It had been two months since the incident at CHS, and outside from the crippling depression, self-loathing and suicidal tendencies, The Dazzlings had been doing quite well for themselves.
Or… they were living a happy life, anyway.
Well, not exactly 'happy', but...
It was okay.
Kind of.
It wasn't absolutely awful.
Well, okay sometimes it was.
Often, actually.
...
Existence was pain.
They still had the apartment from when the landlord was under their control –albeit now they were having to pay for it. It wasn’t very luxurious, three bedrooms, a living room, kitchen and shared bathroom… They were used to better, but could compromise. Adagio was their main source of income; recently she’d taken a job working at a bar on the outskirts of town. It involved late shifts, which left her two siblings home alone for large periods of time. But rest assured they weren’t letting her do all the work, Aria and Sonata frequently spent their day’s job hunting on the internet.
‘Job hunting’.
The reality was over the thousands of years the sirens had spent on Earth, they had collected more than enough money to give them a stable existence. But ever since the incident, Adagio had become obsessed with planning for the unexpected. That, combined with the generic feeling of hopelessness the household shared... Welcome to Depression Central.
Aria stepped out of the shower and wrapped herself in a towel. Almost immediately after she turned water off she began to hear muffled noises from the living room. Usually when she heard those noises it meant Sonata had annoyed Adagio one too many times and was currently being beaten by a sock full of oranges. But knowing that Adagio wasn't home at the moment, the noises peaked Aria's interest.
Following the source of the sounds, Aria, still wet, opened the bathroom door and made her way to the living room. She found Sonata sprawled out on the sofa wearing her banana pyjamas, and found the source of the loud noises to be coming from the TV.
The laptop remained untouched on the coffee table, with the words “Canterlot jobs” never having graced its keyboard.
“Hey loser, turn it down. What're you watching?”
“Just a mooooovie,” Sonata said cheerfully.
Noticing her sister’s wet hair, Sonata let out a giggle. After years of sporting the same hairstyle, seeing either of her sisters with their hair down was a strange sensation. Apparently their hairstyles gave them all the “punk rock band” vibe that Adagio had wanted to market them as. Sonata liked hers and Adagio's, but felt like Aria’s hair made her look like a bunny.
A weird, soul sucking bunny that fed on the pain and misery of others.
Thinking about it, it suited her quite well actually.
“What movie?” Aria asked, sitting beside her.
She took a hairbrush off the coffee table and began to straighten her green and purple mess.
“Monster movie.”
Aria frowned.
“You know you’re not allowed to watch those.”
It was true, ever since an event a few years ago involving killer clowns, outerspace, a messy bed sheet, an embarrassed Sonata and one even more annoyed Aria, Sonata was now no longer to watch anything deemed over a PG-13 rating.
“Aww come on Aria,” Sonata sang. “It’s not a scary one, I promise.”
Aria looked at the television. “What’s is it?”
“Gamera.”
Aria raised an eyebrow. “What’s it about?”
“A big turtle.”
“Doesn’t sound like a very scary monster,” Aria spat.
“Not all monsters have to be scary!” Sonata defended. Then she brightened up, “people say we’re monsters and we’re adorable!”
Aria let out a chuckle.
“Tell me that again after Adagio yells at you for watching this.”
Sonata frowned.
“Do you really think she’ll be mad?”
Aria mused. “Probably… Especially when you should be looking for a job.”
“So should you!” Sonata pointed an accusing finger at her sister.
Aria sighed. “I told you, I’m preparing myself. Ever since what happened at the Battle of th-“
“The incident.”
“… Ever since ‘the incident’, I’ve been stressed. And if I’m stressed I won’t be able to work to my fullest ability, so I won’t be able to keep the job… As soon as I’m done recuperating I’ll find one. What’s your excuse?”
Sonata simply shrugged nonchalantly.
“I dunno.”
Aria looked back to the TV and frowned.
“I don’t know how you can bare watching a film in black and white.”
Sonata raised her accusing finger again.
“Racist!”
Aria screwed up her nose, “How’s that racist!?” she spat.
“You don’t like it because it’s black!”
“Sonata literally everybody in this world is a different color. You’re blue, I’m pink and Adagio’s yellow.”
Sonata gasped.
“So… one of us is adopted?”
“Ugh,” Aria put her hand on her face. She sighed.
“What’s going on anyway?” she gestured to the TV.
Sonata turned back to the TV. “They've just flipped Gamera on his back. They’re trying to starve him to death.”
“Pretty anti-climatic anti-climactic ending.”
“It’s not over yet!”
“Well it’s-“
Aria stopped when she saw what was happening on the screen. It took her a moment to process it, before she burst out laughing.
“WHAT THE HECK IS THAT!?”
“Whaaat?” Sonata whined, missing the joke.
“IT’S-IT’S GOT ROCKETS FOR LEGS!”
“Why’s that funny?”
“I’m snap-chatting this, oh my god,” Aria took her phone off the coffee table and took a short video of the movie. "Great choice of monster movie Sonata.”
“Stop laughing at it!” Sonata spat.
“It’s a guy in a rubber turtle suit with rockets for legs, why aren’t you laughing at it?”
“It’s a serious movie Aria!”
“Right, of course it is,” Aria chuckled. “How longs it been on for?”
“Ehhh.. About forty minutes.”
“You better hope it finishes soon, Adagio’s shift finishes in ten. She’ll go crazy if she catches you watching it.”
“It’ll be finneeeee.”
“I’m home!” A third voice entered the flat.
“Shit.”
Adagio entered the living room and set her purse down on the table. She looked exhausted. Taking one look at Aria caused her to frown.
“I hope you’re dry.”
“Yeeeessss, Mom.” Aria sighed. “I’m just doing my hair.”
Adagio gave a curt nod and sat down on a reclining chair beside the sofa. “Work let me finish early today... What’re we watching?”
“IT WAS ARIA’S IDEA.”
“Sonata!?”
“What was Aria’s idea?” Adagio asked, confused.
“She made me watch it!”
“You liar! Adagio, it was her idea!”
“Why would I want to watch a monster movie? Don’t you remember what happened last time!?"
“Of course I remember, we were sharing the bed!”
“GIRLS!” Adagio shouted. “Just, please… shut up.”
She put her head in her hands and sighed. “You know how I feel about you two idiots talking when I come home from work.”
Aria and Sonata fell silent. Adagio lifted her head up and looked at the television.
“I don’t mind Sonata watching a monster movie so long as... Why does that turtle have rocket legs?”
“THANK YOU!”
“He has rocket legs because he’s a guardian sent from Atlantis to stop mankind destroying themselves!”
Adagios face scrunched up in confusion as Aria burst out laughing.
“THAT’S AMAZING.” Aria said, holding her sides. “You know what, Sonata I take back everything bad I said about the movie. This is just great.”
“You don’t actually mean that!”
“Do too!”
“Do not!”
“Do too!”
“Do not!”
"Do too!"
"Do not!"
“I knew I should have got that sugar daddy.”
“What’s a sugar daddy?” Sonata asked.
“About three grand a night and an express ticket away from the two of you,” Adagio put her head back in her hands.
“Oh come on, Adagio!” Aria laughed. “Lighten up, enjoy the movie!”
Adagio bit her lip and laughed smugly. “You’ve changed your tune, Little-Miss-Toaster-Bath.”
Aria frowned, the pleasure she was taking from her sisters torture vanishing in an instant.
“That’s a low blow and unfair, Adagio.”
“Yeah! There’s nothing wrong with Aria making toast in the bath!” Sonata joined in.
Aria turned to Sonata sternly.
"Don't. Help."
Adagio shrugged, laughing. “I'm gonna go get unchanged, you two try and not kill each-other while I'm gone. Or yourself, for that matter."
She stood up and made her way out of the living room. Her work clothes consisted of a blazer, leather mini skirt, torn fishnet tights and high heels. That wasn't actually the mandatory dress code for the bar she worked in, she just found she was more likely to get tips dressed this way.
“Get me my bathrobe, it’s on the bathroom door!” Aria called after her.
When the last bit of Adagio disappeared around the corner, Aria turned back to Sonata.
“What the heck was that about!?”
“What?”
“Telling Adagio it was my idea to watch your stupid turtle movie!”
“Aria… You know she gets annoyed at me super… Remember when I tried making us breakfast that time!”
“How could I forget it? I was the one who had to sit with you for three hours in the emergency room.”
“Exactly,” Sonata said sadly.
Aria grunted.
“Ugh. Fine. Just don’t blame it on me if you have nightmares tonight. And do not get in my bed.”
Sonata beamed brightly, “I won’t!”
Aria looked from Sonata back to the TV. Letting out a loud heave, she stood up.
“I’m going to listen to my music. Enjoy your stupid turtle movie, loser.”
“Has Harley been a bad girl?” The words appeared on her screen.
Aria grinned and typed, “Yes she has, Mista J.”
“You know what that means?”
“Yes Mista J?”
“Hey, Aria.”
Aria slammed down the laptop screen and glared daggers at her sister.
“WHAT!?”
Sonata instantly shrank down behind the bedroom door.
“I-I was wondering if you want to watch another movie with me?”
Aria’s death stare turned into a confused frown. “Why would I want to do that?”
“Th-They’re doing a marathon of monster movies e-every night. And you enjoyed last night’s soo… I thought…” Sonata looked like she was beginning to realize this was a bad idea.
And it was exact that image of her younger sister shrinking away behind her door that regrettably, made Aria’s heart melt.
She sighed.
“Ugh… fine. Just… lemme finish here.”
Sonata’s sulk turned into a bright smile.
“Goody! I’m going to get us some snacks!”
With that Sonata disappeared, pulling Aria’s door shut with her.
Aria looked down at the laptop on her knees and sighed. She wouldn't be 'finishing' quite the way she hoped she would be.
Aria entered the living room and was actually pleasantly surprised at what she saw. Sonata had set up a bowl of chips and popcorn on the coffee table (not in the same bowl, this time) and had her duvet pulled in from her bedroom and spread across the couch.
