Open Wilted Petals

[Daria Bright-Root]

Daria knew this was her own fault, really. If she were only like other girls - strong and confident, ready to go after what she wanted... but no. She was just plain, silly, quiet Daria. Always overlooked, always second best. Even her friends seemed not to notice her, when it came down to it. "Friends", she supposed, at this point. She didn't really have any left, not now. She had seen everyone she thought she could call a friend, all cosied up together in Madam Puddifoot's, where it was all too obvious what was happening. She didn't know whether it was Marnie or Penny who was paired up with Emmanuel, but it was obvious that they had all been on a double date - what other reason did people have for going there? Marnie and Penny knew how she felt about Emmanuel, knew she had liked him for years, and they had still... it hurt too much to think about.

She hadn't talked to any of them about it - of course she hadn't. Why would she bring it up, when they were clearly all too busy forgetting about her? Daria had just withdrawn, not so much as looking in the direction of any of her "friends" ever since the Brightstone weekend. It wasn't.... hiding, exactly, but it also wasn't not hiding. Today she had taken her guitar down to the garden, hoping to find some peace and solitude. She plucked gently at the strings as she settled into a seat, her beautiful voice soft and quiet as she hummed to herself, not quite confident enough to actually start singing in such a public place.

 

[Demetrius Wagner]

Demetrius was tired of studying. It was dull, it was boring, and he needed a break. He needed fresh air. Deciding to take a stroll down through the gardens, Demetrius arrived to hear the soft sound of guitar strings being plucked. Without really thinking, he followed the sound, intrigued to find who was making the music. He was surprised to find a young girl - someone he didn't recognise but who nevertheless appeared near to his age. She was pretty, Demetrius noted and cursed himself. That wouldn't help with the inevitable social interaction. He was just standing there, after all, rather awkwardly if he hazarded a guess. Demetrius cleared his throat, deciding for some reason to actually to speak to her. He'd gotten more confident with socialising - and this would be the ultimate test, a complete stranger who wasn't even in his year. "Hey. Uh, your playing is really good," he said, a little nervously. "Do you mind company?"

 

[Daria Bright-Root]

Daria thought she had found a spot to be by herself, but clearly she hadn't been as successful as she hoped. She yelped at the sound of an unfamiliar voice, hands stilling on the guitar as she looked up to see an unfamiliar older boy. "O-oh..." She stammered, hair falling forward to half-hide her face. She looked down, certain he was just complimenting her to be polited. "Um, th-thank you..." She said quietly, glancing up again at his question. "No, you... you can sit here if you like..." She said quietly, wondering why he would be talking to her. Maybe she had unknowingly taken his spot to be alone. "Um, sorry, I - I can leave, if you like."

 

[Demetrius Wagner]

Demetrius blinked, taken aback by her evident shyness. It took him a moment to respond, to realise she thought he wanted her spot. "What? No, that's fine. You were here first. So it's your spot, really. I just followed the music, and found you, and wondered...well, I don't know, I wondered if you wanted to talk. Is that weird? If that's weird I can leave." Demetrius felt really awkward now, a redness coming to his cheeks. "Or you could keep playing and I can just listen. I find it kind of calming," he added with a shrug, trying to play it off like he didn't mind when he secretly cared deeply that the interaction went well.

 

[Daria Bright-Root]

Daria blinked up at the boy, startled that he seemed as uncertain as she felt. "Oh..." She said, letting the words sink in. He wanted to... talk to her? Nobody wanted to talk to her, not anymore. Not plain, quiet Daria. It was even more surprising when he complimented her music, and she glanced down at her guitar. "Oh..." She said again, trying to figure out the right answer. "You... of course you can stay, and... we could talk, or I can play more... whatever you want..."

 

[Demetrius Wagner]

Demetrius was glad she agreed to talk. He relaxed a bit - some tension in his shoulders he hadn't realised he'd been holding suddenly dissipating. "Cool. We can, uh, talk a bit then. Do you mind if I sit? I'm Demetrius, by the way. I'm a Hufflepuff, fifth year," he said, introducing himself. "How long have you been playing guitar for?" Demetrius asked, genuinely curious. He kind of wished he could play an instrument, but he never learned anything beyond some recorder at primary school. He didn't think that counted.

