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[fakejaded]

Britta waits until no one's around before she makes her way into the dance studio. At mid-afternoon on a Friday, she has the room free, the place empty until the evening class unless someone turns up to practice, and she prefers it that way for now. While she's been getting steadily better under River's tutelage (that girl is one intense taskmaster

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[jdick]

Joe had been playing his guitar on the beach -- something he did more and more often these days, when he didn't have a hell of a lot else to fill his time -- and he was heading home, guitar slung across his back, when he saw someone in door of the dance studio.

"Hey," he said, because it was fucking rude to not at least say hi to someone, especially when he was passing so damn close. "Good class?" Maybe she wasn't taking a class, but he didn't fucking know.

[fakejaded]

"Oh, there's no class now," Britta said, but she nodded anyway. "It's a good class, though, yeah. Nice guitar." She'd always liked musicians - dating them, mostly, since she still wasn't really equipped to play anything herself. That was something she needed to change if they were ever gonna get this band off the ground.

[jdick]

"Great guitar," Joe corrected with a smirk, because if there was anything on this island he loved more than the people, it was his guitar. There were a few in his hut now, collected from people who'd disappeared, but none of them were as good as his own. "Old fucking guitar, too, I'm surprised it hasn't fallen apart in the heat yet."

It had been here for five years, but he took good care of it, making sure the humidity didn't get too bad.

[fakejaded]

"Yeah, I bet," Britta said, pushing off the doorway to walk closer. "Jeez, you must take great care of it. I don't even play and I can't imagine - in this humidity?" She shook her head. It would have been nice to know how - there was something she really liked about the guitar - but even with the plans for the band in place, she wasn't sure she was cut out to actually play anything, so much as just go to concerts.

[jdick]

"Well, I'm never sure if another one is ever gonna show up, so I've gotta take care of the one I got," he answered, still smirking a little. "I'm Joe." She didn't look familiar, but that didn't mean anything, especially lately. He kept to himself and did his own shit, but he didn't go out of his way to meet people anymore. Not like he used to. The island was great for it, but he was getting too fucking old.

[fakejaded]

"Britta." She grinned, crossing her arms, and while it was a bit awkward to carry on this conversation in a leotard, it was nice enough for her not to mind too much. At least he didn't look like the kind of guy who listened to whatever the crap was they played these days. "You any good?"

[jdick]

"The fucking best," Joe answered, without the slightest hint that he didn't fully believe that. "I mean, not that I go around playing pop-punk shit or anything like that, but we were the best as what we did. Kinda hard to be a loud, aggressive punk band on any island, though."

And he was mostly okay with that now. Especially since part of the band he'd had was now gone. Somehow, he couldn't really consider replacing Mamet.

[fakejaded]

"Which is a shame, because if this place needs anything -" And it needed a lot in Britta's estimation, although what it had was nothing to sniff at (in no small part because she didn't have to pay rent). "- it is more music. And good music, which we have, like, none of."

[jdick]

"A-fucking-men, I like how you think," Joe said, still smirking slightly. "It's hard to get done here, man, you have no idea. For a long time there was no electricity anywhere but the Compound. No amps, no patch cords and then even when we got that shit, we had to run lines from the Compound to anywhere we wanted to play. It was a pain in the fucking ass."

And now he had other stuff filling his time, but he didn't say that. Didn't want to sound like some retired, aged punk rocker.

[fakejaded]

"That sounds crazy," Britta said. "I mean, then you basically, what, played on the roof? Although I guess that'd be kind of cool." It was a little mainstream, playing somewhere so public, but maybe being on a roof kind of helped with that. She shrugged. "My friends and I, we were talking about doing something, but I can't even play anything and... I'm not the best singer, you know? But just to have something like that around here."

[jdick]

"The stage," Joe answered. There was no fucking way anyone could get him to play on the roof like he was the fucking Beatles or something. "And at the club now. Not in the strip club."

Eyebrows lifting, he asked, "You guys think about taking classes at the school? Or, you could do one better and get private lessons from the best fucking guitar player on the island."

[fakejaded]

"Yeah?" Britta grinned. The idea hadn't been seriously discussed until after term had begun or she might have added music to her schedule of sneaking around when Jeff and Annie weren't looking, but this might be even better, she reasoned. One on one tutelage (or with the other girls) meant fewer people to see her fuck up, which she knew she'd do for ages. "I would love that. I always wanted to learn the guitar. I just... somehow never managed to find time. Guess I have tons of it now."

[jdick]

"Yeah, this place pretty much gives you all the time in the fucking world," Joe agreed with a snort of laughter. Which was probably why he was standing near the dance studio, offering to give private lessons to a girl he'd never seen before in his life.

"So, you wanna do it? Your friends any good or do they need lessons, too?" he asked, grinning.

[fakejaded]

"They could probably use the lessons," laughed Britta. "Although it'll probably sound a little better if we all play different instruments. I'll mention it to them, though. And yeah, I would love to, thank you. Other than ballet, my week is wide open." It was kind of amazing, what she could walk into around here, although she vastly preferred this to become a goat's caretaker.

[jdick]

"I teach a couple classes, but nothing we can't work around," Joe said, lifting his shoulders in a shrug as he thought about it. "What kinda music are you interested in playing?" It didn't matter, really, because the basics were the fucking basics and he'd teach anyone to same stuff when it came to being a beginner. But it might matter down the line. If she was interested in playing some kinda candlelit pop shit, he probably wouldn't be the best teacher she could find on the island.

[fakejaded]

"Oh, rock," Britta said, nodding. It wasn't quite the same as glam rock, but she was pretty sure the principles were the same and she could always elaborate once she knew if he was any good. There was no point spilling everything if he turned out to be a crappy teacher. "I mean, the principles for beginning are basically the same across the board, though, right? Just... chords and stuff."