Groovy Tunes, Friday

[rebelseekspizza]

Yeah, Dante was happy to be back in the store with his own hands where they should be. And today? Today, the stereo was actually cooperating, blasting out no small number of somewhat lighthearted techno tracks. The summery kind, albeit with some kickass drums. It felt like a day for it.

He rummaged around the guitar section after he got that sorted out. Skipped over some of the more normal-looking ones in favor of the weirder stuff. Jagged edges and weird patterns and--

Okay, finally he settled on poking at a nice, regular black-and-red one. So sue him. He liked the colors.

[[ open! though possible sp warning due to the headache from hell. ]]

Comments

[furnaceface]

Somebody had said that he was dropping in today to place an order, not at all as an excuse to check out how Dante was doing with the guitar situation, honest. And that somebody - Jonothon - was walking in to the shop now, looking like he was actually in a fairly decent mood himself, for once.

It was a nice change of pace for him these days, okay?

//Afternoon, mate,// he said, giving Dante a nod. //How goes it?//

[ooc: I'm headed to work, so this is gonna be SP anyway. <3 Feel better!]

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante lowered the red-and-black one back onto the stand he'd gotten it from. "Yo," he called back. "I'm good. Just checking these things out."

Yep. Checking them out. No reason.

[[ so yeah, i am definitely going to be slow. augh. ]]

[furnaceface]

//Checking them out?// Jono looked faintly amused, walking through the shop toward the wall where the guitars were most prominently displayed. //See anything you like, yet?//

[We can slowplay on into forever! No worries at all!]

[rebelseekspizza]

"You got some funky-looking guitars here," Dante said, even as he dithered near the one he'd been holding just now. "But I guess there's nothing wrong with a classic with a fancy paint job, either."

Sadly, none of them were shaped like bats.

[furnaceface]

Custom guitar body shapes cost extra! But that could be arranged.

//You guess so, hm?// Jono was doing his damnedest to keep the blatant amusement from his voice. //Pick that one up, tell me how it feels when you hold it.//

Fall in love with the guitar, Dante. Do it.

[rebelseekspizza]

If Jono would like to keep on ignoring that Dante did actually care about something - like music - that would be great. Especially because he couldn't keep the this is so cool out of his eyes when he picked it back up and slung the strap over his shoulder.

"Eh, it's all right," he said. "It fits."

[furnaceface]

//'Fits' is a good start,// Jono replied, Deciding to be kind just this once and not draw attention to Dante's obvious excitement. //How'd you like to hook it up to an amp and see how it plays?//

Or how it made guitar sounds, since Jono was under the impression that Dante wasn't quite at the point where he could play much of anything, just yet.

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante lifted his chin up at the collection of black boxes not far away. "Which one's best for this one?" he asked.

No, Dante couldn't play much of anything yet. He'd never had the chance to learn before.

[furnaceface]

//Depends where you're going to be playing,// Jono replied, shrugging. //We'll go with solid state instead of tube tone, they're easier to maintain and the sound isn't all that different. But if you're going to be mostly playing in, say, your dorm room, you probably aren't going to need much more than fifteen watts.//

He waved a hand at them.

//'Best' is a bit subjective, here. We can pull a few out and see which one you think you like the sound of the most with this one, if you like.//

[rebelseekspizza]

"Sounds like work," Dante commented, finishing his trune towards the amps. He pulled one out that looked like the first one Starsmore had been talking about. "They all look kinda tiny and cute."

And now he was getting the guitar plugged in. Go him.

[furnaceface]

//Eh, it's fun work,// Jono promised. //And you're getting paid to be doing this right now, so you might as well.//

It wasn't like there were any customers, anyway.

//You can work towards getting a bigger one if you get to a point where you want to be performing instead of practicing, of course, but while you're playing the guitar, people are paying attention to the guitar anyway. Not many people are as concerned about how cute your amp is.//

But if you wanted it to be cuter, you could probably get Alluka to put some more stickers on it, Dante.

