Blackout, blackout!

[kore_npc]

Who: The residents of Cape Kore
Where: The center of town, near the ruined fountain
When: Day 100
What: Stane gathered some supplies for a community fire. Consider this a party-style post reacting to the lack of power and the loss of the communicators.

After the power goes out, Stane spends a few minutes standing stock still in the room, holding his breath and waiting for it to come back, but he doesn't waste too much time lingering in that kind of hopefulness. People are going to need things; they're going to need fire to cook and boil water, and they're going to need to do something about the food that's going to spoil.

It's so important that he helps them. It's so important that he helps them stay alive. Maybe the dream sharing is getting to him, maybe it's made his nightmares... feel real, but...

They're going to survive this. He's determined.

He gathers some wood that can be used for firewood and kindling, and he leaves them in the center of the town; he has no way of announcing that the things are there, really, but he cups his hands around his mouth and shouts a general Go to the fountain! Maybe someone will hear him.

Comments

[blackmagus]

She gives his shoulder a gentle squeeze. "Well, I'm glad you're back, even if it's..." A shrug of her own. "Back here, with no power."

[bluesrat]

He leans into the touch a little, and flashes her a grateful look. "Honestly, if I weren't hanging out at Balthazar's place, I never would've known. Anyway, it seems peaceful enough, and people are gathering together, so it's not all bad, right?"

[blackmagus]

Fortescue glances back at the fire, and those around it, nodding a little. "It's not so bad at the moment," she agrees. There are looming concerns on the horizon, but for now, it's more like camping. Camping in an abandoned town. "With your guitar here in the background I'd say it's friendly."

[bluesrat]

He gives a lopsided little grin. "Glad to make it a little friendlier. Any requests?" He strums a chord, eager to be useful in some way.

[blackmagus]

She takes a deep breath, smiling. "Oh, I don't know. Something cheerful?"

[bluesrat]

"You're asking a blues man for something cheerful?" He raises an eyebrow at her, but grins, teasing a little. This is not to say he doesn't know any happy songs, but cheer does feel a little forced, right now. Rat's fingers strum a few idle chords while he thinks, then he starts a cheerful little melody, not really feeling like singing along. Perhaps instrumentals will do for now.

[blackmagus]

Fortescue laughs quietly at the tease. But the tune he strikes up is more than enough to make things seem less... dark around the edges. Or ominous, perhaps. "Well that's not too bad. We can call it baby blues," she jokes. "Not dark blues."

[bluesrat]

He laughs, fingers still rolling out the tune. "Okay, baby blues. That works." Rat gives her a wink, since the same term could be used to describe his own eyes.

"I do know more than blues, though. I used to be a music teacher."

[blackmagus]

"Maybe you could teach some people here to play." Though she isn't volunteering, knowing full well that, aside from dancing, she's not very musical. "If a few more instruments could be scared up from the houses, at least."

[bluesrat]

"I mostly taught kids, but I'll teach anyone who wants to learn..." He gives her an inquiring look anyway. "More instruments would be good, but I could teach somebody on Bessie, in a pinch." He pats the body of the guitar a little, with a soft hollow ringing.

[blackmagus]

"Bessie?"

Fortescue glances down at his instrument. She isn't much for naming things. Partly because it's never really occurred to her.

[bluesrat]

Rat gives a sheepish little smile. "After Bessie Smith. She... needed a name. My old band lead gave her to me, after... well. She's been with me a while." He's been homeless for a long time, and lost several important people, but his guitar has been with him through it all. It's hard not to anthropomorphize what's had to stand in for a best friend over the years.

[blackmagus]

She has to think for a long moment. Music isn't really her specialty, as far as knowledge goes. But, yes, the name does ring a bell. "She's a singer, isn't she?"

[bluesrat]

"Yeah, she's a singer." He gives her a gentle smile. "And if you've never actually heard her sing, I'm sorry."

[blackmagus]

"I probably have, at some point on the radio. But I likely wasn't paying attention at the time." Fortescue offers him an apologetic smile in return. "I do remember that she's popular with many people, in the... jazz genre?"

Her cat perks up at the mention.

[bluesrat]

He laughs, and stops playing to reach out and stroke the cat's head. "Yes sweetheart. She was popular. She was one of the best singers that ever lived. Used to sing with Louis Armstrong a lot- please tell me you've heard of him?"

[blackmagus]

"Him I've heard of, yes," she chuckles. "There's a lot of different music in my world. I've lost track of all the different styles."

Whenever a device was brought over from another world with music, it was given as a gift to the world. The same was true of most art and fashion. Thus, in a bid to be as trendy as possible, the artistic industries were chaos in visual and audible form.

[bluesrat]

"Oh, we've got a pretty diverse assortment of music, too. Blues is my favorite, but I always tried to cover all kinds when I was teaching..." Rat would probably enjoy seeing that aspect of her world, at least.

[blackmagus]

Fortescue smiles. She's not sure if she has a favorite genre, but Blues is nice enough. "So why is Blues your favorite, if you don't mind my asking?"

[bluesrat]

He looks thoughtful, although it doesn't take long for him to answer, because he has thought about this before. "It's always been there for me, when life was rough, and I guess I have positive associations. My best friend since I was a kid, and his dad, they were both bluesmen. After my dad died, his dad took me under his wing, and into his band."

[blackmagus]

She tilts her head to the side, trying to imagine him in the same garb she's seen other Blues musicians play — in a dramatically lit room, cigarette smoke curling through the air. "So Blues took you in. Is it fun, being in a band?"

[bluesrat]

"It was fun..." He gives a sad little smile. "They were my second family."

He's pretty scruffy these days, but the weathered cap wouldn't be too out of place in that setting, and he does smoke sometimes. He's trying to quit, recently.

[blackmagus]

Fortescue catches the sad glint, and nods. Perhaps this is a subject best left undisturbed, for the most part.

"If you scrape up enough instruments, maybe the people around here would have enough talent for, say, a polka band," she jokes lightly, smiling.

[bluesrat]

He did say were, past tense, and that's not just because he's here now. Her suggestion makes him give a genuine laugh, though.

"You know, I can play a lot of styles, but I think that just may be one that's out of my range..." He gives a few coughs, grinning. "Why, do you secretly play the accordion?"

[blackmagus]

"I wasn't aware you had to know," she comments innocently. "I thought you just moved the sides and hoped for the best."