musical interlude

[i_am_your_host]

Emcee is dressed as usual -- white sleeveless shirt, trousers with suspenders, impeccable makeup -- when he fetches some sheet music from the Bar and sits down at the piano. Laying his fingers on the keys, he practices a few chords and scales, warming up, finding the right notes.

It's how he clears his mind and focuses. It's how he returns to who he once was.

Softly and with earnest feeling, he begins to play and sing:

"I am what I am,
I am my own special creation...
So come take a look,
Give me the hook or the ovation...

It's my world that I want to have a little pride in,
My world and it's not a place I have to hide in--
Life's not worth a damn,
'Til you can say: hey world, I am what I am."



He pauses for dramatic effect, and then launches into a bouncy, upbeat tempo, throwing his whole voice and body into the song. This is the sort of liberating performance Emcee was made for.

"I am what I am
I don't want praise, I don't want pity,
I bang my own drum
Some think it's noise, I think it's pretty!

And so what if I love each feather and each spangle?
Why not try to see things from a different angle?
Your life is a sham,
'Til you can shout out, I am what I am!

I am what I am
And what I am needs no excuses,
I deal my own deck
Sometimes the ace, sometimes the deuces

It's one life and there's no return and no deposit,
One life, so it's time to open up your closet--
Life's not worth a damn,
'Til you can say: hey world, I am what I am!"



Oh, yes. Definitely feeling like himself today.


[OOC: Link leads to Youtube video of John Barrowman performing this song in concert.]

tiny tag: cassian andor

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[thewidewideworld]

Sinric applauds from his spot by the fire, his strapped ankle resting on a footstool. He waves down a rat and asked them to order Emcee a drink. Whatever he would like.

[i_am_your_host]

Emcee turns toward the applause, and his expression lights up at the sight of his friend, his mirror. Before he approaches, he asks the rat for a glass of gin, and then continues on his way to Sinric.

"Darling, thank you," he says gushingly, and he leans down to hug Sinric and kiss him on the cheek. "But what has happened to your foot?"

[thewidewideworld]

Sinric returns the kiss gladly, his hands warm through Emcee's shirt as they embrace. "Well played and deeply felt." He smiles.

At the question, he shrugs self-deprecatingly. "A moment of gracelessness in the bath house. To my eternal shame." He smiles, making room for Emcee at his side. "Hannibal has promised to show me how to strengthen it."

[i_am_your_host]

"You are kind to say so," he says appreciatively. "I'm glad you felt it as well."

He flops onto the couch close beside him, tucking a foot underneath himself and draping an arm across the cushions at Sinric's back.

"Graceless? You? Perish the thought! How long before you can dance again?"

[thewidewideworld]

"The words were the defiant declaration of otherness I wish we could cry out more often." He rests his head on Emcee's shoulder. "I should Translate it into a tongue no-one around me speaks and sing it anyway."

"Alas, there were two I'm wary of splashing about in one of the other baths. I was watching them more carefully then I was watching my step." He shrugs, "Another week and then I'm sure I could dance again." He grins at Emcee. "Given the right partner."

[i_am_your_host]

"Oh, yes, you definitely ought to translate it and take it back to your world," he agrees. "It's a good song to know. Sort of an anthem for ourselves."

He plays with Sinric's hair, idly combing his fingers through the flaxen strands.

"You know I'm always a ready and willing partner, darling." He returns the grin. "But who are these two that have you on guard? And I didn't even know that there was a public bath here..."

(No, he is not getting ideas about how to get into trouble.)

[thewidewideworld]

He sings softly, translating it to Greek as he sings. It needs work, and he frowns accordingly. "Will you sing the words for me again, when you're ready? So I can be sure I have them right." He leans into the touch with clear enjoyment.

"Two who are new here. Who came together after their deaths. I tried to help one of them who said he was injured but it was a teasing ruse. A joke he liked to play on others. I used the seeing to help him but it would appear such things are taboo on his world. Both he and his companion grew very angry over it."

It's clear it upset him but he's trying to shrug it off.

"Indeed there is. I didn't know either, and only found it by chance. It has hot and cold pools, just like the bath houses of my childhood."

