taxonomites | 008: A Musical Interlude [Accidental Visual / Location: Glitch's Workshop]

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008: A Musical Interlude [Accidental Visual / Location: Glitch's Workshop]

It was far too hot in the workshop. They were both mechanically inclined, but for some reason – time restrictions, possibly, although the smart money would be on the hamsters and their sense of humour – Glitch and DG hadn’t got around to fixing it. Until they did, DG would continue to wander into work in a pair of short overalls instead of her usual jeans.

When the tablet switched on – hamster humour again – she was sitting on the work bench, idly swinging her bare legs as she watched Glitch work. She was slightly bored, slightly irritated and slightly uncomfortable, which wasn’t a pleasant combination. The music, when it started, was almost - almost - a relief.

Glitch looked up at the first piano note and over to DG at the second. Oh cripes! He'd been subjected to this musical nonsense a couple of times already and ... he sauntered over, intent on warning her. However, the song kicked in properly and he ended up scooping her off the bench instead, spinning her once before setting her on her feet. Any words he may have said escaped him. This wasn't his number.

“Why do you let me stay here?”

DG shimmied across the workshop as she sang, before turning and beckoning to Glitch. Obediently, he moved to stand before her as the song continued.

“All by myself?
Why don't you come and play here?
I'm just sitting on the shelf.”

She turned away from him again, striding across the room in time to the music. After a twirl and a tug at his open collar, Glitch followed, after a fashion, and ended up on his knees before her, arms spread and smiling away.

“Why don't you sit right down and stay awhile?
We like the same things and I like your style.
It’s not a secret; why do you keep it?
I'm just sitting on the shelf.

I got to get your presence,
Let's make it known.”

If DG had been thinking about what she was doing, her second question – after the initial embarrassment and confusion had passed – would have been an attempt to find out what the hamster choreographers were thinking. While she performed a musical hopscotch, Glitch performed a series of very impressive flips. Unfortunately, instead of complimenting him, DG’s only response was to hit him on the chest with the palms of her hand.

”I think you're just so pleasant;
I would like you for my own.”

Pouting, DG drew a heart in the air, before the dance routine continued as strangely as before. It was all a playful parody of the ballroom style he favoured, with some elements of swing mixed in. Eventually, they ended up standing on a work bench facing each other, allowing Glitch to show off a bit of the Quadling Hop. Then he gestured to DG, who responded with some exuberant footwork of her own.

“Why don't you sit right down and make me smile?
You make me feel like I am just a child.
Why do you end it?
Just give me credit!
I'm just sitting on the shelf.”

She hiked up an imaginary skirt and curtseyed, to which he offered a courtly bow and flourish. They stepped off the benches and came together again for a few more spins and a bit of shimmying, before Glitch took DG in his arms for a dip. The invisible background singers continued their acapella harmonizing, but the moment he decided to kiss her the music refused to accompany them.

“... what just happened?”

OOC: Joint post! ~~Slightly ripped off from~~ Inspired by 500 Days of Summer’s bank dance. And, yes, that really is Zooey Deschanel singing.

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"Um," Glitch began, then carefully eased them back to vertical. "I was gonna say there's been this musical thingy going on but I I think that's a little obvious."

He's understandably bemused, and maybe a tad annoyed by the hamsters. When he'd mentioned he'd have gone for more acrobatic choreography he hadn't meant backflips.

"You have a lovely voice, by the way." Which was used to sing some very interesting things.

With one hand clutching the back of Glitch's shirt, DG raised the other to brush a stray lock of hair out of her face. The exercise had quickened her breathing and her embarrassment - from the flush of colour in her cheeks to the fact that she couldn't meet her friend's eye - was probably palpable.

"I know. I've seen a few people singing." (This was the first elaborate dance routine she'd seen, though.) "I hoped I wouldn't have to be one of them."

The lyrics had been an interesting choice, too.

"Thanks."

He nodded and willed his heartbeat to slow to a reasonable pace, which might take a while if he didn't let go of her. And since he had no immeidate plans for doing that...

"It's one of those things that gets everybody, I think," he remarked. "Helps people get things off their chests."

No judgment or accusation there, just a gentle nudge.

“They could have picked a nicer way to play councilor,” said DG, with understandable irritation. It was obvious – obvious enough, at least – who she had been singing about and the uncomfortable accuracy of the lyrics only made it worse. She would have spoken to Glitch eventually. She didn’t like having her decisions made for her!

“I should have said something before they decided to make me sing it.”

Glitch smiled tentatively and kissed her cheek in an effort to be reassuring.

"I'm...it's okay," he said. "At least maybe we can talk now?"

Now that she had both feet on the ground, DG carefully released her grip on Glitch's shirt. The urge to sing - and the impulse to dance - seemed to have passed. For now.

"I think we have to," she said. In a way, the hamsters had done them a favour. (Not enough to earn them her forgiveness, though. They'd never manage that.) "I just need to work out where to start."

He nodded, and guided her over to one of the benches as this would likely be one of those conversations best had while sitting. Less chance of either of them running away that way.

"Well." The truth was Glitch had no idea where to start either, so he grasped at what he recalled as the gist of the song. "We could start with the stuff about secrets? It's- you don't like it."

He wasn't too keen about it either, but he saw it as a necessary evil.

Sitting down, DG crossed her legs and leaned back, resting her elbows on the wooden surface of the bench. She looked a lot calmer than she felt and, knowing that, she managed to treat the conversation with a sort of detached normality.

“I was singing about us, Glitch,” she said, which was a sentence she had never expected to form. “I was singing about the way our … our whatever it is seems to stop at the doors of the Northern Island.”

