Karaoke!

[dice_addict]

Ryuuji grinned easily at the crowd that had amassed, tossing his ponytail out of habit, and stepped a little closer to the mike, "Good evening, everyone! Welcome to Hogwarts' third karaoke night, hosted by myself, Sara the Ravenclaw Prefect, and Oz the Gryffindor Prefect. When you come up here, intro yourself, please? It's a big school, and just

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[waste_lock]

Not looking at the people around him, Nny stalked onstage. He closed his eyes tightly as he sang.

The Gothic Archies, "It's Useless To Struggle" (lyrics)

He hurried back offstage, scowling.

[every_daae]

Christine looked at him in worry, but the scowling, thin young man obviously did not want to be disturbed. All the same, he had sung a very depressing song (even death arias weren't usually that bleak), and that made her rather uneasy for his well-being.

She ventured a very timid, "Areyouallright,sir?" which she wasn't sure he heard.

[waste_lock]

The barely-audible question made Nny whirl around, eyes wide and wary. The wariness turned to full-out suspicion when he saw the pretty, frilly-looking girl asking it.

"Are you making fun of me?"

[every_daae]

Christine shook her head, blue eyes slightly wide. "N-no, not at all. I wouldn't dream of doing that to anyone. Your song was just... slightly... well, death arias aren't usually as... grim... as your song, and the only time I know where people sing things like that when it isn't part of the plot is when something rather bad happens. I... I thought it might be...." She trailed off. Oh dear, this wasn't going well. "I'm not making fun of you. I really do want to make sure you're all right."

She looked at him anxiously, to see how he reacted.

((ooc; no worries. This is Johnny the Homicidal Maniac, right? He is rather snarly in canon, and Christine's just got some IC-perverse fascination with sociopaths.))

[waste_lock]

"Most people who are dying can delude themself with the idea that they're going to a better place." Arms crossed and shoulders hunched, he glanced away. " 'All right' is more than I should expect. I shouldn't have let myself forget that."

((It is indeed, he is indeed, and she does indeed!))

[every_daae]

Christine looked at him in sympathy. She had always had a strange fascination with the villains in operas, and the dark, brooding characters who always turned out to be deeply miserable and freakishly violent. Of course, being Christine, she normally edited out the bit where the villain went on murderous rampages, and felt only sympathy for them. In fact, she often forgot they were villains to begin with.

"Oh, you poor dear," she murmured. Christine smiled at him gently. "Is there anything I can do to help? Everyone should be happy, if they get the chance."

[waste_lock]

...Oh, God. Looking directly at her, he smiled, not at all pleasantly. "Happy? Do you really think there is such a thing? That it exists as more than a transitory state to outline the misery of existence more vivdly?"

[every_daae]

Christine drew back slightly. "Euh... yes?"

Oh dear, that wasn't really a good answer was it? She couldn't really think of anything else to say, though.

"Everything would be very bleak if it didn't exist," she added, somewhat lamely. "Surely there must be some form of 'happily ever afters' that last longer than misery does."

[waste_lock]

"It would be, wouldn't it?" Nny laughed raggedly. "And thinking happiness is possible only makes it worse."

[every_daae]

"I suppose so," Christine said guardedly. "But I don't see how happiness is impossible. There's always something that you enjoy doing and brings a certain sort of satisfaction, or people you enjoy being with."

[waste_lock]

"Do you think 'a certain sort of satisfaction' is all there is to happiness, then? Simply a temporary distraction from despair? Enjoyment is so transitory, after all, and depending on people is uncertain at best."

[every_daae]

"Well," Christine ventured, "I suppose happiness is transitory, but so is misery. I've always been of the opinion that there is some sort of pure joy, completely separate from happiness, that uplifts regardless of circumstance. Like how the martyrs could be happy when stoned to death and things."

[waste_lock]

"Maybe they were just happy to be escaping this world."

[every_daae]

Christine blinked. Rather timidly, she said, "That paints a rather grim picture of life on earth. Can you really believe there is nothing to enjoy here? No music that inspires? No story that enchants?"

[waste_lock]

"You mean the pretty lies people tell themselves in a vain effort to mask the bleak reality? Or the uglier ones they tell each other to get what they want?"

[every_daae]

Oh dear. He really was quite depressing to talk to. "I suppose I meant the ones that lie in order to bring understanding of a higher truth." Vaguely puzzled, she added, "I'm afraid I cannot see how pure music could lie, unless you take issue with the lyrics."