Rock Got No Reason [Open/Active]

[rockedrhythm]

Characters: Noah Morrison and other people
Time: The end of winter break
Location: School grounds, or a hallway, or something.
Content: New student whoop whoop
Format: Either's good
Warnings: Bluh bluh huge dick

Comments

[mutedbackbeat]

Derrick had his reasons for wandering the school grounds lately. One of which was just trying to find some sense of normalcy after everything, not that he had gotten the chance to have something like that before break. Still, wandering the grounds gave him something to do.

He planned to do that until the cold finally got to him. That was, until he heard a beat that didn't have any hint of familiarity or the darker gloom that came from having fought or learning about zombies and kidnappings. It was different from the rest of the student body and staff. The melody also had a tone with the hintings of uncertainty, slightly lost.

Curious, Derrick went to locate its source and found... well, he assumed he was a student. Derrick hadn't seen him before, not that it meant much. Derrick was still rather new to the school.

"Looking for something?"

[rockedrhythm]

There were enough people around for Morrison to not take any particular notice of the approaching tune. The call caught his attention, though, and he raised his eyebrow, grinning a bit at the kid a short distance away. His tune had that sort of low, uncertain beat of someone who was maybe more comfortable keeping out of focus. Now why would that be?

Thumbing the backpack strap on his shoulder, he lifted his chin in a reverse-nod. "Yeh. Any clue where they keep the admissions office? I need to set up an appointment."

[mutedbackbeat]

If he wanted to go to the admissions office, that meant he was a new student; Derrick had been right. Derrick remembered finding the office had been a little difficult for him when he first arrived... though he had been disoriented from students with music empathy and a love for band class deciding to surround him all at once. That had probably been the main reason for it... Not that he really regretted that it happened now... It was complicated.

Oh.

Did that mean Derrick was the first one this new student had met so far if he was still looking for admissions? ... At least Derrick knew where the office was now, and hopefully he'd be able to hide that he didn't know what he was supposed to be doing right now. He hadn't been lucky with first impressions... or social interactions in general.

Without his expression changing, he took a few steps and said, "Yeah, this way."

[rockedrhythm]

He gave a bemused little grin as he listened to that tumbling flow of tunes through the kid's head. Discomfort mixed with satisfaction, that sort of faded sound of remembering something, before the jerk of returning to the present, and wary tones of more uncertainty. The guy was a veritable chorus of awkward. How cute.

"Thanks, man." He took up a stride alongside the student, just inside what he suspected might be the redhead's personal boundaries. "You been here a while, I take it? What's the place like? I only heard the rumors, hard to know how much you can really trust about a place like this."

Music empathy dueling imminent |D

[mutedbackbeat]

The chords that became more prominent in the student's tune brought with them confidence, maybe a little cockiness. Many of the previous wandering notes from an unknown location or indecisiveness had settled into the background. Amusement overall. It was an interesting change, but it could be mostly excitement to be at the school and now glad not to be lost.

Derrick gave a quick glance to the student as he walked beside him. A little close, but as long he didn't start touching him, he wasn't going to react for now. "Not really. Came end of November," he admitted with a shake of his head. The student would have to find someone else for a better overview because Derrick still had much to find out for himself. "... What have you heard?" Was it anything about what had happened over break?

[rockedrhythm]

There was a little twitch in the tune, but it was to be expected if he was going to be saying things like that. The kid was expecting some sort of bad news to get around. That at least promised that there were interesting things around here, whether or not they were the ones he heard about.

"Ah, all sorts of weird bits and pieces. Like you guys got fairies and dragons hiding somewhere underground, and you got a hologram room to train for a mutant uprising, you got people from other dimensions who can mess up the universe, I could go on for a week." He made a gesture halfway between a shrug and rolling his neck. "It'll be fun to hear just how crazy the conspiracy theorists are."

[mutedbackbeat]

Besides a few accented beats, the student's melody sounded relatively the same. He probably came to the school by choice despite what he heard, probably not believing it.

But the truth was...

"Not sure about actual, but a few students are fairy-like. Had popcorn with a dragon. Was really nice, not underground." Derrick paused for a moment. He had a Control class in the Danger Room; was that what he meant? And the uprising stuff... the media and politicians loved to use that argument it seemed. He really hoped his parents were safe from the mutant association. "There is a hologram room. Not for uprising stuff." Although, the students did well enough on their own. "And had a professor return from another dimension."

... they had gotten a lot right if that had been what the student heard.

Derrick focused his attention on the other student's beat to see how his vague telling of the school affected it, hoping he didn't just scare him. "Um... I'm Derrick." Might as well get names out of the way too.

