Somehow, someday, somewhere!

[longshadow16]

((OOC: Forgive the smarmy West Side Story lyric, but I have no idea what week we are in at this point. This scene is set later in the week after this one, after dinner in Gudge and Longshadow's room

Comments

[gudgeon]

Gudge, slightly startled by the soft projectile bouncing off the side of his head, looks up from the plans he's been working at. Seeing the look on the Sluagh's face, he thinks better of replying in a sarcastic tone. "Well, aside from schoolwork, this personal project, and the occasional question from Vincent about the camera he's borrowing, there's not a fuck of a lot extra going on. Why, what's up?"

[longshadow16]

"I want you to make something for me. I require a voice..." Longshadow's brows draw low. "I don't know the word for it. I require a device which will make my voice louder as well as less sibilant. Could such a thing be made?"

[gudgeon]

"So," Gudge queries, "you want an amplifier that also changes how your voice sounds? Well, I guess, not so much change how it sounds, but remove or smooth out various properties of it, like the underlying hiss of your whisper? I think something like that can be done." He scratches his chin in thought for a moment.

"We could probably prototype it just using some off-the-shelf software on my PC. Can I ask why you'd want this contraption?"

[longshadow16]

Like the underlying hiss of your whisper.

Longshadow closes his eyes briefly, rubbing at the space between brows with narrow fingers. After a moment he shakes his head as if trying to throw off melancholy and meets Gudge's gaze again. "I want it so I can sing. On stage, off stage--it really doesn't matter. I simply want my voice back, and I figured commissioning you was far more productive than moping."

[gudgeon]

"Aaah," Gudge says, nodding. "That makes sense. Okay, at least that gives me an idea of what kind of technology I'll need to putz around with. Still, though, I think we can prototype it on my PC."

He bends over and rummages through a box near his desk, finally proclaiming, "Ah-ha! I knew I had one of these fuckers kicking around!" In his hand he brandishes a microphone, which he plugs into the back of his computer. "C'mere," he says to Longshadow, motioning him over. "Let's see what we can make this puppy do!"

With that, he starts up his sound editing software and tests the microphone briefly to ensure it's pushing sound to the computer. He turns to the Sluagh and hands him the microphone. "When I nod, sing into the mike." Gudge turns back to the computer, clicks on the software's "record" icon, and nods.

[longshadow16]

Longshadow grimaces, teeth bared. Then, without warning or explanation, his mouth spreads into a wide and wicked smile. His tongue flickers briefly between his teeth before he begins to... vocalize. Deep, throaty moans issue from his throat, captured by the microphone and recorded on Gudge's PC for all posterity. Eventually they soften into whimpers, and he hands the microphone back, grinning.

"Warn me next time, yes?"

[gudgeon]

Gudge sits in stunned silence for a moment before his brain kicks in again, and he fumbles with the mouse to stop the recording. "Uh, I'll just save that out somewhere for reference..." Once it's saved out, he clears the recording to ready it for another take.

"Okay, smartass," he growls with a grin, "this time, take a moment to think of something you'd like to sing. Let me know when you're ready, and I'll get it recording."

[longshadow16]

His brow arches. You think this is done, do you? Let's see...

Longshadow taps gently at his throat, clearing it, and motions for Gudge to begin the recording.

"Love, love changes everything:
hands and faces, earth and sky."

His voice, a soft tenor, is clearly well-trained. Each note is easily reached, clear and clean of vibrato. If only it were clear of hisses as well, and the pops that make Longshadow sound as if he is not singing so much as playing an old, slightly warped record. Still, he continues, leaning close. If he has to humilate himself, he might as well enjoy it.

"Love, love changes everything:
how you live and how you die.
Love, can make the summer fly,
or a night seem like a lifetime.
Yes, love, love changes everything...
Now I tremble at your name!
Nothing in the world will ever be the same!"

[gudgeon]

Gudge waits a moment or two after Longshadow stops singing, making sure he's actually done, and then stops the recording. "Pretty song, L. I don't recognize it, but pretty." He smiles at the Sluagh, and then turns to the computer

[longshadow16]

Longshadow licks his lips, his mouth suddenly dry. "It was... it was how I used to..." Swimming, his eyes focus on Gudge again. "Do you have a handkerchief?"

[gudgeon]

A blush rises on his cheeks, and he reaches into his back pocket, producing a sparkling white handkerchief. "Yeah, yeah; I'm foul-mouthed, but my mom raised me well." He slips into a sing-song impersonation of her voice. "'Always have a clean handkerchief. You never know who might need one.'" Gudge passes the handkerchief to Longshadow.

"You okay? I can't have gotten it that close just by dicking it around a little..."

[longshadow16]

"But it's far, far better than this," he hisses, a hand rising to his throat. After a moment, he forces a smile, daubing at his eyes. "Not that I swim in the ocean of self hatred, of course. Having a cock the size of a baby's arm keeps my self esteem high. Which brings us to the question of how I should pay you..."

[gudgeon]

At the Sluagh's remark, Gudge's eyebrows shoot up. "A baby's arm, eh? Where did you find a baby to measure it against? And what age are we talking about?" He grins evily.

"As for payment, well, fuck, I don't know how much it'll cost to build. We've still gotta sort out exactly what the final parameters are, and I've gotta fabricate the thing into a size that's wearable. But, shit, if you want to take me out for dinner in appreciation, that's good by me." He smiles widely. "We can talk about what to do with your cock over dinner."

[longshadow16]

Longshadow's mouth opens, but no soond emerges. He closes it again, ducking his head slightly, the faintest blush of color rising to his cheeks. In the instant before it fades, Gudgeon catches a glimpse of what L might have looked like before the Sluagh in him took over: young and very, very human.

When Longshadow looks up again, his eyes are sparkling. "Are you teasing, Gudge? Or am I actually getting through to you? If I am, I'd dearly like to discuss what my mouth could do--right now in fact."

[gudgeon]

Smiling at having seen a somewhat truer vision of Longshadow, he answers. "No, I'm not teasing. If your mouth is half as lithe as the rest of your body seems to be, I can only imagine the things you might be able to do with it." The smile turns into impish grin, and he takes the Sluagh by the hand, drawing him down until their faces are close.

"You're getting through, big time," Gudge whispers into L's ear. "I've been watching to see how serious you are, or if it's just simply your Satyr nature coming through."

[longshadow16]

Longshadow tilts his head, looking down at Gudgeon through a fringe of dark hair. He raises a hand and, smooth as silk, a single finger traces the curve of the Nocker's ear. "You're worried I only want your body."