fandomtownies | Groovy Tunes, Friday

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Groovy Tunes, Friday

It had been a little under two weeks since Elphaba had sudden plopped back into Fandom. Getting her mind to wind down from constantly being on the look out for attack and betrayal wasn't easy, and she was still sometimes on edge. Restless nights weren't the norm, but they were happening often enough that she was getting a lot of reading done to distract herself.

But today at Groovy Tunes, it was practically casual Friday as Elphaba was wearing jeans and a Pixies t-shirt (that she had no idea was a band), with her hair down and loose. She busied herself instead with restocking some CDs that had just arrived; Elphaba had no idea who Autobahn was, but their album covers were odd to say the least.

[ooc: Open! I will be, erm, afk for ~4 hours, fyi, as I am roadtripping to Iowa. Because that is a thing.]

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Believe it or not, Roland couldn't actually spend all his time busking. Nearly all of it, but not 100%

He'd been meaning to check out the town's music shop for ages now. Patience snapping her E-string when he was warming up this morning just gave him the right excuse to stop procrastinating.

And immediately get distracted by the vinyl section. It was nice to know that not everyone in the future had forsaken the sound of a good analog recording.

Elphaba's customer service skills weren't the greatest. In fact, she normally believed that most customers probably wanted to be left to explore on their own, and if they had a question they'd ask. Still, she was bored, and trying to break out of her shell a bit more. So, she walked over near Roland and gently cleared her throat.

"Can I help you at all?"

"Oh," Roland said automatically, then looked up and did a double take. "Er. Sorry." He rubbed his neck. "Roland. I need a new E string, actually, if you have them." He wiggled his guitar in her case. Still embarrassed, he tried a smile. "Nice shirt."

"It is?" Elphaba said, looking down at it for a moment. She was letting the double-take slide. "I keep thinking I'm missing something about it, but I'm not sure what."

Probably the fact that it was for a band. That was the main thing.

"And E-String for that?" she added, pointing at his case.

"That's right." Don't ask about the green, don't ask, don't "She's just a cheap acoustic, but I try to take good care of her. Coated phosphor bronze, medium gauge. If, uh. If you carry them."

He really should learn how to order himself extras on the internet.

"Coated phosphor bronze," Elphaba repeated, looking over across the store. This was her first string customer, so she wasn't entirely certain where to go. "Coated with what, exactly?" she asked, mostly as a distraction measure as she tried to remember where they were kept.

". . . I don't know," Roland admitted. "Some kind of polymer, I suppose. It keeps the strings nice for longer." When you played outside in any kind of weather, you needed all the help you could get.

"So no animal products, good," Elphaba remarked, mostly to continue the distraction. "Oh, over here," she said, walking over to where she finally had noticed they were kept.

"Do you play it often, then?"

"No animal products," Roland agreed. "She's purely a vegetarian guitar." He followed her over to the strings. "All the time. It's how I make a living -- what little of one I make. I'm a busker."

"So you're a beggar with a guitar?" Elphaba asked, pointing at the strings he'd inquired about. "Or do you just abhor the idea of working for someone?"

The latter she could empathize with.

"I provide a valuable public service," Roland corrected. "For a very reasonable fee." He scanned the selection, then picked one out. "I've never been very good at other people deciding what I should play or do."

Elphaba thought about that one for a second. "I suppose music does make things better, if it's any good."

She looked down at the case and then back at Roland. "You can have the string for free if you play me a song."

"Can't argue with that price." The string was worth rather a bit more than he typically made with a single song. "Any particular requests? I could probably do 'Where is My Mind' or 'Here Comes Your Man'."

"The first one," Elphaba said, not wanting to let it be known that she didn't know either. And it sounded much better than any song about men.

"You hadn't mentioned your name yet, either. Exactly who is the musician I have the pleasure of hearing today?"

"Ah, sorry," he said. "Roland Chapman." He set the guitar case gently on the floor, then pulled Patience out. "It'll take me a moment to restring her. What was your name, then?"

"Elphaba Thropp," she introduced. "I've just been in town a few weeks, that's probably why you haven't seen me around. Do you play every day?"

"~~Frequently handwavily but~~ Yeah. Most days in public, too." Roland finished stringing the guitar, then quickly checked the tuning. "You play?"

"Oh no," Elphaba said. "I'm not musical in the least. I just work here because I know the owner. But I know how to appreciate a good tune when I hear one."

"That's better than some," Roland said cheerfully. "Ah, here we go." He started to play. With your feet on the air and your head on the ground. . . .

The song was excellent, and Elphaba was impressed at the performance. She listened quietly and attentively, but with a little smile on her face. When he was done, she applauded with a bit of enthusiasm. "That was a fair trade," she said.

Roland bowed a little over the guitar. "Thank you. You've very kind."

Edited 2014-05-25 00:40 (UTC)

"But only honest," Elphaba said. "I suppose I'll have to come find you out on the streets some time."

"I look forward to seeing you." He supposed she'd be easy to spot.

. . . He really wanted to ask her about the green skin, but he couldn't figure out a non-creepy or -obnoxious way to do it. That was probably because there wasn't one.

"What other groups are you into other than the Pixies? So I can be prepared."

Elphaba looked down at her shirt and back up to Roland. "Oh, it's a music group," she said. "You know, I'd been wondering. I was half thinking it was about actual Pixies, but now that seems foolish."

"Depends on what world you're from," Roland said. The actual pixies in his world wouldn't end up on a t-shirt, but maybe they would where people come in green. "Just liked the design, huh?"

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Groovy Tunes, Friday

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