- - - - lost stories from quartzia - - - -

green-purple-grey-teal music

not sure if this deserves a tw but. i hope you enjoy this too

i'm on a roll today :)

shadow was staring intently, examining my face and my eyes, calculating the contents of my mind.

with a hum, she wrote something on her notepad and smiled up at me once she was done.

"go right through ruby!" she grinned, motioning towards the door.

with a deep breath and closed eyes, i walked in through the door.

when i opened my eyes, the door was locked behind me and i wasn't really shocked by what i saw.

an empty arena with a wooden-faced piano occupied by a male with fluffy brown hair and light brown eyes.

he was playing an interlude, a very faint green light emitting from his keys.

"hello?" i tried, walking towards the piano-boy.

he stopped on a g sharp and held his finger there.

"mhm?" he hummed, raising his eyebrow.

"are you okay?" i asked gently, finally reaching the piano and leaning over it so i was face-to-face with the pianist.

he lifted his hand off the keyboard and smiled shyly, then flashed ruby-red eyes at me.

strange.

"i'm alright, thank you," he replied with his sandpapery-rough voice, "do you need anything?"

i opened my mouth to say something, but he cut me off before i could say anything with an a major.

"tell me what to play," he said in a serious tone, transferring his finger to c major.

"anything?" i perked up, eyes widening.

"anything," he echoed with a grin.

"isle of flightless birds?" i offered.

the words were unplanned, they dribbled out of my mouth like, like, like...

"very well, very well." he murmured, skimming his fingers gently over the piano keys.

the boy started with an uneasy hand before adapting to the sound of the song and played through like he'd played the song multiple times before.

i blinked a few times and fell against the top of the piano where my arms held me up, but he carried on playing the song as if i didn't drop my full weight onto the front of his instrument.

a raised eyebrow.
a slight smirk.
it was a knowing look.
he knew something was up.
he knew how the song affected me.
but i didn't know how he knew.

he carried on, past the chorus and watched my expression carefully, his skilled hands still swiping across the keys as my eyes flickered from toxic green to royal purple.

he carried on playing, throwing in some of his vocals too while i rested my body onto the front of his piano.

then.
like all good things, the around-six-minute-long song came to an end.

the last note was lengthened out just to keep me hanging on that thin, nonexistent string he had me tied to.

then, the now red-eyed man lifted his hands off the keyboard, grinning widely.

"i hope you enjoyed that, your majesty," he chuckled, ruffling his brown hair with his left hand.

it was covered with black paint and if you looked close enough, there were three thin lines tattooed into his wrist.

"i did, thank you," came my reply, and i took note of how his eyes flashed to a honey-brown before it went back to red.

"i'm glad you enjoyed it, miss."

"yeah?"

"yeah."

an awkward silence took over.
the green faded away, turned to the warm pink that felt an awful lot like platonic love.

then, the boy giggled.
literally giggled like a teenager.

"goodnight, ruby," he said through his fluffy, pink giggles.

i smiled confusedly back at him and waved.

"goodnight."

and i walked away from the piano boy with the red eyes, back to the door that i entered from while he started another slow, melancholic tune.

"bye!" i shouted out, before closing the door behind me.

shadow did a two-fingered salute as some sad excuse of a greeting, then wrote another few words in her notepad.

"alright! i hope you enjoyed your time here, rubes. take care and stay safe out there," she said, before dismissing me.

before i went to walk down the stairs, i turned to face shadow again.

"hey shadey?" i started.

a hum.

"do you by any chance know that guy who i was with in there?"

she looked up at me bewilderedly.

"you don't know who that is?" she asked, leaning forward.

i shook my head.

"you're a dumbass sometimes, ruby. that's tyler robert joseph. the guy you've been listening to for the past couple of years.

it hit me right there and then.

"oh, my god." i groaned, hiding my face behind my hands.

shadow giggled and waved a hand towards me.

"silly you, now go on, i'm pretty sure you have people waiting for you back at home." she smiled.

"alright, see you soon!" i said, before turning to walk down the shiny, dark blue stairs.