(Untitled)

[nerdinacape]

On some days Grigg felt that he could count everything he knew on one hand, maybe two give or take. On other days he felt like he knew too much and that any more thoughts would cause him to lose something precious like the name of the girl who had sat next to him in the second grade (Allison) or what would have named a dog if he had gotten one when

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[all_happening]

Penny, as a rule, didn't do a whole lot of walking. It was bad enough having to go from her hut to the Compound and back on foot all the time, as far as she was concerned, and maybe her fiance had been a bad influence on her, but she was, admittedly, pretty lazy. She was heading away from the Compound, though, when she heard the guy talking to himself, and for reasons she couldn't quite explain, stopped to respond, rhetorical or not.

"Greatest or second best at what?" she asked, raising one eyebrow curiously as she approached. "Can't answer if I don't know what you're talking about, after all."

[nerdinacape]

"Drummer."

Filling in one answer came easier than filling in all of the others and being questioned by someone outside of his head caught Grigg off-gaurd. He stopped in his tracks, in need of physically stopping his train of thought before continuing on. "Oh sorry, Ringo Starr," he continued, smiling lamely when he realised that he handn't really answered her question.

[all_happening]

Unable to help herself, Penny grinned. She might not have been who she'd used to be, but for all intents and purposes, music was still her thing. It just didn't mean what it had used to, for her. That didn't stop her from still loving it.

"That's easy," she replied with a slight laugh, shaking her head. "Second best. No one beats Keith Moon, man." And that would have left Bonham to be third. She'd never really been a fan of ranking bands or people, but she was happy with that decision.

[nerdinacape]

At the mention of Keith Moon, Grigg placed his hand over his heart and nodded his head. Hours of listening to the Who in the shed with his dead had taught him not to question Keith Moon, but to mourn him and his greatness.

"May he rest in peace, but you're right, definitely the best."

[wishesandsmoke]

The great thing about school on the island, besides its being free, was how thoroughly it depended on people wanting to be there. They got excited, invested. It gave her things to think about. As she left the classroom, heading out into the dark, however, those thoughts fell away. Faced now with the prospect of returning home, she hesitated. Starting for the Compound instead, she stopped when she saw Grigg, staring at his hands.

That made the decision a bit simpler, certainly, and she moved his way instead, smiling wryly as she tipped her head to the side. "I heard the question," she said, "but I don't have any answers."

[nerdinacape]

At the sound of Eden's voice Grigg immediately shoved his hands into his pockets, hiding them away as if pushing those thoughts away would erase the strangeness of what he had been doing. In reality he hadn't been doing anything that strange, but he didn't have any one to appeal to in this sort of situation, to ask for advance and he needed any sort of advantage he could get.

"That would make two of us," he said casually, a smile returning to his face. "I don't suppose you were a great expert on drummers before you came here, were you?"

[wishesandsmoke]

"I was a lot of things, but never that," Eden said, shaking her head. "My friend Penny, though, she knows all about music." Refraining from adding 'before the early Seventies,' she bit her lip, smiling slowly. Though nothing had changed between them that she could put her finger on since the year began, she couldn't entirely forget what had happened. The memory rose up at wholly inconvenient times, and now was no exception. Of all the places for her 'seize the day' philosophy to falter, this was either the most or the least convenient. She never could settle on which.

Adjusting the strap of her bag quickly, she fell to tangling her fingers idly in the sleeves of her sweater. "Why?"

[nerdinacape]

Since arriving here Grigg has been extra-careful not to ask too many questions despite the fact that all he has filled with since stepping foot on this island was questions. It seemed taboo and a bit toxic and definitely like jinxing something good.

He shrugged, going to scratch his neck nervously before realising that his hands were still in his pockets and pulling on free. "Does she? That's cool, I'll have to meet her sometime. But um...I was...thinking about Ringo Starr. And drummers, and how drummers think. It was dumb."

[anewwaive]

Gideon's used to seeing fucking weird people walking around the island. He'd been heading up to the Compound, computer in tow, to work a little on learning more about his movie program, when he saw yet another fucking one. He sort of stared at the guy just standing by the Compound, seeming to just talk to himself or something.

"Hope you're not fucking waiting for some kind of answer," he said, sort of looking fucking amused. "Unless you're seeing someone I'm not."

