not sure if i did the "dude, no stairway" joke yet or not

[livesarock]

WHO: Tom Bronson, Zelgadis
WHERE: Guitar store
WHEN: 12/11 daytimey
WARNINGS: MUSICAL INACCURACY? I know maybe like three actual chords on a guitar
SUMMARY: make friends with similar interests, cured-boy
FORMAT: no



He sure picked the wrong season to get killed and ultimately ported back cured...Cold weather was hard to acclimate to when one hadn't had feeling skin for such a long time.

That explained the scarf, still wound around his neck, masking half his face much more out of necessity than self-consciousness. And the coat. And the reluctantly set-aside gloves, because really, how was he expected to do anything with a guitar when his fingers were covered so thickly? Even indoors was cold. Perhaps because it was a Sunday and business was lax; not enough warm bodies mulling about, even during the holiday.

He was stringing that guitar up on-site this time around; last time he tried on his own resulted in a bit of a mess. He was going to make sure he did it right this time, with witnesses – by his own hand nonetheless, regardless of what those on-commission employees suggested. He was going to have to do it himself every other time anyway.

The device he was given to help wind the strings was...marginally helpful, but only after finding a rhythm. The second he felt the string grow taut, however, was the second he yanked it right off the tuner and went to fixing the rest himself. The electronic tuner was left ignored on the bench space near him as he plucked repeatedly, tightening and loosening the string for the right sound he just wasn't hearing right away.

Comments

[borntobewildcat]

This was the kind of weather that made Tom seriously consider spending the entire season as a werecat, because then at least he'd be warm. He'd lived in this City, well the New York flavor, and he'd still never quite gotten used to the cold. Still, he really couldn't go into most places if he was only fluffy and not... dressed, and he especially couldn't look at guitars without scratching them with his claws.

He'd never been to this store before, but he'd been thinking about getting back onto the music scene for a while now, ever since that day he was spontaneously sucked into a parade. He'd been wanting to play more, maybe even possibly play a gig again, but the way this place was, he never really knew what was coming, and stuff always got in the way.

Still, he finally had some time to himself for once, and he found himself standing at the entrance of this store, pulling a scarf down so that it didn't cover his face so much, and looking around.

[livesarock]

The puff of cold wind was lukewarm by the time it hit Zelgadis, but it was enough to tug him out of his self-absorbed task and look over his shoulder. Impulse, really. The person filling the doorway was nobody he'd ever recognized before – with good reason. How many millions of people were crammed in that city?

With less than half a head in tuning and fingers still giving the taut string another twist at the tuner, he wasn't able to catch the string unravel at the other end and snap up, flicking harmlessly at his face and causing him to jump with a fairly undignified sound. He remained frozen in place for seconds thereafter, both hands gripping the neck like it would come to life and bite him and big eyes gawking around until they locked on the still-bouncing coil of string freed from its space.

He had yet to become aware of how stupid he looked, but that wouldn't be long in passing.

[borntobewildcat]

He didn't hear the string snap so much as he heard it, but he was familiar with the sound, and when he looked to see what had happened and was met with the panicked expression of the guy holding his neck. Tom immediately assumed the worst, that the metal string had snapped and cut the guy's neck or something.

Without even thinking, he rushes over to check on the guy. "Are you okay?"

[livesarock]

Zelgadis didn't even blink right away; whether he realized he was addressed or not was hard to say. But for the record, he wasn't. The loud and unusual twang was still ringing in his ears seconds after the surprise. He couldn't just sit there forever, however, and his eyes did slowly raise, unblinking, to the unfamiliar face.

Huh? Who? Why did he look so troubled?

He blinked at last, the gears in his head starting to turn yet again.

Oh.

He remembered he ought to be mortified rather quickly, too; his face flushed underneath the scarf and the backs of his ears heated up. Fingers drummed quickly and once across the neck of the guitar to break the vice grip it was in as he began to fidget.

"Uh––" He stammered a little, head dropping to stare at the floor, then to the instrument that caused the problem. "I...Yeah, I think so. I don't know what I did..."

His voice trailed as his eyes followed the wavering, slightly-coiled string bouncing idly after all that motion. All that over a little string? It seemed pretty absurd.

[borntobewildcat]

It might have seemed absurd to Zelgadis, but the strings on a guitar were still metal wires and the thinner ones could possibly cut skin when they snap like that. He didn't know that might not have been something Zel had to worry about, since he didn't know the guy and all, but it was the reaction that made him worry.

Still he felt a bit silly now, especially if the guy was okay. It was just a snapped wire, not a gunshot or anything, and he probably shouldn't be worrying about a guy that could probably take care of himself.

"The string must have come loose or pulled too tight and snapped. You sure that your okay?"

[livesarock]

"Yeah," Zelgadis replied, sounding more certain. His breath heating the scarf obliged a hand to lift wholly off the neck, curling a finger around fabric and pulling it down under his chin.

"It didn't split in half this time," he observed, sounding surprised. He'd been expecting it a little, given his previous stringing mistakes. But that just meant it was a new problem. He frowned, following the trail of the string as it remained wound up at the top of the neck.

"But I don't think this damn thing wants new strings..." He pulled the string winder off one of the knobs and glowered at it as if it were the problem. "Or I just don't know how to do it at all."