cigarettes and alcohol - blur & oasis

✩ oh my baby, oh why?

They dreaded it, the way images of them found a home in the tabloids and television, with their names plastered on the headlines. It wouldn't have been so terrible if their privacy hadn't been assaulted. The media could hardly allow them to walk down the streets without ambushing either Valia or Damon.

They were questioning what this would all mean for Missy and Suzy. The brought up the topic of their past, how it wouldn't be suitable for this new lifestyle that they wanted, their marriage. They asked how this engagement would affect Oasis.

It was known knowledge that Liam and Noel Gallagher's relationship grew thin and strain, and somehow, the media managed to turn it all around and point the blame on Mick. She was being postered as the poison of the group, for having an unbreakable bond with the lead guitarist and songwriter—–for always walking out and standing by his side whenever something within the band occurred, Val, for her toxic and complex relationship with the Oasis frontman. The papers were saying her presence was damaging and it turned the brothers against each other. And now they were saying that her engagement with the so-called-rival was only going to escalate more tension for Oasis. But that phase of their bands were over now. The Battle of Britpop was old news.

It became unbearable, the deception and the villainous traits she was given by the world. Valia felt utterly helpless, losing grip of reality and unable to truly hold on to the idea of a harmonious future. And it didn't help that instead of sticking around with her, Damon flew off to Marrakech with the band, just so they could record and work on Blur's new album.

She needed him most, for his arms to wrap around her, and his honey voice to smoothen her endless worries. But Damon Albarn wasn't there, and the girl never felt more alone than she did then.

"Kid." Noel says, flickering between her eyes, and the fiddling of her fingers on the ring. "We need to talk about what's happening 'ere."

She doesn't say anything, not bothered to even carry her attention up. Valia shifted in the sofa, feeling the roughness of it beneath her.

Liam's cigarette smoke tainted the walls of the studio. "He's saying yer've been playing like shite."

"I got that." She muttered, reaching a hand up to her forehead, massaging them. Val was aware of how she was now holding the band back, halting them from moving forward with ease when it came to their recording sessions. They were stuck on getting the bassist to play her parts correctly, something that she couldn't even do, solely because she was too preoccupied and dazed by the events surrounding her. And how much she longed for Damon to aid her.

Noel tsked at his brother, irritated that he was barging in with the wrong things to say. The older Gallagher wanted to beat around the bush, aware that he shouldn't push too hard. After all, he knew what Valia was like, there was absolutely no way that the abrupt and rapid heavy attention that she and the engagement was getting didn't affect her tragically. That was evident through her behaviour. "I know things been shit, yeah." He told her, nodding ever so slightly. "But we need you to be here. Not elsewhere."

"You don't think i'm fucking trying?" She hissed furiously, upset that they thought she was somehow doing this on purpose. As though she wasn't putting the effort to remain in the present.

Liam watched the anger in her unfold, and how his brother composed himself.

Valia melted into the couch. "I'm giving my everything here. Just give me a fucking break. I don't need you two constantly on me like the rest of the damn world."

"I haven't said nothing." The Oasis frontman frowned, bouncing his head between the two of them, trying to click how he had anything to do with this. "I'm just 'ere man. I ain't done nothing."