Groovy Tunes; Tuesday [02/25].

[lilac_eyed_lieutenant]

If anything strange or unusual was happening in the shop that day, Tisarwat was actually unlikely to notice it. She settled behind the counter with her tea and her phone, and started doing some idle research on the place they were visiting for this semester's trip, which turned into pretty much falling into a deep research hole where one thing lead to another, and then another, and then another, until she almost forgot that she was at work unless someone came in and she dragged herself out of it and helped them with a distracted feeling of wanting to get back to her research. For a relatively small cluster of islands on a rather vast and expansive world, the Philippines had a very interesting and complicated history that was just sucking her right in and making her really eager to see the place in person...though she had a feeling that most of her peers weren't going to be going there looking forward to an exploration of political and historical turmoil like she might.

And she was hoping there'd be less boats this time, despite the whole islands aspect, because it would be nice to not just feel homesick and seasick all at once while on holiday.

Groovy Tunes is open!

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[that_oldsaying]

It was strange wandering into her Papa Jono's store and knowing it didn't belong to her papa any more but, really, so long as Papa Jono was happy then Alluka couldn't get too fussed about it. Things changed.

And sometimes the changes were big and scary but overall Alluka had found change to be a good, exciting thing.

"Good morning," Alluka said happily, beaming up at the worker.

[lilac_eyed_lieutenant]

Tisarwat looked up from her phone a little dully at first, blinking her lilac eyes at the person who'd entered the shop with a mild sort of surprise that came from someone far too used to just having a long day without much going on. But once she pulled herself out of her research, she met that beam with an easy smile.

"Good morning," she responded back. "Welcome to Groovy Tunes. May I help you?"

[that_oldsaying]

"Yes, please," Alluka said, because manners were always important. She clasped her white-gloved hands in front of her (the gloves went with her jacket). "I'm, I'm looking for some sheet music for the violin?"

[lilac_eyed_lieutenant]

"Oh, sure," said Tisareat, nodding a little because that was easy enough, and she moved out from around the counter, gesturing for the customer to follow. "All the sheet music is over here. Do you play violin, then?"

[that_oldsaying]

"I do!"

Alluka cheerfully followed the girl, much like a duckling.

"Papa plays the guitar and I wanted to learn an instrument to play too but the guitar wasn't really appealing to me and now I've been playing the violin for a year and a half!"

Possibly closer to two years but, well, Alluka was still kind of hazy on time.

[lilac_eyed_lieutenant]

"You must be pretty good by now, then," Tisarwat complimented, easily, pleasantly, never finding it difficult to mix some flattery in with her professionalism. "The violin is a really beautiful instrument, isn't it? Maybe you could bring yours in sometime and play. We always have the stereo to listen to here, of course, but there's nothing quite like a live performance."

And, since it didn't take long to get to the sheet music, they had arrived, and Tisarwat turned to smile at her and gesture toward the racks that held all the books and folders and occasionally loose individual pieces. "Were you looking for anything in particular, or just something new?"

[that_oldsaying]

"I'm okay," Alluka said modestly, then giggled. "I'm a lot better than when I started!"

Because there was very little quite like terrible violin playing. She, herself, was glad to be past that point.

"I guess I'm looking for something new," she admitted, crouching down in a floof of skirts to look at the music nearest the ground first. "Intermediate-range? Maybe something Korean-inspired, so I can surprise my big sister…"

But that last bit wasn't a requirement. It'd just be nice.

[lilac_eyed_lieutenant]

"That sounds like an excellent surprise for your big sister!" said Tisarwat, with a certain enthusiasm that went along with finding something somewhat relateable in a sea of things she generally didn't know much about, and she laughed a little self-depreciatingly. "I'm afraid I can't really help you much beyond that, though. I'm not actually from this world, so I'm not entirely sure what Korean-inspired means, but it shouldn't be too hard to find something. We've got a very good selection here."

[that_oldsaying]

"Korea's a country here—well, actually, it's sort of two countries: North and South Korea," Alluka explained, studying the covers thoughtfully. "My big sister's family is from there and while she's from this country she's got a lot of ties to the culture. So, so I try to do things that remind her of it now and then, since…"

Well.

"Her family's no longer around," she finished, which was both true and left out a lot.

[lilac_eyed_lieutenant]

"That's not necessarily true," Tisarwat offered softly, kneeling down now beside the girl, "is it? After all, she's got a little sister who wants to surprise her with Korean-inspired music, right?"

Of course she knew what the girl meant, but she trusted that the girl would know what she meant, too.

"I'm Tisarwat, by the way," she offered with a smile. "And now I really do hope we can find just the right thing, and that you'll come in and show me once you've learned it so that I can enjoy it, too."