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There are usually crowds of people in Times Square, an easier place to get lost in the crowd, compared to other. Alison Blaire, who had recently had her successful debut as Dazzler, in Cafe Wha? had actually taken to setup along the wall of one of the building in the area, beneath big neon signs advertising this and that. Her guitar case is open to allow for tips, and she's strumming away on the strings, anyone who listens can recognize the song, the Beatles' latest hit, "She Loves You". She's not singing, just playing.
She's dress rather casually, a v-neck pink blouse, yellow unbuttoned jacket over it, black capri pants and flats. Anyone who may have been at the show at the Eight Ball that got busted by the police, may recognize she's wearing the catseye sunglasses that belonged to the bassist on that night.
*
Jubilee is one of the many people in Times Square. having just gotten a nice new trenchcoat to replace the one she 'donated' to a good cause, she's… well, not wearing it because it's a sweltering August in New York City. Walking down the street, she idlyslows down when coming across a musician.
*
Casual is not a way to describe how Amadeus Cho dresses. The black pinstripe suit looks a touch ostentatious on a man his age. Nonetheless, he's making his way down the street with a confident step. He pays attention to the datastreams around him; an infinite barrage of complex quantum calculations, choosing just the right moments to step and move to more quickly and efficiently get through the crowd and taking every opportunity to duck or dodge through.
The sounds of guitar and singing enter into that stream of data as well. Changing directions, he starts making his way towards the girl as she plays and stops in front of her case. "Hey. Nice playing." The compliment is paid and a nickel is tossed into the empty case. As he digs around in his pockets, though, the grey fuzzball head of a puppy pokes out from under the cover of his jacket to look around, little tongue poked just a bit out of his mouth.
*
Alison is focused on her music, her head moving along to the sound of her guitar while her body sways with the melody. There's a far more relaxed atmosphere playing at street side where only thos who care stop and listen, compared to a big stage before a crowd, where a pressure of not failing and disappointing looms over. Lost in her own music, she doesn't notice when Jbilee approaches, but as Amadeus actually speaks to her, she can't help but notice him as she opens her eyes and looks up at him with a smile, "thanks," she says as she continues playing while offering, "if you know the words, you can do the vocals…it's a great song." When a puppy seem to poke out of the pocket of Amadeus' jacket, Alison blinks. She tries to remember if she took some lsd today, because that was a first. "Is that a dog?"
*
Jubilee stops and stretches a bit. "Beatles huh?" she asks with a laugh of the person playing. She doens't get in the way, but stops to listen. "Very nice, very nice. Something pleaseant in the city with all the trouble going on," she smiles with a little clap when a break in the music comes.
*
Cho is about to walk back off, not wanting to disturb the girl trying to make her living here by her music. He hasn't noticed, perhaps, that there is a puppy yawning in his jacket, visible to all. When Allison draws attention to him, though, he looks down at the puppy. "Oh, yeah. That's Kirby." Hearing his name, the puppy stretches up and licks the young man on his lips and nose. His face scrunches up and he pulls away from the puppy, laughing. "Sure. He's…kind of a dog." The words trail off a bit at that. He does give Kirby a scritch behind one of his ears, though. He's not in the pocket of the jacket, but seemingly just hidden away and carried underneath the breast of the jacket.
*
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Alison answers Jubilee with a grin, playing of the name of the song she is currently playing, "I got some of my own, but nobody would care for it…the Beatles, everybody loves them. I figure you can't have bad things happen if anyone is playing the Beatles, right?" When Cho doesn't take her offer to sing along, she turns the offer towards Jubilee, "you know the words? You can do the vocals…if you want to, it's fun!"
Alison then looks back at Cho and Kirby, asking curiously while never missing a single note on the guitar, "why…isn't he just walking on his own? Don't dogs like to be out on walks?"
*
There's a small smile from Cho at the mention and conversation regarding The Beatles as well. He's at least passingly familiar with the music. "I've heard the single. I've been meaning to check out what else they have out there. It's got that sort of simple, but really elegent sort of sound. It kind of reminds me of my parents in ways." Squinting a touch then, he gives Kirby another scritch and then smiles a little. "As for Kirby, I give him walks. Just not with so much traffic around. He's still little and I don't want him getting trampled."
