The Boards, Friday night and Saturday day

[bluhblahbluh.livejournal.com]

Drac had spent most of the week since talking to Jono working on business. For the Boards, for his hotel back in Transylvania, and for the current big problem in his life... preparing the best birthday party ever for his daughter's 118th birthday later this year!

Okay, so most of his week had been spent on that last one. Apparently some one else had booked one of the acts that he wanted at the party and was being particularly nasty about it. Which meant that Drac was back to square one for day two of the party.

So tonight Drac was sitting on the stage at the theatre, taking his frustrations out on his new guitar. He spent some time with a few of the tunes he remembered, then brought out the sheet music he'd picked up at Jono's the other day. He set it in a swirl of purple magic in front of him and began picking out the chords.

There were no windows inside the auditorium and the zombie staff knew better than to disturb him, so Drac was going to stay and practice until he didn't want to anymore.


[open!]

Comments

[nuclear_snide]

Not everybody needed windows. Or doors. Or sleep.

Bob wandered through the theatre, heard the music, and stopped to listen.

[bluhblahbluh.livejournal.com]

Drac was well used to that from ghosts.

Not that he immediately recognized that the person he suddenly noticed was of the passed variety; there was a distinct lack of ghosts on the island recently, so he was a little out of practice at recognizing the signs.

"Hello," Drac was also a little out of practice greeting people with a guitar in his lap, sorry. "May I help you?"

[nuclear_snide]

Bob smiled and came closer. "I was just listening. Please don't stop on my account."

[bluhblahbluh.livejournal.com]

Ah! The way he approached was, if you will pardon the expression, a dead giveaway, and Drac's expression softened a little.

"I'm afraid it's been quite a while since I performed, so my play is a bit off." Drac set the guitar into a sworl of magic so that he could stand and offer a short bow in greeting. "I haven't had the pleasure; I am Count Dracula. Manager here. Are you new to the Island?"

[nuclear_snide]

"Fairly new," Bob answered. "I'm teaching up at the school. Hrothbert of Bainbridge; my friends call me Bob. Pleased to meet you."

[bluhblahbluh.livejournal.com]

"Hrothbert?" And no surname? Drac's eyebrows raised, slightly amused and curious. Congratulations on shocking the Count, Bob! "That's quite an old name."

"Welcome to the island. May I ask what you're teaching?"

[nuclear_snide]

"I look good for my age, I hope," Bob said, grinning. "Defending against magic." He nodded at the sparkly purple swirl around the guitar. "Something you seem familiar with."

[bluhblahbluh.livejournal.com]

"Defense, no. But I am well used to the stuff, yes," Drac chuckled. A bit of the purple holding the sheet music bowed at Bob. "I'm used to more traditional methods of harm - weapons, fire, sunlight."

[nuclear_snide]

That, combined with the aura he was getting... "Ah - vampire, I take it?" Bob bowed a bit. "You're different than the ones I'm familiar with." And he was peering curiously at the magic, since that seemed a bit different, too.

[furnaceface]

It was fairly early Saturday morning, technically, when Jono came wandering in. He'd gotten enough sleep to last him a while, and had allotted himself a few hours to play here before he had to go open up the Groovy Tunes. He'd promised he'd stop by to pester Dracula, after all.

Or, at the very least, to bust out the guitars and attempt to make music for a while. And besides, face be damned, he was actually starting to miss the place.

//Knock knock!//

He'd brought his Stratocaster and everything!

[bluhblahbluh.livejournal.com]

"Jonothon!" Drac smiled at waved Jono over. "Come in, come in! I've been practicing the music you recommended."

[furnaceface]

//Excellent!// Jono made his way into the room, setting his guitar case down and crouching down to open it. //And how's that been going for you, mate?//

[bluhblahbluh.livejournal.com]

"It's interesting." Drac was trying not to be obvious as he... craned his neck to watch Jono reveal the beautiful instrument. "Not easy and not difficult. Some of the instructions are new, which makes it difficult, but it almost feels impossible to not play once I get started."

