Atlas Gym, Monday (2/24)

[notallbluemonks]

The sound system in the gym was acting up today for some reason: it didn't seem to want to connect to any of the usual satellite radio stations, and it was way too fiddly and technical for Beau to fix herself. She'd tried, but the massage therapist was concerned that she was going to break something (like a blood vessel from all the swearing and jaw-clenching, maybe, or some of the equipment when she "accidentally" threw something out of frustration. They couldn't very well have total silence, though, so Beau ended up having to find a regular broadcast station and play that instead.

The problem was that she could only find one radio station with any decent reception at all, and it was one of those adult contemporary stations that seemed like it only had thirty songs in rotation, tops.

Which meant Beau was going to be doing a lot of yelling today: things like "What the -- I swear I just heard that one, man!" and "Yeah, sure, dude, keep crying about how you're the victim here, because women are so mean to you," and of course, "I'VE HEARD THIS SONG TEN TIMES AND IT'S NOT EVEN LUNCH YET, WHAT THE HELL."

It was ... entertaining, probably? Maybe.

[OOC: ... this is every day in my office. Help. Post/gym open, though!]

Comments

[firstofitskind]

Liam was, somehow, even more subdued than he'd been last week when he stopped by.

"... Everything okay?" he asked, raising an eyebrow a little at the yelling.

[notallbluemonks]

"I hate this radio station," Beau grumbled, glaring in the general direction of the nearest speaker.

"... 'sup."

[firstofitskind]

A little half-shrug. "What happened to the usual music?" He was enough of a regular at the gym to be able to place the stations that the sound system was typically playing, and this was... not one of them.

[notallbluemonks]

"Fuck if I know, man," Beau said, flinging her hands up. "I can't get any of the usual shit to work and I do not have the damn patience to figure that shit out, and this is literally the only thing I can get in here right now, which is bullshit."

[firstofitskind]

“I could take a look?” Liam offered. Sure, he’d come in here to hit things, but fiddling with electronics would be just as good a distraction in its own way.

[notallbluemonks]

"I mean, sure, if you're bored enough to do that." Look, Beau hadn't been about to outright ask for help. "Because if I have to hear this annoying fucking guy be all grossly proprietary about some girl one more time today I'm gonna fucking lose it."

[firstofitskind]

“I’d be glad to,” Liam confirmed. Electronics- even ones that weren’t integrated with Taelon technology- were nice and simple. Almost comforting to work with. And he could use that bit of familiarity with the way things had been going lately.

[notallbluemonks]

Beau realized, belatedly, that she could have just described half of this station's playlist with that.

Well, point emphasized then.

"Come on then," she said, gesturing for him to follow her to where the sound system was. "It's just, like, not seeing the satellite thing even though it's connected, I think?"

[firstofitskind]

“Could be a loose connection,” Liam mused as he followed her. “Or sometimes software updates mess with the settings.”

[notallbluemonks]

"Yeah, that's not really, like --" Beau waved a hand, vaguely. "I haven't gotten super deep into the technical aspects of it yet?"

Which was kind of a shame, but there were really only so many hours in a day and she had a lot of other things to do as it was.

[firstofitskind]

"That's what friends who get super deep into the technical aspects of these things are for," Liam pointed out with a hint of a smile.

[notallbluemonks]

"Yeah, knowing nerds like you and Caleb pays off sometimes," Beau replied as if she wasn't one herself.

She totally was, fine, but shh.

[firstofitskind]

Yeah, Liam's response to that was a noise that was a mix between a cough and a snort because he knew you were a nerd, Beauregard.

[notallbluemonks]

To which Beau's response was to sigh very loudly and flip him off with both hands.

Grinning very, very faintly.

[firstofitskind]

And now Liam was just outright snickering.

“Nothing wrong with being a nerd,” he said mildly.

[notallbluemonks]

"Did I ever say there was?" Beau retorted, good-naturedly. Though it was likely that you'd only be able to tell if you knew her. "I never said that. I just said described you and Caleb that way."

That wasn't the same thing as denying she was one, okay? Technically, as Jester would say.

[firstofitskind]

“Then why flip me off?” Liam retorted, just as good-naturedly.

[notallbluemonks]

"Because you laughed at me," Beau replied, totally deadpan.

[firstofitskind]

“I laughed at you after you flipped me off,” Liam pointed out.

[notallbluemonks]

"You made a noise before that with a clear undertone of laughing," Beau insisted, crossing her arms.

And then stopped to glare up at the speakers. "Fuckin' -- fuck off , Ed Sheeran!"

[firstofitskind]

"Ugh, I see what you mean," Liam agreed, making a face. And pulling out his Global to scan the sound system and take a look at the connection settings.

[notallbluemonks]

"Best variety of music, my ass," Beau grumbled, because she'd built up some nice cranky momentum here and she wasn't going to waste that. "Everything is plugged in how it's supposed to be. I checked."

"... maybe it just hates me."

[firstofitskind]

"I mean, one of the cords could be faulty," Liam pointed out, unplugging something and then plugging it back in, frowning at the readout on his Global as he did so. "But I don't think that's it."

[notallbluemonks]

"Yeah, because it hates me," Beau replied, wryly.

It was mostly a joke. Mostly.

"Not gonna lie, I did look for, like, gremlin teeth marks, but."

[firstofitskind]

Liam didn't respond beyond an absentminded 'hmm', in the zone of problem-solving as he was. A few quick keystrokes across his screen and suddenly the sound system was-

Well, at least it was an improvement? If not exactly workout music.

[notallbluemonks]

"Uh," Beau said, blinking up toward the speakers. "That's ... you know what, that's better? Like, if this was my only other choice, I would totally take it."

She paused and listened for a moment or two.

"I'm ... kind of into it, actually. It's, like, all soothing."

[firstofitskind]

"Yeah," Liam agreed. "For music from 300 years ago it's still reasonably popular, I guess? And a definite improvement, I agree. But I can keep trying."

[notallbluemonks]

"I mean, I'm fine with it?" Beau shrugged. "Someone's gonna come along and complain though, when the next aerobics class or whatever the fuck it's called starts, so ... "