Wastin' Away Again~

[ohgoodgrief]

Who: Teachers! TA's! RA's! Other graduate students! Other students who are crashing (or god help them, working there??)
When: March 8, 2019, in the evening.
Where: A karaoke bar in Soleil.
Warnings: Alcohol

Sometimes, after tests are done and mysteries uncovered, the teachers need to relax.

Which is why there is karaoke! The faculty of Daybreak Academy have converged, through random inspiration and not a terrible lot of planning, on one unsuspecting bar in Soleil on a Friday evening. A few drinks (or more!) are to be had; however, there is also a stage, with a microphone and a big screen -- which shows a music video for whatever song is on -- and the lyrics. A friendly little green ball bounces over them.

It is time to sing your heart out.

It is time... for karaoke.

Comments

Jailbreak | OTA

[nor_iron_bars]

I. no, don't mind me

[Oh, fuck yes.]

[Loud music, food, alcohol, and a general excuse to party? Jail is absolutely there. She may have made it to the bar so fast the karaoke machine wasn't even set up yet.]

[As it is, she's perched on top of the counter, leaning casually back against the wall, with a plastic basket of something seriously deep-fried in one hand and very large drink in the other. She has achieved basically her ideal scenario.]

[Somehow, despite having both hands occupied, she's not only managing to drink from her own mug and eat her own Deep Fried Local Special (the exact contents weren't verified), she's also successfully started swiping little bits from nearby coworkers' plates. Not too much, of course, just a bite of whatever looks tasty.]

[Oh, were those your fries? Mm, fries.]


II. if you knew what the bluebirds sang at you

[So, Jail's genuinely pretty fond of singing. She lacks any sort of social shame, for one thing, and for another she's got a pretty good grasp of rhythm. But there's a slight problem.]

[Namely, Jail has no sense of social shame. Which means that basically her entire song repertoire consists of the kinds of tunes you sing to either attempt to seduce someone, advocate major political upheaval, pick an actual physical fight with the rest of the bar, or some combination of the three.]

[So she's a little unclear on what counts as appropriate to sing at, basically, an office party. It's debatable how much this actually worries her, but she's at least... sort of trying to be pleasant? By some standards? Currently, she's paging through the book of available karaoke selections, looking thoughtful.]

Okay, so does it count if the song is a metaphor for sex, or only if it actually, like, goes into details?

[...Someone may need to help her with this one.]


III. please hold your applause

[Mercifully, she eventually seems to settle on something only mildly suggestive, and takes her turn onstage without notable incident.]

[Her voice is legitimately good, if a bit raspy from the gas mask, a low and husky kind of tone that sounds like it should be meant for classic torch songs in smokey lounges. Instead, she's gone for something more modern and is, to the best of her ability, rocking it.]

[Her singing is loud and energetic, body moving to the beat, and she throws her head back with a gleeful grin as she nails a high note.]

I said one day the Valley's gonna swallow me whole...!

[She's completely unselfconscious, the whole performance having the appeal of someone who's just... honestly having fun. She struts around the stage, winks at the audience, keeps up with the tempo, and never, ever looks like she regrets a moment of it.]

[After all, she's here to have a good time.]

B

[subconmodo]

[He shrugs]

Uh, I don't know. I figure you'd probably be fine. A lot of popular songs are about, love, sex, or partying.

[nor_iron_bars]

[She shrugs expansively.]

You'd think that, right? But then sometimes you sing a completely decent power ballad and it's "seriously publicly inappropriate" and "totally still illegal in this country".

[...Is this even still about the karaoke, Jail? Because that's starting to sound weirdly specific.]

I mean, yeah, okay, technically I was in the fountain outside the bar and not on the actual stage? But it was still on the premises, it's not like I wandered into a goddamn convent or anything. And I'm pretty sure they got all the glitter outta the water eventually.

[She shakes her head.]

It's a fucking double standard, is what it is.

[subconmodo]

[That gets a good cackle out of him]

Maybe in a few years! Takes ages to get out. It's why it's both the best and the worst invention in human history. Only exaggerating a little.

Man, what I would have given to see that. Sounds hilarious!

[nor_iron_bars]

My favorite is when they use a fan to send it flying everywhere. It's like a fucking sparkly blast radius, there's no escape.

[Jail snickers along with him. If you can't laugh at yourself... or your past near-misses with getting arrested for public indecency... what can you laugh at?]

Think it might actually still be up on the internet, somewhere... unless that was that other time. It gets kinda hard to keep track.

[A surprisingly large amount of Jail's life can be found on youtube. It explains less than you'd think.]

