I Don't Have to See You Right Now [closed]

[timecapture]

WHO: The Doctor, John Constantine, Chloe Price, and Max Caulfield
WHERE: Max's place
WHEN: Afternoon, February 19th
WHAT: A punk rock jam session! Max's hipster sensibilities will try not to be too offended.
WARNINGS: Maybe swearing? It's John.

Well, here she was. She'd been so damned busy lately that she hadn't taken much time to breathe. In between the bullshit that came with being a super-hero (not that she actually thought of herself as such), studies, and work, Max hadn't really had all that much time to herself. But she was here, now, and she was hell-bent on spending time with the coolest people she knew.

It was funny how much she'd changed. Gone (almost) was the shrinking violet who shied away from strangers and avoided doing school assignments, and in her place was a quiet, thoughtful young woman who - while still avoiding deep conversations with people she didn't know - kept her head down and got her work done. But not today. Today, she was going to cut loose and have fun with the best bad influences available.

Humming quietly to herself as she tuned her bass guitar, Max hoped they were in for a good time.

Comments

[helladoomed]

"So I hear you're in the market for a troublemaking rebel drummer?"

Chloe had actually arrived a minute or so before, but might've stood in the doorway watching Max tun her bass because damn that was hot. But she finally spoke up, giving her girlfriend a grin from where she was leaning against the doorframe.

[timecapture]

"Chloe!" Instantly, Max lit up, carefully setting her guitar aside and moving to hug her. "Sure am. The Doctor and John should be here soon." Sure, Max had last seen Chloe on Valentine's Day, but that didn't stop her from cheerfully giving the taller girl a kiss as though she hadn't done so in months.

[helpline]

"Get a room!" the Doctor teases as he sticks his head in the doorway, giving both Max and Chloe a wide grin. His guitar's slung over his back and the sonic screwdriver's in his pocket, ready to mess with any electronics if needed. After all, if he can make an amplifier go to eleven, why not actually do so?

[helladoomed]

Oh, arms full of Max. Well Chloe sure wasn't going to complain, and in fact kissed her right back. And made a point of not stopping at that shout from the Doctor, not for a few seconds at least. Before she leaned back, leaving one arm draped around Max's shoulders.

"Already did, it's her house. Not our fault you popped in." Oh what a shit-eating grin.

[heckblazer]

"They've a point, y'know."

Fashionably late would have been a mild way of describing how John would usually show up to things. Today was little exception. He was actually more sober than usual, trying to be vaguely presentable for the sake of Max (one of the more tolerable young ones that John had been forced to babysit) and The Doctor (whom, irritably, had this effortless knack for getting John to nearly behave himself).

Slung around his back in a case are mic stands, and guitars of both acoustic and electric variety, very likely "borrowed" from some club that had tried to cheat the teen god squad that John usually managed out of their payment. As such, it undermines his attempts at quietly slipping through the doorframe as he enters. Still daft that they're even considering letting him take lead vocals, but he won't complain too terribly.

"Shall we be setting up in the garage like classic punk-rockers, then? Important to do these things with a certain style."

[timecapture]

Max, for her part, had been rather embarrassed, hiding her face in Chloe's shoulder. Fortunately, John turned out to have excellent timing, and Max smiled at him as she stepped away, her face still noticeably red. "Hey, John! I'm glad you could make it!" She'd hoped that everyone could get together like this, especially considering that it had just been herself and the Doctor practicing for the past several months. On the bright side, this meant that she could more than handle her electric bass now (even if she still missed her acoustic one). Thankfully, bass players tended to get overlooked - which was honestly what had drawn Max to it in the first place.

Eyeing his equipment, Max moved to help him with it. "We may as well. It's not like I've got a car or anything." She should get a car.

[helpline]

As John arrives, the Doctor gives him a small wave. Oh good, he's here and he's actually halfway presentable. The Doctor doesn't normally care about things like 'agreeing with standards of presentability,' but this was Max's jam session so things were going to go as smoothly as possible.

"There's no point doing it if we aren't doing it in style!" said with a grin. After all, the point of all this was to play loud music of dubious taste and make the neighbors angry at them in the first place. Gotta be properly punk, after all. "I'll take anything electronic with set-up," said as he reached into his back pocket and pulled out the sonic screwdriver. Granted, with that there's the possibility that any electronic set-up would end up being something that's not street legal but who cares!

[helladoomed]

Chloe didn't even try to hide her laugh at Max's embarrassment, though she at least hugged the shorter girl a bit tighter with the arm over her shoulders before she pulled away. See? She could be supportive. Sort of. Embarrassing Max was way too much fun though.

"My drums are already out there," she offered, in what was either a helpful not that they didn't need to get hers, or a warning she wasn't going to help move equipment. Who could say?

