fandomhigh | Show and Tell, Tuesday, Period Two

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show and tell

Show and Tell, Tuesday, Period Two

Okay, Sparkle was looking mildly disgruntled when he showed up for class today. He'd messaged the students asking them to think of some music to share this week. That part had gone just fine. But no matter how many times he tried to rehearse his lecture for today, it came out sounding... flat. Not terribly enthusiastic. And for a guy who used enthusiasm as a cover for a lot of things he'd rather not talk about, the island's shenanigans today left him feeling weirdly naked.

"So, uh, today we're sharing music," he said, trying to make up for his near deadpan with a wry smile. "Some song that's really meant a lot to us, or something we heard a lot when we were kids, or that we wrote ourselves, or just something you heard on the radio and thought was fun. Like, I brought in Hello, Dolly, because-- ah, shit. I just made a lot of memories to that song, for better or worse."

While drunk. And crying on some old woman's floor. Details.

"But also because I just shamelessly love musicals. They're fun, and theatre folks just get... things."

This was really hard without the ability to put emphasis on anything, for the record.

"Here, look, I'll just play the song, it's the Carol Channing version because she did it first, though there have been a bunch of great versions since, and then you guys can go."

Hopefully Carol wouldn't come out of the speaker sounding flat, too.

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After Sparkle's done playing Hello, Dolly! on an iPod speaker for you all to hear, feel free to talk about your own music and share with the class!

"I brought a recording from my old school's Battle of the Bands," Pinkie said. "IT WAS THE MOST AMAZING THING EVER!!!!!" What? She couldn't emphasize things the regular way, so she was going to pour on the ~~capslock and exclamation points~~ volume. That was totally normal, right? "You can totally hear us defeat the evil sirens with the magic of friendship. It was neat."

Yeah, that kind of volume wasn't even remotely sustainable, even for Pinkie.

Sparkle tried not to reel back too much at the yelling. He'd done his own fair share of it over the years himself, of course, but he still hadn't been entirely prepared to have it start happening in his classroom.

"There were evil sirens?"

Of course there were evil sirens.

"Yup. They forced a heightened sense of competition on our musical showcase in order to breed disharmony and steal everyone's souls through their singing. That's really very evil."

"I mean, I was totally going to start playing devil's advocate over a little friendly competition right up until the soul stealing part," Sparkle admitted after a pause. "Had some jerk try to steal my soul once. It sucked."

If ever he saw Gaunt again, he'd kick him in his stupid shin.

"How mean." Okay, this lack of emphasis thing was really very jarring and frustrating for Pinkie. She didn't want to just keep shouting at people! "Did you use the magic of friendship to make them stop?"

"I mostly just used the magic of letting somebody else fix it," Sparkle admitted, completely deadpan. Because he had to. Thanks, Fandom. "But friendship and good feelings did help after the fact."

Healing hugs.

Healing. Hugs.

"Friendship is really helpful that way," Pinkie agreed. Blandly. "Was there cuddling? I like friendly cuddling a lot."

"There was maybe a little cuddling," Sparkle admitted after a moment's pause. "I had a cat at the time. He got cuddled a lot."

Once Sparkle was in his right mind enough to actually take care of him again, poor Velcro.

"Aw, kitty." She couldn't even coo over a kitty? COME ON. "I bet that was superduperduperduperduper helpful."

There. Overcompensating by way of modifiers. That could work.

"Velcro is basically the best cat that there ever was," Sparkle agreed with a fervent nod, because otherwise he almost sounded like he was being sardonic. "He really was super helpful through all of that, yeah."

"You don't have him anymore?"

Sparkle gave his head a little shake.

"Nah," and he punctuated that with a sigh. "I had him while I was a student here, but I couldn't take him with me when it was time for me to go home, so I gave him to another student here. I think they kind of needed one another, honestly. I still miss him, though."

"Awwww." Yep, that coo still didn't quite sound right. Sigh. "I'm really really really glad he has a nice happy home though and maybe you can go visit him?"

