ic It Was A Graveyard Smash

[Blue Rose]

The reluctant response is, in itself, worrisome, but it's probably normal to not be able to just pick up and go on like nothing happened.  Maybe going through the motions will be progress in the right direction?  This would be so much easier if Tona would just open up.

 

But she doesn't let her troubled thoughts show.  Instead, she dons her sunniest mask, smiling sweetly to her girlfriend's coworkers.  "Hello, Lynn!  It's great to be here.  Thank you so much for having me."  She gives her thanks an extra emphasis, that those not privy to her and Tona's relationship issues probably won't catch.  After all, she'd been trying to find an opportunity like this for weeks.

 

At Lance's approach, though trying to play it cool, she chokes, mixing up the manners normal people use with the old world etiquette her mentor was so fond of, turning what was probably meant to be a handshake into an older gesture, as she demurely offers him a grasp on her fingertips.  "It's a pleasure to meet you, Lance.  I love your costume!" she beams, a veritable beacon of sunshine.

 

Hopefully, politely ignoring the suspicion will be hint enough to not nag the weirdness.

[Raveled]

Tona quirked her head at the look Lynn gave her, the subtle social cue going right over the head of someone who literally grew up in a forest. She followed the other woman's eyes, though, and once she realized they were flicking between herself and Sam she put the pieces together. "<We talked,>" she said in French. "<There are some things we have to talk about more, maybe. Or maybe I need to talk to someone else?>" She ran a hand through her hair, taking a step away from Sam as the other woman started talking to Tona's coworkers. "<She wants me to talk to a therapist. I don't know if I can do that.>"

[Heritage]

Lynn saw a window of opportunity and she quickly took it; shifting to French as Tona had while stepping away from the group, she kept her voice low.

<"Look, I don't know what you two argued about, but I can tell you're the kind of kid who bottles up your emotions; probably feels safer that way, right? If no one gets in, they can't hurt you."> She shook her head. <"But it doesn't work that way; as painful as it is, letting people in, even a stranger like a therapist, is the best way to heal old wounds and exorcise old ghosts. I don't know what it was like where you grew up; I'm guessing a warzone or a wilderness or something, some place where being soft got you killed. But a world at peace, with a pretty girl that loves you? Sounds like a good place to start a new life.">

The bookseller cleared her throat and adjusted her long flowing cloak. <"By the way, that offer to talk never goes away; that stands as long as we're both alive, so..."> She shrugged.

Edited December 8, 2014 by Heritage

[Blue Rose]

The young thief has to suppress a sudden, clingy instinct as her girlfriend steps away.  Clingy is not going to improve things.

 

So, she stands back and listens.  She's not fluent in French, but between Fox and Tona, she's learned a little bit.  Like... "the!"  The word "the" was definitely in there!  And... okay, there were a few forms of "to be" sprinkled in.  And... well.  That was definitely "love."

 

Not surprising.  And a good cue to stop trying to eavesdrop.

 

Better to turn her attention to the party, and to Lance.

 

"So, karaoke, is it?  If I may?"  Best to divert everyone else's attention from the French conversation, too.  Not that they'll get much more out of it than she did.

 

"When the devil is to busy, and death's a bit too much, they call on me by name you see, for my special touch..." she begins a rendition of When You're Evil.  A fitting song for the time, not so much the voice.  It's not that she has a bad singing voice.  Just one that's several octaves too high for the song.  But hey, karaoke's about how much fun you have, not the quality of performance you put on, right?  Right?

[Heritage]

Most of the staff didn't seem to be familiar with the song, so they were torn between enjoying the song and trying to catch the lyrics; only Gretchen appeared to be fan of Voltaire, and she stepped out from behind the bar to indulge in a sort of vaguely Gypsy-inspired dance, which led to a few surprised and impressed whoops as she worked her hips.

At the end of Sam's song, there was much applause for both performers; Gretchen put her hands together and bowed to the redhead, an actual hint of a smile on her lips. "That was pretty cool; good song choice."

For her part, Lynn was too focused on Tona's relationship issues to really take in the goth cabaret number, though she did applaud at the end. "Okay, now it's boss lady's time to sing, and Sam gave me a good idea for a number." The Evil Queen then tore into 'Poor Unfortunate Souls' with gusto, really working her costume to the hilt; for a woman so small, she had a pretty big voice, the result of decades of practice offworld. She even threw down a theatrical smoke bomb at the end for full-on overkill.

"And that is how you blatantly show off!"

Edited December 8, 2014 by Heritage

[Blue Rose]

"Thank you, thank you!"  Sam bows when her song's up, both to the group and to Gretchen, then clears the stage.

 

"Voltaire has a lot of fun spooky stuff.  Great for Halloween," she chats with Gretchen as she makes way for the next victim.  "Y'know, I've never had a backup dancer before.  That was fun!"

 

She makes her way back to Tona's side as the queen herself takes the stage, ohing and ahing at all the appropriate dramatic cape sweeps, bursting into applause at the big finale, "Bravo!  Bravo!"

 

But that leaves the question of who's next.  And Sam's already made up her mind on that question.

 

She slips her hand into Tona's and looks to her with that innocent smile she's learned so well to fake, and that Tona's learned so well to spot, "I hope I didn't miss your song, Tona," she beams.