But for the moment, Constantine got her attention because hey, new guy she didn't know. Kind of cute for an old dude. "Hey, I'm Chloe...which you probably know but we haven't met so...hey. Whatever. Hi." Get that out of the way then.

one day i will tag back at a normal pace i swear

[heckblazer]

"Cheers," he replies to Chloe with equal nonchalance. He's been in this world for too long to keep getting exasperated at the sheer number of young people he's been entrusted with. At this point it's practically a game, seeing how many he can collect. So, adding Max's girlfriend to the trail of misguided baby chicks doesn't directly phase him. He's more concerned if she can keep rhythm, really. Sure as hell looks like she can.

He nods at the Doctor, probably trying way too hard to be smooth about it and mentally kicking himself. At least he wasn't one of the ones that John had grown up on or the one with the Northern accent or else it'd be much harder to stay in-character,

"Plugging things into the wall is about where my technical know-how taps out, but why dawdle? Let's go make noise, hey?"

[timecapture]

Max nodded happily at John's suggestion, helping John to carry the equipment to the garage. It wasn't like she had a car here, anyway; she just took the bus, for the most part. She remained ignorant of John's internal squee towards the Doctor (or of Chloe's eying up of John) as she set her things down.

"I don't exactly know how to set this up," she admitted. But hey, at least she knew how to snap pictures of it! Don't judge her.

[helpline]

Blissfully unaware of any sort of eyeing up as well, the Doctor follows everybody to the garage, smiling all the while as he starts to natter on about electronics.

"Plugging things into the wall's the basic way of doing things! You've got to fiddle with all the amp settings at least once to get it really loud, the sort of loud that pisses off the neighbors."

And, based on that wild grin on his face, the Doctor straight up plans to get everything loud enough to piss off the neighbors. Sorry, Max.

[helladoomed]

"I can help with that," Chloe said as she followed them all into the garage, carrying whatever happened to need carrying. You didn't have a six year rebellious streak without hanging out with a garage band at one point or another. "It's mostly just plug in play for guitars'n shit. And my drums work off good old fashion smacking them with sticks."

The best way to play an instrument, in her opinion.

She couldn't hide her grin at what the Doctor said though. "So we're aiming to blow the roof off Max's house, huh?" She could get behind that kind of loud, really.

[heckblazer]

"Why stop at the roof?" John chuckles. Tearing down walls and pissing off neighbors were things he could do in his sleep, but he busies himself getting things stood up and plugged in. It's busywork that tires his older and improperly-fed frame, which at least keeps them from gleaning any sort of anticipation out of his behaviour. Hell forbid they think he was going to enjoy babysitting. Or getting to punk out for the first time in decades. And doing so with The Goddamn Doctor.

It's all just fucking silly, is what it is.

Or so John tells himself. And again. And a third time.

"Any name ideas? Johnny Con-Job and the Time Thieves has a nice ring to it."

[timecapture]

Okay, now Max was starting to feel uneasy. "Well... I don't want to upset anybody," she said, looking down and fiddling with her guitar case. "I mean, I don't mind if we're loud, but..."

Of course, given that she was smiling, she couldn't mind that much. She just didn't want to offend anybody; it was just the kind of girl Max was. At John's suggestion, Max tilted her head to the side, humming thoughtfully. "It has a nice ring to it. Anybody else have other ideas?" All of hers just centered around photography. Whoops.

[helpline]

Once they're in the garage, the Doctor starts to scurry from amp to amp, plugging things in, fiddling with knobs, and occasionally zapping things with the sonic screwdriver. He is also part of Team Really Loud. Sorry Max, it looks like you're outvoted.

"You don't really want to hear my ideas--they're all either outdated or not even happened yet pop culture references."

The Doctor continues to fiddle with knobs and plugs as he talks, looking back over at everyone else with a grin.

[helladoomed]

"Future pop music," Chloe said this as if trying to decide if it sounded cool or terrible. "Future Punk is probably better."

What? Girl has to defend her people.

Once everything was in place she moved to drag her drums out from where she'd left them against the wall and started setting them up on their stands.

"The name's cool." A beat. "Wait am I the only person here without some kind of fancy time power?"

She liked her powers but come on.

[heckblazer]

Damn. Maybe John should have led with better name ideas considering how little resistance he was meeting. But he shrugs at Chloe,

"Yer' ladyfriend an' grandpa got time powers. My skill set is a little more 'bout dabbling in the occult. 'Future Punk' is a bit on the nose though, innit?"

Not that they'll hear themselves think in a few minutes let alone be able to debate band names. John deposits his coat on some spare furniture, slinging a guitar around his thin shoulders for tuning up.

"By the by, anyone who suggests Free Bird is outta the band."

[timecapture]

Max giggled. "I totally want to hear your ideas!" She grinned at the Doctor. Even if she couldn't quite get it, she knew that whatever he suggested would be worth a laugh.

"We can always think up names later. Does anyone have any idea what to play?" She sure as hell didn't. "Because it's not going to be Free Bird. My parents love that song." Personally, Max couldn't see what all the fuss was about.