Aria hid her slight smirk and made her way over to the sofa.
“What are we watching?”
“MAHN VERSUS GAWD!” Sonata exclaimed loudly.
“What?”
“DAY VERSUS NIGHT.”
“Sona-“
“STATION OF PLAY VERSUS BOX OF X.”
“Will you st-“
“THE KONG KING VERSUS GOD OF THE ZILLAS.”
“Sonata, I understand literally none of these ref-“
“It’s King Kong Versus Godzilla! That’s what we’re watching,” Sonata smiled.
“Rightt,” Aria pulled up the duvet and joined her under it. “This one better not be in black and white.”
“It’s not! It’s actually the first time either of these monsters appeared in color!”
“… Since when do you know so much about monsters?”
“Duh, helloooo? I love movie monsters.”
Aria frowned.
“Er no you don’t.”
“I do too!”
“Sonata you’ve seen two monster movies.”
“Yes! And I loved them both!”
“You wet the bed watching the first one!”
“But I didn’t wet the bed watching the second one!”
“No, you just crawled into bed with Adagio and kept her awake with your snoring.”
“Exactly, I slept like a baby!”
“Ugh! Whatever,” Aria picked up the bowl of popcorn and began eating.
The movie began to start.
“By the way,” Aria whispered. “Adagio called earlier, 'said she’ll be working late tonight.”
“So she won’t be joining us?” Sonata asked, pushing out her bottom lip.
Aria shook her head.
“Ahh well… more snacks for us!” Sonata grabbed.
A few minutes passed of the two just eating and enjoying the movie. Though enjoying wouldn’t really be the word Aria would use to describe it.
“That is literally the fakest monkey suit I have ever seen,” she remarked as Kong made his first appearance.
“Of course it looks fake, silly, that’s because it’s not real.”
Aria opened her mouth to respond, but closed it again.
She couldn’t really argue with that.
“I like King Kong!” Sonata said.
“Makes a lot of noise, destroys everything he touches and is unusually hairy, I can see why,” Aria replied, not missing a beat.
“Yeah, well if you were in this movie you’d be Godzilla.”
“Oh, why?”
“Cold ugly reptile.”
Aria looked at Sonata with shock.
“Sonata!”
Sonata started giggling. “Only joking, you’d be the evil businessman.”
Aria shrugged.
That wasn’t much better, but again, she couldn’t argue.
“Is that a giant Octopus?” she asked, her attention turning back to the movie.
“Yep!” Sonata replied cheerfully.
“…why's there a giant Octopus in the movie? Were two monsters like, not enough?"
“I know. That'd be like doing a movie about Batman and Superman andshoehorning in Wonder Woman.”
“Yeah. That would suck.”
The two nodded in agreement. Then, Aria turned to her sister in confusion.
“Okay wait so… why have they captured Kong?”
“Because,” Sonata swallowed her chips. “The business man doesn’t like all the attention Godzilla’s getting and he wants his own monster.”
“That’s… pretty dumb.”
“Almost as dumb as trying to make toast in the bath," she giggled.
Aria sighed and face palmed. “Sonata, that’s not what I was doing.”
“What were you doing?”
“I was… Ugh, doesn’t matter," she groaned. “Why are they spending so much time on the human characters?”
“Because we have to understand the story!”
Aria frowned. Again. She seemed to be doing that a lot recently.
“Who wants a story focusing on the human characters in a movie about two giant monsters fighting?”
“Gareth Edwards, probably.”
“What?”
“I heard at the end of this movie its Kong and Godzilla bond when they find out both their mothers are both called Mothra.”
“Are you being weird again?”
“Yes,” Sonata giggled.
Aria sighed. “At least the Godzilla suit looks decent, considering.”
“Considering what?”
“Considering the stupid design.”
“What do you mean stupid design?” Sonata frowned.
“The one from the new one is way better.”
“With Aaron Taylor Johnson?”
“What? No, the one before that.”
Sonata stopped watching the movie and turned to Aria.
“With Matthew Broderick?”
“Yeah.”
“…who are you and what have you done to my sister.”
“What?” Aria spat. “I liked that movie.”
“It’s a terrible representation of Godzilla!”
“Oh psst! Sonata you literally didn’t know what Godzilla was until yesterday.”
“And even I know it’s a terrible representation of him!”
“Ugh… whatever,” Aria crossed her arms.
The two girls settled down and turned their attention back to the movie.
They managed to stay silent for a full twenty minutes… before Sonata leaned in and began to whisper to Aria.
“Pst. Aria.”
Aria groaned.
“What, Sonata?”
“I have to pee, can you pause it?”
“It’s live TV.”
“Oh...” Sonata said sadly.
Out of the corner of her eye Aria could see Sonata exaggeratedly crossing her legs.
She could only take a few moments of her awkward wriggling before she sighed again.
“Go pee, I’ll tell you what happens.”
Sonata’s mood did a one-twenty.
“Thank you, Aria!” She quickly dashed out the room.
Aria patiently waited for Sonata to return. If she was perfectly honest... the movie was actually okay.
In the sort of crappy annoying kind of way. Even Sonata was being tolerable.
In the sort of crappy annoying kind of way.
Not much was happening on screen, just more people talking again.
Wait.
Wait.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
She heard the toilet flush and Sonata come bounding in.
“What? What happened?”
“L-Look!” Aria cried.
On the screen the remarkably bad monkey suit was floating through the sky above a city… being suspended by giant red balloons.
Sonata snorted, “Okay, that’s pretty funny.”
Sonata sat down and re-snuggled herself under the duvet. “Why are they doing that?”
“I’v-I’ve no idea Sonata bUT LOOK AT IT!” Aria said, taking another video of the screen.
“Aria! You said you’d tell me what happened!”
“Okay, okay,” Aria calmed down. “Erm, the humans are taking him to go fight Godzilla so they fight each other.”
“Ooooh there he is!” Sonata squeaked as Kong approached Godzilla.
“Are they remaking this?”
“Yeah I think so.”
“They need to keep that scene in.”
Sonata smiled.
“You know Aria, I’m really happy that you’re enjoyin-“
“DID HE JUST SHOVE A TREE IN GODZILLA’S MOUTH!?” Aria started to applaud.
“Who do you want to win?”
“Godzilla, obviously! He’s just like me, remember?”
“I want Kong to win.”
“C’mon Godzilla, hand it to him.”
“Come on Kongy! That’s it, grab his tail!”
“Kill him with fire!”
“Get up Kong!”
“That’s it, chuck rocks at him!”
“Woohoo Kon-“
“Wait that’s SO CHEATING!”
“It’s so not!”
“Since when does Kong get stronger with lightning?!”
“Since always!”
“No way!”
“Yes way!”
“Doesn’t matter, Godzilla will still win.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah!”
“What were you saying?” Sonata smirked.
“GET UP YOU STUPID LIZARD.”
“COME ON KONG!”
“YOU’RE A GOD, SHOW THAT KING WHO’S BOSS!”
“Nice.”
“Hehe, thank you.”
“Oh, oh wait! Yes! YES KONG!”
Sonata quick leaped up onto her feet. Both hers and Aria’s bowl of snacks were sent spiraling off in different direction, smashing and covering the floor in popcorn and crisps.
“OH COME ON! HE SO CHEATED! GORILLA’S CAN’T EVEN SWIM!” Aria threw her arms up in the air.
“Lizards can’t breathe fire. If Godzilla can breathe fire, then Kong is allowed to swim and get stronger with lightening!”
“Whatever!” Aria sulked. “The movie was stupid anyway.”
“Was not!”
“Was too!”
“You so enjoyed it!”
“Did not!”
“So you’re not denying the fact you didn’t enjoy the movie?” Sonata raised an eyebrow.
“What…? Yes? UGH whatever, I’m going to bed!”
Aria threw the duvet off herself and stormed out the room.
She and Sonata were sat on the living room couch. It was a Friday night, and Adagio’s ever changing work-rota scheduled today as her day off. Which pleased her greatly, as Friday nights were always the worst in her opinion. It was always ridiculously busy, and the only thing that she had to look forward to was that she’d have to do all again tomorrow. But god forbid she used this day off to relax.
Not while she has Sonata as a sister.
“Yep!” Her youngest sister beamed.
“Only because he cheated.” Aria’s sour voice entered the room. She made her way over to the couch and placed two bowls of snacks on the coffee table. She then sat on the recliner beside the sofa and turned her attention back to Adagio.
“He got some stupid lightening power out of nowhere.”
“I was going to say… they don’t seem very evenly matched if it was regular Kong.” Adagio said, unsure. “Isn’t he only like twenty foot tall?”
Aria thought for a minute. She turned to Sonata.
“She’s right, why was Kong so big anyway?”
Sonata shrugged. “Sciencey stuff.”
“Sounds more like an excuse to not have Godzilla kill him immediately.” Aria spat.
“You’re just saying that because you’re Team Godzilla!” Sonata spat back.
“Nu-uh.”
“Ye-huuuh.”
“Girls can you not.” Adagio stopped them politely. “Just, please, not tonight. Sonata what are we watching?”
Sonata instantly perked up again. “Rodan!”
Aria and Adagio looked at eachother.
“What’s Rodan?” Adagio asked.
“It’s not Rodan.” Sonata shook her head. “It’s Rodan!”
“That’s what I said.” Adagio said blankly.
“Nooo, you said Rodan.”
“Yes.”
“It’s Rodan!, with an exclamation point! You have to say it really cheerfully.”
Adagio rolled her eyes. “What’s Rodan! about?” She said in an over the top voice.
“Flying dinosaur!” She replied giddily.
“Lemme guess,” Aria sighed. “Is it from Japan?”
“Yep!”
“Hooray.” Aria mocked. “More rubber suits.”
“Would have thought you’d have liked that, Aria.” Adagio smirked.
