Dude, Chill

[Lennox Marshall]

"Would you stop flailing? My goodness, you're in such a tizzy today." Lennox had her very best friend's nose pinched between finger and thumb, dragging him down the hallway towards the music room. It was always the same, something small would set him off into maniac mode, and she would be the one to sort of mellow him out. Often times people looked at her like she was some kind of drug dealer, Jack's personal one to be frank, and she was most definitely not. The affect she had on him was simply an emotional connection through music. Something they both loved and had bonded over for years. Her ability just happened to render him nearly catatonic when he was in this kind of state.

Elbowing the door open, she stepped inside and pointed to the piano stool, "Pop a squat," Taking a seat herself, she patted the spot next to her and smiled. Her ability had been catching better when people were closer. Of course the more in tune she was with a person, it seemed almost easier, too. But she couldn't be sure if that was her own observation or if it was a normal thing that came with her ability. Jack was obviously frantic with whatever had happened.

While it may have worried her in the beginning of their friendship with the way he was acting, she found that he blew things out of proportion sometimes. It could have been something awfully small, so the worry could wait. Her fingers started dancing along the keys in a soft melody, nothing peppy or upbeat, but calm and relaxing. She felt relaxed as she played it and was hoping to evoke the same response in her best friend.

[Jack McCarthy]

The fact that Jack had any friends consider who he was or how he acted was nothing short of minor miracle, but the fact he seemed to attract such good loyal friends that have stood beside him for years almost seemed unfair and in his more sobering moments Jack could scarcely understand it himself or what they saw in him that he clearly didn’t see in himself.

People were confusing. Jack just didn’t seem to get them but they apparently they seemed to get him….Remarkably.

Take Lennox for example. When Jack first arrived at the school, well...Let’s just say he wasn’t as animated as he was these days. A pale child with a all too thick Irish accent, a pale pinched look about him and a complexation and twitchy demeanor that screamed “Dog that has been kicked around too much” he generally kept away from the rest of the population of the school to the point where he only really connected with less than a handful of people, one of those people was Lennox who he one day happened to come across her playing piano alone in the music room one day and Jack he was just kind of….drawn to it.

Fast forward years later and Lennox was practically dragging Jack to the music room by his nose with her tiny but strong hands, this was a typical ritual for them. When Jack had one of the his….episodes…. She was always on hand to….Well, Jack wasn’t really sure….They always just kind of talked and after a while Jack forgot what he was upset about…..

Eventually, Jack with a sizeable pout on his face reluctantly sat down next to Lennox “It’s totally not my fault! Jack insisted beginning waving his hands around clearly incised “That guy cheated me! I TOTALLY was going to beat him at poker then he had to use his freaky mind powers to SCREW me! That’s what they need to do to beat me! They have to cheat because they know the-

Jack’s rant died in his throat as the gentle soothing melody hit his ears and already Jack’s body seemed to lose tension and the scowl died on his face

…”I still should have won”

[Lennox Marshall]

The song she settled on she decided to play on a loop. It was probably better that way, no breaks, no time for Jack to start freaking out again. She just let him rant before the affects took over and his voice went from shouty, to calm. If she stopped playing, who knew how long it would take for him to start going nuts again. A poker game, of course. Lennox was not the gambling sort, she'd never played many card games and she wasn't sure what it entailed or how they could cheat, but Jack was so sure that they had, it was no wonder he was going nuts. The smallest things.

Lennox found herself smiling, not looking at him yet, but just watching her fingers glide over the keys. When she did finally look up at him, her expression was soft and amused because she was always amused by his passionate frustrations, rather the minor ones. The major ones, she took seriously when necessary.

"I'm certain that you would have won. And you're right, they totally must have cheat for you to lose because I'm certain you're an excellent poker player. I can only imagine that poker face of yours," She faltered and snorted out a laugh because the idea of Jack having a poker face was pretty laughable. He may not have been emotional in such a sense, but he did express his frustration vehemently and in a game of poker, that hardly seemed helpful.

Once he seemed more settled, she turned on the bench towards him and placed her hand on his shoulder, "Feel a bit better?"

[Jack McCarthy]

What made it worse was that Jack didn’t even know how to play poker, card games required a certain amount of chill and concentration both of which Jack didn’t exactly have in abundance. So once he started losing….well one thing naturally lead to another and Jack just melted down and that was when Lennox’s stepped in.

JacK couldn’t help but smile at his friend’s words normally he would explode forth with whatever amount of nonsense or bullshit that first spewed to mind...but Lennox’s music soothing influences were working wonders onJack, the musical notes gently wrapping his body like a warm and comforting blanket letting lulling him into a soothed state the tension just dropping off his body

In fact, Lennox’s hands on Jack’s shoulder awoke him from his daze, twitching as normal when someone touched him flinching towards Lennox only to nod sleepily at his friend

[Lennox Marshall]

Lennox felt him twitch beneath her palm and her face puckered a bit before he relaxed. She eased into a smile and looped her arm through his, giving it a squeeze before she turned back to the piano. Her fingers slid over the keys and she pursed her lips. She was always tinkering around with different melodies and things, but she had yet to come up with the foundation for her next song. Of course her dorm was full of insanity and it made things hard for her to write in the first place, but the music always seemed to come first and she couldn't even get that. Perhaps she was trying too hard, or not hard enough. She wasn't feeling the music, she was just thinking about it.

She let her fingers dance into a string of notes, nothing spectacular, but easy and soothing. When dealing with Jack, she always found herself up in the major scales, despite her love of minors. The depth of a minor chord shook her entire being, but they were ominous and dark tones that often resonated with despair and pain. Definitely not what she was going to get into with her best friend sitting beside her at the bench.

"Have you considered letting me teach you piano anymore? I know, I know, it's not exactly an electric guitar, but it's better, Jack, really! You could woo some pretty girl by jazzing up her life with a piano run and some fancy moves," Lennox snorted and nudged him with her shoulder. She didn't quite have the luck that she thought he might. Guys weren't really impressed by a girl who could play piano and sing show tunes. They wanted loud, bold singing with edge and angst. Basically the opposite of Lennox.

[Jack McCarthy]

Yes, from Jack’s body language alone, Jack had been well and truly been declawed as he just let the piano music wash over him, along with their effects that came with it, eventually making Jack as calm and relaxed as you’ll ever lightly to see him without the need of medication or getting smacked in the head with blunt objects….


And for that alone Lennox should just get every aware the school had to offer,

Of course, Jack was still unassailably Jack he just didn’t feel the need to jump around like a lunatic anymore, so he still looked at the keys both black and white with a clear curious look on his face as if trying to resist the clear temptation to play around with them….

...And naturally the light bump was almost enough to drop him off the seat, such was his lack of balance, but thankfully with overly dramatic and flailing arm movements to keep himself straight. Before waving away the very tempting offer from Lennox “Naaa...I’m more of a front man kind of deal you know what I mean? Up in the spotlight throwing shapes, busting moves, breaking hearts, you know how it goes. Besides who needs talent when you have charisma?