• A Blackbird's Serenade • (GxG)

"Almomd Blossoms"

Omniscient

Aromas, combined of incense, cigarette smoke, subtle perfume, and machinery greeted Tiana and clinged to her clothes as she followed a trusted friend underground. Everywhere her head turned, she'd become further stunned, letting her eyes soak in a world of which she thought to only exist in dreams.

A world where her skin color was not a petition for heed, but a symbolism of beauty, strength, and power.

The women's hair were their crowns, free of pressing heat to saturate their coils, and existing ever so gracefully in its natural state, taking up as much space as it wished to. Their skin glowed, even without assistance from the sun, and their smiles were not weighed or gleaned by oppression. In fact, they seemed to be brighter in spite of it. The men held their heads high and their gazes forward. They hadn't allowed the tainted and broken spirits that their bloodlines carried to overtake their person. They hadn't allowed it to choose their destiny.

Tiana's eyes were now filled with an emotion she thought yet to have a name. She wanted both, to join them, and to be one of them.

"Tee c'mon, it's bout to start," Londyn whispered while linking their arms to head to the back wall of the room. "It's better to stand y'ask me," she commented. "You can't see as much over folks' heads if ya sit."

Nodding as she absorbed her friend's words, Tiana nudged her head in the direction of the people filing upon the podium, at the front of the small room. "Who they?"

"The tall lady is Domonique, she's one of our leaders. Started the group with her brothers-" Londyn gestured to them next. "Benny and Miles. We call 'em the Bailey's. They come from a line of abolitionists that escaped up North, I heard. Great grandma apparently knew Moses-"

Tiana gave an intrigued look. "Really??" Londyn returned it, nodding.

"A brave ass family, you ask me. They mama was part of Dr. King's business down in Birmingham, til a policeman wacked her leg with a bat. Daddy wasn't too happy bout that," she shook her head, looking onto the people onstage. "I'm just glad she survived, it coulda been worse-"

"So much worse," Tiana whispered to herself, shaking her head in thought. "How you know all this?"

"Y'see that girl up there-" she pointed discreetly. "With the short fro and shiny earrings?" Tiana nodded, looking on. "That's Willow Dee Harris, she and I joined together. Her and Domonique was close friends at one point in time. They grew apart for a while, then reunited not too long back. Domonique told her bout this movement her and her brother's was tryna start- specially after the segregation laws bein lifted, and the rest kinda just played out from there."

Londyn and Tiana had met in their first year of college, due to being the only two women in their class. While Tiana's major was in business analytics, Londyn's was in engineering. The two lived on the same floor, and had been friends throughout their time in school, then parted ways once graduating. As of now, Tiana's yearning interest pegged her to reach out to Londyn again, for she knew the woman had connections in this particular line of work.

They now faced ahead with anticipating gazes as stillness settled throughout the room, everyone focusing on the woman approaching the mic'd podium stand.

Her smile was wide, displaying two straight rows with a hint of gums. And her eyes disappeared ever so slightly with it, highlighting her high cheekbones. The front of her fro supplied cornrows, styled creatively with two hanging braids near her eyebrows, with cultured beads on them. And the leather top and bell bottom jeans she wore only gave way to her headstrong and enlightened demeanor, instead of attempting to cover it.