*
Jubilee snickers, and shrugs. Sure, she'll try to join in. She's not on enough drugs to do that properly, so she's a little timid about it, and uncertain. But she tries singing. It's apopular song after all, and she does kind of mostly know the words. Though she's at best average at the singing.
*
"Your parents?" Alison seems confused, "the Beatles are just about the most popular thing out there, making the youth run wild, and they make you think of your parents? You must have had the grooviest parents," Alison laughs, she'd love to one day be as awesome as the Beatles, but she hasn't seen grownups being nearly as excited about them as the younger generation. She says nothing to simple though, the kind of sounds she's been experimenting with? She thinks that's actually more complex. Then again she's not one to speak badly of a fellow musician. Especially not the greatest band of all time, judging by the build up in hysteria, "She Loves You" went straight to #1 after all. "Fair enough," she quips about the dog, "you should stop by at central park though, let him stretch," she suggests, feeling sorry for the little thing.
When Jubilee takes the offer to do the lyrics, Alison beams with delight, putting more energy to her playing, singing along with Jubilee for the first part, "you think you've lost your love, well I saw her yesterdayyayyy…" she looks over towards Amadeus, wondering if he might get caught and at the very least do the 'yeah yeah yeah' part with them.
*
Maybe it does require some elaboration. Amadeus considers a moment, giving Kirby another little scritch on the head. He scrunches up his nose, though, and evades the question about his parents mostly. "Music is all based on mathematics. Every sound has it's own set of data received through the ear and then made sense of by the brain. The Beatles sound has a certain glue that holds it all together. Something honest, I guess?" His brows raise a touch, trying to gauge whether or not Jubilee and Alison get his meaning. Then the singing starts to take place and he laughs a bit. He'd been coming in from the direction of Central Park, though, so it's likely he's on his way /back/ from a walk.
"I'm not that cruel," Cho says with a grin and shakes his head a little bit. "You /really/ don't wanna' hear me sing, but I'll enjoy you two singing."
*
Jubilee pauses in a break to smile weakly. "Parents… I don't even know what my parents would have thought about the Beatles. Probably never would have heard of them. But I guess everyone's parents are different." She tries singing a bit more and then lets out a laugh. She doesn't have a ton of money but she does pull out two quarters to give to Alison. "Good luck…"
*
Jubilee has left.
*
Alison nods at Cho, though she keeps with the song until she and Jubilee finish the number and she takes a break, grinning as Jubilee's parents sounds more familiar to her, "exactly, but hey, maybe your parents are fab. I'm Alison by the way," she offers to Amadeus and the departing Jubilee, "see you, thanks for singing along."
*
The look on his face might let her know that he really doesn't want to talk about his parents. He's evasive and his eyes look away briefly. When she introduces herself, he does extend his hand as well. "Amadeus Cho," he answers her with a smile. "Sorry for /not/ singing. I'm just afraid people will come back and demand refunds."
*
"Amadeus? Like Mozart?" Alison seems rather impressed at the unique name, "I have to admit, Amadeus is the last name I imagined when I saw you." She laughs at the apology, and doesn't press the parents issue, she knows what a horror story parents can be. "It's okay, I had the nice Chinese girl sing along. Must be a good omen, my meeting two Asians just like that…where are you from, if you don't mind me asking?"
*
"My folks had a thing for historical names," Amadeus says with a soft laugh and he gives Kirby another quick scritch behind his ear. "I had a sister, Madame Curie." No, he's not joking. Not even a bit. Clearing his throat then, he lifts one hand to wave a bit. "I can understand that, though. Mozart always looked a bit dour, but he was a genius." At the question about where he's from, he looks to her and smiles. "Tuscon. You're from the city here, I take it?"
*
"Historical name, huh?" Alison starts strumming her guitar again, playing an improvisational melody. "I don't know, never got to meet Mozart, can't say how he was. Yeah, I'm from around…more the Long Island area, but close enough."
*
"Incidentally, I did take piano lessons once," Amadeus tells her with a smile. "I'm pretty decent at it. Unfortunately, I can't really just pull a piano out here and play for tips. You wouldn't happen to know anyone who's hiring, would you?" There's an inquisitive look on his face at that. He's well aware that his winnings are getting closer and closer to exhausted at this point. "So how is /your/ debut going? I heard rumblings about you in the West Village, but I haven't heard /your/ stuff yet."
