[abandoned] Our hearts were ringing

[mutedbackbeat]

Characters: Derrick + you
Location: band room
Time: various times in the day
Content: Derrick is practicing the bass
Format: whichever
Warnings: Possible YouTube linking and "This can totally be played on a bass. What are you talking about." handwaving~ (You'll understand why soon enough =Db )

Comments

[supremeweek]

Leafing through a small stack of blueprints as he mused over ideas for the Spring Festival, Franky had hardly been paying attention to where he walked beyond to avoid walking into anything. It wasn't until he caught the not-quite-melody of a bass that the big man realized he was nearing the Band classroom.

He paused by the door, leaning down to peek into the room with a small frown. He recognized the redhead in there from before, and it looked like the kid was just as bland with his music playing as he was with repairing a broken wall.

After a moment, the Shop teacher shook his head. "Yeesh, that's painful. You been paying attention to what Bones tells you at all?"

[mutedbackbeat]

The voice nearly startled Derrick, causing him to glace up at the new arrival.

"Uh..." Oh, it was that guy from the woodshop classroom... Franky? Derrick looked at the bass, where his fingers were still on the strings, and back at Franky. "Yes..." Was he that out of practice that he was even hearing things wrong?

[supremeweek]

"Hrmph." He crossed his arms. "Then maybe the old coot's skills are slipping. Thought he knew better." Though he shouldn't be surprised, the guy had no brain after all, yohohogod he was annoying.

Ducking into the classroom, the teacher waggled a finger at the note music set out before Derrick. "Close that thing."

[mutedbackbeat]

"Uh. Not his fault..." Derrick gathered the music sheets and put them inside the book and shut it. Then, turned his gaze to the floor. "S-sorry. Didn't know it sounded that bad..."

[supremeweek]

Franky ignored the kid's apologies and (not uncalled for) melancholy at his beratement. "Now, try playin' again."

[mutedbackbeat]

Derrick held his fingers on the strings without playing anything for a good minute. He couldn't recall any song completely, and even the ones he thought he knew well started to fade from his memory.

Taking a breath, he tried to copy the only song that was playing clearly before him, but it meant that he couldn't think ahead very far since he wasn't that familiar with the melody. Derrick started to play this song, though nervousness made it very choppy and not quite there in terms of having feeling behind it.

This was all wrong, Derrick thought.

[supremeweek]

Watching over the teen's playing in stern silence, Franky said nothing for a good long while into the stumbling song. The tune wasn't half bad, but the kid was still trying too hard to do it right.

Finally, Franky gave a snort. "Better, I guess. Gotta stop using your brain, though, kid." He suddenly snatched up a guitar from where its stand on the side of the room and gave it a strum. "The melody of a true player, it comes from the soul beyond understanding~" His impromptu chords didn't quite make an entirely perfect matchup of tunes, but he hit the notes with such surety that it felt like it should sound good, regardless.

[mutedbackbeat]

How did someone stop thinking? If Derrick knew how do that, he would have been doing that a lot recently. ... He had been able to do that before coming to the Institute, but meeting people and making friends had changed that, leaving him often in between and stuck in indecision without some outside help. (Unless Derrick rushed in, which would often be detrimental to his health and well being.)

Still, Franky made sense. Music empaths heard the world like that, and watching him Franky play with such confidence and enthusiasm made the tune come alive, even if some notes were off.

Derrick tried again. His start was much like before, choppy and shaky, but he kept at it. And at one point, Derrick got really close to playing without a care but backed away into worry once more, trying to get the tune right.

[supremeweek]

Well, even if the kid was lacking a bit of inspiration, at least the little guy knew how to listen. He was falling short, though, and Franky was halfway between irritation and something vaguely resembling hopeful at how close the kid was getting.

"C'mon, kid, pick it up!" He gave his notes another strum, trying to match up with what the bassist was playing. He didn't know the actual tune that was getting played out, but he was taking the indication and coming up close, making it up as necessary. "Just go with it, the thing ain't gonna bite you!"

[mutedbackbeat]

The addition of the guitar made the band room fill with a melody that wasn't quite flowing together, maybe a little on the noisy side, but a lot of energy. Derrick furrowed his brows as he just kept going at it, playing until his fingers gave a twinge of ignorable pain. He let both the guitar and Franky's melodies collide into something Derrick wouldn't have been able to understand on the spot because there was this strange echoing effect throughout it.

The confusion should have thrown Derrick off completely, but instead he arrived at what was a pretty decent bassist's interpretation of Franky's melody at the moment. (Though only Franky's tune itself could be super enough to match him.) Somehow Derrick had stopping thinking about the melody, and let the music do the work for him.

Even Derrick noticed, something had happened. "Oh." He stopped and looked at the bass like it had been the one that did something.

Ignore those few glowy things floating in the air around Derrick.

[supremeweek]

This was more like it. As far as Franky could tell, the more freeform the music became, the better it sounded, regardless of how well their two guitars came together. Whatever song it was that Derrick had started in on, the teacher was thinkin' it had a pretty super melody about it.

Through what Franky would describe as a few notes short of a rockout, he couldn't help but let out a few whoops of approval, as per proper methods to display approval. The kid was getting it!

The mood was on the uprise as they got more into it, though somehow it suddenly cut off when the kid paused in his almost-jamming. Franky's own strumming slowed, and he eyed Derrick and his weird little lightshow.

"Feel better?"

Franky-Derrick jam session? =Da

[mutedbackbeat]

"Yeah," Derrick said. There was something different and more satisfying with this way of playing. It was a lot more fun too.

Then he noticed the glowy things. "... That's new." And potentially troublesome, but it wasn't like Derrick didn't know music had incredibly energy within it. He channeled it easily to the ceiling lights; the light grew brighter for a brief second as a glowy thing hit the bulb.

Derrick shook his hands, clenched and unclenched, then placed his fingers on the bass once more. The only way he would know if he had gotten it was to try again. He looked at Franky, a silent question asking for a possible encore.

Totally |Db

[supremeweek]

Whatever the little lights were, the kid seemed more surprised by them than Franky: weird powers, man, whatever. The big guy was more interested in seeing if the kid was willing to keep this up.

At the unspoken request to go on, Franky's grin redoubled, and he gave his strings an eager twang. "Hell yeah, let's take this sucker from the top!" It was only natural for music to put someone in a better mood; that was the whole point of it, after all, wasn't it?

Let's rock! XD

[mutedbackbeat]

Derrick replied with a strum on his bass and started playing note after note based on Franky's melody. At times when the melody was above his skills, he tried anyways, missing a few notes, improving when needed. He really got into his playing; he tapped a foot and lightly nodded his head to the rhythm. Occasionally he looked at Franky, enthusiastically playing his guitar.

A smile crept onto Derrick's face as he played. This was like nothing he had done before.