lieutenantantichrist | [29] Video/Action for Goldenrod - "I will smack your face off of your face! Do not add a song!"

[A Pidgey flutters to a landing on a drainpipe in Goldenrod. In its beak is a tatter of a weather-bleached campaign poster bearing the left side of Carter Blake's face.

The camera turns to glimpse the Ludicolo carrying it, then follows a man's trudging boots. The eternal background music rises and shifts into a heavy, tramping rhythm underscored by a hiss of maracas.

There's a lady walking her Houndoor. When Blake treads in a puddle that splashes the dog, it growls at him, and Blake growls right back.

That gets attention from passersby on the other side of the street. Blake whirls on them.]

I see that rancid smile
You think that I'm all ruse
Well you can walk a mile
But keep your damn hands off my shoes

[He turns to harangue a new target, oblivious to the dance routine beginning around him.]

See, my job was to beat the chaos sane
You gotta make some messes
You can't be afraid to deal some pain
There's no time for second guesses
If meting out justice is what you wanna do
You gotta put a crack in a tibia or two

[His Snubbull leaps to grab a dancer's hand and gets whirled around in a circle.]

Who're you to say I did it wrong?
Who're you to judge my sins?
You say that you care about what's right and what's fair
What you care about is who wins

You say you want a hero?
They's not what you want to see
They don't turn back, they never crack
Wake up and look at me

[Blake sweeps his arm at the gathered crowd.]

I was doing fine, I was in the clear
Didn't break down, didn't drink
Til I ended up booted over here
With nothing but time to think

[He stomps down the street faster, but their choreography keeps them all close behind him.]

Back home, I had a place to lead
I had my city and I served it
Every time I made some bastard bleed
Hell, I knew that he deserved it
I did everything I could to clean up the filth and vice
I never gave a damn that I didn't do it nice

[His voice gets rapid and louder.]

So you give it all your sweat and blood
So you believe it to the bone
So what if you were wrong when you thought that you were strong
So what if who you fought is everything you're not
So what if you can't claim you're the same as when you came
So what if you're alone?

[Blake's violent gestures cut short. The background music has never seemed so loud as when it suddenly goes silent. He leans against a storefront window, where his dim and dusty reflection lingers.]

[softly]

You say you want a hero?
They's not what you want to see
They don't turn back, they never crack
Wake up and look at me

[His head jerks up to glare at the posed crowd staring at him.]

What?!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Blake's caught between distress and relief.]

It's not just me? Christ, I thought I had some kind of disease.

If it's a disease, it's contagious and widespread. I've seen it around Fuchsia. I thought my Psychic-types were playing a prank at first, but they have no idea what's going on.

I saw somebody singing to their hedgehog. I thought it was just the normal kind of weird.

Whoever it is, I'm reading them the damn riot act, even if I have to make it rhyme.

"Mind control is really not a child's game
but it makes what I'll do to you seem tame"?

Shit, I think I hear new weird music now.

Yeah, that's a start.

[He types quickly with alarm]

Whatever you do, don't open your mouth!

Trying very har

[The sentence stops there. Looks like someone's going to be stuck singing for a minute or two.]

Edited 2016-01-26 21:05 (UTC)

Damn it! Bite your tongue and hold out!

[He tried. He really, really tried. The taste of failure is bitter.]

I knew I should have kept a roll of duct tape around. I swear half my team is laughing themselves to tears right now.

Duct tape and earplugs. That's a good plan for today. They're probably already sold out of both.

Hope it wasn't a shitty song, at least.

I can hold a tune, so it's not as bad as it could have been. Still, I haven't worked with language or rhymes since high school, and it showed.

Tell me you weren't one of those theater kids.

I did Peter Pan with the rest of the Mobile Suit Club, once. But that was for extra credit, and there was no singing involved.

[Blake is going to need a moment to process this information.]

Giant robot camp does musicals?

Giant robot camp does anything, if it looks good on a college application. Or if the class president asks nicely.

That's a hell of a way to get into Harvard. "I did 2 years of giant robot building and 3 in musical theater."

Hey, don't knock it 'til you try it. I did get accepted to the most prestigious military academy out there, after all. And I got to pretend I had a hook for a hand for a few hours.

You were Captain Hook?

[A pause.]

I can kind of see it.

I have the look for it, right? Besides, it was that or the green tights. I couldn't see myself in green tights.

Now there's something I didn't need to think about.

Captain Hook's the better role, anyway. Peter Pan is a prick.

He sure was. Got all the fans, too, or at least he got the ones that weren't gaping starry-eyed at Wendy. Aren't villains supposed to be more popular and interesting?

[29] Video/Action for Goldenrod - "I will smack your face off of your face! Do not add a song!"

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