Brand New Renaissance --SKYE--

[Wes Jackson]

Just for dramatics, Wes slipped on his black sweatshirt and pulled the hood up. Of course, running around carrying a half a galleon of paint couldn’t precisely be labeled as sneaking. But he hunched a little as he stepped out of the caravan, bucket in hand. What he didn’t do was check over his shoulder as he left the lot and put some distance between the area and himself, heading for the town.

The mall that far in and he made it in less than ten minutes. By that hour, it was all closed, the parking lot was empty and there were very few lights on around the place. The streets were highly deserted and all that could be heard was the passing of a car in the distance, every once in a while. Wes looked around for any signs of vigilance but the police cabins were on the other side and they mostly only patrolled the inside of the mall. All he and Skye had to be aware of was any wandering night watchman who decided to take a peek on that side of the parking lot. Spending the night in jail would be most unfortunate considering Wes had a much awaited rehearsal the next day. But maybe it was that risk which made it extra exciting.

Wes walked right up to the huge wall he’d spotted the couple of times he’d visited the local mall and set the small bucket of paint on the ground in order to light up a cigarette as he waited for his new acquaintance to arrive. Wes enjoyed hanging out with new people and he never had a problem making new friends. The night had been turning out to be too dull to be healthy, at least up until he’s stumbled upon Skye online.

He nonchalantly leaned against the wall, deposited the two paint brushed on top of the paint can, unzipped his sweatshirt and pulled the hood down. It was the middle of the damn summer and they were in California.

[skye marie daniels]

SKYE DANIELS

but when i walk down the street i hear them say
“there she goes that crazy girl.”

Skye shut the computer off and stored it away until the next time she would need it, right now she had to go to the mall and give a boring wall some decoration. Skye looked down at her attire, it didn’t matter what she wore you were painting a wall. But as she looked at her clothes she was wearing all black, oh this was fun. Skye had her black wavy hair down and it flowed over her shoulders. she had on black skinny jeans with a tube top and she didn’t bother to get a jacket because, well she never got one. It was just something extra she ended up having to lug alone with her and she highly doubted she would get cold. Skye hopped off her bed and hunted for her vans upon finding them she slipped them on and walked out of the door and walked down the street.

Skye liked to walk places and she didn’t feel like calling a cab to take her, plus the walk was not very long anyways. It took her just a little over ten minutes due to all the traffic lights and she had to wait for the cross walk. Why was she going to the mall, Well Skye met Wes over the internet and he came up with the wonderful idea of painting the wall next to the mall. Skye was more than happy to agree, she loved meeting new people and it gave her something to do. Skye looked around for the wall and it did not take her long at all to find it she walked over to it her footsteps making light thuds on the concrete floor. Skye made her way to the wall and she saw him leaning up against it, she peeked over one side of the wall and said “you must be Wes.” she said as she looked at him and her eyes glanced down and she spotted a bucket, yup it must be him.

Skye was not really worried about getting caught, it was stuff like this that made her life more interesting. Skye liked to live her life with a little bit of excite and just a little bit of thrill. The police was no where nearby, at least she didn’t think there was you could not really tell because you only heard the small swish of cars as they drove by. Their real threat was some security at the mall who just happened to patrol by the way at this time. Skye moved over so she was on the same side of the wall as he was, skye leaned on it her shoulders lightly crossed as she glanced over at him. “So shall we get this decoratin’ started now?”

status: complete !
tagged: wes
setting: at the mall behind a wall
notes: none.
outfit: clothes

[Wes Jackson]

Wes was able to hear the light footsteps approaching seconds before Sky poked her head around the corner and he had admit to admit that somewhere in the back of his mind he had considered the possibility of the footsteps belonging to someone else. An enforcer of the law, maybe. But his general carefreeness had come forth and strongly assumed that it would be the girl. once again, he had been right. Wes looked over at her and stepped away from the wall as he threw his finished cigarette butt and took his pack back out from his back pocket so he could light another one.

"And you must be Skye." He smiled at her. He had seen her band play once but he hadn't really been able to remember what they looked like when he found himself talking to her online. He knew he would remember her now. It was easy to remember pretty girl musicians. Wes put a fresh cigarette in his mouth and offered the pack to Skye before lighting his own up.

“So shall we get this decoratin’ started now?”

"Yes, we shall." Wes replied. He picked up the paint can and the two brushes and handed one of them to her as he looked down at the paint.

