Groovy Tunes, Monday

[furnaceface]

Today was an almost eerily quiet day at the Groovy Tunes.

Yes, it was open. Jono had even hung a Now Hiring sign in the window.

But the stereo wasn't on today, and Jonothon hadn't bothered to haul his guitar into town this week, and the kitten that he'd brought for company was curled up and sleeping in a sunbeam on the other side of the room.

There were orders to be placed, which he'd... get to. And there were shipments to unpack, which maybe he'd leave a note about for one of the other staff members to worry about. Today, Jonothon's productive streak from yesterday had waned and twisted and had run the hell away, until all that Jono was really left with was a particularly strong desire to just sit and stare at his knees.

So, a normal day for Jono, really.

[Oooopen.]

Comments

[life_inshadow]

Tara had been feeling like she should say something to Jono for ... about a week. Not that she had the faintest idea what that thing should be, hence the delay.

Shed finally managed to convince herself that saying the wrong thing was better than saying nothing, so she stopped by the shop. "Hey," she greeted, tucking her hair back nervously. Her eyes jittered around the store, landing on Joni. "I -- didn't realize you had a cat."

[furnaceface]

It took a moment for Jonothon to look up from his knees (they were really quite fascinating knees) toward Tara, lingering there for a moment while he worked on kick-starting his brain up again before he glanced toward Joni.

Here was where most people would say something back, Jonothon.

//She was... a gift, of sorts. From my roommate.// Okay, so George had come to him in a panic, convinced that she was going to accidentally kill the kitten somehow, and had fobbed Joni off on him. //She's a good cat.//

The timing hadn't been bad, at least. Squeaky kittens were good for prying Jono's head out of the dark places that it tended to wander to. And around here, it seemed to wander to those places often.

[life_inshadow]

"I have a ginger tom back at the dorms," Tara said. Cats were fascinating, too. "Mr. Moxy. He's a sweetheart. W-we were talking about dressing him up and taking him for a walk when it gets warmer..."

Tara, stop babbling.

[furnaceface]

//Poor thing.//

Jono wouldn't dream of dressing up Joni. But then, Jono wasn't terribly fond of bleeding, and kitten claws were sharp.

//Did you really come here to talk pets? There's another shop in town that's more specialized to that sort of thing than this one, luv.//

That statement came out gently, surprisingly. But tired. A lot of what he said lately came out tired. Too much beating himself up over things that he couldn't have helped.

[life_inshadow]

"He'd be dapper!" Tara said, mock-offended before she looked at her shoes and back at Jono. "Um. Not really. I -- feel like I should say something, and I don't know how to say it, and ... it was either the cat or I would have asked for you to recommend a Dar Williams CD."

She wandered over to a rack of CDs, with a sidelong glance to Jono. "Are you doing okay? All things considered, I mean."

See, this was why she'd started by babbling about pets. It didn't make her feel like quite such a moron.

[furnaceface]

Not that Jonothon thought she was a moron to begin with. She had more than enough on her own plate, as well.

//All things considered...?// He shrugged, eyeing her for a moment before his own eyes turned toward his knees again. //I don't know. People keep telling me to feel it, stop hiding from how much it hurts. And then they go 'round and tell me to stop beating myself up over it, so I do, but then I'm not really feeling it anymore, because it's like they're telling me that I'm not allowed to.//

Because guilt and grieving tended to go hand-in-hand, when you were Jono. Especially when you'd lit your girlfriend on fire with a kiss.

//And I'm certain you didn't need to hear that,// he added, dismissively, shaking his head and looking toward the kitten. Kittens were never a bad place to look. //You've probably got yer own worries, I'm sure.//

[life_inshadow]

"Nothing like yours," Tara said quickly, though the honesty had her blinking a bit. It wasn't that what he'd said was wrong or surprising; it was that he was saying it to her at all. "I keep hearing ... that it wasn't my fault, that I should keep doing magic ... I dunno. I f-feel like everybody else has more reason to be upset than I do, this time. I'm just -- trying to keep an eye on people."

She shrugged a little. "I feel like telling you what to feel is more about the person you're talking to than about you, but I may just not know what I'm talking about."

[furnaceface]

It was easier to talk to her about these things than to some of the people who had come to check up on him. She'd watched what he'd done. He didn't have to launch into some sort of grueling backstory just to explain why he was beating himself up over it all.

There was a long moment's pause, then, while Jono let what she'd said sink in.

//It wasn't you, any more than it was us,// he said, finally. //We were all just... vessels for it, right? But...// He shook his head. //Doesn't change it in the end. What our hands did. That maybe... we could've fought it off, or bit it back or...//

A shrug. It had been an outright violation of the lot of them, just the simple fact that Azar had possessed them at all. And that the goddess had used their bodies to destroy somebody that they'd cared about made it all the worse. And he didn't know how to voice that, without sounding like he was somehow blaming Tara for it, simply because she'd been the host of that piss-poor excuse for a deity in the first place.

