For Kate

[a_capella_boy]

Ever since Jesse had spent the small amount of money he had earned coming up with a commercial jingle on DJ equipment for Beca, he browsed pawn shops regularly looking at guitars. That's what he had been intending to buy when he got Beca's equipment (something he had no intention of letting Beca know) and while he didn't regret his decision, he really missed having a guitar.

He really needed some sort of job, because otherwise it was going to take forever to save up for something like a guitar, even one from a pawn shop.

"I'm going to go a little Wayne's World right now," Jesse announced, glancing around the mostly empty pawn shop. "Is that okay? I mean... okay, yeah, I think it's okay."

Turning back to the guitar, Jesse uttered those immortal words.

"It will be mine. Oh yes. It will be mine. Wow, okay, that felt a little bit dramatic there. Did that feel a bit dramatic to you?" he asked, turning to face the random person walking by.

Comments

[everyonetakes]

"Come on, what do you take me for?" Kate asked, grinning. "Everyone's seen The Breakfast Club." That was another one she'd definitely watched while stoned, but she had a much clearer memory of that one. Probably because she'd thought Judd Nelson was kind of hot at the time. "Even people who have film snob brothers."

[a_capella_boy]

"Aha. Because it's amazing. And yet it was made before you were born," Jesse pointed out. He was glad that she had at least seen that though, it meant she wasn't as completely lost as she could be though.

"What about... Rocky? Or Jaws?"

[everyonetakes]

"Yes and yes," she answered, although she'd seen them both because Buck had insisted and she'd just been glad he'd stopped trying to show her porn. "My mom's uh... friend showed them to me."

Maybe in Darrow she didn't have to be the girl with the crazy mom. Maybe the alter's could all just be Tara's weird friends.

"He's obsessed with fighting and things blowing up, so check and check."

[a_capella_boy]

"So, it's just Wayne's World that everyone you know hates," Jesse said with a laugh. It was definitely a movie that had a more narrow audience than the others he mentioned. She wasn't as nearly as bad off as she thought.

"Is it all the SNL comedies that became movies that they hate or is it Mike Myers they have a problem with?"

[everyonetakes]

T had loved Shrek, mostly because of all the fart jokes and she was pretty sure Buck would like anything even remotely vulgar, which put Austin Powers firmly in his area of interests. "You know, if I ever get home, I'll make sure to ask. Until then, it'll have to remain a mystery."

[a_capella_boy]

"Well, now I have a new mission," Jesse said with a nod. "Now I just have to find Wayne's World in a place where it likely never existed. Which, I just realized may be kind of tricky."

He really had no idea what sort of availability this place had in terms of movies. He didn't have enough money for many just yet so we was saving up until he could get a few of his favorites. The fact that they might not be here scared him a bit.

[everyonetakes]

"They have to be here somewhere," Kate said, because if the island was allowed to have movies, then there had to be movies in a city like this. "My first day here, I walked past like, eight book stores, so there has to be a movie store somewhere around this place. We should probably quest for it. It'll be super dramatic and it'll take my mind off the fact that I probably have to get a job."

[a_capella_boy]

"Yes, but only if we carry around the giant flamingo with us everywhere we go," Jesse said. He actually knew where a few video stores were, but finding the cheapest one would probably be a fun challenge, along with finding the best selection.

"And if anyone asks about it, we deny we have a giant flamingo."

[everyonetakes]

"What giant flamingo?" Kate asked, shifting the giant flamingo in her arms. It wasn't the same as the island, she knew that. There was a much better chance of meeting a weirdo serial killer here than there had been there, but she sort of didn't care. She was lonely, she needed some friends.

"Come on, I need to pay for this not giant flamingo and then we can totally quest for movies."

[a_capella_boy]

"Yes, grab the flamingo... Adventure!" Jesse said, thrusting his fist up in triumph. Absolutely not what he was planning on doing for the day but infinitely better for sure. Who wouldn't want to make a new friend and have an adventure?

[everyonetakes]

"You better not be a stalker," she said, pointing her finger at Jesse for a second as she headed to the register to buy the flamingo. "Or like, the next Jack the Ripper. I have mace in my purse." She paused, then added, "Not that I think you are, but a girl's gotta be careful, you know."

[a_capella_boy]

"Oh, I'm a stalker," Jesse said with a nod as he followed her to the register, taking one last wistful look at the guitar.

