genessia | Earning a dollar having some fun

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Earning a dollar having some fun

"Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts - Haunted Graveyard Orchestra" (Watch on YouTube)

Beetlejuice was standing on a street corner, playing the violin. He wasn't playing badly. It's just the music, despite being upbeat, had a haunted, eerie quality to it. Not to mention, there seemed to be other instruments playing, despite Beetlejuice being by himself. His violin case was open nearby, ready to receive whatever small tokens of appreciation people wanted to give.

Of course, knowing Beetlejuice, music might not be the only thing on his agenda.

ooc: Let me know, if you want Beetlejuice to mess with your character magically! :D He's open to fun and games. Also, feel free to just chat with him. He can multi-task!

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Cherise was enjoying the spring weather. She needed nothing more than a light jacket to wear over her silk blouse, and the sunshine felt good on her face. No warming charms were required to chase off the chill, and for once in a rare while, she felt normal. No criminals to chase, no grisly murders to investigate. She could shop for groceries, read in the park...perhaps she'd even indulge in a pedicure this weekend.

The faint melody hovering in the air piqued her curiosity. She was too far away to see the violinist, and it was a little out of her way to move to that street to leave a tip.

But it wasn't as if she had anything better to do, and the weather was pleasant, so her mood was good enough to spare a little side trip.

As Cherise rounded the corner, however, and caught sight of the wild-haired man in stripes, her smile dropped and her mood soured. This guy again!

She folded her arms, the plastic bag of groceries on her elbow rustling. "I hope you haven't traded in your enchanter's pipe for an enchanter's violin," she remarked, arching a slender brow.

While Saleh was walking around to get a lay of the land, he heard the oddly eerie music and decided to investigate. So he stopped by where Beetlejuice is playing and listened for a bit.

He noticed several odd things, the first of which was the additional instruments playing. Where were they coming from? The second was that the violinist looked something like a revenant, though far more lively than those he had encountered in Magvel.

Saleh didn't speak, instead waiting for the music to finish, or at least waiting for a pause.

[OOC: I wouldn't mind being messed with magically. Though depending on what he does, Saleh might be pushed to bring out his own magic.]

"BABES!" Betelgeuse yelled, with apparent joy, though he didn't stop playing his violin. "Long time, no see! How ya been? No, no, no enchantment this time. That last time totally wasn't my fault, know what I mean? I'm just, y'know, earning a dollar or two. Got a request? Come on, come on, I'll play whatever ya want!"

Without stopping his playing, Betelgeuse turned to the man, grinning.

"Hey, pal. How ya doing? I'm taking coin, if you can spare some. It's amazing how few people in this world want anyone scared out of their houses!"

ooc: heh heh Excellent Nothing too bad. He's feeling more mischievous than malicious.

Edited 2014-04-23 04:24 (UTC)

Congratulations, Betelgeuse, you made Cherise jump. That wasn't easy to do, and she immediately cursed herself in her head for flinching so visibly. Resisting the urge to clear her throat, she inclined her head crisply. "Well enough, I suppose. You look..." Er. "...well."

As well as a dead man could look.

At his urging, Cherise shook her head faintly. "No, I don't think so. Bit of a blues fan, myself. But here." She dropped a few coins into the open case. "Just stay out of trouble. Understood?"

Betelgeuse was used to scaring people, so he didn't actually notice her reaction, much. He just kept grinning and playing.

"Good, good, glad to hear it. Blues, huh? Hey, I can do blues! Just a sec..."

He wiggles some fingers, and the other instruments change. He begins playing Moonshadow, but it still comes across with an eerie quality to it, as if that was something Betelgeuse couldn't help and might not quite be aware of.

"Whaat? How much trouble can a person get into, playing the violin? Come on, babes, what real harm have I ever done?"

Edited 2014-04-23 06:18 (UTC)

[Saleh raises an eye at the last comment, but he reaches into his pouch and pulls out a few coins, and two bills.]

Well, why not? [He drops the money into the violin case.]

Though I can't imagine that people would have anyone in their houses to scare out...

"Just stop," Cherise practically pleaded, wincing at the creepiness of the music. Jazz was never meant to be eerie! Listening to each note was like taking a big chomp of tin foil, it set her teeth on edge. If she hadn't already dropped in some change, she'd pay him to stop.

"And don't call me babes."

