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[outtatime]

Who: Marty McFly and [insert your character here]
Where: The Plaza
When: From Wednesday through the end of Curse #36 {Your choice
Status: OPEN TO EVERYONE! C'MON DOWN!

[When Marty first heard about being "cursed" in the Bubble, there was this feeling of uneasiness at the back of his throat he couldn't ignore. I mean who wouldn't? When he thinks of a curse, he thinks of seven years of bad luck with a dead-end scenario he can't escape from. Wait a minute...

But he swallows that uneasiness whole and continues to press on. That is until he butts heads with said curse by being glued onto some stranger earlier in the week.

Now there is an air of caution he carries along when venturing about but Marty ain't scared of being stuck on another person. That would just be silly. Inconvenience sure but not enough to push him off the deep end to saturate his body with oil, wrapped whole with saran wrap. He just has to be a little careful about where he is walking.

What better way than going carefully headfirst into a highly populated area? The operative word here being carefully. He's got a plan. Play his "guitar" by the fountain side (really a broken guitar he was able to pick up from the garbage side that is still out of tune) or staring at the different chotchkies from the various shops around here.]

Comments

[onlyasign]

[Sufferer is wandering the Plaza when he hears the plinks and plunks of an out-of-tune guitar, and the sound makes him wander closer. Ah, it's a human teenager, with a broken instrument.]

They have shops with guitars around here. You could get one that isn't broken, if you like.

[outtatime]

[Ah, now that's a new site for the eyes. By this point, Marty is used to vast diversity of species roaming around this place but he can't help but have this sense awe when he encounters a non-humanoid. What can he say? He's still a curious kid at heart.

He looks back down at his guitar. The strings are in disarray with scratches all over the thing.]

Eh, I thought I use the challenge. Some fine tuning and polish and she'll be as good as new.

[He strums the guitar once more only to have one of the strings break away.]

...Did I mention this is going to take some work?

[onlyasign]

[It's cool, Sufferer isn't offended. He knows that trolls like himself are hard to get used to at first, and he makes a conscious effort to keep his lips over his fangs.]

I suppose so. How long have you been playing?

[outtatime]

Man-- [He pauses for a second, pulling a small grin.]

I always played around with different stuff since I was little but middle-school is when I really started to take the guitar more seriously.

[onlyasign]

[Sufferer has no idea what middle school is, but he assumes it happened when the human was younger. He sits down next to Marty, and shyly, hesitantly pulls his own guitar out of his sylladex.]

I have one too. I was learning how to play it before I... before I left for awhile.

[outtatime]

[Now that's new. He raises his eyebrows slightly as the other guy pulls out his guitar.]

No kidding? [He strums. The sound is still godawful.]

Do you know any songs?

[onlyasign]

Not yet.

[He did recognize that chord, though! Sufferer moves his hands over his guitar, and falters a little... this is the first time he's had it out since he lost his own hands and had them replaced with robotic ones. Very carefully, he curls his metal fingers over the strings, and plays Marty's chord back to him.]

I'm Sufferer. What's your name?

[outtatime]

Marty. Here- [Marty repositions himself, shifting over towards where Sufferer can see where is hands are.] try it like this.

[He strums again.]

[onlyasign]

[Stupid metal hands. Sufferer is going to have to learn the muscle memory all over again.]

A pleasure to meet you, Marty.

[He studies Marty's hands, carefully repositions his own, and tries the chord again.]

Like that?

[outtatime]

Yeah, same here.

[He looks intently. Calm hands, that's what he is looking for. Not too calm though. That only leaves room for sloppiness.]

Not bad. Just...relax a little. You don't want your chords to sound too uptight. Think of Brian May when he's up there playing Bohemian Rhapsody. You don't see him just standing there, letting the melody come mechanically [no pun intended.]. Nuh uh. He's out there letting that music flow like a raging river!

[Er...Okay maybe he's going too deep with the references there.]

[onlyasign]

Huh?

[Sorry, Marty, you completely lost Sufferer with those references!]

Can you maybe... play the song you just mentioned?

[outtatime]

[Hah, he should be the one apologizing! Sometimes he doesn't get that these references have a tendency to go over people's heads. This is just Marty getting too caught up in the moment.]

The whole thing? Sure. I can try but let's try something a little more simple. This might be a difficult to follow because-- you know...

[He looks down at his wounded guitar then looks back at Sufferer with a 'you know what I mean' kind of expression.]

[onlyasign]

[Sufferer nods and offers his own guitar.]

Would you like to try mine?

[outtatime]

[Marty doesn't have to think twice about this one.]

Yeah! [Setting his 'older' one to the side.]

[onlyasign]

[With a tiny, half-smile, Sufferer hands it over.]

[outtatime]

Alright.

[He grabs for Sufferer's guitar, making sure he doesn't touch any part of his hand. Teaching someone how to play guitar while stuck to each other can get a little sticky.]

This [Strums the guitar] may be an obvious choice but trust me on this one- keep practicing this and it'll be smooth as ice from here on out.

[And without further ado, Marty begins to play Sweet Home Alabama. It might be unrecognizable to Sufferer but hey--now's your chance to learn about good ol' Earthian rock'n'roll.]

[onlyasign]

[Sufferer knows a little bit about Earth music, but he's never heard this song before. He listens intently, realizing that Marty plays much, much better than he does, and is pleased when he recognizes one of the chords he uses. Beyond that, it's just a fun song, and he finds himself tapping his toe to it.]

What's this song called?

[outtatime]

[He rests his arms.]

Never heard of 'Sweet Home Alabama'?

[onlyasign]

I'm sorry, I don't know what an Alabama is.

[outtatime]

That's ah-- Actually let's save that for later. But did you catch the chords I was using?

[onlyasign]

D? And... C?

[outtatime]

Yeah, that's it.

[Learning the guitar is a long process. Well, you can say that about any discipline. But hey! They got all the time in the world, right?]

Looks like you got the basics down for the most part. Want to give it a shot?

[withoutasign]

[A process made more daunting by robotic hands that have to learn everything over again!]

Yes. I'll try it.

[He looks at Marty expectantly. Teach him, sensei.]

[akumanotrill]

[Hijiri is attracted by the sound of the out of tune guitar and wanders over.]

Oh, hi, it's you! Wow... what happened to your guitar?

[outtatime]

[He looks up.]

Oh, hey!

[He plucks one of the strings which still sounds like a mess.]

Wild, isn't it? I found this laying around, ready to be thrown out. I thought maybe with just a little bit of love, it'll be as good as new.

[akumanotrill]

I see... [he takes a closer look at the guitar] ... hmm... it looks really banged up though. Why don't you get a new one?

[outtatime]

Maybe but I'm not going to put this one away just yet. Someone just didn't give her the attention she needs.

[akumanotrill]

Well, you should at least get her some new strings then. I don't think these can be salvaged.

[outtatime]

You're right. I'm just not used to this "everything's free" thing. I feel like I'm getting away with murder.

[akumanotrill]

Eh? Is it really that bad...?

[outtatime]

What? No, no... I'm not sayin' it's bad or anything. Just a little weird, you know?

[akumanotrill]

Well, I guess it was at first...

... I hope they don't need us to pay for everything later!

[outtatime]

I think they're already ahead on that.

[He shows his tattoo on his forearm.]

[akumanotrill]

Huh? ... what do you mean?

[outtatime]

Those curses people keep talking about. I heard that this tattoo triggers it somehow.

[akumanotrill]

Really? I didn't know that!

[outtatime]

Wait a minute. [A pause.] You really never heard that one before?

[akumanotrill]

Well, I was told that they glowed during curses but not that they actually caused the curses...