Chapter 57: Yoko, Peruvis, & Panotty: Am I hearing this correctly? by kirbymanx/huskynator
It was Saturday Afternoon at Yoko's mansion, her "friend" Peruvis the devil and her bestie Panotty the elf joined the angel in her room.
Yoko had purchased the best keyboard from the local music store and Peruvis made good use of a projector Yoko's household happened to have to teach Yoko to read notes.
Panotty was there for moral support and to occasionally help Yoko understand something complex Peruvis was saying. And to make sure Peruvis doesn't lay a finger on Yoko.
"Repeat after me, Yoko. Do~ Re~ Mi~ Fa~ Sol~ La~ Ti~ Do~ Do~ Ti~ La~ Sol~ Fa~ Mi~ Re~ Do~" The Junior class Peruvis sang matter-of-factly as she tapped the projector screen along with each note.
"do… re… mi… f-fa… sol… uhhh… la-ti-do?" Sophomore Yoko whispered for everyone's safety. Peruvis could barely hear it 3 meters apart.
"Good. Now can you finally recognize this note?" Some frustrations from previous came to the surface as she played *La* on her Keytar.
"Um… Re?"
"No." The purple-haired girl wasted no time in telling her in a tone that wouldn't make Yoko shrink. "How 'bout this one?:" *Mi*
"Do?"
"Which Do?"
"Umm…" Not the first time Yoko's been here. "That one?" She pointed at the highest note on the screen.
"Urggggggh…" Peruvis suppressed the urge to scream. She gently put her instrument aside and she held her head. "Turn the projector off, Treehugger. I got a headache… Let's take a break." She walked to the table.
Panotty didn't blame her. He knows Yoko can be a handful on subjects she had trouble comprehending.
"I'm sorry, Perry…" Yoko told her with as much sincerity as ever as she joins her at the table. 'I can't do anything right.'
"Don't you dare apologize…" Peruvis thought about softening the next thing she's gonna say. "You're making it worse."
'I suck… I can't do anything right.'
Peruvis leaned on the table with her arms crossed. She looked at Panotty joining the table on the opposite side of the table. Not saying anything, switching looking at the angel and the devil.
When he looked one too many times at Peruvis though: "What's wrong, Eco Twerp? Got nothing clever to say?"
Panotty frowned. "Please, I'm wittier than your songwriting and sharper than your horn."
Peruvis gritted her teeth and erected her arms. "Then where's your band, Tree stump?! Too busy planting trees?"
Panotty jumped onto the table and pointed. "An action more worthwhile than you'll ever be, Succubus!"
"WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME, BUSH#$& #$ST?!"
"Oh what?! Not strong enough? How about you're Wing*(*$#^$P!"
"*U((!#^#$# FLOWER!"
"PITCHFORK *$ *& %# POKER!"
"$&*^# -
"STOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP!" Yoko yelled stopping her friends from exchanging insults she's never even heard of but knows she didn't like.
After a firm reminder Yoko was in the room with them. The two put aside their grievances for her sake and out of guilt. After Peruvis' ear stopped ringing. "NEVER YELL AGAIN! I NEED THESE EARS!" She gave Yoko a mean look.
"Oh, Perry! I'm sorry!" 'I can't do anything right…'
"WHAT!?" She panicked right before her hearing slowly came back. "I'm asking 100 credits extra for the ear damage."
"Okayokay!" The winged pinkhead agreed.
"I need a drink." Peruvis muttered. "Oi, Elf. Get me the most sour thing in the fridge."
"of course ya'd want something sour…"
"How about ya say that out loud, Elf?" The devil rubbed her ears. "My ears are still ringing."
"Uh…" Yoko butted in. "How about I get you two drinks instead? Some snacks too?"
"You sure, Yoke?"
"Y'sure, 'bout this?" Panotty and Peruvis asked. Doing that will leave them alone to fight more.
Yoko nodded as she got up. "Are you okay with cucumbers again, Perry?"
"Sure…" Peruvis forgot to pack her own lunch.
"Be right back." Yoko knows what Panotty likes.
Once the angel was comfortably out of her room's range Panotty couldn't help but take a shot at Peruvis. "Still wanna teach Yoko after 5 lessons of nothing?"
"Don't ask stupid questions, Plant Eater." The devil said both deadpan while gritting her teeth. "1000 per lesson, y'kidding me? I got a band I gotta help get off the ground, beats any job. We bought a bleeding good sound system with this money. I'll sleep these aneurisms off…"
Panotty couldn't really argue there. Yoko's lucky she's rich and Peruvis is lucky Yoko doesn't have a good grasp on money.
"But she's so dense!" Peruvis put pressure on her face with her hand and rubbed it down slowly. "Is she just that stupid or tone-deaf?" Frustrations began to boil.
"Yoko's not stupid! She just… uh…"
"Now don't think too hard, Imp. You might hurt yourself."
"Screw you. And she's sorta tone-deaf? No clue what it is, but she is delaying her hearing adjustment surgery off because of it."
"…Excuse me, did you say hearing adjustment surgery?" Peruvis gave this annoying elf an inquisitive look.
"Yep. Yeah, that's why she was so oblivious to her singing. It sounded good to her."
Peruvis sighed. "That makes too much sense… And she's delaying it?!"
