A/N: So, erm, hey. New wwry fanfiction, didn't think I'd have another one up before Christmas but I managed to get this one finished faster than I thought I would so I plan to upload it. It's about Motley, describing what exactly lead to the event in MissLoaf91's fic Consider Yourself, which she very kindly let me use in this fic but from Motley's point of view obviously. I really hope that the explanation of how Motley became a Bohemian doesn't seem Sue-ish to anyone, as I tried my best to stick to what the wwry canon suggested to us about the effects certain things had on GaGa kids, and how fast these effects happened. So, erm, yeah, I hope you like it, and please review to tell me if there's anything you think I should change, or if Motley does seem Sue-ish now. But, yeah, on with the show
Lost Highway
"Free download? Prodigious!" www(dot)Catlin(at)theThomson's(dot)co(dot)uk grinned, delighted at her find. It wasn't often that free music downloads became available, and to have one offered to her was indeed a piece of good fortune. She clicked on the link, waiting only a few seconds for the music to download, before popping it onto her wristWAP, then her GlobalPod, and finally her microCell. It just wasn't done to listen to a song straight after downloading it; no one had done that for generations now. She grinned at the new download, feeling proud of her ability to download, and sure that she had happened on the newest craze in music.
"Catlin! It's late, screen off and into bed," the avatar face of her mother popped up on the corner of her screen. Catlin gave a well used groan, the groan that teenagers planet-wide gave after being told to do something by their parents. After all, all adults were there to do was to stifle the creativity of all GaGa teens, it was a well known fact. No adult really understood the pain a teenager went through, the minute you hit 26 you were automatically 'out-of-touch', and lack any real understanding to the depth of the teenage emotion. "Now, young lady," the avatar added, grinning the grin which all parents used. The one that said 'you can trust me, I get you, I really do.'
Catlin smiled at the screen, typing a response in quickly. 'Okay, okay, I'm going Mum,' she assured the avatar. After pressing 'send,' she turned her monitor screen off, blinking at the sudden loss of light. She stood, stretching slightly as was recommended after coming offline. She grabbed the ever popular plain white pvc pyjamas, heading into the bathroom attached to her bedroom get washed and changed. After brushing her teeth she conducted her nightly inspection in the mirror. Blue eyes; always desirable, especially with blonde hair, which she had thanks to the grow through she had gotten earlier that year. Perhaps her eyes were a little too pale blue, but the right shade of eyeshade could counteract that. Satisfied that she had been critical enough, she nodded once at her reflection, turning to go to bed. It was a well known fact that every good GaGa girl and boy needed a full eight hours to function as well rounded members of society, after all.
XXX
It wasn't until first break at the Virtual High School the next that Catlin had time to listen to the music she had downloaded. Placing the almost sparkling white headphones in her ears, she flicked to the song on her GlobalPod, waiting for the usual background tune to kick in. What she heard however, was something different entirely.
The music soared, with a constant, steady thump, painting out images in Catlin's mind like no other song had done before. There was another noise, almost like a screeching but that word made the noise sound like something awful, when in reality it was beautiful, hypnotic even. And for some strange made Catlin want to either hold one arm straight out to the side, and whirl the other around it, or hold both hands in a diagonal line, moving her fingers in what she could only describe as a rather odd way. The thumping noise, rather than give her a headache, made her want to move her head in time to it. To put it simply - the song was entrancing, and when it ended she felt oddly empty inside.
Thinking it was simply the usual sad feeling that all teens got when a new song ended, she quickly switched to her favourite song, which just happened to be number one in that weeks download charts. She was surprised to find that something about the song just didn't seem, well, right. She had hardly gotten halfway through the first verse before she found herself flipping back to her free download song, switching it on to continuous replay, just so she could listen to it over and over again. It was something entirely different from all the other music out there, and it made Catlin feel, well, she wasn't quite sure how to describe it. It was like an instant warmness, but with a tingling shiver rushing up her spine. She wondered if there was more music like it; and made a mental note to ask her music programming HoloTeacher the next time she was logged on to that class.
XXX
"Erm, Miss?" Catlin's voice sounded rather nervous, as she stepped forward to face the virtual, but designed to be aesthetically pleasing, face of her Music Programming HoloTeacher. It was the beginning of the lunch hour, and since she had been in Music Programming just before lunch, rather than disturb everyone's learning, she had chosen to wait till the end of the class to ask her question. The HoloTeacher turned to face her, automatically wearing a large fake smile which was identical to every other HoloTeacher's.
