Chapter 6
"They asked only that I try. I never thought there would be a day I'd see myself laugh with them, but there I was, laughing with them. When I look back at that moment, I wonder if I laughed because I thought what they did was funny, or if I had simply remembered something that made me laugh." – Barnette remembering the day of laughter.
"Why am I here?"
Trig shut the door to Sky Kid's car as she answered. "Having fun with some friends. We've been cooped up for last few days. Haven't seen anything fun in a while."
Barnette groaned as she got out of the car. Sky Kid had been gone and without a vehicle they were stranded. Not that Trig seemed to mind. She spent a vast majority of the time sleeping and eating. Barnette didn't mind it. She was able to cook again. Something she really did miss.
"But why am I here?"
Sky Kid looked up and down at Barnette as he took in her new look. She was wearing hip hugger blue jeans, a purple tank top that exposed a little too much skin in his opinion, and a blue jean jacket that just barely reached her hips.
"You're here because you've stuck in the house for the better part of the week. It's the weekend. We'd feel bad if we left you by yourself to do something sad. So why not do something fun?"
"I was having fun."
"Cooking isn't fun." Trig commented with a wave of her hand. She fiddled with the brown shirt she was wearing and tucked the end of it into her matching brown pants.
Barnette growled at her before her eyes were drawn to a large wooden building with no sign and a single oak door. It hadn't seen much in the way of cleaning or upkeeping. It reminded her of the old districts back home before the colony was shut down because of power issues.
"Home sweet hole in the wall!" Trig gave a loud cry of joy as she shoved the door open and stepped inside. The other two followed her.
Barnette recoiled at the smells that hit her. It was alcohol and smoke. Stronger than what she had ever smelt before. She held a hand over her face as a result as she stepped through the threshold.
The inside was all wood. Nothing was metal, save only for a register that sat in the corner of the bar where a woman stood cleaning a cup and speaking with someone that she couldn't see. Trig rushed the bartender and started talking to her as the other two slowly made their way to her.
The woman, an older woman by the looks of things, had long white hair that was formed into long dreadlocks and pulled as tight as possible to form a ponytail, a white short-sleeved shirt, and blue jeans with holes in the knees. Barnette couldn't tell the color of her skin because there was no flesh not covered by tattoos of some kind.
"…five by ten, I think."
Barnette furrowed her brow at the voice. When she was close enough, she spied Shamrock with a beer in his hand and a smile on his face. He was telling a story of sorts and the bartender was all smiles as she handed a single beer to Trig.
"Sometimes I wonder about you, Shamrock." The bartender turned and eyed Sky Kid as he pushed Barnette forward to the counter. He took a seat between the two of them. "Sky Kid, what'll it be."
"Water." He put his chin in his palm as he rested his elbow on the table. A smile grew on his face.
The bartender snickered as she leaned in close to him, her hand reaching under the table on her side to fish something out. "Now, Kid, what have I told you about my establishment?"
"That you serve water, among other things."
The bartender flashed a sinister smile as she raised up a small hose and pressed down on the handle, shooting him in the face with a small stream of water. He smiled right in the face of it, even if it was possibly ruining his long-sleeved sky-blue shirt in the process.
She turned the water off and put the hose back in its spot. "You acting as DD again?"
"I don't drink. Don't know why I wouldn't act the part of the responsible one."
A glass of water was put on the table with two cubes of ice. "And what'll you have, little lady?" Barnette looked up and didn't see a menu to order from. Trig and Shamrock started to laugh. "Don't tell me. Something dark."
Barnette chuckled and opened her mouth when a thought hit her. She had never drank before. It was always offered back at the base, but not on the ship. Not that they couldn't make it there either, it was just that they never wanted to have it, get drunk, and then have to fight a battle. So, it was sort of banned. And even then, she never drank at the base because… well… she didn't like the taste of it. Didn't mean she wouldn't try new things.
"Actually… I've never really drank before."
The woman leaned in closer, too close for comfort, and eyed her suspiciously. Barnette leaned back away from her as far back as she could before the stool would obviously tip. The bartenders' eyes were a deep gold and real.
When she leaned back, her eyes had gained a glint of amusement. "Something not truly dark." She nodded like it was an order and turned around to start making something.
Sky Kid sipped on his water before saying, "Samantha here is really good at guessing what people drink. She claims to know what I'd like."