The three girls all stopped what they were doing.
“S-shut up.” Aria blushed.
“…ermmm,” Sonata interjected. “So I’m going to play the movie now.”
Sonata fiddled with the remote and the movie began to play. She took a bowl of the snacks Aria had brought in and settled into the sofa eagerly. Adagio took a hand full of the snacks off her and began to eat them herself. Aria simply stared at the TV in boredom.
It was about twenty minutes into the movie before anyone spoke.
“I thought this was about a giant dinosaur?” Aria asked.
“It is.” Sonata nodded.
“So what’s with the giant bugs?”
Sonata shrugged. “I dunno.”
“They did this with Kong and Godzilla.” Aria crossed her arms. “Why does Japan feel the need to include as many monsters in their films as they can?”
“Perhaps it’s to normalize the concept of giant animals to make what’s going on more believable?” Adagio suggested.
Aria was taken back. “Somebody getting into the movie?” She teased.
“Oh Aria lighten up. Nothing wrong with enjoying a stupid movie. I’ve tolerated being around you two for the past thousand years.” Adagio snapped back.
“So you’re enjoying it?” Aria smirked.
“I don’t see why you’re not.” She huffed. “I get the feeling you’re just making it out to be worse than it actually is because Sonata suggested it.”
“That’s not true.” Aria waved her off.
“All you’ve done is complain about watching these movies since Wednesday night.” Adagio retorted.
“That’s because the first one was in black and white and had a turtle with rocket legs. And the second ones plot flat out made no sense, Kong shouldn’t have won.”
“Only somebody who cared about the movie would care who won.” Adagio smiled.
Aria groaned. “No, that’s why I didn’t like the movie, because it didn’t make sense.”
“And it didn’t make sense because Kong won?”
“Yes.”
“So you wanted Godzilla to win?”
“I… well no I just… It would have made more… Ugh, yeah, whatever.” Aria mumbled.
Adagio gave her a knowing smiled.
“And besides,” Adagio continued. “You can’t complain about the movie being in black and white. We were around before film even had sound.”
“Shhhh!” Sonata hissed at them both. The three turned their attention back to the movie.
For about five minutes.
“So what’s happening?” Sonata piped up.
“Didn’t you just tell us to shut up?” Aria frowned.
Adagio glared at Aria. “They just found out the bugs from earlier are what Rodan eats.”
“Is Rodan the Pteranodon?”
“Yes.”
“So what’s the UFO?”
“The Pteranodon.”
“Wait, what?”
“The Pteranodon is the UFO.”
“I thought the Pteranodon was Rodan?”
“Rodan is the UFO.”
“I thought he was the Pteranodon?”
“SONATA!” Aria and Adagio snapped. The blue haired girl scrunched herself up.
“Oh great, now what’s happening?” Aria’s attention was drawn back to the TV.
“Holy moly.” Sonata said.
“Wait so there’s two of them?” Adagio asked.
Aria nodded. “That’s… actually pretty cool.”
“Oh sure, now I’ve pulled you up on it it’s suddenly a good movie.” Adagio rolled her eyes.
“What? You told me to enjoy it so I am.” Aria pointed at the screen.
“I really like this movie.” Sonata smiled.
Aria and Adagio looked at Sonata. The blue girl didn’t notice as they simultaneously smiled and returned their attention to the film.
“That guy sounds real familiar.” Sonata said.
“I was thinking that.” Adagio mused.
“It’s George Takei.” Aria told them.
Sonata frowned. “Who’s that?”
“He was in Star Trek.”
Sonata simply stared.
“Ugh, you know the old Asian guy from Big Bang Theory?” Aria asked.
“Oooooooh him.”
“I didn’t know you watched Star Trek, Aria.” Adagio stifled a giggled. “How can you like Star Trek and think any of this is stupid?”
Aria opened her mouth to give a snide remark, but was interrupted by an explosion on screen.
“Woah!” Sonata said.
“Is it dead?” Adagio asked.
“It’s fine.” Aria said.
“It’s not fine, look! Its wings broken.” Sonata said sadly. “The poor thing.”
“It’s not real, idiot.” Aria mocked.
“Aria.” Adagio said sternly.
Aria rolled her eyes. “Its fine Sonata, look it’s still flying.”
“It’s not flying very well…” The youngest siren said sadly.
Aria groaned again, knowing perfectly well what would happen if Sonata got too sad.
“It’ll be fine. They never kill off the monsters in these old movies, they always leave the ending ambiguous for sequels.”
Sonata thought for a second and then perked up. “Huh. Guess I didn’t notice that.”
“So don’t worry about it, loser.” Aria smirked.
“Heeey hold up.” Adagio brought their attention back to the screen. “She’s hot.”
Her sisters turned and stared at her.
“What? She is.” Adagio said defensively. “Aria, find out who that is.”
Aria threw her arms up in annoyance. “Adagio she’ll be like seventy now.”
Adagio shrugged. “Just find out.”
“How do you want me to find out?” She asked bitterly.
Adagio started waving her hand in the direction of Aria’s phone. “Use your internet thing, the Google.”
Aria smirked and Sonata let out a giggle.
“The Google?”
Adagio blushed. “Well fine, don’t find out who it is.”
“I’m kiddinggg, I’ll look now.” Aria teased.
Aria took out her phone and began typing.
“Aw, cool.”
“What?” Adagio raised an eyebrow.
“This was directed by the same guy who did the original Godzilla.” Aria gestured to the TV.
“Told you she was Team Godzilla!” Sonata pointed an excusing finger at Aria.
Aria simply growled at her and returned to her phone.
“The actress is… Yomi... Y-You-mi, Yumi? Yumi. Shi…shia…shiua…”
Adagio snatched the phone off her, already smirking over the thought of outsmarting her sister. Then her face dropped.
“Ugh, forget it.” Adagio handed Aria back her phone. “She’s probably like seventy now anyway, doesn’t matter.”
“You mean Yumi Shirakawa?” Sonata asked, her attention still on the TV.
Aria gave Adagio a confused look, to which Adagio just shrugged and waved her off.
“Adagio, Aria,” Sonata chimed in. “I got a question.”
“Is it a stupid question?” Aria asked before Adagio had the chance.
“Are there giant monster like this still left?”
“What did I literally just say?” Aria groaned and face palmed. “No, Sonata. There are no giant monsters.”
The blue girl turned to her older sister. “How do you know?”
“Because these films aren’t real. None of those things ever existed.”
“How do you know they didn’t exist?” Sonata squinted suspiciously.
“Because someone made them up.” Aria snapped.
“But did they? People say that Dragons are made up, but we’ve seen them.”
“That was in Equestria, this world doesn’t have Dragons.”
“Then how does everyone know about them?” Sonata asked.
“Because… Well because… erm…” Aria started to slow down. She frowned.
The curtains were currently closed so she couldn’t check, but Aria was positive there was a blue moon in the sky out there. Because Sonata had just made a good point.
“Adagio,” Aria turned to her older sister. “Why do people here know about Dragons?”
Adagio was staring off into space. It seemed Sonata’s question had sent her off on a mental tangent. Her sister’s sudden question brought her back to reality.
“I… really don’t know.” Adagio said in a hushed tone. “It never occurred to me before.”
“Because they know about everything that’s back in Equestria.” Sonata continued. “Dragons, Centaurs, Griffons, even Sirens.”
The three girls fell silent. Throughout the hundreds upon hundreds of years they had spent trapped in this world, it had never once occurred to them to question where all this worlds’ mythology came from. From everything that they had seen, the only magic in this world there had ever been belonged to them and the dweebs from CHS. Yet, human folklaw was full of tales of Dragons, Centaurs, Griffons and all types of magic.
Perhaps at some point in the past -long before the sirens ever arrived in this world- ponies had traveled here before them, and had brought with them tales of Equestria? Or perhaps once upon a time this world did have magic? And as it died off so did the other creatures with it, and they went on to inspire the myths? There was no other explanation, really. At least not one any of them could think of right now.
Then a new thought dawned on the three of them. The humans of this world believed that creatures like Dragons, Centaurs and Griffins were nothing more than myths. But the Dazzling’s knew they were real. So, who’s to say the giant monsters in these films, that the human believe to be fictional, aren’t also real?
The three sirens all looked slowly around their living room, it seeming more alien to them than it had ever before. The subconsciously moved in closer together.
“So, erm,” Aria broke the tension. “How longs left of the movie?”
Sonata took the remote and pressed it. “About twenty minutes.”
Aria nodded. “Awesome, I’m exhausted.”
Adagio frowned at her sister. “You didn’t do anything today.”
Aria nodded. “Yes. Because I’m exhausted...?”
Adagio sighed and shook her head. “I’m working tomorrow.”
“You have your times yet?” Aria asked.
Adagio shook her head again. “It’ll probably be the evening, so I want a lay in tomorrow.”
“Girls… shh..” Sonata said softly.
The two older sirens turned back to the TV.
They started becoming engrossed in what was going on.
“W-why’s it done that?” Adagio asked.
“Her wing was broke so she fell, told you she wasn’t okay Aria.” Sonata spat.
Aria didn’t rise to Sonata’s harsh words though, her mind was preoccupied.
“What the hell is the other one doing?” Aria whispered.
“Oh my god.” Adagio put her hand over her mouth.
“He’s killing himself trying to save his mate.” Sonata said.
“That’s so romantic.” Adagio said quietly.
“But his mates dead, why’s he still trying to help her? He’s gonna be set on fire.” Aria mumbled.
“Neither can live without the other, so they die together.” Sonata quoted the film back at them.
“Oh my god.” Adagio repeated.
“The stupid bird… w-why’s he doing that? He needs to fly off.”
“Aria.” Sonata turned to her. Though she hadn’t started to, Aria could see the tears forming in her eyes.
“Sonata no,” Aria told her sternly. “This is a film about men in giant rubber suits. Don’t you dare.”