[life_inshadow]

"But she came in through me," Tara said. "I keep feeling like ... like if I was a tiny, tiny bit stronger, I would have known something was wrong and headed it off before anything happened." She shook her head. "Professor Skywalker said he thinks some things are just going to happen no matter what."

It just stunk that they'd been used for this one.

[shes-got-legs.livejournal.com]

Of course Ariel was going to visit Jono when she had a chance that Monday, coming in with a smile on her face, though it was much more muted, softer, and less bouncy. "Happy Monday, Jono," she said by way of greeting.

[furnaceface]

//Happy Monday,// Jono replied, looking up from his knees and attempting a smile. It didn't reach his eyes, unfortunately, and so it really wasn't there at all.

There had been the attempt.

//How're you doing today, luv?//

[shes-got-legs.livejournal.com]

"Pretty good," Ariel said, figuring if Jono couldn't smile, at least she could keep her going. "Club start up this week, so that's exciting. You know I'm going to do horoscopes for the newspaper?"

[furnaceface]

//There's a newspaper?//

That was... actually kind of new and exciting. There hadn't been one on the island since before he'd arrived, really.

//I mean, again? We've got back-issues in th'library, but I haven't ever actually seen a new one.//

[shes-got-legs.livejournal.com]

"Uh-huh!" Ariel brightened. "Blackagar's running it, with Cally! Isn't that great, though? You know he can't talk, either, so he's going to express himself through the written word instead!"

Actually, Blackagar had just sat down and found himself at the newspaper booth. But Ariel had her story, and that's what she was going to choose to believe.

[furnaceface]

Poor, poor Blackagar.

//It does seem like a good way to pass time,// Jono offered, thoughtfully. //I've probably missed registration for that, myself. I wouldn't know what to write about, at any rate.//

Which was possibly for the best. But then, a music column wouldn't be too terrible...

He gave his head a shake. He was trying to go for antisocial this semester. It came with fewer headaches.

[shes-got-legs.livejournal.com]

"I think," Ariel said with a smirk, "it's pretty obvious what you could write about, Jono. But even if it wasn't music, I'm doing horoscopes. I don't know anything about astrology. But it'll still be fun; it's something new and exciting, you know?"

[furnaceface]

//Something to keep busy with, at least,// Jono allowed, nodding a little. //Right around my two jobs, three classes, apathy club, and th'band that I never call meetings with as it is...//

He was going to have to do something about that. As it stood, they were still down a bass guitarist already.

[glacial_queen]

Funny how, on this island anyway, the more prickly and antisocial someone was, the more it drew people to them.

Case in point, Jono had his third customer of the day, though she wasn't here to help him be more or less prickly and antisocial.

"I can't sing," Karla complained from the doorway. "And tell a story. Or something. And I need to."

There. That was nice and clear, wasn't it?

[furnaceface]

Oh, yes. Clear as mud on a foggy day!

//...Wot?//

At least you got Jonothon looking up from his knees with that one, Karla! That was a step in the proper direction, right?

[glacial_queen]

"For DOGS," Karla explained, not at all sulkily, really. "I auditioned and Genesis says that I need to stop using my emotions to sing the songs, but try to get into the emotions of the singer, like I would with a character but I don't know how to do that and I guessed wrong about Taylor Swift, and so I have to practice singing songs with stories in them so I know how to emote in songs that aren't my own emotions."

That was much clearer, right?

[furnaceface]

An explanation like that was going to take Jonothon a moment or three to parse, too. Especially since he wasn't exactly at the top of his own game, today.

//You... auditioned for a musical? And th'bastard in th'red coat doesn't... like yer singing?//

He guessed that was what it boiled down to, simplified. Maybe. Perhaps?

...

//He listens to Taylor Swift?//

Please, pardon him. He'd just been given grounds to laugh forever.

[glacial_queen]

Consider it a treat to brighten your day.

"Well, she is on the radio a lot," Karla said. "I only sometimes listen during my shift at 'Dite's and even I've heard her songs."

That by no means meant Jono couldn't laugh forever, of course! Karla was just trying to be fair. Because Genesis was scary

"But, no, I don't think he did. And I hit every note right, I know I did. But he said that I had to learn to sing emotions without relying on my own."

[furnaceface]

Jono considered that for a moment, and then shrugged a little.

//Sounds to me like th'problem isn't in yer singing, then, it's in yer acting.//

So, really, she was still an excellent singer, no worries there! Just a rotten actress.

... Or something?

[glacial_queen]

Jono was just lucky that that wasn't a dagger Karla was seeing before her, or someone might just have gotten stabbed. A little. Non-vitally, of course. "He didn't have a problem with my acting last semester," she pointed out. "But I guess I'm just not...seeing the stories that are supposed to be in the songs, or something. He told me to get into the singer's head like I do with the characters', but I said it was different, because I don't have anything to go on, like I would with a character."

[furnaceface]

//You...// Okay, Jono was putting a hand to his forehead and battling back a headache. //Do you even listen to th'words when you hear a song, luv? You know, almost all of them tell a story of some sort.//