128 ficlet

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

Title: The Moment I Wake Up
Author: Beer Good (beer_good_foamy)
Rating: PG13
Word Count: 321
Prompt: 128 – female artists; incorporating lyrics from ”Think” by Aretha Franklin
Characters: Lorne
Summary: Pre-series. Lorne had been in LA all of seven hours...

Lorne had been in LA all of seven hours when he heard Aretha for the first time.

He was cowering in an officially abandoned building, home to all sorts of transient demons who had never heard of Pylea. Outside, the noise of cars, millions of cows and the occasional gunshot was louder than anything he'd ever heard. He was wet, cold and a million miles from a home he never wanted to go back to.

The music was faint at first, drifting in from a nearby parked car, a slow piano intro almost drowned out by the surrounding din... and then that VOICE kicked in and Lorne's heart jumped out of his ass. He wept with emotions he never knew he had, let alone shared with another living being, stood at the window forgetful of everything around him, soaking up the tinny sound of the old stereo with his whole body. Everything inside him felt like it was shifting into place, finally finding a purpose as the chorus came around and the woman's voice ("Freedom, freedom, freedom, FREEDOM!") soared into the heavens.

The same day he was settled enough to have money and a place to put plug in a stereo, he bought the CD and stared at the track listing
"Think" (Franklin/White) – 2.15
refusing to believe it could be that short. Every time he listens to it in the years to come, he's astonished; the chorus only comes around once, not even halfway into the song, and it's over before he has time to miss it. And yet there's no time he can't summon up how it felt, steadying himself on the empty windowsill to stop from shaking, breathing in the dank city air, feeling the ache in his tired legs and have none of it matter. How beauty can come in brief, concentrated flashes and linger forever. How two minutes of heaven can wash away years of hell.

Comments

[nothorse.livejournal.com]

Had to play it immediately.

Oooh yeah.

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

Pretty much. :-) Thanks!

[slaymesoftly.livejournal.com]

Awwww - Good Lorne! And Aretha! Yay!

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[angearia.livejournal.com]

Oh I remember this! Still love it. :D

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

Glad it made an impression. :-) Thanks!

[libco.livejournal.com]

I miss Lorne and this was AWESOME!

[libco.livejournal.com]

BTW I have friended you. You write some of the most consistently great drabbles I have seen and are so proving that BTVS is not dead!

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

Thanks a lot! And I've friended you back - anyone who's into the Violent Femmes is a friend of mine. :-)

[libco.livejournal.com]

Day after day

[candleanfeather.livejournal.com]

A beautiful ficlet and so true, there're really singers whose voices can make you shiver from head to toes and leave you almost lost by their beauty and the strength of their emotions.

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

Yep. Thanks!

[peroxidepirate.livejournal.com]

That was beautiful! Lorne doesn't get enough fandom love, so it's always great to see fics about him, and this is so perfectly Lorne.

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I actually wrote this shortly after Andy Hallet died; I don't know why it takes something like that to get people (including me) to write Lorne, he's a great character.

[brutti-ma-buoni.livejournal.com]

This is just great - perfectly Lorne, perfectly music. Lines that leap out at you like wet, cold and a million miles from a home he never wanted to go back to and How beauty can come in brief, concentrated flashes and linger forever and (because I am a low-minded person) Lorne's heart jumped out of his ass. (But a canonically accurate low-minded person!)

And I don't usually quote three favourite lines for one ficlet; I adore this.

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

Thanks a lot! I'm kind of proud of the "jumped out of his ass" line, right in the middle of all that seriousness. :-)

[shapinglight]

I can just imagine Lorne feeling that way about that song, and how it could come to symbolise his escape from Pylea for him.

Well actually, I don't have to imagine because you've captured it perfectly here.

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

Thanks a bunch!

[zgirl714.livejournal.com]

Lovely. Great Lorne characterization.

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

Thanks!