“B-But it’s so sad... H-He’s k-killing himself… t-trying to save her f-from the lava.” Sonata’s bottom lip began to wobble.
“Sonata. Don’t even think about it.“
But it was too late. Sonata pulled her knees up to her chest and buried her face in them. As her body began to shake, and Aria could hear muffled the girls muffled tears over the TV.
Aria rolled her eyes and got off the recliner chair. She crossed the room and sat between her two sisters on the couch. Sighing she placed her hand on Sonatas back and began to rub it.
“It’s alright Sonata.”
The crying girl merely shook her head in response.
“Look, they’re dead together now. They wanted to be together, and now they are. So they’re gonna be happy, okay?” She whispered to her.
“A-Aria?” A voice croaked from behind her.
Aria turned.
Adagio was staring at her with watery eyes and a trembling lip.
“For Celestia’s sake Adagio.” She groaned.
She extended her arm around Adagio and pulled both sisters into a group hug. She rubbed both their backs in comfort as they buried their heads into her neck and continued to cry.
The credits started rolling on the movie. Aria sighed.
“No! No way Sonata!” Aria pushed her younger sister off her.
“Awwww please Aria!” Sonata dropped to her knees in a begging motion.
The two were pacing back and forth in the living room, and seemed to be in a heated debate.
“No!” Aria put her hands up. “Not after you two cry-babies cried at the last one!”
“Pleeeeaassseee, I promise we won’t cry at this one!” Sonata begged.
Aria tried to move past her sister, to which Sonata responded to by wrapping herself around Aria’s leg. As she tried to push past her, Sonata remained firmly planted on the ground.
“No! Get off me loser!” Aria tried wiggling herself free from Sonata’s grip.
“Ariaaaaaa!” Sonata pleaded. “I picked a better one for us to watch tonight! It won’t be sad in the littlest bit I promise!”
“Ugghh.” Aria grunted. “Sonata, get up. You’re seriously peeving me off!”
Sonata released Aria’s legs and stood up, still giving her older sister puppy dog eyes.
“B-but you enjoyed the last few ones.”
“I did not! I just watched them to make you happy, they were garbage!” Aria spat.
Sonata gasped. “You don’t mean that! You liked King Kong Versus Godzilla!”
Aria crossed her arms. “Huh, hardly.”
“And you thought Gamera was funny! And you even liked the plot twist in Rodan!”
“Sonata, no.” Aria put her foot down. “I’m not watching another one of your stupid old movies, now move out of my way!”
Aria pushed herself past Sonata and made her way to exit the living room.
“But this one isn’t an old movie.” Sonata insisted. “It’s a modern one!”
Aria let out a loud groan and turned around. “What’s it called?”
“Alien!” Sonata smiled.
Aria stopped. She turned around, a grin quickly forming on her lips.
“Alien huh?” Aria mused. “That’s a horror film isn’t it?”
“I dunno,” Sonata shrugged. “But it sounded really cool.”
Aria thought for a minute. “If you couldn’t handle that clown movie I doubt you’ll be able to watch a serious horror movie.”
“I will Aria I promise!” Sonata beamed. “I won’t even get nightmares or wet the bed or anything!”
“Hmmm...” Aria thought. Sonata had been getting increasingly annoying with her monster movies recently. Three days in a row now Aria had been forced into watching them with her. Maybe if the little dweeb got really scared watching one she’d lose interest in watching anymore?
Aria smiled. “Okay, fine. If you can convince Adagio into letting you watch it, I’ll watch it with you.”
Sonata leaped across the room and engulfed her sister.
“Oh thank you Aria! This is going to be so much fun!”
Aria pushed herself off Sonata. “You might want to call her soon though.” She said, looking at the clock.
“I will Aria, I’ll do it right away! Thank you!” Sonata skipped over to the sofa.
Aria shook her head at the blue girl’s enthusiasm and left the living room, returning to her bedroom.
Sonata sat down on the sofa and pulled her legs up beneath her. She picked up the house phone off the coffee table and began to dial. Smiling, she started twirling the phones cord between her fingers and listened to the tone.
Ring ring
Ring ring
Ring ring
Rin-“Hello?”
“Dagiiii!” Sonata cheered.
“Sonata!? What have I told you about using the phone?!” Adagio snapped at her.
“Aria let me use it!” Sonata defended.
“Oh, she did now, did she?” Adagio growled.
“Yep!” Sonata smiled enthusiastically. “She wants to know if we can watch a horror film.”
She heard Adagio grunt.
“What horror film is it Sonata?”
“It’s called Alien.”
“You know you’re not allowed to watch scary films.”
“I knooowwww Dagi but it was a long time ago since I last got scared, I’ve grown up since then!”
“You got in bed with me after watching Gamera!” Adagio snapped.
“Oh, yeah...” Sonata said blankly. “Well I won’t do it this time! I promise promise promise I’ll be a grown up!”
“Do you mean that?”
“Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a taco in my eye!”
“Ugh… fine. But wait for me to get home. My shift finishes in two hours.”
“You want to watch it with us!?” Sonata’s face light up.
“Ugh, yes Sonata. Now, go bother Aria or something till I get home.”
“Okay!” Sonata beamed. “Bye Dagi, love you!”
Another sigh.
“Love you too Sonata.” Adagio hung up.
Adagio pushed her front door open and was met with the familiar scent of their apartment. It wasn’t a particularly bad smell, or a pleasant one, but it was a smell that was definitely present. As for what it smelled like… She couldn’t say. It was pretty generic, if she had to guess she’d say it was mixture of her and her sister’s perfume, hair spray, washing up power and whatever it was that they last had for dinner. It was a smell that calmed Adagio. She knew when that smell was around, she was safe. She was surrounded by her sisters, and although they didn’t exactly get on, she’d take her sisters over anyone else any day. They had traveled all across this world over hundreds of years, yet whenever she this small graced her senses, she knew she was home.
Smiling, she closed the door behind her and lifted its handle, clicking the lock into place.
Using the wall for support, she gently kicked both her boots off. She was more than used to wearing highheels, even long before she took her job as a barmaid, but that didn’t make them any easier on her feet.
“Aria, Sonata, I’m home.” She gently called.
After a moment of silence, there was a crash, a bang, and Sonata came bounding out of the living room.
“Daggiiiiii!” She threw herself at her sister.
The force of Sonata’s hug sent her stumbling backwards. She grabbed her younger sister’s waist to stable herself.
Rolling her eyes, Adagio gently pushed her Sonata off her.
“How was work?” Sonata asked giddily.
Adagio gave a slight smirk.
She always secretly found it pretty refreshing how Sonata always managed to be in a good mood. Though… it was mostly due to her ignorance, she thought. When the three Sirens were born Sonata was the runt of the litter.
Technically by this worlds standards the three of them were actually triplets, rather than sisters. But back in Equestria that wasn’t how the Siren’s birth circle worked, and as a result there was a significant age difference between the three. Adagio was the oldest, and the brains of their little operation. Aria was the middle child, and the groups muscle. And Sonata was… well she was the comic relief. But Adagio preferred to think of her more as their moral support, her innocence reminded she and Aria why they needed to stick together.
“It was… okay.” Adagio sighed. “Tiring.”
The job she’d taken was far from glamorous. She had to actually work for money. But, it paid the bills, and she knew she wouldn’t be there forever.
All she needed was a few more months there then her plan would b-
“Yo.” Aria opened the door to her bedroom.
She exited the room and sauntered over to Adagio. “About time, we’ve been waiting for you.”
Adagio rose an eyebrow. “For what?”
“To watch Alien!” Sonata squealed.
“Ugh.” Adagio put her hand to her head. She’d forgotten all about promising to watch the movie with Sonata and Aria. She had been so looking forward to getting in and heading straight to bed.
Sonata’s face deflated and she turned to Aria. Aria frowned.
“What?” She asked.
“I’d forgotten all about it. I was really looking forward to heading straight to bed, sorry Sonata.” Adagio said apologetically.
Aria continued to stare at her, while Sonata’s head dropped down.
“It’s… okay… we can watch it tomorrow.” Sonata said, rubbing her arm.
Adagio rolled her eyes.
Both she and Aria’s biggest weakness was the sight of an upset Sonata.
And they were positive that Sonata had caught onto this.
“Fineee.” Adagio sighed. “Go put it on, I’ll get changed.”
Sonata’s face light up and she pulled Adagio into another hug.
“Thank you, thank you!”
Aria smirked at the two. Adagio growled at her.
“So you said this was a modern one?” Aria asked Sonata.
The three sirens had resumed their setup from the previous night, with Aria on the recliner chair and Adagio and Sonata on the couch, with the latter both tucked under Sonata’s duvet. They each had a bowl of snacks to themselves, with Sonata’s already half gone.
“Kinda.” Sonata said. “It came out in the seventies.”
Adagio laughed. “All these films are modern compared to us.”
The three shared a laugh.
“But still,” Aria began. “I’m just happy we’re watching one with some good effects. I’ll be happy if I never have to see a man in a rubber suit ever again.”
“Damn... Well there goes my plans for your Christmas Present.” Adagio purred.
That earned her another laugh off Sonata and a glare from Aria.
Still smirking, Adagio turned to Sonata. “Go ahead, put it on.”
Smiling in response, Sonata snatched the remote up off the coffee table and pressed play.
As the movie began, the three girls settled down for the night ahead of them.
“Well this is boring.” Aria stated.
“It’s the title sequence!” Sonata snapped.
“Yeah and it’s boring.”
“What were you expecting? Explosions?!”
“I was expecting something.”
“Okay, no.” Adagio interrupted them. “We are going to watch this movie in silence.”
Aria and Sonata both frowned.
“But that will be boring, Adagio.”
“How are you guys gonna know if I like it or not?” Sonata whined.
“You both always talk during movies! You can tell us if you like it at the end, Sonata. And suck it up Aria.” Adagio refused to budge.
Aria ‘hmph’ed and crossed her arms. Sonata deflated a little and returned her attention to the screen.
