Octavia's Reprise - Chapter Twelve - Author's Note · 10:41pm Mar 28th, 2014
STOP. FULL SPOILERS FOR Octavia's Reprise - Chapter Twelve BELOW!
This chapter is twice as long as most other chapters, but I just couldn’t bring myself to break it up. It had to all be told at once.
The “Ceilestio” night club is a play on the “Cielo” nightclub in New York. Never been, but sounds like they would appreciate Vinyl’s music.
As one might have guessed, the “final battle” in this chapter was greatly inspired by one of the scenes from Scott Pilgrim (movie or graphic novel, your pick). As such, the club in which it takes place is named after the one where he battles the Katayanagi twins “The Ninth Circle”. Some of the motifs are similar as well, like the idea of their music “doing battle”, though here it’s entirely metaphorical rather than something that can actually be seen.
The idea for this battle came not only from Scott Pilgrim, but from places in the fandom as well. Both of the ones I drew from involve Neon Lights (MC W1SH) and Vinyl, namely the comic “Mixoff Battle” by PluckyNinja and “Vinyl and Neon” from the YouTube of the same guy whose music inspired this writing to begin with. I’ll admit that at times the idea of them having this “fight” felt a little hokey and unrealistic, but once it popped into my mind I couldn’t get it back out. There was just no other way I could see the piece ending. I just hope you guys enjoyed it.
I enjoyed bringing in Neon Lights for this chapter. I made sure to name drop him a little bit earlier to give him some presence, but I think for a good number of fans he didn’t need much of an introduction. I don’t really dive into a whole lot of detail on what his exact relationship with Vinyl is, which I think leaves things open for however the readers may feel about their pairing. I haven’t seen his personality as defined as the other musicians I’ve written here around the fandom, but I do like what I did with the character, and wouldn’t mind writing more of him sometime. Originally I was going to have more between he and Octavia after their meeting at the beginning of the chapter, but I wanted Octavia’s presence at the head-to-head to be both a surprise to the Vinyl and the reader. This left me to simply alluding to some of it in Neon and Vinyl’s conversation after the show. Not as much fun, but it keeps to story going.
I think the origin of the name “Tavilicious” can all but go without saying, haha.
I love the mental image I have of Octavia’s outfit for the battle. I should draw it sometime. Part of me wants to see how others may interpret it though. For any confused, “electric double bass” does bring up the image I used as reference for the description of Octy’s instrument here.
The line “Octavia came to play” is so cheesy and yet so perfect; I love it.
The image of the battle between the dragon and the knight was rather spur-of-the-moment. It’s not what I’d call the perfect metaphor, but once I likened Vinyl’s music to a dragon having Octavia create a knight to battle it just felt natural. The idea was to then transition “likes” into “is”, if you get my meaning; gradually the battle goes from just a mental image to something more corporeal, the battle gradually evolving away from the performers and the audience until the only thing that can be thought about is the battle itself. I hope I did an okay job of getting this sort of thing to happen. I’m also not sure what the stance on knights versus dragons is in a place where dragons are very real, sentient, and occasionally friendly, beings. Ah well.
Gee, I wonder who that mysterious judge could possibly be? Tombstone, if you ever read this fic, I sincerely hope that you don’t mind my using your songs as inspiration, and that the inclusion of your ponified self is meant as a tribute for bringing the thought of this story into existence. Thank you.
My mind gave itself a slow clap at the “don’t drop the bass” bit. I’m sorry if you don’t think so, but for me, I’m just overly pleased with it.
Fancy Pants is another name drop from early on, and another whose conversation with Octavia I cut out for the sake of surprise. I’m afraid of his presence being a bit of a deus ex machina, but I hope readers can see it otherwise. We definitely get a sense that Octavia’s been busy preparing for this night, despite never actually seeing what all her preparations entailed. I feel this is also a contrast from most of the rest of the story; I think there’s only one point in it where the point of view is from Vinyl rather than Octavia, yet this chapter is completely separate from Octavia’s point of view until the very end.
Some may question the idea of taking the club life to the city, especially given both Octavia and Vinyl’s experiences there. And, honestly, I don’t blame them for thinking that. Heck, I wonder myself sometimes, and I wrote it in. I think though that with all things there’s a good and a bad side; Vinyl found the good side, and Octavia wants to shift away from only seeing the bad. I liken it to my own experiences with bars. Growing up I was vehemently against the idea, only seeing them as terrible places that breed misdeeds. Once I got older though and moved to a new city for work, I started going with a few new work friends with absolutely nothing else to do to be social. And I saw a different side of them. I’m not saying they’re a good thing, as there’s still plenty I have against the places, but it did help me see them in a new light, and now I look forward to the time I spend there with my new friends. Take that as you will.
It’s been a fun ride; hope you guys enjoyed it! I haven’t yet decided if I’m going to do a write-up on some thoughts on the piece as a whole later on. As it stands at the moment, it did get rejected from EQD once, but they said it had potential to be posted provided I clean some stuff up. So, if you decide to read this again, don’t be too surprised if some wordings get changed here and there. The overall story will remain the same. In the meantime, thanks for the read!
Ugh Equestria Daily
Almost as bad as teh featured box, I swear
Hope they get smart enough to recognize awesomeness when they see it
2099974
You and me both :) Been working on polishing everything, and each time I do it feels like a stronger story. Hopefully things go well :)
2104329
Good luck!