Piano Lessons Can Be Therapeutic

I never got to see much of Octavia around the House of Goetia. She probably was off doing the usual teenager stuff. Sometimes I felt like she was avoiding me for some reason because she probably thought I was her dad's next…well you know. But I am not! Let's make that perfectly clear, m'kay?

Speaking of which, I did run into her again. I was cleaning about the place as usual when I got bored and took a break. Walking around, I came into the entertainment room where there it sat. A nice, genuine pianee (or piano for the rest of you). I didn't care much for how pianos looked but man, oh man, did that piano look amazing. A nice, smooth white piano still in good condition. It looked like it was hardly played at all. I never got around cleaning it because I had no fucking clue how to. With the strings, I mean.

Walking up to the piano, I took a better look at it. I traced my hands along the keys. Ever since I got back into learning how to play the guitar, thanks to Moxxie, it got me curious about the piano from time to time. I pressed a few random keys as they gave off that ol' piano sound, making me smile. Who wouldn't want to be awesome playing this thing.

"What are you doing?" asked a voice right behind me. It startled me enough to jump almost a foot off the ground. I turned around immediately to see that it was Octavia in her usual casual attire with her arms folded.

"Ah. Christ, don't do that," I said with a hand over my chest, relieved that it was just her. "Sorry, I was just looking at your piano here." I gestured the piano to her. "It looks a-very nice."

I got a small smile from her as she walked up to me. "It's been with us since I could remember. Dad use to play it for me when I was very little. Now it just sits there, just a past memory."

I felt bad for Octavia. No matter how many times I've been here, she always looked somewhat gloomy. It's hard to tell when the daughter of the demon lord that hired you for cleaning is going through a goth phase. Sad how that term is no longer used for architecture. I raised a brow as I side-eyed her. "Did your dad ever teach you how to play?"

"He use to, but…" I saw her purse her…beak as I felt like maybe I brought up the bad memory of her 'rents arguing.

"But you lost interest." I suggested in finishing her sentence.

She turned her her head a little to look at me. "Something like that."

I had to do something. I've always felt that if a person like her had at least one decent friend in their life, life would be a little less shitty. I thought for a moment, then had an idea. "You know," I said rubbing my chin as if I was thinking. "I've always wondered how good I'd be at playing the piano. If only there was someone who could oh,…teach me some of the basics?"

I may have laid it on a little too thick as I looked out the corner of me eye and saw Octavia raise a brow at me. "Is that one of your codes for something?" She didn't sound like she was suspecting me to do something that would hurt her, but she seemed to be getting the hint.

"Only code for 'Hey, would you maybe like to teach me how?' Nothing else other than that. Unless you would like to perhaps hang as we do." I said with some slight subtle honesty.

She looks at me with a quizzical smirk. "Do you always make weird propositions like this?"

"Not really. I can be blunt and subtle when being honest if you'd rather."

The demon owlet smiled a little. "I don't know if I'd be any good of a teacher anyway. I can't even remember the last time I played."

I shrugged. "That would be okay. I mean, if you could help me learn the basics that's something we could do. Even so, it'd be fun to learn and I promise I'm a patient learner. Just a little eager."

Her little smile evolved a little more into slight amusement. "I'll see if I can find some of my old music sheets."

"Awesome!" I said happily with a grin. I checked the time on my phone. "Oop, I got to get back to work. Maybe a little later tonight or tomorrow perhaps?"

"Well, we'll see. If I can find the stuff."

"It's a date then. See you around." I flashed my smile at her again and went back to cleaning.

And so the day went on as usual. Clean here, mop there. Dust the tables, Barry-ellie! Wipe the nightstand, Barry-ellie! (Hopefully, some of you get that little reference) Do a little something with Stolas, make a little conversation with him, and not make a little love. And preferably not get down with him tonight (Ha! K.C. and the Sunshine Band!). And no, no sign of the wife yet. Fortunate for me. The less the drama, always the better. Then go home, wash up and start the whole thing all over again if not involved with I.M.P again.

Cut to me working for Stolas again, I see Octavia walking over to me while I listening to music as I was vacuuming the kitchen. I took out one of my earbuds out. "Hey there, Octie," I said being friendly. "What's the good word?"

She looked at me with cynicism. "Octie?"

"Aheh. I mean if you rather, we can just stick with a no-nickname basis," I suggested with a slight nervous chuckle.