They got a fully thirty minutes into the movie before Adagio’s command was broken, by herself no less.
“Oh my gosh.” Adagio broke the silence. “Is that Susan?”
Aria and Sonata both turned to her.
“What?” Aria frowned.
“That actress. That is Susan.” Adagio pointed to the poofy haired actress.
“That’s… Sigourney Weaver?” Aria asked.
“Who’s Susan?” Sonata frowned.
“No, it’s Susan. Don’t you remember her?” Adagio lifted herself up and turned to Aria. “When we lived in Connecticut, she was the tall girl from up the street.”
Aria returned to looking at the screen.
“Holy crap you’re right.”
“Of course I’m right, she was like one of my best friends.”
“I don’t remember her.” Sonata perked in.
“You went to the same school as her.” Aria told the girl. She turned to Adagio. “What was its name again?”
“The all-girls school. I don’t remember it well, but Sonata you definitely went there.”
Sonata turned back to the screen. “I really don’t recognize her.”
“She matured very well.” Adagio smirked.
“I can’t believe she became famous.” Aria said, still looking at the screen.
“Hehehe, if we wanted to be adored we should have just followed her lead instead of Adagio’s, amiright?” Sonata giggled to Aria.
Her joke was met by frowns from both her sisters. She shrank beneath the duvet.
“I wonder how many other famous people we know…” Adagio mumbled.
“There’s that one guy from Queens,” Sonata chipped in. “The one who’s running for President?”
“We do not talk about him in this house, Sonata.” Adagio told her sternly.
Sonata pointed a harsh finger at Aria.
“Aria voted for him!”
Adagio sighed. “I know, and we agreed that we also do not discuss Aria’ political affiliations in this house.”
Aria threw her hands up in defense. “Hey, I have stock in the NBC, you know that’s my only reason.”
“Was that your reason for voting for the nasty man in Germany too?” Sonata spat.
“You leave mein schatz out of this…. You have no idea what we had.” Aria spat.
“We did get a lot of magical energy out of him. Such a shame when he passed… Sonata you should really show more respect.” Adagio nodded.
Sonata threw her arms up in frustration. “Fine, whatever.”
Aria smirked. It was only on extremely rare occasions that they managed to get Sonata annoyed, and she cherished every moment of it. Though her attention had been turned back to the TV, from the corner of her eye she was sure she could see Adagio smirking as well.
“I wonder if she’d still recognize me?” Adagio asked herself.
“Who, Susan?” Aria asked.
Adagio nodded.
“Probably, I mean we look exactly the same. Minus the old timey outfits.”
“Hmmm…. I wonder…” Adagio fell quiet.
“Uh oh.” Sonata chipped in. “That’s her plotting face.”
“I know. What are you thinking Adagio?” Aria asked cautiously.
“Well back when I knew Susa-Sorry, Sigourney. When I knew her I was one of her closest friends. I knew her mother and then became a bit of a… parental figure to her. I wonder if maybe we could pull some old strings.”
Aria frowned. “And do what?”
Adagio smiled. “Maybe she could get us in with the high cats. If we can’t make the world love us for our singing voices… maybe we can give acting a try.”
“But we can’t act?” Sonata asked.
“Aria can.” Adagio turned to her with a knowing smile. “Back in the fifteen hundreds, you studied acting when we went England. You were even in all those plays.”
“What, the Shakespeare ones?” Aria asked. “I just did that as a hobby, I was no good. Besides you’re missing a big flaw in your plan.”
“Oh?” Adagio rose an eyebrow.
“I already said, we look exactly the same as we used to. Don’t you think she’d be a bit suspicious, given that she must be in what, her eighties by now, and we haven’t aged a day?”
Adagio collapsed back into the sofa and folded her arms. “Right, I forgot about that. Damn.”
“So is Susan the main character in this?” Sonata asked.
“Yes.” Adagio nodded.
“No, the guy with the beard is.” Aria corrected her.
“But Susan’s name was the first in the credits.” Adagio pointed to the screen.
“But they’re spending the most time with the beard guy.” Aria interjected.
“Actually I think they’re spending the most time with the spacesu-EEEEKK!” “Gah!" “Sweet Celestia!”
Sonata’s snack bowl shot into the air and showered the three in popcorn. Adagio grasped her heart and Aria flinched so hard she nearly took herself onto the floor.
On the screen, the man in the spacesuit whom Sonata had just been talking about had been attacked by… something. And when that something attacked, it caused a very loud noise.
“Sonata! That went all in my hair!” Adagio shouted.
“Sorry! Sorry! That really scared me!” Sonata shouted apologetically.
The two’s panic was interpreted by laughter from Aria.
“That was great, finally a jump scare!” The girl laughed.
Adagio scowled at her, and then set about picking the popcorn from her hair.
“What the hell was that anyway?” She asked.
“I dunno, but it looked gross.” Sonata sneered.
“I’m starting to get into this movie.” Aria sat forward.
“Sonata.” She began. “Help me get all this out of my hair.”
Sonata wiggled closer to her older sister and set about picking through her hair.
She was going to be here for a while.
Adagio’s hair was infamous between the Dazzlings. It had been the source of hundreds of nicknames over the years, including Cheese Puff, Pillow Head and “The Poof”. With the combined effort of the three of them, they actually managed to straighten it all once. That was when she took on the unauthorized nickname (and inspired the legend) of Rapunzel.
Unlike Aria’s and Sonata’s, Adagios hair style had remained near enough constant throughout the years she’d spent on this planet, for the simple reason that it was almost impossible to do anything with it. Even on the rare occasions she’d have it cut, the hair dressers would often have to call for back up in the form of hedge trimmers or a chainsaw. Her thick golden locks managed to be as strong as steel, but as bouncy as a trampoline. On one particularly windy day The Poof even managed to cause a car crash. Which gets a lot worse when you find out that Adagio wasn’t even in the car, rather she’d been walking on the sidewalk and a gust of wind had blown her hair into a car’s windshield.
“Hold still Dagi.” She told her sister.
As Sonata searched elbow-deep through her sister’s hair she came across the loose bits of popcorn and quickly removed them (no doubt to be consumed at a later date.) She giggled over some the memories The Poof had brought them.
One Halloween night Sonata hid inside it and spoke to Adagio pretending that she was her inner demon. And she fell for it as well! She convinced her she was going crazy, and that Sonata’s recent disappearance was because Adagio had murdered her in her sleep. Only when Adagio was stood there, knife in hand over a begging Aria did Sonata finally reveal herself.
Oh how they all cried with laughter. Oh the tickle fights they had.
“Okay done.” Sonata smiled, scooting away from her sister.
“Really…?” Adagio asked, taking her hair in her hands.
“Mostly.” She shrugged. “There’s some that’s never coming out.” She giggled.
Adagio frowned and turned her attention back to the TV.
“It’s got boring again, Sonata.” Aria droned.
“You just said that you liked it!” Sonata spat.
“Because stuff was finally kicking off! Now they’re just talking about it. It’s like nothing remotely exciting can happen in this without them spending half an hour just talking about it.”
“It’s called intelligent horror.” Sonata defended. “The idea of what’s going on is meant to be scarier than what’s actually going on.”
“Well it’s not.” Aria sneered. “What do you think Adagio?”
Adagio shrugged. “It’s okay I guess.”
“See? Adagio likes it.”
“She didn’t say that, she says she thinks it okay.”
“Okay means good!”
“It does not! It means okay. As in average. As in better than you.”
“Are you calling me the worst?” Sonata frowned.
“Maybe I am!” Aria growled.
“Girls.” Adagio stopped them. “I’m just gonna go to bed if you keep arguing like this.”
Aria and Sonata both crossed their arms and returned to the movie.
Adagio rolled her eyes. They were sisters, and they did love each other. But… damn did they clash.
Aria had a very short temper, and Sonata needed patience. Adagio was a very well-rounded person, normally she could deal with either of them separately. But together? Let’s just say, over a thousand years of bickering knows how the get to a girl.
“Wait where’s the thing gone?” Aria asked.
“It fell off, they literally just said that.” Sonata shot back.
“Alright calm down,” Aria rolled her eyes. “Jeez, just a question.”
“Adagio told us to stop arguing!”
“We weren’t arguing, I asked you a question.”
“And whenever we talk we end up arguing!”
“Oh yeah? I wonder why that is…”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“If you open your mouths again,” Adagio said through her teeth. “I swear I will not be held responsible for my actions.”
The two both looked from each other, to the ever annoyed Adagio, back to each other, before finally resting their attention back on the TV.
Time began to pass.
Aria was not enjoying the movie. She found the whole thing to be just… boring. At least with the previous films she had the goof of how unrealistic everything that was going on to keep her entertained. This movie was… ridiculously realistic. To the point of where she swore one scene was just a guy sat on his computer in complete silence for two minutes. That was it!
Sonata on the other hand, found the film to be brilliant. The realism gave her a sense of real danger that none of the previous films had. When something happened, she felt like it actually happened, and not that she was just watching a movie. Sure while not a lot was actually happening… the idea that anything could at any moment kept her on the edge of her seat. She suppressed an inner squeal and eagerly kept watching.
And Adagio… Adagio stood on the middle ground. She found the film to be… intriguing. It was unlike any other film she’d seen before, in that it didn’t even really seem like a film. It flowed so naturally, it seemed almost like they were observing actual people. Which yes, did definitely add an extra sense of danger to what they were seeing. But the fact of the matter was, there was not an awful lot actually happening. Just people sat around, talking.
Talking.
Talking.
More Talking.
Snoring.
Snoring.
Loud snoring.
“Adagio?” Aria giggled.
“Is she…?” Sonata pointed at their oldest.
“Sonata, go get me a pen.” Aria smirked.
Adagio awoke with a jolt.
She scanned the room and found the source of her sudden awakening to be the Television, where it appeared somebody had just been killed.
Her sisters stared at her, grinning.
