Groovy Tunes, Tuesday

[furnaceface]

Oh, God. Jonothon had certainly gone and stepped into it up to his knees this time, hadn't he? Between the time he'd spent playing music in the common room last week and then his conversation with Rinoa outside of that club the day after, it seemed as though he was stuck somewhere in event planning limbo for an early November concert that he hadn't even spoken to his birthday-present-vocalist about, yet.

And so he did what any sane individual would do when faced with something big and slightly horrifying and a serious lack of, say, fellow band members with which to pull it off.

He panicked and stuck a sign in the window.

Play An Instrument?
Bring it in.
Play it.
Leave with a CD of your choice for free.

He'd bribe people into sneaky, unofficial auditions, naturally.

[Open and, as always, free of that pesky OCD thing!]

Comments

[theotherpeter.livejournal.com]

Peter, being bored, was wandering about town. He stopped in to complain about the sign. As you do.

"You know, that deal is discriminatory," he declared.

[furnaceface]

Well, a greeting like that certainly got Jonothon to raise his eyebrows a little bit.

//I'm going to assume that yer one of th'people on the island who doesn't have any musical talent, then?//

His tone was dry. Sahara dry. Which would probably be noteworthy if one could also get past the slight echo that it made inside one's head.

[theotherpeter.livejournal.com]

"No," Peter declared, all smug. "Just that I don't have the brute strength to haul a piano down here."

[furnaceface]

... Oooh. Potential keyboardist alert.

//And you've been playing th'piano for how long, then?//

You're doomed, Peter. You could very well fill an important niche in Jonothon's as of yet nonexistant band. There are invisible claws, and they're sinking in already.

[theotherpeter.livejournal.com]

"As long as I can remember, really," Peter said. "Forced to play the classics, learned to play the music I wanted to play on my own." He wasn't afraid to brag a little.

[shes-got-legs.livejournal.com]

"Oooh," said Ariel, after reading the sign. "I have dinglehoppers! And a bird!" Who was perched on her shoulder. "And if you give me five minutes, I can run to my room and grab my snorflat, although I'll admit, I'm not very good at playing it."

[furnaceface]

What did it say, really, when Jonothon was proud of himself for knowing what one of those three objects was?

Bird. Bird was wonderfully straightforward. A little random, perhaps. But straightforward.

//You know, I'm afraid I've never heard of... dinglehoppers or snarflats,// and admission that did have him mildly distressed, actually. Music was his life, after all. This simply wouldn't do, even if they did sound suspiciously like something out of a Dr. Seuss book. //I wouldn't be opposed to a demonstration, really.//

[shes-got-legs.livejournal.com]

"Dinglehoppers," Ariel offered with a knowledgeable smile, "are more commonly known in these parts as forks. And I always have some in my bag. I know they're not traditionally musical instruments, but I've heard that people can play spoons. If they can play spoons, then you can probably play dinglehoppers, as well. I'm certainly willing to try. I don't know if snarfblats pretend I said that first go by a different name here, but, if you want to watch Mr. Bird, I'll go run and get mine and we'll see! They're a very old instrument from way back in human history, invented to help people not be bored because all they'd do was just stare at each other, and then they discovered music, and everything was much better!"

Ariel could really stand to take some actual history classes, ones that didn't include The World According to Scuttle.

[furnaceface]

... Well, colour Jonothon intrigued, he was willing to give Ariel a go of it, certainly.

//I suppose I could be patient while you get yer... instrument,// he decided, skipping over the name entirely because, really, if she was calling a fork a dinglehopper, who really knew what in the world this snarf-whatever was? //But yer bird better not shite on anything.//

... Poor, poor Summer.

[shes-got-legs.livejournal.com]

"Oh, he won't!" Ariel said, after a wide-eyed moment at Jono's colorful word choice. "He was with me at the clothing shop all day and didn't even peck or tear or...anything else the whole time! Be good for Jono, okay, Mr. Bird? I'll be right back!"

And so she darted off, trying to be quick as she headed all the way up to the fifth floor of the dorms to retrieve her newest snarfblat (http://www.maxcelcat.com/pix/magritte-pipe-sm.jpg). It gave Jono probably plenty of awkward time with the unfortunate teacher turned plover, but she was back soon enough, brandishing it happily.

"See? Isn't it a nice one, too? I did warn you I wasn't very good at it, right?"

[intraspective]

Ino was, uh, wandering during her lunch hour.

She tended to do that. Sometimes. Look, taking lunch and just staring into space was dull.

"...How is that fair?" she complained, tilting her head at the sign.

[furnaceface]

//Oh, bloody hell, don't tell me that you play th'grand piano, too.//

Hello, Ino.

[intraspective]

"I sing," she said loftily. "Which means I don't got an instrument to bring in. Totally unfair."

Pfft, like she'd said hello.

[furnaceface]

//What, and you suppose yer voice doesn't count?//

Jono was very open-minded on the definition of an instrument, today. A female vocalist or even a back-up singer could be a priceless find, after all.

[intraspective]

"Not one that comes in a box you carry 'round," she pointed out, with a sniff. "Kinda stuck with my voice, you know."

[boho-to-be.livejournal.com]

Said birthday present vocalist came in late in the afternoon, still grumbling about mathematics class.

"Do students often get eaten in the course of classroom activities here?" he asked Jono, clearly more indignant than hurt. "And hello. We're recruiting?"

... it's not really a we, Christian.

[furnaceface]

It's sort of like a we. Insofar as Jono was trying very hard to think of Christian as the other member of their not-quite-band, as opposed to the set of vocal cords that his late-but-not-quite-late girlfriend had arranged for him for his birthday.

It made for a unique view of the boy.

//If at all possible,// he confirmed, shrugging. //What class ate you, dare I ask?//

[boho-to-be.livejournal.com]

"Mathematics of quantum so on and so forth," Christian answered, not entirely precisely. "Bad enough I took a math course, but it seems to be some kind of cruel joke. The professor had us clambering around in some netherworld until a monster sucked us up."

[furnaceface]

//... And that's a math course?//

Really, Jonothon shouldn't be too surprised, at this point. He'd been a student here for over a year, now.

//Bloody hell, remind me to take something like that through correspondence if I'm ever feeling ambitious enough, mate.//

[boho-to-be.livejournal.com]

"It's a math class," Christian said unhappily. "Last week, the project was something about -- about a creature whose waste weighed several tons. I'm sure Professor Farnsworth has a point in mind, but I'd be just as happy never to find out what it is."

[azuldragon.livejournal.com]

"Hello, Jono," Azula greeted then waved to the sign. "I don't play an instruments, does that mean I don't get a CD of my choice?"

[furnaceface]

//Unfortunately,// Jono replied, //unless you've got some vocal talent that you haven't informed me of, yet.//

He gave her a small shrug of his shoulders, almost apologetic. //I could be negotiated into a discount, I suppose.//

Seriously, at this rate, he was going to drive the business to the ground.

[azuldragon.livejournal.com]

She chuckled then said, "Does the triangle instrument my Academy made me play when I was younger count?"

[furnaceface]

//Only if you get somebody to shake some maracas in accompaniment,// Jono replied, his tone something very near to a laugh, in turn. //And if you happen to have a triangle readily at yer disposal.//

[azuldragon.livejournal.com]

"Unfortunately, I don't have it with me." Azula said, playing along then added, "Fortunately for you, I can still purchase your CDs even without a discount."