[subconmodo]

[He is immediately trying to look it up. And meeting with surprising difficulty]

Wow, uh. Apparently you're in good company. It's practically an entire sub-genre.

[nor_iron_bars]

Nice to know that public performance is alive and well, as an artform.

...probably doesn't help that I spent a while in Florida, come to think of it. That kinda thing just happens a lot there.

[Jail definitely isn't every Florida Woman article, but she's a few of them.]

[subconmodo]

[Avery immediately stops and looks up at her, suspicious.]

Please. Florida doesn't actually exist. It's just some joke or "meme" the Americans came up with.


[where did he get this idea? The world may never know.]

[nor_iron_bars]

[Jail opens her mouth to reply, pauses, and shuts it again as what he said fully registers.]

[Avery doesn't think that Florida is real.]

[A fully grown adult man, who is multiple centuries old and quite possibly some demonic creature of great power, legitimately believes that an entire U.S. state does not exist.]

[This is the best thing that's happened to her all year.]

[She probably shouldn't, but... honestly, she's only mortal. She can't not fuck with him.]

I dunno, man- sure, they say it doesn't exist, but are we really sure there's nothing down there? Maybe that's just what the government wants us to believe.

I mean, the politicians? The news? They've all gotta be in on it, dude. Those alligators have gotta be coming from somewhere, and I think they don't want us to find out the truth.

[This is it. This is what her entire career of theft, lies, and constant bullshitting has been building up to, even though she didn't know it. This one moment... and this simple, all-encompassing question.]

[Can she convince this man that the state of Florida is a conspiracy theory.]

[subconmodo]

[Avery rolls his eyes. He's a little tipsy and not that great with geography, but he's not stupid.]

I said it's a meme, not a conspiracy--something to make fun of all those people who steal things by shoving it in their pants.

[nor_iron_bars]

[Jail just stares at him.]

...you're saying that like it doesn't work.

[He does realize he's talking to a known thief, right?]

It's totally doable, you just gotta have the right kind of pants. Shit, I could walk away carrying, like, every bottle in this bar, with the right pair of khakis.

[subconmodo]

No one said anything about it not being doable. It's just... If it's food, is it really worth it at that point?

And I swear I read about someone trying to smuggle out a snapping turtle that way. A snapping turtle!

[nor_iron_bars]

Look. [She clasps her hands together and smiles serenely, the picture of calm and understanding.]

Some things you do to turn a profit. Some things you do for fun. And some things? You do just to say you can.

And if anyone ever calls bullshit, then you can take off your pants and show 'em the scars to prove it. Who's to say that's not worth a couple pints of blood and a trip to the emergency room?

[subconmodo]

[He stares at her for a long time]

Oh. My. God.

a;

[inflictwounds]

Wh-

[Hey!! Those were his fries!! He wanted to eat those!]

You could have asked!

[nor_iron_bars]

[Completely straight-faced, with no discernible shame:]

Can I have your fries?

[After all, she only took one of them. The rest still look pretty good.]

[inflictwounds]

[Why would he expect any different.]

You can have some. But not all of them!

[He's way too nice for his own good smh.]

[nor_iron_bars]

Thanks, doc. You're a real pal.

[Aaand there goes like about a fourth of his fries. As a well-meaning if somewhat dubious form of compensation, she leaves a chunk of her own Miscellaneous Deep Fried Substance on his plate.]

Any idea where the ketchup went?

[inflictwounds]

[RIP fries. He knew thee well.]

Umm - no? I didn't use any. Maybe Yang took it.

[nor_iron_bars]

Nah, I coulda sworn I saw some over- wait.

[Jail picks up the bottle and squints at it.]

This is just salsa. Like. It's in a ketchup bottle? The label says "ketchup". But it's fucking salsa. I can see chopped onion in it and everything.

[She looks deeply confused.]

What the fuck. Who does that? ...I mean, okay. I'd do that. But I'm pretty sure I've never been to this bar before.

[inflictwounds]

Well, if you think about it, isn't ketchup just a kind of salsa?

[Siiiip.]

You know. Because it's a sauce?

[nor_iron_bars]

Man, if you stretch the definition far enough, anything can be salsa. But that doesn't mean I'm gonna put it on nachos, y'know?

[And yet, this isn't stopping her from putting it on her fries. Mm, cilantro?]

[inflictwounds]

What's fries if not a cousin to nachos?

[That makes perfect sense to him.]

[nor_iron_bars]

[Pause.]

...Shit, man. That's deep.

[No it's not, Jail. You're just drunk.]

[inflictwounds]

[The look Hieke gives her says about as much, and he takes a bite of his fries.]

Thanks, I guess.