[nerdinacape]

"I'm not."

Grigg was relatively matter-of-fact about the confrontation, serious, to the point and somewhat mellow. He was if nothing else, a California boy at heart, and a somewhat nerdy one as well, which meant that even if he would take his oddness and the strangeness of others with a grain of salt. Maybe even a block, depending.

"Waiting or seeing. I'm trying to figure out drummers."

[anewwaive]

Gideon raised a brow, sort of confused. At least he got the last sentence, sort of. It was enough that he could respond, anyway.

"Their dominant hand or something?" he guessed. It was the only thing that made sense, anyway. Penny was the one who knew shit about music.

[nerdinacape]

"Kind of..." Figuring that part out would require research, which might off-set the careful balance in his head which was near the tipping point as is. He sighed and shook his head, scratching the back of his as he attempted to figure out how to explain this.

"I was trying to figure out if they figure things out through drumming or through something else. The mechanics of their thoughts."

[whatkindofgirl]

Juno found that she was a lot less surprised to see people talking to themselves these days - and she usually just went on her way. But she couldn't help it, this one required comment.

"Why choose?" she asked, stopping in front of him from where she'd been walking towards the compound, her eyes flicking down to his hands. "I'm sure your left hand is just as worthy as your right. If maybe underappreciated. Unless you're ambidextrous." That had been an SAT word - felt kind of good to use it, since it wasn't like she'd be taking the test. "Though you might have more serious concerns if you're anthropomorphizing your hands." Bingo! Two SAT words in one sentence!

[nerdinacape]

"I am...ambidextrous, not anthropomorphizing," Grigg replied jumping easily on to the girl's easy lingo. It was fun and had a nice rhythm to it in that bouncing sort of way. Joining his hands together, he made an eagle, flapping their fake wings and made a cawwing noise.

"But I was picking drummers. Ringo Starr: number two or number one?"

[whatkindofgirl]

Juno looked fairly horrified at that. "Neither! Heavens to murgatroyd, dude. Haven't you ever heard of John Bonham or Neil Peart? Or Keith Moon? Okay, maybe I'll give Ringo top ten, but I still think he was mooching off the other guys' talent. Though since your hands seem to like eagles, I'll also concede him a spot above Don Henley."

[nerdinacape]

"Keith Moon was number one, but his style isn't the same and he's dead. Don't get me wrong, I love the guy and he made the Who and gave us Animal from the Muppets but..." He felt bad, he did and he didn't want to get into an argument as genuine and good natured as it was. It felt a bit wrong. "Ringo was consistent. He may be completely out of his tree in a lot of ways, but he is good at what he does. And not much else. Don Henley is another story."

[strandedseaman]

On the man's third pass by the tree beneath which Horatio was resting, he felt he really must say something. Either the man was a kindred spirit - Horatio was himself very fond of pacing - or he was in a state of terrible agitation. Were the latter to be true, as a member of the IPD and involved citizen, Horatio was compelled to help him.

"Your pardon, sir," he called when the man was close enough. "Are you searching for something?"

[nerdinacape]

"Oh sorry, no," Grigg admitted sheepishly, pausing in his path with a laugh as he scratched the back of his neck. He really must have looked like something of an idiot to have called attention to himself like this and had someone ask if he needed help.

"I uh, was just thinking. I don't think I could find my thoughts by looking for them."

[strandedseaman]

"Would that they were written in a journal," Horatio said with a small smile, which was not to say that a book would be any easier to find in the tall jungle grasses.

At times, Horatio envied men who could funnel their thoughts away, safely at arm's length within a leather bound book. His own thoughts - usually the troublesome ones - were fixed in his mind from the moment they sprang into existence, often following him into sleep, or worse, into the next morning where they could torment his husband as well. Finding that he was becoming lost in them now, Horatio straightened up. "I suppose I can't be of assistance, then."

[nerdinacape]

Grigg had tried journals, but they had always turned into elaborate stories or lists of things he wanted to do or things he could think of for fun. It was one of the more pathetic hobbies he had.

"Nah, but it wasn't that important," he said, shrugging slightly. "Just music and other things. Nothing much."

He took a step towards the guy. "I'm Grigg, by the way."