“Sleep well, Adagio?” Aria asked.
“Mmmm.” Adagio rubbed her eyes. “Sorry, I must have nodded off.”
“Oh no, we’re sorry.” Sonata beamed.
Adagio frowned. “What’re you-“
“Sorry that you fell asleep, she means.” Aria interrupted. “The loser should have picked a more exciting movie.”
“It’s not that, I’ve just had a long day is all.” Adagio finished with a yawn. “So what’s going on?”
“Well,” Sonata sat forward on her seat. “The thing that was on the guys face fell off, and everything was fine. But then everything was not fine. The man gave birth to a baby snake alien, which then ran off and grew big, and now it’s eating people.”
Adagio blinked. “Guess I.... missed a lot, then.”
Aria snorted. “Hardly, it was mega boring.”
“And now the alien just killed the guy with the beard.” Sonata told her.
“Told you he wasn’t the main character.” Adagio sneered.
“Rigghhtt… I’d hate to make a fool of myself.” Aria laughed.
Both she and Sonata shared a giggle.
“W-what’s so funny?” Adagio asked, missing out on the joke.
“Inside joke, you wouldn’t understand it.” Aria waved her off.
“It was really weird when the spacesuit guy had the alien baby.” Sonata remarked. “Almost as weird as how regular humans have babies.”
Adagio frowned.
“Sonata… We have babies the same way as them?” She said slowly.
“I know, we’re from a different universe and yet that stays the same? What did I tell ya, weeeeird.” She nodded.
Adagio thought for a second and then nodded. Sonata wasn’t wrong.
“Is Susan okay?” She asked, returning to the screen.
“Yeah she’s fine. Looks like she’s the main character now.” Aria said.
“Is that guy sweating milk?” Sonata piped up.
Adagio squinted. “That… doesn’t look like milk.”
“Wait what’s he doing with that magazine?” Aria frowned.
The trio watched the TV in confusion.
Then suddenly…
“Oh fudge!” Sonata yelped.
“Jesus!” Aria’s eyebrows hit her hairline.
“What the heck?” Adagio sputtered out.
“He’s a robot!” Sonata yelled, pointing at the screen.
“Duh, genius. Thanks for the news flash, no way could we have figured that out on our own.” Aria sneered.
“Why’s he a robot?” Adagio asked, confused. “Are there robots in this film? Did this happen when I was asleep? You didn’t mention robots.”
“Hey there’s been no robots!” Aria held her hands up in defense. “This is the first I’ve seen of them.”
“They can’t just have somebody turn out to be a robot out of nowhere… can they?” Sonata asked.
“I mean it was a pretty good plot twist.” Adagio defended.
“Yeah but Sonata’s right that just came out of nowhere. They could do that in any movie.” Aria folded her arms.
“Well no, they have spaceships and advanced technology in this, why can’t they have robots?” Adagio shrugged.
“But still that’s like, they should have mentioned it earlier or something. It just came out of nowhere.” Aria didn’t budge.
Adagio rolled her eyes and continued watching the movie.
“Why does the robot bleed milk?” Sonata asked.
“I remember you asking me a similar question once about teenage boys.” Adagio said under her breath. “I guess that’s just what they use for blood.”
Sonata frowned. “You can use milk for blood?”
“Woah.” Aria laughed. “That must have really stunk trying to film.”
“I’ll have to ask Susan if it really was milk, next time I see her.” Adagio smiled.
“Shut up.” Aria flicked a snack at her. It went unnoticed by both Adagio and Sonata, and landed within The Poof. Aria let out a silent gasp and returned to the TV, hoping neither of them had noticed.
“That’s actually really creepy.” Adagio held herself in her arms. “Having the head detached but still talking like that.”
“Eh, I’ve seen worse.” Sonata waved it off.
Both Aria and Adagio frowned and turned to her. “Where?” Adagio asked.
“Aria’s laptop.” Sonata said cheerfully.
Adagios gaze turned to Aria, who looked furious.
“What did I tell you about using MY laptop?” She asked through her teeth.
Sonata recoiled slightly.
Adagio rolled her eyes.
“Aria.” She told her sister sternly.
Aria looked from Sonata, back to Adagio, back to Sonata, before giving a “humph” and turning back to the screen.
“Is this nearly over yet? I’m bored.” Aria continued to complain.
“No one’s making you watch it.” Adagio shot back.
“Yes they are! Sonata will go off on one if I don’t.” Aria pointed at her younger sister.
“I thought you wanted to watch it?” Sonata asked.
“I did when I thought it was a horror movie. This isn’t scary, this is boring.” Aria droned.
“You know what’s boring!?” Adagio sat up. “Hearing you complain about everything, all the damn time. Get a sense of humour Aria, not everything is as depressing as you make it out to be.”
Aria laughed.
“Yeah it’s called Depression for a reason, Dagi.”
Adagio growled.
“I am so sick of you using that as an excuse! What do you actually do these days? You sit in your room and complain about everything, and that’s it. Have you ever considered maybe if you actually put the effort in to improving that you wouldn’t be so depressed all the time?”
“Try and be happier? That’s your advice?” Aria scoffed.
“Well you clearly don’t seem to be trying, so yeah.”
“Oh piss off Adagio.”
Adagio stood up.
“Don’t swear at me.”
“Then don’t say stupid things.” Aria spat.
Sonata begin to retreat beneath her duvet.
“ARGH!” Adagio snapped. “You know we’re in the same situation as you don’t you -me and Sonata? Except I’m on my feet working all day to try and provide for us while you just-”
“Sonata doesn’t do anything either.” Aria shrugged.
“-No but she doesn’t use what happened as an excuse to sit around on her ass all day complaining!”
“Pfftt please,” Aria kept her cool. “She only isn’t doing that because she’s too stupid to understand what’s going on.”
Sonata shrank further beneath her blanket.
“And why am I not doing that Aria?” Adagio stressed.
Aria shrugged again.
“Because I have my priorities set straight. I know there’s no use dwelling on it, and I know that sitting around crying about it won’t do anything!”
“That explains why you sat around crying about it for the first few days!”
“Oh my god you are impossible!” Adagio turned around. “And I thought you were bad before what happened.”
“Whatever.”
Aria stood, scaling herself up to Adagio. “I’m going to bed.”
“Good.” Adagio spat.
And with that Aria left the room, closing the door with a slam.
Adagio turned to Sonata, only to see her whimpering beneath the duvet. She rolled her eyes and sighed.
“Sonata.”
Sonata remained under cover (literally).
“Sonata come out.”
Slowly, the blue hair began to rise up from beneath the quilt. As her eyes appeared over the duvet, Adagio noticed they were watering. Her heart dropped, and she let out a sympathetic sigh.
She joined Sonata back down on the couch.
“I’m sorry about that.” Adagio tried.
Sonata still didn’t come out from her hiding spot.
“Y-You're,” She began. “Y-You’re not supposed to t-talk about t-the incident.”
“I know Sonata, I’m sorry.” Adagio placed her hand on Sonata’s shoulder, which made her flinch.
Sonata sniffed. “I’m s-sorry you guys didn’t like the m-movie.”
Adagio sighed and waved her off. “It wasn’t the movie Sonny… Aria’s just not been in the best of moods recently. And it was my fault, I pushed her… I’m sorry I ruined your movie night.”
Upon hearing her rarely used affectionate nickname, Sonata took that as her cue to fully emerge from her hiding spot. She dabbed her eyes with the sleeve of her pyjama top and smiled.
Happy at seeing her sister’s smile, Adagio turned back to the TV screen.
“Looks like your movies over though… don’t suppose you caught how it ended?”
Sonata shook her head.
“Well then… Looks like we have an excuse to watch it again another night, eh?” Adagio winked at her.
Sonata smiled.
“Why don’t you take all this back into your room now?” Adagio gestured to the duvet. “If you do it all quickly, I might have time to do us some hot choco.”
Sonata’s eyes light up in excitement, and she leaped up from the couch. After giving Adagio a quick hug, she scooped up all of her belongings (which was impressive, considering the size of her) and left the room in a hurry.
Adagio sighed again.
She couldn’t deny it, Aria was getting worse. Her sister had been on a slow downward spiral ever since the incident. She hoped that her little encounter with the toaster last month had been a one off, but there had been no signs of improvement since then. Adagio had been hoping she was taking a little longer than her and Sonata to get over it, but it was that long ago now and and with no improvement at all she was beginning to lose that hope.
To be fair, it was Adagio who had started on her this time. But being so constantly on the edge of mentally breakdown was not a position healthy for Aria to be in, nor was it ethical for Adagio to be spending her life walking on eggshells around her.
But what could Adagio do to help?
Aria was never the talkative type, nor did Adagio know the first thing about being a shoulder to cry on.
Standing up, Adagio straightened her pyjamas and looked around. There was still a few curdles of popcorn left littered about the place, but nothing that couldn’t be left for tomorrow. For now, all she wanted to do was curl up in bed with her hot choco.
“Hot choco.” She said to herself, remembering her promise to Sonata.
Turning to the door, she briefly spied her reflection in the Television glass.
She stopped.
Frowning, approached the TV. She bent down, getting a closer look at her reflection.
Suddenly bed and hot choco were the last thing on her mind.
“I’M GOING TO MAKE YOU TWO WISH I WAS AN ONLY CHILD!”
Nearly a week had passed since the Dazzlings last watched a movie together, and the result of that had been… interesting. Aria found it boring and spent the entire time complaining, which caused Adagio to snap at her and… well, things had escalated from there. The morning after hadn’t done much to improve their situation; Aria had spent the day in her room and Adagio and Sonata had only briefly seen each other during breakfast before the former left for work. Yeah, the Dazzlings preferred method of getting over things these days was “ignore the problem until it goes away.”
