(I promised a story version of the photos in chapter 2, but this scene happens before the date chronologically)

City State of Juniata
Juniata City
Park

At the end of the week what was bound to happen, had happened: Isaiah asked Sharla for a date. It seemed the natural thing to do for him if one saw a girl one felt attracted to but knew next to nothing about. But how to entertain a woman on the knowledge track (wasnt´that what psychology students called people like Sharla? And he was what? A "romance man"?)? All the usual options like rock concerts or dining were most certainly ruled out.
„Do you want to see dead people or migratory birds?“ Isaiah had asked her and Sharla had opted for the birds. Bird watching was both relaxing and educational, time well spent, regardless of the date´s success. She certainly did not want to hear Isaiah rattle endlessly about this or that fallen war hero. It was depressing enough as it was, and Sharla wanted to remember all the lost people the way they had been in life, not during their final miserable moments. She wasn´t prepared fort the trap her date partner had set for her…


Pic: And this is how the scene looked in my game. Oh, boy. Please, LOOK SOMWEHRE ELSE! She´s got eyes, too!!!

„You clever rogue!“ Sharla exclaimed. She nearly had to shout to make herself understood against the background music. The two of them were standing in one of the front rows, surrounded by a mass of bodies in a perfectly ordinary crowd of concert goers. And now Sharla remembered that this was the name Tina Traveller´s nameless band had decided on: Desiderata Migratory Birds.
Isaiah flashed Sharla a wide grin.
„So! What! Would! The Dead! People! Have! Been!“ Sharla had to shout now. Up there on the stage Edda Sveinsson was torturing her guitar. For the standards of her species she was doing well, but somehow an Annunaki would never really get the hang of music. Nevertheless the fellow college student had achieved the pinnacle of what her alien genetics allowed her and that´s why people were cheering her today, especially those who had grown up during the war. Always giving 100% was more important than being the best in something in the mind of the young generation.

Pic: Edda´s album. Song lyrics obviously by Ea games. Another song is "Photoshop no friend of mine"

Isaiah leaned closer to Sharla, using the background noise as an excuse to directly whisper into her ear: „The museum of arts. Cave paintings, long dead celebrities, early works of Julius Antonini…“
Sharla chuckled. „All his works are ‚early’, he´s a high schooler, in the watcher´s name!“
„He´s very good…“
Sharla did not object. Isaiah was obviously feeling inadequate, though Sharla suspected the only reason his paintings did not hang for display was because he had never submitted one. She did not tell him so, for the more miserable an artist felt, the better the outcome of his work.
On the stage Edda had finally managed to finish her song without breaking the guitar or summoning something evil with numerous tentacles from the ground. She bowed and made room for the real stars of this night.
„That´s my brother up there!“ Sharla cheered. „At the guitar!“
David Ottomas was playing the guitar,

Tina Traveller the percussions

and her husband Jay was the lead singer.

An unearthly glow seemed to surround the man every time he sang with a microphone in his hand.
Isaiah frowned. „He should not be up there…“
„Jay has redeemed himself. Corrected every wrong he´s done and did so much more!“
„That´s why I begrudge him neither his freedom nor his marriage“, Isaiah explained. „But he really should not enjoy celebrity status. None of THEM should. Period.“

The argument was interrupted by the arrival of a real celebrity. Beams of light were facing the keyboard now, illuminating the empty fourth spot of the band. Tina beat the drums. In a flash of colors, acoompanied by the slight smell of sulphur, an elderly man appeared seemingly out of thin air. Shouts of „Ohh!“ and „Ahh!“ erupted from everywhere.
„Is this… the principal?“ Sharla gasped.
„Yes. Usually he travels by broomstick, but for the concert he went for something more stylish I notice.“
„Is it true that he has mastered every skill known to mankind?“
„Only the theory. But he could master the practical applications in almost no time now because of his knowledge. He´s great!“
„Trent! Trent! Trent!“ the spectators chanted. „Trent Traveller!“


