Dazzled Brushes

by lilflamewars

Chapter the Fifth

Nothing you can do this weirdness now. You figure you'll probably just go dick around on the internet for a while before bed.

... Rest for 8 Hours - 8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1-1-1 ...

Aaaah, that was a good nights sleep. You stretch and get out of bad.Well that's not supposed to be the time. You've gone and overslept. Ooops.
You need to be out the door and on the way to work in less than 30 minutes. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA. Hurricane Anonymous is in the building. Cursing yourself for forgetting to turn on your alarm you manage to get ready and leave in time. Running around like that is never fun. But you'd feel it's better to not be late. Getting into work on time you settle down and start on today's tasks. You're a part time maintenance worker at the local museum. It's not exactly a career builder but it is steady and more importantly not mind numbing work. And you don't have to deal with the public. Not like a retail job.
...
NEVER AGAIN. NEVER.
Ahem.

The day passes. Things get cleaned. Mercifully nothing important breaks. And then it's time to go home. You plan on using the time to work out how you're going to ask Aria. Hooo boy. It doesn't take too long to figure out your approach tactic. And that just leaves you stewing in your own nervousness. Will she get mad? Will she explain? Is there a bigger problem you can't see? Can you resolve this issue? Is she nearly home yet? Still an hour before her shift ends. Hurrrrrrrrrurururururururrrr.

Adagio walks past with an armful of ruined nails. Oh good, you'd not had time to clean that up in the rush this morning. Is Aria home yet? Still 58 minutes till her shift ends. You ponder trying to knock yourself out with a heavy object. Nah, not worth it. You'd probably just give yourself a concussion.

Eventually the front door opens. She's home. Off for her shower, time to plate up some food. And here she is, clad in your robe, hairbrush in hand. You trade the food for the brush and settle on the couch. You take your time, letting Aria finishing eating before you speak up.
"Aria, I've got a question for you that I'd really like answered. But if I'm overstepping a boundary or something just tell me and I'll let it go."
"Yeah, yeah, just ask."
"Yesterday when Sonata came in and you reacted so strongly, what was that?"

She slumps at this with a sigh then rubs her face with both hands.
"Ugh, damn. No way you could've known. Crap how do I explain this? Uhhh..."

You keep quiet and keep brushing, giving her time to think.
"Alright I'll explain this, but you gotta promise to listen to the whole explanation and not freak out."
"Alright, I promise to hear you out and not flip my shit until after you're done."

She relaxes a little at that.
"Sooo, you remember what went down last year at the Battle of the Bands?"
"Magical transformations, singing attacks, giant lazer horse? Yeah I remember."
"So you remember the things we summoned to fight the Rainbooms with? That's what we actually look like."
"You three are hippocampi?"
"What?" She looks thoroughly perplexed.
"Fish/horse hybrids."
"Uh well we sorta are that." She shrugs. "But we're called Sirens."
"Ahmm." Mixing the mythology a bit there.
"So even though we look human, we're not really. And all our instincts are different."

This is definitely not the explanation you were expecting.
"So those images of what we look like that you saw, well, we're not actually the huge, but we're still pretty big. And we're not the most flexible people ever, so it can be pretty much impossible to reach everywhere on your own."

Okay you might know where this is going now.
"Which means proper grooming requires help. But to have someone else grooming you is a big deal. You've gotta trust them. Trust them enough to expose yourself. So normally that's something that your parents do right? But when you get older you've gotta choose at someone to trust with that. It's a private thing. Even in these bodies we've always done it ourselves."

Oh shit this is suddenly a very big deal. Well she hasn't tried to kill you yet, so you might be okay.
"And to have someone, even someone you know, intrude on that...I guess it'd be like if someone just burst into the bathroom while you were showering without warning?"

Anon, your hands are in her hair. Do not freak out. You promised you wouldn't. Wait...
"Sonata would know all this too, right? So why would she do that?"
"Ugh, I dunno. I guess the idiot trusts you." Hmm. But you weren't the only one in the room, were you?
"Aria, I think you own Sonata an apology."
"What? Why?!"
"Well you were sitting right there next to me when she asked, so doesn't that mean she trusts you too?"

Face meets palm with a loud slap.
"That idiot."
"Well let's finish your hair and then we can go apologise." Aria gives you the No. 3 look again.
"I'm kinda surprised that you're not freaking out."
"I promised I wouldn't right? I assure you that on the inside I'm going nuts over the implications of all this, especially my own actions, but for now I don't feel that flailing and screaming would help."

Aria gives a snort and leans back on you. You resign yourself to working your arms at odd angles to get this done. Again.

Author's Note:

I knew I wanted there to be come kind of explanation when I started on Chp4, which I wrote in the early morning afternoon, then this chapter that evening. But at that point I didn't know it'd spin out in this way. With this being the first time there's been any extended dialog I made an extra effort to try and keep Aria IC, not sure how well it works from a reader's perspective though.
Pastebin:
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Comments

[Super Steve]

I need more

[Madman Stories CO]

Never mind I was wrong