NationStates Jolt Archive


And Another Generation Cometh (RP, closed for now)

Forum Feline
29-11-2004, 22:34
“Who’s that girl over there?” thought Alan Sten. “She looks interesting.”

He was looking at Paula Newman, although he didn’t know her name yet.

Alan Sten was a complex individual. He was bisexual, but a devout Catholic. He sinned frequently and in almost every possible way imaginable, but every day, he went into confessional and declared every last sin- each time he had looked at another man longingly. Each time he had taken the Lord’s name in vain. Each time he had not “turned the other cheek.” He kept track of it religiously, no pun intended. He always carried with him two PDAs- one as a PDA, the other to record down his sins for confessional.

He was insecure yet outgoing (once contact was established), and had what was most likely the sharpest wit in all of Puerto Valadola. His speech was rambling, but constant. It had a high volume but a soft tone. He also spoke with the distinct Feline accent, which had the curious effect of making normal speech sound emotionally almost empty, but made emotional thoughts, when verbally expressed, seem much more intense.

As said, he was insecure. He stared at Newman for several minutes. There was no romantic interest, but anyone not acquainted with Sten’s personality would think there was.

“Should I go over there? What… what if she is? What if she isn’t. What if she doesn’t like me? This has happened before- at that bar in Port Haven. You didn’t do anything. Just keep telling yourself that. But what if you did? What would have… no, wait, yes, go! What, what, what am I doing? My… my legs, they’re fucking moving! What? Why? Oh my God, I’m walking towards her! Wait, get out the PDA! Get out the PDA! Record them down! Get it out! Not now, she’ll think it is weird! I… what?” he thought.

“Hi… hi… hey. I’m A-a-Alan.” He said, against the objections of his logical thought processes.
The Freethinkers
30-11-2004, 00:43
Paula Newman was one of those people who saw life slightly differently from those around her. Whereas most people simply accepted things because, well, because, she questioned everything with the veracity of a four-year-old and had the same dissatisfaction with the answers as well. Her mind wandered often, people around her assuming her to be daydreaming whilst she actually engaged on a train of thought that in the mind of a respected philosopher would be regarded as revolutionary.

However, Paula was not a respected philosopher; rather, she was a twenty-four year old university drop-out with a south-side studio and a job as a club singer that bought in just enough to ensure she didn’t starve or get chucked out. It was an interesting lifestyle, but one shared, at least in part, by many of the residents of the city around her.

Puerto Valadola stood in the middle of a number of important Haven trade lanes, and the ease of life in the city meant that it caught more than its fair share of the wanderers and stragglers in life. Literally a dozen languages were spoken in every street, and even the most distant traveller was sure to find some of his countrymen in self-determined exile along one of the many winding markets and alleyways. Simply living here was an education in so many different cultures that many residents could outdo even the longest serving diplomats in understanding the intricacies of foreign lifestyles.

It also produced the strangest meetings you could imagine.

The sound of steps behind her caused Paula to turn. Sticking the pen she held behind an ear so that it was half covered by the untidy bun she put her hair into, she turned to see a nervous looking guy staring down at her. Nervous was her first impression. Cute though, was her second.

“Hi… hi… hey. I’m A-a-Alan.” He stuttered, looking uncomfortable. They looked at each other for a moment, both seemingly taken aback. Then Paula smiled. She offered an ink stained hand.

“Paula, nice to meet you…”
Forum Feline
30-11-2004, 22:47
"I... um.. what?" He quickly stammered.

"Do... do I know you from somewhere? You seem familiar somehow."

He was gripping the tip of his left pointer finger with his right hand- a habit of his when he was nervous. In other words, a near-constant habit.
The Freethinkers
01-12-2004, 14:19
Paula smiled at the guy's awkwardness, although she self-berated herself for embarrassing the poor man further. The accent seemed familiar, an interesting vocal mix that she was fond of.

She heard Alan's question, feeling sorry for him she looked directly up at him.

"Probably, I do the occasional gig round here, you know, entertaining the patrons and stuff. Maybe that might be it?"
Forum Feline
01-12-2004, 22:26
"Maybe... I... I um... take it you are a musician, then?"

He sat down awkwardly at a chair next to her.
The Freethinkers
02-12-2004, 09:48
She looked away for a moment. Interesting introduction.