"Maybe I can," Sparkle mused. Sort of. He sounded significantly less thoughtful than he'd hoped he might. "Next time I see his new catmom, I'll have to ask her if she can bring him by Demon Marcus for a playdate or something."

He'd probably have like eight cats if Atton would let him, really.

"Playtime with pets is the absolute veriest best," Pinkie said blandly. "Fluttershy, my friend from home, is friends with all the animals all over the city. She volunteers at the animal shelter just so she can spend more time with them." She looked around furtively and then leaned in, like she was telling a secret — and spoke in the exact same neutral tone of voice. "She sometimes smuggles bunnies to school in her backpack."

"... I want bunnies in my backpack."

His backpack was usually full of toy cat, but bunnies would be so much better. So much. Sparkle was still pretty sure Atton wasn't going to let him get a bunny, though.

"You're a grown up," Pinkie pointed out. "What's stopping you?"

"I'm a grownup with a roommate that doesn't like pets," Sparkle replied. It totally would have been a mumble, but apparently emphasis in any direction was still emphasis. Dammit. "I have a fish, but fish don't really travel well in backpacks."

"What if you got a bowl with a lid?"

No, Pinkie.

"It would have to be a really, really secure lid," Sparkle decided. "And the sloshing would probably be bad for him."

Bettas didn't generally live a sloshy lifestyle.

"I guess." That should have had several more eye-rolling syllables in it. "What if you got a lizard?"

...

What if he did get a lizard?

"Would I have to feed it bugs?"

Sparkle didn't do bugs.

"I have no idea. Maybe it depends on the lizard."

"I... might have to look into that."

Not that he suspected he could play with a lizard quite the same way as a cat or a dog, but it'd still be neat, and a little more portable than a betta.

He could play with a lizard in an excitingly different way from a cat or a dog maybe.

"I can ask Fluttershy for you if you want. She knows all about all the animals."

That second all should have had some sort of emphasis on it. Just for comprehensibility.

Ah well.

"Could you please? I'm actually super interested, no matter how completely bored I sound right now, I promise."

He just wanted to put some stress on something, dammit.

"Okidokiloki." At least Pinkie could still get some Pinkie-isms out. "I'll text her right away."

"Awesome."

Sparkle actually meant that. Seriously. He did.

"Thanks, Pinkie."

"It was actually pretty hard for me to pick just one song," Ringo began. Like (apparently) most people in this class, not being able to emphasize words and express excitement was pretty hard on her.

"I like almost everything with a good beat. You know, the kind of thing that really makes you want to move?" She smiled a little awkwardly. "Like, I mean, I organize almost all of my music by BPM? So that I can use it for different kinds of moods. And, of course, a lot of my music is for AirTrek, so different beats are good for different kinds of runs."

She'd stop rambling eventually.

Maybe.

"Um, anyway, I picked this one because I was doing a lot of high speed stuff with it over the weekend?" That counted, right?

"Nice," Sparkle said, wishing that he could actually sound like he approved, instead of saying that all deadpan-like. "That'd be a good one for doing anything really high-energy, I bet. Something you need to keep up a good tempo for, yourself."

"I know, right?" That should have come across as way more excited. There was something pretty unsettling about such a flat delivery considering how intense Ringo's expression was.

Yeah, Sparkle even shifted his weight a bit in discomfort at that one.

"So, most of the music you listen to is up-tempo? Do you have a lot of metal in reserve?"

He was going for 'curious' and coming off as 'mildly bored.'

"Oh, yeah. Metal, some rock, a lot of pop, too." Ringo wasn't a big music person for the sake of music, but she really loved to have music when she was out riding. And since she rode basically all the time, that meant she had a lot of music.

Which was why she (usually) got pretty excited about it.

"You have varied tastes, then," Sparkle replied, nodding. "Not a bad way to be; there's a lot of awesome stuff out there."

Not that you'd know it from Sparkle's tone, granted.

"I like to think so."

Sorry, Sparkle. She wasn't trying to sound sarcastic about it.

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