Aboard the Nightingale, a man sat in front the vanity in his dressing room, a glass of bourbon in one hand, a cigarette in another, overhead, his reflection showing him opening his mouth, sticking out his tongue, as he heard the singing coming from the stage outside his dressing room.
When he last saw his brother, they worked out a deal, since he worked primary as a singer and songwriter, he'd likely won't encounter the sort that his brother encounters on a daily.
If he saw or heard anything that pertained to the man with lavender eyes, he'd call his brother first thing, even got a laminated card with the number to the machine his brother uses.
While he could've gone on adventures with his brother, Tom found that he didn't have the heart for it, or lungs for that matter, that he left the adventures to his little brother.
Meanwhile, he's touring the worlds, to the chorus of happy fans, and that's as good as adventuring for him as it gets.
His brother did show up here and there to check on him, they're slowly reconciling after the emotional outbursts when they first reconnected.
Wearing those goofy outfits of his, always.
Tom kept his eyes and ears open, but no one with the characteristics that his brother ingrained into his head stuck out, he tried keeping an eye for their mother's wedding ring, as it had an onyx centerpiece, Tom and William know it by heart that there's no chance of coincidence.
No one stuck out, doubt their mother's killer liked the kind of music Tom sings on the regular, even though he's described as the Devil, the real Devil won't show his face.
These days, Tom tours cruises, they provided enough money to keep him in between jobs, the access to the buffet helps keep him fed.
It's guaranteed that he'll get a hull with half the patrons fans of his, by the end of the show, he'll gain an extra half.
After the Nightingale, Tom's heading towards Mars, they booked him for a few nights, and afterwards he'll take a break and relax at the resort.
He'll work on new songs, rehearse them as he went, debut them, and it goes from there.
Tom doesn't really have a permanent home, most he'll spend months at a hotel, but at the end, he'll leave to travel elsewhere, find somewhere else to hole up in the meantime.
It's not the life most envision for someone like Tom, but most wouldn't envision someone like his brother chasing shadows, running from talking rubbish cans, the usuals.
People romanticize the wandering songwriter trope, Tom finds, that once they talked to him, it grounds them, and they have a newfound respect for him, willingly giving up the creature comforts to travel.
He's not perfect, Tom never claimed he was.
He's not a hound, though it doesn't stop women from pawing at him like they've just met the opposite sex for the first time.
He's just him.
Don't know if he'll give it all up and settle down, he has it in him to keep traveling for a while.
Putting out his spent cigarette and putting away the empty glass, Tom stretched out his limbs, popping his joints, yawning.
Overhearing the MC, Tom knows he'll be up in about four songs.
They hired him for about six songs throughout the cruise, he picked out the six he'll sing, and after the first one, he's hitting the buffet.
Perks of being the Devil.
As he's preparing, dabbing his neck with cologne, using special gum to clean his teeth, remove the cigarette smell.
Running his hand through his dark brown hair, just like mum's, curls at the end, had to keep it short so the curls don't get too tight.
While he's preparing, Tom sensed a presence in the corner, he sees them in the vanity mirror, and when he turned his head, he sees a woman with sunburnt frizzy hair, wearing a glittery dress.
Tom's dismissive of her, telling her, "I'm not that kind of Devil, doll."
He heard, "It's me, Tom."
Turning to face her, Tom goes, "Gonna have to be more specific than that, doll, I know a lot of people."
He heard, "It's… It's… Melody. It's me, you idiot!"
Melody.
Melody.
Auntie Karen and Uncle Arthur's girl.
"Funny, I heard you go by a different name, these days," Tom scratched his chin, rubbing against his soul patch, before Melody agitatedly smacked the side of his arm before calmly talking to him.
She sat adjacent to him and he timed their conversation to the four songs.
Once the fourth song finishes, Tom's on stage, no exception.
He likes to keep a tight ship.
"How's William?" Melody asked him as he crossed his lanky arms, leaning against the vanity behind him.
