fandomtownies | Luke's, Wednesday

Luke's, Wednesday

Kenzi was impatiently watching the clock for her break today. Things to do! People to see! Treasures to acquire!
In the meantime, she was teasing the staff about their fear of the people living upstairs. And sampling the new microbrews. How bad could they be, when they'd instituted beer?

SPECIALS
Soft pretzels
Cheesy potatoes
Ice Cream of Accomplishment

Luke's was open.

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You can always get ice cream on your potato.

She's in a good mood. But she'll lie about why.

Roland came into the diner looking solemn and vaguely baffled, guitar as always at his side. "Hey Kenzi," he greeted as he came up to the counter and grabbed a seat. "Have you seen my harp anywhere?"

Aaagh. There went part of her mood.

"Not lately." Kenzi blinked. "Why?"

"Huh," Roland said. "I could've sworn it was by the couch, last night, but when I looked this morning I couldn't find it."

He didn't play the damn thing, but didn't mean he didn't take it out every now and then and check on it. He'd rescued it, dammit, he had a responsibility for its wellbeing.

"Weird." Eeeep. Kenzi kept that feeling off her face, mostly giving an impression of 'perplexed.' "Maybe it's somewhere else in the house? Or Bo went on a cleaning spree."

... please don't think Bo took it though, Roland.

"I guess." That was the trouble with couch surfing. Sometimes people rearranged things around you, and you couldn't really complain as -- well. Couch surfing. Roland sighed. "I was going to try learning to play something on it, today." He totally was not going to try to learn to play something on it, today.

"Really?" Kenzi was trying to disguise her dread with skepticism. She wasn't doing too badly, she thought. "...what's the harp's name, anyway?"

"Name?" Roland frowned, slightly wide-eyed. He didn't tend to tell people he named his guitar, but with this island and Kenzi and everything else he babbled about, it was not out of the realm of possibility that he'd referred to Patience by name at her once or twice. . ". . . It's a medieval harp?"

"So, Guenevere?" Kenzi grinned at him, amused at his reaction. She didn't remember the guitar's name, but she did remember that he referred to it as 'she' and had named it at some point. "Isabella? Or wait. Is it a boy harp?"

This might actually be useful to know when she tried to trade it in.

"It's not a boy." Well, he'd at least become attached enough to the harp to have worked that out. "I don't know if her previous owner named her."

Probably not. The dark elves had been a little to into their pretty things being things, not having personalities. It was entirely likely if Roland had stuck around -- and not been eaten -- they wouldn't have bothered much with his name, either.

"So you didn't re-name her. How long have you had that thing, anyway?"

And not been playing it at all, hmm?

"Little longer than I've been on the island?" Roland said. "Or close to 30 years, I suppose, depending on how you calculate it." He sighed. "She's a very intimidating instrument. They can't usually tell you you're playing them badly. Well, I mean, they can, but not the way she does."

"Whoa." Well, no wonder he stuck with the guitar. "Are we talking words here, or magic?" Kenzi cocked her head, then added, "Hey, want a distraction snack?"

You're a terrible person, Kenzi.

Edited 2015-03-11 18:22 (UTC)

"She plays back at me," Roland explained. "Better than I'm playing." He sighed. "Consolation for losing my harp. I've got to be one of the worst bards in -- ever."

Aww Roland, no.

"You're not!" Kenzi went and fetched a chocolate shake, complete with whipped cream and a cherry. "You're a great guitar player, and you can change moods with the music, and you gave me a theme song."

... maybe, maybe she should give the harp back? Maybe? But! She wasn't going to let it go forever! Just until she had the ring!

"I don't think you ever told me how you got it, either. I mean, do you have to play a harp to be a bard? I don't think so."

And she would know! Really!

Roland sulkily sipped his milkshake.

Mmm. Consolation prize.

"I guess it is a pretty good story. Have I told you about how I got stuck in the Shadow Realm?"

"No. Because I'm sure I would remember that." Kenzi propped her chin in her hands, waiting for story time.

"Right," Roland said. "Okay. So it was right when I found out I was a bard. The dark forces were trying to end the world -- because they're bastards, basically -- and I was helping out fighting them, and the Dark Adept -- he was the main intelligent bit of darkness that showed up -- decided he didn't like that, especially after I managed to beat him in a sing-off." He was still damn proud of that bit. Even if he did just sing John Lennon at the guy. "So he sent me into the Shadow Realm, where he came from, figuring I'd either give up and promise not to fight him any more so he'd save me -- or die."

"Yeeesh. Seriously?" Kenzi blinked, unwillingly impressed. "Hard-core. So we're talking Monster Island? Worse than here?"

"Evil fairy tales," Roland said. "I woke up being carried under the arm of a man-eating giant. It kinda went downhill from there."

"Holy shit." Kenzi blinked, and got more whipped cream for his milkshake. "So did the harp save you or something?"

...she was gonna have to give it back, wasn't she.

"Other way around," Roland said. "The giants had eaten her previous owner -- I mean, I didn't see them do it, but I'm pretty sure. She was just lying on a pile of stuff in the cave, all tarnished with the strings falling off."

"Aaaack." Kenzi blinked, picturing this way too clearly. "So, you just sort of found her there? While they were, what, boiling water to cook you in?"

"One of them fell asleep. The other one went out to pee." It was a very valiant rescue he made. "I think they were used to their prey being more dead than I was by the time they dumped them on the pile o' remains."

"Eeeeuuugh." Kenzi made a face, and shook her head. "So you took Harp - the Harp- with you while they were looking the other direction, and booked it. Way to go, dude."

"That's it in a nutshell. Made it to the woods, which were too thick for them to maneuver, then . . . kinda ran in a blind panic for awhile. That's when she started playing herself, while we were in the woods. Woulda thought it was just the wind, but then P -- the guitar started up, too, and. Well. I guess they made friends."

She was the worst. The guitar had been trying to save the harp! It would probably tell on her! She was screwed! She should give up and give in and give it back now!

Feeling more like a kidnapper than a thief now, Kenzi glumly said, "So yeah. We should find that. So you can learn to play it, like the guitar."

"Or find her someone who'll know how to treat her properly," Roland said glumly. "Instead of just leaving her in a bag on the floor."

...or maybe she was just the matchmaker of music! Yes. She would give the harp to Gaunt, and he'd find her a good home, and if it wasn't a good home she'd steal it back and Roland would appreciate her even more!

Even for Kenzi this was an exhausting bit of justification. More whipped cream was obviously required. "You tried, man. Some things and beings just aren't compatible. You know?"

"I lost her," Roland pointed out. "I don't even know how. I never took her out of the house."

Kenzi winced. Then considered. "We'll keep looking. She has to be somewhere. She'll turn up eventually."

In a store window, even.

"More milkshake?" Of guilt?

Roland sighed. "Don't suppose there's any beer?"

"It's even Canadian," Kenzi promised. Eliot could bill her.

"Well. At least we have that, then."

Around today, yay!

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Luke's, Wednesday

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OOC