#3: Billy Fixates on the Ticking

[horrible_phd]

[Public Voice Post]

Hey peeps! Dr. Horrible here. Looks like I've found myself a laboratory to work in. Not as good as a private lab, but now that I have a job, I can find a place to live. Tried sleeping in the lab--keep an eye out for my Porta-Pillow Instant Bed System, needs tweaking (ow) but I've got a prototype already--but I kept hearing that ticking...

 

[*sings*]
I'm working hard, trying to get home
And I do my best work when I'm alone
I've things to do, people to take care of--
In one sense or another, hate or love
But all I hear is ticking, ticking, ticking
And it's really getting sickening

And my fevered mind just circles round and round
Like the Carousel and clock somewhere underground
I know I have to go to sleep some time
Or I'm know I'm going to lose my mind
But all I hear is ticking, ticking, ticking
And it's really getting sickening

So, uh, I eventually gave up on sleeping and have been in the internet cafe since then. I guess I need to find a place to live around people...

[Private/Hackable]

Maybe this city thing won't be so bad, after all. I mean, I've met some people and they seem pretty okay--no superheroes so far, but I've learned there are some in the city. The laboratory is amazing. I just went inside this ordinary-looking building and got in the elevator. It didn't have any buttons, and I thought it was stuck because it wouldn't move for the longest time, but finally it went one floor down and opened. It's the lab of my dreams! No huge chair and no Wonderflonium but ample workspace and lots of safety equipment including a lab coat, goggles, etc. just like the ones I had at home. Weird, but good--and it seems to be paying me automatically. (Note to self: figure out how that works.) It's a bit light on the sorts of spare parts and odds and ends I like to work with, but Gabriel said I should look in the Underground for those (hmm...that's where the clock's supposed to be). It has all the chemical equipment I could possibly want, too.

Speaking of chemical equipment, last night when I was lying awake uncomfortably on my Porta-Pillow prototype (Note to self: come up with name that doesn't suck) I saw this blurry thing and found myself thinking about my first chemistry set, which I got for Christmas. I love that set--and then it got smashed by a neighborhood bully wearing a bedsheet as a cape.

I'm really gonna kill Captain Hammer when I get home.

I wish Penny were here. 

[ooc: Anyone else work in the laboratory? I'm just sort of guessing how it might work based on the description. Poor Billy, so morally confused he almost gets stuck in an all-judging elevator ;) This entry isn't hackable for any particular reason, just that Billy isn't very careful with his blog.]

[ETA: Go ahead and point out that he is singing.  He has no idea he's doing it.]

Comments

[cold_dry_pieces]

I'm told pets help, too. Y'know, in case you can't find roommates who'll put up with the singing.

[horrible-phd.livejournal.com]

A pet might be nice, but singing? Did you say someone was singing?

[cold_dry_pieces]

Weren't you, just now?

[1/2]

[horrible-phd.livejournal.com]

Nope. I just made a voice post talking about the laboratory and the fact that the ticking annoys me. Maybe there was a radio playing in the background? I guess I'll try listening to it again.

[2/2]

[horrible-phd.livejournal.com]

Hmm, all I can hear on there is my normal speaking voice, speaking normally.

[cold_dry_pieces]

Yeah? I'm sorry, I must have been mistaken.

[thirdcriterion.livejournal.com]

Curious.

An inquiry, if I may, sir; is it considered normal to express oneself in song in your home universe?

[horrible-phd.livejournal.com]

Um, sure. We have lots of musicians and that's a fairly typical form of self-expression. Like painting or performance art or whatever. Do people not sing where you're from?

[thirdcriterion.livejournal.com]

They certainly do; perhaps I have not phrased my query in as clear a manner as I should have. I was specifically referring to the fact that you seem to have been singing in the middle of your post.

[Voice]

[horrible-phd.livejournal.com]

What? No. Singing would be like Deck the halls with boughs of holly, Falalalalalalala. I was just talking in my post about the ticking, which I personally happen to find sickening.

[ooc: He can sing normally on purpose]

[Voice]

[thirdcriterion.livejournal.com]

Ah... of course.

Yes, that would seem to be a fairly common reaction to the ticking. I suppose I am fortunate in that I lack the capacity to experience such a reaction when I am alone.

[voice]

[heyfootballhead.livejournal.com]

Hey, you've got a nice voice, mister.

[horrible-phd.livejournal.com]

Uh...thanks?

[heyfootballhead.livejournal.com]

Did you write the words yourself?

[horrible-phd.livejournal.com]

What words?

[heyfootballhead.livejournal.com]

...The words to the song you were singing.

[horrible-phd.livejournal.com]

For the last time, I wasn't singing! Everyone just seems to think I was singing. I certainly didn't sing anything written by anyone else.

[heyfootballhead.livejournal.com]

Sorry, I didn't mean to upset you.



Maybe you should start singing. Maybe it was just my imagination, but you had a real good singing voice.

[horrible-phd.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry, I didn't mean to freak out at you. I'm just new here and I don't understand half of what's going on. I guess at least my alleged "singing voice" isn't terrible or anything.

[heyfootballhead.livejournal.com]

Don't feel bad, I'm pretty new too. Sometimes the City is mean.