"I'm just already stalking someone else. And you seem like a lovely person but I've sort of already invested a lot of man hours into stalking someone else, and I wouldn't want to waste it all."

[everyonetakes]

"Good enough for me," Kate answered cheerfully as she paid for the flamingo. It was probably going to be a pain in the ass to carry it around all day, but she figured she could either get Jesse to carry it when she got tired or she'd convince him to swing by her apartment. "I, on the other hand, am not stalking anyone these days."

She had a lot of conflicting emotions about this. On one hand, she missed Harry a lot and she knew he'd be missing her. But on the other hand, she'd been sort of convinced lately that she really wasn't any good for him anyway.

[a_capella_boy]

"That's okay. I think the flamingo you don't have might get jealous," Jesse said. The flamingo totally looked like the jealous type. Not that she had a flamingo.

"Speaking of days, how many days have you been here?" he asked. It was sort of getting to be a standard issue question these days.

[everyonetakes]

"Like two weeks," Kate answered, hefting the flamingo under her arm so they could leave. "Long enough to know I need to decorate the shit out of that apartment, but not long enough to have found a job that means I can decorate it with stuff out of the fancy stores."

She hated the idea of having to get a job again. Especially since she still had absolutely no idea what she wanted to do.

[a_capella_boy]

"I'm still pretty much telling myself that I'm in the freak out stage and that I don't need a job yet. One month of living off of ramen bought with the allowance the city gives is my grace period for myself," Jesse said. It was kind of a lame excuse, but he knew that pretty soon he'd find some direction and hit the ground running with it. It was just finding the right direction.

[everyonetakes]

"Yeah?" she asked. "And then what? I mean, do you have any ideas? Because I'm pretty much stumped." She didn't have any interest in college, she knew that much, but she also didn't want to get stuck working at some fast food joint for the rest of her life. She'd already done the waitress thing and pretty much sucked at it, but part of that was Gene's fault, she figured.

[a_capella_boy]

"Well, I love music and movies," Jesse said. Movies and music were his passions and he already knew what he wanted to do with his life. The problem was just figuring out if that job actually existed here.

"Ideally, someone will walk up to me and offer to have me write a soundtrack or movie score for money. Barring that, there are coffee shops I could play in. And street corners. Of course, I need the guitar for that. Which I need a job to get."

[everyonetakes]

"Everything always comes back to money," Kate said, because no matter what, that was how it worked. "I used to love money, but now I'm starting to think that I actually really hate it. I'd probably love it more if I had some, though."

[a_capella_boy]

"It's a lot easier than bartering for goods," Jesse said. He grew up in a tiny town where some people did that and it was kind of a pain in the butt.

"I mean, imagine trying to get a pig in her to exchange for the guitar?"

[everyonetakes]

"You'd just have to make sure it was a small pig," she said, shrugging. "Like, a really cute one. I'd trade you a guitar for a tiny, adorable pig. I mean, if I had a guitar, I would totally trade you, but I don't, so I can't. There's a lot of stuff I'd probably trade for a tiny, adorable pig, though. I bet they're good pets."

[a_capella_boy]

"Excellent, I've known you for just five minutes and I already know what to get you for your birthday," Jesse said. He wondered if he really could find a tiny pig for her.

"Like a teacup pig. With a leash and stuff so you can take it for walks."

[everyonetakes]

"That would seriously be the cutest thing ever," Kate said, almost wishing she could have a pig right now. She missed Harry and she missed her Reggie and she missed Carla Jean. She even missed Chang. A pig wasn't the same as any of them, but at least it might help a little bit.

"Maybe I should get a kitten or something," she said. "I was never big on cats, but I kind of miss my dog." She missed his owner more, but Jeff was just another in a long line of people she had to miss.

[a_capella_boy]

"Wait, wait. You were never big on cats. You miss your dog... so you're going to get a kitten?"

That didn't make a lot of sense to Jesse, but it didn't seem like a really terrible idea either. Kittens were pretty adorable and fuzzy. Also they potentially had super sharp claws.

"Which also comes back to money, because pets are expensive."

[everyonetakes]

"Yeah, but I can't have a dog in the apartment," Kate pointed out. "A kitten is the next best thing, right?" She didn't actually know, given that she'd never owned one. Chang was a pain in the ass, but at least on the island everything was free and he'd mostly been trained when Jeff had disappeared.