So rent was due in the little neighborhood we have going here. Usually I get some pixels or some supplies we could use if they didn't have currency. That's fine, it's just like it was at Seventh Heaven: If you didn't have gil just bring in a potion or something and Tifa would get you a meal or a drink going. We're pretty well off on this new home of ours so there's no trouble at all being flexible with our neighbors.
Chachuoc gave some pixels and a loaf of freshly baked beakseed bread, Megu gave me some bandages and a few seeds she picked up at a friend's place. Azalea and Stabs had...fresh meat. Well, they usually give us some choice cuts, so I'm not complaining. Mereth just handed me a bag of pixels and shut the door on me after alerting me to its grouchiness. I went to Jack's place last, expecting his usual pixel count or maybe a bunch of Earth snacks. But this time Jack gave me something different.
It was this little grey device and a pair of headphones. I knew it was a music player, though I hadn't seen one since coming here. Or maybe I had and I wasn't paying attention. Anyway, none of us are too familiar with the music of this universe, except for the twenty songs on the jukebox downstairs. They're from all over the place, Earthling, Floran, Hylotl, all there. Jack gave me a library of Earth songs, specifically those from what was considered their musical golden age. "From 1930 to 2030!" he said.
He seemed smug about it.
I didn't think it was that big of a deal. We have music where we're from, too. Mooglapella, Girl Next Door, ChocoChika, who ever it is that sings the jingle for Costa del Sol...Our music culture was restarting after Meteorfall, and I remember there being some heavy metal and thrash bands that played in warehouses in Edge. Kalm had a different vibe to its music, using traditional string instruments and a thing called a water chime. Nibelheim used to have its own folk music that imitated the howls of the mountain passes and the chirps of birds that accompanied plucked strings and a drum.
But what Jack had was very different.
I took the music player home and after a while I decided to rest in the living room, on my favorite chair. The kids were out playing and Tifa was somewhere with Megu. I scrolled through the list and noticed that there were roughly ten thousand songs on it! I wasn't sure where to start so I put it on shuffle and waited for a song to start playing. A beat started playing, melancholy but alive. Then the singer began to wail out they lyrics in a gentle, boyish voice. I caught myself gently waving my shoulders and head to the beat, it was pretty good. It was called "Every Planet We Reach Is Dead" by Gorillaz. It's a strange name for a band, but I digress.
I ended up using my afternoon to listen to songs. David Bowie, Kiss, Prince, Led Zeppelin(Kashmir was amazing), Pink Floyd...I probably shouldn't list everyone I listened to, it would clog up the journal. Some of the hip-hop was a good listen, the country music was kinda depressing except for a few songs. I let Tifa listen to the music player when she got home, and we're planning on purchasing a few and putting our favorites onto those so we can carry them with us. I might see about putting them into the jukebox, so we can try to dance again. A lot of these songs were made for moving around.
Marlene and Denzel listened too, after dinner. They both have different genres they like with a little overlap, but we'll know how much overlap when they get more time to check out more of the songs. There seems to be something for everyone on there.
It was a really cool device Jack gave us. I guess he wanted to share what Earth was good at doing, and what I had heard around the space station was that Earth was the best when it came to entertainment. I believe it, now. Jack had said this was a tiny slice of the amount of songs they used to have on earth. How many could they have had? What I've listened to so far was mostly amazing.
I know Yuffie will want some of these...I'm gonna hide this thing until she gets her own music player to copy these onto. There is absolutely no way I'm letting her steal this, no thank you. She's been busy bothering Vincent so I think I have a good chance of keeping it safe for the time being.
Other than that, not much else to talk about. I haven't been exploring lately but hey, those planets aren't going anywhere, and I gotta make an EPP for Vincent. It's only been a few days since Vincent settled down here, and I'll probably visit that eyeball patch again with he and Tifa in tow. Can't wait to prove to him that eyeballs do indeed grow on trees.
Like someone said one day before
The answer is in the wind.
Until next time...