Groovy Tunes, Saturday

[justice_undone]

Breq had bought some cookies yesterday, in case someone stopped by, and had placed them on a plate, and as soon as she turned her back to it the Silence dived at the plate, snagged a cookie, and disappeared.

That... was actually a good solution. This meant she could actually listen to things today. She had to remember to tell Tisarwat that the Silence could be bribed, should it show up during one of her shifts.

She picked up a guitar and sat down to strum along to the songs that the stereo was playing.

[Open]

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[howareyanow]

Wayne had been takin' a few stabs at his homework for Bad Ass Bitches class handwavily throughout the week, but he was a firm believer in the idea that the YouTubes could only take a person so far, and it was time to take it to the next level.

Maybe not quite to the level some of his classmates were takin' it, he'd admit that much, but, then again, Nina always had been just a little bit...extra.

So into the music shop he went, took a glance around at the door, and then approached the person he assumed was working there with a nod and the standard "How are ya now?" greeting.

[justice_undone]

Breq looked up.

"Please, come in. Can I help you?"

She put the guitar down.

[howareyanow]

"Oh, not so bad," Wayne said, and in a single breath, as if trying to rush through the pleasantries, even though she hadn't asked. It was just a force of habit, when he was a man on a mission in a social situation he was maybe a bit unfamiliar with.

"M'lookin' fer sheet music," he continued, with a stiff nod toward the instrument she'd just put down. "Fer guitar..."

[justice_undone]

Breq had assumed that 'how are ya now' was a greeting rather than a question, which was why she hadn't asked. And there would be no judgment on how to handle social situations.

"We have that," she said, walking over to the shelf. "Anything in particular you're looking for?"

[howareyanow]

"Ohhhhh," Wayne drawled slowly, his eyes squinting thoughtfully as he followed, thumbs still tucked into his beltloops, "somethin' fer beginners, more'n likeleh, considerin' I've just learned how to play this week."

Despite having had a guitar this whole time.

That he'd brought with him to Fandom from Letterkenny.

Fer some reason.

He'd probably just thought it'd be funny, at the time.

[justice_undone]

"What kind of music do you like?" Breq asked. She pulled out a book with easy pop classics. "Are you from Earth? Most of what we have is."

[howareyanow]

"Can confirm," Wayne claimed, though his mannerisms could certainly call into question the validity of that statement at times. "An' I'm not picky." This was categorically false, though he seemed to genuinely believe it. "It's an acoustic, though, if that helps, an' I feel goin' country an' western might be hittin' the nail a little too on the nose. Fuck, if I don't enjoy me some good bluegrass every once in a while, though. Or mebbe a nice bit of rockabilly, a little honky-tonk hokum, a little Lubbock sound light fer languid listenin'..."

[justice_undone]

Breq... hoped she picked up what he meant.

"So," she said. "This one? 50s rock classics?"

Out of curiosity she added: "Are you teaching yourself or do you take lessons?"

[howareyanow]

"I'd have some 50s rock!" Wayne decided. "Mebbe a bit'a Buddy Holly, some Chuck Berry, a little Man in Black..."

"And I'm teachin' myself," he added, to answer the other question, "as per the assignment. We exposed to go and teach ourselves something," probably on account of Detective Diaz not wanting to be bothered with teaching them anything herself, but bad gas traveled fast in a small town, especially one with squirrels, so he wasn't about to mention that part out loud, "and I figured, I got the guitar, why not learn how to play it?"

[justice_undone]

"You have a class about teaching yourselves things?"

Not that that was the strangest class here.

"I play the bass, and my shifts here are usually not that busy, so let me know if you want to practice together. I used to play with a friend before he left the island."

Unless Wayne was completely tone deaf it would at least give her a good reason to practice.

[howareyanow]

"Well," said Wayne brusquely, "it's a class about teaching us lessons that are apparentleh designed to make us into so-called 'Bad Ass Bitches.' And this week's lesson, it would seem, is on self-sufficiency, learnin' things ourselves, Do-It-Yerself, or DIY, as they say."

Which, despite his disparaging thoughts regarding Detective Diaz's dedication to actual lessons, was something he, who considered himself quite the self-made man and Mr. Fix-It, could actually firmly get behind.

Much more useful, anyway, than anything he was learning in his TV watchin' class, anywhey.

"And I'd have a jam session," he decided, a moment after. "If I decide to stick with it."

Which he would. Wayne didn't believe in doing things half-assed.

"What kind of music you like to play?"

[justice_undone]

"Rosa Diaz?" Breq guessed. "I had her as a teacher too when I was a student."

She handed him some more sheet music.

"If you want to try out other instruments as well you're welcome to."

[howareyanow]

"Got 'er in one," said Wayne, as he took the music sheets and looked down at them a little. He didn't really give 'em a good look or anything, because he figured, he was still learning, it would all be pretty much the same to him at this point. "So you were a student here, were ya? Decided to stick around, did ya?

"And I think," he added, now tucking the sheet music under one arm and squaring his shoulders a bit as he regarded Breq, "I'll jus' be startin' with the guitar fer now. After all, they say a jack of all trades is a master of none."

[justice_undone]

"I can't get back to my universe and I was offered to take over this store," Breq said. "I'll probably leave once the portals open again."

She added: "They do say that. I hope you find a song you like. Oh, and have a cookie."

[howareyanow]

"I'd have a cookie," said Wayne, who was apparently feeling fairly amicable today, but, then again, it just seemed impolite not to, now didn't it?

"And that's...." He squinted a bit. "...unfortunate. They're a bit dodgy, aren't they? Those portals. Can't really trust 'em any further'n you can throw 'em, 'specially when they're not even lettin' some people use 'em, while other people can use 'em pert'near as much as they please, fuck."

[justice_undone]

"They are really unreliable," Breq agreed. "Can you go back to where you're from?"

[howareyanow]

"So far," Wayne reported, with a bit of a note of pride to the somewhat barked response, "so good! But I s'pose there's a first time for everything."

He squinted.

"'Specially 'round here."

[justice_undone]

"Especially around here," Breq confirmed. "Where are you from?"

[howareyanow]

"The great up north!" said Wayne brusquely. "Ontario, Canada. Little town called Letterkenny."

He was not expecting her to have heard of it, no.

"What about yerself? Where're you from?"

[justice_undone]

"I've seen Canada on a map," she said. "In my universe we have space travel, and I've spent most of my time in Radch space. I've been traveling a lot though."

"So what's your hometown like?"

[howareyanow]

"It's...." Wayne's pause was proportional to the amount of words he considered to use to describe Letterkenny, and came up with what he felt fit it the best, "...small. Not as small as Fandom here, but it's a bit different. Everything's a lot more...condensed, 'round here. More spread out back home. Lotsa farms."

And not a whole lot else, to be faaaaiirrrr....

Wayne's head tilted, and his voice went up a little in pitch as it went a little questioning. "But Radch space. That..." He squinted. "That, uh....that the same, uhhhh, Radch space that, uhhh, Tisarwat's from?"

[justice_undone]

"It is," Breq said, looking at him. "You know Tisarwat then?"

[howareyanow]

"Yeah, no," said Wayne, his squint seeming to get more pronounced, his pitch still a little higher as he nodded a little and ran his words mostly together, "I know....I know Tisarwat."

And then, back to normal, but still with that squint: "Comes fer Monday Morning breakfast sometime. Always brings tea."

[justice_undone]

Noting his reaction, Breq said pleasantly: "She's Radchaai, of course she does. Ar you eating with bare hands in front of her?"