"It's all red, so we're gonna have to be creative." He laughed. "How good are you at this drawing thing? 'Cause I was thinking we could paint El Che. I mean, what better place to put his face than on an American mall, with its McDonald's and fancy shoe brands?" Added Wes, excitedly, his eyes were twinkling and it suddenly occurred to him that it might have been a good idea to bring a stool or something to stand on and reach the higher ends of the wall. Then again, in the case that they had to make a run for it, the stool would only slow them down.

[skye marie daniels]

SKYE DANIELS

but when i walk down the street i hear them say
“there she goes that crazy girl.”

As skye spoke she figured that it was him by the way that he answered ”and you must be Skye.” she nodded her head with a smile on her face “In person.” she said flashing him a smile of hers. Skye watched as he put a fresh cigarette in his mouth and he offered her a pack, Skye took the pack and pulled one out and she searched her pockets until she found a blue lighter. She returned the pack to him and lit her cigarette “thanks.” she said to him. It was odd how she carried a lighter but no cigarettes, although maybe not because a lot of people carried a lighter. Skye turned her head and looked at him as he replied ”Yes, we shall.” Skye nodded her head, she was ready to get down to business.

Skye took the brush that he handed her and nodded her head in thanks again. Skye glanced down at the can of paint and he began talking. Skye nodded her head as he explained. “creativity will not be a problem i guarantee you that.” she said as another smile crossed her face. The smile was filled with some mischief she bit her bottom lip and tapped the brush lightly against her knee in thought. “I’m pretty good at this drawing thing, or well enough i think.” she said with a small laugh and then added “I mean you got something good there, this would be the perfect place to paint his face.” she said as her laugh had died down to a small giggle then faded away slowly. Skye took a few steps back and looked up at the wall, how were they going to paint the high parts of the wall, unless they don't paint all the way at the top.

“you know, how are we going to paint the top of it.” she said as she stood on her tippy toes showing him she couldn’t really reach. Skye was only five feet and five inches, she was not the tallest girl in the world and she commonly referred to herself as a shortie. “because i can not exactly reach that high.” she said with a small laugh. Skye looked down at the paint again and shrugged her shoulders and she began to dip her brush in the red paint. She took the brush out and little drops of red dipped back into the can she put her brush back in and ran it along the edges letting all the extra paint drip off back in the can of red.

status: complete !
tagged: wes
setting: at the mall behind a wall
notes: none.
outfit: clothes

[Wes Jackson]

Wes took his cigarettes back but instead of putting them back in his pocket, threw them on the ground between the two for whenever any of them craved another one. He was lately trying not to chain smoke so much but what with the excitement of being on tour and the long hours they spent on the road, his attempt would have to be postponed. Everybody had warned him of something he already knew, which was that cigarettes affect your physical condition and, being a drummer, he had to have a marvelous physical condition. Wes's condition wasn't bad, really. He was very active all the time, enjoyed going places by foot, engaged himself in various sports games and activities and was generally moving constantly. Still, if he kept smoking like he did, everything wouldn't last. Right, right, he knew it.

"Yeah. Yeah, 'cause painting a bunch of little Ches down here won't have the same impact." Said Wes. He put the fist that he was holding his brush with on his hip and took a couple of drags of his cigarette as he looked up but turned to look at Skye as she stood on her tips and couldn't help but laugh a little. He was rather tall himself, but still there wasn't much he could do when they meant to get, say, the little cap done, with the star in the middle and shit.

"Well, let's worry about that bridge when we get to it. I'll serve as a step." He said finally, with a small dismissive shrug and, mimicking Skye, he dipped his own brush in the vivid red paint. With a mock dramatic glance at her and then one over his shoulder, Wes ran the soaked brush along the wall in an upward curve, all the while humming Judas Priest's classic riff for criminal inspiration, and then stood back to watch it drip a little. It would look so creepy when it was done. Kinda like running blood. He smirked and looked over at Skye.

"Being a delinquent is just as fun as the laws against it make it out to be, isn't it?" Said Wes.

It had been ages since Wes had gone and done something like this. Something as spontaneous, as immature and as cliché as this. And he was loving the encore. Growing up in Jersey, there hadn't been much to do but gather around at someone's house with a bong and then go roam the streets and get up to something like this. In fact, if it hadn't been for this kind of conduct Wes would have never probably taken up the drums. It had been after a few times of getting caught disrupting the peace at school that the principal had sent him to the school counselor who had in turn advised him to find a more appropriate way of releasing all of that energy within him. Something to channel it to. And poof! Drums. And when eventually he moved to New York, by then all grown up and mature and all that crap, and he started taking music seriously, all those old youthful antics just faded away. Nowadays, if Wes got in troubles with the authorities it would involve drinking by the side of the road, falling asleep on a bench in a park, being loud or petty traffic related incidents such as bad parking, speeding and driving under the influence. Now, as he drew a second streak of red across the white wall in front of him, Wes remembered how fun it was to be stupid.