[furnaceface]

Jono had a deep, abiding love for his Strat. It was obviously well cared-for, with the exception of a few minor bumps and dings in the body of it, but that was more a result of years of travel between some decidedly dangerous realities.

He pulled the strap over one shoulder and made his way to the amp at the side of the stage.

//That'll happen,// he noted. //The music is different from what you're used to, and the techniques have changed as well. Besides that, you're working with an acoustic. It's going to have different capabilities and a different sound than what, say, my electric guitar can do, right off the bat.//

He plugged his guitar in, and then flicked on the amp, taking a moment to do a bit of tuning.

[bluhblahbluh.livejournal.com]

"Wayne uses an electric guitar," Drac nodded, watching with interest. "But he's a musician and I was more interested in singing. Is an acoustic not able to play modern music?"

[furnaceface]

//It's capable, it'll just sound different,// Jono explained. //Electric guitars allow for more sound distortion, something that's far more difficult to pull off on an acoustic. You can play whatever you like on either, mate, it'll just sound differently.//

He tilted his head a little, and then shrugged the strap off over his head and held his stratocaster out toward Dracula.

//Give it a try? That bar there is a tremolo bar- play a note and then push down on it. Feel free to play around with it. Pushing the bar down'll drop the pitch of the note. You can pull it up to raise it, too, but don't pull too far or you'll throw the tuning. You can make everything sort of divebomb after a fret-board harmonic, or even give it a wiggle for some nice vibrato.//

Yeah, Jono's Strat was basically a pretty guitar with some toys attached.

[bluhblahbluh.livejournal.com]

Drac didn't know the rarity of the opportunity he was being presented with, but he did recognize that this was a well-beloved instrument, so he hesitated a moment before setting his guitar in a swirl of purple magic and accepting the strat.

"Just hearing you say that makes me almost afraid to try anything more than a basic tune," Drac said, trying to get comfortable with holding it. Finally he managed a hesitant version of an old folk tune. He knew it by heart so it gave him a chance to play around a little with the bar.

Hmm. Maybe not really the type of song that went well with that sort of instrument.

[tigerundercover]

It'd been ages since Raven was last by to see Dracula, a fact which came to mind as something to remedy when she happened past the Boards on Saturday. She followed the sounds of music into the auditorium and stopped at the back to watch him practice for a moment, not sure if he'd appreciate an interruption. He seemed pretty intent.

[bluhblahbluh.livejournal.com]

Well he was trying something from a recent Century!

He stumbled over a particularly tricky barre chord and stopped, frowning as he leaned in to stare at the sheet music. "You're asking for me to do what?"

[tigerundercover]

Raven could not advise on anything guitar related, other than to say "It sounds good, so far."

So that's what she did.

[bluhblahbluh.livejournal.com]

"BaaAAAaah!" Drac was so intent on learning this piece that he startled on hearing her voice. In fact, so startled that he fell forward off his stool and landed in a most undignified position on the stage floor.

After a microsecond, though, he jumped up and was dusting himself off. "Ahem. Ah. Ms Raven." coff. DIGNITY DIGNITY "I didn't notice you had come in." His smile was warm, though. Raven was one of his favourites, after all!

[tigerundercover]

"So I gathered." Raven made her way down the aisle through the audience, shifting to her natural form as she went. She had the good grace not to laugh at his reaction, but it was admittedly a near thing. "How are you?"

[bluhblahbluh.livejournal.com]

Drac appreciated your holding back. He would blush if he had the blood for it. "I am well! I am well! You're looking lovely as ever, my dear. How have you been?"

[tigerundercover]

Raven looked down and smiled. Dracula was one of the few people who could call her lovely in her natural form and make her believe it. "Good. I have a good bunch of classes this semester. And better yet, lots of time off." She lifted her chin to the sheet music and guitar. "I didn't know you played."

[bluhblahbluh.livejournal.com]

"That's good to hear. Though I hope your grades are not suffering for the time off." He was wearing his Uncle Drac smile, but he was serious; he believed in education for youth!

"I used to sing and play when I was younger. I'm afraid I stopped performing for a long time so it's a struggle to get back into shape."