She shook her head with slight amusement. "Okay, laughing boy. It turns out you're in luck. As it so happens, I came across…these." Octavia lifted a hand up to show me some old-looking papers. Squinting a little, I could see they were indeed music notes. They were similar to the kind I use to play when I was in middle school band. But these were slightly aged as they had some wear and tear.

"How long did you say it was since you've last played the ivory keys?" I asked with slight skepticism.

"You doubt me?"

"No, not all. I never said that."

"Because if you rather, you can just find someone else…"

"All right, alright. I won't question the teacher."

Octavia smiled, satisfied. "I hope so. I'll be waiting at the piano when you've got a moment."

"Aye-aye, Miss Maestro." I gave her a small salute. Octavia rolled her eyes in amusement and shook her head slightly. She went ahead and disappeared around the bend leading to the hallway. I put the earbud back into my cauliflowered ear and went back to cleaning with a smirk.

One cleaning later…

I washed my hands and met up with Octavia. She was listening to what I assumed was her kind of music. Does make you wonder if our music genres be similar to that of Hell's. I tapped her on the shoulder and she looked to see me and take out her earbuds. "Here and ready to go, teach." I jokingly added, "Sorry. I'd have an apple for you but I forgot it."

"Just take a seat, crazy boy," she said. She scooted over for me to sit down next to her. And so I did.

And thus began the first minute of many in our little sessions. It started out as you could imagine. First, there was the basics. Simple things like which keys were which, which notes belonged to which, and where to finger-place the fingers at. Almost walked into that one.

It seemed pretty easy, but I've always been a slow-and-steady kind of learner. Otherwise, I'd get really impatient. And impatience often leads to frustration. All can be solved with a calm demeanor and a leveled head. And patience, never forget patience. We did all we could do with the time given before I had to go back on the clock. Because if I didn't, well I'm sure y'all are somewhat smart enough to know what happens.

Once we got the basics out of the way, it was time for some practice. I'll admit I got a little agitated when I missed a few keys. I am a bit guilty of wanting to be a perfectionist. Then again, when the hell has anyone been close to perfect? Being practically perfect like Mary Poppins is a bit of a challenge itself.

But Octavia, bless her (or curse her, however the crap it works here in Hell), walked me through it and didn't do the whole 'strict music teacher' routine that's often been a stereotype. Took me almost a week and and a half to get it down right. That's less compared to the time it took me to perfect playing the guitar. Oh, what a relief it was to become a fast learner if one simply just apply all the fucking effort possible.

So it became a basic routine. I come to the Goetian mansion, I do some cleaning for two hours, practice a little piano with the daughter (keeping in mind that the girl was actually seventeen whilst I be still twenty-five at the time. I know, I was surprised when I found that out too. I don't know how things would be age-wise in Hell but I'm not taking the chance unless otherwise), I go back to cleaning, go home and repeat it all over again. But it wasn't all that repetitive.

A small consolation I'm happy about is that Octavia opened up a little more. And by that, I mean allowing myself to be in her circle of trust (just in case your minds started heading for the gutter). Anywho, it first began when we talked about the music we liked. She preferred depressing punk music (a bit typical for someone going through a goth phase, wouldn't you agree? Change my mind). And I, I preferred a variety other than some R&B and rap music or anything that isn't to my taste. Just because one can be cultured doesn't mean that they have to like everything. We kind of poked fun at each other in regards to our taste in music, and definitely agreed about what we liked/disliked about it. After that, things started moving swimmingly for us. It does sometimes pay to be easygoing.

Aside from music, she was really into astrology and, for some strange reason, taxidermy. Okay, the astrology I could buy. But the taxidermy? I don't know if that is part of the whole goth thing or not, but it's a thing so I'll let it be for now.

"Do you really think there's possibly any forms of life outside our own?" I asked her one day while having my lunch break. I was eating takeout that day if I recall. We were sitting against the marble railing that was part of the overlook. It was around dusk and nighttime was slower edging the sun out of the sky with the stars slowly waking up.

"How do you mean?" I heard her ask me.

"You know, like would there be a alternate Hell other than this?"

"You mean like…a space Hell?" She sounded quizzical like it was one of the oddest things to ask.

