video, evening;

[traceofeffort]

[The Lisa on the screen tonight is significantly brighter than she's been in what may feel like weeks to anyone that's seen her relatively recently; it's like she's had a new breath of life, excited, energy bubbling just below the surface, words coming fast like she can barely keep herself from just blurting everything out. That new breath of life also extends to what she's wearing: what can only be described as a Gothic outfit with a red ribbon, lace everywhere, a crazy flower headpiece... it's almost beyond description, but she looks over the moon, standing in the middle of her room like she's about to go on stage.]

Guys. Guys, this is amazing. Okay, so first, business - nobody ever got in my room. I got the cameras up before - thanks, Anakin, I owe you, seriously - and they caught when this showed up. There was literally nothing. Not a shiver of movement, no hitch in the camera, nothing missing. Just... empty space one moment, and then this neatly folded on my bed the next. So I guess I freaked out over nothing before. Uh... sorry. I know I worried a lot of people. But hey, now we know, right?

Anyway! So this is a band costume. [She spins on the spot, slowly; the largely transparent ribbon low on her back was hard to see from the front, but draws attention now that she's in motion and at an angle.] Whatever I said about the music I'm getting memories of, I'm just gonna call it Goth now, because there's no other way to describe this thing. It matches the ones my bandmates wore, just with different ribbons. [She gently fingers one end of the ribbon over her chest, smiling fondly.] I'm pretty sure I was the red one. I'll have to see if I can find a penlight. But somehow it was already fit for me, almost? I barely had to have anything done to it to slip into it. [A few experimental motions of her arms: in front of her, over her head, briefly reaching out of frame and coming back with her acoustic guitar.] So she can't have been that much younger than me when she wore this last. And that gives me some hope. Maybe I'm not too old or too much of a screw up for this either. And maybe I can do this. Whether I feel like it or not... this costume is proof that somewhere, somewhen, Lisa Imai can make it. It might be as the bassist for a high school band; it might be as a solo country act. It might be something I don't understand yet.

But that's okay. I'll figure it out. I understand some of why I was hesitating; the other me's seen some things. I need to grow some more, but it'll be all right. I'll be all right. [Lisa giggles softly.] And I'll try not to get too smug about being a functional human being instead of a ball of stress.

Oh, and before I forget, I've seen the actual sheet music for LOUDER now, so I should be ready there soon, one way or another. Sorry it's taken me a while to get myself in gear there, but I think... maybe I needed to have this realization first. So that's coming! I'd say to look forward to it to the people I've been keeping in the loop while I work on it, but if I keep saying that everyone will expect the second coming of Santana or something, and new confidence or not I'm just not that good. So. Soon!

That's all, for real this time. Thanks for listening to me ramble. [She waves at the camera with a gentle smile before the feed cuts out.]

Comments

[bearshermark]

Of course you can do it, Lisa.

And I'm really glad you have proof that no one infiltrated your room.

[traceofeffort]

Thanks for the vote of confidence, Elliott. Seriously. You've helped a lot this last month or two.

[She takes a deep breath, looking up at one of the cameras (not that he can see it) before returning to the feed.] Yeah, that made me feel a hell of a lot better about all this, y'know? Now there's the whole "outfit magically showed up in my room" thing, of course, but that's a lot less stress to think about.

[bearshermark]

[He laughs]

Yeah, that part is still a little weird. I wonder what it means, sometimes.

It's really good to see you happy again, though. I'm glad I could help.

[traceofeffort]

[Lisa's face runs hot for a moment; she'd just been saying it, but boy it sounded different coming from someone else. Soooo time to not talk about that for a second, as her mouth moves soundlessly before she shakes herself into coherence again.]

So maybe we are just getting this stuff back from our other selves across time? And they can't exactly come and hand it to us, and the Bureau isn't keeping it all in a locker somewhere, so it just. Appears? As funny as another me coming and handing me her high school band costume would be.

[bearshermark]

[Elliott smiles for a moment while she recovers herself, then shrugs]

I dunno. I have a tattoo now all of a sudden, so I really don't know how it could work at all.

[traceofeffort]

Yeah, tattoos aren't exactly something you can just wake up and find laying on your bedside table. Did, uh. Did it hurt?

[A beat.] ...is it anything cool?

[bearshermark]

[He colors a bit, glancing down off-camera]

It's kind of cool-looking, yeah. Just kind of in an obvious location.

[He holds up his hand]



It didn't hurt, though.

[traceofeffort]

[...thaaaat's a little strange. Cool, but. She's privately fairly worried about what his visions are going to look like from here.]

It's kinda cool, yeah. And very conspicuous. And a little concerning? The sword was one thing, but this is straight out of some kind of novel.

[bearshermark]

Yeah, huh..? Like some sort of crest or something.

..Anyway yeah, I don't know how this stuff is happening.

[traceofeffort]

Well, the mechanic is probably the same as, uh. [She gestures down at herself; she probably means the costume, though she's still got her guitar slung over her shoulder, clearly an afterthought as she gets into conversation.] But you definitely wanna keep an eye out for anywhere else that crest shows up. It gives me the creeps. Not because it is creepy, but because I have a feeling it's important.

[bearshermark]

You think I might find it somewhere?

[Admittedly, that would be kind of cool, but also.. yeah, creepy]

It was important to the world my past self was in, but Yggdrasil doesn't seem to exist here? At least not in the way it did there..

[traceofeffort]

Sure, sure. And you don't have a sword, either. Elliott, anything could happen - it probably won't, but I don't wanna take that chance. At this rate I'm probably gonna start checking Spotify every couple of days to make sure I didn't suddenly release a single.

[bearshermark]

[He laughs, broken out of his musings]

That sure would get your name out there, huh? ..I mean, I guess it's not really funny. You're trying to be cautious, sorry. You're really good at that, and I probably should be too.

[traceofeffort]

If I were that good at being cautious I wouldn't keep getting blindsided every two weeks. But that's not the only reason, now that I think of it. I know what Roselia's music sounds like live, from the center of it - or, well, a little to stage right. It's really exhilarating, and my bandmates commanded a lot of attention. But I really am interested, too. I don't know what a studio cut of LOUDER sounds like.

Don't sell yourself short, though. You're sure coping a lot better than I was, which is definitely worth something. I'm only cautious because I keep falling apart when I let my guard down.

[bearshermark]

It's good to keep in mind, anyway. But you know if you ever need anything I'm here for you, right? Even if it's like 3am on a school night.

[traceofeffort]

[That was somehow even more heartwarming than the thing earlier - probably because he's already proven he'll probably do it if it comes to that - and she blushes more strongly than before, but Lisa just smiles a little shyly.] I hope I never have to. But... thank you, Elliott.

[bearshermark]

Any time. I mean it.