you've got too much talent - OPEN

[autumn marie andarez]

oh sweetheart but that bottle down
you've got too much talent
i see through those bloodshot eyes
there's a cure you found it

Autumn stretched her arms out above her as she sat up in her bed, blinking away her sleepiness. Once again, the camp day had started without her and once again she was ok with that. She'd only overslept by about an hour so she hadn't missed much. Autumn pushed her blankets off of her and walked over to her largest bag, the one containing her clothes, and began looking for something to wear. Today she didn't feel like being with the other campers in the various musical sessions. No, instead today Autumn wanted to be alone and work on a song she'd been learning to play on the guitar. Autumn was a natural-born performer, but she never liked playing her own stuff in public. Instead she did acoustic covers to different songs while trying to come up with a song good enough to play in public.

A few minutes later with her hair and teeth brushed, Autumn started out on one of the many trails with her guitar in her left hand and a pen and notebook in her right. She had only walked a few feet when she saw a giant rock and stopped. It was far enough from the main class buildings for her to go unnoticed for a while. Autumn took a few minutes to tune her guitar before resting its body on her legs and adjusting her fingers to play the start of "Walking On Sunshine." It was one of Autumn's favorite songs to perform back at home for her mother and other family. For the first chorus and verse of the song, Autumn hummed the words while smiling as she strummed on. She began to sing softly, her voice progressively getting louder and stronger as the song went on.

Autumn didn't finish the song, but instead she picked up her pen and began tapping it against her lip. She really wanted to finish a song that she'd been spending weeks on, but she was stuck and it was getting the best of her. Autumn looked down at the half-filled page on her lap, staring at its markouts and write-overs, sighing at the sorry excuse for a song. She set the notebook back down but didn't pick her guitar back up. Instead she pushed herself off the room and onto the trail. There was only one thing that could make her feel better at the moment since her music wasn't working for her.

Besides singing, Autumn was a huge fan of gymnastics. She kicked off her converse and began stretching on the rocky trail. She wasn't going to do anything super special, just a few stretches and maybe tumbling if she could find an area in the grass that didn't look like it would swallow her. "Don't let nobody tell you you're life is over, be every color that you are." Autumn sang softly while stretching, the only part of her song that she was actually sure about. She wasn't even sure what direction the song was going in. So far it was a ballad, a club song, a break-up anthem, and a boatload of other things. Autumn was really a talented singer, but when it came to writing she was like a pre-schooler. Writing just didn't come as natural to her as it should have.

notes: horrible muse
tagged: anyone!
word count: the hell if i know
outfit: outfit

[jacob xavier vernon]

jacob xavier vernon sat in a chair located at the back of the talent building, his dark brown eyes scanning the room as he ducked behind a few campers seated infront of him. he began tapping the touch screen of his samsung impression, sending speedy replies to his friend's and band member's text messages. opening the application for internet explorer, he logged into his email and checked his inbox, making a mental note to call his manager later. everyone else in the place was focused on the stage, watching fellow campers dance and sing in the spotlight. counselors who were perched at the front of the room would signal for everyone to applaud whenever someone had finished their act. straightening up, jake yawned and ran a hand through his black hair, clapping with the rest of the people in the large building. the counselors were calling campers up alphabetically by last name so that they could show off their talent. vasquez sounded dangerously close to vernon, so jake grabbed his belongings and stayed low, hiding as he snuck towards the back exit. quickly nudging the door open with his elbow, he jogged outside.

as soon as jake was out of sight, he began sprinting. he didn't really care where he was headed, just as long as he didn't have to get up on that stage himself. it wasn't that he minded performing for people ( because he loved playing for audiences ), but he had pulled an all nighter and he was a little too tired to function properly. shaking his head to try and wake himself up, he turned off the main pathway and started up the trails, slowing to a walk and then a stop as soon as he was in the shade of a few towering palm trees. slinging his bag off of his back, he reached inside of it and pushed aside his sketchpad and music book, grabbing one of the red bulls he always stored at the bottom and pulling back the tab, taking a long swig. caffeine affected him pretty strongly, so he perked right up. continuing up the path, he noticed an abandoned guitar and a notebook which was laying on the ground, cover open. he saw scratched out writing, but he resisted the urge to bend down and pick the book up. it would be rude to go through someone's personal items without their permission. but who would just leave a nice instrument and their songs out in the middle of the forest? someone had to be close by. dropping his bag next to the large rock the guitar was on, he looked around.