And each to their own, while it probably wasn’t healthy for them, it was working. Aria eventually came out of her room and had slowly gotten back to bullying Sonata, which instantly perked Sonata back up. And seeing her sisters back in tune gave Adagio that warm feeling inside she got when around them (the feeling that she would rather be eaten alive than admit to). So, things had gotten relatively back into pace pretty quickly, apart from one thing they were missing.
Movies.
Sonata had not dared bringing up the subject of them watching something together again, even now that things had gone back to normal. She held herself entirely responsible for what happened when they watched Alien. It was her fault for picking a boring movie, of course Aria wouldn’t enjoy that! Aria hated things that required a long term attention span. One Christmas Sonata had treated her to a spot the difference book, which she’d payed attention to for about five minutes and then thrown in the garbage (though Sonata had later salvaged it for her own bookshelf). If only she had remembered that sooner!
Sonata silently cursed herself.
She was lay on her single bed staring at the ceiling, contemplating life. On the floor around her lay scattered toys and candy bar wrappers. She was coming down from her daily sugar high, and it was always at this time Sonata did her really deep thinking.
All the warning signs had been there that Aria wouldn’t enjoy the movie, and yet she hadn’t seen any of them. Like she never does.
"You’re the worst, Sonata", she told herself.
Adagio was not just their leader, but essentially the surrogate mother of the group. She would provide for them, protect them and lead them. Everything they had was thanks to Adagio’s leadership. She was by far the smartest of the group, she came up with their plans for everything, from world domination to this week’s shopping list.
"Oh shoot, I forgot to go grocery shopping!" Sonata cursed again.
And then there was Aria; just as important as Adagio. Physically she was the strongest of the three (which admittedly used to help out more two hundred years ago than it does now), but she was also a lot harsher than Adagio. Which surprisingly was a good thing, she was able to make the really tough calls. Vanilla Ice Cream or Strawberry? Burgers for dinner or hot dogs? Pick pocket that old man, or the blind lady? All questions that Sonata wouldn’t be able to bring herself to choose between... which was why they had Aria.
And that just left her. She was no fool to the situation she was in. Sonata was born the runt of the litter and thus didn’t particularly have any talents to contribute to the group; She wasn’t very smart, or strong, or super good looking. She could do a few things, she knew how to cut hair, she had okay cooking skills and she'd been told she has a great rack, but other than that, nothing major. That’s why she tried her very best at the things she knew she could definitely do: keep her sisters happy! They were always so busy planning, scheming, never once did they stop and just enjoy themselves. She knew she owed them a lot, and that’s why she did all in her power to keep them both happy. Where she failed? Her sisters were extremely difficult to keep happy.
The only thing Adagio really liked was herself. And she could hardly give Adagio to herself. Mirrors were a good second best, but at this point Adagio’s room was so full of mirrors she could use them as very trippy wallpaper. And Aria wasn’t much better; at least Adagio actually liked something. Aria was an insanely private person, all that Sonata knew was she listens to music and plays video games a lot. Beyond that? She might as well be trying to please a stranger. In fact no, because if you got a bad gift for a stranger they would probably just smile awkwardly and thank you for it. Aria would throw the gift into the garbage and spit in your face. (Although credit to her she hadn’t done that since the nineteen thirties).
But for a very short time, Sonata had found something that both she, Adagio and Aria enjoyed; watching movies together. It wasn’t much, but it was rare they ever had common ground. And sure, Adagio never specifically stated that she liked watching Gamera and Alien, but she at least seemed interested in them, right? And Aria (probably) definitely said that she enjoyed King Kong Vs Godzilla, and some parts of Alien. Sonata just needed to find something that all of them would love. Aria liked it when the older movies were goofy, but also liked when Alien got scary, and Adagio seemed to pretty much agree, only she was more open minded about slow horror. So she needed something scary, yet smart, with a little bit of goofy.
“Oh, brain blast!” Sonata exclaimed.
She recalled hearing of a movie that just fit those specifications. Now all she had to do was convince Aria and Adagio to give watching movie together another try…
Suddenly she didn’t seem quite as enthusiastic.
Might as well jump in at the deep end. If she could get Aria on-board with watching the movie, then Adagio would definitely be up for it.
Sonata took a deep breath. She knocked on Aria’s bedroom door.
There was a few moments of silence, before she heard a heavy sigh, some shuffling, footsteps, and the door creaked open just enough for Sonata to see a purple eye staring at her.
“What?”
“Hey Aria,” Sonata waved cheerfully.
“What do you want?” Aria asked, already growing impatient.
“Well I was wondering if you wanted to watch a mov-“
The door collided with Sonata’s foot, which had become firmly wedged between it and the door frame. Aria growled.
“- movie with me tonight?”
“Sonata why would I want to do that?” Aria asked.
“Because it’ll be fun?” she smiled.
“Leave me alone Sonata,” Aria spat.
Aria again tried to push her door shut, but Sonata’s foot remained tightly wedged in the gap.
“Oh come oooonnn Aria,” Sonata pulled her best puppy dog face.
Aria did her best impression of a vampire in the sunlight.
“No! No puppy dog faces! I’m not watching another one of your stupid movies!”
Drat. Puppy dog eyes almost never fail!
Time for plan C.
“B-BUT Adagio’s said she’ll watch it with me! S-she was the one who actually said you should watch it with us!” Sonata tried.
Not technically true, but she was sure if she could get them in a room together they’d both apologize anyway.
“I’m not wa… really?”
Gotcha.
“Yeaaah… she said she felt bad about what happened with the last movie and wanted to give it another go.”
“Well, well I…” Aria thought for a moment. “That’s not an apology though.”
Sonata shrugged.
“Guess she’s trying to make the first move towards it, you know how she is.”
Aria was silent again.
“What movie is it?”
Ooooh this was so happening now.
“The Thing.”
“What thing?”
“The movie.”
“Yeah, what’s the movie?”
“The Thing.”
“Yeah, that.”
“What?”
“What thing are we watching?”
“The movie?”
“Yeah.”
“The Thing.”
“Yes the thing! What movie is it?”
“THE THING.”
“WHAT THING?”
“THE MOVIE IS THE THING.”
“I KNOW.”
“OKAY.
“SO WHAT MOVIE IS IT?”
“THE THING.”
“YES!”
“THE MOVIE IS THE THING.”
“I KNOW.”
“Okay, let’s start again,” Aria put her hand to her head, “Sonata, what is the name of the movie?”
“The Thing.”
“Yes, that. What’s its name?”
“The Thing.”
Aria grunted. “Yes, now… what is the things name?”
Sonata shrugged. “Well… I dunno, we’ll have to watch the movie to find out I guess.”
Aria waved her off, abandoning this back and forth all together.
“What’s it about?”
“A thing.” “SONATA.”
“EEP! Erm, I don’t know. But it’s got lots of gore in it, it’s rated eighteen.”
The perked Aria’s interest.
“Oh really?” She thought for a second. “Technically you’re barely old enough to watch it then, in this world.”
Sonata shrugged again, “Adagio said I could.”
Aria mused.
“Well okay then. Sure, I’ll watch your stupid movie with you. But it better be a good one this time.”
“Oooooh thank you Aria!” Sonata squee’d.
“And Sonata one more thing?”
“Yep?”
“GET YOUR FOOT OUT OF MY DOOR.”
Ecstatic that she had gotten Aria on board with her plan, Sonata set about eagerly awaiting Adagio’s return. All she needed to do was get to her before Aria did, and then tell her that Aria had suggesting the film to make up for what happened last time. Yes it was lying, but Sonata had seen plans like this on TV dozens of time before and it had all worked out fine then -she just needed to get her sisters alone in the room together and they’d make up on their own!
When she’d spoken to Aria it was around 5pm, and Adagio finishes today at 6:30pm. That left her with an hour and a half to prepare.
She made her way into the kitchen and took out three large plastic bowls. She then went over to the cupboard and opened it, only to deflate a little.
“Shoot… groceries…” Sonata hung her head.
Sonata wasn’t allowed to leave the house without one of her sisters with her, and she doubted she’d be able to convince Aria to pay her any more attention today.
It was okay, they could just watch the film without snacks! Adagio was always talking about her diet and Aria just threw up any food she ate these days anyway!
Putting the bowls away again, Sonata skipped her way into the living room and looked out the window. She did a quick scan of the street below, checking for any signs of “The Poof”. Satisfied she still had a while before Adagio returned, Sonata sat, her attention still out the window.
The apartment block they lived in was slap-bang in the middle of the city, just next to a main road. They lived on the ninth floor, which provided them with quite a view of the town -a view that Sonata always enjoyed, even though she was very used to it by now. The sky had turned orange and on the horizon the sun was beginning to set.
Giving one last smile at the view, Sonata leaned over and tugged the curtains shut, enveloping their living room in darkness. Alarmed at suddenly being plunged into darkness, she let out a quick ‘eep!’ and quickly switched the lamp on. It illuminated the room in a peaceful orange glow, which allowed Sonata to see the house phone on the coffee table opposite her.
It read 5:20pm.
Sonata let out a sigh.
She had ageeesss to wait before Adagio was home!
“Adagio I don’t want to.”
“Oh come on, you both did it to me.”
“But Sonata creeps me out when she sleeps… she talks.”
“You sleep talk all the time!”
“Never in Latin though!”
“Is she really still doing that?”
“Only when it’s a full moon.”
Sonata’s eyes slowly opened. As her vision focused, she spotted two figures looking down on her. Her sisters quickly hid a marker pen behind them and smiled.
“Good morning, sleep head.” Adagio purred.
Sonata’s eyes shot open.
She’d overslept! This could ruin everything!
“GAAHHhhoooood mornin’ ‘dagi,” she sat bolt upright.
Her sisters both stifled a laugh and moved away from her. Aria took a seat beside her on the sofa, while Adagio lingered, slowly taking off her work gear.
Sonata’s heart beat increased. She had to play this very carefully or she could risk everything. All her hard work and planning would be lost!
“Soo… er…” Sonata thought of the words she needed. “How was work?”