"Yes … Catlin?" it asked, the momentary pause the result of it accessing it's student databases to bring forward Catlin's name. "How can I help you?" it asked, managing to sound eager to please when it was common knowledge that HoloTeachers had no personalities. There were real human teachers left in the world, but they work mostly as guidance teachers, or head-teachers of a particular branch of the virtual high. The term 'head-teacher' didn't actually fit these people, as every school was under the command of the Killer Queen. But, as it stood, no human teacher actually taught a class anymore, not unless - and it was very rarely that this happened - one of the HoloTeachers wasn't functioning correctly anymore.
"Well, I was lucky last night, Miss," Catlin began, smiling kindly back at the hologram, "I managed to score a free download."
"How fortunate Catlin, the Killer Queen is certainly kind to her subjects," the HoloTeacher interjected, as it was programmed to do every time the words 'free download' were mentioned. The free download happened quite often. A handful of people were randomly chosen, and the news was spread everywhere by the next day. It was an ingenious initiative thought up by the Killer Queen as a way of keeping people from rebelling against her, and her company. (In actuality it was thought up by the Super-Yuppies, the inner circle of the Globalsoft Corporation, but as with all good ideas, the credit went entirely to the Boss. No one knew which Yuppie really came up with the idea)
"Well, it's just that," Catlin paused, not entirely sure how to continue on with her sentence. "The download's a bit, well, different Miss," she finished, looking innocently towards the HoloTeacher, whose virtual face, just for a moment, had flickered darkly.
"May I hear this download Catlin?" The HoloTeacher asked pleasantly, her systems having already logged on to the Secret Police's network, broadcasting the conversation to whichever officer was manning the systems communicator at the Headquarters on that day. Catlin nodded, handing over her GlobalPod to the HoloTeacher and waiting until she had listened to the track. The dark flicker reappeared over the HoloTeacher's face. "Catlin … do you like this type of music?" it asked, it's tone even, studying Catlin carefully.
Catlin paused for only a second to think up her answer. "I do, Miss," she smiled brightly. "I think it's just so … so … well, different is the only word to describe it, Miss," she enthused, her smile growing, unaware of the danger she was placing herself in. "I wish there was more music like it, I'd download it in a nanosecond," she finished brightly. There was a long silence, as the HoloTeacher faced fixatedly at the wall at the back of the classroom. "Miss?" Catlin asked, beginning to feel nervous without quite knowing why.
"Oh no, I'm afraid we switched the hologram off dearie," a cruel voice sneered at her. Catlin found her stepping backwards, worried by the voice. "This is Police Captain Baker, and I'm sorry to say that your little confession is in direct violation with the laws of Planet Mall," Police Captain Baker didn't sound sorry at all, he seemed almost pleased. "And judging by the report we've been fed from your HoloTeachers, your personality results suggest that this might not have been the first time you've flouted such laws." Catlin blinked, stuttering, not understanding what he was saying about her. "As such I have an official warrant for your arrest. Do not move from your present location, I repeat, do not move," there was a hiss and then the connection cut off.
Catlin stood, frozen and scared. She had been, for lack of a better, betrayed by someone she had assumed would understand her, and provide an answer to her question. How could she not assume that? It was what they had always been told by the teachers, both Holo and human. Her parents told her the same, as did her favourite cyber stars. For the first time in her life, Catlin felt genuinely scared. She was scared that she was going to be arrested, all because she liked a song that was different to what was the norm. She knew, everyone knew, that once they had declared you a criminal, there was no way out of it. All you could do was hope that you would be given a lesser sentence than was the standard.
Catlin knew all this, she also knew that she had no previous charges against her, so it was likely that she could receive a lesser sentence. So, to find herself running in a blind panic out of the school as fast as her legs could manage to take. People stared as she passed them, obviously confused, but it did nothing to slow her down, or stop her in her tracks. She ran, and kept running, eventually finding herself at the boundary fence, the only thing which made her skid to a halt. She stared around herself, wondering if she could do this. She could always go back, and apologise for running. She could … but she doubted it would do her any good in the long run. The fact that she had disobeyed a direct order would be taken into consideration against her, making her sentence worse than it could have been originally. She breathed heavily, not being used to running for that long or that far before, swallowing huge lungfuls of air as though it would dissapear if she didn't. She stared for a few moments more, before swallowing nervously, and slipping through the gap on the fence.
