You've got to be what tomorrow needs!
ALIAS
McKenna Chase
AGE
21
Civilian
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Jan 14, 2017 20:43:08 GMT
Post by Ashley McKenna-Chase on Jan 14, 2017 20:43:08 GMT
 String Theory She wasn’t really sure what she’d been expecting. Ashley had only heard good things about the impressive music professor but it was still surprising just how captivating he was being. Part of her had expected some old, jaded rock star in sunglasses to stand at the front and drawl about the good old days of rock and roll so it was a pleasant surprise that he looked so… well, normal.
Mostly normal, anyway. He was a giant of a man, somewhere far above six foot, and he was broadly built too. He was smartly dressed, which Ashley appreciated, and was generally quite neat in his overall appearance. Younger than she’d anticipated though. Maybe not even over thirty yet. It was only when she really settled into his lecture and began to feel his enthusiasm wash over the theatre that she understood how he’d reached such a position and with such a reputation at his apparent young age.
Somebody nearby had been kind enough to let her peek over their shoulder while the rest of the students exchanged papers. It was pretty dull for the most part – Ashley was sure the work had borrowed heavily from Wikipedia articles – but there were splashes of promise here and there where the student had actually had an original thought.
His rapport with the summer students was good. Very good. It was like watching a professional performer which, considering the subject, very well could have been the case. She sniggered at his mini-anecdote about wanting puppies although she couldn’t really relate. If she’d wanted a puppy, she knew that she would have had one. Mom and dad could never really say no and, if they did, Ashley always had Will to fight her corner.
If she could choose a composer to write an essay on, she’d probably select Clara Schumann – wife of Robert Schumann. Ashley was an unabashed proponent of “girl power” and had always had quite the bias for female artists. Sure, Schumann had been more renowned as a pianist than she had been as a composer, but that wasn’t the point. Ashley was half-tempted to try and write the essay in her spare time and send it off to Professor Lane anyway, just to see what he thought. She liked to consider herself a good judge of character and was pretty sure that he’d be entirely on board with it.
The idea of influence was as fascinating as it was utterly essential knowledge for somebody like Ashley. She had big dreams and an endless supply of determination – she just needed the tools and the good fortune to get there.
As he wrapped the lecture up, Ashley quickly slipped out of her seat and down one of the aisles. She wasn’t giving him a chance to get away, even if he did deserve the rest after that performance.
“Professor Lane, hi, hi!” She waved, trying to catch his attention as she drew closer. “Amazing, incredible stuff. And I think you have a point there, about this big world of ours,” she said, pausing to catch her breath. “Sorry, I’m Ashley. Ashley McKenna-Chase. Just another girl in LA trying to influence the world.”
She grinned. “I hope I’m not keeping you from anything; it’d be real awesome if you had time to talk.”
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You've got to be what tomorrow needs!
ALIAS
McKenna Chase
AGE
21
Civilian
|
Jan 13, 2017 22:09:05 GMT
Post by Ashley McKenna-Chase on Jan 13, 2017 22:09:05 GMT
String Theory In an unexpected turn of events, Ashley’s manager had messed up. Instead of arranging for two meetings on either side of lunchtime, she’d managed to schedule the “morning” meeting for 8:00 PM (in retrospect, that booking had been met with a surprising amount of hesitation) and now half the people expected to attend were still out of town, waiting for flights or at other prior commitments. So, a late night meeting it would just have to be.
Consequently, delightfully, Ashley had a free morning. She was in Los Angeles too, rather than her usual San Francisco base, so there wasn’t really anything else she could do besides enjoy herself.
It was a pretty hot day, so she wasn’t really in the mood for tourist stuff. Additionally, in her experience, anyone she knew who lived in LA needed about a week’s notice before they could consider making time to hang out, so a spontaneous coffee trip was a no-go. Sometimes it was rather boring socialising with people in her industry – everyone was just so busy all the time.
There was one thing that she’d like to do, but she wasn’t sure of how to go about it. She’d been happily experimenting in the studio the previous week, seeking new sounds and trying to persuade the rest of the room that she could afford to take musical risks. It was a difficult, on-going task but she felt like she could get there with the right demo tape. In any case, in between experimenting she’d got to talking to a group of college students who were home for the summer and they’d been telling her all about their favourite professor.
