Work Text:
Little Lucas' fingers layed tentatively on their respective strings, the ring finger on the high E, the middle stretching over to the low E, and his pointer rested comfortably on A. Hinawa reached around his back to adjust his finger placement — she'd noticed some strings accidentally being pressed down, and with her approval, Lucas gave the strings a hearty strum. The sound rang out with only minor discordance, resonating in the air as a smile formed on his little face.
"Wonderful, Lucas!" Hinawa praised, clapping her hands lightly. "You've made great progress today." She smiled warmly at her son, who turned to her and returned the expression, letting out an accomplished little laugh.
"You're doing so well already," she commented, patting his head and ruffling her hand through his hair, "with just enough practice, I'm sure you'd make beautiful music."
Lucas was proud of himself, and pretty flattered — he knew his progress at the moment wasn't much, but being so young, he couldn't help it.
"Now, why don't you try to play a few on your own?" Hinawa suggested. Lucas shook his head around to quickly fix his hair, and looked up at her, head tilted to the side curiously. He shifted his hands on the guitar, ready to play.
"Hm... How about, C, G, and then A minor?"
Lucas nodded, determined. He then paused for a bit, entirely negating said determination, trying to remember how to play those chords.
As soon as he remembered, with no delay he put his fingers to the strings. The slight rush in his movements caused a little buzziness and made the noise a little jarring, which was quickly corrected by a little scooch of the fingers. He played his remedied C, then a fast and easy G, and finally, a queasy A minor. He was relatively satisfied with his performance, knowing that despite the raucous edge, he was doing well for someone who'd started yesterday. Hinawa seemed to have agreed, clapping once again to congratulate him.
"Lovely!" his mother commended, "I'm so proud of you, honey!" She wrapped her arm around him, leaning down to kiss his forehead. Lucas giggled, taking his free hand to hug her back and leaving his left hand to hold the neck of the guitar, stopping it from falling. He felt very contented with himself. He seemed very fond of this new hobby already, and he wanted to learn more. The way it sounded, albeit better in his mother and grandpa's hands, was incredibly melodic and soothing, and he'd already wanted to play a song by himself.
"When I was a little girl, just over your age," Hinawa shared, booping Lucas' small nose, "my father started teaching me to play, too."
"I wasn't great off the bat, obviously, but with a few weeks of practice, I was on my way to playing full songs."
Lucas looked up at her, eyes full of hope. He's heard her play a few times, and it was angelic — he hoped to be just like her.
"I hope I can do that.." he murmured, heart filling with ambition.
"I'm so sure you will, Lucas." Hinawa patted his shoulder.
The comically long limousine had been cruising without issue in the sky for a few hours now. While Boney took a well deserved nap on the frog's pink couch-bed, and Duster laid sprawled out across another two seats, Lucas and Kumatora took to the back of the vehicle for the jamming to ensue.
"Yo, Lucas," Kumatora blurted, bending and fiddling with her guitar's strings, "you said you do acoustic too, right?"
Lucas was mindlessly picking at his strings when he picked up on her voice.
"Huh? Oh... yeah, I guess.." he mumbled, continuing to play random chords.
Kumatora stared at him impatiently, as if waiting for further information without even asking for it.
"Well? Go on."
Lucas' gaze was a little more present now, despite him still staring dead ahead. He was definitely going to answer, but he wasn't sure he'd like answering.
"Uh.. well... My, um.." Lucas's voice faltered, "my mom... taught me when I was 7."
Kumatora was briefly hit by a short wave of realization. She was just about to comment on how cute that was, but she thankfully held her tongue.
Right, it's been a while since Hinawa passed... what a rough life. There was a brief, awkward silence, complimented by the music of the limo speakers.
"Oh, uh." Kumatora muttered. "Must've been fun, huh?"
Lucas gave a silent nod, beginning to reminisce to the exact day, exact hour, exact second Hinawa taught him to pick up the guitar. He drew in a deep breath and sighed just thinking about it.