Lightly bobbing his foot, Tom says, "Seen better days."
He sees that look in Melody's eyes before his dark eyes narrowed on her, asking her, "Why's you asking for, doll?"
Melody informed him the life she led after he and his brother disappeared after their parents deaths and after her parents died, how she became adopted by a kindly man who took her in, and raised her as his own.
"He died not too long ago," Melody informed him how her adopted father died, Tom gave his condolences, before asking her why she wanted to see William.
Leaning forward, Melody tells him, "Someone killed him."
It happened so quickly, one minute her adopted father went to have his smoke, the next, she went to find him, and he was dead.
No one saw anything, there weren't any security cameras to draw from, and Melody knew him by heart, he was an enemy to no one, and his people have no interest coming this far to kill him.
"You sayin' he some alien?" Tom found it odd how Melody described her adopted father and she affirmed that he wasn't a normal man, but that didn't matter.
Someone killed him and she wants to know who.
"And you want my baby brother to help find them for you, huh?" Tom raised his brow at Melody as she stood up, grabbing herself a drink at Tom's expense.
Sitting back down with a bourbon glass, Melody tells him, "He was like a father to me, Tom. When I didn't have anyone, he was all I had."
Insisting that Tom put her in contact with his brother, Melody sees the man, lanky as a scarecrow, drank and smoked like a musician, ponder her request before shaking his head.
"Why don't you leave my brother out of it?" Tom asks her instead, "he's got his own troubles to worry about, then to help you on top of everything else."
Adamantly, Tom didn't want Melody reaching out to his brother, not wanting her further troubling him, but Melody refused to give up on her quest.
"He's the Doctor, he helps people," Melody retorted, causing Tom to snort.
Firing back, Tom says, "How do I know you ain't going to leave on a dwarf planet in his pants?"
Say, Tom helps Melody find his brother, how can he be sure that Melody doesn't pull her tricks right after the fact, and leave his brother stranded in his underwear, on a dwarf planet?
"Why on god's green earth would I do a thing like that?" Melody exhaled sharply, but Tom told her why.
He's been aware of her "shenanigans" since he started traveling the stars, that he won't let her contact his brother out of doubt that she wouldn't pull her tricks on him.
"I need to find my father's killer, why would I jeopardize that?" Melody lambasted Tom for this comment, but Tom wasn't deterred, he knows what Melody does for a living, these days.
Changes her name, causes trouble, slips away, mayhem always follows with Melody around.
Sitting in her spot quietly, Melody goes quiet, when she finally talked again, she said, "So, you won't help me?"
Seeing the look in her eyes, Tom gritted his teeth, before asking her, "Say I know a cat who'd give you what you want, what then?"
Instead, his brother, Tom gives Melody someone that can help find her adopted father's killer, but that's all she'll get from him.
"Maybe this cat will put the fear of the devil in you," Tom shrugs as he hears the MC overhead, one more song left before he's up.
Sitting in her spot, Melody thinks it over, before asking Tom, "Can he be trusted?"
Shrugging his shoulders, Tom responded with, "As about trustworthy as you."
As she weighed her options, Melody accepted Tom's offer of putting her in contact with someone who'll point her in the direction of the man who his brother contacted, but not before warning her, "Careful, doll, this cat doesn't do it for charity."
The man Melody's looking for won't simply help for free, he'll want something in return, and if Melody's willing to seek him out, then she'll have to pay the devil his due.
"If he won't help me?" Melody quickly asks as Tom gets up from his spot, putting his outfit together quickly as he's counting down.
Tugging on his long coat, Tom says to her, "Trust me, doll, he'll help you. Don't say I didn't warn you."
With the contact information in her hand, Melody watched Tom stand near the door, readying for the MC to retrieve him, before he went through the door, Melody asks him the same question she asked when they first started talking, "How's Willy these days?"
A smile on his face, Tom replies, "Doing what the Doctor does best, doll. Running."
THE END