[Britta & Miranda - GIRL BAND!]

[everyone_takes]

Okay, so the guy teaching them how to play the instruments was a little on the cheesy side with the whole 'punk rock, I swear a lot and used to do all the drugs' attitude, but it turned out he actually knew what he was doing. At least, he'd communicated it all pretty clearly to Kate and even though she was pretty far from an expert, she was actually playing chords and then stringing the chords together to make songs.

It was all pretty cool, especially since she had never stuck with anything. The pointe shoes the island had given her were collecting dust under her bed in the room she shared with Marshall, but the guitar was getting used. She was a far cry from making up her own songs -- besides, that was a band activity, not a solo one -- but she could play songs she already knew and that was pretty badass.

Kate was sure her dad, in all his Beaverlamp glory, would be proud of her.

Sitting near the Compound, she shifted the guitar in her lap, singing quietly as she played. It was a little chick folk rock of her, but whatever. No one here was going to make fun of her for being a weirdo hippie. She was waiting for Miranda and Britta to join her so that they could maybe play together. Joe Dick had called that 'jamming', but there was no way in hell Kate was enough of a dork to use a word like that.

Comments

[everyone_takes]

Kate grinned up at the two of them, shaking her head at Britta's question. She was getting better, although she didn't think she was that great yet. There was still a lot of work for her to do. It wasn't as easy as dressing up in a stupid costume and waving a plastic sword around.

"He's a pretty good teacher," she answered. "How's it going with you guys?"

[bothgodown]

"Quite well, though I am afraid that I am not nearly as musically sound as you seem to be," Miranda answers with a nod of her head, turning to look at Britta. Surely the other girl is also much further along in her studies than Miranda is, something that has come from being able to ask for help without fear. It is quite strange to ask for help rather than demanding it be given.

"And how do you fare, Britta?"

[fakejaded.livejournal.com]

"You know, I think I'm getting there," Britta says, nodding. She's not the most disciplined most of the time, but she's finding she likes music almost as much as dance. Maybe it was just a matter of finding the right incentive to actually make her buckle down and learn something — a good teacher and friends to work with — or maybe it's just because the island boasts fewer distractions. "It almost sounds like music sometimes."

[everyone_takes]

"Want to play?" Kate asked, offering the guitar. "I wish we had our own instruments. Like, a drum set we could just use all the time and we could just play together. Right now." She would not use the word jam, no matter what happened. It was simply not possible for her to do.

"It's kinda cool, being able to make music," she admitted, almost sheepishly. "I never really thought about it before."

[bothgodown]

Miranda is almost positive that her mother would not approve of this sort of music. She is also almost entirely certain that she does not care. It is something that she can do with others, that is so strange and other worldly that it frees her from the wonders of whether or not she is doing the right thing. She is simply doing exactly what she wants.

"I would so like to play the drums. I find that those are what appeal to me greatly," she agrees with a slightly nod of her head. "To be able to make music out of air. There are few things that I believe to be better."

[fakejaded.livejournal.com]

"Thanks," Britta says, accepting the guitar and, after a moment of adjusting, beginning to strum. It's strange, but she's less self-conscious about things like this than she thought she would be, maybe because she's accustomed to Joe watching her as he teaches, to having that attention now. There are calluses on her fingers, her hand's adjusted to the stretching that chords require — between the teaching and the fact that her friends have no real expectations, this is all in fun, somewhere along the way, she actually started learning. "And how hard could the drums be, right? We just need to find someone capable of making some for you, you could totally pick it up in no time."

[everyone_takes]

"Joe said someone here has drums," Kate offered, although she wasn't sure if she remembered the name. At the time, she'd mostly been trying not to carve canyons into her own fingertips and maybe hadn't been paying attention to all the information that had been thrown at her. "I bet we could borrow them if we all asked really nice and wore low cut shirts."

She was not above using her breasts to get them a drum set.

[bothgodown]

Miranda is momentarily confused by what Kate is implying by the suggestion of wearing low-cut shirts. It dawns on her a moment later, a faint blush staining her cheeks. Shifting her weight from foot to foot she nods slightly.

"I do not think that it would hurt to ask whomever it is that owns the drums if we could use them," she agrees as she smiles. "Having drums would help us seem more like a true band of musicians with the pairing of the both of you on guitars. It is enjoyable."

[fakejaded.livejournal.com]

"I'm in," Britta says, shrugging. She's done more than wear something low-cut to get what she wants before, and if it lands them the necessary instrument, then she doesn't see any reason not to. "We'll just have to track him down. And, I mean, I don't even know who it is, so they clearly aren't using them much, right? You'll totally use them." It really felt like they were getting somewhere. Strange and new as that was, Britta relished the idea.

[everyone_takes]

"So is that our next step?" Kate asked. "Hunt down whoever owns the drums?" Once they had those, they'd actually be able to play together in a group, like a real band. It was exciting, even if she wasn't sure she'd actually be any good. Somehow, that mattered, even on the island. She didn't want to let Britta or Miranda down.