"Well, yeah, or at least I hope to be." Then her muse hit. Looking back up she scribbled a few words on the piece of paper. "So, ...Alan...you're very forthright aren't you?"
Forum Feline
02-12-2004, 23:27
“Well, I, um, try to be… I just… I don’t know. I mean, I don’t want to be, but I try to be, and I just at the same damn time want to be and don’t want to be. I know I must be sounding rather fucking psychiatric, in more ways than one, at the moment, but yeah.”
The Freethinkers
04-12-2004, 19:15
In some guys, nervousness was almost cute.

Not that Paula thought that at this moment. She felt nervous as well, trying to think of conversation. She didn't dislike the guy, but she was struggling to find words to say in what was a tense scene. She still smiled though, and was relieved at last to have a cause of inspiration.

And then she finally laid her finger on the accent.

"Your from Feline, aren't you? What on Earth are you doing down here?"
Forum Feline
04-12-2004, 23:11
"Yes, um, I, I'm from Feline. A tough place to live if you are an ailurophobic and if you dislike being in a long hallway." He was beginning to find a bit of stride in the situation. "I really didn't want to live in Pauldustllh. I lived in Edolia for a couple months, but I didn't like the Communist aspect. I went to, to, Jondera, but then they went Communist. So, now I'm here. I figured, this is the new hot spot for, um, you know, expats, so I, um, decided to try it out."
The Freethinkers
05-12-2004, 22:16
"Well, that it is." Paula leaned back in her chair, staring out the window of the bar out onto the paved street outside. Human, elves, vampires and the single dwarf trotted by in perfect oblivion to each other, a hundred different fashions and culture cascading down one single road.

"Yeah, this place is like a filter, everyone comes through this place, from the sea, the air, the roads, the railways, all get off for a temporary stay and just end up getting suckered in."

She picked up her bottle and took a quick sip. She replaced the bottle on the table and stared at it for a moment, her writing hand staying in midair as her thoughts fought for control in her head.

"Its just an undemanding place, at the end of the day. No one here has anywhere to go in a hurry, it just seems as if everyone just exists here, you know, take to this place simply as a refuge against a world that moves too quickly around here." She looked up at Alan again. "Tell me, Alan, where are you staying now?"
Forum Feline
06-12-2004, 03:14
"I've got a small studio apartment, ground floor, with an entrance on the street. It's about a block from here. You know, being an author making a living submitting shitty stories to literary magazines, you don't get a lot of cash until you get a book published. I published one book, this story set during the French Revolution, kinda like Scaramouche. Didn't sell too well. Of course, a year after I published it, that Jean-Paul Marat biopic came out, and French Revolution mania swept Feline, and the book cmae a year too early."
The Freethinkers
07-12-2004, 14:41
"Heh, French Revolution Mania huh...." Paula looked back onto the street, her eyes following individual passersby for a moment.
"To be fair you aint got it too bad. And to get a book published too, thats pretty impressive." She turned back, crossing her arms at the same time. "Me, Ive got a third room broom cupboard, and I'm lucky I'm still getting the gigs in bars like this. I thought I was going to make it big, ya know...turns out so does everyone else."
Forum Feline
08-12-2004, 00:04
"In Feline, getting a book published is nothing. The only overhead for the publisher is the storage space on a hard drive, and the Internet bandwith to distribute it.

But, yeah, you do think you're gonna make it big. Everyone does. I did.

You're like, "If I just punch my way through hard enough, I'll get the good life with it all." But the point is, there is no good life and you don't find that out until your fists are bleeding from punching so hard for so long, and you have to learn to accept what you've got. That's what everything is these years, futile, like punching into a wall of solid diamond."
The Freethinkers
08-12-2004, 03:10
"Well, I guess...." She raised an eyebrow. "Then again, we have our health, a roof over our heads, and to be fair..." She tapped her pen on the table, then on the now empty bottle in front of her, "isnt that all you need?"
Forum Feline
08-12-2004, 03:18
"Yeah. So what type of music do you play?"
The Freethinkers
12-12-2004, 01:11
"Soft folksy rubbish, sometimes do something harder, depends what I can get money for really." She smiled again.
Forum Feline
17-12-2004, 23:01
"Ah. I see. So, when's your next gig?"

OOC: Sorry for delay. I didn't realize you had replied.