Music of the Night

"Kenya, mail call!"

I look up from reading Darth Bane: Path of Destruction to find a stack of envelopes being flung at my head courtesy of Thundercracker, one of the Seekers (Transformers who turn into fighter jets). My clones back home have made it a point to forward my mail to me while I'm at Rose's, as well as clip newspaper articles they believe I need to read and send them as well. I appreciate the gesture, even though I wish they'd handle the bills for me.

"Anything urgent?" Vader asks as I remove the rubber band holding the envelopes together and sift through the envelopes.

"Credit card bill, cell phone bill, Reader's Digest, sci-fi book catalogue, junk mail, junk mail, wedding announcement, junk mail..." I rattle off, tossing each item to the side as I announce it. "Hmm, card from Grandma... more junk mail..." I finish going through it and open the last envelope, which contains a few news clippings.

"Do you know the lucky bride or groom here?" asks Jango, picking up the wedding announcement.

"I couldn't pick them out of a lineup," I reply. "Though I think they go to the single's ward. Or used to -- they won't after they're married. Stands to reason." I skim through the news articles. "Geez, can't Hollywood come up with an original idea?"

"What do you mean?" asks Vader.

I hold up a story that made the front page of our local paper. "Remember how the Boise State football team won its Bowl game back in January?" I ask. "Some big-time producer wants to make a movie about it."

"You're kidding," Vader replies, and he snorts with barely suppressed laughter.

"What's so funny about that?" asks Thundercracker. "There's plenty of football movies."

"It's just sad," I reply. "Is Idaho really that desperate for attention that we talk for months about a stupid football game and go nuts when people give us attention for it?"

"Just be thankful your home state is gaining positive attention," Vader replies. "And for something other than potatoes and Napoleon Dynamite."

"Point taken," I reply. "Thunder, why are you still standing there? Don't you have more mail to deliver?"

"I was just wondering... have you seen Delta?"

"Out on the target range, last I checked," I tell him. "Though she might have come back in."

"Thanks." He walks off.

Vader watches him go, then turns to me. "You suprise me, Kenya."

"How so?"

"I thought I would find you on the karaoke machine again."

"Eh, I've been on it nonstop for the last few nights. Figured I'd give my voice a rest." The Junkions turned Rose's living room into a karaoke bar last weekend, and no one's bothered to take it down yet. Believe me, there are members of this crew I never knew could sing... and some that CAN'T sing but attempted to do so anyway. Thanks a lot, Grievous, I'll never be able to listen to Jefferson Starship's "We Built This City" again without hearing you hack and cough your way through it.

Vader has to be smiling through that mask. "Then you won't mind if I take a turn at it?"

I wave to the front of the room, where someone managed to talk Eragon into trying the machine out. "Knock yourself out."

He waits patiently for Eragon to finish stumbling his way through "Devil Went Down To Georgia." When the young rider finally drops the mike in frustration and goes to sit back down, Vader steps up, take the microphone, and selects a song.

Rose sits down beside me with a grin. "Ooh, I've wanted to hear him sing for so long!"

"It's quite the experience," I reply with a grin.

Everyone quiets down as Vader begins the song, and I have to smile at his choice, as it's one of my favorites:

Nighttime sharpens, heightens each sensation
Darkness wakes and stirs imagination
Silently the senses abandon their defenses
Helpless to resist the notes I write
For I compose the music of the night

Slowly, gently, night unfurls its splendour
Grasp it, sense it, tremulous and tender
Hearing is believing, music is deceiving
Hard as lightning, soft as candlelight
Dare you trust the music of the night

Close your eyes, for your eyes will only tell the truth
And the truth isn't what you want to see
In the dark it is easy to pretend
That the truth is what it ought to be

Softly, deftly, music shall caress you
Hear it, feel it, secretly posses you
Open up your mind, let your fantasies unwind
In this darkness which you know you cannot fight
The darkness of the music of the night

Close your eyes, start a journey through a strange, new world
Leave all thoughts of the world you knew before
Close your eyes and let music set you FREE
Only then can you belong to me

Floating, falling, sweet intoxication
Touch me, trust me, savour each sensation
Let the dream begin, let your darker side give in
To the power of the music that I write
The power of the music of the night

You alone can make my song take flight
Help me make the music of the night

I applaud, as do many others within earshot. Vader gives a stately bow before handing the microphone off to Jango for a turn.

"Beautiful job," I tell him.

"Thank you," he replies. "I knew you wanted to hear that song."

"And you did it justice."

Thundercracker and Delta walk in at that moment, Delta holding something huge and furry in her arms. I blink, trying to process the image of a Transformer holding a large purple stuffed rabbit.

"What the..." I get out.

"Oh, TC picked this up at the after-Easter sales," she replies, holding the rabbit up for me to see. "Isn't it great?"

"It reminded me of Cyclonus when I saw it," Thundercracker adds. "Figured she would like it as a punching bag or voodoo doll or something like that."

"It was sweet of you," she tells him, and they walk off talking.

I raise an eyebrow at Vader. "You don't think..."

"Who knows? And if so, who are we to begrudge them?"

"Again point taken," I reply. "Though I wonder how Megatron and Starscream are going to react."