"I think Joe said he knows the guy," she continued. "We could ask him who it is."

[bothgodown]

"I do believe that it is," Miranda looks from one blonde girl to the other as she nods. It is a bit strange to be following others into such probably madness, but the excitement that such things brings with them is more than enough to make her cast her worries aside.

"That would be good. I do not think that questioning everyone would be a good idea, though we would certainly find him eventually."

[fakejaded.livejournal.com]

"It would definitely make writing songs easier," Britta says. "At least then we could sort of... all test run them together." Even now, when she's been privately tinkering with trying to do exactly that when no one's around, she's not actually sure what writing songs entails, mostly because she's never done much as part of a group, not like this. It's a little nervewracking, actually, to think of doing it and then showing off her finished product to the girls when it would probably all be terrible.

[everyone_takes]

"Yeah, I have no idea how to do that part," Kate admitted. "It's kind of scary." She wanted Britta and Miranda to think she knew what she was doing, but the fact remained that she often had no idea and especially not when it came to this sort of thing.

"Do we write the words first and then music or the other way around? Or both at the same time?"

[bothgodown]

Miranda has never thought of music as something that needs to be written, but rather something that tends to spring forth fully formed. The more that she reads and researches, the more she realises that this is far from the case. The entire thing gives her pause, makes her wonder if she has stumbled in over her head. However, she is fairly certain that both Britta and Kate are equally willing to stumble blindly through such a thing.

"Neither do I. I do believe that together we shall all find some way to make it," she says nodding emphatically. "Perhaps words?"

[fakejaded.livejournal.com]

"I think it's either," Britta says. "I mean, it's about what we're inspired to do, right? Letting the music move us. Wouldn't it be easier to start with the music, though? And then fit the words to it?" She's not even close to sure, just trying things aloud. It sounds good, but that doesn't mean it actually works like that, and she finds herself thinking back to try and remember what her various musician friends and boyfriends have done. "I think everyone does it differently."

[everyone_takes]

"I wish there was just some easy way that everyone did it," Kate said. "Because I have a feeling I'm going to suck at just letting myself be inspired." It wasn't a word she'd ever even considered in connection with herself. Her mom and brother were the artists in the family with their painting and films. They were the ones who had to worry about inspiration.

"Maybe the costumes should come first," she suggested with a smile.

[bothgodown]

"Oh."

It makes sense that everyone would have their own way of doing things, but Miranda's experience with musicians in the flesh is rather limited at best. Either would be an equally good way of getting started, it is only a question of which.

"Aye. I think costumes would be a grand a thing to start with," she agrees with an eager bob of her head. "Then maybe one or the other would come to us after."

[fakejaded.livejournal.com]

"Works for me," laughs Britta. The idea of actually sitting down and writing a song, even very quietly in her own room, is almost painfully daunting. She almost never finishes anything. How is she supposed to finish an actual piece of music worth being performed? She's never been inspired to do anything of the sort in her life, and she doesn't have the discipline to sit down and do without. Costumes are easy, costumes they can do. "And we can just do songs later. What if we... each work on something, whatever, and then bring it in next time and... see if we can make something of them together?" It's almost like homework. She nearly makes a face at her own idea.

[everyone_takes]

"I like that idea," Kate answered, grinning. Then, if everything she came up with totally sucked, she could probably con Marshall into helping her. He wasn't exactly into writing music, as far as she knew, but he was the arty type and could probably help her come up with something that wasn't completely awful.

"So have I ever shown you guys the Princess Valhalla costume? Because I'm thinking glam rock needs to go in that sort of direction."

[bothgodown]

"That does seem like it would work."

Miranda still manages to feel adrift in this world full of such strange and modern attire. It has been months but there seem to be rules that do not fit into any proper book. She's certain that finding something light and airy would not be difficult. It seems like that is all the box wants to give up as it is.

"No. You must show it to us then, so that we can appreciate it."

[fakejaded.livejournal.com]

"Oh man, no," Britta says, "that sounds promising, we have to see this." Besides which, costumes mean not figuring out lyrics, and alright, she knows without music, they can't really be a band, but they're getting there. They just need time. And drums and costumes and tons of things like that.

[everyone_takes]

"Oh, my God, it has a viking hat and everything," Kate said, getting to her feet and leading the other two into the Compound and down to the room she shared with Marshall. As always, his side of the room was spotless, while hers looked like, well, a teenaged girl lived there.

"It's here somewhere," she said, rummaging through the clothes she had and pulling out one thigh high, bright red vinyl boot and then the other.

[bothgodown]

"That does sound to be most absurd," Miranda notes her grin growing wider despite everything else. She cannot help it. The whole thing has a daftness to it that she finds to be wonderful.

Gasping at the sight of the boot, she reaches out and takes it into her hands. "This is...this be horribly impractical. Tis simply divine."