VIDEO

[warandpeace]

[Kaz almost never does a video post, but today is an exception. The view opens up with him positioning the camera on a level surface (a stool) and he backs away from the view to settle on his own seat. Behind him, the wall of the stage in the Hall of Music, and he has his two commissioned speakers and the special guitar gifted to him by Eggsy a full two years ago settled in his arms loosely, though his hands aren't in position yet. He has a half-full bottle of something he's already drunk too much of on one of the speakers. Hence why this is a video post, and he's willing to do this in front of people and trying to provoke some help.]

I was hoping that a friend of mine would turn up late. No such luck.

[Kaz has been feeling his friendships slimming again, through whichever misfortune is at fault, and he's very guilty of keeping people close to his chest. A constant sense of loss that he can never quite shake, because the world always feels a less for not having them around. One less rich accent to complain about mild inconveniences in a humorous, dismissive way. One less person to fuss over the quality of fabric or the quality of character. Losses that leave gaping flaws that Miller is constantly aware of.]

I realized that I didn't have the chance to tell him about one of my favorite musicians. I don't know that he would have enjoyed his music, but I think he would appreciate the man's undefeatable outlook on life.

So this is for Dorian. And I need some back-up from anyone who knows this battle song of my culture.

[Nyx probably would have appreciated it, too. For people who know it, it's probably obvious what he's about to do when he starts the Stomp Stomp Clap. Stomp Stomp Clap.] Buddy you're a boy make a big noise. Playin' in the street gonna be a big man some day...

[He'll go to the very end, thank you. And while he's no Freddy Mercury and could use the help singing, even if he's drunk he'll rock that guitar solo at the end.]

Comments

[lavelly]

[He'll just fast forward through the singing, thanks. He'll never understand modern music.]

dorian pavus?

[warandpeace]

[He's drunk. He doesn't bother with text.]

Yes, that would be him.

Did you know him?

[lavelly]

[Speech-to-text functions are a godsend. Like Lavellan knows how to type.

But he switches to voice for Kaz's benefit.]

Yes, he--we're from the same place, originally.

Do you think he was left behind on the planet?

[saveyourserpent]

[What's this, a teleconferenced singalong?

Well, at any rate, Liquid knows the words (timeless classic, of course), and isn't too bad of a singer either. Who can resist? Time for backup.]

[warandpeace]

[Hey, he's always impressed by the fact that Snakes can sing. So when it's done? He's willing to keep the ball rolling.]

Any requests you think I might know?

[voice]

[ryuuzaki]

[A battle song of his culture? Hm.]

I can't bring myself to believe you're an Arsenal fan.

[warandpeace]

...Who?

[Kaz likes a lot of music, but some might take a while to grow on him.]

This is Queen. Specifically I was thinking of Freddy Mercury.

[gentlemenpreferblondes]

[Squint]

You'll need some singing lessons.

[warandpeace]

So I've been told.

[And he's drunk enough that he doesn't care that he's not fantastic. Luckily, he doesn't sing all the time anymore. Also he was generous enough to choose a song that was mostly speaking.]

[Though that in itself is a bit of a tragedy.]

Someone offered me some, but she's not around anymore, either.

audio;

[a_shadow]

I don't know what the hell this is but I want to hear more of it.

[warandpeace]

I have plenty more. [Luckily, a lot of it in actual recordings rather than him drunkenly singing (mediocre, god bless the people that sang with him) or his own guitar (which is actually pretty damn good).]

I'm too drunk for Bohemian Rhapsody. Someone else would have to handle singing that one.

[They should really handle it even if he was sober.]

[shashka]

[ Ocelot can't help but shake his head. ]

I didn't know you knew Dorian that well. [ well... that was a slight lie. he knew that he was close enough with Ahab, so it only stood that he was probably also friends with Dorian. ] Always seemed like more of a "Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy" type to me than the harder side of things.

[ a shame about him. he'd actually rather liked the other man. but there was no point in really worrying about it. after all, it wasn't like anything could be done about it. ]

[warandpeace]

Yeah, I knew him. He was the person that was there for me when Ishmael died.

