Jeff Calhoun (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
bardish) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
riverviewlogs2018-08-01 10:10 am
bardish) wrote in riverviewlogs2018-08-01 10:10 am
and i wonder, when i sing along with you [OPEN]
who: Jeff Calhoun & OPEN
what: August Catch-All
when: ALL OF AUGUST
where: Various
warnings: Prompt II has brief references to past drug use and... VAGUELY demons.
i. it's a kind of magic (GRAMARYE)
[ Of everything Jeff could complain about with regards to his life here (Such as the recent kidnapping-by-cult! That's still a big one!), there's one thing he's totally content with: his job. Working at Gramarye, he gets the same joy of teaching as back home, only without the constraints of testing and curriculum drama. Also, the pay's marginally better. That helps.
Here in Riverview, he gets to teach kids who don't have a lot of opportunities at the public school, whether because they can't control their magic (or other abilities), or because the facilities aren't equipped for them, or they just... haven't had the best experiences with non-magical people in their own worlds, and feel safer with people more like them. Whatever the reason, they get their schooling at Gramarye, and Jeff's one of the teachers who works with them on their fundamental education. Not with magic (not a chance in hell he'd try to teach magical lessons, with there being ten thousand different types of magic here in the first place), but mundane subjects.
It's a challenge, coming up with lesson plans that can both cast a wide net and be allow him to customize for each kid's needs, but he loves it. And he gets to focus on all kinds of different things, depending on the students. Critical thinking! Reading comprehension! Self-expression! Occasionally, some degree of math!
For all that he might give off a slacker vibe, it's clear that he at least takes his job seriously. So, Jeff can often be found at Gramarye, whether it's during school hours for the magical youths, or after-hours: grading, lesson planning, or cleaning up after some magical mishap or another. Look, it's a hazard of the job. If he weren't so totally gunshy about doing magic, himself, he'd just... enchant the damn papers so no teenage wizards with a strong affinity for pyromancy could set their tests on fire when they get too stumped by a question...
Kyle.
So that's his current mission, when he's not teaching: asking his coworkers (or frequent visitors of Gramarye) for tips or spells to MAAAAYBE baby-proof his classroom. ]
Look, they're good kids, but sometimes they can get a little, ahh... excitable? It's like... shit happens! Things explode a little! So, if you've got a spell for that, I could really use a hand here...
ii. i'm burning through the sky, yeah (OPEN MIC NIGHT)
[ It's funny where life takes you. The last time Jeff played in front of a crowd, it was... 1995? A packed house, the crowd a mass of sweaty bodies, drunk, high, hopped up on this thing or that. He was shitfaced, too, trying to fry a voice out of his head with a cocktail of substances, but he could still hear it, even through the fog. From what he can remember, the set went from okay, to not-so-great, to a total shitshow. He lost time, blacked out, sometime around the last song in the set, and whatever happened after, he still has no memory of.
He found out after-the-fact that the night ended in yet another fight between him and his bandmates. Only by then, it was one fight too many, and that was the end of that. Bye bye, band.
And that wasn't even when he hit bottom.
This is the first time Jeff's picked up an instrument and played for an audience (instead of just himself) in over twenty years, and it couldn't be more different. Open mic at a coffeehouse, mellow music for a small, mellow crowd. Not normally something he'd do-- god, there's still a part of him that expects everything to go wrong, even as he's strumming a guitar and singing covers of other musicians (never his own stuff, not anymore)-- but, fuck, Athena's a bad influence here! Living with another bard, and not having his daughter around to pour all of his attention into, it's gotten harder for Jeff to keep on pretending he can live a full and satisfying life without music.
So, here we go. He's not flashy like he used to be, and half the people at the coffeehouse aren't even here for the open mic performances-- they're doing their own thing and hardly paying attention-- and that helps ease him through his initial waves of anxiety and settle into a nice groove here. It's just a few songs, by a few artists. When he's finished, it's a rush, that buzzing thrill beneath the skin that he always used to feel when he performed.
When it's over, Jeff sticks around to mingle and chat with people. Come say hi!
(And he enjoys the open mic thing enough that he'll come back a few more times over the month to play a short set. If Athena's with him, you can bet there will be duets.) ]
( And here's some references for songs he might've played: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. )
WILDCARD.
[ More prompts might pop up later. IN THE MEANTIME: if these don't strike your fancy, you can choose your own adventure. ]
what: August Catch-All
when: ALL OF AUGUST
where: Various
warnings: Prompt II has brief references to past drug use and... VAGUELY demons.
i. it's a kind of magic (GRAMARYE)
[ Of everything Jeff could complain about with regards to his life here (Such as the recent kidnapping-by-cult! That's still a big one!), there's one thing he's totally content with: his job. Working at Gramarye, he gets the same joy of teaching as back home, only without the constraints of testing and curriculum drama. Also, the pay's marginally better. That helps.
