Closed A Practice in Patience

[Delaney Hollis]

Delaney laid sprawled across the couch, sneakers up on the back of the cushion. He could hear a voice that sounded suspiciously like his mum, or maybe Leo or Vera's telling him to get his shoes off the couch, but since technically only the back of his heel was touching he figured he was fine. They'd been half trying to practice earlier, but Leo had decided to be responsible in the middle of them maybe talking about practice and go to the grocery store because 'you can't live off cereal and chip forever' or whatever and now Delaney was left to deal to his own devices while the others set up.

He vaguely considered grabbing the film camera he'd taken to recording some of the band's down time, but then he'd have to get up and he got up someone was probably going to make him go set up his amp and find his bass and Delaney didn't want to do that until Leo got back with snacks anyway. Instead, he'd managed to snag one of Vera's drum sticks and was idly twirling it, waiting for the others to either comment or finish getting their practice space set up for whenever Leo was done selecting the broccoli with the most zen or whatever he did over in the crisper section all the time.

 

[Asher Beckett]

Asher was bored, idly tuning his guitar as he sat on Delaneys amp. Leo had terrible timing, taking off just when things were going to be interesting. He set his guitar aside, pulling out his notebook and trying to scribble some new lyrics a bit. After a bit of failing at that, he ripped the page out of his notebook, balling it up and bouncing it off of Delaneys head. "Score!" He cheered, throwing his hands up in the air.

 

[Vera Ito]

Vera walked into the practice space absentmindedly tossing and catching the drum key she had forgotten in her room just in time to catch Asher hitting Delaney directly in the side of the head with a balled up piece of paper. “Good shot.” Vera said drying before taking her drum stick out of Delaney’s hand. “Thank you.” she said sweetly and turned her attention to her drumset, making sure it was all ready so they could start practice as soon as Leo got home. For a moment she wished Leo had taken her with him, but that would have left the two youngest members of the band home alone and she feared they’d somehow burn down the house if left to their own devices for too long. “Delaney where's your bass?” she asked, noticing that his instrument was nowhere in sight.

 

[Delaney Hollis]

Delaney flailed when Asher hucked a wad of paper at him, swinging his legs down on the floor and, squawking angrily. "Asher, you egg," He hotly, half ready to make his way over there and shove the paper back in Asher's smug face when Vera effortlessly plucked the drum stick out of his hand as well on the way past and he let out another indignant huff. "I thought we were friends, Vera," He called after her as she moved over to her kit. "Friends share stuff," Vera didn't seem particularly moved by his plight though and Delaney scooped up the piece of paper Asher had thrown at him, busying himself looking it over to see if Asher had at least had the decency to write anything good. This way he would look less bad if he looked busy when he answered Vera's question. "It's.. definitely around. My room. Probably," He said, eyes trained on the paper intently. He'd last had it because he'd heard a cool riff on the radio and needed to try and copy it, but it wasn't like he didn't have time to go get it. There were more pressing issues anyway, Delaney mused. "Asher get off my amp," He added after a beat suddenly looking up and scowling at Asher's new perch.

 

[Leo Malstrom]

Leo required a chance to refresh and clear his mind pre band practice, because it allowed him to keep his energy and attention focused solely on what he was playing when the practice started. He didn’t need various stressors drawing his attention where it didn’t belong as his hands plucked and strummed at his guitar strings. Music was his calling, in expression of emotions and creativity, and what kind of musician would he be if he let anything get in the way of his practicing and performing? A substandard, half-arsed one in the very least. Leo had given up everything in his life other than his friendship with Vera to put together this band, and he wanted to make it count. This meant arriving to each practice calm, cool, and most importantly focused, entirely in his best mind set.​

​

Grocery shopping was a calming task for Leo, and the one he used to clear his mind that day. Picking up and looking over various kinds of fresh produce, as well as some significantly less healthy food for the rest of the band’s sustenance, being enough for him to return to their shared house feeling ready to give his playing his all. He strolled through the door with his brown paper bag in his arms, glancing to the others in the living room for a moment and ignoring whatever commotion was happening before making his way to the kitchen, placing the bag on the dining table and unpacking all he had brought. If he didn’t unpack it all immediately it would never get done, and the assurance it was sorted before he set up his guitar would mean he didn’t have to fret over it later. “Delaney, I brought a snack for you to try.” He called out, pulling out the bag of vegetable crisps and sliding them to the end of the table, soon moving to put away everything he had brought and arriving back to the living room when he was finished. Leo stretched his arms over his head for a moment. “Do we have anything new to play?” He asked, ready to focus on music for the next few hours.​

 

[Asher Beckett]

Ash laughed, ignoring Delaney's anger and watching Vera move. Ugh, where was Leo? He was ready to go! He turned back to Delaney, raising a brow. Being bored was hardly a good thing. "Whatcha gonna do about it, shorty?" He teased, looking to wrestle. He glanced at Vera, hoping she wouldn't get in the way of his fun with her very Leo-like adultness attitude. Before either of them responded, though, he heard the man in question call out. "Ooh, Leo," He hopped up, hurrying out to catch the other man. He slid up, wrapping his arms around Leo and cuddling into his side. "Leo!" Ash purred. "Define new," He grinned impishly.