"Yeah, like a space Hell. I've been kind of open to the idea of multiverses. I mean, anything's possible. Like knowing Pluto is no longer considered a planet. Yeah sorry but that still kind of bugs me."

I heard the demon princess giggle slightly. "Is it really something to be hung up about?"

"I know I shouldn't be, but c'mon. Wouldn't you feel the same if you had known it for most of your life then all of a sudden 'oh, sorry Pluto. But your orbit isn't exactly the same as everyone else's'." I sighed as I relaxed. "Oh well. I suppose that's the nature of things. You think you know something all of your life and then one day, it just surprises you with something else."

"I suppose so." Octavia looked up at the stars now becoming more out in the open. "There is one thing I'm looking forward to though."

"Oh, what's that?" I asked.

"Witnessing the meteor shower known as Azathoth's Tears." I could see a gleam in her eyes when she brought it up.

"Meteor shower huh?" I asked with interest. I leaned over to hear more about this.

"Only the best one there is. Azathoth's Tears are known as tears from all the living things that never had the chance to exist," she explained. "It only happens once in a thousand years in our corner of reality. I'm looking forward to it coming soon."

I smiled at her growing excitement. "I can only imagine," I said in agreement. It was sort of like the feeling I got when I saw my first solar eclipse. It's nothing you get to see often. One of the many little things we take for granted. "I'd love to see what that must be like." I then had an old memory pop into my head. "You know? All this talk about the stars reminds me of a song I know."

The owl demon looked at me with suspicion. "A song?"

"Yeah. Nothing all that important, but it is something I often reflect on now and then. I think it went a little something like this." I cleared my throat and began to sing:

🎼Everybody lives on a street, in a city

Or a village or a town for what it's worth.

And they're all inside a country which is part of a continent

That sits upon a planet known as Earth (or Hell if you prefer).

And the planet is a ball full of oceans and some mountains

Which is out there spinning silently in space

And living on that planet are the plants and the animals

And also the entire human race (Or in this case Hell's denizens)!

It's a great big universe

And we're all really puny.

We're just tiny little specks

About the size of Mickey Rooney.

It's big and black and inky

And we are small and dinky.

It's a big universe, and we're not!

And we're part of a vast interplanetary system

Stretching seven hundred billion miles long.

With eight (formerly nine) planets and a sun; we think the Earth's the only one

That has life on it—although we could be wrong.

Across the interstellar voids are a billion asteroids,

Including meteors and Halley's Comet too.

And there's over fifty moons floating out there like balloons

In a panoramic trillion-mile view!

And still it's all a speck amid a hundred billion stars

In a galaxy we call the Milky Way

It's sixty thousand trillion miles from one end to the other

And still that's just a fraction of the way.

'Cause there's a hundred billion galaxies that stretch across the sky

Filled with constellations, planets, moons and stars.

And still the universe extends to a place that never ends

Which is maybe just inside a little jar!

It's a great big universe

And we're all really puny.

We're just tiny little specks

About the size of Mickey Rooney.

Though we don't know how it got here

We're an important part here

It's a big universe, and it's ours!🎼

A little change change up of the original version but you get the idea.

A small round of clapping snapped me out of my musical moment. My eyes widened and whipped around to see who else but Stolas standing there in his usual attire looking pleased. "Well Barry, you never told me you could sing," he said with delight.

I froze for a moment, feeling a slight flush in my cheeks. Busted and caught in the act of singing! I cleared my as I tried to play it off cool. "I uh do sing, just not often. You know? Self-esteem and shit when it comes to singing." My face couldn't help but produce an embarrassing smile. Damn you, natural reactions!

Stolas saw it and was most amused. "If that's what you say. Dinner is almost ready. We'd love it if you'd join us."

"Oh that won't be necessary. I don't wish to intru-"

"I won't have it. You're our guest tonight, and that's that. I'm not paying you to go home on an empty stomach." Stolas insisted.

I guess there's no arguing with him on insistence. Sighing, I turned back to Octavia. "You don't mind, do you?"

"Not really. It's up to you really," she said being chill.

I smiled as I shrugged. "I guess if it's not a problem with anyone then what the hell?" I helped Octavia up and the three of us headed over to the dining room for dinner. We laughed, we talked, we had a fun time. As we did, I got a chance to look at Octavia. She looked much happier than her usual gloomy self. I'm hoping that's a good thing. If I could help at least one person be happy, that's all that I'll ever need.