"So," He said to Skye as he continued their work of art, "How's the tour been for you so far?" The tour was only starting but it promised to be good and they had yet to play in Pomona. Wes, for his part, had been truly looking forward to it. He loved going on the road with the band. It always made for some good stories. Plus he loved to travel, move around, meet new places and people. Which is why this particular tour was all the more interesting. Wes had really wanted the chance to meet all those other bands and watch them play live. He paused what he was doing to look at Skye and take a long drag out of his cigarette.

"You ever met any of the other bands in person before?" He asked her.

[skye marie daniels]

SKYE DANIELS

but when i walk down the street i hear them say
“there she goes that crazy girl.”

As the cigarette lit up she took a drag and a cloud of white smoke formed just outside of her lips. Skye had developed some bad habits as she grew up, drinking, smoking, hell she has done drugs a couple of times before. Drugs she no longer does and drinking she does a lot even more now that she is on this tour. Smoking she does more now to and she is aware that those have a huge impact on your life. Smoking is bad for your lungs and affects what you do in life. Drinking can change you, some people have totally different personalities when drinking. Skye was over all in great shape, she liked walking she was outgoing and bubbly and was definitely active. Plus, she could always quit her habits later, like when the tour is finished or sometime when she simply felt like it. She was just lazy in that area never quitting things unless she wanted to but she was always just a little stubborn.

Skye shook her head “yeah it wouldn’t. And we want it to have a big impact, you know something that will be noticed, something big!” she said stretching her arms out wide to the world, to imitate how big of an impact she wanted it to have. Skye was a very animated girl she was always very outgoing and bubbly, you could describe her as hyper twenty-four seven. Skye saw him laugh and she smiled and let out a small laugh she knew she must have looked amusing, a small girl standing on her tipy toes was pretty amusing. But she had a point, in order to get the final and last touches done they would have to devise a brilliant plan.

Skye nodded her head “I like that idea, focus on the now, the beginning touches for our soon to be masterpiece.” supposing if no one came up and interrupted them while they were painting. Although they could run the statement ”we were just making the wall look better.” like the people would care, they just want to get people in trouble. Skye dipped her brush in there and once all the extra red paint was off the brush she brought her brush onto the wall and brushed it it an upward motion then a downward motion making it extra bold and making the white wall covered in red paint. she watched as some of the red paint slowly dripped down looking like little droplets of blood, it looked kind of creepy, but the girl could deal with it.

Skye looked at him and she made a small laugh, pulling some of her wavy black hair behind her ear she opened her mouth and began to speak “it always is, in fact I think it is even funner.” she said with a smile in the place of her giggle. Skye did stuff like this all the time, messing around getting herself in trouble but then she was still in that stage. The stage of messing around doing random and childish things. Back in her home city of Boston Skye had done tons of things like this with her brother as a tag along or her as a tag along. She was one of those teenagers that people would look at her and simple say oh now, everyone knew her as random, spontaneous, and other related words. It was sort of odd how she got involved in her music actually, she used it as a way to escape something she used to take her mind off of things. She started playing when she turned fifteen so she was playing for four years now and she loved it. It was like her own escape from the world.

Ske shook her head out of her thoughts and she turned to him raised her eyebrows as he spoke “The tour, so far has been great i guess, but it should get more interesting since it just started.” she said laughing. Skye knew that this tour was supposed to be great, well that's what the word was. Plus going on tours always meant meeting new people, chances, and new opportunities. Ske took her free hand and pulled the cigarette out of her mouth it emitted little clouds of white smoke. Skye shook her head no “nope, your the first person i met outside of the people in the band I’m in.” she hoped she would meet more people after all that was one of the points of the tour, at least to her it was. “and you?” she said asking the same questions he asked her. “how is the tour going and did you meet any of the other bands in person?” Then she stuck the cigarette back in her mouth.

status: complete !
tagged: wes
setting: at the mall behind a wall
notes: none.
outfit: clothes

[Wes Jackson]

El Che wasn't turning out exactly like the famous picture and surely the corpse would be rolling in his grave much to the pleasure of many, but hey, at least the intention was there and the white wall of the mall had been violated and turned into a mural almost true to Jackson Pollock... had it been in at least two other colors besides the red. Wes hadn't been able to keep his hands and some of his long black sleeves from getting stained and even his face while scratching his cheek and whatnot. But it was all part of the fun. There were drips on the concrete floor below them yet Wes had made sure that the cigarette pack he'd left lying between the two of them remained safe and smokable. It was turning out to be a chill, yet fun night.