[i_am_your_host]

Emcee hears the Greek, and he tips his head like a cat listening to an intriguing sound. And then he smiles and nods, "Oh, of course. We can work on it together some time." There really is nothing like working with someone who shares your musical sensibilities. Emcee has missed that.

"It sounds to me," he then says with a thoughtful frown, "that there was a misunderstanding there, on both sides. If he was new, he wouldn't have known not to pull that trick, because people here have all sorts of powers they can use, for good or bad. And you--well, you simply didn't know. But you have such a powerful gift. And I know that you know that it's important to use discretion, especially with strangers here. Even with those in distress. They may have powers, too, and who knows how things may clash."

He shrugs and rubs Sinric's arm. "I'm sure they will get over it. A pair, though? I met a pair recently. I wonder if they're the same ones."

Milliways can sometimes be very small, in terms of circles of people.

"I may have to investigate these baths. There were baths in Berlin, too, which I used to frequent, but they were shut down, of course. Nobody knows how to have fun anymore..."

[thewidewideworld]

"I'd like that very much. I'm travelling again and every song, every story will help me on my journey." He smiles and brushes his fingers over Emcee's. "And I want to carry your songs, your stories with you. Your... self-assurance is a boon to me."

"Just so. Which is why I'm trying to let things lie with them. Such grudges are burdens I'd rather not bear. But it doesn't mean I'm not careful around them. One of them looks to be a man of the Tang, blind and slender, with movements of a fighter. The other was larger, with long hair and the face of a man of the Mongols."

"I will take you gladly, if you wish. The warm water will do my ankle good."

[i_am_your_host]

"Then we have much to talk and sing about before then," he says, touched that Sinric would want to bring those parts of him with him. "As for my self-assurance, well..." He gives a small, self-deprecating shrug and a smile. "Sometimes I'm not sure if it's self-assurance or delusions of grandeur, but I find that there is often a fine line to straddle."

Matching Sinric's description of the two men with the fellows he met during his bartending shift, he starts a little with surprise. "Oh, that is Chirrut and Baze! They seemed quite affable to me. Huh. Well, if they still hold a grudge toward you, then I can try to set things right the next time I see them."

He then sits forward, offering Sinric his arm. "Do please show me the baths, darling, and we can have a quiet soak if you like."

[thewidewideworld]

Sinric smiles and cups Emcee's cheek, resting companionably against him. "Either way, your grandeur gives me hope."

He shakes his head. "Trust was broken on both sides by a poor first meeting. If I am to be around them without feeling on my guard, it must be a trust earned and built. If it is to be, it will in time. I don't wish to sour any friendship you have with them."

He stand, leaning a little on Emcee's arm. "Gladly. Let's fetch some towels from the bar and then I shall show you the way."

[i_am_your_host]

"I would still speak up for you," Emcee insists. "True, I don't know them well, but I know you better. I won't push the matter, though, if you prefer I didn't. Still, you needn't worry, I can talk my way into and out of almost anything." He smirks, as he helps Sinric get to his feet and supports him.

"Must we also fetch-- um, bathing trunks?"

Because rules?

[thewidewideworld]

"Your powers of persuasion are legendary." Sinric smiles, half teasingly. "If you feel you must, do as you see best. But only if you think it wise."

He leans on Emcee as they make their way to the bar, frowning. "I... I did not. I don't know now if that was right?"

[i_am_your_host]

"If and only if the subject arises, then we shall see," he assures him.

Once they reach the bar, Emcee asks for towels and robes.

"Well, it is a public bath. Not that I am against creating mischief in places that lack it, but-- as much as it pains my sensibilities to utter the phrase better safe than sorry, perhaps we should get some bathing trunks. Just in case. But we'll put them on only if someone objects."

[thewidewideworld]

"As you say." However what the bar provides for Sinric could better be described as a bikini bottom than trunks.

He shrugs and ties then in a bundle with towels and robes. "This way."

[i_am_your_host]

And the bar gives Emcee a pair of bright blue Speedos.

He boggles at the colorful briefs for a moment before tucking it into his own bundle. Turning to give Sinric his arm again, he follows where he leads.