Standing with his beloved in the last row, John Una joined in the chorus, but secretly the man thought: „There must have been a reason he had to quit his job as a high ranking policeman. Everybody contributes it to the war, but this just isn´t the case. Trent quit several month before the invasion, claiming he wanted to see the world or something similarily silly. I may not be a special agent anymore, but I´m watching you, Trent… Be assured of this!“
„Oh! Oh! Listen!“ Natasha jumped up and down like a little girl in exitement. „They are doing their version of ‚Unthinkable’!“
Now the crowd went wild. It was THEIR song, everybody´s. The song that perfectly captured the feelings of Juniatans and Athispeople alike. It told them they had been through a lot of shit, but it was over now and they could get a life.
Even the newest arrivals, like Polly Champion the elf-alien-crossbreed, were swept along with the music. It was akin to magic, Polly thought. Though she could not understand more than a handful of the words, she felt strangely elated. And then she stopped thinking about it, giving herself over to the feeling, becoming one with the crowd and the humans, finally… home.

„Here now…
I´m a something…
Right…
Someday… coming full alive…
Hey baby, I don´t know…
Maybe… among…
We needn´t… back… to think about…
Here now…
Don´t weep anymore.“

Gallaghar could not take it anymore. The student slipped away, unnoticed, as he thought. He had been a loner as a kid and his playfully aquired stealth skills had come in handy during war and enslavement. But Gallaghar had not taken into account the abilty of a Newson to sense when one of their own was in need. Gavin had broken from the crowd, too and was standing right next this his younger brother now, a silent, towering, protective figure. It was dark over here, but the Migratory Birds´ chirping could not be escaped from.
„Maybe time does heal all wounds, as the saying goes“, Gallagher commented the song, sniffing. „But it leaves nasty scars.“
Gavin leaned against a tree. Grinning he pointed at Gallagher´s bandaged nose. „Refering to this, little bro? Reminds me of all the silly stunts Ginny and me pulled at college…“
„You!“ Gallaghar shot forth! He grabbed the brother by his expensive one-of-a-kind shirt and hammered him against the tree several times.
„Ou! Ouch!“
„You call stealing a genie lamp ‚a stand?’ And my broken nose is funny to you, yes?“
„Oh, come on“, Gavin ventured. „It was not like Emma was doing anything with it. She´s from the Empire, and one of those diehard magic-haters they´ve got there. I know. She and I talked about it a lot before my little prank. We were in the same dorm, for heaven´s sake!“
Gallagher let go of his brother. The older Newson straightened his clothing, then he went on, almost in a whisper, as if to cover up a secret shame: „But you know how Ginger was like back then. All Athispeople-are-hellspawn – like. I needed to prove myself a true Newson to her. I never beat up people. I only stole things others would not miss… not much, anyway.“
Gavin´s voice trailed off. „It´s over now“, he said firmly. „We changed and so will you. Your little college wars won´t carry over to the real world, trust me. Ginny and Angelo are happily engaged now. She´s even living in the trailer park, jobbing as a waitress, because she doesn´t know what to do with her life while her athisborn sweetheart´s still at college!“
When Gallaghar kept his silence, Gavin sighed. „Get into the fun! Enjoy your youth! Play a prank on Gabriella!“ he suggested. „And if it gets to you too much, there´s always a place for you at Tricou manor. Unlike somebody I could name, you are not under arrest at your college. Call a cab and come visit us as often as you like!“
„But don´t you understand?“ Gallaghar answered. „That´s what House of Glory wants! They want the Athis-kids take this route! Drop out of college, miss their chance of a higher education, so they can stay second-rate citizens forever!“
„Just like we were treated under Athis-rule…“
„Yes. But was it right? How can it be wrong when they do it to us, but right if we do to them?“
„I was handed from prison camp to prison camp for rebelling against our masters! I nearly froze to death at night and worked all day under the searing desert sun in province Oasis! You, in comparison, had it almost cosy in your slave school with the clean beds and full plates! You had a roof over your head and built snowmen in the schoolyard. You did not experience how they tightened their grip on the remaining provinces after your idyllic Desiderata Valley was freed – I did, so do not you lecture me about our enemies!!! And do not think I have forgotten how all of you mobbed me out of the house for dating Amaya Wilson! But revenge leads us nowhere.“
„Sooo… speaking of dating, I hear you and Edda are a hot item now?“
Gallaghar snorted and walked away. Gavin had some growing up to do and he did not want to be in his way.
Shoohoo, shoohoo, shoohy, the Migratory Birds rejoiced.