Normality was a good idea, as was directness. Given all his flights of fancy Glitch needed a grounding in the literal in order to focus properly, and he suspected this was far too important to let his mind wander. His posture reflected that notion as he sat straight beside DG, hands clasped in his lap, attentive gaze settled on her.

He frowned, considering, the nodded. "Yes, I think I see what you're saying." With a tilt of his head he put it all together. "So...you don't want to hide it. Our..."

Gods, they couldn't even name it, and absolutely none of the phrases the court would derisively apply were worth considering.

"I don't see why we should," said DG. They were both adults. They were both capable of making their own choices.

As she spoke, she was struck by the sudden formality of their conversation. Which was ridiculous for a variety of reasons. Impulsively, she turned on the bench to drape her legs across Glitch's lap.

"Our relationship," she finished for him, with a raised eyebrow. She seemed to be daring him to call it something else.

He made a startled noise when she moved, then instinctively put his arm around her shoulders to steady her. There was absolutely no logistical reason for his other hand going to her knee, however.

"Relationship," Glitch agreed, and offered a somewhat wondering smile. This faded as he considered reasons, the things that made for the weird and awkward stuff that he wanted so badly to ignore.

"I just..." He closed his eyes to concentrate, and his fingers glided idly down her shin. "None of it matters, not to us, but - I'm sorry, I can't help worrying. About what they'd think. You're young and beautiful and and I'm...we're very unconventional." He opened his eyes again, and the hand that had made its way to her ankle went to his head. "Stupid. Why didn't they take my uptight social hangups while they were at it?"

"I'd say I'm pretty unconventional too, Glitch," she noted. Very few people were resurrected after death or raised in a world that they hadn't been born in, after all. And the weight that rested on her shoulders was definitely unique. "And I'm not going to waste the time we do have worrying about what people who aren't even here are going to think."

There was no way of knowing when the next glitch would occur or when one of them would be sent back to the O.Z without warning.

"Easy for you to say," Glitch remarked, then offered a crooked smile. "You're not the one Cain's going to be shooting at if he turns up."

He lowered his hand again and nodded to himself. "You're right, though, it's silly. I've just gotten so used to hiding that I don't know when to...not."

"I won't let him shoot you," DG promised, replacing the hand he had lowered with her own and threading her fingers through his hair.

She couldn't imagine how Cain would react, actually. She hoped - for his sake, because the fact that she missed him didn't matter - that he wouldn't arrive in Taxon and they wouldn't have to find out. He belonged in the O.Z

"I know, Glitch. I'm not saying we need to shout it from the rooftops. But we shouldn't hide it either."

"Thanks," Glitch said and leaned into the touch. It took a lot for him to let someone's hands near his head, and to welcome that contact was an indication of highest trust.

"So we won't," he replied, and sealed the resolution with a quick kiss. He hummed and then drew back with a grin as an idea struck him. "Of course, the way things are going we'll probably end up warbling something sappy at each other for all of Taxon to witness."

It had been an unconscious gesture on the surface, but, on another level, it had been an attempt to remind Glitch that the zipper didn't matter. (Or, at the very least, that it didn't matter to her. It wouldn't change anything.)

"Deal," she said, tempting to hold her hand out and make it official. She abandoned that idea as soon as he put the idea of a duet in her head. DG's eyes widened as she struggled to decide if she found the notion amusing or horrifying. "Don't give the hamsters ideas."

"I think they already have all the ideas," Glitch said quietly. His tone was playful but...well, odds were they did.

Meanwhile he had his girl in his arms and a few ideas of his own in his head, now that he let himself entertain them. It was okay, it would all be okay so long as they stayed together, and they'd always find a way back.

"Well, until they give us our next routine maybe we can make plans of our own? Like dinner...out?" His smile was a bit sheepish, as he did not want to think of how long it had probably been since he'd gone on anything resembling a date. "Or or or dancing? Voluntary dancing?"

Wriggling closer to Glitch, DG nodded. They probably did. As long as they didn't pick a ballad - or broadcast the song to the network - she'd probably survive.

"You mean a ... date?" she asked, twisting her head to look at him. She looked a little surprised, yes, but she also looked delighted. The idea was oddly conventional, but it was also wonderfully sweet.

"They have some nice restaurants in Central," she added, thoughtfully.

He grinned. "Sure! A date. It'll be fun."

Glitch ducked his head so it could rest against hers. Yes, fun, they needed that...and a way to burn through some of the voluminous amount of credits they were earning.

"You just pick the time and place and we'll be there," he said.

"I might even wear a skirt," she said, crossing her legs. (Something she saved for special occasions. Although she hadn't seen the point of wearing that sort of thing in Kansas, she could see in the appeal here. In a way.)

The more she thought about it, the more she warmed to the idea.

"Would you want to try Otherside food?" DG asked, after a contemplative pause. Not that she'd tried anything particularly exotic in Kansas. She'd read a lot of brochures, though.

"I won't discourage you," he remarked and grinned impishly as he resettled his hand over her ankles. Glitch knew that ultimately his opinion wouldn't do much to influence DG's sartorial choices but...he liked her legs (and the rest of her of course).

Her suggestion brought the gleam of scientific curiosity to his eyes. He liked food, and experimenting, and researching the peculiarities of the Otherside, so to combine those three activities would be fabulous.

"I'd love to." While basic fare didn't vary wildly from one dimension to the next, there were endless things you just couldn't get in the O.Z. Pizza, for instance.

Pizza, yes, and hot dogs, hamburgers and fries. Although it wasn't the sort of food that you were supposed to eat on a date, it was the sort of food that DG - Kansas raised if not Kansas born - loved. She couldn't pass up an opportunity to share it with Glitch.

"Great," she said, with bright eyed enthusiasm. "I'll find the restaurant!"

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008: A Musical Interlude [Accidental Visual / Location: Glitch's Workshop]

[location: the workshop]

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