[rebelseekspizza]

... Yeah, Dante would be keeping the amp away from Alluka unless he was feeling particularly ironic some day.

"It's just a little black box," he said. "So. Amp attached. Where from here, old man?"

If he made fun of Starsmore enough, he could pretend like the guy wasn't doing him a favor. Okay, as far as favors from authority figures went, 'teaching him how to play guitar' wasn't a dangerous one, but still.

[furnaceface]

Hey, Dante. It was Jono's birthday. Calling him 'old man' was really just rubbing it in.

He still didn't seem to mind all that much.

//Let's see how you hold the thing, hm? Then we can get some noise out of there, check how you like the sound. Then we can focus on teaching you some chords, making sure it's in tune. That sort of thing. Have you got a pick?//

[rebelseekspizza]

"Tracked one down earlier," Dante said, holding up a perfectly functional black one.

He was holding the guitar perfectly fine, though he lifted it a few inches just to show it. "Bet it'd make a good club if I wanted to," he joked.

[furnaceface]

//Aaand if you ever want to see me cry, that's how you do it,// Jono replied. //That, and playing frizbee with the vinyl. Don't do that.//

Please. Please.

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante grinned. "You are too easy," he said.

There'd be no clubbing around here right now anyway; Dante was bringing that pick down and wrenching a perfectly decent chunk of noise out of it.

[furnaceface]

Noise was an excellent word for it, anyway! Jono gave a little nod, regardless. Dante was nothing if not enthusiastic. And a little bit of a shit disturber, but really, he'd come to expect that much of him by this point.

//How d'you like the sound of it, mate?//

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante was just wired to fuck with authority figures. Didn't matter if those authority figures were messed-up mutants who were way too into the early-90s aesthetic who tried to make some probably-token gestures to actually do good for anyone.

(In some ways, the probably-token-gestures types were the worst.)

"Sounds like a guitar," he noted. "In a shitty punk kinda way. Still better than Pearl Jam."

[furnaceface]

The sad thing was, this particular messed-up mutant actually did care. Was that better or worse?

//Hey now, mate,// Jono replied, sounding more amused than affronted. //Those are fighting words, you know.//

[rebelseekspizza]

Either worse or just plain sad. Dante wouldn't be able to settle on one or the other - mostly because he didn't trust the very idea anyone in charge actually did care.

"You name one Pearl Jam song that's actually good, and not just in an ironic 90s kinda way."

[furnaceface]

Well, for what it was worth, Jono still didn't really like to think of himself as 'in charge.' Especially around the school, where he had once been a student himself.

... The Groovy Tunes, on the other hand, was his baby, and here he was King Jono of Hot Shit Mountain.

//Yellow Ledbetter,// Jono said immediately. //It's different from most of the rest of their songs. Slower than what you like, I'm sure.//

[rebelseekspizza]

Did it at least count as being moderately respectful towards the King of Shit Mountain if Dante had a strict no-sex-in-the-store rule? Because for him, that was pretty close.

"You are just king of the nerds," Dante said, idly fiddling a little with the guitar, hitting separate strings to see what they did. "Never heard that one."

[furnaceface]

Jono watched Dante play around intently, shrugging his shoulders. He'd step in and show him how to play a few chords in a while, for now he'd just let the boy explore.

//I've been king of the nerds ever since being a fan of Pearl Jam was actually new and edgy,// he replied. //They do have music besides the over-processed grunge that hit the radio, you know. They rallied pretty hard against their own fame for a while there.//

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante shrugged. "I dunno," he said, "Pretty much all of their big tracks are just big walls o' noise."

And not in the way he liked it.

... and okay, that string, when you pressed it up there, just made a weird discordant noise. Good to know?

[furnaceface]

//People weren't much used to big walls of noise yet, there was some novelty to it back then,// Jono replied, shrugging his shoulders. //Ledbetter is quieter, slower. There was actual thought put into it.//

He... managed to not wince at that noise, there. Lord.