OOC: So this thread exists because Nick Palmer is going to have a lot of ongoing stories. I've decided that it is much to my advantage and the reader's advantage to compile them in one place that way as his story develops over the coming months it is easy to catch up on what anyone may have missed and easy for me to see where I left off. Coming off of my storyline with Darkness this is going to be very interesting. It is honestly more ambitious than that storyline was... So this will either be a train wreck or you're in for a nice treat. I'm approaching the narrative in a very different way from what I normally do.

Part I
Some stories begin with drama, some begin with a bold statement or action, some start simply and build up to the action, and some really have no start at all and by the time one has finished the story they cant figure out where all of the madness started. The story of Nick Palmer begins with sleep. He was lying in bed in his LA home. His black hair was all over the place partly because of the sleeping and partly because of the night he had spent before out on the town drinking, indulging himself with women, music, and a fair amount of drugs. His body was lying on the king sized bed in the most precarious way: he was huddled somewhat tensely on one side. Sheets were haphazardly strewn across the bed onto the floor. Nick was curled up in only his boxers fidgeting slightly as if having a curious nightmare.

All of the sudden someone came in Nick's room. The room wasn't dark but Nick was still asleep although not so peacefully. The intruder was Nick's brother Grant. Grant was taller and leaner than Nick and his hair was a golden brown. He also bared the appearance of having had a long night the night before, but he had had the motivation to put on pants and a t-shirt and comb his hair. He must have expected to find Nick asleep or he would have knocked, but he still grunted and cursed under his breath in frustration at having to wake up his brother.

He walked briskly over to Nick. Grant wasn't going to waste time trying to nicely wake his brother up. Rather than tap him on the shoulder Grant shouted "NICK" and pushed Nick from his huddled position into the middle of the bed. Grant clearly had done this before. Nick woke and sat up with a "Wha?", his eyes lazy and his hair going in every direction. He thought quickly to make sense of his surroundings and what had just happened. "Oh god what the hell time is it?", he asked his brother. "About ten" was the reply.

Nick got out of bed. "Shut the curtains it's bright", he hollered at his brother. Finding a pair of black pants and a white button down shirt with red and black markings all over it Nick dressed. "The curtains" he shouted again but Grant had already closed them. "Fucking shut the curtains" said Nick one more time in anguish. "Nick, I've already got them" came a reply from the other side of the room. Nick was hungover. He knew he was but he didn't want to talk about it with Grant. Grant knew he was. "Sorry" he muttered as he passed Grant and they left his bedroom.

Now in the kitchen Nick found a pair of massive sunglasses and put them on. "Where'd you get those?" asked Grant laughing. The sunglasses were easily three times as wide as they needed to be. "They aren't yours?" said Nick to Grant confused. "No way". "Well I guess maybe a girl left them here. What happened anyway. Didnt we bring back a few girls lastnight?" asked Nick still trying to come up with the pieces of what was going on. "Oh yeah. Must've been one of them who left the sunglasses. Sent most of them packing around four. Dont know where you were. The rest must've left". Nick considered this for a moment but then grinning at his own ignorance of what must have been a hell of a night he forgot about it.

The two of them prepared cereal and ate in silence. Grant was checking his phone and Nick was gazing stupidly at his cereal waiting for his head to stop ringing. Grant fidgeted uncomfortably as if nervous about something in the day to come. Nick took notice. Grant seemed to be trying to think about how to approach something. "What's up?" Nick asked. Grant said nothing at first. He took a long pause and chewed his cereal. This seemed to take a millenium longer than it needed to. Nick was growing irritable now. "Spit it out" he said anxiously. "Well its just" began Grant and then he chewed some more. "Just What? Just what?" Nick asked urgently, wanting to know what his brother was getting at. "The press has heard about what you're doing. I've got five requests for interviews with you already". More silence. Nick seemed to have gone into some sort of coma. He didn't speak he just went back to staring dumbly at his cereal. "No. Dont think I can do that" he said and then went off.

Nick rinsed his cereal bowl and left the kitchen as quickly as he could. He didn't want to talk about the press. He went to his laptop and began listening to what he had so far of the record. He started but soon he just turned the volume down and sat in silence at the computer with his headphones in not listening to any of the noise outside of his head. He sat for a long time. The record ended. He repeated it. Then he repeated it again. Grant passed by and didn't bother him. 'That was good' thought Nick. He didn't need someone else bothering him.

