Karaoke Night [OPEN]
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
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...I don't know what it is about the edge of a cliff
Makes me want to get so close to it
I guess this time I finally slipped
What a foolish way to end it
Maybe that's why I'm back here now
got both feet back on the ground
Hopin' you won't turn me down
When I ask you for forgiveness...
Billy's voice definitely wasn't one of the world's strongest, but the mic gave it a quality of resounding despair. It wasn't an terribly stellar voice, true, yet it got the job done.
Then, the song ended and the lights faded. Stunned at his own bold streak, Billy's face started to flush with embarrassment. As he exited stage left and sought shelter in the crowd, he had a moment to ponder the unpredictability of humans afflicted with emotional turmoil; a curious phenomenon that he was certainly not exempt from.
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"It's a little stronger than a regular coke, kiddo, but as long as you pace yourself, you looked like you could use it." The fiend bartender said sympathetically. Peter himself looked at Billy.
"Good guts, man. And not a bad song, for country."
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"Thank you," he said with a grateful nod. Sipping the concoction experimentally, he instantly verified the bartender's description. Slow and steady was the way to proceed.
Billy's attention turned to Peter then. "It was my dad's favorite music genre," he explained almost apologetically. "Every night, he played the songs on his antique record player. I asked him once why he overwhelmingly preferred songs with subject matter involving personal mistakes and lost opportunities, and he said I'd understand someday."
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"It's not just you, man." It seemed like all he needed to say on the subject of mistakes, as Caitlin's face seemed to flash before his eyes.
"As for the record player, that's how my brother Nathan and I got into music, our Mom's old MoTown records. We always had everything else, but nothing beats something to connect you to family." He smiled warmly, hoping Billy would understand he wasn't judging him for liking the music any more than he would be judged.
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"To family," he whispered with a raised glass. But the faces flashing through his head weren't the blood relatives who may or may not have been in stasis in the Pod Caverns.
Billy lapsed into silence then, and he might have even started to relax. The music was not unpleasant.
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"I am---how is he? I would've stayed, but he wanted to be left alone for a while. And I certainly can't blame him for that." Even if he didn't like it. Billy dropped his gaze to the counter, wondering what the Black Ranger felt then.
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"Physically? He'll be fine. I'm going to do a followup with an actual doctor with him later. As a medical professional, I can't give you word on his psychology without his consent." Peter wasn't about to give that stuff out to anyone, period. He did have his standards. "But the way you jumped to ask how he was... I can at least say he's lucky to have a friend like you. The only guy I have who would act that way for me is my brother, and he would only do it half the time. You really are a good person. That should have been our toast." He smiled, somehow feeling like a good person for saying that himself, as he took a drink of his beer.
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Billy took another sip and ducked his head, unsure of how to respond to the other comments. "I can't say I'm qualified to speak about sibling relationships, but Adam's my friend and teammate. We're the only active crew members from my former universe. If he'd been infected by the zombies while I was locked on the other side of the wall..." He trailed off. Peter could fill in the blank with whatever horror he chose to.
"I highly doubt I would have elected to make such a self-congratulatory toast, but I appreciate the thought." There was the tiniest of smiles on his face. "'To compassion' would've been my alternative. As a medical professional, I hope you can understand that."
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"To compassion. And to the understandings that lead to that compassion." He smiled at Billy. They certainly had common ground, and Peter could see it after Billy's suggestion for a toast.
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She had really takimng a shining to him after trying to take the bridge. That, and she knew that Billy was normally a more reserved kind of a guy.
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"Katara, hi." Billy tipped his Sensorium-created illusion of a cowboy hat in her direction, a movement accompanied by an anxious smile. "When did you get here?"
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She looked at his hands. "You're not feeling any more pain, are you?"
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He attempted to pick out her friends in the crowd, smiling slightly when Slobo and friends appeared. "I never thought of this as a frienship-building exercise, but I see the potential understanding that might unfold. I'll look forward to your song." And he meant it. It was wonderfully cathartic, sitting here and listening to the music.
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Katara showed Billy the rest of the Outsiders. "This is my brother Sokka, Rose, Static, and Slobo."
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"Hey Katara, they have Fire Flakes. Best bar ever! Who's your friend?" He'll try to forget that there are no more actual Fire Flakes and never will be ever...
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