Karaoke Night [OPEN]

[hero-medic.livejournal.com]

 Between nearly killing himself trying to help people and his talk with Nathan, Peter was exhausted. Even with his upbeat demeanor, it was hard to not say he felt stressed. His flight-breaks no longer helping, he decided he needed to take a few hours. He found himself at the sensoriums, a place he had heard talked about like the holodeck from Star Trek. As he walked in, it was a blank room. He closed his eyes and thought to himself. 

I just need a way to relax.

He suddenly heard music, and opened his eyes to what appeared to be a high class nightclub, but filled with the strangest creatures he had ever seen, even since arriving on the ship. Behind the bar, a green-skinned redhead with horns, more conspicuous for his paisley shirt and purple ascot, was trying to get his attention.  

"Hey, kiddo, didn't you hear them call your name?" The demon said, smiling. "You're up, bubbulah. Don't worry, I picked a good song for you." Peter eyed him warily. Wherever this place had come from, it was not his head. But decided not to question it, and went to stand in front of a karaoke machine on stage. He picked up the mike and saw the song, and smiled. He loved this song. EVERYONE loved this song. Luckily, a few years in boy's choir had given him a sense of tune, and puberty had left him with a decent tenor. So, he began to sing. 

o/` I can't fight this feeling any longer,
      And yet I'm still afraid to let it flow... o/` 

That was all it took. As if suddenly injected with 100 ccs of pure rock ballad awesome, Peter closed his eyes and began letting the music take him, eventually rocking out. He had forgotten what it was like, honestly. Forgotten the fun of just letting go and having fun. And as he finished up the REO Speedwagon classic, breathing heavily and feeling alive, he wished he hadn't. 

But then he opened his eyes to notice more than just his holographic audience had filtered into the "club". 

"Uh... Next?" He said as he hastily replaced the mike and went to get a holo-beer. 

That was embarrassing.  He could only hope someone would follow him up and make it slightly less so.

[ooc: Start a subthread with your character approaching the stage and singing a song. Characters can react to other's performances even if they aren't singing themselves. And any song you'd like, Lorne has the entire mutliverse on karaoke. I'm not asking, and neither should you.]

Comments

[not_the_philistine]

This is not something that Goliath would normally attend, except to watch at a distance. And even more so, not at a time like this, when he is still reeling with disorientation, immersed in the pain of the possibility that he is - truly this time - the last of his kind.

But that is a lot of noise for one place, when the rest of the ship is so quiet. And so he slips in quietly, standing like the statue he has been - possibly for thousands more years - in a dark corner. Just to watch.

Eventually, when the songs take a more solemn turn, when it becomes clear he is not the only one mourning family, he begins to think of verses from his homeland, poems he read before and after sleeping for a thousand years.

Late in the evening, when many songs have been song, a deep, mournful voice fills the room, soft but pervasive. The translation engines shadow the Gaelic of the ancient dirge, so that his language is still clear as he mourns his long dead brothers, their fate sealed and sorrowful, and Manhattan clan - whose fate he cannot be certain of.

He's not sure which hurts him more.

[toariversodeep.livejournal.com]

Roxie listens closely, eyes closed but body language eminently respectful. Her eyes only open again once he is completely done, though it takes long moments for her strangely-dilated pupils to adapt properly to the light again.

[not_the_philistine]

He nods to her, recognizing her face in the gloom. His eyes are well suited to the dim light of the bar.

[toariversodeep.livejournal.com]

Hers aren't, quite, but she's used to the darkness. "It was very nice."

[not_the_philistine]

There's nothing nice about how he feels right now, but -

"Thank you."

He glances at the stage, then back at her.

"You have yet to sing."

[toariversodeep.livejournal.com]

"I'm still thinking about what to pick," she says, watching Goliath quietly. "I want to choose something appropriate."

[not_the_philistine]

"Yes," he agrees. "This is not a time for songs not carefully chosen."

[twelvevoltman.livejournal.com]

On stage -

"Ooooooh, there once was a man named Oedipus Rex
You may have heard about his odd complex
His name appears in Freud's index 'cause he
LOVED HIS MOTHERRR -"

[toariversodeep.livejournal.com]

Roxie looks over at the stage, and then back at Goliath with something of a 'wtf is he on' expression.

[not_the_philistine]

Goliath returns the expression.

"In one way, it is a tribute to the timelessness of Sophocles' immortal work that the figures of his creation are widely spoken of still, even if it is in mockery."

He shrugs. Humans. What can you do?

[toariversodeep.livejournal.com]

"I suppose so," Roxie says with a little shrug. "...what era are you from?"

[not_the_philistine]

"I was hatched in Scotland in the year 938, but I was locked in stone sleep for a thousand years towards the end of that century. I resumed my life on the island of Manhattan in 1994."

Yeah, thousand year sleeps. These things happen.

[toariversodeep.livejournal.com]

It makes sense to Roxie, at least.

"You seem to have adapted well."

[not_the_philistine]

"The life I have is the only one I know."

Not so long ago, he was raging in the Statuary. She has heard him howl with rage for the death of his clan, seen him laid low to the very soul of his fury and sorrow.

Now he is quiet, reserved. Accepting of his fate.

"What else can I do but adapt?"

[toariversodeep.livejournal.com]

"It's the only thing all of us can do." Roxie's voice is calm, as it ever is. "I've survived by adapting myself to the challenges I've faced."

[not_the_philistine]

"Is that so?"

She does not strike him as a normal human child. Only propriety and, well, horror have kept him from pressing the matter further.

[toariversodeep.livejournal.com]

Roxie nods slightly. "I haven't substantially altered myself as of yet, but I may have to, depending on what challenges this ship faces."

[not_the_philistine]

"Altered yourself?"

He has been quietly involved in their conversation, but now he looks at her with something between confusion and alarm. He hasn't had the best experiences with people who alter themselves.

[toariversodeep.livejournal.com]

"Yes," she says simply, adjusting her glasses.

[not_the_philistine]

"How?"

[toariversodeep.livejournal.com]

"Magic." He's the weirdo who turns into stone, he should be able to handle that. "My power was granted by the deity I serve."

[not_the_philistine]

Oh. That's a little less of an alarm button. She didn't say "the deity I wrested control from," so he relaxes a bit. "Which deity?"

[toariversodeep.livejournal.com]

"Shyama. However, he goes by many different names in many different universes."

Heckuva deity.

[not_the_philistine]

"And you are his servant, not his avatar?"

Important (and interesting) distinction.

"How did this come to pass?"

[toariversodeep.livejournal.com]

"He offered me the chance. I took it."

She's glossing over the ickier bits, though.