Octavia fought back the desire to let her face drop straight onto the table in front of her. Besides being unladylike, it would definitely make a spectacle of herself in the outdoor café. She wasn't entirely sure why she was here to begin with. The tea was far too expensive for everyday consumption, even more so now that she had to watch her spending. She had tried everything else within reason, though, and the expensive tea was her last resort. She was still extremely wound up from screaming at Scratch, and getting some cheap swill just wasn't going to cut it.
Coming here was still pushing her budget quite a bit, especially since she had screamed at Vinyl that she could keep her bits earlier. She heaved a long sigh, and stared at the tea balefully. She really should have been drinking it while it was hot, but every time she reached for it she found herself distracted by the events of her day. Disaster was the only word that seemed to fit. She should have demanded her pay, instead of walking out on the job completely. Without the bits from Vinyl, she might not be able to pay for the next month's rent, and that was before the tea.
Asking for the bits then leaving would have made too much sense, she admitted to herself with a sigh. She brooded on this for a moment longer, then finally picked up the tea cup in her hooves. Of course it was expecting far too much for her to make sense with anything she did these days. She finally tipped the cup back to her lips, and nearly retched as the tepid liquid rushed into her mouth. She fought back a cough, and put the cup back down with a clatter. She grumbled in disgust at the cold tea, and tossed the bits onto the table as she mentally berated herself for wasting so much time.
That was a decent chunk of bits gone, on top of the time wasted, and she didn't feel any better for it. If anything she felt worse. She was shaking slightly as if she had drank too much coffee, and was having a hard time standing still. She chalked it up to being consistent with the rest of the days events, and shouldered her double bass carefully. She sighed as she looked back at the wasted bits, then trudged her way back towards her apartment.
Octavia didn't really want to go back to her apartment, even if it was already later than when she normally headed home. The thought of walking into that horrible building was filling her with a keen sense of dread, especially when paired with the stark realization of being jobless. She was afraid that it was tantamount to walking into her own cell, and locking herself in. She didn't even know if she'd be able to find any decent work in time to save her. If she couldn't find even some small gig, she'd be forced into stooping to odd jobs just to pay rent. If that happened, it would be the end of her career.
The moment somepony saw her working any cleaning job, or any such menial labor, the Canterlot socialites would make sure she really never did get a job in music again. She sighed again, and trudged through the streets trying not to look at the buildings. She needed to start looking for auditions again, and that meant dealing with the sneers, and snarky comments. The insinuations to her character, asking if she was still playing foal's tunes. Worse than that, the ponies who flat out said no. The ponies who didn't even listen to a word she had to say, and rejected her on the spot were the hardest to deal with.
Octavia was made of tough stuff, she had to have thick skin in order to make it in the social scene of Canterlot. She could deal with ponies who said terrible things about her; she'd dealt with it in the past, and was still doing so now. It was just so difficult when they didn't even let you speak. If they insulted her, then at least they were talking. It was a hoof in the door, an opportunity to show them how professional she was, and maybe convince them to give her a chance.
She tried to push all these worries from her mind as she drew closer to her 'home.' For tonight, she really should just focus on getting some food, then a good rest. She was going to need it if she was going back on the job hunt again in the morning. There wasn't enough time to waste for her to take an entire day off, and she had already wasted most of a day after yelling at Scratch. She had been counting on the bits from Vinyl, if nothing else just to give her more time before she had to jump back into job hunting. She shook her head, and mentally berated herself for going back down that path again; she tried to keep her head clear as she resolutely began the slow climb to the tenth floor.
Octavia let out a loud groan, and rolled over as she tried to get rid of the dull pain in her back. This mattress was terrible, and caused her to have to shift positions every couple hours if she didn't wish to suffer such a fate. Her back wasn't hurting badly enough for that to be what caused her to wake up though. She wrinkled her face in confusion, and she tried to figure out the cause. Her eyes were stubbornly staying shut, but her ears perked up as she heard a series of loud, pounding, knocks on her door.
"Whoever the buck that is, they better have a damned good reason for waking me up at... four in the morning? Someone better be bucking dead," she swore darkly, and struggled to get her hooves out of bed and onto the floor.
She plodded along drowsily, with her eyes cracked just enough to see where she was going in the dark apartment. She pulled the door open suddenly without any warning, getting ready to give her best death stare to whoever it was. Her eyes slid slightly out of focus for a second, and her pupils dilated when she recognized which pony was standing in front of her. She had no issues contorting her face into an angry stare, and focused her eyes back onto the unicorn in front of her.
"What in the name of Celestia are you doing here, Scratch? Give me one reason to not slam this door in your face right now..." she warned under her breath with an intense tone of voice.
"Hey, I know now's not the best time, but I wanted to talk to you an-"
"IT'S FOUR IN THE MORNING SCRATCH, GO HOME!" she yelled, and threw the door shut with a loud slam that echoed down the hallway. She turned, but didn't get more than two steps before the wretched pounding resumed once again. This time, standing so close to the door, the loud noise reverberated through her entire body; and triggered a massive throbbing headache. She muttered dark swears about everything vile and unholy, then turned around to wrench the door open again.
