Groovy Tunes, Thursday

[furnaceface]

Okay, so this wasn't Jono's usual day at the Groovy Tunes. But he was planning on being out of town this weekend; he'd promised Alluka that he'd take her to an amusement park as a farewell before her big summer adventure with Ringo, and the Portalocity ticket was for this evening. They'd offered him a direct portal there but the catch was that they could only arrange it for Thursday, which still didn't make any bloody sense to Jonothon, but who was he to argue with a direct trip to Disneyland?

That did mean, of course, that he was going to be spending his day at work, sorting out things like pay and placing orders, so that he could be reasonably certain the business would keep running at least until they came back.

Paperwork. His favourite. Truly.

[OOC: Open!]

Comments

[notamascot]

Kaylin was still reeling from the message she'd received. It was done. She'd gone to the stupid classes (and even enjoyed some of them), but it was the last week of classes and she was graduating and now it was time to go back to Elantra and be a Hawk.

But apparently the Hawklord wanted her to finish out the summer here since she wasn't quite eighteen yet. And what was she supposed to do? Get a job.

Seriously? Who would hire her?

Then she remembered that Hannibal's Jono owned the music place and they'd both always been kind to her, so maybe, just maybe...

So today on her regular 'patrol' of the island, she'd seen him in the store, gathered up her courage, and gone in.

And in her usual Kaylin way she'd gotten right to the point. "Hi," she said. "I need a job. Can I work here?"

Oh Kaylin.

[furnaceface]

Oh, Kaylin. Jono glanced up at her and gave a faintly confused tilt of his head.

//Here?//

No, Jono, somewhere else.

[notamascot]

Kaylin nodded a little glumly. "Yes. You're Hannibal's Jono and I like him and you're nice too. I figure if I bother you, you can go home and tell Hannibal and he'll understand how annoying I am."

"Not that I'll try to be annoying, but mostly people think I am."

Then she brightened. "But it's not school and I'm always better with real life stuff and I work hard and if I mess up I'll do whatever I need to to fix it."

A pause. "But I understand if you say no."

[furnaceface]

Jono reached a hand up to scratch at his head in confusion. Being 'Hannibal's Jono' was a new one to him, but he'd take it.

//Wait, you want people to think you're annoying?// This was going well! //I mean, I've got shifts free here and there through th'week, if you want one of them. All you need to do is put music on and sell things. Keep the shop tidy. Let people use the stage if they want. Not a bad job for someone who tries hard, after all.//

[notamascot]

Kaylin gave him an odd look. "I don't necessarily want people to think I'm annoying, except maybe this charlatan lady on Elani street because she deserves it, but lots of people do."

But the rest, well... She smiled at him. "I can do that. I can sell things, and I'm not really neat, but I can keep things neat, and if you show me how to put music on I can do that!"

[furnaceface]

Jono was of the mind that the people who thought she was annoying probably needed a quick swat to the back of the head. He didn't say as much, shrugging instead and gesturing toward the stereo.

//Here,// he said, //I'll show you how this works. If it doesn't do what you tell it, don't worry too much. It's got a bit of a mind of its own.//

And had come back from the dead at least once.

//How are your Thursdays?//

[notamascot]

Kaylin gave him an odd look as she followed him towards the stereo. "My Thursdays are fine. Why - oh! You mean can I work on Thursdays! Yes, I can."

She hesitated, then asked. "When do I have to be here in the morning?"

[furnaceface]

//We open at ten, so if you get here at about nine-thirty to get things set up for the day, you ought to be good to go,// Jono replied, stopping in front of the stereo and then sort of waving vaguely at it. //This will probably give you more trouble than the customers, honestly.//

[notamascot]

"I can do that," Kaylin said with some relief. if she'd had to be there at 7 or 8 the odds of her being on time would fall into the slim to none range. Kaylin and early mornings did not exist on the same continent.

She watched the stereo suspiciously. "It will? Is it one of those alive things that doesn't look alive?"

[furnaceface]

Jono squinted at the stereo, almost as suspiciously as she was.

//I still haven't figured that out,// he admitted. //But there are days it'll play whatever it wants to, your own input be damned. Pretty sure it does so just because it annoys people, honestly./

Really, Kaylin, if you thought you were annoying, just wait until you met the stereo.

[notamascot]

She squared her shoulders. "Okay. Tell me what to do."

Kaylin was putting you on notice, Stereo.

[furnaceface]

Jono nodded. Right.

The important stuff, right here.

//This button turns it on and off, when it's in a mood to pay attention. This knob adjusts the volume. There is where you put CDs-- shiny side down, and make sure there isn't already one in there before you do. And if you want to switch it from CD to radio, it's that button there. Give it a try?//

[notamascot]

"Yes," she said firmly.

...

"What's a CD?"

[furnaceface]

Jono blinked.

//Ah.//

This was going to be harder than he'd figured.

//Right.// He reached for a Pearl Jam CD (of course) that was sitting on the counter nearby. //This is. It's got songs recorded to it, that the stereo plays if you put it inside and hit the right button.//

He offered it to her.