"Same." He replied. "Only heard of the bands or heard them on their Myspaces and shit, but never actually met any of them or seen them play. I can't wait, though, to watch everyone live. And to get to play ourselves. We've just been shaking our leg in excitement, rehearsing, just uh getting to know the town... I'd never been to Pomona before, only L.A."

Wes had been residing in New York for four years now, the first two getting by by playing in the occasional bar or event, looking always for breaks and having to often take up random jobs such as waiting tables, carrying bags in hotels and dishwashing. But when eventually Perception was formed, the two years that followed were dedicated solely and fully to the music: composing, rehearsing, recording, playing and touring. Though the band was only in diapers still, they had many plans and projects to be developed and they never stopped writing songs, joining national festivals and promoting themselves. So far, they'd been doing great. It was comforting to know that there was still people out there who enjoyed the good old classic rock sound.

"How long have you guys been together?" He asked her. "Have you-"

But Wes was interrupted mid question by a shout that made his spine go stiff.

"HEY!"

He turned immediately around to see a stubby man in blue uniform pointing at them from where he stood, still a good distance away from the two musicians, actually far enough to make it hard to identify his features and surely their own. The guard was struggling to turn on his flashlight while approaching the two vandals and when he finally managed to, he shot the stream of light directly at them and called again,

"Hey, you two! Drop what you're doing right there!"

"Fuck!" said Wes.

The stereotype of the doughnut eating cop continued to hurry at them and Wes dropped the paintbrush in an instant. He could hear the man say something unintelligible into his radio, which couldn't be good.

"Let's get out of here." He told Skye and waited for her to start running before bolting out of there himself after her. Where to? He didn't know. Just somewhere where they could hide until the commotion passed.

[skye marie daniels]

SKYE DANIELS

but when i walk down the street i hear them say
“there she goes that crazy girl.”

After a few more minutes of painting the wall bold red with the picture Skye stood back and viewed their work. She placed a hand on her hip and bit her bottom lip lightly, the picture was not coming out just as she hoped. It seemed as if it never does, she had the picture in her mind and when she put it into action it never seemed like what she imagined. The red paint had not only gotten on the wall but she had small paint spots on her arm. She didn’t know how they got on her, some were even on her pants. She felt a shrug roll off her shoulders as she stepped back closer to the wall and she dipped her brush in the paint again and brought it to the wall. She licked her lips and stood on her tipy toes getting a little higher onto the wall.

Skye nodded her head a few times as she turned her head looking back at him as he spoke. “yeah same here. We’ve been rehearsing like crazy. But I really do look forward to playing and watching all the bands perform live.” Skye considered all the bands to be great, how else would they have gotten to be on a tour like this? She intended to watch them all she was a big fan of music, especially the good kind. “you’re not alone on that, this is my first time in Pomona so i really need to get used to the town.” she said with a small laugh.

Skye has not been to a lot of places outside of where she came from which was Boston. She had lived in Boston her whole life and has not really travelled out of Boston much. She joined the band when it started out which had been only two years ago, and they worked hard to get known. They performed for friends parties, local events, and went hunting around for gigs outside of their local city. Myspace was a big part of it as well. But, these days who has not used myspace? Let’s just say they worked hard to get known and to get to be on this tour and she was just so lucky to be here on this tour. Skye took a breath “well we have been together for two years, not very long compared to some other bands.” she said with a nod. Skye still considered their band just starting out but i guess that was good if they had gotten this far. “what about you guys?” she said and just as she finished asking that he was going to ask another question but someone cut him off.

Skye heard a voice shout out to them she gasped and immediately stopped what she was doing. Skye thought they were in the clear, no one had found them, until now that is. Skye slowly moved her head to look over her shoulder dropping the hand that was holding the brush to her side and she turned fully around looking at the security guard. The man was in a blue uniform and it was the typical guy that people painted security guards fat and eating donuts all the time. He was still a fairly good distance away from the two and couldn’t really make out their features but he managed to pull out a flashlight and he pressed the button and the light shown on the two as he told them to drop what they were doing.

