| Readin' Music |
| Summary: | Devlin decides what to write on Burke's guitar, and then they talk about Breakout's musical skills for a while. |
| Date: | 25 Apr 2042 AE |
| Related Logs: | This Ol' Guitar |
| Players: |
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| Pilot Berths |
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| It's a berth for pilots. |
| Post-Holocaust Day: #422 |
Early evening, and Devlin is wandering back into the berths. He's in off-duty fatigues, and doesn't appear to be coming from anywhere in particular or going anywhere in particular, either. He whistles absently under his breath as he heads down the aisles of bunks, making a stop at his locker. Before he gets the lock opened, though, he drops it and turns, heading back towards Burke's bunk instead, though it takes him a minute to locate it, finger out as if to trace the nameplates as he reads them. "Hey, Breakout," he calls when he finds it, though not very loudly, "You in there, man?"
A few discordant notes sound from the vicinity of Burke's bunk, followed by the barely-audible, high-pitched sound of old machine-heads being turned. Hearing his name, however, he ceases tuning the old guitar and cranes his neck to see where the voice is coming from, "Over here."
"Oh hey," Alex spots him and chins-up a greeting, "How's it going? If I'm interrupting or something I can come back another time, it's nothing urgent. I've just been thinking about the guitar," he explains, coming over to lean on the ladder of Burke's bunk, "And I had an idea what to write on it. It still might be dumb," he admits with a shrug, "I dunno. But it's just supposed to be anything, right?"
"Anythin' at all," Burke replies, swinging his legs to the side so he's sitting on the edge of his bunk, "Ain't for me t' judge it. Here." He holds the guitar out for the other pilot to take, the felt-tip marker nestled between the strings at the face.
"Cool," Devlin replies with a smile. He takes the guitar, and then gestures with it towards the edge of the bunk, "Mind if I sit?" He takes the marker and eyes the surface and what the others have written. After a minute, he pulls the marker from the strings and uncaps it, leaning over the instrument as he writes. He's clearly taking care with his penmanship, and also writing small, leaving as much space as he can for others. "Alright," he says finally, handing it back. Up the body from Khloe's, in the next convexity, he's written in neat-ish little block caps 'Cyn belled whakaha, rwyf tumanako.' and below it 'While I breathe, I hope. - A.T. Devlin.' "It's a Taurian saying," he explains, a little sheepish.
Burke takes the guitar back, pausing a moment to look over what is written and then nodding his head in approval, "Ah like it. Good t' take time t' think 'bout what yer gonna scrawl, too." He plays a few strings on the instrument, instantly moving to twist one of the machine heads when he realizes it is slightly out of tune.
Devlin smiles, nodding with him, "Cool. And yeah, it seemed worth thinking over. Don't want to waste my space." He shrugs a bit and runs a hand through his hair, glancing over at the guitar again as Burke tunes it. "So it still plays right, even with that big hole in it?" he asks, pointing, "I would've guessed it'd make it sound weird or something. Cool. Are you just having whoever write on it?" he asks next, "'cause I can tell Psyche to think something up and come find you sometime if you're aiming to get the whole wing."
"Ah want to get the whole wing," Burke says with a nod, "But anyone can sign. Ever'one's jus' as important as ever'one else." He plays a few chords on the guitar which do sound musical, if not a little strange, "She does strum a l'il strange with th' hole, but she still sounds good."
Devlin nods as well, agreeing, "Totally. Couldn't keep the ship going without all the departments, and the civs are half the reason we're still bothering anyways. But yeah, I'll mention it, send her your way sometime. Dunno if you guys have met yet." He glances at the neck, watching Burke's fingers as he plays and nods, "Yeah, still sounds good to me. You'll have to play for people sometime," he suggests, then grins, "Or take a set in Pete's or something, save us all from the club beats for an hour."