[On the network he minds the name carefully. But right now, it's Dorian's loss that's bothering him. One of the few people he'd been close to for a while.]

He would have liked The Great Pretender better, too, but the truth is I'm too drunk to remember the lyrics so this is what he gets.

[Dorian can live with it despite not being here.]

When the hell did you listen to Queen enough to know that song?

Video

[justice_from_above]

[Fareeha is so here for this. There's just something about those old, old classics that gets in her bones and makes her want to let loose. Hope you're prepared, Kaz; here's an incoming video with backups as she sings along and uses the nearest thing on hand as a guitar. In this case; some sort of advanced-tech mop she found in barter bay that's spouting off multi-colored cleaning bubbles. It's quite a sight.]

[warandpeace]

[He's especially happy for the enthusiastic back-up (and he's sure anyone else would be too, with theoretically better singers to harmonize with on the parts that are sung).]

[But then during the guitar solo Fareeha's view is nothing but rocking out and multicolored bubbles. Freddy Mercury absolutely would have approved of every single thing happening there.]

[So when he's done-] I didn't know you liked music.




[Almost everyone likes music, Miller.]

video;

[shadowblends]

[To be honest, Miller, you've literally just made Kurt's day. Music is something that he's been rather fond of and stuff that he can recognize? Even better.

So, as soon as he identifies the song, he begins to clap and stomp along, a wide smile breaking out across his face.] You've got mud on your face, you big disgrace! Kicking your can all over the place!

[And don't mind him as he decides to jump to his feet, still stamping and smacking his hands while he does his best with air-guitaring at the end.]

[warandpeace]

[There's something charming when the little blue oni jumps in on the song, too. And he's glad for the accompaniment and enthusiasm because, well... Dorian would have liked to see that sort of thing (and while Kaz wouldn't admit it, he needs to see it too).]

Singin' we will we will rock you.

[Also Kurt curbs a lot of future secondhand embarrassment by putting up with this old nerd.]

text

[petridish]

Is this your Enka music?

[warandpeace]

I'm afraid not.

[He responds to text with sound, 'cause he's just not in the mood to find letters on his keypad. Finding strings was enough of a job.]

But I'm glad you remembered.

This is just for a good time.

video; 30 minutes late with starbucks

[otiosity]

Even if he hated it, I'm sure he would have enjoyed making sassy commentary all the same. So I'd chalk it up as a win.

[This is... this is a thing. She and Dorian had arrived together. Other people from their world had come and gone but Dorian had always been there. And now he wasn't.]

Way to repeat words twice me

[warandpeace]

That's what I'd been thinking. He would have appreciated being the center of attention as well.

[He didn't know how close they were, but he did know they knew each other. And he's happy someone else misses him. It would mean that much more to Dorian, he suspects.]

SuRPRISE b- bet you thought you'd seen the last of me :D

[deus_machina]

[Video's a bit shaky (he's working on something out of view), but it's not as if Miller could see much anyway. The room is dark, he's wearing shades.

Mr. Pot, meet Mr. Kettle.]

Classic. You an American?

[warandpeace]

[Everything is always better through tinted lenses, if you ask Kaz.]

In some portions, I am. But you certainly don't have to be American to appreciate Freddy Mercury. Dorian wasn't.

video

[wallride]

That was great, Kaz. I can try and recreate it, if you want. I think I still have a bunch of music loaded onto my amplifier from last time.

[which... apparently faded in and out of reality. cool. nice. love this shit.]

[warandpeace]

Hey, you're around again. I'm glad you remember. [Like you wouldn't even believe. He likes the guy.]

Sorry to let you know the rescue business didn't pan out. [It's a sad attempt at drunken humor; obviously they didn't rescue much of anyone, in the end. But he had tried to make things work for them.]

[He genuinely wonders that, if it had worked out, if they could have prevented a lot of what followed. But Kaz's hindsight has always been both telescopic and microscopic, mired in distance and detail. Aside from that-]

Think you'll broadcast some of it again?