"Hey, why don't'cha play a little something?" she chirped, snapping her finger as soon as she came up with it. Before Lucas could get a word in, she reached underneath the seat and somehow pulled out a scratched up acoustic guitar. It wouldn't be complete without a pick bouncing around the inside and an iconic pink pig-nose design painted onto the back.
She dusted it off and handed it to him, a little too confident in the "cleaning" she gave it. Nonetheless, he unplugged his guitar, set it aside, and took it. He pulled it on his lap and looked over the tuning pegs, which were disconcertingly covered in spiderwebs. Hesitantly, he twisted and turned them into the proper tuning.
"Play something... like what?" He had to ask. 'A little something' could mean anything, and he didn't know much off the top of his head anyways, besides what Kumatora herself'd been teaching him these past few days.
"I'unno. Maybe something la- uh, from your childhood or whatever." she supposed, hoping she hadn't struck a nerve.
Lucas tapped his fingers on the body of the instrument, trying to recall some tunes he'd heard before. Grandpa Alec would play a couple jingles here and there, and more recently, music would play in the buildings, like Caroline's Bakery or Thomas' Bazaar (Thomas' Shop rather, as it's been called these days), but a little melody that had been playing in one establishment stuck with him: the Yado Inn music.
Tessie was the one who'd made up the melody, and Lucas would occasionally catch Jackie trying to play it. It was a simple tune, he could play it well, but not as graciously as Tessie — when she did it, it was in wondrous harmony that made the Yado Inn so homely. Nowadays, the tune was nowhere to be found, not even hidden in the new jams of Hotel Yado, but Jackie would often hum the tune subconsciously while tending to the front desk, anyways. Despite the intense modernization of peaceful little Tazmily, the warm tune lingered in Yado's atmosphere.
Lucas tried his memory, fidgeting with his fingers to figure out the chords of the song. He pulled the notes right out of his head, essentially trying to play from his vague memory. His fingers were unsure, just like they were 5 years ago, trying to figure out where they were to press and when to strum.
Slowly, the chord came together, and out came what sounded like a Bm9.
He followed it up with some Bs and another Bm9. Slowly but surely, he put the pieces came together, and he was able to perform the first part of the song with light strums. It flowed together with a bit of uncertainty, taking Lucas' mind back to the Yado Inn itself. The way he played it, it wasn't perfect, just like when he'd hear Jackie playing it. There was a time that Claus had indirectly dragged Lucas to the inn in a wild match of Hide and Seek, and in his search for his brother, Jackie was fumbling with the strings as Lucas greeted him.
Kumatora, on the other hand, was entirely unfamiliar with the chords. She wasn't a fan of frequenting ol' Tazmily, so she'd have no way of knowing where it was from, but she still caught herself trying to hum along, leaning against the cushions behind her.
"Mm... hey, where'd ya learn this one?" She asked, resting her ankle on her knee.
"The Yado Inn," he replied, "you don't really get to hear it anymore, though." Lucas had just started to figure out the second portion of the song. What was it? A... A minor?
"Yado Inn, huh?" Kumatora mused. "Last time I was there, th'place was closed for the night. Shame."
The two of them fell silent, with only Lucas' guitar filling the air, progressively relearning the song from his head. Kumatora preferred it much more than the car radio, which as anyone could guess, was littered with leitmotifs and references to the Pigmasks and the man himself, King P. Anyone would choose the tender song of a young boy's guitar over the army taking over the lives of a town once peaceful. It lifted whatever tension was loading on their hearts, even if just momentarily, and brought both of them back to a time before all of these stupid Happy Boxes and Chimeras, or whatever.
By the time Lucas' hand had glided over the strings to play the last repetition of the song, Kumatora was fighting the urge to doze off while Boney had just woken up from his own little doze, sticking his snout to the glass as he looked out the window. Lucas took a deep breath, gently tucking the guitar away under the row of seats and sweeping the dust off of his shirt. He was somehow rejuvenated by simply hearing the song again, the sound lingering in his ears.
"...Was that good?" he asked sheepishly, feeling a little tuckered out himself.
"Damn straight, kid." Kumatora stretched her arms and gave him a quick noogie.