That’s The Devil’s Music { Closed RP }
The sounds of a sweet, somber symphony carried throughout the area much like a forlorn echo. An echo that sounded pitiful in it’s own right. The instrument– a piano– carried on swiftly, the white and black keys struck simultaneously with one another in a continuous manner. The vibration of the grand piano– which was painted in all black–, rumbled against the hardwood floor with each stroke. Not a single beat was missed in any form or fashion. In fact, the harmony was absolutely perfect for it to be created by one single individual alone.
But, .. there was something about the melody. Something that made the musical art seem.. robotic? There were no missed notes; None at all. No personal flair added into the tune. Of course, if such a piece was played in a concert, the music would be more than satisfactory. It.. It just appeared as if the instrumentalist just.. didn’t care.
Suddenly, those pale fingers came to a halting end. The classical instrumental was no longer thick in the air, and there was nothing but pure silence hanging around. The keys of the piano gradually recoiled to their normal state, and the musician’s hands simply settled down to his sides.
…Soft clapping soon replaced the silence that lingered in the air– The clapping of one, sole individual. It was hard to tell if the clapping was mocking.. or if it was actually genuine.
Eventually, the taunting applause settled down until the silence was no longer burdened by the vibrations in the air. The pianist, however, didn’t bow. He didn’t even acknowledge that his performance was appreciated.
“… Well done, Koen.” Death remarked, having been that specific and only person that had applauded Koen’s talent. The being was stationed in his cushioned chair in a parlor-like place. It was much more of a theatrical lounge area than anything else. His posture was relaxed, unburdened by any concerns or thoughts. Death actually liked classical music, to by quite honest. Classical music hardly had any verbal words during an orchestra set. It was music that could mean anything that you wanted it to mean.
“..Well?.. And do you have any.. feedback towards Beethoven’s masterpiece?” Death inquired of his reaper creation, curious as to what Koen would say to him.
The reaper didn’t cut a single glance over to his practical father. Instead, his half-lidded eyes focused on the shiny keys that were laying still before him. However, with a slow roll of his raven eyes, Koen merely shook his head lightly towards Methuselah’s question.
“Boring.” The reaper voiced, in a blunt tone– his pitch lacking from care. “… Same as the others. They are all boring. I don’t care for any of them.. I am annoyed like hell that you keep asking me to play this bullshit.”
“Now, Koen.. I know that.. you are a whole, new you. You aren’t in tune with your new characteristics, but.. it’d do you some good to watch your tone. I’m the one getting annoyed of telling you that.” Death responded back to Koen, his facial expression not faltering away from it’s nonchalant appearance.
“..Anyway, how about this? How about… you play me something that… isn’t ’boring’. Every musical piece that I have asked you to perform has all been ‘boring’ to you. So, .. show me what you wouldn’t 'categorize’ as boring.” The older-appearing man suggested, giving Koen the option to play any song that he wanted.
For the next few moments, Koen’s movements were absent. It was almost like he was completely disregarding his father’s request. Because, why did any of this matter, anyway? Koen just wanted Death to stop “testing” him in the aspects of “troubling emotions” and “hindering feelings”.
Still, with yet another shake of the reaper’s head, Koen rose his hands once more to hover of those ivory and ebony keys.
With no warning from his end, Koen’s fingers begun dancing along the piano keys at quite a fast pace. He’d begun playing a much more different rhythm than the “Moonlight Sonata” tune. This piece was much more… secular– Much more bluesy, and with so many bopping beats. Soon enough, Koen’s hands were all over the piano, his chords changing every so often throughout the song.
His foot was quickly pressing against the pedals that were located underneath the piano key spread, causing the notes to twang on in a nice flow.
Methuselah only observed in silence, his eyes narrowed down at the display that his son was showing him? Blues and rhythm? Really?.. Death would have never thought that Koen would prefer such profane music.
Hidden away from Death, there was the smallest smirk that appeared upon Koen’s face as his piano-playing intensified. He didn’t know why this was stimulating him.. It was fast, disorderly, and all those notes were ultimately wreaking havoc on the piano. It.. was just perfect.
However, Koen allowed his fingers to abruptly stop beating against the keys. Honestly, his fingers and hands were twitching.. just a little.
