:)

[molly--mouse]

Yes! Then what are we waiting for?

[darlingjohnny-blog]

That’s the spirit! 

Where are we going to get burritos? Lead the way, stranger!

[molly--mouse]

“The cafeteria food is just making me sad. You know what I could really go for? A burrito.”

[darlingjohnny-blog]

A burrito would be incredible.

[echoofthewaves]

“That’s exactly what I’m saying! I just think the whole system’s fucked. You’re gonna force kids into a room and shovel information down their throats about shit they won’t care to remember after some exam that’s supposed to measure your worth as a person. It’s dumb,” She said, shaking her head slightly as her shoulders raised. Shelby was passionate about few things, but her dislike for traditional education was one of the top ones. “I mean, that’s fine. I personally don’t get that, but hey. To each his own, right?” She asked. Shelby laughed at Johnny’s explanation for being here and wide grin on her face. “Really?” She asked with a giggle. “I’m pretty sure the room full of pianos is why my dad put me here, too. The program’s a lot better, or at least that’s what they’re telling me,” She chuckled. “Y’know, if you ever actually wanted to learn piano, or pretty much anything else, I could teach you,” She offered. “And a lot better than that guy,” She added with a nod back toward the direction of their classroom.

[darlingjohnny-blog]

Johnny nodded, agreeing with the girl and enjoying her candid passion. He’d never really liked school; there was too much structure. “You could? That’d be awesome. What do you charge? I don’t have piles of cash, but I’ve got loads of jammy dodgers. Or,” he gave a devious little grin. “I could spray paint your mug on the music room wall. It’s all a bit colorless in the classrooms that need the most color, don’t you think?” Johnny chattered on. “The adult world is so bland and gray anyway, why not brighten things up for the kids growing up around it?” He asked, already deciding to graffiti the place up regardless of lessons.

[echoofthewaves]

“What’s the real tragedy isn’t that they’re bad–because I’ve seen a hell of a lot worse. It’s that they play like they don’t care. That just–” Shelby sighed to cut herself off. Surely this guy wasn’t going to care about some long winded speech about how music is meant to have passion, otherwise it wasn’t really anything. No one ever really cared for that speech save for her father, but that was only because he raised her that way. “Well,” Shelby began a speech she was tired of giving, since she’d already given it to the headmaster at every truancy meeting she’d been to (Which, admittedly, she skipped a lot). “I don’t really know. They keep saying that if I want to take a music track then I have to take the introductory course because it’s what’s fair. But what’s not fair is putting me in a class where I’m playing things I learned how to do when I was three years old. Like, c’mon,” She complained. “And I’m not so sure it’s fair to the kids who actually need introductory lessons that I’m in there making this stuff look easy. Because it is easy, for me. Always has been,” She shrugged. “But it’s alright. I don’t really have to show up ever beyond the performance days. I can play anything else I want in my own time,” And boy did she. It was about the only thing she cared about in her life. “What are you into?” She asked. “You a music guy, too?”

[darlingjohnny-blog]

“Yeah, I get that,” Johnny replied, nodding along like one of those nodding dogs people stick in their cars. “If you’re not gonna put your whole soul into something, why do it at all?” He asked, kicking a rock off of the path. The boy just smiled at her question, and shrugged his shoulders. “Dunno. I like it alright; I enjoy the piano, but that’s really the extent of my knowledge on music. Everything else just…I don’t know, doesn’t interest me. I know that other instruments are good too, don’t get me wrong, I just have no interest in learning them.” He shrugged again. “Ironic thing is, I used to be forced to go to piano lessons, and I hated it. My parents said it would be good for me to learn an instrument, but I rather liked the idea of having four of my five school day afternoons free. But now I love it. In fact, it’s one of the reasons I decided it wouldn’t be bad to come to school; a room full of pianos, how could I say no?” There were loads of other reasons as well; huge cafeteria, vast art rooms, and tons of new people to meet.`

[echoofthewaves]

“Thank you,” Shelby smiled softly at him. She had wanted to be more modest about her musical ability, but it was hard to when it was about the only thing she was praised for growing up. It was one of the only things she knew she was good at. One of the only things she enjoyed. “Johnny,” Shelby repeated with a nod. “It’s nice to meet you. I’m sure you’re doing a great job in here,” She said, a half-lie. Or maybe it wasn’t. Shelby, more often than not, found herself dozing off or sneaking out in between her turns at the piano. It wasn’t that she didn’t like the students, it was just that years after giving piano lessons to bratty-upper crust royals her whole life, sitting through another dead-end piano lesson (and not getting paid for it) made it hard to be motivated. When Johnny had the sense to leave, at first she was jealous. But then, right as he slipped out the door, she realized she could do the very same. So she did. Sneaking out the door as inconspicuous as a dust bunny. “I can only take so much,” She said with an innocent shrug as she caught up to Johnny. “And I could go for a smoke break anyway.”

[darlingjohnny-blog]

Johnny grinned as the girl came out alongside him, happy for the continued company. “Yeah, I mean, good on them for learning, but maybe I’ll come back to class in a couple weeks when they’ve caught up a bit,” he shrugged, knowing it sounded rude, but also believing that she understood what he meant. When she mentioned a smoke, Johnny just nodded along. He never smoked, but he never minded it much. “So what are you doing stuck in this class anyway? All other slots filled in before you could sign up as well?” He asked, shoving his hands in his pockets and traipsing along the path, skipping over the cracks absentmindedly.