I thought your alleged singing voice was very in tune.

[warped-inside.livejournal.com]

Um, wouldn't that just be an air mattress?

[horrible-phd.livejournal.com]

...maybe

But it's really fancy and you don't have to plug it in and it's very resistant to popping because of the...nevermind.

[warped-inside.livejournal.com]

Oh...

Well not plugging it in is, that's really quite an improvement, isn't it? I mean,what if you're someplace without electricity?

[horrible-phd.livejournal.com]

See, exactly! But, uh, it's kind of something I just came up with on the fly and I do have electricity so...maybe I should just get an air mattress until I have time to improve it. Or, you know. Move somewhere with a bed.

[warped-inside.livejournal.com]

Well it's always better to test things under controlled conditions first. Don't you have a flat?

[horrible-phd.livejournal.com]

I think controlled conditions are overrated. I was going to sort out my living situation today, but...uh...mistletoe. Things have been sort of...ahem. Awkward.

[warped-inside.livejournal.com]

Well I'll admit you don't always have the luxury. I'd offer you a place to crash temporarily, but we're already overcrowded and you'd probably wind up having to bunk in the laundry room.

That's why I'm not setting foot outside today. Some curse days are best spent locked in your room.

[horrible-phd.livejournal.com]

I'd...just as soon stay away from laundry rooms right now. But hey, thanks for the almost-offer.

[ooc: Oh, dear. She has no idea about his laundry related issues.]

[warped-inside.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry. Not doing very well today, am I?

Guess you could always set up your air- your Porta Pillow if you wanted. If you don't mind animals.

[ooc: She doesn't, but she feels really guilty about upsetting him twice. XD]

[horrible-phd.livejournal.com]

No, no, I'll find something. It sounds like you live with a lot of people and I'm used to being on my own most of the time. What kind of animals do you have? I'm thinking of getting a pet to help with the ticking situation.

[warped-inside.livejournal.com]

A lot more than I'd expected, actually. There are four of us. And two birds and a puppy, and a robotic mouse. The mouse doesn't really count though, mostly he sleeps on my laptop.

You should look into that. The ticking won't get better if you live completely alone.

[horrible-phd.livejournal.com]

A robotic mouse? Cool. Did you make it?

[warped-inside.livejournal.com]

A friend did, actually. I don't do much with robotics. Bad associations. Are you interested in that?

[horrible-phd.livejournal.com]

I do like to make stuff. Haven't made any robots, though. Well, not any that were actually cool. I'm a fan of all kinds of tech.

What do you do?

[warped-inside.livejournal.com]

Yeah? What kind of stuff?

Used to be the team technician for a, um, group of alien hunters. Now I sort of split my time between the police force and my own business.

[horrible-phd.livejournal.com]

There was the stupid portal that got me here...I made a Freeze Ray once. Not freeze as in ice, that would be lame, but it could actually stop time.

Alien hunters. Huh. So not the weirdest thing I've heard all day. And the police. Well, that's...so sorry, I have to go now, nice talking to you.

[ooc: he's used to the police being after him.]

[warped-inside.livejournal.com]

Really? That's brilliant! I made a temporal shield for the Hub once, I'm told it worked perfectly but I never actually got to see it in use myself. Portable?

You're um...right then, I guess. Nice talking to you too...

1/3?

[sitaronthewater.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the ticking gets really annoying. Have you gotten the guide yet?

[Voice]

[sitaronthewater.livejournal.com]

Ah- Hey, is this another curse today or something? Aw, man, Rudy told me that there'd be musical singing ones!

[horrible-phd.livejournal.com]

A curse? That's why everyone was acting so strange the other day, recalling old memories, right? Everyone seems to be talking about a curse today too, but no one seems to be singing. Not that I've been singing, because I haven't except for a line from 'Deck the Halls', unless the curse is that other people think I'm singing.

[Voice]

[sitaronthewater.livejournal.com]

Yeah. Old memories. I guess you could call it that. Only some of us weren't just remembering. I actually went through it again.

This place is pretty weird, I dunno.

3/3-Done

[sitaronthewater.livejournal.com]

I still have no idea what you're talking about, but I like the way you're talking about it.

zomgyourdr.horribleROOOOOCKS!!!

[tempzilla.livejournal.com]

Hey, that was really clever! You make that up on the spot?

[horrible-phd.livejournal.com]

Make up what? I don't understand what's going on around here!

[tempzilla.livejournal.com]

Your song, doofus! You've got a great voice. You a musician of some sort?

[horrible-phd.livejournal.com]

...No.

I'm really pretty sure I haven't been singing at all, but you're not the only person who seems to think I am. I wonder if it's one of these curses I've been hearing about. Have you noticed anything weird with anyone else today?

[tempzilla.livejournal.com]

Not that kind of weird, sweetheart. Today's curse seems to be mistletoe snogging, and I've only ever seen one curse per day, so I think you're something different.

[horrible-phd.livejournal.com]

Cursed mistletoe. Yeah, I, uh, kind of figured that one out just now. It was, um, I don't want to talk about it. I think I'd better get back to the laboratory.

[ooc: Billy just kissed Rodney McKay. He's kind of freaking out.]

[tempzilla.livejournal.com]

Oh. Okay.