Despite the general, mainstream appeal of McKenna Chase, Ashley did actually know or thing or two about music and was always happy to learn a thing or two more about it. They’d mentioned that UCLA ran summer sessions and Ashley was jumping at the chance to check out this enthusiastic, knowledgeable lecturer and maybe see if he could offer her some lessons in something new. She’d always fancied learning a bowed string instrument.
And so that was how Ashley had found herself lost on a college campus.
It took a lot of searching and a lot of asking anybody who looked friendly, but she eventually worked out where this Professor Lane was lecturing. Unfortunately, it was a lecture that had already started ten minutes ago, but she was sure no one would mind. Somebody might mind that she wasn’t paying for the privilege of being here, but Ashley had every intention of making a donation once she figured out who to make it to.
Quietly, Ashley slipped into the back of the lecture hall and tip-toed her way to the nearest seat. She caught a few dirty looks as she settled down but just cast a broad smile back at them. There was no need to take notes – she was just here to listen – so she shuffled forward in her seat, propped her head up with her arms and stared with an expectant look at the professor.
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You've got to be what tomorrow needs!
ALIAS
McKenna Chase
AGE
21
Civilian
|
Jan 12, 2017 18:28:31 GMT
Post by Ashley McKenna-Chase on Jan 12, 2017 18:28:31 GMT
Chase You Down “Dang.”
She shook her head. Qualifying "totally wrecked" with "almost" was not exactly any more reassuring to hear. It sucked that Will was without a car but the news of its demise wasn’t too surprising – the news coverage had certainly given her the impression that not many cars involved lived to tell the tale, even those that weren’t caught directly in the thick of it.
“That sucks dude, but that’s okay,” she said cheerfully, shrugging. “I’ll just like, dial an Uber or something. No worries.”
She took a deep breath and combed her hair away from her face with her fingers, a frown on her face. “It’s just… It must a literal, heaven-sent miracle that you’re still with us Will, especially scratchless.” Ashley laughed. “I guess my daily prayers must have done you some good after all.”
In truth, she did think that a miracle wasn’t out of the question, but Ashley was of the school of thought that miracles didn’t just magically happen out of nowhere. They were just products of a little divine intervention setting off a series of perfectly logical events framed as unbelievably fortunate coincidences. There was something that Will wasn’t telling her – to have ended up in hospital despite being apparently unmarked by the event was a little weird in itself. They’d been beyond max capacity, if he could’ve been assessed at roadside he would’ve been.
Unfortunately she was not the seasoned detective of the pair and thus unable to pull any kind of ideas out of a deerstalker just like that. But Will would tell her eventually, when he was ready. No way could he keep a major secret from her like that, he couldn’t.
Speaking of detective work…
“I take it this is quite the mystery in itself,” she said, waving a hand towards the cork board. “Anything interesting? I do love hearing you talk about cases.” She leaned forwards and rested her chin on her hands, beaming expectantly.
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You've got to be what tomorrow needs!
ALIAS
McKenna Chase
AGE
21
Civilian
|
Post by Ashley McKenna-Chase on Jan 6, 2017 22:12:58 GMT
Chase You Down Excellent.
She watched with a satisfied smirk as Will squirmed uncomfortably before her. Okay, that was enough remorse. She patted him again, this time reaching for the top of his head.
“Apology accepted, brother dear,” she smiled.
He’d waved away his own problems for now, which was fine. She was still going to pry the details out of him later, obviously, but she didn’t want to start interrogating him. Interrogation was Will’s area of expertise after all. She was very much intrigued in finding out about the case that had Will so stumped but she also very keen to talk about how lame Josh had turned out to be.
“He was hardly my boyfriend, Will, we just went on a couple of dates. I think he thought he was my boyfriend though… I guess that’s kinda why it didn’t work out.” She rolled her eyes at the mention of her mom’s never-ending quest for grandchildren. “ Ugh don’t worry, I’ve heard it all already. I know, I know, I’m an old maid who’ll never find a nice man to wed me at this rate.”
She giggled, amused by her own impression of a world-weary, Austen-esque heroine.
“If it’s okay though, I’m gonna steer clear of your dating advice.”
What had her mother done to deserve two children with such hopeless love lives? At this rate she was going to have to go to the nearest orphanage and pick out her own damn grandchild. In fact, she’d probably be happier that way. Ashley made a mental note to suggest it later on.
