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Roch sat outside the undead dorm, lounging on the nearest bench, his guitar in its four string bass form. He was waiting for Sammy, who was going to try out to be his bass player, even though she'd never played a bass before. It was going to be interesting, that was for sure. But he needed a bass player, otherwise he wouldn't have a full band, and he'd lose his gig.

He seriously didn't want to be out on the streets playing through the colder part of the year. He'd had enough of cold for a lifetime, or at least long periods of time in the cold, his fingers freezing as his guitar strings bit into his cracking fingertips--

He made a face, but kept playing. He paused, wondering if he could even teach her a six string bass... he'd grown up playing four string... Well, he'd deal with that when he got to it.

Roch stopped, accepting the handshake easily before looking down at his four string version of Desiree. "This is a four string bass," he told her. "Er, well, she is right now," he added. "There's six string bass, too, but I've always played four string. You okay with learning four string?" he asked her as he stood. "I'm more confident showing you that, but it might be a little harder to find one."

"Oh, and yeah, this IS the first time we've met, huh?" he added belatedly. "Nice to meet a fellow guitarist," he said simply. "You up to goin' to the pawn shop? I know this one in the maul that might have something."

Man he hoped this worked out. But she DID look like she'd be comfortable-- "You ever been in an underground casino?"

"They do when Monica's dancing," he admitted. "But not most of the time. Mostly it's just smoky and kinda dim lit. There's a stage and all these tables for poker and other games out in front of it. Then there's a room in the back where the old geezer does his shady business," he added as he started for the front gate.

He didn't mention the Tess thing, he didn't even know the ghoul other than quick comments on groanspring. "I wish I hadn't missed the battle of the bands, though," he complained. "I still say we should have it again. It sounds like a jackin' blast."

"Ghoulfriend?" Roch repeated, taking in the fact that his future bassist was a lesbian... well... Nahm swung both ways. Rikki dated Danny, which made his tastes questionable as well--and him? "She cute?" he finally asked.

"But--more importantly, is she tough enough to go through a bar fight? Cuz otherwise you might want to leave her back at the school. This place can get a bit nasty. I mean, hell, I've got a ton of real close friends I wouldn't want at the place."

"Or we can do a show here once in a while," he said. "Just for friends and closer, or something," he said with a shrug. "This place, ah, well, my Granddad owns it," he admitted. "He might not want too many minors in the place, I don't know, we'd have to ask. But how long have you been playin' guitar?" he asked. "Is it self taught or did someone teach you?"

"I ain't," Roch admitted. "I'm only sixteen." That didn't seem to phase him, though. The maul loomed ahead of them, waiting to be explored, and he grinned slightly. "But that means you've got natural talent, right? So teachin' you bass shouldn't be too hard."

"Yeah," Roch said, looking up at the maul. "Wonder if they've even put stuff back together yet," he added as he headed inside. There were signs of the fighting left behind, which people seemed to be working on cleaning up.

"You wish you'da been here instead of in the snowglobe?" he asked curiously. "I bet they didn't have all that jackin' snow..." He headed around the messes for the pawn shop, taking his time to eye all the changes that had been made along the way.

Roch thought about it. "Snow, lost a good friend of mine for a bit, watched a few pals get eaten by a gigantic gift box, terrorized by a gigantic Teddy Scare, found my friend, got kicked in the balls, and learned to fly," he summed up thoughtfully.

"Definitely some SERIOUSLY sucky moments in there," he told her. "I mean, I ain't ever gonna look at a teddy scare the same way again--much less a cracker of nuts." Would he rather have been here, though? "But... I don't think I had a choice, regardless," he said abruptly. "I mean, I was going to do the music for that jackdamn play even if it killed me--and it almost did a few times."