[open] Now I'm out here counting airplanes

[mutedbackbeat]

Characters: Derrick and others
Location: school grounds, probably nearer to the dorms
Time: Wed., midday
Content: Amongst some confusing things that had happened to him recently, Derrick's just realized how far behind he is in schoolwork. ... Staring up at the sky is just the way to solve that obviously.
Format: prose, willing switch it up

Comments

[pumpkineko]

Ever since things had gone back to normal, the school had quieted down and much of the excitement had dwindled. It was a shame. Blair had had so much fun with all the crazy stuff. Now that the institute calmed down, it was probably time for Blair to actually attend a class or two.

Not today, though. The weather was nice, so she went outside to explore more of the campus. She caught sight of someone staring up at the sky and went over to investigate.

"Wat'cha looking at?"

[mutedbackbeat]

"Hm?" Derrick had heard someone's curious melody approach him and then a voice, but upon looking around, he didn't see anyone. But Derrick knew he was hearing someone with his music empathy.

He lowered his gaze more and saw a black cat wearing a hat beside him. A cat student? Or a shapeshifter taking the form of a cat? Either way, it didn't matter, having heard a tiny pet robot and puppy footstool before.

Derrick put his hands in his coat pockets before replying, "Just the sky. Better weather than earlier." He wasn't bothered by the idea of a talking cat.

[pumpkineko]

"Mmhm," Blair hummed in agreement, sitting down to enjoy the warm sun. She glanced at him. "You don't seem to mind that I can talk."

It had been a while since anyone had so casually greeted a talking cat, so she was mildly surprised. Still, it was nice to actually meet someone who didn't seem to think it was so strange.

[mutedbackbeat]

"Mutant school. Met a talking dragon once, so it doesn't seem so strange." Derrick remembered accidentally scaring Levitas with popping a bag of popcorn around the time Derrick first arrived at the school. It had been surprising at the time, but now he shared history with him. "Are you a new student? I'm Derrick."

For all he knew at the moment, Derrick could be speaking to the new shapeshifting professor.

[xx_falcon_xx]

He was back. He was finally back. It was the closest thing he now had to a "home," what with him living here at the school, though he still remembered that this place had also started making him feel uneasy and had him quite sleep-deprived for a night or two before he had left for the hotel with Foxx and the other students. Yeah, he was there with them, and around them, but he strangely kept to himself, just taking in the other conversations, seeing who was talking to who, names, everything, yet still kept his distance. Except for Foxx, he talked to her whenever he had a chance

[mutedbackbeat]

The overall Music of the school was still low, nervous, shaken up from the school coming alive before them. Derrick hadn't experience most of that first hand, but he saw how it had scared his friends. And thinking back on that time gave him the chills as he couldn't seem to recall everything that had happened. So much of it blurred together. He had to delay his return to the school a bit longer, go home, try to sort things out before having to deal with school and schoolwork again. That had been the plan at least.

Derrick recognized the sudden voice belonging to the guy who kept talking to Foxx and from a class of his. His melody was familiar, though he hadn't tried to memorize it. "Hm? Nothing much." Actually there was a lot, but he wasn't sure if it was something he wanted to talk about to someone he didn't know very well. "... Fujimaru, right?"

[xx_falcon_xx]

"Yeah, that's me! Awesome of you to remember my name - others would just trip over it and call me something else." He remembered some bullies in his elementary school call him "Fujimary" which he sooo hated. Being picked on for being Asian was one thing, but to be picked on because of his name? Lame. At least he messed up their home computers repeatedly, so it was retribution enough, in his mind.

"Bit if you wanna shorten it up, and feel inclined to do so, just call me Fuji, like the mountain." It was an acceptable way of calling him, in his mind, and at least he made people have the mental association of a large, imposing mountain

[mutedbackbeat]

"Oh, okay, Fuji." Derrick knew someone else who had a long name, and Derrick mentally shortened 'Morrison' to 'Morri' in his head quite often. Not that he'd ever tell Morrison that. So, Derrick welcomed an approved shortened version for Fujimaru.

"Hm... Pizza toppings are a serious decision. Usually stick with pepperoni. More likely to taste good over a special that adds ranch, chicken, artichokes, and whatever else. Never know how something like that'll turn out." Maybe it wasn't a smile, but it was a small joke along the lines of Fujimaru's. If anything, for all the serious or blank expressions Derrick presented to the world, Fujimaru would know that Derrick wasn't completely that.

He then nodded. "Yeah, I'm Derrick." Lifting his gaze upward again, he added. "... Just thinking about what happened recently and what's to come." Like the mountain of homework.

T_T This makes me sad, YOU'RE NOT ON THE CREW BUT SHE CAN BE YOUR MOMMY TOO!!!

[hanahanasunday]

Robin was really enjoying the melting of the snow; it meant spring was on its way, and with spring, a flower garden that she hoped to plant. Not having anything in particular to do at the moment, she had wandered out onto the grounds and begun looking for a suitable area for a plot.

It was amidst this aimless wandering that she noticed a familiar redhead, frozen on the grounds.

"Ah, Mr. Williams," she greeted, coming up a grassy slope to reach him. "How are you? It's been quite awhile since we've seen each other."

Or at least quite awhile since they'd seen each other face to face, though Robin had certainly been keeping her customary tags on him from the time of the time travel fiasco until he went to the hotel.

Mommy Robin! ;~;

[mutedbackbeat]

The incoming tune was familiar; Derrick didn't know it as well as some of the others, but it was one he had tried to memorize. Derrick turned to face his history teacher and then dropped his gaze as he realized he had missed a lot of her classes. How much did he need to catch up on?

