[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..."

[drunkkareoke]

What a week...

Between damn near killing that poor Zuko kid by falling on him thanks to faulty boots, having to completely scrap one of the cars she was working on, and not a day earlier having her one good guitar amp blow out for no reason, Haku was not having a good one.

The amp was easy enough to fix once she got the parts imported from the maker in Japan, but until then she was stuck practicing at the school when she was off shift. Normally the music room was empty, but today she was surprised to find one of the students was in there.

She'd had her music player's head phones on when walking there, so the random bass notes didn't reach her ears until she was already a step inside the room. Not wanting to interrupt, and hoping she'd go unnoticed, she stopped and attempted to backpedal out of the room.

[mutedbackbeat]

By chance, Derrick had opened his eyes and looked up from the bass to see a woman with silver hair. He almost went to say a greeting to Foxx, but he stopped when he realized he hadn't heard Foxx's melody. Looking again, he also noticed that this silvery-white hair didn't belong to her either.

More importantly, Derrick was staring at a person that didn't have a melody at all. He couldn't hear anything. Was he dreaming? Under an illusion?

"Uh... hello." Derrick said, trying to figure out what was going on. "Did you need the music room?"

[drunkkareoke]

Damn.

"Ahh... n-no, it's fine... I don't want to kick you out or anything..." Haku said softly, adjusting the strap of her guitar case on her shoulder.

"Normally... this place is deserted," she pointed out as a belated after thought.

[mutedbackbeat]

Good. The woman talked back. There was someone there... unless Derrick was imagining her speech as well. For now, he tried not to think too much on that possibility. It was then he noticed the guitar case. "Plenty of room for two." The class always seemed to have enough for all the students, so two people practicing should be fine, right? "There hasn't been classes, so think some haven't been coming to practice."

He gently strummed a note as he thought of a way to keep her to stay a little longer. Derrick wanted to know why he couldn't hear her when she seemed very much alive. "Uh, are you new here? Don't remember seeing you around campus."

[whodoyou_see]

Xion wandered through the school, not usually venturing to this part of the school but looking anyway. She hadn't been planning on finding anything, but then she heard the sound of music and peered into the room.

[mutedbackbeat]

Derrick heard Xion approach but continued practicing as her melody drew closer and closer. He looked up when he thought Xion would be by the door. "Hi."

[whodoyou_see]

She hadn't expected to be noticed so fast, but when he greeted her the hooded girl waved and stepped inside. "Hi. What are you doing?"

[mutedbackbeat]

Music empaths were unfortunately hard to sneak up on most of the time. "Practicing the bass." Derrick lifted up the instrument as if to show her. "Even if classes aren't being held, felt like practice would be good."

He paused for a second before asking, "How have you been doing?"

[knowledgeblooms]

After being cramped in her room, the library, and the labs for several days at a time, Blossom had decided it might be a good idea to get out and see something new. It would probably also relieve some people that she hadn't died in there or anything. But, when you were working on personal experiments sometimes social ventures had to be sacrificed

[mutedbackbeat]

Having gotten back to practicing, Derrick started to ease more comfortably back into playing the bass. He might have never returned to practicing (or at least kept pushing it aside) after a month away if it hadn't been for his little trip to the future. He wanted to think he had improved since his return to practicing, or maybe at the very least seemed to be a little more comfortable playing in front of people.

Part of Derrick still thought he had a lot to learn though. His older self had made it seem and sound so natural.

Derrick heard Blossom but continued playing only to look up once Blossom had entered the empty band room and not passed by. "Taking a break?" Besides when they studied together, he hadn't seen her around as much. He assumed she was busy studying or researching or family or clubs or secretary duties or maybe hanging out with Hajime.

[knowledgeblooms]

Blossom nodded, grabbing one of the nearby chairs and having a seat, still watching him pluck away at the strings. "Yes. Too many hours in a Chem lab and with my nose in a book may be good for my mind but it's not exactly healthy either. I had to get outside for a bit," she put her bag on the floor, the contents thumping a bit indicating it was probably more books...maybe some other things.

"How's the music coming? You looked like you were practicing pretty hard," Blossom commented.

[mutedbackbeat]

"Classes have been out, so self-study?" Derrick glanced out the window. It was still nicer weather. "Maybe you could try studying outside more?" Fresh air was healthy.

Derrick flexed his fingers a bit, feeling a bit of stiffness. He gave his hands a quick shake. "All right. Some people helped, and think I'm back to where I was before... stuff." Stuff being Blossom nabbed to the past and the events up until now. And Derrick was underestimating himself. He had actually gotten better than earlier.

[iamakraken]

Juno was in sort of the same boat. She couldn't still rightfully call herself "new" to the Institute - there were definitely faces fresher than her own, but she spent so much time holed up in her room watching movies or half-asleep in the library that it was really impossible to say that she was actually acclimated to the school.

She held a beat-up acoustic guitar by the neck when she nudged the door to the band room open. "Huh."

[mutedbackbeat]

Derrick had heard the melody belonging to someone he had met before walk towards the band room. He didn't think much of it until the melody arrived at the door and entered.

"Hm?" Derrick lifted his head up to look up at the newcomer. Was she part of band class or just someone who liked to play? "Need the room?"

[iamakraken]

Juno shook her head at Derrick, hoisting the weight of her guitar just slightly. "No. I mean, I was gonna play, but --" Well, you can sort of play an acoustic guitar anywhere. Besides, she's not exactly a prodigy on the instrument.

"How long have you been playing?"

[mutedbackbeat]

"Since late November, after Thanksgiving Break." Derrick had only started learning to play after he arrived at the Institute. "Still not as good as some of the others in class."

He looked down at the bass in his hands. It was one of the school's, so he didn't feel right borrowing it and playing somewhere else. What if there was another bassist who needed it?