Fourth Floor Common Room, Friday Evening

[furnaceface]

Well, this was it, then, wasn't it? Once again, they'd reached the last relative day of peace and quiet before the new students shuffled in and workshops got back into full swing. Jono's week had been an eventful one already, between his impromptu jam session with the slightly insane girl who had tried to smash her guitar on the floor on Tuesday, and getting a message from Alice telling him that he'd pretty much inherited the management position at the Groovy Tunes.

And so, it seemed to Jono as though the best way to spend his last mellow day before the inevitable insanity would be by taking a seat in the common room, pulling out his amp and his guitar, and playing something in an honest to goodness, actually social setting. The only problem?

//You could probably make a lot of people happy by playing something soft and pleasant, like Yesterday, Jonothon.//

//Sod that. Pearl Jam! Jeremy! Play it loudly!//

The trouble with having similarly telepathic personifications of the positive and negative aspects of his conscience sitting on his shoulder was that Jono had no clue which of them was asking for which song. If you asked him, they both had bloody good taste.

He'd just ignore the both of them and play some Led Zeppelin, instead.

[Open common room! Hi!]

Comments

[angelo_wings]

The angel on Rinoa's shoulder -- which went nicely with the wings on the back of her duster -- was telling her that she should visit people and spread cheer and be congenial.

The devil -- who was scantily clad and had a fairly impressive rack -- said that she should poke her head in and annoy the crap out of Jono some more.

It was really nice when the two got along like that.

"What are you playing?" Rinoa asked.

Shame she hadn't brought nail polish.

[shes-got-legs.livejournal.com]

Ariel was getting really bored and fighting off a terribly maudlin spell about this whole kissing thing, not to mention having to deal with a seriously annoying mermaid in white with wings (why would a mermaid have wings? It didn't make any sense, but there she was, on her shoulder, being very annoying and telling Ariel she should go and find someone to tell her father about what she'd done, because he was probably just worried sick and she should settled down and be a good princess and behave and go to her lessons and blah blah blah). The other one in red with the horns wasn't so bad; she kept suggesting that Ariel go to all the shops and find some stuff for her collections, they wouldn't mind, they were just sitting there, and they should sit somewhere where they'd be more appreciated, which was tempting, but Ariel understood about money now and, while she was sure it was a very fascinating place, she did not want to spend a newbie picnic day filled with potential new kiss candidates sitting in a cell at the Trooper Station, thank you.

There wasn't anyone in her common room when she checked it, but, once again, she found success in the next one down. Even better success because it was Jono! She brightened immediately upon seeing him, opening her arms wide in greeting, before bouncing over to plop down nearby on the couch and lean in with a clear peering of what'cha doooooooooing?

[furnaceface]

Jono glanced up, raised an eyebrow, and then very nearly smiled. Or whatever counted, really. Either way, his fingers continued playing over the strings of his guitar.

//Tell me you've never heard of Led Zeppelin, luv? Stairway to Heaven? Granted, it's one of those songs that everybody knows, but that's really half the draw, I suppose, if I'm going to make the attempt to play things here where people can hear.//

[angelo_wings]

"Sorry," Rinoa said, shrugging. "Music doesn't seem to carry over. No one's asked me if I'm related to Julia Heartilly yet, so I'm guessing you never heard of her, either?"

The angel on Rinoa's shoulder approved of Stairway to Heaven.

The devil liked the song, don't get her wrong, but she would have preferred Highway to Hell. For the obvious reasons.

[furnaceface]

Ariel! Jono certainly couldn't complain about the company that he'd attracted so far. Sure, they were all insane, but Rinoa and Ariel were pleasant, at least.

//I was in th'mood to play, and thought, for once, that it would be a bloody shame to keep it to myself,// Jono admitted. Both the angel and the devil on his shoulder nodded in solemn agreement. He'd wound up with a pair of enablers, apparently. //I'd ask if you had any requests, but I don't think you know much of the music that I do, really.//

[furnaceface]

Well, it wasn't as though Jono didn't know that one, too. Give him a little credit, busty shoulder-devil!

//Unfortunately, I haven't,// Jono admitted. //She's fairly famous where yer from, is she?//

[shes-got-legs.livejournal.com]

Ariel, who had to take a moment to glance toward her shoulder and positively glare at the things that were coming out of Horned Mermaid's mouth, all centered around the question of why Ariel had never tried to kiss Jono before and offering her suggestions about what it might be like in very graphic detail, she turned to her big brother with a faint, apologetic smile and a shrug of her shoulder. Even if they did know some of the same music, requesting it could be tricky, although she could always fetch a notebook. She knew where some where in here, now, too.

But she did like what she was hearing when she came in, so she nodded her head, encouragingly, because she did love music, and it might help drown out what was coming from her shoulder, oh my gosh. Ariel wasn't a prude by any definition, but yeesh.

[angelo_wings]

"Do you have the expression 'one-hit wonder'?" Rinoa asked. "She wrote a song that took on a life of its own. She wasn't much for the spotlight, so after that she closed up shop. I think it bothered her. She'd written the song for something personal, not to try to have a pop hit, but ... everyone thought the story behind it just made the song more romantic. Instead of understanding what it meant to her."

It had to hurt, to have part of your life history turned into pop culture trivia.

[furnaceface]

If Jono had any idea what the devil on Ariel's shoulder was saying, he might point out that reasons not to kiss him included but were not limited to: Didi, and the fact that he was prone to exploding when kissed.

