When the music suddenly paused Riddick turned in his seat and looked up at the DJ booth. There was a slim figure chatting with the lanky boy whose knit cap was pulled snug over rioting dreads and a large set of headphones. He handed her a microphone headset and kissed her cheek when she bounced from the stand to the dance floor.
"Hey guys! We've got our very own planet hopping music maker back for a night of action! The Unicorns favorite girl-io has some new tunes for ya'll!" he shouted when the crowd began yelling for the music to start. Riddick smirked as he saw the girl cleared a round area by shoving people out of her way. The lights were still twirling at full speed, so the impression that was left of the kid was a shadow and the occasional glint of metal. It seemed like her entire outfit, made of skin tight black cloth, was held on by the dubious strength of a million little safety pins. At every seam the little silver pieces glinted, and pale skin showed beneath. Riddick took a sip and prepared to watch the show.
Jack stood in the middle of a crowd of people. She recognized some faces and was happy when she realized that those who didn't know what she was doing there were quickly hushed by those who did.
"Jaquline?" Terence asked from the booth, his voice fed directly into the headphones he'd given her.
"Heya." She nodded and waited for the beat to begin. She'd found songs from different planets, some from old times, some from new. But she'd discovered that what she really liked to do was take older, waaaaay older, songs and put them to new beats, keeping them alive with mixes of different styles. She'd given T so many new mixes that the poor guys eyes almost popped out of his head.
"E'RLONG!" Terence yelled to the audience as the deceptive beginning of the tune floated gently from the speakers.
"Hello, I've waited here for you, everlong
Tonight, I throw myself into and out of the red,
Out of her head she sang…"
Jack sang softly, over the hush in the crowd, the confusion of the clubbers. Then she smiled wickedly as the new bass beat pounded the floor.
"Come down and waste away with me, down with me
Slow how, you wanted it to be,
I'm over my head, out of her head she sang…"
She flung herself into the middle of the space she'd cleared and began dancing, keeping the movements simple at first. She pulled people from the audience and got them to start dancing, and soon the entire club was once again hopping as Jack started the chorus.
"And I wonder when I sing along with you
If everything could ever feel this real forever
If anything could ever be this good again
The only thing I'll ever ask of you
You've got to promise not to stop when I say when-"
After the first verse Riddick had forgotten about his drink, though it was still gripped in his hand. He knew that voice, he knew that song.
"She Sang…"
Jack had been messing around with it on the ships computer adding things to it, perfecting it and others in her free time. She told him it was something that relaxed her. He watched, glared really, at the lithe black form moving with skill through the packed dance floor. She would pause every once in a while and dance with a guy, though it wasn't really dancing so much as twining her limbs around him and hanging on while he performed various acts that would be illegal in public if they'd been naked. Now while he watched she slipped from one guys grasp into anothers, the beat suddenly stopped and her movements became fluid as she rested her hand on the guys cheek and looked into his eyes.
"Breathe out, so I can breathe you in, hold you in
And now, I know you've always been out of your head," she kissed his cheek and wandered through the crowd that had paused at the sound of her voice soothing to the melody.
"Out of my head I sang…" she threw her hand in the air as the beat once again began and threw the crowd back into its frenzy.
"And I wonder when I sing along with you
If everything could ever feel this real forever
If anything could ever be this good again
The only thing I'll ever ask of you
You've got to promise not to stop when I say"
Jack was in her element as she danced from one guy to a group of old friends and back to total strangers. She sang out and bumped hips, winding her hands over her head she danced by herself and let the music dictate her mood. Her back bumped into an immovable object, probably a guy dragged by a girl into the dancing, who was too self conscious to let loose. She smiled and, determined to make everyone have fun, she turned to dance with him.
"When she sang"
Riddick grabbed her wrist as her eyes grew wide. Then she closed them and hung her head. She looked utterly defeated, though Riddick didn't understand why. Once again the music hushed, the crowd stopped jumping and Jack's voice echoed in the suddenly empty-seeming room.
"And I wonder if everything could ever feel this real forever
If anything could ever be this good again
The only thing I'll ever ask of you
You've got to promise not to stop when I say when."
Her wrist was being held over her head, she could feel all the eyes on her as the song ended. She'd been caught, Riddick was going to yell at her, he was never going to let her do anything again. She was well aware that the crowd was waiting for the show to begin.
"Have fun." Riddick let her hand drop and walked from the floor. A line of dancers cleared out of the way for him, rushing to dive from his path.
"Well…" T's voice from the stand was echoing in her ears.
"Start the next one T." Jack grinned as the outside door slammed shut. Riddick had walked, he'd let her stay. She would examine her reactions to his softly veiled threat later. She rubbed her wrist, carefully as the beat began and she smiled. It was going to bruise, horribly, but that was no reason not to have fun.
Everlong- Foo Fighters. (does not now and will never belong to me... awesome song though.)