"I do~" she sang.
"I've never known her to get it wrong, either. Scary how good she can be. Almost like she's reading your mind." Sky Kid downed his glass of water and turned to his two fellow pilots. "Who all is coming. This was last minute."
"Avalanche might show up. You know how he is." Shamrock knocked back his drink and placed it on the table once he finished. "But Riptide is coming, so that means Hound is coming. As much as we wanted her to never meet that idiot, she's gonna have to meet him eventually."
Trig sighed into her beer.
Barnette was about to say something when she saw the bartender, Samantha, put a glass down with something that was green colored. "Try it," she ordered. Barnette gave it a careful sniff before bringing it to her lips. "You must be a new member to their team. First time meeting these hooligans."
Barnette blinked at the taste, almost ignoring the woman as she enjoyed the taste. It was strangely sweet, not bitter.
"You look like an Attacker-type. Like Shamrock and Sky Kid here." Samantha smiled at the pirate and leaned down on the counter of the bar. "Callsign must be Flower." She gestured to the hair ornament that was still in her hair. When no reply was given, Samantha stood up straight and her eyes looked over Barnette's form. "Don't tell me what it is. And don't tell me your name. Two names are hard for me on the same person."
"Like Scarlet?" Shamrock asked with a laugh.
"You mean Dusk?" She snapped back.
Barnette took another tentative sip of her drink as the two started bickering over names. Callsigns were strange. She got how they came into creation. They were created by a person's abilities, actions, and sometimes desires. Trig had gotten hers' because she was, as she put it, Trigger Happy, and thus her name was born. Shamrock obviously was lucky, or perhaps unlucky and the name was only meant to throw jabs at him. But then there was Riptide and Hound. Those names didn't make much sense to her. Same could be said for Avalanche.
Glancing around the bar, she noted several photos. Almost all of them were pilots and only a few were familiar faces to her. Some of them were shown with them out of uniform and doing something. Each photo had a smile face in it.
The green-haired pirate smiled when she saw one of Sky Kid being hoisted up by a large man. He was smiling about something. The larger man looked annoyed, yet happy. Behind both of them was a large dog of some kind. It was hard to make out, even if she were only a few feet away from the photo.
Aside from photos there was medals and other small trinkets that lined the mirror. At both ends was a single vase that housed five different colored flowers in them. A name was stenciled on wooden plaques under them.
BREAKPOINT and GOOSE
"They died a few weeks ago."
Barnette looked at Samantha. Trig and Shamrock were talking amongst themselves about something. Samantha had her back to her, yet her sad smile could still be seen.
"I don't think I ever saw two people that were as crazy as them. Good pilots. Too young for them to go, too. Breakpoint was only twenty-one. Goose, twenty. They were shoot down defending a group of merchants from pirates that were crossing through our sector. They had a habit of retracing their steps. Thought they'd finally nail those bastards. They got nailed instead."
Barnette lowered her head. "I'm sorry for your loss."
Samantha smiled and turned around. "They were good people. Breakpoint was a crazy one. Rumors around her were that she spent time in a psyche ward. Don't know if it was true. She seemed normal when I spent time with her."
"She?"
"Breakpoint was a woman. Though oddly named, she was probably the only one who could take up such a funny name. Right along Dusk."
"Female?"
"Dusk was male. And it was scary how he earned that name, Scarlet, replacing the Callsign they gave him at school." She grabbed a glass and poured herself something dark. Barnette eyed the drink and watched the woman drink it all almost instantly. "There will never be anyone as dangerous as him, even in death he still haunts me. I think that he could cheat death, even though I saw the body and them bury him."
"Partner?"
"Dusk? Hell no! He was cute and all, but I'm not as young I look. Blessed with a body that doesn't age that well. I'm fifty-two years old. Don't look it, though. Dusk just turned twenty when he got shot down. Good friend. Was their leader once. Been gone about two years now."
Barnette fell quiet at that. She tried to think of what a person like him would look like and find his photo that might be on the wall. She couldn't picture him. Probably for the best.
There was a commotion at the door with muffled grunts and words being thrown around. The others stopped their talking, Shamrock already laughing while Sky Kid groaned.
The door to the bar swung up and in walked two people.
