One-Man Band

[Kallistos Rolleston]

Kall had been bored, and found himself in the auditorium. His plan was just to have a look around then then leave, though things didn't often turn out as planned with him when there were musical instruments involved. His guitar was back in his room, but it seemed that the world was his oyster here.

Finding a pair of drum sticks, he sat behind the kit and began to play out a simple beat, tapping his foot that wasn't on the bass drum in time to the beat. Leaving the sticks on the medium tom - which he'd put away before he left - he stepped away from the kit and walked over to the keyboard and found a programmed rhythm on there that he could work with. Grabbing a harmonica from the basket, he walked back to the drum kit and sat down to have some fun.

[Anne McDermot]

Anne was constantly busy, with her classes to teach as well as her administrative work, but that was a good thing, because if there was one thing which the Scottish brunette absolutely could not stand, it was having nothing to do. On the rare occasions when she did find herself in this position... well, some people might have been content to relax behind their clean desk and check their Facebook feed, but not Anne. She had led her life on her feet, and that was what she did when she had nothing to do- she got up and walked. Occasionally, she poked her head in on a class or a club just to check that things were running smoothly.

Today, her ramblings took her past the auditorium, and the brunette paused for a moment, thinking that she caught a sound on the edge of hearing... Yes, there it was again. Her curiosity aroused, Anne pushed open the door and made her way inside.

[Kallistos Rolleston]

Kall was just tapping out a beat on the drum kit and then a smile touched his lips as the beat changed and began the drum background for Neil Young's; Heart of Gold, though without a holder for the harmonica, he had to pause to play that, though kept a beat going on one of the toms with one hand.

Dropping the instrument down on his lap, he used the stick he was holding to flick the other into the air and easily caught it - so should have gone into marching band - and went back into the drumming, getting lost in the music. He didn't know what others would think of him playing Neil Young, but at least his mothers would be pleased it wasn't heavy metal.

[Anne McDermot]

Anne smiled wryly to herself as she recognised the rhythm, her heels clacking on the floor as she made her way across the room in a kind of counterpoint to the drums, although it was far from being perfect. Musicality was not the Scottish woman's strong point; it was not what she counted amongst her many qualifications.

"Very good." she commented at what seemed like an appropriate juncture, giving the musician a smile.

[Kallistos Rolleston]

Kall lost himself in the music, and wondered why he'd never gone into playing drums, and then he remembered it was because their house was too small for a drum kit and he'd taken to the guitar well enough.

He jumped, and dropped a drumstick, at the sound of a voice. "Thank you, Ms McDermot." He said with a quick smile as he retrieved the dropped stick. "I'm... uh... not in the way of something happening, am I?" After all, the VP wasn't exactly the faculty member to be wandering around the campus for her health.

[Anne McDermot]

The brunette winced at the sound of the stick clattering on the floor- she was no stranger to loud noises by any means, but they weren't easy on the ear and she had a great enough respect for her auditory receptors not to want to expose them to that kind of strain too often. Anne quite liked being able to hear.

"No, no." she assured the boy with a smile, taking a few steps closer. "Just happened to be passing and I heard a noise. I thought I'd better take a look- could have been a madman, you know." She grinned.

[Kallistos Rolleston]

Kall flashed a relieved smile, pleased that he wasn't in the way, and wasn't about to be kicked out. "I can't promise that I'm not a madman, but I will take claim of the noise." His smile deepened into a grin and he shrugged before he played the intro to Aerosmith's; Walk this Way. He wasn't a fan of the band, or the song, but it did have a great drum intro.

"Do you play anything, Ms McDermot?" He asked as he finished.

[Anne McDermot]

The brunette laughed. "Ah, well, I suppose we're all just a little bit mad around here." she commented with a smile. "God knows I must be." She tapped her foot for a moment as she listened to the drums, lost in the rhythm for a moment or two before snapping back into reality as she was asked a question. "Oh, I used to play the violin. I haven't picked it up for years, though. Do you play anything else?"

[Kallistos Rolleston]

He grinned. "You should so add that to the Academy brochure: You don't have to be mad to attend our facility, but it sure helps!"

His eyebrows shot up as she mentioned an instrument. "I'm sure I saw a couple of them back there if you want to see how good you still are. I play guitar, and enough piano to know how to tune my guitar when I can't do it by ear. I play a mean version of Chopsticks on the piano too. The drums here." He gestured toward the kit with the stick. "As long as the tune is basic enough, once you've heard it enough, it's not hard to work out which drum gives off the right sound for the tune. Well... easier than most other instruments where you also have to work out the chord that was used to make the note... And now I'm talking too much." He followed his words with the humourous ba dum tss on the drums.

[Anne McDermot]

Anne laughed. "Well, I did suggest it. Sadly, Ms. Hart wasn't in favour." she pronounced with a philosophical shrug. Of course, she had suggested no such thing, but she couldn't imagine that the principal would be hugely keen on the idea of making her school out to be a lunatic asylum. Not very encouraging for potential students.

The Scotswoman shook her head regretfully. "Much as I would love to, I wouldn't want to subject your ears to the tragic sound that is a violin gone feral. It's been many, many years since I was first violin in the school orchestra. And that's quite an impressive repertoire! I assume you've heard the old joke?" And then, because she was herself, the brunette went ahead and told it anyway. "What do you call someone who hangs around with a lot of musicians?"

[Kallistos Rolleston]

Kall shook his head sadly and then grinned. "Maybe I should suggest it? I could start off with a talk about boosting school spirit and then just throw it in there when she's not expecting it." There were times when tricks like that worked with his moms, though he then also found himself talking his way out of the hole he'd just dug.

He pouted when she declined. "And you say this after listening to me pounding on drums." He shrugged. "I think you should start playing again, but I could also be pushing boundaries and bordering on the side of not being respectful enough." He flashed her another grin.

He tipped his head to the side and shrugged. "I wouldn't have a clue." He replied.

[Anne McDermot]

The brunette raised an eyebrow. "I may well regret this, but I must admit I'm intrigued as to how exactly you'd relate school spirit to putting that sort of thing in the brochure. Telling people they're insane isn't generally considered to be an uplifting thing." Not in her experience, anyway. But then, she was of a different generation, and no one was advertising the school to people her age, were they?

"I think you might be right there." Anne agreed with a firm nod, slipping a hand into her jacket pocket and feeling around to locate her watch. Most people wore watches on their wrists, of course, and so did Anne, normally, but the strap had broken the day before, and fixing it was not something that the brunette considered to be within her skill set.

[Kallistos Rolleston]

The teenager laughed and shrugged his shoulders. "I hadn't really thought that far through yet." He confessed with another shrug. "Of course, I'd word it in a way that doesn't use the word insane, because, after all, the school does boast to be training the best of the best." He pursed his lips together in thought. "The squad and I could always make it into some kind of cheer." He shrugged again, now actually playing with the idea.

He pressed his lips together at her nod. "I apologise then, and will not make that mistake a second time." He twirled the stick in his right hand, knowing that he had probably been in here long enough and he had things that needed to be done elsewhere.