[text/action]

[charming_jerk]

i have some questions

1. how many people out there are musicians

2. would anyone be interested in playing in a band

3. is there even enough good instruments in this hellhole for us to form a real rock band

All i got is my acoustic guitar. I'd sell a kidney for a good working electric guitar and amp, but i can live with this. i can sing too, depending on the music. i don't write it b/c i'm shitty with lyrics and stuff but i know enough other songs it'll make your head spin. i'm the king of cover songs. but if the instruments are out there and you're interested get back to me. my name's johnny. idk it might be a stupid idea but i'm bored here a lot and didn't really know any other musicians back home so it might be cool to chill with some here. collaborate. stuff like that. we might even be able to get some gigs around town. i play at Nora Cafe and a few other places if you're interested in hearing what i can do, first.

but yeah get back to me i guess

---

[This is a thing he's strangely insecure asking about. Don't mind him. But, if you do want to come hear him play, and talk in person rather than text him back? Stop by the NORA cafe or one of the bars in town some night when he's playing. He's actually pretty good! He's a fiercely fast player, and his voice is best suited to the hard rock and punk covers he sings - low and gravelly. Once he's done his set, he stops to grab a drink. Care to join?]

Comments

[demonbloodblade]

I thought about joining them, but I used to get into trouble with my teachers arguing about law versus justice, the old 'punishing the starving man for stealing bread for his family' thing.

Then I made them more angry by taking my free time and organizing food delivery to people who were poor instead of preaching the word of Helm to them... and then they became LIVID when I proceeded to use holy writ to show that charity like that was actually totally okay in scripture.

Helm is the god of guardians and protectors, and I pulled out that providing for people was protecting those who might be stolen from, totally quoting from the books, and they got kind of cranky when I out-argued them. I'm a lousy preacher, anyway. I prefer to do things instead of talk a good story.

[She chuckles.]

So I'd probably be a bad cop too. I train my way, do my things. If a fight started in here I'd help break it up, but otherwise live and let live and help people some.

[charming_jerk]

[O-Oh compliments from a pretty girl. What do.

He grins that shark-toothed grin, looking proud of himself.]

Hey, thanks. I'll take "not bad".

[charming_jerk]

You must come from a hell of a place. But what the hell's a "Devil's Fruit"? [What kind of name is that for anything, seriously]

[charming_jerk]

What they want is us to help them fix the past... I mean, from what they've said, some of the things we've done in missions has helped, so. I guess a little.

[charming_jerk]

Good. Don't join those dickbags. Half of 'em ain't even real cops, just people they recruited who now got a swelled head about bein' a "cop". [He's had enough run-ins with them now, too, that he'd rather not be friends with any of them.] And your teachers sounded like some real dickbags, too.

[galactically]

As you should!

[Because that's as far as Sheryl will admit. She chuckles from the grin and folds her arms in front of herself.]

I'm curious, how long have you been playing the guitar? And what song did you just play? I don't think I've heard of it before.

[charming_jerk]

Since I was about nine or ten. So around eleven years now. And that was a song by a band called Audioslave. I'm no good at makin' my own songs.

[It was this song!]

[demonbloodblade]

Not really my place, no. I might find myself fighting some of them for their actions, if it was bad enough. Some of the barristers they have seem to have an opinion of how wonderful they are enough for seven people and a dog.

[She thinks, a moment.] The teachers tended to be cloistered, spending their lives inside the churches and the cathedrals, more reading and teaching than seeing the outside world. They didn't understand that liturgy and writ give direction, but that the world was more complex than that. So I was a troublemaker and a rabblerouser, and meanwhile half the people I grew up with became paladins. And most of them were known for their mercy instead of their rigid nature, so... [She shrugs.]

Mercy's harder than judgement. Forgiveness is harder than anger. And I'm just a fighter, sitting in a bar with a friend while he's between sets, enjoying the company.

Video;

[chore_boy]

Er. Why not? If you play there once a week, wouldn't they have a time set for you?

[Johnny, he's a bureaucrat. Just put him out of his misery.]

[onemoredeath]

Japanese harp.

[charming_jerk]

Oh, gotcha. How'd ya find time to learn so much? It's been hard enough for me just gettin' guitar down, and makin' sure I can sing in key.

Video;

[charming_jerk]

Cuz there's other musicians and stuff goin' on? And sometimes I got training and stuff. Or if a mission comes up. I only know what I'm doin' a week or two ahead 'a time.

[charming_jerk]

[Johnny grins, and raises up his beer mug. Cheers!]

I hear that. A toast to the rabblerousers.

[devilsfruitdoctor]

[Ibin grins hugely. Oh boy, a chance to talk about his favorite subject himself devil's fruits!]

Well, a devil's fruit is a magic fruit in my world, a very rare one! Each one is different, and each one gives the lucky person who eats it [a bandage snakes out of his sleeve and ever-so-casually scratches his chin for a moment before disappearing again] unnatural, impossible powers! [He gives a small, SUPER MODEST cough.]

[scienceinacan]

I got that part just fine. But a definite goal? Something happening? A milestone they're aiming for?

Or are they keeping results to themselves?

[charming_jerk]

[He positively gawks at Ibin.] They... They grow super powers on trees in your world?!

[charming_jerk]

Well, durin' one of the missions, we picked up that AI that's helpin' us out now. Durin' the 1994 one, we were supposed to be grabbing a piece of artwork that was supposed to be... important, I guess. I dunno if we got it or not. I got distracted.

[scienceinacan]

Artwork that's supposed to be important, eh?

For the liberation of the world?

[devilsfruitdoctor]

[OH HOLD ON TO YOUR HAT, SON.]

On a tree, my friend, one magical tree shrouded in legends that reach back to the beginnings of our very history! [Which, let's face it, isn't that far back.] They say it is a thousand feet tall, with golden leaves that shine brighter than the sun! They say it is watered in the blood of ten THOUSAND men, and that the Sea Kings worship it as their god! They say there are five HUNDRED fruits on it, each one capable of bestowing a strange and completely unique power. But, alas, I have never seen it. I don't even know anyone who's ever seen it! Where ever it is-- and the rest of the world is well-explored, so it must be somewhere in the terrifying ocean known as the Grand Line-- it is well-hidden, or so well-guarded that no one has ever returned! But we know it must be somewhere out there, because every now and then, a fruit is borne far from its tree on the wind and waves, and, well-- [He gives a small flourish and half-bow, accentuated with uncanny movements from several bandages] some lucky soul finds it and eats it!

[charming_jerk]

Yeah, I... forgot what it was for, now. Oh, when we went to the wild west, we had to affect time by gettin' some guy elected mayor. Basically we swarmed the town and stuffed the ballots.

[scienceinacan]

Wouldn't going back further in time to erase his top contender be an easier option?

[galactically]

That far back? You must've been that prepared if you played it for so long. Talk about dedication!

[She points to herself.]

I play the guitar, too, so it's nice to meet a fellow guitarist.

[charming_jerk]

Damned if I know. Maybe if we did that, it'd fuck up other things and make it worse.

[charming_jerk]

Huh.

[Johnny takes a moment to process this story, and nods. Oooookay. Ibin's storytelling has also caught the attention of several other cafe customers, as well.]

So you got... Bandage powers from it?

[scienceinacan]

As if spamming their ballots with people who don't normally exist during that time wouldn't. Years later they'll see half of those ballots aren't even from people who live there.