"Hi, Ms. Nico..." he said guiltily. There would be no escaping or delaying this. "... It has."

[hanahanasunday]

That was not at all a happy face.

Robin's smile didn't leave, but it did become a bit more subdued.

"It's good to see you up and about," she said lightly. "I was worried about you, but it seems you're much better now. And just in time; we're starting Ancient Egypt in class, and I believe it will be our most exciting chapter yet." Including her authentic cat mummy that was most certainly not stolen from a Cairo museum.

[mutedbackbeat]

"Egypt?" Derrick found Egypt was always fun and interesting to learn about, and his expression and the fact that he was willing to look back up showed that.

It lasted for only a few second though. "Uh... kinda... actually..." Derrick might as well spit it out. "Kinda really behind in the class."

[inspirethefire]

On some small level, Hajime was a bit disappointed that there wasn't more work to do, these days; the opportunity to push away distractions and focus in on the assignments was a relaxing pastime, and if he needed to relax at any time, it was these last couple weeks

[mutedbackbeat]

There was something familiar about this student's appearance and voice, a nagging feeling in the back on his mind telling him that they had crossed paths before or maybe that Derrick had seen a video of the student. The later really sounded likely to Derrick with a strange additional feeling that maybe Derrick should stay out of the way to not upset the other...

The student might have also been at the hotel, so Derrick wondered if that was the case then. He hadn't been focused on meeting new people at all then. Derrick didn't like how he could't recall who this person was exactly.

"... Yeah?" It was the Derrick noticed the clipboard in the other student's hands. From recent experiences, Derrick knew that if he was going to get into trouble about his homework, students were going to be the ones doing confronting the issue not the staff. "... Is this about attendance?"

[inspirethefire]

"Pardon?" Hajime blinked, then followed the glance down at his clipboard. "Ah. No, this is, unrelated to...Sports Officer, you know..."

He cleared his throat. Distractions, not needed right now, right. He ducked into a sharp, quick bow. "Tanaka Hajime!" He tightened his mouth and made sure not to look away. "You... were instrumental in the effort to return Blossom and myself to the present. I wanted to show you my gratitude."

[mutedbackbeat]

That was... good. Derrick wouldn't have know what to think of the school if students were actually being put in charge of attendance.

"Tanaka... Hajime?" The name was what he needed to jolt Derrick's memory. Even if he hadn't known the melody or face well, Derrick knew the name. Hajime! Sanji's friend, the guy who was with Blossom in the past. Hajime's next statement confirmed this. They finally met, besides Derrick seeing a video post of his. ... That was why he was so familiar looking. They shared classes to, he thought.

"Uh... it's..." Derrick never did figure out exactly how he should take this. And the bow was new. At the very least, he now knew Hajime wasn't mad at him for hurting his pride or tough guy act by rescuing him. (With how some people had been acting, Derrick wasn't entirely sure anymore.) "You're... welcome. Glad you got back safely." Honestly, the thanks surprised him.

/has been listening to My Private Nation constantly all week XD

[crimean_cleric]

During the school's period of entrapment in a bubble of darkness, Rhys had spent a few brief moments wondering if he would ever see his friends that left again. Fortunately, the barrier had disappeared, and aside from the lack of sun, things now seemed mostly back to normal. Still, Rhys had been very happy to see Derrick back and apparently healthy.

Derrick had only stopped by briefly to check on him, though, so when Rhys spotted him on his way back from class, he popped over in his direction. "Hullo, Derrick!" He smiled in greeting. "Have you gotten settled back in yet?"

Pfff. I thought the sun was back by now since the log was backdated to Fri. Oops. |D;;

[mutedbackbeat]

Having to leave a few of his friends behind had eaten at Derrick when he was at the hotel. He wanted to believe that they were okay and strong enough to handle whatever was there, and that's what he tried to tell everyone. But there was still doubt and fear in the back of his mind. Those feelings ate at him until news that the barrier had lifted reached his ears. Then he found out that his friends were still around and that Blossom's sisters were also okay. The students at the hotel started returning to the Institute.

Derrick had been in no mood to return with them, feeling guilty, angry, confused for a lot of things, things he wanted some time safe to figure out by himself... Which he did and got more questions in return.

"Hey, Rhys." Derrick gave him a brief wave. "Kinda. Still sorting out missing work."

...I'm confused about it, too, actually. /applies liberal doses of handwavium to log

[crimean_cleric]

It had been a difficult decision for Rhys to remain at the Institute- the things that had happened were frightening, and most of his friends had decided to leave. Still, all of them leaving meant they were safe, and Rhys felt that as a healer, he was obligated to stay in the more dangerous situation as long as he could. Not that anyone was necessarily likely to be bodily injured, but who knew? In any case, having everyone back safe made him feel that he'd made the right decision.

Rhys smiled a bit at Derrick's answer. "I suppose you would be... you've been out of it since, oh, about Valentine's, right?" He followed Derrick's gaze up toward the sky. "I don't think you have much to be worried about, though... a lot of teachers have been canceling classes and postponing assignments and such. Especially toward the end of last week."

I like handwavium on this point =D;;

[mutedbackbeat]

"Hm..." So... Rhys never found out that Derrick first started missing school (by choice) a little earlier than that when two people he knew left within a week's time. Derrick didn't feel like correcting him on that point.

"Guess that's good..." Not that the canceled classes due to creepy school was a good thing, but not having as much to catch up on was. Hopefully things would return to normal for awhile... though Derrick wasn't sure he really knew what that was anymore. "Everything going okay with you?"