Her shoulders hunched up a little higher as she frowned. She didn't have an answer for him, because she wasn't made privy to everything he did, right or wrong. He might have pulled all sorts of terrible stunts that she was unaware of. But just because she was unaware didn't mean she would invest all of her trust in him. He didn't exactly radiate good will.

"That's beside the point," she finally replied. "I'm not asking a great deal from you."

"Thank you, thank you, I'll be here...well, until I get bored, probably," Betelgeuse chortled. "Yeah, there don't be a lot of ghosts around here. Kinda weird. Still, there's always irritating people you could want scared off."

"Weird? So...there are many ghosts where you're from?"

He raises an eye. "What 'irritating people'?"

Betelgeuse lowered his arms, irritated.

"Sheesh. Did you ever actually tell me your name? Seriously, I don't see what your problem with me is. The point is you keep nagging at me about behaving and I haven't even done anything! I'm playing the violin. Where do you get off asking me anything? Do I get to make demands of you, too?"

"Well yeah. Where I'm from, when you die, you become a ghost. So, yeah, all the dead of all the ages, y'know?" Betelgeuse answered, shrugging. "How should I know? Who do you find irritating?"

"Hmm. I've only been here a short time, so I haven't met anyone in particular that I've found to be 'irritating'. However, from a general standpoint? What angers me is the people who seek to harm and disrespect others and their property without remorse, such as bandits."

So Saleh was a regular goody-two-shoes.

"At least twice, I'm sure," Cherise retorted crisply. Now she wasn't sure if that was a mistake or not. He'd better not make a nickname out of it. She stood straighter and stiffer, raising her chin primly. "And the last time you played a musical instrument, you influenced a young man to behave against his very nature. Where I come from, that's a misdemeanor. So I don't think my request is baseless, do you?"

"Yeah, well, I don't remember it," Betelgeuse retorted. "Actually, I do think, toots. I'm not from your world and don't see why I should follow it's rules. I don't even care about MY world's rules! I didn't hurt the guy and I told you the violin isn't enchanted."

Betelgeuse threw the violin into the air, where it hung unsupported and began playing itself, the same eerie, cheery song from earlier.

"I, however, am the ghost with the most and can do all sorts of magic, if that's what you'd like! Feel like dancing on a cloud?"

He floated into the air and a cloud appeared beneath him, about three feet off the ground. It was a very dark thundercloud, pouring rain and sending bolts of lightening into the grass. Betelgeuse danced on top of it, keeping a weird rhythm with the lightening. It was a strange blend of scary and funny, given Betelgeuse's lack of grace and awkward moves.

"Bandits, huh? Yeah, sure, I can see wanting to send them packing. Not my usual thing, but, hey, I'm willing to adapt."

Cherise surreptitiously took three steps back, as if she were afraid of getting wet. His displays of power didn't delight her, and only deepened her unease. He hadn't spoken a single word, and still he could conjure this kind of sorcery! Atop running water, no less!

Glowering fiercely, Cherise spun on her heel and stalked away. No, she did NOT feel like dancing on a cloud, and she didn't feel like watching this ghastly man put on a show. The way he moved unnerved her, the way his eyes rolled gave her goosebumps.

"I'm not interested!" she snapped without looking back, her short hair swinging with her clipped steps. "Just keep your magic under control!"

Because if he didn't...she wasn't entirely sure her own powers could come close to matching his.

"HEY, COME BACK A SEC!" Betelgeuse shouted after her, the cloud disappearing and his shoes making a loud splotching noise as he landed in a rain puddle. "TOOTS, YOU STILL HAVEN'T TOLD ME YOUR NAME! WHAT'S YOUR PROBLEM?!"

He ignored the crack about controlling his magic. Duh. He was always in control of it. What was he going to do, let it take a walk by itself? He just didn't understand why this chick was always so irritated around him. He'd tried to be nice, honestly!

"Well, I haven't met any bandits in this world yet, so you don't need to scare anyone."

This guy sure liked to scare people, didn't he? At least, Saleh just had that feeling.

"Have you been here for a while?"

Cherise's back remained stiff, her pace unslowed by his shouting. She was of a mind to just keep going, he didn't need to know her name.

But...she was tired of getting called 'babes' and it wasn't as if he couldn't just scroll back through previous messages and find out that way.

"Cherise," she stated over her shoulder before turning the corner to stalk home.

"Well, sheesh, Cherise," Betelgeuse muttered, grabbing his violin back and beginning to play again. "Some people just don't know when to lighten up and have fun."