suddenly, a sound caught his attention. singing. it was really good singing, too. he rounded the corner and saw a shadow in the distance that was stretching. curiously, he approached the figure and the girl became more and more familiar looking the closer he got. he stayed quiet for a moment, listening to her voice. as soon as he was a few yards away from her, he recognized her as a girl that he had met at the beginning of camp. they had eaten lunch together at the pavillion. he hadn't gotten to know her too well, but he did remember her name. "hey, autumn. i haven't seen you in a while. remember me from the first day at camp? it's cool if you don't. i'm jake," he smiled happily, reminding her of his name incase she had forgotten. "sorry if i'm interrupting anything, i was just trying to escape the talent building. i've been there an hour too long" he laughed. he wasn't really sure if he should approach her or not. deciding to give her a quick hug since a handshake would be awkward, he studied her for a moment. "you know, you're really talented. you have an incredible voice. it's really pretty. what were you singing?" he asked, eyes bright. he offered her a toothy grin before leaning against a tree, looking up at the sun and then back at her. a cool breeze drifted by.

graphics credit to kris@thedisco and text to sparklyfreakout at caution 2.0!

[autumn marie andarez]

oh sweetheart but that bottle down
you've got too much talent
i see through those bloodshot eyes
there's a cure you found it

If there was one thing that Autumn had learned in her first few weeks at camp, it was that people didn't really know when to give performing a break. It wasn't that she didn't love hearing people clap for her while she sang her heart out and gave her everything, but sometimes she was just in the mood to sing to herself and try to work on whatever song she's writing. This was definitely one of those days. Autumn wasn't sure if it was the early hour, or early for her considering back home she wasn't forced out of bed until about two in the afternoon, or the fact that Autumn had just grown used to being by herself a lot, but she wasn't really into the whole crowd around the campfire and share stories and sing songs vibe she was getting. So that was how she found herself alone along the trail stretching and singing. Sure to most walking by, Autumn would seem very strange but she didn't care what anyone thought. Autumn was one of those people that needed to be seperated from the crowd often or she would lose it.

Autumn had a tendency to go off into her own world when left alone, so she was a little shocked when she saw someone walking toward her. She quickly shut her mouth and looked blank for a few seconds, but a smile started to spread across her face as the boy explained who he was. Yes, she did remember him. They'd had lunch on the first day of camp when everyone was either meeting up with old friends or making new ones. He seemed like a very cool guy so Autumn didn't mind his presence. "Yeah, I remember you. Lunch, right?" she verified while bringing her legs which were is a z sit in front of her then using her hands to push herself up. Autumn dusted the back of her shorts off, and steadied her balance before responding to Jacob. "Oh, it's perfectly fine," she said swatting her hand to show it really wasn't a problem. "I was actually trying to avoid the talent building as well," she said giggling softly as the coincidence that two hiding campers happened to come to the same spot, though it did seem that her voice probably led Jacob over there. "That was just a song I'm working on," Autumn answered, a trace of her signature giggle still in her voice. "Nothing too serious," she added in a slightly more serious tone. Autumn didn't like talking about writing because it was the one thing she wasn't great at, and she hated thinking about how it always slowed her down.

"So," Autumn was back to smiling by the time she spoke again, "what's going on down at the talent building. Anything new?" Autumn didn't really want to talk about the daily camp activity that took place in the talent building, but she couldn't think of a better way to start a conversation. Maybe another topic would come to mind as a few more minutes passed and her brain officially woke up. "How long were you down there anyway, since you know it was an hour too long?" she asked, still trying to think of something better to talk about. Autumn twisted the ring around her thumb while she waited on a reply, not wanting to appear impatient or agitated but she couldn't think of anything else to do with her hands and her hands had to always be doing something. Autumn didn't do good with being still.

notes: muse not that much better, but better
tagged: jacob
word count: uhhh
outfit: outfit