Chapter 2

They stepped inside and Strong Sad had to admit what he saw was…unexpected. Homeschool seemed like such an uptight person he'd probably scrub his house spotless, but no. There were items cluttered on dressers (most of which looked like disassembled electronics). In the kitchen, dishes were left around the sink and what appeared to be an empty box of Chinese takeout sat on the table. He must not get much time to clean up or even eat properly with his work then. The coffee machine looked pretty abused as well.

Homeschool was rummaging through drawers which contained rather random contents. He could have sworn he saw what looked like a fortune cookie somewhere. Eventually Homeschool found what he was looking for and was pretty relieved. He could have been searching for hours. He figured he'd better check if they were working, and motioned for Strong Sad to follow him to the basement/workshop. Once they'd descended the stairs, the young adult couldn't help but gasp slightly. It was a tech geek's paradise down there. Multiple projects in process, pieces of electronics and bundles of gadgets covered the shelves and desks all around the room. He hadn't felt like this in his life. It was…pleasant. Overwhelming, but pleasant. Homeschool smiled when he saw Strong Sad's reaction. If only he could find more people who'd appreciate this. "I figured you'd like it."

"But…how…woah this is…" Strong Sad's said in moderate monotone, as usual. But judging how he stood in one spot unable to decide where to look, he must have been amazed. He wandered over to a table with some old parts strewn all over the place, and what looked like pieces of a tazer. He was tempted to pick something up but was afraid he'd mess with whatever was going on.

After noticing the hesitation, Homeschool pointed to the bundle of mechanical parts strewn around the torn-apart tazer and said "I won't be needing that any more. You don't have to stand there like a scarecrow." The thought of a scarecrow that looked like Strong Sad was weird. Not very scary actually. It would probably be completely ignored.

Homeschool then found some of his tools and began taking apart the headphones. If he'd taken parts out of it before and forgotten about it, there might have been a problem. He could even enhance the sound a bit more, who knows how messed up they might be. Strong Sad examined the different pieces he'd found on the desk closely and was impressed by the way they'd been stripped of their useful parts without damaging the original object. He wondered what Homeschool did with all his left over parts, and then looking around the room he figured…nothing. They were probably just tossed to the side in case of the need for later use. There was an interesting display of hoarding in this house. It seemed almost unhealthy.

After a few minutes the headphones were operational, and even better than before. Strong Sad was relieved and thanked Homeschool for his help. He wondered if maybe he could ask about the parts used in the Hu.B.E.R.T. android…you know. Since he was there already. He could stay there for a little while longer, it wasn't even 3 yet.

A little while longer turned into hours of conversation swinging from androids to computers to past accomplishments, lifestyle and somehow, music.

"Well…I kinda like an alternative sound I guess…I don't know if you know Sloshy…? It's my favourite band. I do branch out a bit but I mean…" Strong Sad had been asked before about his music but was usually cut off by this point. He was allowed to continue. How…exhilarating. "I guess kinda just anything is good if it's in more of a minor key, slow, or easy-going."

Homeschool didn't particularly like that kind of music. He figured they'd possibly get along with classical music at least, even if it was the depressing kind. So he suggested some different composers he knew of. Rummaging around looking for some CDs he placed the unwanted ones on the desk. Strong Sad fiddled with his iPod a bit unsure of what else to say, and his gaze strayed to the covers of some of the CDs, leaving him a bit surprised.

"Techno music, huh?" Homeschool turned around and saw that he was indicating to the various CDs he'd moved.

"Some of it is actually pretty good. It's nice to hear music that can be created with computers."

"I guess so, but it's still a bit too upbeat for me." He wrinkled his nose slightly at remembering when Strong Bad had erased all the music on his iPod and replaced it with techno, polka and Limozeen.

"And Sloshy's a bit too grungy for my taste. But maybe if they had some sort of Techno Sloshy I'd listen to it." He smiled a bit at the idea. It was a really bad one.

"Yeah…um…no." Yes. A really bad idea indeed.

"I'd try it myself but I don't have the time or musical creativity. Maybe The Cheat could do it. I hear he's good with that kinda stuff." Homeschool had finally found the CD he was looking for and handed it over to Strong Sad. He took it and looked at it thoughtfully.

Techno Sloshy huh…?