[echoofthewaves]

When Shelby heard loud clapping at the completion of her piece, she startled slightly, certainly not expecting it. Shooting a cocky look to their instructor, Shelby rose from the piano bench and strutted off to her desk, ready to be annoyed by whatever bullshit assignment they’d be given next. After finally sitting down, she turned to the boy sat next to her and offered him a smile. “Thanks for the enthusiasm,” She said with a chuckle. “I think you woke about half the class up,” She teased. “I’m Shelby–by the way. I don’t think I’ve introduced myself.”

[darlingjohnny-blog]

“Oh, not at all! You’re brilliant!” Johnny enthused, wanting to clap more, but resisted. “Shelby! It’s an honor to make your acquaintance! I’m Johnny; absolutely humbled to be in the same music class as you,” he grinned, glancing over at the new student to take up the reins at the piano. He held his breath and puffed out in despair as another choppy rendition of Chopsticks started to be pounded out of the piano. “Not that I couldn’t listen to this all day,” he started in a lower voice. “But I’m gonna get out of here and put some use into that new soft serve machine in the cafeteria.” He told her, shoving his book into his bag and standing. “Nice meeting you,” Johnny grinned, and slipped around the back of the chairs, hoping she’d follow, but feeling that it would be too forward to invite her officially to join him.

[glitchedoutblog]

“That would be so much more useful to me. I can’t just rule a country with the ways and news of the past.”

[darlingjohnny-blog]

“That’s right! We must also move forward!”

[darlingjohnny-blog]

Shelby found, more often than not, that she was looking for excuses to skip every class. Every class save for her music class, that is. Sure, she was above the level she was in, but it was a requirement to get to where she really wanted to be–composition. It was a basic piano class, where they were learning things that prodigy Shelby had learned before she was fully literate. When her turn to present came, she gave a contented sigh and sat in front of the piano and played, her usually cynical look turning much softer as her fingers moved easily along the keys.

Johnny sat in the back of the music room, quietly thrumming his fingers on top of his desk. The margins of his notes were all scribbled out with music notes cannibalizing each other, and he had nowhere else to fill with drawings. He had just finished up a nice rendition of Heart and Soul, and wasn’t really paying attention to new students’ versions of Chopsticks and the like. He had learned to play piano as a young boy; another way to get him out of the house four days a week for an hour. He didn’t really need to be in a beginner’s class, but it was one of the few courses still open by the time he’d gotten around to choosing extracurricular. His ears perked up as a redhead took the spotlight and began playing a hauntingly beautiful tune. He couldn’t help but lean forward in his seat, resting his chin in his hands, smiling like a fool as he listened. Johnny clapped enthusiastically when her song finished, and waited for her to return to her seat in the desk beside his.

[glitchedoutblog]

“Exactly how many more history classes am I expected to take before they realize I already know these things?”

[darlingjohnny-blog]

“I know! They should have current affairs classes, where they discuss popular news, and things that are happening now. Do they have those, actually? I’d like to sign up for those ones, I think.”

[darlingjohnny-blog]

☀️ - Peter

johnny & peter:

peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in front of doctor whoreruns; muddy feet and catching frogs in their youth; the treehouse in the backyard; night and day; fights about growing up and fairytales; peter going off ona run and johnny lounging on the sofa, unable to grasp the idea of running whennothing is chasing; fighting over the tv remote; peter trying to read quietlyand johnny bouncing his leg up and down, fingers clasped together, before hefinally explodes and asks what they’re going to do that day; johnny working ona christmas list three pages long and peter just tuts; splattered paint andcoloring inside the lines; a quiet understanding that they’re opposites butthat it is okay; peter keeping johnny grounded, and johnny not letting petersink; family.

send me a ☼ for an aesthetic for our characters.

[flower--princess]

What’s a laptop?

[darlingjohnny-blog]

You don’t know what a laptop is?

[flower--princess]

Hello what?

[darlingjohnny-blog]

Do you have a laptop I can use?

[darlingjohnny-blog]

jenna-alwaysabeliever-daring

Peter just stopped believing in dad’s stories.  I just wish I could get him to believe again.

“Of all the things to stop believing in, and he chooses that? Where there are witnesses to the adventures? That is just silly. Your brother is silly, Jenna. We’ll get him to believe again, just you wait.”

“But for now, we should really focus on the whole moon thing if we want to get it done while the moon is still full. That leaves us just ten days to prepare the ship.”

[darlingjohnny-blog]

jenna-alwaysabeliever-daring:

Even make people believe again.

“Especially make people believe again.”

“Wait, who stopped believing? What did they stop believing in?”

[darlingjohnny-blog]

jenna-alwaysabeliever-daring:

Of course.  Do you really think we can get all the way to the moon.

“Oh, Jenna, Jenna, Jenna. We can do anything.”

[darlingjohnny-blog]

jenna-alwaysabeliever-daring:

Jenna grabs her laptop and hands it to Johnny.  “Why do you want to know the distance to the moon?”

“Because you and I are going to the moon in my rocket ship. You always wanted to see the stars up close, right?”

[darlingjohnny-blog]

thatmitchdaviskid:

“That’s…it’s about 240,000 miles, according to this. You’d need, like, a lot of fuel for that. Unless you’re one of those with some kind of weird inventor streak or something. Why would you want to go to the moon anyway?”

“Well, why not? I might as well invent something that holds more fuel. Something bigger on the inside. What do you mean why do I want to go to the moon?

Who doesn’t want to go to the moon??”