//Yer liking this one, then? Should I play more like it, or maybe branch out a little? I have a fairly decent repertoire, after all.//

... Understatement of the year. He was obsessed and knew how to play damn near anything he'd ever taken a liking to. And if he didn't know it, he could usually at least fake it.

[shes-got-legs.livejournal.com]

Considering that the devil on Ariel's shoulder enjoyed her budding pyromania side, that might only add to the fun, in her opinion.

Ariel smiled, shrugging her shoulders a little. Anything he played, really, she was pretty sure she'd enjoy.

[furnaceface]

Jono winced a little at that, but he kept on playing. This was a long song, after all.

//We have that expression,// he replied. //You don't suppose there were people out there who actually did appreciate the song for what it was?//

Jono didn't need the angel or the devil on his shoulder in order to reach for that particular insight. It was the musician in him that had to ask, especially considering his own career had ended before it had ever moved past pubs and bars.

[therewaslife]

With his own common room empty, Bod had wandered down a floor and successfully found a common room that wasn't empty. Kate the cat was following behind him, tail flicking haughtily in the air.

"Hullo," Bod greeted when he wandered in, keeping his voice quiet so as not to interrupt the playing. "You're quite good at that."

[furnaceface]

Jono took a moment to consider that shrug, and then he nodded. He was almost finished with this particular number, after all, and there was plenty that he could pick and choose from.

Jono's personal devil suggested that he play something intense, and his angel much preferred something mellow, and Jono really had to wonder if there really was such a thing as good and evil in music, and then he'd dismiss the both of them as a pair of idiots, and he'd play some Bush to spite them both.

//So,// he said, conversationally, his eyes on his fingers while he played, //am I the only one with a pair of plonkers sitting on my shoulders, completely incapable of agreeing with one another today?//

[angelo_wings]

Rinoa lifted her shoulders easily. "I shouldn't have said everyone," she said. "I'm sure some did. Or maybe they took something else out of it that she didn't put there, but was still deep and meaningful and there to be found if you looked right. But a lot of people just thought it was pretty."

She took one of the chairs in the room as she searched for words.

"I don't think there's anything wrong with that," she said, "just thinking a song's pretty? But I think she ... didn't know how it would feel to have something that personal turn into That Song Everyone Knows."

[furnaceface]

Jono nodded up at the bloke who had wandered in, taking a moment to soak in that little bit of praise. At this rate, he'd be tempted to do this sort of thing more often, heaven forbid.

The angel on his shoulder objected to the notion that heaven would ever forbid sharing his gifts for the world to hear and appreciate. The devil on his other shoulder thought that the angel was a tool.

//Thanks, mate,// Jono replied, rolling his eyes at them both. //You can speak up, you know. I've played pubs before, I'm not particularly easy to interrupt.//

[therewaslife]

Kate wandered in before bod, taking stock of the room before finding her way towards the kitchen to see if she could scrounge up some food.

Bod, meanwhile, had to take a moment to adjust to the new voice in his head. He hadn't expected that but, here, he shouldn't have been surprised so he wasn't.

"Sorry," Bod apologized, keeping an eye on Kate while stepping more into the common room. "I wasn't sure if you were in the middle of something that required concentration."

[therewaslife]

"Hullo, Rinoa," said Bod, giving her a little wave. "I haven't seen you in awhile. I hope you've been well."

[furnaceface]

//So it was a recognition that she really didn't expect,// Jono mused, nodding a little. //And the shape it took caught her off-guard. She wasn't looking for fame, then? Just a way of expressing herself when it mattered most?//

[furnaceface]

//Don't worry about it,// Jono replied, pausing in his playing for a moment to wave a dismissive hand Bod's way, and then returning to the song as though he'd never missed a beat. //Really, I'm just passing th'time. Appreciating th'feel of it before we're swarmed by more people who don't know which way is up and what to expect around here.//

[angelo_wings]

"I have, thanks," Rinoa said brightly. "I can't believe first term is over. Do they all fly that quickly? And how are you?"

[therewaslife]

Bod listened for a few moments longer before sliding into a seat and smiling at Jono's assessment of the new students.

"You were like that once, weren't you?" he asked, sounding amused. "Everyone started out new and felt like that, I'm sure."

[angelo_wings]

"She was a lounge singer, in a hotel bar," Rinoa said, smiling fondly as she reached up to the ring on her necklace. The one that wasn't Squall's. "She met a soldier, and they fell in love. He convinced her she could write a song of her own. So she wrote it about him, and what he meant to her, but he got sent back to the front lines before he ever got to hear it."

Another casualty of the Sorceress War. Which did, Rinoa would admit, make for a hell of a story, if you weren't the person it had happened to.

[therewaslife]

"It did seem to pass by very quickly," he agreed with a nod. "I've been good though. I seem to be in possession of one cat who used to be a Kate but that's the most unusual thing that's happened to me as of late."

[furnaceface]

//I've been here a year, mate, and I'm still like that from time to time,// Jono admitted. //I suppose the only difference is that I've been around long enough to actually start to feel comfortable, on top of all that.//

Well, mostly comfortable. About as comfortable as Jono ever got.

//I can't really hold being new against anybody, I suppose. It's not knowing what to expect from them while they find their feet around here that always puts me on edge.//

[therewaslife]

"You've had a bad experience with some of the new students?" Bod asked, unable to keep the curious questions at bay with snippets like that right in front of him.