[Raveled]

Tona applauded for Sam’s song, and then sat back with her to quietly enjoy her boss’s over-the-top performance. She was smiling tightly as it ended; even if she didn’t recognize the song, she at least realized from everyone else’s reaction that Lynn had sung it well. She watched the rest of the crowd quietly, wondering who would go up next, when Sam volunteered her.

Tona’s eyes went wide as the suggestion sunk in, and she slipped out of Sam’s hand to retreat behind the bar. “No no no. You did not miss anything. There is nothing to miss.†She needed to do something she understood, and Sam didn’t have a glass in her hand, so the archer’s nimble fingers started picking up whole fruit and dropping ice cubes in the nearest blender. “I do not sing and I do not dance.†Not in front of people, anyway; in a club with her friends she would swing her hips with enthusiasm, but she could not imagine performing.

[Heritage]

Lynn's rendition of Ursula's villain song was a big hit, and her pyrotechnic finish elicited delighted shrieks. When Sam volunteered her girlfriend to sing next, Gretchen shook her head as she stepped over to Tona's side. "Don't force her to do something she doesn't want to; that's not cool."

Lance shrugged his big padded shoulders as he took another swig of his beer. "Well, maybe she can do something else if she wants, like an espresso shot challenge. Y'know, something more in her comfort zone."

"Archery demonstration, out back." Everyone turned to see Lynn sitting on the edge of the big wooden table, playfully tossing a big red apple from hand to hand. "A little bird told me you're a pretty good shot." She raised her eyebrows and took a big bite out of the apple. All eyes swung back to Tona.

Edited December 12, 2014 by Heritage

[Raveled]

Tona looked between Lynn and her apple, then returned her attention to the blender, frowning as she finished preparing the smoothie. She put plums and strawberries and ice in it, and when she was done it was a gory whirlpool shot through with streams of clear. The young woman posed it on the bar, admiring her work for a moment before pushing it over to Sam.

Tona wiped her hands and stepped out from behind the bar, eyeing the apple and the offer. It was tempting to take that, to show off for her coworkers. And then she would be known as the weird smoothie girl who could bullseye a thrown apple at one hundred feet. Her mind suddenly recoiled from that, from the idea of being known as ‘that girl.’ She wasn’t sure exactly why, but she didn’t want to be pushed outside of this group she found herself in.

So instead of walking outside she walked up to the laptop and scanned the songs on the screen. One title jumped out at her as being… well, appropriate if not a particularly good idea. With a little help from Gretchen she got it queued up properly and waited for it to start, her heart pounding. When the words started scrolling she opened her mouth and started in. “Oh, death. Oh, death. Won’t you spare me, uh, over, to another year.â€

It wasn’t pretty. She warbled and cracked, and she didn’t sing so much as speak the words with awkward pauses. She had no rhythm and she was so focused on make sure she got the current line correct that she often stumbled across the next line. When the song switched characters halfway through the cognitive dissonance caught her up for most of the verse, her surprise and question evident in her voice; when the song switched back she almost lost the thread entirely.

Through it all, though, she persevered and stuck with it. She was blushing fiercely from the embarrassment at having to sing, but she managed to make it to the end of the song. With that hurdle past, Tona set the microphone down with an air of finality and she retreated back behind the bar.

Edited December 26, 2014 by Raveled

[Blue Rose]

Sam bristles at Gretchen's accusation, but bites her tongue.  This is not the time for that kind of argument.  And it wouldn't end well for her anyways.

 

Instead, she backs off.  Even as Lynn gets even pushier than she was and backs Tona into a corner so hard it's painful to watch.  But... Tona takes up the microphone and tries.  And that counts for something, but the fact that she obviously isn't having fun just ruins it.  She shakes the a sip of the smoothie in her hands...

 

"Mm!"

 

Wow.  That's good.

 

When Tona's done, Sam claps politely, going to her girlfriend's side to give her a peck on the cheek.  "That was very brave."  She takes another sip, "And thanks for the drink.  I've never had plums in a smoothie before; it's good.

[Heritage]

There was polite appplause and even a few whoops when Tona finished, but the mood had definitely changed; nobody wanted to do karaoke anymore. Lynn was still sitting on the table, but her apple was gone, along with her earlier jaunty demeanor; instead her hands rested on the edge of the table and her head drooped like her crown was heavy. Everyone else was eating and talking.

Gretchen tentatively approached the two Claremonters, holding a big piece of devil's food cake on a paper plate; there were little sugar skulls on top of the frosting. "You picked a really cool song." She smiled apologically, then awkwardly held up the plate in front of Tona. "Here, have some cake."

Kiki the scarecrow sat down next to her friend and put an arm around her shoulder. "You threw an awesome party."

The changeling snorted but didn't raise her head. "No I didn't; I was a big showoff and I humiliated a teenage girl. I'm a mom and I'm over a hundred years old...I should know better."

Kiki gave her a reassuring squeeze. "Hey, everyone makes mistakes, no matter how old- Wait, you're over a hundred years old? When the hell did that happen?!"

"Ah crap, I wasn't gonna tell you!"

Edited December 24, 2014 by Heritage