milliways_bar | (no subject)

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K comes strolling in, making that infinitesimal blink he sometimes does when the Door catches even him off-guard. But if the Landlord thinks he needs a drink instead of finishing that report for Zed, K isn't about to disagree.

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"Oh, no, they haven't been here! I said I told them about it. That's why they're having me bring them User music now."

"Just some cross-dimensional cultural outreach then, got it."

"It's a start. Any suggestions?"

"Well, from a diplomatic perspective, it's hard to go wrong with music. You're on solid ground there."

"Well, yeah, but what're some good songs? Something... human, but not too confusing, you know?"

"Enzo," K says, settling back a bit in his seat with a sudden air of gravitas. "When it comes to the music of Earth, there is only one place to start, and that's with the King himself."

K reaches into his Suit and draws out one of those universal thumb drives he had the MiB labs come up with shortly after arriving at Milliways.

"The complete works of Elvis. Including his latest recordings from 2009, when he went back and revisited his greatest hits. Straight from his studio compound in Digitalis VI."

"Oh, yeah! There's an Elvis in Userspace, too, isn't there? What's his last name there? I know it was different."

K blinks. "You've got an Elvis there too, huh? Well, the King is universal, and that's no mistake."

"He's Presley on my side. What's his name on yours?"

Enzo can bet the next question K will be asking is whether he can supply a flash drive right back. There might be songs K doesn't know, after all.

"Pressanykey."

What did you expect, really?

K chuckles. "Now that's good."

"When you've copied everything on there, do me a favor and fill it up with what you've got on him. Looks like we both stand to gain here."

"Sure thing!"

Most of the songs, in both cases, will probably be extremely familiar, but with some... odd lyrical changes.

"Nothing wrong with some cross-cultural sharing, right?" K asks.

"Wonder what 'our' Elvis would think if he knew he had an analog in Mainframe?"

It's enough to boggle even K's mind.

"Dunno, dude. Some people just show up in a lot of different worlds. One guy I met said he thinks it's 'cause there's so many worlds that everything's gotta happen somewhere, but I dunno if it's that or if worlds, like, leak into each other."

"Well, there are definitely a lot of MiB bureaus out there in the Multiverse."

"Hell, we've conducted joint-operations with a few of them."

"But you probably heard plenty about that back when we were dealing with all the Black Oil mess."

"Yeah, I sort of remember."

Mostly he remembers sulking about not being allowed to participate.

"That was a rough one," K says, and his voice goes hard for just a moment before he lightens again and gives Enzo a slight smile. "But a long time ago now too."

"Yeah, well, remember. Next time something goes down..." Enzo gives him a mock-stern look.

"Better believe it, Tiger. If we run into something like that again, it's the old allies who get the call first."

"Crashing straight." He pauses to ponder. "Guess judo wouldn't be much use against that stuff, huh?"

"No, but I think we're good as far as Black Oil goes. I don't see it coming back."

"And judo works just fine on all kinds of other things."

"Mostly things with arms and legs, but I can totally adapt."

"Long as you don't mind the slime too."

It comes with the territory, after all.

Enzo grimaces, but says, "Yeah, I can deal with slime."

K chuckles.

If he's ready for that, he might just get the call someday.

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