By the time Nick had left his laptop it was nearly one o'clock. Nick jumped in the shower. He washed his body off with soap, shampooed his hair, washed his face. By the time he emerged he was a new man. The light didn't seem so bright anymore and his spirits had generally improved from that morning. He dressed again and went out into the kitchen. Grant was furiously typing an email as if his life depended on it. Nick looked over and couldn't help but smile at how absorbed his brother was in what he was doing. Nick checked his phone which had been lying on the kitchen counter all of this time. It was loaded with text messages from everyone from his producer, girls, his mom, and no doubt a thousand invitations to get into more trouble later that night. Nick felt that his presence was wanted. He laughed to himself at the prospect of blowing everyone off and making some excuse about how he was doing something important but then just watching TV and then calling over a couple of girls to spend the night with alone. That would be quite amusing for Nick.

Nick had this thought interrupted by Grant. He had stood up very suddenly. He was standing in front of Nick with a slightly apologetic but determined look on his face. "I've booked some interviews" he said. Nick's smile dropped. "No. I wont do it. I cant do it" he said. Grant gave him a look. "I wont" said Nick again. He went into the kitchen and poured himself a glass of water and took a couple of pills from a small orange bottle. "Nick you have to. The label is expecting it. Your fans are expecting it. Your record needs to sell. It wont sell if you dont promote it" pleaded Grant. Nick ignored him and downed the rest of his water. "You're gonna have to go out in the media sometime" said Grant again trying to get a response. "I cant do it" said Nick firmly turning around to face Grant so suddenly that Grant jumped back in surprise.

Nick stormed off angry again. His hand was starting to shake a little bit. He cursed under his breath going out onto the back porch for some air. "What if they ask me about the album?" he asked to himself more than anyone. 'Yes what if they ask you what its about? What the songs mean? Your inspiration behind it? All the standard questions.'. Nick thought about this. "Yes I cant do interviews" he said out loud again. 'Oh but you have to. Grant is right. The fans, label, they all need you to'. "Oh shut up!" said Nick again pacing and shaking again. He walked in circles for a minute. Finally he said out loud again "Alright alright. I've got to do it". 'There we are. Be a good boy and listen to me you good for nothing arse. Oh but the album? What'll you do if they ask you about the album?'. Nick sat down against the wall. He slowly slid down until he was sitting all the way down his hands rubbing his face. He considered this and then declared; "I'll lie".

OOC: I'm doing something really different. Just read to really understand what it is. Basically this will act as the album thread and all the song descriptions are written in the first person in a series of blog posts by Nick.

Part II
It is a strange thing when you find yourself in the midst of obscene chaos and yet appear completely relaxed. The sky could literally be falling and you are just sitting with your eyes closed thinking about sunflowers, and cool water, and a warm bed. It is therapeutic however awkward it may seem. As was the case with Nick Palmer as he sat backstage at carnival of sounds. He had performed already. Some band was playing a very loud, catchy song but Nick took no notice. He was sitting with his eyes closed thinking about nothing in particular but perfectly relaxed.

This state of isolation did not last long: slowly the music pulsed into Nick and his head began to ache. He opened his eyes and became aware of his surroundings. He stopped blocking out the world and his own mind. Suddenly all the noise and sights came to him. He sighed and considered getting up. It was an easy decision. Nick's comfort had been interrupted so he left and started walking back to his bus.

Carnival of sounds was a carnival. Nick walked through the haphazard motion of people going somewhere. The smell of sweat, food, and the hint of pot was around. Nick laughed remembering the trouble he always got into after concerts as a kid. He wasn't opposed to getting into "trouble" now either except that he had been perfectly relaxed before; he wanted to be again.

Nick got back to his tour bus and took a deep breath. He took a couple of his pills and then layed down on the couch. This lasted for a couple of minutes. For about 120 seconds Nick was quite content and didnt focus on anything but his own ability not to focus. Then his phone made a noise. maybe going back to the bus was a mistake? His phone and laptop were both there. Doubtless someone would need him for something they thought was terribly important.

Nick picked up his phone. It was a message from one of his managers. "When will you be talking about tracks from the new record" it asked. All Nick heard was a request for him to put himself at risk, a request for him to go into society and count on not having some sort of episode for several hours, a request for him to hide. Nick didn't want to do that. He had decided he had to do something though.

Nick thought for a few minutes. Laughing he picked up his phone. "Now", he said in reply. Then Nick picked up his laptop and went to work. He typed and retyped. He didnt want to lie too much but knew he would have to a little bit. He also didn't know what to say. It was hard to remember or make out the details of making his latest record from the other clutter inside of his mind, but Nick tried his best. Another pill and an hour later he had a blog post that he was happy with. He formatted it just how he wanted and then looked it over...



Nick took a deep breath after reading everything. That was alright. That was quite alright. A reply had come asking what Nick meant. Deciding to screw with his manager Nick just sent a winky face in reply and then shut his phone off. Nick glanced over his post one more time. Yes that was alright. He posted it and then sat back to try once again to relax.

Edited by user 20 July 2012 10:39:58(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified