[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/qFC355N.png?2[/img][/center][hr][hr][right][sub][color=1a7b30][b]Location:[/b] A Record Store @ The Ruined City[/color]     [color=A9A9A9]//[/color]     [color=007236][b]Date:[/b] February 23, 2057[/color]     [color=A9A9A9]//[/color]     [color=00746b][b]Time:[/b] 16:48[/color]     [color=A9A9A9]//[/color]     [color=0076a3][b]Interactions:[/b] collab with [@Exit], [@Medili], and [@FunnyGuy][/color][/sub][/right][hr][hr]

Lys cracked a lopsided smile as she rolled up to Akaia’s find. [color=7FFFD4][b]“Well, wouldja lookie here: it’s a radio, complete with…”[/b][/color] She paused, furrowing her brow. [color=7FFFD4][b]“Ooh, it’s an old one.”[/b][/color] She tucked some hair behind an ear, body language halfway between exhausted from her recent narrow escape and excited.

Erik grinned widely beneath his mask as Akaia unveiled her discovery. He crouched down to get a better look. [color=gold][b]“Now this is a find!”[/b][/color] He gave Akaia two thumbs up and stood to allow Lys to fiddle with the radio.

She bent over and played around with a few things. [color=7FFFD4][b]“Heh, that’s a record player on top. It was considered ‘classic’ even before the collapse. I… know someone who used to have one.”[/b][/color] 

[color=DE3163][b]“Oh my. A record player,"[/b][/color] Cerise remarked, [color=DE3163][b]"huh… Sure brings back some feelings of nostalgia, doesn’t it?”[/b][/color] She giggled briefly and Lysandra flashed a quick smile back, but she had become engrossed with the machine, mind evidently swirling with possibilities as it was wont to do. Perhaps her inner child couldn't help itself. After a few moments, however, she blinked and straightened, half-twisting to look at Akaia. [color=7FFFD4][b]“It’s absolutely lovely. Looks like it somehow escaped any really serious water damage too.”[/b][/color] She glanced at the others - [color=7FFFD4][b]“Been a while since we’ve had a good radio…”[/b][/color] - and turned on the spot, eyes roving curiously across the room. [color=7FFFD4][b]“Think we can spare literally two minutes to poke around?”[/b][/color] She addressed Erik and, as she spoke, of course, she was already reaching into a pouch on her backpack. ‘No’ clearly wasn’t going to be an acceptable answer, but it was clear by his body language that he also couldn't wait to work on it. [color=gold][b]“Two minutes?"[/b][/color] he laughed, [color=gold][b]I was thinking [i]five![/i]”[/b][/color]

Lys tossed a pair of flashlights onto her lap and flicked one on, settling it between her knees. [color=7FFFD4][b]“We’re in a music store,”[/b][/color] she said matter-of-factly, [color=7FFFD4][b]“which is a mecca for things like this. You’re going to look for big black discs -”[/b][/color] she gestured out the approximate size with her hands [color=7FFFD4][b]“- and little rectangular things with two holes in them, for the cassette player. They might be in packaging, so open things up.”[/b][/color] While she spoke, Erik proceeded to look around but only in his immediate surroundings to start - almost as if he already knew what he was searching for. Lys bit her lower lip for a second, probably not keen on being out later, but too tempted to be prudent. [color=7FFFD4][b]“If you need a flashlight, by the way, I have an extra.”[/b][/color] Her eyes darted about. [color=7FFFD4][b]“I know we’re on the clock, so maybe we can divide and conquer? I’m gonna look for something else: been trying to find a new mic for the karaoke machine and I’d rather not have to make one from scratch.”[/b][/color]

Erik glanced her way momentarily, and then at Cerise. [color=gold][b]“You can take the flashlight if you want, Cerise, and you know, I'm [i]still[/i] wondering what happened to that thing.”[/b][/color] He added at Lys' mention of finding a new mic for the karaoke machine.

[color=7FFFD4][b]“Truly one of the Commune’s great mysteries,”[/b][/color] she sighed.