 

[Daria Bright-Root]

Daria smiled nervously as the boy offered to sit, giving a tiny nod. She tucked one side of her hair behind her ear, trying not to be so cut off. It had taken her years to make the friends she had just lost, she couldn't afford to be rude to someone who was trying to be nice to her, even if she had no idea why. "I'm Daria." She said softly, glancing at the boy, then down to her guitar. "Ravenclaw, fourth year..." An older boy was talking to her, and she still didn't know why. He seemed nice though, and she struggled to control her stammer as she answered him. "Um, a-a couple of years." She said shyly. "I started teaching myself when I was in second year..." She glanced up at Demetrius again nervously. "Do you play anything?"

 

[Demetrius Wagner]

Demetrius took a seat beside her, keeping a reasonable distance between them. He didn't want to make her uncomfortable. "Oh, so you're just one year younger, huh? OWLs next year for you," he said, noting her year and name. He thought her name suited her, somehow. It sounded like a flower. "You teach yourself? That's pretty impressive," Demetrius said. "No, I don't play anything. Kinda wish I did, it looks like fun. I'm not really an artistic person, I guess." Demetrius looked down at his shoes, thinking. Why wasn't he? He didn't know if it was his upbringing, or if he really did just lack any artistic sensibilities. It was an odd thing to suddenly think about, but he felt like his future was looming somewhat. He felt like he needed to be making stronger decisions on what kind of person he wanted to be.

 

[Daria Bright-Root]

Daria looked down at the mention of OWLs, hair falling in front of her face. Her grades hadn't been what they should recently, and she knew she was going to disappoint everyone when OWLs came around. "I suppose, yes..." She mumbled. It was a relief to talk about music, glancing back up at Demetrius. "Oh, it is fun. You could learn, if you wanted to, I'm sure..."

 

[Demetrius Wagner]

"I don't know, I'm not really..." Demetrius trailed off for a moment, lost in thought, then cleared his throat. "I guess I could," he decided on, tentatively. He was trying to be more positive - trying to put himself out there. "What do you recommend? I mean, I know we only just met, but what do you see me playing? And don't say like, a xylophone or something." Demetrius attempted to smile at her, letting her know it was a joke.

 

[Daria Bright-Root]

Daria felt as though she had said something wrong, but Demetrius seemed to quickly shift gears, to go along with her. "Oh, um..." She paused, thinking about it. "There's nothing wrong with xylophones, they can get quite large and complicated..." She explained, while she thought. "But... I mean, piano is a good starter instrument. You learn quite a lot about music theory from it, which translates well to other instruments. I started on the piano."

 

[Demetrius Wagner]

"Oh, I didn't know that," Demetrius said in regards to xylophones, feeling a little chastised. "It's just what they give out to kids to play with, uh. I guess I really don't know much about music." He listened to her intently talk about piano. "Yeah, maybe I'll take classes over the summer if my parents let me. They might think it's a waste of money at my age. Then again, maybe they won't." Demetrius really wasn't sure how his parents would react to him suddenly wanting to take up an instrument. "So you technically play piano too? That's pretty cool. Any other instruments?"

 

[Daria Bright-Root]

Daria shrugged slightly, shifting a little in her seat. "I mean, that makes sense. The media doesn't really show people what xylophones really look like often." She said, fidgeting with her pick. She smiled when he said he might look into classes, though she didn't know how true it actually was. "Just guitar and piano. And I, um, I sing..." She added, hesitating before she spoke again. "If... if you'd like, I could.... teach you some piano?"

 

[Demetrius Wagner]

Demetrius nodded. Maybe he'd have to look up xylophone players when he got the chance. It sounded like there was a lot more to it than he knew. "You sing as well - that's neat. Can I hear you sing or am I putting you on the spot?" he asked, knowing how shy Daria was. "I'll let you hear how bad I am," he said with a coy smile. He was finding it easier to talk to her - the conversation seemed to flowing well and he was secretly really pleased. "You'd really help teach me a bit?" He asked, eyebrows shooting up. "That'd be awesome. I can't read music though, so uh, it'll be slow-going." Demetrius also didn't know the first thing about piano. How did people remember which keys were which? Why were there black ones? He had so many questions.