Here in Riverview, he gets to teach kids who don't have a lot of opportunities at the public school, whether because they can't control their magic (or other abilities), or because the facilities aren't equipped for them, or they just... haven't had the best experiences with non-magical people in their own worlds, and feel safer with people more like them. Whatever the reason, they get their schooling at Gramarye, and Jeff's one of the teachers who works with them on their fundamental education. Not with magic (not a chance in hell he'd try to teach magical lessons, with there being ten thousand different types of magic here in the first place), but mundane subjects.
It's a challenge, coming up with lesson plans that can both cast a wide net and be allow him to customize for each kid's needs, but he loves it. And he gets to focus on all kinds of different things, depending on the students. Critical thinking! Reading comprehension! Self-expression! Occasionally, some degree of math!
For all that he might give off a slacker vibe, it's clear that he at least takes his job seriously. So, Jeff can often be found at Gramarye, whether it's during school hours for the magical youths, or after-hours: grading, lesson planning, or cleaning up after some magical mishap or another. Look, it's a hazard of the job. If he weren't so totally gunshy about doing magic, himself, he'd just... enchant the damn papers so no teenage wizards with a strong affinity for pyromancy could set their tests on fire when they get too stumped by a question...
Kyle.
So that's his current mission, when he's not teaching: asking his coworkers (or frequent visitors of Gramarye) for tips or spells to MAAAAYBE baby-proof his classroom. ]
Look, they're good kids, but sometimes they can get a little, ahh... excitable? It's like... shit happens! Things explode a little! So, if you've got a spell for that, I could really use a hand here...
ii. i'm burning through the sky, yeah (OPEN MIC NIGHT)
[ It's funny where life takes you. The last time Jeff played in front of a crowd, it was... 1995? A packed house, the crowd a mass of sweaty bodies, drunk, high, hopped up on this thing or that. He was shitfaced, too, trying to fry a voice out of his head with a cocktail of substances, but he could still hear it, even through the fog. From what he can remember, the set went from okay, to not-so-great, to a total shitshow. He lost time, blacked out, sometime around the last song in the set, and whatever happened after, he still has no memory of.
He found out after-the-fact that the night ended in yet another fight between him and his bandmates. Only by then, it was one fight too many, and that was the end of that. Bye bye, band.
And that wasn't even when he hit bottom.
This is the first time Jeff's picked up an instrument and played for an audience (instead of just himself) in over twenty years, and it couldn't be more different. Open mic at a coffeehouse, mellow music for a small, mellow crowd. Not normally something he'd do-- god, there's still a part of him that expects everything to go wrong, even as he's strumming a guitar and singing covers of other musicians (never his own stuff, not anymore)-- but, fuck, Athena's a bad influence here! Living with another bard, and not having his daughter around to pour all of his attention into, it's gotten harder for Jeff to keep on pretending he can live a full and satisfying life without music.
So, here we go. He's not flashy like he used to be, and half the people at the coffeehouse aren't even here for the open mic performances-- they're doing their own thing and hardly paying attention-- and that helps ease him through his initial waves of anxiety and settle into a nice groove here. It's just a few songs, by a few artists. When he's finished, it's a rush, that buzzing thrill beneath the skin that he always used to feel when he performed.
When it's over, Jeff sticks around to mingle and chat with people. Come say hi!
(And he enjoys the open mic thing enough that he'll come back a few more times over the month to play a short set. If Athena's with him, you can bet there will be duets.) ]
( And here's some references for songs he might've played: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. )
WILDCARD.
[ More prompts might pop up later. IN THE MEANTIME: if these don't strike your fancy, you can choose your own adventure. ]
no subject
It takes her a second to recognize Jeff in this context, because she didn't expect to see him... Doing things?? Being out in the open in front of people??
Anyway she didn't expect it.
She takes an open table and listens to him sing, watches the entire time unlike the people around her. When he finishes, she's one of the few who applauds with sincerity instead of politeness. She gets up after he finishes packing up, approaching him without any kind of shyness. It's how she do. ]
You have a very nice voice.
no subject
...
Sort of.
Anyway, he's shooting a smile at Chyler, even though his knee-jerk reaction is to go through a brief internal scream session that mostly consists of "AAAA NO DON'T ACKNOWLEDGE ME!!" Which, obviously, he's not going to dump all over her. ]
Oh! Thanks. Good to know my voice isn't as rusty as the rest of me. [ A jest! Because he is SOOO OOOOLD. ]
no subject
My CO plays guitar. He sings, too, but not as well. [ A PAUSE. ] Don't tell him I said that, please.
no subject
My lips are sealed. Mum's the word! His secret's safe with me-- [ He waves a hand. ] Eh, you get the picture.
[ Pause. ]
But maybe I can jam with him sometime.
no subject
As long as I get to be there to hear it.