Jamie cleared his throat before starting.
"You know a little bit about my family."
"Country to the bone. Your grandfather invented a new country guitar and bass strumming method, and your family has been Grammy-nominated for three generations now. Your dad and brothers are famous in the country community. I know the gist." Ari quickly summarized everything he had learned.
"You looked us up?" Jamie's blue eyes were wide open in surprise.
"You gave me your first and last name and told me you were the third in the family. It took about 5 seconds to pull it up."
"Cough-Stalker."
"So what I'm hearing is that you want more ice down your shirt? Say less." As Ari sat up threateningly, Jamie rolled his chair away in a panic.
"Ahem…anyways, my whole family is into country music. My older brothers, my uncles, my dad, my grandfather, and my cousins. Basically, if you're a man, you got a guitar when you were two and learned to love country music, which is hailed as the end-all be-all of music in my family. You could say they're country elitists. They think country music is the only real music. I also thought that way for a while since I started composing early."
"But not anymore?"
"….no, not really. Ah, don't get me wrong, I still love it, but I want to expand my composing to all these different genres that I've learned to love and enjoy. Because a story or message can be passed on through song, even if it's not in the form of country music. And I want to be the one on stage, performing not just country music, but different types of music to people worldwide. I want to bring my music to them, but also learn their music as well."
"Sounds like a solid dream to me."
It was much better than Ari's dream of becoming an idol superstar because of a system and because of revenge.
"…I thought so too, but my whole family is against it, and my dad always threatens to take the studio away or block my card whenever he catches me trying to compose anything that's not pure country. It's why I joined the Pop Star Academy program behind his back and wanted to challenge myself to compose a non-country song for my second round and perform it for everyone, including my father, to listen to. But…." Jamie paused and banged his head on the table before mumbling quietly.
"No matter what I do, it all just sounds like a rip-off country music. No matter how many books I read, arrangers or composers I talk to, and concerts I visit, my music always sounds like country. Maybe my dad was right after all. That's what my talent is for, and I should just give up now. Because I'm useless. Ugh…"
As Jamie's voice trailed off and he almost sounded like he was crying, Ari awkwardly got up to give him some room to compose himself.
He definitely didn't know how to comfort someone dealing with emotional issues like this.
"I'll….go get some drinks from the vending machine. I'll be back."
Ari quickly ran out of the recording studio and headed to the vending machine before realizing that he had left his wallet behind.
All he had on him was the small sticky notes he now habitually carried everywhere and a pen, just in case he felt inspired to write lyrics.
[Very smooth.]
[It'll be very believable that you went out to get drinks and came back with no drinks in sight.]
"You just shut up. Not everything needs a comment, you know."
Since he couldn't head back immediately, Ari just walked around the outside of the building while trying to think of a way to help Jamie.
He had become quite fond of the boy, and Jamie had really helped a lot to turn Ari's random melodies, chords, and ideas into a decent song, all without asking for anything in return, apart from some credit.
But Ari really couldn't figure out how to return the favor.
Composing-wise, he was miles beneath the other boy, and his lyrics were not as diverse as Jamie's, either.
The only area where he could possibly comparably differentiate himself was his skill, Picky Listener (B).
But, it wasn't as if he could just pick out what sounded country in Jamie's compositions and help him replace it.
"...…"
….could he?
"What was the description of Picky Listener again?"
[Skill: Picky Listener (B)]
[Effect: Your ears become sensitive to pitch, tone, melodies, and song components, recognizing them in anything and anywhere. You can recognize a 'good' song and 'good parts of songs', and you can more easily recreate what you hear and pick out distinct sounds and musical arrangements.]
"…maybe this would work? If I can identify the country-sounding parts and have Jamie change them?"
As Ari was walking while reading his skill description and mumbling to himself, he passed by the smoking area and spotted a familiar man in a cow-print jacket smoking a cigarette while talking on the phone.
As Jamie's father spotted him, he quickly ended the call and gestured for Ari to come over.
When Ari arrived before him, James Jones II held out a pack of cigarettes.
"Want a smoke?"
"I'm underage."
"Are you now? I thought you were some hotshot manager to some Smores guy."
"Who's to say that I'm not? You don't know me." Ari replied with a confident tilt of his head, and Jamie's father stared at him before laughing wildly and slapping his knee.
"I like you, son. You got some spunk to you, even though you lied to my bare face."
"I keep telling you, my name is not son. It's Ari. Get it right."
"Watch your tone when you're talking to me, boy!" Jamie's father puffed on the cigarette, blowing it in Ari's direction, before patting the space on the bench beside him.
"Sit. Let's talk man to man. I don't like craning my head up to look at people."
Ari looked the man up and down before fanning the air before his face and coughing obnoxiously, "If you want me to sit, please blow your smoke in the other direction. I have a competition in a few days and need to save my throat."
"…cocky brat." Despite the muttered words, the next puff of smoke was blown off to the side, so Ari sat down and crossed his legs.
"So let me guess, you joined that rubbish show that my son joined? The two of you seemed tight as thieves." James Jones II began lighting another cigarette as he spoke.
"I wouldn't call it rubbish, but yes, we're both in it."
"And what? You planned on performing that disgrace to country music on that stage?"
"That was the plan. Speaking of which, how are you going to pay us back? Personally, I take cash, card, direct bank transfer, and cryptocurrency. You can process Jamie's fee separately."
"Hah! You're a riot kid! So flipping funny." Jamie's father began laughing once more, his hands pounding the back of the bench and shaking the whole thing.
"It's not kid, it's Ari. And I don't see what's so funny," Ari replied in a deadpan manner.
Although he had been calm in the recording studio with Jamie, he was completely furious with his father.
First for hitting his son, then for messing up books that he would have to pay for, and finally for deleting a song they
Although he had memorized the track from listening to it so much and it would take less time to make it again, he was pissed at the thought of having to repeat the process.
Although Jamie's dad kept laughing and thinking it was a joke, Ari was dead serious.
He truly wanted to be compensated for he and Jamie's wasted time and effort.
"Tch. Kids these days. Can't take a joke. Let me give you some advice, kid, and this is coming from an adult who has succeeded and gotten close to the top in the industry you're trying to join." Jamie's father paused to light another cigarette, taking a deep puff before releasing it.
Ari: "..."
Ari: ಠ_ಠ
Who the hell is asking you for advice? Pay me the damages for all the time and effort that I put in!