[rockedrhythm]

More wary uncertainty. That on its own was a good sign. As the kid reflected over the points, and admitted to their partial validity, Morrison suppressed his smirk. He hadn't really expected things to come as close as the kid was making it sound. This place was going to be more interesting than he'd thought. Hopefully, he added mentally, the good sort of interesting.

His expression kept vague, though, with arched eyebrows. "Wow. This place really is a gathering for weirdos." He cast a restless look around. "Expected about as much, but at least they keep the place clean."

The belated introduction was met with a glance, and a small grin. He was wondering how long it would take the guy to offer up a name. "Morrison."

[mutedbackbeat]

So he hadn't scared him. If anything, the tune brightened. Though, looking over at him, Derrick wouldn't have been able to tell that. The music was going to help him a lot.

Continuing his walk towards the building, Derrick ignored the "weirdo" comment. He was used to being thought as such... though for a different reason. But, he didn't expect just a last name. Though, he was probably like J, Spin, or Starr or many other students in some fashion. They had some reason for a name change. Maybe he should expect this by now.

"Hm. Nice to meet you."

[rockedrhythm]

"Yeah, right, a pleasure." There was that resigned sort of curiosity in his tone, the one you heard with people who were chronically not-nosy. Derrick apparently wasn't willing to voice any questions he might have, a timid imitation of being satisfied with not knowing. One of those sorts that "didn't want to be a bother." Hard to provoke. Hmm. It would be up to Morrison to ask, then.

As they walked and the relative warmth of the building started to sink in, Morrison pulled his jacket off and slung it over the same shoulder as his bag. "So it's barely been a month with you, huh? Seems like you've gotten used to the weirdness pretty quick, then." Morrison raised a brow, all mild curiosity. "Or did you have plenty of odd stuff back home to warm you up, too?"

[mutedbackbeat]

"The office is this way," Derrick said as he shuffled a bit in his coat. He still wasn't used to wearing such a heavy coat. Casting a quick glance back at the shorter student, he wondered what Morrison was reacting to. Where were his thoughts going to that made his tune have faint shifts in it? Derrick couldn't match them to something he was doing... unless he was just that bad at this. No... things hadn't spiraled into a chaotic mess of awkward and confusion. Maybe the changes were still from getting to see the school?

Returning his gaze back to what was before him, he went down a hall, same as he was previously. "No, pretty normal back home. Didn't meet other mutants 'till here. You?" Save for one other mutant, but that was a different matter entirely.

[rockedrhythm]

Snippets of confusion, curiosity. That was interesting--what was the guy reacting to? It could have just been twitchiness, but something seemed a bit off. Morrison was missing something in this equation.

"None that I met. Heard rumors around, but never much thought about them. I heard there was one kid who managed to break a guy's hand by getting punched, but that might have just been making an excuse for being a wuss, anyway." It had been pretty surreal to hear about it the next day, but it helped the reality of it sink in. "Might be sort of a culture shock, coming in, but I figure it'll be worth it."

[mutedbackbeat]

... Yes, Morrison was reacting to something Derrick didn't know about. Derrick kept his expression blank as he thought about it. This could be bad. Maybe he should hurry to the office, but not actually hurrying. That could cause problems too. Even if he couldn't be certain, he was positive he was somehow part of the problem.

"Defense mutation?" So not knowing another mutant was more common than he realized. Then as an afterthought, "Lots of different powers but sometimes the same too. Weird like that." It had probably been the biggest shock he had when he first arrived.

[rockedrhythm]

Okay, now the kid was panicking over something. Very weird. Curious, but entertaining in its own bizarre little way. He gave Derrick another once-over, more studying, holding back the amusement from his expression. Either he was getting triggered by something Morrison wasn't intending, or something abnormal was factoring in. What power did the kid have, anyway?

"Something like that," he mused. It was the second comment that caught his attention. "That so? You'd think there'd be more variety, with all the possible stuff you can get. That mean you found a few of your crowd, too?"

[mutedbackbeat]

The admissions office was in sight, so if Derrick had been making things weird, which he hoped wasn't the case but it probably was, Morrison could ditch him and take care of school things. Or maybe Derrick could wait outside and then show him around? It would be the right thing to do since Morrison was new. Derrick probably wasn't the best person to do so but... Morrison's tune didn't sound like he was annoyed. Curious and confused maybe, but it was mostly... amused? What was Derrick missing here? Was Morrison a telepath or empath or something?

Derrick crossed his arms and unconsciously tapped out a few beats to the music around them. "... Yeah, school's pretty musical. Even if didn't hear it all the time, probably would've anyways." He nodded toward the office. "Um, here we are."

ps Derrick could have totally walked away if you want

[rockedrhythm]

That last bit was definitely something that caught his interest. His eyebrows shot up. "Musical, huh? What's that supposed to mean?" Ah, but they were here already. Asking too much further would look a bit odd if he wanted to keep things under wraps, but he was curious