"Ah ain't played fer people in," Burke thinks about it and then shrugs, "Ever. Ah ain't got no songs worth playin' fer a big group a'folks anyway." Nevertheless, the idea seems to take him and he furrows his brow a little, "Ah might work on somethin' … "
Devlin shrugs, "What makes a song worth playing for a big group?" he asks, "I mean, unless you only know ugly songs, or something, I dunno. I think Jugs — Captain Quinn, the LSO? — she plays the fiddle, I heard. She's from Aerilon, too. So maybe you guys might know some of the same stuff?" He shrugs, admitting, "I never learned to play anything, myself. No good at reading music and all that stuff."
"Readin' music?" Burke gives Devlin a quizzical look, like he might be speaking some foreign language, "You ain't read music. You listen to music." He chuckles a little, finally able to tell someone else something for a change! He strums the strings a little bit, the beginnings of a riff that seems to really rock along before he changes his mind and starts tuning again.
Devlin looks quizzically back at Burke, and doesn't reply for a second, like he's pondering on whether he might be wrong after all. "Nah, like… you know. The notes on the page? And the… staffs or whatever?" He tries to illustrate, but mostly just gestures vaguely. "Like sheet music, I mean," he tries again, before dropping it to comment, "That was sweet, what was that?"
"Ah dunno," Burke shrugs his shoulders, looking down at the guitar, "Ah jus' made it up." He plays it again, this time it is a little different but the same elements are still there, "Ah ain't never heard a'readin' music. So Ah don't reckon Ah'd be able t' do it either."
"Really? Neat," Devlin grins, "That's cool, I wish I could do that. That sounded real. Like, a song you'd hear on the radio or something. Good radio, anyways," he caveats with a smile. "So you just… hear stuff and you play it?"
"Ah don't hear it til' Ah play it," Burke says, another question that has him a little confused, "Jus' comes to me and Ah play. Maybe Ah oughta tack 'em all t'gether make some kinda song." He ponders it and then shrugs as though dismissing the thought.
Devlin frowns a little in confusion and nods, "Huh. That's pretty cool," he decides, "That's, like, a gift. It's Apollo that does music, right? Especially strings? You must be blessed, dude, that's pretty cool. Yeah, you should put it all together sometime. 'cause that riff you just played was sweet. I would listen to that song." After a beat he asks, "So you've never, like… heard somebody else play a song and tried to see if you could imitate it?"
"Oh, Ah done that plenty a'times," Burke says, strumming the strings a few times to produce an unplugged version of a hit more popular amongst the wealthier colonies but has likely been played here and there about the berthings. He stops after a few bars, "Ain't much for those songs, though. Ah rather play what Ah come up with myself."
"Oh, okay," Devlin nods, and then laughs as he recognizes the tune Burke plays, pointing at the guitar, "Hey, I know that one. That's awesome, you can just pick stuff up and spit it back out. But yeah, making up your own's even cooler," he agrees, "You should definitely let people hear sometime, if you want, I mean. It'd be cool. I mean, most of us brought some music with us, right, so there's plenty of trading going on, but there's nothing really new for… more than a year, you know? I'd love to hear something new."
"Ah'll try, Ah guess," Burke shrugs his shoulders once more, looking at the guitar. He's not the greatest player, but he seems to have a lot of good ideas when it comes to dreaming up a tune, "Thanks, Decoy."
Devlin shrugs again in reply, nodding, "Yeah, if you want. I mean, no pressure, dude. If you don't like playing for other people, that's cool, too. I get it." He smiles, friendly, and then runs a hand through his hair again before slapping both palms against his legs, "Alright, Breakout, I better be going. Thanks for asking me to sign the guitar," he smiles again and then checks, "Wait, has it got a name?"
"Ah … " Burke glances down at the guitar and shakes his head, "Not really. Ah 'spose Ah oughta give her one … but Ah ain't feel right just conjurin' up a name in my head. It's gotta come to me somehow." He nods, "Y'all take care, there."
Devlin nods. "Makes sense," he agrees, "Wait for it to tell you." He stands up and smiles again, nodding, "You too. See you later, Burke," before heading off.