The first to enter was a male. A large male. He was nearly taller than the doorframe and was bulky. Not fat. He had a clean-shaven head with a scar that ran over the bald spot and sported a spiderweb tattoo that branched off and over the scar, tanned skin, brown eyes, and was currently wearing a black jacket over a navy-blue button-up shirt with a patching pair of jeans and combat boots.
The second to walk in was a female. She was just a few inches shorter than the male, and was just a bit smaller than him. She was remarkable pale with matching snow-white hair that was left down, pooling around her shoulder as the moment, hiding her ears, and wearing white pants with auburn colored leaves cascading down it. She wore a trench coat and had a white tank top on.
Unlike the male, she stopped at the coat rack and took her coat off to hang up. It was than the Barnette saw a pair of knives strapped around her ankles and placed on the small of her back.
Without pause, the woman ripped one of the knives out and threw it over Barnette's head, electing a squeak of surprise from the woman as she fell out of the chair and scrambled for cover, ready to fight back. There was a loud thud not a moment later after she had ducked out of the way and fallen from her chair that was followed by one more, which was louder than the previous one.
Standing up slowly and glancing around at the group that had decided to laugh at her expense, she turned around fully to see two knives, one from the unknown woman, and another, much larger, knife, sticking out of a dartboard.
"You lose." Samantha gestured to the board. Barnette looked at it closely as she watched the unknown woman scowl as she stormed out, yanking both knives out and tossing it back over her shoulder to the bartender. "You know the rules."
The woman's scowl deepened as she brought out a wallet and threw down her card.
"No free drinks tonight, Riptide." Shamrock chuckled into his beer as the woman, Riptide, sent him a dirty look. "I don't know why you bother playing that game. You never win."
"Like you could do any better." Riptide's accent was thick and proper sounding. Barnette stared at her intently for a moment as if trying to gauge something about the woman as she sat down next to Sky Kid and ruffled his hair. "How have you been, Kid? Any new prospects?"
"No."
She leaned over and looked at his drink before shaking her head. "This is why we don't like playing the game with you. You never drink. Why play and not drink. No sense at all."
He spun on the stool to face her fully, his glass of water held in his hand as he gave her a charming smile. "Because, unlike the rest of you, I don't have an unusually talent that sets me apart from everyone. That's why I don't drink." And as if to prove a point, he took a sip of his water and smacked his lips. "Fresh, clean, clear water."
"Ice water."
He scowled at her, but soon smiled as he turned around and leaned on the bar.
Shamrock sat his beer down. "Well, before you drastically decided to start picking on, Kid, I can say that I don't play games I know I'll lose. No fun to lose a game."
"Why play cards with us then?" the unknown man said, his rough voice reminding Barnette of someone that had smoked for longer than they had seemingly lived. "You lose all the time."
"I don't lose all the time. I win in the end. Well, break even, but it's better than a loss, right? You lose all the time. I don't think you've ever beaten me at cards. Not unless you count when the odds are really stacked against me."
"In that game, it's all about the story you make with the cards provided."
"And the judge!" Riptide pointed out. She glanced over to her left and spied Barnette. "Sorry, love. Haven't introduced myself, have I? I'm Riptide. And this big lummox is Hound Dog."
"Thought I wasn't supposed to meet him?"
Trig rolled her eyes while Sky Kid nodded sadly. Shamrock looked at his empty beer. "Can I get another one, Sam? Thanks. And, yes, you aren't supposed to meet this idiot, but sadly, because we like to play card games all the time, you were bound to meet him sooner or later. It's just better to get it out of the way now. Like ripping a sticky bandage off. Hurts like hell, but feels so good to get it off."
"Like sex."
"This is why we didn't want you meeting him," Sky Kid told her. "That right there. That comment. That's why."
"What's wrong with my analogy?" Hound gave my preference to the first part of the word and dribbled out the last three letters of it, causing the group to groan. Samantha slid him a tall glass of water with a shake of her head. "You trying to kill me, Sam? Thought we were friends, honey?"
"We are. Which is why I'm trying to keep what little dignity you have intact for that little number over there." She gestured to Barnette with her chin before she stood up to her full height. "Story time! Shamrock?"
"No!" Riptide called out around her colorful drink. "Do the trick. Haven't seen it in a bit. I like trying to figure out how you do it."
"Which one?"
"The fun one."