"Eh, a few months. Doesn't seem that long to me. Doesn't have to be bandits. Only, I'm a ghost and a bio-exorcist. It'd be nice to drum up some business."

"A ghost?"

Saleh looked at him closely. Come to think of it, the man did look quite...dead. Rotting flesh, wild hair and such. Even so, he didn't look much like a ghost.

"A 'bio-exorcist'? What is that?"

"Yep, I'm a real live dead guy," Betelgeuse said, chortling. "I exorcise living people...well, it's usually people, anyways. Basically, newbie ghosts hire me to get living people who are causing them grief out of their haunting spaces. Y'know, I frighten 'em away and such."

"So you just...frighten people?" Saleh supposed he couldn't see the harm in that. Even ghosts needed their space, after all. If they actually killed people, then he would take issue.

"You're really dead? You do look more like a revenant than a ghost."

Yuri was on her way back to the apartment from work when she saw Beetlejuice's little show. It was actually pretty impressive, all things considered. It was better than going back to that boring empty apartment anyway, plus she definitely had some questions about just how he was doing that.

The girl narrowed her eyes at him from a distance before approaching, setting her side-strap bag down on the sidewalk after removing an apple from it. (Apparently people still did that for teachers even here.) It wasn't as though she felt a great need to protect whatever was in it, she didn't bring her wallet to the school (kindergarteners got into everything) so she wasn't particularly concerned about anything getting stolen.

Yuri placed the apple down in his violin case as though it had some monetary value. It wasn't like she had her money with her, so he could deal with it.

"I paid up, now you have to play something for me right?"

"Well. I wouldn't have said just," Betelgeuse sulked, deciding not to elaborate. "It takes a lot of talent to scare you living creatures enough for you to move out, y'know! Uh, no, not a revenant, but just a ghost, well, poltergeist! A revenant is undead, right? Kinda hard to keep those things straight. But, no, I died, all the way, about six hundred years ago."

Edited 2014-04-28 05:05 (UTC)

"Technically, I don't have to do anything, but sure, babes," Betelgeuse answered. "I'll take a request from ya. What would you like to hear?"

Despite correcting her, he was grinning, pleased to see someone friendly. After encountering Cherise, he was in the mood for friendly faces. He waved a hand at the puddles around him.

"Mind the mud. We had a small thunderstorm earlier."

"Actually.."

Yuri thought about it. Her favorite band, well, never existed in a world of the living as far as she's aware. It might have later, but. Possibly under a different name, if fate allowed it. This was a complicated situation.

Of course, he was from a world of the dead, so maybe there's some weird chance that afterlife CDs fell through to other afterlives.

"Have you heard of Girls Dead Monster?"

"Yeah, I stumbled across a cd of theirs in a store, here. I thought the name was cool," Betelgeuse admitted. "So, Thousand Enemies it is."

Betelgeuse begins playing, the song once again just a bit off, becoming creepy, without actually being done wrong. He was playing the right tempo, the right key, but the song took on a haunting quality.

Yuri looks honestly surprised about that. The only CDs they ever made were recorded by the SSS for fun, left in the afterlife, but.. Well, this place was kind of special in its own way. If Beetlejuice found them, she was going to enjoy it. There was a soft, kind of nostalgic smile on her face when he started..

..You know, until it started getting oddly creepy. Her face turned a little confused at that, then eventually she started laughing.

"What the hell are you doing to make it sound all weird like that!?"

"Hey, I'm a ghost!" Betelgeuse said, annoyed. "Music is an art and art is a reflection of the artist! So, the music comes out a bit scary, that's all. It's not like I'm playing it wrong."

"I know you're not, but it was written by dead people to begin with so I don't even know if that excuse works!"

She seemed a little amused, at least. It wasn't like she was offended that it was different.

"I know the people who wrote that, so it was weird to hear it a different way."

"Maybe I'm spookier than they are," Betelgeuse boasted, grinning. "Hey, cool though, knowing the original magicians! That must be fun. Do you play?"

"Probably, they were just a couple of teenage girls who went through a lot."

Definitely way different than Beetlejuice, that was for sure. Even if Yuri thought he was strange, he didn't seem like a bad guy though. She honestly liked talking to him, even if she ended up giving him a lot of lip.

"I tried to play bass once and decided that I'm more suited to overseeing mass operations than playing music," she said, a nonchalance in her tone that was clearly dismissive of reality. It's not like she was going to admit that she and Shiina sucked so much that the two who started the band asked them to stop trying to help.

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Earning a dollar having some fun

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