Groovy Tunes, Tuesday

[tigerundercover]

Raven was ignoring the stereo today in favor of the musical instruments. She'd barely played the toy piano this weekend when she was tiny -- and she'd done so as an elephant, so she hadn't even been pretending to play it properly -- but it'd been a good few seconds of banging away. Satisfying. She'd never really considered learning a musical instrument, especially not since LA, when her life boiled itself down to bare necessities. It might be kind of nice to at least try learning one, though.

She ran her hand over the side of a guitar, then shook her head. Kathy was already learning guitar, and anyway, she wanted to learn something different.

The stereo started playing something instrumental as she looked over the racks, and she swayed idly to it, thinking. It should be something pretty portable. Maybe something someone she knew played, so she wouldn't have to look around for a teacher or try to learn from YouTube. Something that could be both eerie and fun.

. . . Maybe a klezmer? That was a type of instrument, right? Or maybe it was a musical style. Maybe a balalaika. . . .

[open!]

Comments

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"Yo, TA!" Hardison said, glad to be his usual age and height again. "I am on a mission! What you want to eat for Thanksgiving?"

You were coming, right? Please don't make Hardison have to come into the preserve to bring you a covered plate of deliciousness.

[tigerundercover]

"I have no idea!" Raven responded in kind. "Um, maybe those fancy hot pockets with the croissant-y crust?"

[geniuswithasmartphone]

...Not what he'd been expecting, but he could roll with it.

"A'ight," he agreed easily. "Though I might haveta make 'em, or else Eliot'll probably try to make 'em by hand all fancy-like. Anythin' else? Anythin' you used to really like but ain't gotten to eat in awhile?"

[tigerundercover]

"Not . . . really?" Raven said. "Fifties food was really kind of gross. There was meat-flavored jello."

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"Yeah, but you lived here in civilization for a coupla years, right?" Hardison asked. "When we understand that jello is for shots an' hospital visits an' nothin' else."

Steve.

"You ain't find anythin' you liked from here?"

[tigerundercover]

Raven shrugged. "Nothing, like, Thanksgiving-y. Egg rolls, maybe?"

She was a little stuck on those self-contained finger foods.

[geniuswithasmartphone]

Hardison was noticing that, yes.

"A'ight, Hot pockets an' egg rolls. I'll see what we can do." Between Raven and Parker, this was going to be a very eclectic meal. "So whatcha up to today? I'm noticin' you ain't givin' the stereo the usual glares."

[tigerundercover]

"It's kind of behaving itself," Raven said. "I was just thinking. I played around with some instruments when I was a little kid this weekend, and . . . it was fun. Like, sort of peaceful? So I was wondering if I should try learning to play one for real."

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"Got your eye on anythin' in particular?" Hardison asked, looking around the store. "Looks to have a decent selection, especially if you wanna pick up guitar. I know Eliot's already givin' Kathy lessons in Country's Greatest Hits."

[tigerundercover]

“No guitars,” Raven said. “Everyone plays guitar.”

[geniuswithasmartphone]

Hardison laughed at that. "Hey now!" he protested. "I don't!" Affecting an expression filled with hauteur, he informed her in the prissiest of tones, "I'll have you know, I play a far more sophisticated instrument."

[tigerundercover]

"You mean the tiny chin-guitar?" Raven put it that way entirely to tease. She had no strong feelings either way about violins.

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"Rude, TA, just rude," Hardison declared. "Ain't got no culture, that's your problem."

[tigerundercover]

"None at all," Raven said cheerfully. "Isn't it fun?"

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"Oughtta make you learn the violin," he groused. "Try to get you at the level of yogurt or somethin'."

[tigerundercover]

"Would . . . would you want to?" Raven asked, suddenly shy. "I mean, I don't know if I'd be any good as a student, but I kind of miss having you as a teacher."

[geniuswithasmartphone]

Hardison's face softens into a smile. "An' I ain't never taught violin before, so I don't know if I'll be any good as a teacher," he said, offering her an arm like he did to Parker, an invitation to come in for a hug if she were so inclined. "But hell yeah I wanna. It'll be fun, teachin' you again."