"Damn it Scratch, go away! Didn't you get the idea that I don't want to talk to you?"
"Do you have any idea how long it took me to find this shit hole? Plus it's not like I could sleep. Either way, I'm not leaving until I've told you what I have to say. So can I come in or what?" Vinyl stated stubbornly.
"Fine, but I'm not getting you a coffee or anything, make it quick."
"Sure sure, it's not like you'd have good taste in coffee anyways Octobutt."
"You're on thin ice already Scratch..." she said through a grumble, and she finally stepped aside to let Vinyl through. She threw the door closed with a loud slam, then strode past the unicorn to throw herself on the couch.
"Dear sweet Celestia, you actually live here?" Vinyl asked with her mouth, and eyes wide open. She glanced around the room in shock, and then back at Octavia. Though the mood was tense she had to suppress a chuckle at the sight of Vinyl obviously fighting the urge to cover her nose with a hoof.
"Yeah, nothing like home sweet home..." she answered bitterly, and made a point of taking a long theatrical sniff. "If you don't mind can we get around to the point here? So maybe I can, you know, try and actually go back to sleep?"
"Err... Right, here," Vinyl stated simply, and produced what looked like a pouch full of bits. She floated it to the pony on the couch.
"What exactly do you think you're doing Scratch?" Octavia asked incredulously, and stared at the proffered pouch.
"I'm paying you, that should be quite obvious."
"For what? If this is some kind of hush money, then you can get out of my bucking apartment."
"What? No, I don't care what you said before, you worked hard. Harder than most of the ponies I employ, you earned your pay so just bucking take it," Vinyl insisted as she thrust the bag closer with her magic. Octavia eyed the pouch for a moment, but only had a moment of internal conflict before she snapped.
"I thought I already made it clear to you Scratch, I don't want your dirty money. I may be in dire need, but not so dire that I need your bucking charity. I quit already, the job wasn't done yet, and you told me you didn't like wasting time. So why the sudden change of heart? I don't buy it."
"It's not charity!" Vinyl said loudly, and thrust the pouch at the earth pony who swatted it away with a hoof, making it fly back at her.
"Listen to me! When I hire a musician, I generally plan on them getting frustrated with me and quitting before we can finish everything I plan out. I always make sure to have more content than what we're going to get through, do you understand what I'm saying here? It doesn't take a lot of music samples to remix into one song. I have enough from Resonance to make a song easily, maybe even a second one if I get creative. From you I could easily make an entire album," she explained as she turned and picked the pouch back up in her magic.
"You already did more than I expected, so just take the damned bits Tavi!"she added emphatically as she floated it back towards the gray mare.
"So now you're insisting that you underpay me? You don't make any bucking sense Scratch, are you even sorry for what happened? I haven't heard a single shred of remorse from you yet."
"Of course I am, Tavi" she yelled suddenly ripping her sunglasses off, and threw the bag of bits onto the couch with her magic. The action caused other mare to flinch slightly, and hold a hoof up in front of her face before she realized where the pouch went.
"Didn't seem like it earlier," Octavia said bitterly, as she reached over for the pouch of bits. She considered it for a moment.
"Hello? There's something called shock Tavi. I was still in disbelief that it even happened, I was struggling to process what even went down. I couldn't believe that she had been hurt so badly, and worse yet that it was my fault... Then you come out of left field screaming at me at the top of your lungs, yelling about how I'm a terrible pony. I didn't know what to say, okay? Either way, I don't care if you bucking believe me, just take the damned bits!" she exclaimed, and stamped a hoof on the wooden floor.
"Being sorry that she got hurt isn't the same thing as being sorry for causing it Scratch!" she exclaimed angrily, and threw the pouch at Vinyl full force. Vinyl barely managed to move her head to the side, and it flew past to burst open on the opposite wall. There was a loud thud as the half full pouch fell to the floor, followed by the clinking of several coins around it.
"Just listen to me damn it! I'm not bucking sorry for yelling at her okay? But I am sorry that I pushed her too far, I never meant to do that. Normally I can push ponies, but stop short of causing anything bad to happen. I am sorry that I caused it by pushing her too far, but I refuse to apologize for yelling. It was for her own damned good."
"Her own good?" Octavia demanded incredulously. "Yeah she's certainly WAY better off now Scratch. In the hospital. With her leg in a cast!"
"Will you stop being a stubborn ass and just listen? Yelling at her was for her own good because it's something she needed. I took it too far, and for that I'm sorry. The musicians I work with leave as better musicians, and they are better ponies to deal with Canterlot as well."
"Better ponies? Are you even listening to yourself Scratch? She's in the bucking hospital, and will probably have serious issues with trust once this is all said and done. Sure they learn how to work under stress, and maybe they are slightly better musicians but they are not better ponies. If anything they're worse ponies, they become cynics. You force them to take on a grim view of life, their craft, and this city.. I fail to see any of "for their own good" here."
