Note: Well, that iPod shuffle game looked like so much fun I thought I'd try it too. And it is fun!
So. The ninth drabble contains a reference to an infamous (and much-heckled) moment in Jem and the Holograms history. In the episode "Glitter & Gold"… oh, just look for it on YouTube. It's about 7 minutes in. My point is: I couldn't resist.
1. "Cosmic Girl" by Jamiroquai
For a moment he was silhouetted against the night sky, black on black, his fair hair a silvered flag in the moonlight, and Alek stared, swept up by a sudden burst of imagination… Because of course he was imagining it, he thought as Dylan's face was caught in the light of the bioluminescent lanterns once again.
Of course he was imagining it. There was no way, after all, that Dylan could be a girl.
.
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2. "Meet Me Halfway" by The Black Eyed Peas
She's stopped at the Austrian border.
"Barking spiders!" she swears, taking her frustration out on the useless ticket in her hand. The war's over, she ought to be allowed into Austria… but no. For a moment she considers protesting: I'm meeting the man who was almost your barking emperor!
But she doesn't. Instead she marches herself to the telegraph office and dictates a note that manages to be very cordial despite her wrath at the border officials.
And two days later, she has the great satisfaction of being escorted right over the Austrian border by the man who could have been the emperor and is going to settle, instead, for being her husband.
Although that's quite a step up, if you ask her.
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3. "Serious" by Duran Duran
"You make me feel like I'm on fire," he tells her, breathing hard, pressing closer. He's entirely serious, and very invested in the moment – which makes it all the more disconcerting when she bursts out laughing.
"What?" he demands, sitting back.
She just shakes her head, still laughing, and pulls him down again.
"I was serious," he says. His own mouth is twitching now; her good humor is always infectious.
"Aye," she says through her laughter. "Don't be."
.
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4. "White Wedding" by Billy Idol
"Stop scowling, Jaspert," Deryn said. She twisted back and forth, admiring the swish of white fabric. First time in her life she was happy to be wearing a dress.
"Oh, what should I be doing? Sitting out there with our mam and the aunties, smiling and pretending it's all so nice?"
"Aye," she said. "Or walk out of the kirk altogether. Your choice."
He glared at her for a moment longer, then threw up his hands. "God knows I can't stop you when you've got your mind set. Even if we all know it's a barking farce for you to be wearing -"
She cut him off with a sweet smile and a not-so-sweet, "Finish that sentence and I'll run you through with my fiancé's best saber."
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5. "Son Becomes Father" by The Hellecasters
It should be the happiest day of his life. And it is, truly. He sits with his son cradled in his arms and is overwhelmed with joy and love.
But under all of that is the thought: Father. Mother.
They'll never see this. His son will never know them.
He brushes a kiss on the wrinkled red skin of his son's head and lets himself be overwhelmed by joy, and love… and grief.
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6. "Drive Slow" by Kanye West
"Not so fast!" Alek says, alarmed.
"Blisters," Deryn swears. She overcorrects and nearly topples the runabout. Alek pushes her hands off the controls and takes over, spilling momentum and bringing them to a safe stop.
"Slowly," he says, trying to make his heartbeat calm down. "Always slowly until you know what you're doing."
She hmphs and scowls at the incomprehensible Clanker controls. "It's easier when you're flying."
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7. "Anything You Can Do" from Annie Get Your Gun
"You can fly an airbeast."
"You can pilot those barking Clanker machines."
"You can throw a punch or a knife."
"You can fight with…"
"A saber."
"Aye, that thing."
"And you can swear in four languages."
"You make a more convincing boy."
"I'd hope so!"
She surveys the wreck of their kitchen and concludes, "But neither of us can cook."
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8. "Carry On" by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young
One morning he wakes up and knows: His parents are gone, the old world is gone, and none of it is ever coming back.
He won't be emperor; there's not a place for emperors anymore. The war is going to clear away all of that and leave something new and different instead. New and different and full of potential.
A new world where it's not Clanker vs. Darwinist, but both working together – the way he and Deryn work together. A new world. A better world.
And he will get to help shape it – not because he was born to the right branch of the right house, but because he's been building the new world already.
He can't wait.
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9. "Deception" by Jem and the Holograms
She tells him, finally. It seems an eternity as she waits for a response. The bewildered hurt and anger filling his eyes doesn't bode well.
She hopes he doesn't kick over the plant.
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10. "Thrown Down" by Fleetwood Mac
"Hello," she says, too surprised to be ashamed or angry or bitter.
"Der- Miss Sharp," Alek says. Perfectly correct. His heart in his throat. "How are you this afternoon?"
She's angry now. "Just barking fine. How's your wife?"
"Annulled."
That gets her attention. My God, he thinks, she's still so beautiful, all these years later. What a fool he was. How hard he's made his life – needlessly hard – spending so much of it without her. Even a day apart was too long.
"I'm sorry to hear that," she says. Only someone who really knows her could tell she's lying through her teeth. And that gives him hope.
"I'm sorry, Deryn," he says, in a rush, not with a clever speech as he'd planned. "For everything, all my mistakes. Please forgive me. Please – can we start over?"
She looks at him. A flicker of a smile starts at the corner of her mouth.