“shit man.” she said under her breath. Skye dropped the paintbrush as soon as he said to. Skye turned her head to look at Wes as he said the most obvious thing that they should already be doing which was getting the hell out of there. Skye nodded and “Yeah, i think we should.” she said and she took a quick glance at the cop who was beginning to rush at the two. Skye began to run and as she ran she looked back to make sure he was following her, she didn’t want to leave him behind or anything. Where would they run to, Skye was not an expert on the town but no doubt they would find somewhere to hide while they were on the run. Like maybe around the corner or a couple blocks down. She also figured it would be better to leave everything behind it would just make the two easier to spot out, but then again she highly doubted the cop would catch the two.

status: complete !
tagged: wes
setting: on the run !
notes: none.
outfit: clothes

[Wes Jackson]

And they ran in the darkness, too fast for the guard to even think of pursuing them. Wes assumed that the man would alert the local police and that a patrol police car would then circle the blocks around the mall for a period of time in search of a male and a female in their late teens, both wearing black and possibly stained with red. The can, the brushes and the cigarettes had been left behind at the “crime scene”, a fact that was both regrettable and necessary. Wes also wasn’t too sure that whoever had purchased the paint in his band was actually done using it and he almost laughed out loud at this thought while they kept running and sneaking in between alleyways, trying to put as much distance between themselves and the shopping center as they could possibly manage without actually leaving the town. Wes noticed in fact, as he began slowing down, that they were not that far from the lot that was currently serving as a camp site for the majority of the touring bands. Yet, it was a good idea to wait at least a few minutes before making their way through the open space of the grounds that surrounded it. Later on in the evening, their petty crime would be all but forgotten and the authorities would have moved on to pay attention to worthier stuff. This was, after all, California. There had to be enough drug lords around to keep them busy. Which also reminded Wes of contacting a good dealer for the next post-show party.

He slowed down a bit once they reached a big, somewhat transited avenue and kept on running slowly but backwards on the sidewalk just to check their surroundings. It seemed like they had ran enough and could now relax as there were more people on the streets and light and movement and Wes eventually came to a stop. He turned to Skye.

“I think it’s cool now.” He said. “I bet they’ll just look at our red blob, shake their heads and mutter ‘kids’ and forget all about it.” Wes laughed a little. “But, you know, just to be safe, maybe we should go back to the lot and grab a beer there or something.”

He had a rehearsal scheduled for very early in the morning, so they could check the stage before all the roadies invaded it and Wes couldn’t risk spending the night in jail or his band would murder him. He could be really irresponsible as a way of life, but when to the band, he would always sober up… both metaphorically and literally.

[skye marie daniels]

SKYE DANIELS

but when i walk down the street i hear them say
“there she goes that crazy girl.”

Skye ran as fast as as she could They ran as fast as they could away from the scene of the crime, well not that she considered it one. In her defence they were just making the city and more pretty place, i mean that wall was so lame before they decided to paint their picture up there. She figured as they ran the cop would chase them while blurting something into his little pager type thing. Then cops would patrol the area, they would treat it like a regular vandalism crime then maybe a few days from now they would paint over it. Skye kept looking over her shoulder as she ran just pure instinct, she knew the gaurd probably would not be there but just in case she was doing it out of procaution.After they weaved their way through streets and alley ways and almost worked their way back to the lot, which is where the bands where staying. Skye began to slow down a little bit as she realised just where they were and a sigh, or more like a big breath came out of the girls lips. They both gradually slowed down and came to a halt as they were now surrounded around other citizens.

As skye came to a stop she glanced over at wes as he spoke and she looked around “yeah, yeah. i think we are pretty safe now.” she said lokking at her arm and back at him as she heard him speak up. A small smile crassed the girls lips and she let a small giggle come out of her parted lips. “probably. and all i have to say to that is. security.” she said with a small shake of the girls head. As she shook her head her black hair moved off of her shoulders and onto her back. “yeah that is probably a good idea, just to be safe and a beer sounds good right now.” A beer did sound good, but somethign else would sound good to. Skye was a girl that would to almost anything. She was a pretty easy going girl and care free so she would go along with a lot of things.

Skye figured that it would be better if they did go back to the lot, she did not want to risk getting in jail. If she got in jail her band members would probably get in a lot of trouble and honestly that was the last thing she wanted. Skye looked at her arm where some red paint has splashed onto her arm. Skye looked at him and said “so shall we head over there?” she said with a smile on her face and she began to look around in the direction of the lot.

status: complete !
tagged: wes
setting: on the run !
notes: none.
outfit: clothes