Shamrock nodded in understanding while Samantha stepped back and gave him room. He rolled up his sleeves and wiggled his fingers while turning his hands over to show nothing on the back of them before he reached into his left breast pocket and fished out a silver oval shaped coin. He turned it over in front of them, smiling as he did to show that both sides had the same symbol of a four-leaf clover.
It danced in his hand as he started the process of the trick. He flipped it a dozen times over his entire hand before it moved it into the palm of his working hand and squeezed his fist tight. When he opened up his hand, the coin was gone. He laughed and reached behind Trig's ear, pulling out the coin with an amused laugh.
Trig gave a mock bow to him as he flashed her a smile.
Shamrock chuckled and flipped the coin around in his hand several times before flicking into his free hand. Like magic he was suddenly flipping three more identical coins over the top of his hand before working them so they were his closed palm before opening it up to show only one coin that he tossed to Sky Kid, which he checked to make sure it was stacked.
Barnette's mouth hung open as she watched the odd trick be pulled. She couldn't see any way it was possible that he did that.
"Alright," Sky Kid grumbled, tossing the coin back to him, "how'd you do it?"
"Tricks of the trade, my friend. Tricks of the trade."
"Translation: He's not telling you." Hound said with a scowl as he got his tall glass of whatever to half empty. "So, new girl, any funny stories for us? You're sleeping with Trig, right? Gotta be something there if you sleep with this woman."
Riptide reached around and cuffed him one on the back of his head, electing a groan from the woman as she waved her hand around to get some feeling back that wasn't pain. The man hardly seemed to noticed he'd been hit.
Barnette huffed as she looked away from the man. "Not sleeping with her. Staying at her house, yes. Not sleeping with her."
"Fine. Staying at her house. Story?"
The green-haired pirate scowled at the man. Being put on the spot was never easy for some people when it came to talking about something personal or just giving a joke. She was left a little stumped on a story she could tell that wouldn't give away her nature as a pirate. But a memory did hit her from her pirate days that she could tell.
"Not concerning Trig, but I guess I have a few stories."
"That'll work. Let's hear 'em." Sky Kid took a long pull from his glass of water and gave Barnette a reassuring smile.
"I was hot headed, I suppose, a few years back. We had gotten word on some people that shouldn't be in our area. Bad neighbors. So, we planned to hit them hard and teach them to respect our borders. They happen to due it in an asteroid field. They were mining our resources from the field and we simply weren't going to allow that. It was my first time flying and I was under sponsorship from a good friend, which happened to just be my boss at the time. Had a lot of faith in me, I guess."
"Anyways, our team wasn't allowed to engage the enemy. I was too hungry for battle, I guess. I was paired with our stoic leader, Meia, and this blonde bimbo, Jura, who later I became good friends with. I hated her at start. Wanted things no person should want for her machine that I figured was stupid to have. I was right, but I've never told her that. I'm nice like that. But we got out there and were told to hang back. I was on Jura's tail and slowly speeding up to force her to go faster and catch up with the enemy so we could fight. I ended up being the one who saved countless lives, even though it nearly cost us our lives in the process."
"The whole thing was a trap. They detonated their transport ship as soon as Jura and I were close. Had about fifteen other craft behind us, ready to help while the main bulk of our force was swinging around for a pincer move. Because I was too battle hungry, they blew their trap early, nearly killing Jura and I. We ended up on an asteroid and were stuck there for several hours. As fate would have it, I ended up blind for a short amount of time. Jura, broke both her arms and was useless. It sucked. Our radios were broken, but I could repair them. Couldn't see though, so I'd have no idea what I was doing. Jura, couldn't fix them, but could see. So, she was my eyes and we worked things out from there to get back home. Meia ended up finding us with my sponsor. I learned a bit of humility that day and became friends with someone that I hated at the time."
Barnette leaned forward on the table and chuckled at the memory itself. In truth, it was only because the men had a special material they were transporting through the area, or so the report had claimed, and they had wanted it. It was used for the Paksis to better maintain and keep it under control. The older ones were far easier to control and didn't cause any problems. Not like the one on the Nirvana which had a habit of transforming things for seemingly no reason. Like Dita, Meia, and Jura's Dreads, the ship itself, and Hibiki's Bangata.
"That sucks as far as stories go." Hound finished his drink, dragging his sleeve over his mouth to get rid of the remaining liquid. "We were looking for love stories."