Panotty winced. "Y-yeh. Yoko's too scared to undergo surgery."
"And you, as her friend, doesn't put your foot down to make her get that blasted surgery."
"Uh…" Panotty got a cold sweat from Peruvis cold words.
"What kind of a friend are you? I've known you two long enough that you mean the world to each other. And you don't want her to take a harmless surgery to improve her life?!" Peruvis cut Panotty deep with her body language, she was angry at him in a whole new way. Her eyes were wide open in disbelief. She couldn't comprehend Panotty "would shoot/take a bullet for Harpy" Woodham just wouldn't do it.
Panotty nervously moaned… "Wh-Wh-Why do you care? You get more money if she stays tone-deaf." He floundered. Sounding about as scared as Yoko might be, Peruvis sees right through it.
"True, true." Peruvis sarcastically gave a sophisticated nod. "But I wanna be a music teacher someday too, and that ain't happening if I'm stuck with a living roadblock! Believe it or not, I wanna see Yoko improve, Elf!"
This surprised Panotty. Peruvis actually openly caring about Yoko?
"You should be ashamed of yourself." Peruvis said with disdain that hit Panotty where it hurt. "When a friend, like Chickenwings is to you, is suffering like this you help them. What kind of a friend are you? Are you even her friend?"
"Of course I am!" Panotty took major offense to that one. "But I don't wanna force Yoko she doesn't wanna do!"
"Even when it comes to significantly improving the rest of her life?"
"..."
"Yeah, that's what I thought." Peruvis crossed her arm. Quietly happy she won the argument.
And that's when Yoko came back into the room with a dinner plate. "I'm back." She sounded like she was repressing the urge to sing. She looked at the dour faces on Panotty. "Did something happen?" She wisely put the dinner plate aside to walk off to her friends.
"Get your damn ear surgery, Yoko." Straight to the point. It's a direct hit into Yoko and Panotty.
"Oh… Y-You heard about that huh?" Yoko demeanor made the vast room's atmosphere drop.
"I did, and I want you go through surgery before I'll teach you anymore." Peruvis wasn't deterred by the room's heavy mood. "I see no point in teaching you if you're tone-deaf."
Panotty hopped over to Yoko for her to hug him. Both to keep her in the conversation and to comfort. "...it's not tone-deafne-"
"DOES it matter!? You can't hear right, right? And if you wanna make music, ya either gotta hear or right or be some weird musical wizard [metaphorical or literal]. And face it, Angel. You're neither." Peruvis laid out the cold facts as she pulled out her phone.
Yoko closed her eyes and whimpered. Panotty felt his angel already repeating her depression mantra to herself. Made the elf stare at the devil, but to his surprise, Peruvis held out her phone his a picture of a good cop and a bad cop. She pointed to the good cop, then to Panotty.
Panotty wasn't sure if he should, he wasn't sure it was a good idea, but… "Yoko, please hear her out. I know it's scary, but, we'll get to play together again in the park."
That prospect did make Yoko open up again. "Uh… Still…"
Peruvis groan. "These kinda people, I swear…" She took a second to think of her next course of action. 'Barely listens to her friend…' A lightbulb went off in her had. 'Splendid! She's got two more friends.' "Yo, Elf!"
"What?"
"Gimme your phone." Peruvis walked to the besties. "I'm calling her genie and the human cheerleader friends."
"For their opinion?" Panotty handed off his phone.
And Peruvis. "What else, Twerp?"
"Don't call 'Notty a twerp, Perry…" Yoko spoke up.
"That's nice." She sneered as she was looking through Panotty's contacts. "It was Jean, right?"
"Jaan…"
"J. Double A. N."
"Thanks." Peruvis called Ally first as she's on the top of the list. She put the phone on speaker.
"Hi, Panotty!" Ally blurted over the phone.
"It's me actually." Peruvis said in a casual tone.
"Peruvis! What a surprise! To what do I owe the honor?"
"I wouldn't call it an honor, I'm asking if you know about Yoko's need for hearing adjustment?"
"Ah… Uh… Yeah." The angel, elf, and devil could feel the human cautiously nod on the other end.
"Do you think Yoko should get it?"
"She should. I think her life would be much love-filled if she does."
"Thanks, Ally."
"You're wel-?"
Peruvis hung up.
"Now that genie." Peruvis called her and second-verse same as the first. Peruvis hung up again.
Yoko has heard Peruvis', Ally's, and Jaan's opinions. And assumes Panotty does the same.
"..."
Yoko still didn't seem convinced.
"C'MON, FEATHERBRAIN!" The yell made Yoko meep. "Aaaaalllll your friends want you to be happy. You can be happy with properly functioning ears! It's short-term discomfort, long-term happiness! Y'wanna be happy, doncha?!"
"…I do…"
"Then are you gonna take that surgery?" Peruvis verbally prodded, hoping to not lose it at the next answer the angel's gonna give.
The angel was quiet.
…
…
…
Yoko had a big gulp. "...'kay… I'll go get my ears fixed."
"I'm proud of you, Yoke~" Panotty gave Yoko another hug.
'Cowards.'
Authors' Notes:
HUSK: I am music illiterate. You could tell me it's Beethoven (pronounced Bait or Batehoven) who came up with Do-Re-Mi and I'd believe it. Peruvis loves him.