*
"Oh? You play classical? Or also current stuff?" Alison asks curiously mid-way through her riffing about, "true, piano isn't really good for busking." For now she's not quite sure of an offer she could mention, she's too busy building up herself, though maybe if she got to hear him play and he could rock on, she would consider adding keyboards to her act. Even if on a guest basis when a song needed such work. "How about you get me your phone number, and I'll let you know if something comes up." She does look surprised when he asks about her debut, "wait…you heard about me?" She did introduce herself as Alison rather than Dazzler, so she has to wonder if he actually recognizes her, or it's just dumb luck.
*
"I suppose I could do both," Cho replies to her after a briefly thoughtful look. Kirby gives a high-pitched yip because he isn't quite getting enough attention. Oddly, he doesn't look like any dog most people have every seen. He's currently trying to wriggle free from the jacket. "I think it's getting close to playtime again," he comments offhand before turning his attention once more to Alison. "Umm…would you believe process of elimination? Either I can calculate an infinite number of quantum possibilities in nanoseconds or I'm psychic." Laughing then, he shifts his position and adjusts the puppy he's carrying around. "I…don't really have a phone number. Or a home, honestly. Kinda' looking for a job now while I stay at a hotel."
*
"Okay then…," Alison takes note of Cho's supposed styles, she'll still need to hear him of course, but obviously that's not going to happen at the moment. Stopping to play when Kirby demands attention, Alison grins, "I think you should take the little guy to the park, it's only fair." She arches a brow as he gives two not very likely explanation, but does seem to accept it, "cool, well, my debut went fantastic. So I'm hoping it keeps going well, thank you…do you have your keyboard instrument in your hotel with you?"
*
Cho presses his lips together and looks down at the puppy. "Alright. You /have/ to stay close, Kerberos," he tells the coyote pup before taking him from his jacket gingerly. He sets the puppy down on the street then and ruffles him on the head. Kirby doesn't seem inclined to go anywhere but to Alison for the moment, being the loveable little thing that he is. He jumps up and starts scratching at her leg painlessly with his tiny feet.
Amadeus smiles to Alison before letting out a brief laugh. "Someone's a fan," he intones before looking back up to her face. "I don't really own anything," he tells her. "Not a whole lot, anyways. Tell you what." He reaches out for the guitar in a silent request. "Bet I can figure it out in less than two minutes."
*
Alison flashes a smile when Amadeus lets Kirby down on the ground, and she bends down to pet him on the head if he'd let her, making sure to keep the guitar out of Kirby's reach. "He's adorable."
Alison isn't as welcoming when it comes to her guitar, keeping it from Amadeus as she explains, "you do realize there's nothing more important in my life right now…? I don't know you well enough to let you take a hold of my baby." She actually sounds like a protective mother while talking about her guitar.
*
Amadeus doesn't press the issue regarding the guitar, finding it perhaps a much better idea to cease pursuing that path altogether. "I completely understand. It's like your 'Lucille'." With a smile then, he looks down to where the puppy is still pawing at her leg, only halting to stand there and stare up at her, giving a high-pitched yip.
He smiles then, looking down to Kirby. "I rescued him when I was in New Mexico," Cho tells her with another quick nod of his head. "It's more of a two-way street than that, but…he's my best friend."
*
Alison seems quite happy that she doesn't need to repeat how important the guitar is to her, and more so that Amadeus didn't get insulted unnecessarily. "Good, and he seems like a lovable little guy." She bends over to pet Kirby some more, before eyeing the money she made, "you did a good thing saving him."
Reaching over to collect her meager earning for this session, she looks up at Amadeus, "can you keep a hold of him for a moment, just wrapping up here," she waits for Kirby to be held so he won't reach for her guitar when she places it in its case with holy reverence, "you can let go," she says once she has the guitar secured and slips it over her shoulder. "I'd love to talk more, but I have to go to a meeting in Greenwich and I don't want to be late. Good luck making it in this city, Amadeus, I'll call you at your hotel if I hear of something."
*