"Or broken heart stories." Sky Kid added, raising one finger and pointing it at Trig. The woman turned away. "How is it that you have never left a single person on a bad foot? That's like Shamrock losing all the women he loves to other guys. No offense, Shamrock, but seriously, what the hell are you doing to them that make you the bad guy in the end?"
Shamrock shrugged. "If I knew, I wouldn't be single. I treat them right. I'm nice. I love them. Treat them likes queens. And yet, I'm the bad guy in the end. It's like I say one wrong thing and it just breaks whatever illusion they think I had over them."
"You aren't that sweet," Riptide told him as she finished her drink. "You're charming and kind, but you lack that edge that a real woman is looking for in a man. You don't take. Never have I seen you take before. You only give. Giving is what makes them dislike you. Taking is what can make a woman like you as long as you don't take too much."
"Not my style."
"Remain single then. I offer help, and you deny it."
"Aren't you single, though?" Sky Kid asked with a brow raised in confusion.
"Go back to your water, sweetie. Grownups are talking."
Sky Kid grumbled into his drink while Samantha gave him a light chuckle and smile. He turned and looked for help from Barnette. The woman eyed his cautiously and he sighed into his drink as depression slowly began to sink in. He traced his name on the table with a wet finger and muttered incoherently to himself.
"So, love, what brings you to this establishment?"
Barnette worked her jaw as another drink was provided to her. Was she on her third or second? It had to be second, but she had three empty glasses in front of her. "I came here with Trig and Sky Kid. Said I was to get out of the house and do something fun."
"So, you came here of all places?"
"I take offense to that." Samantha's warning tone was easy to pick up on. Riptide waved the warning off, but then turned her gaze upon Barnette as she started piecing something together. "You're not from here, are you?"
"No."
"Where are you from?"
Barnette looked over at Hound, the one she had been warned about, and stared at him. He had lost interest in her and was speaking to Shamrock about something. It was hard to tell what. He was on his second glass of whatever and was starting to slur his speech while Shamrock just smiled at him, sipping on his possible fourth beer.
"I came from Mejarru."
"The hell you doing out here then?" Samantha asked as she placed a newly cleaned glass on a drying rack. "You're a long way from home, girl?" Samantha paused and looked at the three males, of which only one was truly listening. "How are you with them?"
Barnette brought her drink to her lips to by time to think of an answer. Honestly, she didn't like them. It wasn't hate and it sure wasn't like. But she felt… off around them. Like something they were doing was strange. Being around Sky Kid most of the first week was different. He was kind, easy going, and someone she felt might get along with some of the other females on the Nirvana.
Shamrock, in all honesty, reminded her of Gascogne, and Barnette always thought of her as a stern, yet helpful, older sister. Shamrock felt sort of the same way. Though they had hardly talked more than twenty words to one another, she got the idea that he might actually be someone who would look after anyone as long as they were worth it.
"At odds," she finally admitted, sounding more confused than she intended. She sat the drink down and watched Shamrock continue a coin trick around Hound. "I was warned about Hound. Said something about him being a bad person. Doesn't seem that bad to me."
"They didn't want you around him because he's a known pervert and thankfully doesn't know about your world." Samantha poured her another glass and smiled at her. "In truth, you're not as bad as I was led to believe you'd be. Heard stories about you people. Word gets around pretty easy when you have people tending with merchants and the like."
"It's different." Barnette held the drink in both hands as she started looking the three men over. Sky Kid was giving her a curious glance before Hound bellowed out something that drew his attention to him. "I don't hate them. I know that. I came here with my crew. We got warped out here, if you wanna call it anything. I got shot down. They picked me up. My ship had three men on it. They were… victims of circumstance, I guess."
The green-haired pirate took a drink and sat up straight as she felt Riptide's eyes land on her.
"Never thought I'd hear about a woman from there saying that."
"Well, I guess I'm also a victim of circumstance. I didn't like them. Two of them talked big, but only one could sort of back it up. The other was just a coward, running away and wanting to avoid anything to do with fighting. Strange that they made him the Helmsman back home on his world."
"Life is rather stupid like that, I guess." Riptide smiled and leaned over to Barnette, tapping her glass against hers. "Cheers. To threats that we thought are worse than they appear."
Barnette downed her drink and laughed.
