just_another | (open)

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It's been a strange, confusing, amazing and horrifying few days.

For someone who generally keeps to himself, Joel's not sure how so much has happened at once, but no matter how he looks at it, there's enough going on in his life right now to satisfy him for years to come. The ball had been both a disaster and one of the more gratifying nights of his life and while he hasn't yet spoken with Lou since sending her home in a cab, he knows he needs to find the courage to visit her at some point.

He needs to speak with Lara as well. The truth is, he's been avoiding her, still not entirely sure what he feels. He's angry, but more than that, he feels betrayed, and that's a feeling Joel has gone out of his way to avoid, it's why he's kept himself so closed off from most people in Siren Cove.

The threatening letters he's been receiving aren't helping matters and although he's handed them over to the police, he'd still spent most of the night in his work room, crafting witch bottles that he's hoping he can convince people to put in their homes or bury in their yards. Something is coming and he doesn't know yet if that something is coming for him or the people he cares about, but he's not taking any chances.

With the bottles in his bag, he locks the door to his store and heads into town. He needs to find a few specific people, he needs to run some errands and he wants to stop by the library to see Spencer, maybe bring him lunch. Even as he thinks about that, he finds himself smiling and he has to duck his head as he walks. The premonition he'd had the night of the ball had disrupted things a little, but even with that, he feels a lot more certain of where things may be headed.

[ooc: Joel can be just about anywhere in town. There are some specific people he needs to speak with, so find him wherever suits! He's also made witch bottles for people he cares about, so come collect your protective charms. And no matter what you read on google about making a witch bottle, he did NOT pee in them.]

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"You could tell me that a computer can make a sandwich if you push the right buttons and I'd believe you. You don't have to be an expert for me, man. It would just be nice to .." He chuckles. "as long as you don't have a temper."

Joel does have a temper. One he controls relatively well most of the time, but when he gets angry, he knows that he tends to get very angry. Still, the comment interests him and he arches a brow, looking at Bach. "Sometimes. Why? Do you think you'll be that difficult a student?"

"I was told I'm pretty horrible, but somehow that's only always women. I'm not a fast learner, give up too soon, I guess."

"It won't be that hard," Joel promises. "Computers are fairly user friendly now and if my father can figure out how to e-mail and use the internet, I'm sure anyone can."

"You have a fat- of course you do. Everyone does." He chortles. "Forget I said that. Okay, teacher, when do we start?"

"I have some things to do this afternoon," Joel says, knowing he can't put off getting the witch bottles to the people he's worried about. "But you can come by the store any time. I'm never particularly busy." He has some busy days, but they usually come in July and August and then again around the long weekend in September. June is too early for a rush.

"You're the ..book store, right? Just knock and come in? Do you have a little bell? Should I bring something? Like for notes or stuff?"

"Crossroads, yeah. By the boardwalk," Joel says with a nod. "You can just come in, so long as the open sign is up. If not, there's a buzzer." But usually if the store is closed, especially lately, he's with Spencer. "If you want to bring something, you can, but I bet you'll pick it up a lot quicker than you think."

"Aha. Okay. I'll remember. Don't have much else to do right now. But Joel, man - it's not like ..I can't pay you anything or something, you know that right?"

"I have the store," Joel says, waving his hand. "I don't need you to pay me for that." He would feel like a bit of a jerk, too, taking money for something as simple as showing someone how to use a computer.

"If you really feel like you need to do something, we can just say... I don't know, I'll come to you if I ever need someone serenaded."

"That's cool, thanks man."

He grins. "Whenever you need. I'll even bring my guitar."

"Sounds like we've got a deal," Joel says, feeling secretly pleased with himself. Keeping his head down as worked up to a point, but he has to admit it hasn't been so terrible getting to know new people over the past month or so.

"I never had a male teacher before. Oh no wait, when I was eleven for like ..three months." His face scrunches up at the memory. "He left the school real quick after he started offering private lessons ..never understood why he had to leave. He was cool. Cute as well, heh."

"Well, there's no school for me to leave," Joel says with a laugh. "Lessons will take place in my store and it's the only thing I have to my name, so I'm not likely to go anywhere." He doesn't even own the space, he rents it, though he's close to being able to buy it outright.

"You like it here, right? This town."

"Yeah, I do," he says, his chin dipping in a nod. "I'm hoping to buy the property my store is on eventually, so that's... that's fairly permanent. I wouldn't do that unless I wanted to stay."

"Damn, you have money." He finishes his plate and gestures at the guy for another round of drinks.
"My land lady or however you call it is fine with me singing and playing for rent. Sometimes a little kiss to make her feel better. It's all I can offer, but it's not bad. Money's for the cat and the instruments."

Joel laughs at that and shakes his head. "My parents initially rented the location and set up the store. I took over when they moved away. I've been saving for eight years to buy it, so I definitely wouldn't call myself well off. And I doubt my landlord would be much interested in kisses."

"Oooh yeah, yes. Almost local." He grins. "Have you ever tried? Because a good kiss can make a lot of things happen. Just saying. Would save you money."

There's so much of that statement that doesn't fit Joel that he's not even sure where to begin. He hasn't kissed anyone in seven years, for one, so he's not sure how good a kisser he might be. Not that it matters, really, when his landlord is certainly not his type. "I think I'll just keep paying him all the tsame," he says with a laugh. "I'm not sure I could muster up the desire to kiss him, even to save money."

"That ugly?" He grimaces. "Yeah, it's rude but that's just not right. Or when they have foamy corners or food in their mouth or they smell.. that's not right. But the lady's not so bad and I don't want to sleep on a bench somewhere."

Bach goes into so much detail that Joel has to laugh again, waving his hand as if that can wave away the mental image of a man with foamy corners of his mouth. "No, it definitely beats sleeping on a bench," he agrees. If it came to that, though, he thinks there are people who might help him out. "Just a kiss? That's all she ever wants?"

"She's really shy. I think she .." He grimaces. "Just wants to be touched, from time to time. Lonely, I think. It's sad, almost like she.. locked herself up inside herself, you know? I mean, I don't think she's that old, but there seems to be no life in her .."
Bach rubs his cheek. "I should ask her name some time."

It strikes Joel as sad that Bach doesn't know her name and he nods, frowning faintly. "It might help her feel less... cut off." He's used to feeling cut off, but it's something he's done willingly and he doesn't ever want to get to that point, the place where he's so desperate for affection that he'll take it from someone who doesn't even know his name.

"I just don't understand why people do that, you know? Hey, she should at least get a cat. Or a dog, if she likes dogs better. Pets are a connection to the rest of the world. If that doesn't sound too stupid .."

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