Dusk
Aria grumbled. It had been two weeks since Sonata started hanging out with them. She still lived with them, but it always seemed like she was sleeping over at one of their houses every other night. Even when she stayed the night, she always grabbed her dinner, and went to her room.
Speak of the devil, Sonata popped in through the front door. Aria turned her head, and watched as whatever smile that had been on Sonata’s face disappeared. Again, Sonata grabbed a couple slices of pizza, and headed for her room.
She looked across the table to Adagio, who gave a shrug and scowl as she took a bite of her own slice of pizza. Most of the dinner table discussion had been started by Sonata, usually by saying something stupid, and needing Aria or Adagio to correct her. This was doubly true since they took their voices away, and neither Aria nor Adagio were ever in the mood for small talk since that. Without Sonata, there was no need for words. And so the two sirens ate in silence before retiring for the night.
Aria sat onto her bed, and looked out the window. The sun had since set beneath the horizon, but the faintest light of dusk still peeked. She couldn’t afford to be up this late. Tomorrow was Saturday, and she had work. Work. Work hadn’t been something they’d really had to do before that. Now, they had to scrape a living together. They managed… somehow.
She laid down, but sleep refused to take her. She tossed and turned, but sleep eluded her. Grumbling, she sat up, and did the only thing she could think of. She sang. Because that is what sirens do.
She tried to sing the old songs. Those songs that had been her lifeblood, her sustenance. But they sounded awful now, another bitter reminder of that. Images of a booing, jeering crowd flashed before her, echoed in her mind. Yet she still heard those beautiful voices, that siren song, but it mocked her, dared her to sing it once more. Each dissonance, difference in notes seemed to fill the room. Those smooth, sweet, sinister vocals rang from behind an un-tuned violin. She sang the songs that once sowed discord, but now a new song played over it in her mind. Their song. Now, she cannot hear the songs of the past, not even in her memories. She tried to hear them again, so that she may try to sing them again, but it was of no use. There was a new song there. A song of unity, duty, and destiny. One that spoke of joy in friendship. How she hated that song. It blasted over their legacy, their masterpiece. Her legacy, her masterpiece.
Her song turned against her fellow sirens. Her voice turned shrill, stabbing, a violin whose bow ran across faster than the eye could see. Stupid Sonata, ruining their plans, and now she had the gall to hang out with them? Mooch off of them? That freeloading… not that Adagio was any better. Adagio just stayed at home and plotted. Adagio worked only on the weekends, while Aria worked every day of the week. Not like Adagio’s plans had worked out, as Aria’s terrible singing voice reminded her. Her song took on an audible grimace, a musical grunt of frustration. Impossibly, she sang harder, faster. She was the one who worked after school and on the weekends to make sure they could still live in this apartment. She stamped her foot. The violin fell to the floor; it cracked, splintered; its strings snapped. In fact, she had been the one to pay for the pizza tonight. She cooked or paid for dinner every night. And yet Adagio had the nerve to still order her around, tell her what to do, do for her own-
No. She was not Adagio’s pawn anymore. She did not need her anymore. If Sonata, silly Sonata, the worst Sonata, could break free of Adagio’s shadow, then she could.
Her tune changed. She sang of her own plans for greatness, her goals in life. Vaguely, she knew she would have to achieve them the hard way. Somewhere in her mind reminded her that she could enthrall no longer. She was not even totally sure what her goals were. World domination had always been Adagio’s dream for the sirens. Not hers, not her dream as a siren. But that was nothing right now. Right now, her voice soared, soared as high as her new ambitions. There was no band or orchestra behind her, no backup vocals or fellow singers. She did not need them, never again. She sang a melody, a proud melody. She sang that the same melody again and again, each time a little more decorated, flourished. She built on that melody, built a song around that melody. It sounded bold, proud… beautiful. Part of her dared not believe it, that she could sing again. In any other moment, she could not have sung, would not believe it. But here, now, she believed. And she sang.
Vaguely, it registered in her mind that, across the hall, Sonata was singing too.
In the morning, she would wake up, prepare herself, and go to work. She would stand at a register as she always did. She would see Sonata with them during her lunch break. She would refuse to sit with them. She would concede after Sonata’s persistent pestering and begging. She would hear the sky-high ambitions of the one with the rainbow hair. She would hear an earful of mistrust from the rainbow-haired one. She would return to work, and finish her shift. She would think about her. Not them, her. About how not so different they were. Perhaps they… were really just them. She would contemplate the usefulness of a rival, of rivals for her to measure her singing.
But for now, she sang about her new identity, her newfound freedom. And she remembered what it is to sing your own song.
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You're off to a great start! I like the way that the impressions tie together - instead of a narrative description, I enjoy how the impressions merge together for a similar effect. Chapter Two was a big step up from Chapter One, so as this comes into place, I know it'll continue to be more engaging. Of course, how will Adagio be handling all of this is the monster-sized question.
Please continue and I look forward to seeing how your characterization of the three defeated Sirens takes shape!
5208167 Could you be more specific with where the "clunk" was? Was it sentence structure, paragraphization, word choice, or such?
5207482 I'm kinda curious what you mean by "impressions tie/merge together."
I'm imprecise, but that's where I'm going with this - the impression you give of determination, of freedom, of emotion... and then adding that Sonata was trying the same thing. The whole thing gave a sense of moving on, moving forward, even though there's not a clear idea of what Aria is going to do next. Make more sense?
5208714 Yeah. Huh. Emergent storytelling!
Why do I suddenly feel like I'm in trouble?
5211785 It's not that. It's just that I didn't consciously put that stuff in, but you saw it anyway. I mean, I was going for less narrative and more descriptive, but I'm always curious about how people read into and between the lines of what I write.
I still find this to be pretty weird, but I like where you're going with this. You have the occasional odd sentence
(the middle is super clunky), but the writing so far has been pretty effective for being so short. Good stuff.
Good descriptions, but try to space your paragraphs out more. Otherwise it's a big clunky mess after a big clunky mess. But good!
So, the Magic Alicorn/Captain Planet of the Rainbows didn´t take the Dazzlings´ talent for singing entirely, but only the old wicked songs of hatred and domination. Just punishment, yet not without mercy.
If you did then I'd freak out at the resemblance.