Barry's Old Warehouse, Warehouse District, Monday Afternoon

[spin_kick_snap]

There were some days when you just had to get away, when the house just felt small and confining and more than a little bit suffocating. That feeling had chased Kathy all morning until she'd finally grabbed her guitar and a book or two and left. As soon as the door closed behind her, she'd breathed a bit easier, some of the tension leaving her jaw and shoulders. A walk through town helped relax her even more, her mood light enough after grabbing lunch at Luke's to see her whistling as she meandered around.

She still didn't want to head home, so instead she wandered over to Barry's old warehouse, settling in with her books and her guitar, idly reading and playing as the mood took her. Nothing like a few hours of quiet time in an old warehouse to make someone miss the comforts of home, right?

Comments

[rebelseekspizza]

And here Dante was, with a whole stack of Korean guitar books, and no Kathy anywhere in the house.

He frowned, pulling out his mobile phone. where u at?

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy'd been working on getting the tricky fingering for Dust on the Wind for about fifteen minutes, so the excuse to answer the phone was a welcome one.

barry's y?

[rebelseekspizza]

cmn over

Which was all Dante was gonna text before he left. She didn't tend to go to Barry's without a reason.

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy almost thought about texting him a suggestion to meet somewhere else, like the park or the Perk or something, but couldn't come up with a good enough reason why, either for herself or to offer him.

In the end, she just sent back k and went back fighting with the song. She was going to get this, dammit.

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante sighed. He snagged the books off the table where he'd left them and walked out the house.

Kept walking until he got to the warehouse door for a knock.

[spin_kick_snap]

Rather than shouting 'Come in' like she normally would, Kathy got up and opened it by hand.

"Hey," she said, belatedly stepping backwards so he could come inside. "What's up? You need something?"

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante had a package in his arms, but when the door opened, he just raised his eyebrows.

"You okay?" he asked.

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy shrugged. "Just practicing the guitar," she said, giving the package in his arms a curious glance. "C'mon in if you wanna. You hungry? I can make the food replicator make you a pizza again."

[rebelseekspizza]

"I could do pizza," Dante said, and followed up on her invitation by stepping inside and closing the door behind him. "Got a present for you."

[spin_kick_snap]

"I figured out how to get a Meat Lovers a little while--huh?" Kathy stopped walking and turned back to Dante again. "A present?"

[rebelseekspizza]

"Talked to Starsmore about making sure you don't turn into a country singer or something," Dante said, his mouth curving.

He held out the package for her.

[spin_kick_snap]

Dammit, Dante was being thoughtful and considerate again. Her heart lurched painfully in her chest as she reached to take the package from him, unable to not return his smile.

"Hey now," she said, voice surprisingly steady, "it's Southern rock."

And then she opened said package and gasped. Hangul and English letters graced the covers next to familiar faces. TARA. Crying Nut. YB. TRAX.

"Cherry Filter?" Kathy sputtered, reaching for the second book in the stack. "Is this a whole book of Cherry Filter songs? Did you hear about them from when Youjeen worked with Franz Stahl or something?"

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante just sort of... shrugged. "Talked to Starsmore about you," he said. "We went looking for like, Korean music crap after that."

See? No big deal.

... but he was happy to hear her sputter.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Dante..." Kathy looked up at him, hugging the box to her chest, hair spilling over her shoulder as she smiled at him. "You didn't...I--Thanks. Thanks for this. It means a lot."

She chuckled. "Mostly means you get to hear me warbling in Korean for awhile, but at least it's not country, right?"

[rebelseekspizza]

"We'll move you to Babymetal after," Dante promised, smile still on his face. "Baby steps.

[spin_kick_snap]

"I think you wouldn't hate Cherry Filter," Kathy said, bringing the books over to the couch to page through them. She'd completely forgotten about the pizza, sorry Dante. "Their more punk stuff, not, like, Romantic Cat or whatever."

One of the books had her immediately reaching for her guitar. "Davichi!" she squealed. "I love that group."

Of course she did.

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante shook his head as he followed her, settling down on the couch. "I don't know... any of them."

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy chucked, nudging him with her shoulder. "I didn't expect you to. Davichi's not your type at all. More soulful ballads and pop songs. Cherry Filter sings ballads, but also a lot more punk, rave, and trance stuff. Crying Nut is also punk--probably the band that influenced K-punk the most. The RockTigers call themselves 'kimchibilly' music--Korean rockabilly."

She pulled out one book and handed it over to him. "This is all K-metal, I think. At least, it features music by Asiana, Tokkaebi, and Holymarsh. I don't know Seed, Crash, or Gostwind, but that's my guess."

Careful, Dante. Kathy would happily chatter your ear off about Korean music.

[rebelseekspizza]

"I put that one in because I liked the cover," Dante admitted, taking the last one in hand. "Seemed like the right direction."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Way to prove every aphorism about judging a book by their cover wrong," Kathy said, amused, flipping through the last few, just to see what they contained. "You and Mr. Starsmore didn't have to do this," she said again. "But I'm really glad you did. It's...this is really thoughtful, Dante. Thank you."

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante gave it another shrug. "Just figured you'd like it," he said. "Don't have to treat it like a big deal."

[spin_kick_snap]

Honestly, she was trying. It would be so much easier if she could just wave it off as a trifle.

"If you say so," she replied, since arguing with him about why she felt so appreciative was stupid. Besides, the less thoughtful she considered the gesture, the better, right? "Any interest in looking through them?"

[rebelseekspizza]

"Happy to be your backing band sometime," Dante said. "Didn't bring a guitar, though."

[spin_kick_snap]

"A lot of these are gonna sound better on the electric guitar than my acoustic," she mused, flipping through another one of the books. "Don't think I don't see your ultimate goal here."

[rebelseekspizza]

"Not like I ever tried to hide it, Kat," Dante said, grinning at her.