“Aw, no cool scars?” She stuck out her lower lip in exaggerated disappointment. “So your car survived? I could do with a ride home later, if you looove me enough…?”
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You've got to be what tomorrow needs!
ALIAS
McKenna Chase
AGE
21
Civilian
|
Post by Ashley McKenna-Chase on Jan 6, 2017 16:50:26 GMT
Chase You Down “Oh so you do know I exi-”
Ashley cut herself short as she stared up at Will. She frowned.
“You look awful,” she said, blunt and fond in equal measure, before patting him on the shoulder and letting herself into the room. The office was always a good measure of Will’s mental state, particularly the huge pin board on the left. If it was covered in sheets and sheets of material riddled with connections between them then, despite the messy appearance, it was usually a good sign. It meant he had been making progress on whatever case he had decided to obsess over this week.
Unfortunately, compared to his usual efforts, the board seemed rather sparse. That, combined with the dark circles and heavy five o’clock shadow, suggested things were not going well.
Still, Ashley had come here to talk and it would be on her terms whether the sleep-deprived PI liked it or not. She would ask gently about whatever it was he was working on when the time was right, but first, they needed to discuss his traitorous behaviour. Ashley made her way to the desk and moved a few things aside before perching on it, her legs swinging comically above the ground. She motioned towards the empty desk chair, grinning.
“Please, take a seat in my office,” she said in a low voice, her eyes sparkling with mischief. Then she folded her hands into her lap and attempted to look serious. “Now, we both know why I’m here. You promised to come visit me last Saturday.
“I made the effort to acquire a date and everything because I know how much you love investigating the guys I go out with,” Ashley said teasingly. “He’s old news now, just so you know. Mom was terribly disappointed. Anyway, I went to all that trouble and you had the nerve to go and get yourself in a horrific road accident! Then you recovered in like, two days and didn’t even tell me! We had to go to the hospital and ask the lady at the desk who took for-e-ver to let us know you’d been discharged and – by the way, mom’s expecting a call – I haven’t even heard from you since!”
She crossed her arms.
“I’m glad you’re okay, though,” she admitted.
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You've got to be what tomorrow needs!
ALIAS
McKenna Chase
AGE
21
Civilian
|
Post by Ashley McKenna-Chase on Jan 5, 2017 18:47:13 GMT
Chase You Down In the dying light of a warm San Francisco evening, one determined young woman marched her way through its streets – the unmistakeable, war-drum sound of heels clacking on concrete.
Ashley had spent all morning in the studio and all afternoon in the gym. It had been a good, productive day and to top it off she’d just received a call from a TV studio in Los Angeles who were looking to feature her on some daytime talk show. To say that she was feeling confident would be quite the understatement – Ashley’s natural state was confident. Right now, she had all the focus and energy in the world.
Some might choose to channel that energy into something productive but Ashley was done with work for the day. Some might choose to ride the high into the late evening, becoming the life and soul of any party, but Ashley was back in the studio early tomorrow morning. No, Ashley was utilising her enhanced self-assurance for one thing and one thing only.
Will Chase was going to explain himself.
She wasn’t actually mad, of course (or at least that’s what she told herself). He’d not long been discharged from hospital after being involved in a huge accident and he was probably busy resting or… whatever. However, on the day of the crash, Will had promised to come visit her. She could accept a few days of recovery time, she could understand the necessity for a bit of peace and quiet, she could even see why he may have forgotten about the pledged social call.
But now it had been days since she found out that he’d been allowed back home and she hadn’t even had one phone call. She’d already broken things off with the guy she’d wanted Will to check out – things had started moving too fast for her liking after just two dates – so that was important information he was missing out on. There was a whole heap of other stuff she’d wanted to tell him over the past week and he had the audacity to forget about her.
Sure, she could’ve just phoned him herself, but Ashley McKenna-Chase preferred the personal touch. It was always nice to hang out with her big brother in person, after all.
Having theorised that Will was a bit of a workaholic, Ashley had decided upon his private office as her first port of call. The building needed a code but there was a security guy who she knew would recognise her – either as Ashley or as McKenna – and she could remember that it was situated somewhere on the fifth floor.
Her plan worked. She took the stairs. Cardio was hardly a problem these days.
Immediately she recognised the correct door and slammed a fist against it a few times in quick succession.
“You better open this door, Will Chase!” she shouted, her tone only slightly tinted with humour. “You skipped out on our lunch date and I’m not happy!”
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