vocal techniques were easily recognizable by her family and other students.

Put a light on him, and he could command a stage.

“You think he might be interested?” Jay asked about this Lex.

They also got Rekker's attention, more for the lyrics. Though their music styles were very different, the ginger often wrote about death, sickness and his mental health. Lyrically he was listening.

Davy bit his lip and stared at Jake who shook his head. Lex was a stubborn man. Rekker butted in.

"No." Rekker snorted a laugh. "He can play almost as well as I can and thinks he's got no skill and playing a game."

Davy nodded because that was an accurate, if harsh, assessment of his cousin. "If you could get him to want to be a musician he could play this and expand on it. He's self taught like me, and this is in a style he plays when messing around."

Jake couldn't argue with any of this. It was his brother for better or worse. "I could get him to come down with his guitar."

Jay and Dee shared an uneasy glance. If someone didn’t want to do something, there wasn’t much they could do, or should do, for that matter. They were firm believers in that, for more reasons than these other musicians could imagine. But the fact that he already liked to play this kind of music and was good at it, from Rekker’s estimation, gave Dee pause.

“…he truly does not want to? Or he does not believe he’s… capable?”

"Both?" Jake answered but he wasn't sure. They both grew up with a mentality where Davy and his family were seen as the musical ones and Lex and Jake more people who were good with making things. Jake couldn't be sure what his brother thought. "You could ask him."

That seemed the safe way. Davy shrugged. "He's helped me write music before but there are others I think." Davy knew there were at least a couple musicians with no bands.

"Erik." Rekker mentioned. "But I'm not sure he's classically trained." Rekker felt like he would be a bad person if he didn't mention his brother's boyfriend. "Mikkel, doesn't your brother play drums?"

Mikkel wasn't paying attention and looked over at the other conversation, eventually nodding. "I don't think he has played since he left Denmark."

There were a lot of names now and Jake worried that they might get confused. He did when people started talking this way about the 30 or 40 or however many people there were. "Maybe you should visit the apartments sometime?" Jake offered.

Dee was doing his best to commit every name they gave him to memory, but the more that were said, the more difficult that would become. One, it seemed, Lex, may already be on his way.

“I wonder if that’s the same Erik we met at Dennys a couple weeks ago, when you took the overnight shift at the hospital across the street…” Dee pondered aloud, describing him briefly. “I showed him some of what I’d been working on… He also played guitar.”

Rekker had been, after all. And everyone here knew Jan Sutton. A lot of happy coincidences were happening tonight.

“The apartments?” Jay asked. “A literal set of apartments? Or is that the name of a new venue?”