[color=DE3163][b]“Oh sure, big bro!”[/b][/color] Cerise managed to get a word in and she took the flashlight. Lysandra knew that she actually already had one herself, but the group's scout was never one to say no... to anything.[color=DE3163][b]“Anyways, just look for records and cassettes, right?"[/b][/color] Lys nodded by way of reply. [color=DE3163][b]Got it~”[/b][/color] Cerise proceeded to do just that, turning on the flashlight while looking around the store for those items. It wasn't a particularly difficult task, considering that they were in a music store, even if it was a long-abandoned one.

Lys, meanwhile, made an immediate beeline for a door near the back behind the counter area. That was where all the goodies were in stores like this: usually in boxes. Of course, ‘beeline’ was a ferociously relative term at that moment. After wheeling at full tilt away from that Tsar Bomba, her arms felt little more useful than her stupid legs. Of course, that [i]too [/i]was relative. 

As the others were searching, Akaia gingerly picked up the player and placed it in an empty space on the counter. She turned to stand next to it and looked over the first batch of items Cerise had found. Nothing in particular stood out to her as the splash of colors and words seemed to coalesce into an unintelligible thing.

Naturally, the door that Lys was trying to open was locked. Naturally, Lysandra Tran, once Fresh Haven’s best scrounger, had a solution for that. She reached into her bag, fished a set of thin strange–looking metal hooks free, and jerried the lock open with one. Inside was a treasure trove: dusty old boxes just positively filled with audio junk. Grateful for Erik’s enthusiastic “five minutes”, she eagerly set to work and, before long, her lap was laden with dozens of items. Then, she hit pay dirt. [color=7FFFD4][b]“Found it!”[/b][/color] she called, at full stretch to fumble down a box with an image of a microphone on it. It half-fell into her arms and she grinned like a Cheshire cat. Lys came rolling out of the back room, quite pleased with herself. [color=7FFFD4][b]“It’s karaoke time!”[/b][/color] she chirped, pulling up beside Akaia just on time for Cerise to arrive and show off the smorgasbord of audio delights she’d found.

[color=DE3163][b]“Well, I’ve managed to scrounge some up." Go ahead and check these out, Lys!”[/b][/color] 

Lysandra grinned broadly. [color=7FFFD4][b]“You're the best, Cherry."[/b][/color] She took a few seconds to sift through them before realizing that there were far too many. She straightened. [color=7FFFD4][b]"Promise I'll do it, homey, but on our way back. This is [i]such[/i] a haul!”[/b][/color] She bobbed up and down and sways from side to side a bit, smiling and snapping her fingers. [color=7FFFD4][b]“I can feel the music already! Ugh, this place is great. We need to come back if we can. There’s a lot more here. Speaking of which…”[/b][/color] she twists to look for Erik. [color=7FFFD4][b]“What’d you find, gramps? Got us some good dadrock?”[/b][/color]

Erik's head popped up like a prairie dog from the furthest aisle. [color=gold][b]“I wish! I didn't really find anything on this end.”[/b][/color] Beside him but unseen by the others were the remnants of a revenant ash pile. [color=gold][b]“I grabbed a few tucked away vinyls around, but I'm kind of afraid to take them out of their jackets. Might need a more delicate hand.”[/b][/color] He took a quick reflexive glance back at the aisle as he walked up carrying four white vinyl jackets in one hand and a miniature orb shaped barrier in the other. The faint light coming off the orb was a makeshift torchlight.

Cerise looked very much pumped up at the prospect of having a little karaoke party back in the Crows’ Nest. [color=DE3163][b]“Hehe, karaoke huh? I can’t wait for it! It’ll be just the perfect thing to lift everyone’s spirit after what we just went through.”[/b][/color] She clapped her hands a few times, looking giddy. [color=DE3163][b]“Who knows, maybe one or more of our newer friends are actually really good at singing, and then we’ll have a singer that can accompany me playing the piano in the Great Room~”[/b][/color]

[color=7FFFD4][b]“Ahem,”[/b][/color] says Lys, [color=7FFFD4][b]“Are you saying I’m not talented?”[/b][/color] She posts her hands on her hips for a moment, but then removes them and takes everyone in. [color=7FFFD4][b]“But seriously: they say all’s well that ends well, whoever the proverbial ‘they’ are. Doesn’t mean that wasn’t hell, though. I think we could all use a wind-down.”[/b][/color]

Akaia nodded at Lysandra in agreement and it was, without doubt, the most unarguable shared sentiment of the day.
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