1st Floor Rec Room, Monday Evening

[spin_kick_snap]

'Somehow' (Kathy was blaming Dante), dinner at El Burrito Loco had involved not one but several alcoholic flights for them to share: it had started with a cerveza flight with appetizers, turned into a sangria flight before their entrees had come out, and finished up with a tequila flight right before they'd finished eating. It was the tequila flight that had done it; they had been just fine after the sangria, but the shots of tequila, even when divided between the three of them, had sent them right over the edge from 'pleasantly buzzed' to 'gigglng and tipsy.'

The trip home hadn't sobered them up much, which was why they'd somehow ended up in the first floor Rec Room instead of heading up the stairs to the third floor. It was also why the discovery of a fully-functioning karaoke machine was pounced on with delight. Normally, Kathy would have been all over the DDR machine in the corner, but karaoke was a much, much better idea--for one thing, there was far less movement involved.

"We are doing this," she informed the guys, plugging the machine in and pulling out the track listings. There were an insane number of tracks from all over the world. Kathy was shocked to find songs listed by prominent K- and J-Pop artists, as well as the standard fare of Broadway, 50s ballads, and 70's rock. "We are absolutely doing this. In fact, Dante, I challenge you to an 80s power ballad-off right now."

The first floor of the Dorms was in for a very long, very musical night.

[Dante and Anders modded with permission, post very definitely open for anyone who wants to come in and sing! Beat the Mondays with secondhand karaoke!]

Comments

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante squinted at her as he processed that statement.

And processed. And processed. And--

"Total Eclipse of the Heart?" Beat. "Or Cyndi Lauper? I could do Cyndi."

He was pretty drunk.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Yeah, but we have to open this with a show-stopper," she said, flipping through the books. "Total Eclipse of the Heart all the way. At least if we're doing it as a duet. Otherwise, you take Cyndi, I'll take Bonnie."

[not_every_mage]

"I can do "Hungry Like the Wolf,"" Anders offered. "Best song there is."

Which meant he'd heard it once when he was drunk and now it was stuck in his head.

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante wandered over to see what she was doing. "No, no, no," he said, "Now you gotta do Bonnie with me, Kathy."

As per usual when tequila had been in the recent past, his Brooklyn Limbo City accent was out in full force.

[not_every_mage]

"I don't know most of these songs," Anders informed anyone in the viscinity as he thumbed through the list. "Does that matter?"

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante grinned at him. "Darken the city, the night is a wire," he managed, not completely on-key. "I dunno, it's kinda terrible. But you could rock it. Probably."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Bah! Hardly!" Kathy said, slinging an arm around his waist. "The words are on the screen and no one's going to blame you if you mess up the tune! The point of karaoke is to get really drunk and have a great time with your friends!"

And lo, here they were.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Fine, but if you don't go over the top drama with this, I'm taking your part away and giving it to Anders," Kathy declared, hands on hips. "Go big or go home, Glowstick."

And she was entering the track number for Total Eclipse. Because this needed to be done right now.

[rebelseekspizza]

"We're singing Total Eclipse of the Heart," Dante pointed out. "Is there a way to do that that isn't, like, fucking huge?"

Was there a microphone-y thing? He was getting the thing.

[spin_kick_snap]

"I'm sure there's been some soulless monster who's come in and ruined it by singing it straight," Kathy said, grabbing the other microphone. "But we're not that kind of person, dammit."

The intro music started and Kathy grinned. "Turn around..."

That's right, Dante. First verse was yours.

[rebelseekspizza]

Oh, come on, really? Dante shot her a sideways look, eyebrows crawling up.

... okay, fine. Challenge accepted. There was no way in hell he was going that high, but he was going to do this.

"Every now and then, I get a little bit lonely, and you're never coming round..."

It did not quite sound right sung in (an approximation of) tenor, but she would just have to deal.

[spin_kick_snap]

Hey, she'd said it was a challenge! And the trick wasn't to hit every note, it was to emote on every note he hit!

To be fair, Total Eclipse required a lot of emoting. Hell, Kathy was doing her best with every "Turn around..." clasping her free hand over her chest.

[rebelseekspizza]

At least by the second verse, Dante was getting into it. Okay, his big Sad Face sold only on the basis of his big blue eyes, but he was trying.

"Every now and then I get a little bit tired of listening to the sound of my tears..."

[spin_kick_snap]

Yeah, Kathy's "Turn around..." was delayed a bit by her snickering over Dante attempting to look sad and tearful.

[rebelseekspizza]

"Every now and then, I get a little bit nervous that the best of all the years have gone by..." Dante sung.

He reached over and poked Kathy in the head while he sung it.

Still looking super sad.

[crimson_sister]

Lucille had planned to spend the evening practicing the piano. As soon as she entered the rec room, she realized that wasn't going to happen. She stopped for a moment in the doorway, taking in the scene.

Why would anyone want to sing bad music badly? Although considering the people present, perhaps she shouldn't be surprised.

Giving them a very unimpressed look, she spun around and left. Reading would be a better choice tonight, obviously.

[I'm going to bed now, but I couldn't resist. Lucille hates you for ruining her evening.]

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy wasn't buying that sadness at all, Dante! She stuck her tongue out briefly at him before supplying her "Turn around..."

It wasn't her fault Dante couldn't pull off over-the-top sadness. Too much devil in him!

[rebelseekspizza]

"Every now and then I get a little bit terrified..." Dante poked her again. Then he turned around to face her in full and made genuinely huge eyes.

It was actually sort of impressive.

"And then I see the look in your eyes..."

[spin_kick_snap]

"It's okay if you're scared to sing," Kathy called after her. "We don't judge. Unlike some people."

And just to prove that she could sing bad music very well, even tipsy, Kathy launched into another song.

[I'm so glad she showed up! And SP is love if you decide to have her respond to Kathy's taunt when you wake up!]

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante spotted Lucille immediately. She might have been headed out the door, but he was fast enough that she probably would have still heard, "Don't you! Forget About me! As you walk on by, will you call my name?" being directed at her back.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Turn around....bright eyes!" Kathy said, actually trying to physically spin Dante around. She could not handle Dante making huge eyes at her. Could not. It was both so wrong and also made her want to cuddle him close and promise everything would be okay.

Clearly, she was drunker than she'd thought.

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante snickered, and went a few steps along with it before clearly deciding it was Too Much and planting himself in place. He was still making Big Eyes at Kathy, though. "Every now and then I fall apart!"

[spin_kick_snap]

She was going to try to keep pushing! Fat lot of good that would do her if he decided not to move, but dammit she'd try! "Turn around--" she grunted, trying to get him to shift. "Bright eyes!"

Big Eyes on Dante was an unfair advantage!

[rebelseekspizza]

"Every now and then I. Fall. Apart," Dante sung firmly. And then his eyes narrowed as he didn't stop but instead segued seamlessly into, "TURN AROUND."

[spin_kick_snap]

Ha, don't you worry, Dante! Kathy was more than ready to swing into the second verse. "Every now and thenI get a little bit restless and I dream of something wild..." She winked at him, crooking her finger at him with a coy, come hither look.