She ran through the barren junkyard, her breathing heavy simply as she was not used to running, skidding slightly on seeing another human being who was standing, rather randomly to Catlin's mind, leaning over a pile, searching through it, though for what Catlin couldn't tell. Surprised at the sight, she let out a rather audible gasp, jumping behind one of the junk piles when the other human, who was a girl, perhaps only a few years older than herself, turned round, eyes narrowed looking around the junkyard. The girl dropped what she was holding, walking quickly away, something which made Catlin feel distinctly easier, as she wasn't quite ready to interact with other people at the moment, she had too much to think on. She found herself sinking to the ground, resting her forehead on her knees, shaking slightly as the shock began to hit her.
But try as she might, it made no sense to her. She had been a good GaGa girl, downloading all the latest fashions, and downloading the newest music as soon as it was available to download. She never spoke out against the Killer Queen, even though there came a point - like all teenagers - when she did feel that perhaps, just maybe, some of her methods were wrong. She had followed all the rules, and attended all her classes at the Virtual High. All she had done wrong was download a song and like it. Why was what she had done so wrong? She didn't understand it, and it leading to a deep anger towards the life that she had been so happy with. "I'm tellin' you Brit, I heard something!"
"And for all you know it might be the cops," two voices echoed through the otherwise empty junkyard, causing Catlin to scrunch down, hoping to hide.
"They might be stupid pigs, but they're stupid stealthy pigs," the first voice insisted. "They wouldn't be walking around making noises an' all that." The two voices continued talking, and as they seemed to come closer, Catlin began wishing that she was invisible. That was when one of the two, the girl, tripped up over her legs. She stared at her slightly.
"You alright?" the man, who Catlin assumed was called Brit asked her, looking down with concern on her face. Catlin nodded slightly back.
"What's a clone doin' out here?" the girl asked. Brit rolled his eyes slightly.
"We were all clones once, Sid," he reminded her, smirking at her slightly. Sid scowled at the reminder.
"True," she conceded, "but I don't remember anyone ever lookin' that … GaGa." For some reason, the phrase which Catlin had previously used cheerfully to describe herself now seemed like the worse insult anyone could throw at her. She jumped to her feet, standing nose to nose with the girl who was called Sid, glaring deeply.
"Call me a GaGa again," she growled a warning, "and I'll bite your ear off." Sid blinked slightly, raising her eyebrows in surprise, having not expected that reaction from Catlin.
"I like her," Sid grinned finally, turning to Brit with a wide smile. "Can we keep her?"
"Only if you look after her."
"Of course," Sid nodded, agreeing that the statement was reasonable. Catlin looked on in silence amusement, not quite knowing what to say to the people who were basically deciding what should happen to her, now that they had found her. "I'll feed her, and water her, and clothe her like a good little Bohemian," Sid's grin grew as Catlin found herself staring in awe. She had heard of the Bohemians, everyone had. They were those who were openly against Globalsoft, and never did Catlin expect to stand in the presence of two of them, and come to no harm. It was said after all, that they harmed any GaGa who crossed their path. Though, as Catlin was slowly beginning to wonder, was she really a GaGa anymore? She certainly didn't feel the love she had felt earlier towards the term, though it could simply be because of the days event. But still, to be standing with two real Bohemians, it was something amazing indeed.
"And give her a name," Brit added, grinning down at Catlin. She frowned slightly, but decided not to question the matter. Bohemians tended to reject their old GaGa lives in favour of new identities, everyone knew that thanks to the public service email warnings sent out about them. If she was to live with the Bohemians, perhaps a new name wouldn't be all that bad. She hadn't been entirely fond of Catlin all that much anyway.
"Oh yeah, a name," Sid muttered, pausing to think carefully. She then looked at the trousers he was wearing, apparently reading something written on there. "Give us a twirl," she requested. Brit nodded, complying with her request, until Sid grabbed his arm to make him stop. "Motley," she grinned, turning to face Catlin. "I shall call you Motley Crue."
The two stared at her, waiting for a reaction. Catlin frowned, trying the name on. "Motley … Crue," she sounded out quietly. She liked the way the name sounded, as it was almost like the track that had landed in her current situation. It had a musical quality to it, and it was endearing, she felt. "Y'know what," Catlin, now forever Motley, grinned at the two. "I think I like it."