Death’s eyebrows quivered upwards just a smidge when Koen’s jiving number came to an end. Well, that was definitely something different.
“That’s the Devil’s music, son.” Death finally spoke out, giving his initial thoughts on the music. He wasn’t being completely serious in his wording, but.. it did show him something new about the reaper.
“You personally chose that song to play, so I assume that it isn’t.. boring. If it’s not boring, ..then what is it?” Death inquired of Koen with a curious tone, his eyes not breaking away from looking at the reaper.
“… I don’t know.” Koen said aloud as he was gradually trying to take a hold of his bearings. His hands weren’t vibrating any longer. In fact, they made their way back down to his sides. “… It’s.. deadly. Lethal.”
Lethal? What on Earth did Koen even mean by that? That didn’t exactly make any sense to Death.
“And.. that.. exactly.. means?..” Methuselah slowly enunciated, trying to get more information out of Koen. That didn’t give the older man much to go off of. Hell, HE was Death. “Deadly” and “lethal” didn’t exactly mean anything to him.
“It means.. that I’m not so certain.” Koen declared, his head finally turning to take a view of his creator– who was lazily rested in the comfortable furniture. Koen’s eyes were bland, not interested or energetic in any way. “..Perhaps, I just mean that it’s… that it’s fucking boring me to death.”
“.. Still with that tone?… I guess it’s better than the former– You.. constantly pissing me off over some loose girl. So, your vulgarity is an improvement to me in comparison.” Death added, slowly shrugging his shoulders upwards to display his apathy. Koen didn’t crave that Yukimori girl to Death’s knowledge, so Koen’s tone.. his mood.. can easily be worked with.
“..Mm.” The reaper groaned more to himself than to anyone else. Although Death decided to “customize” Koen’s mood and his behavior, there was still something about Yumi that tugged at him. He’d never admit it right now, but.. it was definitely there. The thought of her now wasn’t because of.. longing or admiration. It was because of something.. much darker now. Maybe betrayal? Disappointment? Those were only a couple of possibilities. “Right.”
“You have a meeting with the higher ones today? A definite conclusion for the situation that happened at the Yukimori’s house months ago?” Koen asked, decided to alter the conversation so that he wasn’t the primary subject.
“Correct. Life, Harmony,– even Chaos will be there. I’m tired of board meetings, but.. none of them will be satisfied until I.. 'compromise’ with the majority… Can you believe they want me to bequeath my title to someone else for a while? As if any of those sloths can handle my work…”
“Alright, soooo– Senior year is about to start– We’re talkin’ cramming, crying, and cussing– The whole nine yards. This upcomin’ fall semester is gonna make us or break us, ya know what I mean? We’ve only got–what? Three more weeks? Three more weeks before we gotta get back on campus and work hard.” Alexander expressed to Yumi, his fiance… who has actually been his fiance for a few months, now.
It was pretty close to closing time at The Rabbit Hole, and today was one of the days that Yumi and Alexander worked a shift together. Because they were on their summer break, the two of them were able to take later work hours.
But, to be quite honest, Alexander didn’t know how much longer he wanted to stay there at the cafe. He’d put in a couple of years there, and he liked it there just fine. But, it.. was just that his “other job” simply came with more money. And with his engagement to Yumi, Alexander wanted to accumulate more than enough earnings to give Yumi the wedding that she wanted. He just knew that Yumi would do all but agree with that decision, but.. that would be a different conversation for another time.
“So, I’m thinkin’–” Alexander resumed, while sitting down a glass of bubble tea specifically for Yumi down on the counter of the bar. “I’m thinkin’ we have a little getaway? I’ve got a couple of places in mind– And I know this is probably too damn sudden, but… look–”
At this time, Alexander removed two coins from the depth of his pocket. One coin was a quarter, and the other coin was only a penny. Dropping both of the coins from his hand and letting them clatter to the surface of the counter, Alexander narrowed his eyes and tapped his index finger against the quarter.
“Alright– Heads says we’ll goooo toooo.. Las Vegas. Tails says we'lll goooo.. tooooo New Orleans. –You gonna be the one flippin’ the quarter, too. Oh! And the penny is the wild card. If you choose the penny, you don’t have to flip it. The penny represents the.. special place I wanna take ya. A secret.. kinda.”