"Maybe they should have a grim view of this awful city! You ever think of that?" Vinyl screamed suddenly, and a single tear slowly left its mark down her left cheek. Octavia reeled slightly at the sight, and examined the other pony closely. She had her face screwed up, and her eyes scrunched shut as she yelled back. She stamped her hooves a few times before she continued.
"Listen to me, not everypony is as lucky as you are Tavi. They're better off not thinking that this city is all hunky dory, and this is where dreams are made. Everypony seems to think just because the princesses live here, that everypony is nice, kind, and wonderful. News flash! They're not! This is a wretched excuse for a city. Its full of ponies that will squabble, fight, and do anything just to get a single smile, or even a nod from a princess." Vinyl kept her eyes shut as she ranted angrily. Another tear trailed down her cheek, followed by another one from the other side of her face. Vinyl shook her head and wiped away the tears with a hoof in an attempt to compose herself before she continued.
"This city is a battleground, nopony here cares about anything but themselves, and their own personal status. Anypony who doesn't isn't anypony at all. Those ponies out there will use you, abuse you, then toss you into the garbage pile. Anything to improve their own personal standing. This town doesn't give a single shit about anypony besides the royalty, and themselves. You should realize this after the way the media abused you," Vinyl added angrily as she stepped closer, and pointed a hoof at Octavia.
"Like it or not, I teach them all of this. When they leave my studio they know to only look out for number one. Maybe they shed a few tears in order to realize it, but in the end if they find out they're better off by themselves then so be it. Not everypony is so bucking talented that they can go straight to the top like you did Tavi. The rest of us have to plod through all the shit this town has to dole out in order to get there."
Octavia sat there for a long time, her eyes open wide in shock as she stared at the suddenly vulnerable unicorn in front of her. This wasn't the type of outburst she expected from Vinyl at all; it struck her speechless as she struggled to try and say something, anything.
"Vinyl..."
"Look, I don't want to talk about it okay?" Vinyl said firmly, holding a hoof out to stop the concerned look spreading across the earth pony's face. "Shit happened, I learned from it and moved on. I learned that nice ponies really do finish last in this town. So I stopped being nice, I look out for myself now, and in doing so I teach the new ponies a valuable lesson. I'm not sorry for yelling at her Tavi, I stand by my methods; but don't even try to say that I'm not sorry for causing it. I pushed her too far, and I regret it. I'm truly sorry that my actions caused her to get hurt like that, and I can't bear the thought that it could have ruined her career..." Vinyl concluded sadly, and wiped the tears from her face with a hoof.
"Are you sure you're okay Vinyl?" Octavia asked with concern dripping from her voice, even as she was conflicted on how to feel about this development.
"Sunshine, and bucking roses. Anyways, that's not the point. Your money is there." She gestured a hoof over to the mess of coins behind her. "You bucking earned it, so stop trying to give it back. No matter what you do with those bits, stop by the studio again okay? We can figure out another job for you. If you don't want to work for me, then I can probably find you something. A talented mare like you does not deserve to be lost in the slums like this..."
"Vinyl, what hap-"
"NO!" she yelled loudly and stomped her hoof again through tears. "You don't know me well enough to ask me about what happened okay!? I've said my piece. You claimed you wanted to sleep earlier, so I'll leave you to it Tavi," she answered angrily, then pulled the door open with her magic. Octavia winced slightly as Vinyl stormed out angrily, and slammed the door behind her.
Octavia sat there for a long moment, thoughts of wanting to go to sleep lost in the confusion over what just happened. Her eyes kept flashing to the bits scattered across the floor, and she contemplated everything that occurred. Over the top of every other emotion inside of her annoyance kept finding its way to the front. Vinyl wasn't supposed to be a regular pony like everyone else. She wasn't supposed to be vulnerable and have weaknesses. It made it harder for Octavia to dislike her, and that more than anything was the reason why she found herself grating her teeth silently.
It had been so easy before; Vinyl was a monster, she could channel all of her hatred into the mental image of Vinyl Scratch. Now though, Vinyl had forced her to rethink things. Her mental image of a gigantic evil white unicorn was starting to crumble around the edges, distinct cracks were making their way up her thoughts as well. Forcing Octavia to have to reconsider Vinyl was the most annoying thing that she could have done.
The longer she sat there and thought about the interaction though, the angrier she became. Vinyl had literally just strode in, thrown money at her, and then expected forgiveness just like that. She had a hard time believing that even a pony such as Vinyl would believe that she could be bought like that. Octavia wasn't even sure if those tears were genuine now that she thought about it, she'd known many a pony to fake crying when it was convenient. Now she was so pissed off at her that there was no way that she was returning to sleep. What kind of terrible pony did that kind of thing anyway? She strode around her apartment trying to vent the anger, but all that happened was she got more worked up and the mental images of the evil overlord Scratch solidified once more.
Octavia very nearly gave up and just made herself breakfast, but she hesitated with her hoof mere inches from the cabinet door. That would be giving in, that would be allowing Vinyl's mind games to get to her, she realized suddenly. She shook her head wildly and stormed off towards the bedroom. She wasn't entirely sure if she would be able to actually return to sleep, but she'd be damned if she wasn't going to try.