strangetrip | [GP] Food for the soul

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[GP] Food for the soul

Carlos hated being back at the hotel. He had begun by trying to access the Nevernever but that had totally failed, then caught up with Buffy to go and visit both London and Edinburgh, for varying reasons, and the rest of the time he had headed to Spain - he may have been well travelled, but rarely got time to be a tourist - but his time relaxing and finding out about Spain had been unceremoniously cut short when he woke up and found himself back at the hotel. For a few moments he lay there, utterly fed up, and just feeling incredibly homesick.

That only lasted a few minutes; after that he was a man on a mission.

He hunted out Caroline, and had a long chat with her. Plans were set. Time to cook up a storm. They'd missed 4th July, this could serve as a belated celebration, as well as a 'things ain't all bad here' event. Posters went up throughout the hotel, giving notice of a cook out. Everyone was encouraged to attend. What could be bad about this?

Grills were set up outside to cook up as much meat as they could hold; non-meat options were there as well for variety; salads prepared... a vast array of food to try and cheer up anyone who needed it. Carlos took his place at the grills, brandishing tools, turning the meat over just at the right point.

All that was needed now was people to attend.

[ooc: Use as a general gathering post - if you want Carlos specifically, tag him in the subject line]

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"It's a great way to learn," Curnen assured him, looking fondly on that dimple on one side of his mouth. "It's most of how I learned, anyway, though." She held up her hands, waggling all twelve of her fingers. "Took a little patience from all of us to work with this."

Miguel looked at her fingers with awe, he always thought it was one of the best things that he'd ever seen. "I bet you got a lot of neat sounds out of the guitar chords." Something no one else could do because of her extra fingers.

"I can," Curnen agreed. "But like you, it's something I gotta teach myself. Only I don't have anybody I can watch."

Well. There had been one, but like hell that would ever have happened.

"That's really awesome! I mean that you learned how to do it all on your own." Miguel wouldn't have ever learned to play the guitar if he hadn't had Ernesto's movies.

"Well, I still learned how to play five-fingered from my sister," Curnen admitted, ducking her head. "But yeah, had to figure out what to do with my extra pinkies myself." A lot of the time she just kept them out of it because no one knew how to work with them. It was such a rare thing, and even more rare for them to be fully functional.

It wasn't the same really, but he thought of Dante's tongue and how it was always in the way.

Then because he knows she can play more than one instrument, he asked, "is it hard to learn to play something else when you know how to play a guitar? I mean other stringed instruments." Because he's not sure he could play a trumpet like in a mariachi band.

"It's one of those things you ain't really gonna know 'til you try something out," Curnen said with a shrug. "I known some people who could play pretty much anything, and well, too." She smiled, the smile of a little sister taking pleasure in besting an older sibling. "Bliss plays guitar a lot better'n I do, but put a fiddle in her hands and it sounds like a dying cat. I figure you go with what you're interested in, don't matter if it's hard."

Miguel nodded since it made sense. He hadn't known if he could play the guitar until he'd tried.

"I saw a .." His brow furrowed as he tried to remember the name of it, "a zimbalon." He moved his guitar to his lap and set it down so the strings were facing up. "It was smaller than this, thinner."

Curnen would probably know it as a Mountain Dulcimer rather than the Italian name.

"An autoharp?" Curnen mused. "Nah, that's too big." As was a hammered dulcimer. Then she brightened. "I think you mean an Appalachian dulcimer." She pronounced it of course apple-at-cha, not apple-lay-sha. The instrument went by a lot of names, but the important thing was that it was not a hammered dulcimer, that was something else entirely.

Miguel brightened and nodded his head. "I um, think so. I think I heard someone call it that, but only one person. They played it with a pick, or I guess a fingernail would work and there were only four string on it. But they never picked it up, always on their lap."

He'd been fascinated by the sound.

"It goes by a lot of names," Curnen said, shrugging one shoulder. "Mountain dulcimer, harmonium... I'm partial to hog fiddle." That name was great. But more important than that, she saw a potential connection to what they'd been talking about before, and she took it.

"But yeah, there's a bunch of string instruments played like that. Some people even play slide guitar with the guitar in their lap."

His eyes lit up at the prospect of learning two things to go with his guitar. If he could make a mountain dulcimer. He'd have to go to the library to see if they had pictures that he could maybe copy. That was how he'd made his guitar back home.

"So if Kitty helps me make a slide, I could play my guitar like that? On my lap?"

Curnen nodded. "You could! Could be a good way to test if you like lap instruments."

Miguel was getting excited about the new ideas. "See if I can play it on my lap, too." He said with a quick smile. "Do you think I'll need different kinds of music to play it on my lap?" Miguel wasn't sure if different songs went to different instruments and different ways to play an instrument.

God Curnen wished she could take him home for a day. Take him to the barn dance. It was always iffy to bring in an outsider, but Mandalay's people would adore him. "Nope. Just gotta learn a different way to make the notes you want. Some instruments are better suited to some effects, but... Really, long as you're treating your instrument with care, don't do any harm to experiment."

Miguel took in everything that she said and committed it to his heart. "I always treat my guitar like its special." Because it was to him, but he wanted Curnen to know that he would have even if it hadn't been his Papa Hector's.

"I can't wait to try the new things." He stroked the strings on his guitar where it lay on his lap, just listening to the vibration of each one. "There's a different tone." Just a little bit different, but different.

"Mmhmm," Curnen agreed, nodding. "Because you're holding it that way. Makes the sound move differently." Vibrations were something didn't really know how to explain very well.

"Neat!" Miguel experimented with a holding down a string and playing a couple more. His eyes lit up hearing the different tones. "I like it!"

It wasn't very musical, what he was doing, but it was fun to hear the different sounds than what he was expecting to hear.

Curnen picked up her own guitar again and began noodling. "There's a reason they call it playing, I think. 'Cause it's supposed to be, well, playful."

Miguel grinned over at her, he liked that a lot. "It is really fun. That's why I wanted to be a musician." Well, he also wanted to get out of Santa Cecilia like Ernesto, but it was mostly because of the fun Mariachi players seemed to have.

"It is fun," Curnen agreed. She gave him a sly side-glance. "Wanna jam?"

"Always." Miguel nodded, his smile wide, then he began to play.

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[GP] Food for the soul

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