//Shiny side down, where I showed you. It'll grab and pull on its own once you feed it into the slot, don't force it, just let it take it from you.//

[notamascot]

She nodded and took the disc seriously. "Right. I remember now. When you and Hannibal did the music class thing."

Kaylin pushed the power button, then carefully started the CD into the slot, eyes widening when it pulled the CD in the rest of the way. Maybe it was alive!

The music started up, louder than she expected so she quickly turned the volume knob. The wrong way.

Equally quickly, she spun it the other way and turned it down very low. "I see what you mean," she said."

[furnaceface]

Jono tried, mostly successfully, to hide his amusement.

//Actually, it's still behaving itself,// he shared. //It's actually playing the music you put in there.//

[notamascot]

"Really?" she said and turned to give the stereo a considering look.

"Then see that you continue to do so," she said to it sternly.

[that_oldsaying]

And oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, was Alluka ever excited!

"Papa!" she said, as she bounced through the door near the end of his shift. "Papa, can we go yet?!"

Her hair was up in pigtails, she had a backpack on, and her bunny in one arm, and she was already big-eyed with excitement.

[furnaceface]

//We can go as soon as I lock up and get my things, luv,// Jono said, looking up and giving her a warm something-like-a-smile in greeting. //Excited to go, are you?//

[sharp_man]

Hannibal's husband was going to be gone for the weekend. More importantly, he was going to go to a place where just about all of the so-called food would be fast. And he might not care, but Alluka was bound to.

So, here came Hannibal with several days of pre-prepared snacks so that at least some of her food would be decent. And also a tube of very good sunscreen and a black straw fedora with a red band for Jono, because sun was a thing.

He smiled and nodded at Jono. "Hello. I've finished getting your things ready." He stretched out an arm to move the hat from his head to Jono's.

[furnaceface]

And now Jono had a hat. He blinked up at it, tilted his head a little, and... decided not to bother telling Hannibal that men in fedoras, these days, didn't generally have the greatest reputation.

He looked great in it, either way.

//My things?//

[sharp_man]

Did Hannibal need to kill a few of those men? Because he absolutely would if it would help. Rude people should not be allowed to ruin decent fashion.

"Yours and Alluka's," Hannibal amended. He handed Jono the sunscreen and put the padded bag of snacks on the counter. "I would have given them to you before you left the house, but I wanted to finish some more of these."

[furnaceface]

Jono took the sunscreen, and then kind of looked askance at the snacks.

//I'm pretty certain she'll be eating chocolate-covered things shaped like mouse ears for most of the trip,// he noted. //What's in there?//

And was it shaped like mouse ears? Because he figured he could probably sell her on it if it was shaped like mouse ears.

[sharp_man]

Some of it was round?

"Cookies, crackers, dried fruit and vegetables, smoked meat, bread - all wrapped as snacks, and it should keep well. At least she'll have some decent food, even if I can't pack entire meals."

[furnaceface]

Jono actually turned an amused look at Hannibal at that.

//She'll be eating better at Disneyland than she does when she's left to her own devices,// he mused. //I'll make sure she gets some of this into her.//

But truth be told, if she wanted the giant sundae shaped like a googly-eyed monster, Jono wasn't going to put much effort into stopping her, either.

[sharp_man]

"Thank you." One or two giant sundaes would not be a problem, but Hannibal would still feel better if he knew some of her food wasn't laden with chemicals.

"Don't forget to take plenty of pictures for me," he said, smiling.

[furnaceface]

Look, when a trip to the happiest place on earth was involved, Jono would firmly camp out over in team 'everything is chemicals' and feed Alluka whatever she wanted.

//I'll send them all your way as I take them,// Jono replied. //Or suck it up and admit I know how the internet works long enough to put up an album on Google.//

The things he did out of love.

[sharp_man]

Hannibal chuckled. "You just have admitted it; you might as well go ahead."

[furnaceface]

//Well, fine, but I better not hear about that admission on the radio,// Jono teased.

He wouldn't, of course, because he wasn't going to be here. He was going to be getting a wake-up call from Goofy and then he was probably going to ride some ridiculous thing until he regretted his inability to puke.

[sharp_man]

"Mm. What is it worth to you?" Hannibal asked. He enjoyed teasing Jono.

Or blackmailing him.

Or possibly both.

[furnaceface]

//I'm going to the land of kitschy mouse merchandise, Hannibal,// Jono replied cheerfully. //Don't think I won't replace all of your neckties with Goofy print ones if you do.//

[sharp_man]

Well-played, Jono.

"Very well, no mentioning that you secretly can use a computer," Hannibal conceded.

He would have to have his revenge some other way.

[furnaceface]

Revenge for what? For knowing how to use Google?

//I appreciate it,// Jono replied, and then sent the faintest suggestion of a kiss to Hannibal's cheek. //I'll listen to the podcasts when we get back to make sure.//

[sharp_man]

Revenge for derailing his blackmail, of course!

He smiled and returned the kiss. "I am only doing the one. I can hardly control what others might reveal."

Well, when he wasn't inclined, anyway.

[furnaceface]

//Mm,// Jono agreed, //but if I'm not on the island, it shouldn't end up in their notes, should it?//

Should it, Hannibal?

[sharp_man]

"You will have to speak to the squirrels about that," Hannibal answered.