Shamrock banged his fist on the table as he got up. Sky Kid started laughing as his superior began removing his shirt. Samantha gave a cat call as he tossed his shirt to the bar and ran a hand over his bare chest. Barnette held back a chuckle as she watched the man began to play with the silver dog tags that dangled from his neck and got his fingers caught in the thin chain.
Hound turned away in disgust and focused on Barnette. She ignored him as she watched Sky Kid jump up and start doing the same. Both males laughed and smiled.
Trig spun around and went to a small jukebox that was in the corner, a large smile plastered to her face as she put in some coins and started searching for a song. Both males stopped and waited, turning to watch her with anticipation for the insanity they were about to cause.
As soft melody started to play. It was slow to rise and when it did, both men started chuckling. Samantha put out a beer on the counter and then motioned for them to get to it as Sky Kid, laughing, grabbed hold of Shamrock's hand and lead him a few feet away from the bar and started to slowly dance around the man. Barnette arched a brow as a male singer started signing, causing Hound to groan loudly and all three women to smile.
Shamrock turned and held Sky Kid like a proper lover and sing along with the music.
As long as you love me
Although loneliness has always been a friend of mine
I'm leaving my life in your hands
People say I'm crazy and that I am blind
Risking it all in a glance
And how you got me blind is still a mystery
I can't get you out of my head
Don't care what is written in your history
As long as you're here with me
Hound started gagging as the two guys started dancing to the beat, being too close for comfort in his eyes as a result. Trig doubled over from laughing while Riptide and Samantha whistled their approval, raising drinks and laughing when the two started to embrace as the music picked up.
I don't care who you are
Where you're from
What you did
As long as you love me
Who you are
Where you're from
Don't care what you did
As long as you love me
"I'm gonna hurl." Hound finally muttered as he got up to go to the bathroom, or somewhere away from the two dancing men as Shamrock spun Sky Kid around and put his body close to his. Trig hit the floor and laughed till she was blue in the face as Sky Kid took over singing just as the music suddenly switched singers.
Every little thing that you have said and done
Feels like it's deep within me
Doesn't really matter if you're on the run
It seems like we're meant to be
I don't care who you are
Where you're from
Wha-
Hound turned the music off and got a round of jeers from women. Barnette laughed as Sky Kid rushed over to the box, shoving Hound away from it, laughing as he did, and put in some coins to select another song.
"None of that weird shit, you assholes!" Hound declared with venom.
"Bite me!" Sky Kid snapped back as he finished flipping through the list. He finally found one that he wanted and once it was playing, he turned and started bobbing his head as a guitar and drums started playing. "Take me down to the paradise city where the grass is green and the girls are pretty~"
He stopped signing and picked up Trig to start dancing with her while Shamrock stole Samantha from around the bar and danced with her. Both women laughed as they embraced their man and danced with them. Hound rolled his eyes from his spot and went to the bathroom while muttering to himself about their antics.
Barnette laughed outright and watched the group have fun with the music.
"Take me down to the paradise city where the grass green and the girls are pretty~" Barnette softly sang to herself, despite the song having a male singer. It still made her smile. Even as she watched them dance and laugh, she felt lighter. Like all the weight that had fallen on her shoulders since she had come here had been lifted.
Sky Kid rushed to her side as the music finally came to an end and took her hand to pull her from the stool and bring her to the group as they all laughed. "You can choose the next song." He pushed her to the jukebox and put in a few coins to make it work.
Worried, she looked at the list of songs that were on it. Paradise City. As Long as You Love me. Broken Wings. To Be with You. Pour Some Sugar on Me? What the hell are these songs? She shifted through the list and wished she recognized the names or artists. They didn't have that she listened to back home… She found a single song and stared smiled when she remembered listening to it back home. It might be something different but it would be worth listening to again.
She selected the song and smiled as she listening to the opening.
"REO Speedwagon?" Sky Kid commented softly. "They have this back home for you?"
A male started to sing and Barnette shut her eyes. "It's a woman who sings it back home. Not a male." She said softly. It still made her smile. "I said there is no reason for my fear~" she sang softly to herself.
"Can't Fight This Feeling!" Trig grabbed up Barnette and started to dance with her on the spot. Riptide grabbed up Shamrock while Sky Kid sat down to watch with Samantha. The dancers sang along with the song.