 

[Vera Ito]

Vera rolled her eyes at Delaney protests as she took her stick back, but she didn’t dignify it with a real response. Getting that boy to do literally anything felt like wrestling with a...something that was hard to grasp. Instead she tried to motivate him the best way she knew how, disappointment. ”Not doing much good in there is it?” She asked and raised an eyebrow. “Unless it’s busy practicing without you.” she added but he had already moved onto something else and she sighed. Thankfully Leo came home a moment later and she felt herself relax a little. She felt better when he was around, things were just easier to deal with and it wasn’t like the other two made it easy for her. Vera nodded in his direction when he entered the room, silently greeting him. She fought down a grin as Leo tossed the veggie crisps in Delaney’s lap. Leo, ever the saint, trying to take care of everyone. Kicking her feet to rest on the top of her bass drum she waited to see if anyone had managed to come up with something new to practice.

 

[Delaney Hollis]

Delaney was half off the couch, balling up the paper Asher had thrown to shove it down his throat when Leo finally arrived home. "Heck yeah, food," Delaney cheered, desire to kill Asher briefly forgotten in favour of snacks as he hopped over the back of the couch. Heading for the kitchen, he waved off Vera's comment about his bass. Now that Leo was home it was actually worth getting it. "Cheers, Leo," Delaney said, happily grabbing the bag of chips off the counter before slipping to his room to get his stuff. "Asher, if you're not off my amp by the time I get back I'm gonna kick your ass," He called over his shoulder, opening the chip bag and grabbing a handful.

"Eurgh, Leo what did you buy?? Are these veggie chips?!" Delaney stumbled back into the kitchen, chucking the chips back on the counter in disgust. "Vera, Leo's trying to kill me," He said, still half trying to spit the taste out of his mouth, making his way over to Asher to shoulder him off his amp so he could set up. Now that Leo was home and Delaney had avoided a narrow death by veggie chip, he was ready to get some excess energy out and play some music.

 

[Leo Malstrom]

Leo huffed when Asher cuddled into his side, and he instinctively gave in and finished his stretch, lowering one of his arms to his side while the other rested along Asher’s shoulders. He looked between each member of the band as his question was answered, while he pointedly ignored Delaney’s comment about poisoning him with the vegetable crisps. If a healthy alternative was that bad for Delaney, Leo wasn’t about to give him the satisfaction of convincing him otherwise, especially when they did have a practice to get to. “Alright, let’s stick with twisted whispers for now, then.” Leo said, moving away from Asher to find his wand and cast all the appropriate charms to keep the sound of their music inside the house and keep their neighbours from complaining about them, before he went to where his amp and guitar were rested against the wall. He moved the strap of his guitar over his shoulders and set up the amp, turning up the gain and adjusting each setting to his liking for the song before he strummed the starting riff a few times, along with a scale to warm his fingers up. With everything in place on Leo’s end, he looked to Asher, Delaney, and then Vera, waiting for her to count them in and expecting everyone else to be ready.​

 

[Asher Beckett]

Asher rolled his eyes as Delaney threatened him. "You're so cute when you're angry," He called after Delaney, laughing quietly as the shorter man shouldered him off the amp. He stuck his tongue out, ruffling his hair before moving back to his own space, plugging in his guitar. He had already tuned it to his liking while waiting for Leo. "Oh, dad, I've got half a song if you want to take a look at it later," He offered Leo, always running his unfinished work by the man before presenting it to Vera or Delaney. Twisted Whispers was really one of their funner songs, it was probably a good place to start. As he waited for Delaney to be ready- last, again- Ash couldn't help but be grateful for this little family he'd managed to stumble on all those years ago. He really did feel at home when he was with them.

 

[Vera Ito]

Vera twirled her drumstick in her hand absentmindedly as the boys continued to bicker. “He should try harder.” she said to Delaney, sounding bored, when he accused Leo of trying to kill him with vegetables. “Ay ay captian.” she said and gave Leo a wink and got ready to count off and start the song. She took a deep breath and took a moment to center herself, this is what she was good at. When she and Leo started the band years ago she never would have expected it to grow into what it is now, with two more member then what they had started with. She was slow to open up to new people, especially when it came to the band and music, she would be lying if she said she wasn’t grateful for those idiots. Even if adding to the line up was never a part of the plan. She clicked her sticks together a few times to get the tempo down before starting, “One, two. One, two, three, four!”