“It wasn’t too bad. I just got in actually.”
“Though she got home like half an hour ago,” Aria sniggered, “spent like ten minutes knocking on the door for you to answer it, I had to take off my headphones to let her in.”
Adagio sighed, “you shouldn’t have them on when you’re in charge of Sonata anyway.”
“Whatever,” Aria shrugged, having heard this all before.
Sonata looked between her two sisters, “you guys… seem to be getting on better.”
The two glanced at each other with uneasy expressions, then merely shrugged.
“When are we putting the movie on?” Aria asked.
“You’re watching a movie?” Adagio asked, folding her jacket up and placing it on the back of the sofa.
Sonata’s heart skipped a beat.
“YES-yes, we’re watching one… remember?” Sonata squeaked her last line out.
Adagio frowned. “What’re you talking about? I never-“
“ARIA REMEB-bers don’t you?” Sonata shouted.
Aria frowned. “Erm, yeah? You said we were going to watch a movie and Adagio was going to apo-“ “-APPEASE THE GOD GOZER.”
Both her sisters turned to Sonata. Their blank stares were met with a nervous smile.
“Gozer?” Aria asked.
“Gozer…” Sonata thought, “…is an ancient Sumerian demon… He was worshiped by the Hittites and the Mesopotamians in 6000BC, and they believed that one day he would crossover into our dimension to bring about the end of the world.”
The two other sirens simply continued to stare.
Aria turned to Adagio.
“And you want to appease him?”
“What? No! I don’t even know who he is.” Adagio spat.
“Then what’s she talking about?”
“I have no idea! Why would I want to summon a Mesopotamian god!?”
“It wouldn’t be the first time…” Sonata said under her breath, adding fuel to the situation.
“Oh drop it Soanta,” Adagio pointed her finger at her, “you were both as much a part of that as I was.”
“Yeah but it was your idea.” Aria waved her off.
“Sorry for trying to get us home...” Adagio glared back. “Anyway, what movie are we watching?”
We?
Adagio was inviting herself to watch the movie with them.
This was perfect!
Sonata’s heart did the giddy dance.
“The Thing.” She said brightly.
“What thing?” Adagio asked.
“The Thin-“
“THE NAME OF THE MOVIE-” Aria butted in, “-IS CALLED THE THING. That is the title, it’s called John Carpenter’s The Thing. Alright!?”
Adagio shrank away from Aria’s sudden outburst, “erm, alright.”
Aria frowned again, “wait, I thought you knew what movie we were watching?”
Sonata’s heart did the panic dance.
“Why would I know?” Adagio frowned.
“Becaauuusseee… you’re gonna watch it with us, silly!” Sonata forced a smile.
Adagio looked at Sonata, squinting.
Sonata, sweating, continued smiling.
“Hmm. Okay,” Adagio said finally.
A wave of relief washed over her as Adagio took over place on the lounge chair beside the sofa.
“Awesome, Sonata go put it on.”
Sonata grabbed the remote off the coffee table.
“Wait are we not getting snacks first?” Adagio sounded disappointed.
“What happened to your diet?” Aria sneered.
Adagio waved her off, “I told you, I’m starting it tomorrow.”
“You said that yesterday.”
“I-“
“And the day before.”
“Well-“
“And every day last week.”
“I never said which tomorrow.”
Aria shrugged, “just don’t come crying to us when you get thunder thighs.”
Adagio looked offended, "my thighs are amazing I’ll have you know... You see this gap? Can measure pasta with it.”
Aria grimaced.
“… I am never eating food prepared by you again, oh my god.”
“At least when I eat food it stays eaten.”
Aria squinted, "what’s that supposed to mean?”
Adagio’s answer was interrupted by Sonata.
“Girls can you not… Like for realzies, can we just watch the movie?” Sonata pleaded, activating puppy dog mode.
Muttering under their breath, the two reluctantly turned their attention towards the screen.
Happy with their decision, Sonata smiled. She pressed a button on the remote and the movie began to play.
She had been doing very well today!
First she’d gotten Aria and Adagio to watch the film together without getting caught as a liar, and now she was telling them what to do?
"Let the reign of Sonata begin!" she thought giddily to herself.
“Oh my god, Kurt Russell’s in this movie?” Adagio asked, her face lighting up.
“Lemme guess, you know him too?” Aria said sarcastically.
“Oh I’d like to know him.”
“Who is he?” Sonata asked.
“My daddy,” Adagio purred.
This earned her a snort from Aria.
“You’re disgusting Adagio.”
“Wait,” Sonata stopped them, “daddies in this?”
Adagio laughed and Aria face-palmed.
“See what you do?” Aria asked Adagio. “No Sonata, our dad isn’t in this.”
“Then why did Adagio call him daddy?” Sonata frowned.
“Well… She meant… Look, Adagio’s a freak, okay?”
“Only when they want me to be.”
“Not. Helping.” Aria spat at her older sister, “just ignore her, watch the film.”
“I’m only kidding Aria, relax,” Adagio giggled.
“You aren’t though,” Aria sighed. “And that’s the worst part.”
“A pupper!” Sonata sat upright.
Adagio frowned. “A what?”
“There, a pupper!” She pointed to the dog now on the screen.
“What’s a pupper?”
“A tiny doggo.”
Adagio grew irritated.
“A what?”
“It’s an internet thing,” Aria waved her off.
“WAIT WHY’S HE SHOOTING AT THE DOGGO!?”
“I thought it was a pupper?”
“A doggo’s just a big ol’ pupper,” Aria slipped in again.
“What the hell is wrong with you two?”
“MAKE HIM STOP SHOOTING DAGI, HE’S GOING TO KILL IT.”
“It’s not real you numb nut!” Adagio snapped.
“Sonata, we talked about this,” Aria sighed. “What did I tell you about movies, TV and the wage gap?”
“They’re make believe?”
“Exactly.”
Adagio snorted in response.
“Oh, helllllooooo,” she purred as Kurt Russell appeared on screen.
Aria rolled her eyes.
“Put that hair in a man bun and I’d be his thing any day of the week,” Adagio watched the TV with predatory eyes.
Aria turned to Sonata and gestured putting her fingers down her throat. They both giggled.
“Careful Aria, wouldn’t want your force of habit to kick in,” Adagio sneered, catching Aria’s impression.
Aria looked like she was going to respond, but then let out a sigh and shrank back into her seat.
“Are they smoking a spliff?” Sonata asked.
Time itself skidded to a halt.
Adagio’s eyebrows hit the ceiling.
Aria’s mouth hit the ground.
Both of their heads snapped in Sonata’s direction. Aria did her best goldfish impression, while Adagio's face was a cross between anger, confusion and... yeah no, more confusion.
“How… the hell… do you know what one of those is?” Adagio asked
Sonata simply shrugged.
“I get around.”
Adagio looked like she was going to vomit.
“Sonata erm…” Aria laughed nervously, “no... you don’t.”
Sonata let out a small giggle and shook her head, "naaahhhh I don’t, I just saw it on the internet.”
Adagio pointed an accusing finger at Aria.
“You let her on the internet alone again didn’t you!?” she yelled.
Aria rolled her eyes and held her hands up in defense. “Hey she's sneaky! She must have got on when I was asleep!”
“That’s bullshit Aria she doesn’t know the laptop password!”
“Language!” Sonata covered her ears.
“Sonata, where did you find out what a spliff was?” Aria asked.
“Don’t repeat that!”
“You just said bullshit!”
“Language!”
“SONATA!” They both snapped.
“I wanted to find out what Aria’s nickname meant!” she said quickly.
Her older sisters frowned.
“Aria?” Adagio asked.
“I don’t know what she…” Aria thought for a minute, “…oh god.”
Adagio rolled her eyes. “What is it?”
“My name on Youtube...” Aria laughed awkwardly. “It’s er… AriaBlazeIt420…”
“It’s what?”
Aria sighed.
“AriaBlazeIt420.”
“HAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA.”
“Adagio!”
“HAHAHAHAHA I-I had n-no idea you were so GANGSTA!”
“I picked it because it sounded cool!” Aria looked away. “Aria Blaze was already taken, I don’t think I’m a gangster.”
A huge crowd of people drained from the Canterlot movie theatre. As the crowd dispersed, a few seconds passed before everyone’s favourite ex-sirens followed through the doors after them.
Maybe it was the mixture of all the old horror movies that made them want to seek out something new, or maybe it was the fact that this latest release had received positive reviews all around the globe that had brought them here. Whatever the reason, they had all fancied a change, succumbed to the mainstream and ventured out to see the new cinematic adaptation of Stephen King’s IT.
The trio walked from the movie theatre in silence, already getting a few meters away before any of them dared speak up. And when they finally did speak, each of them chimed in at once.
“Holy crap!”
“That was…” Adagio’s face was glued to the ground.
“I can’t believe it...” Aria said in an empty tone.
“That was just…” Adagio continued searching for the words
“Holy crap,” Sonata repeated.
“You already said that.”
“And it was even more accurate the second time.”
“That was…”
The penny dropped.
“Awful.” “Terrible!” “One of the worst horror movies I’ve ever seen!”
The group all looked between each other.
“Really?” they all asked in unison.
“I think that’s the first time we’ve ever all agreed on anything before.”
“The tone was all over the place.”
“It was way too long.”
“It wasn’t even scary!”
“Aria, I would have thought you’d liked it?” Sonata asked.
“Why is that?” she frowned.
“Because it was like, all super edgy. You’re into that stuff,” she shrugged.
“I like grunge, not edge. And that was like trying to make Stranger Things edgy, there’s some things that just shouldn’t be edgy.”
“Didn’t you like Jared Leto’s Joker?” Adagio asked.
“Yes, and?”
“... Kind of the same thing.”
“It is not!”
Sonata frowned. “Taking a character who’s entire thing is being over the top funny and then making him ridiculously edgy to appeal to teenage girls - it’s exactly the same thing.”
“It is not! And why are you both focusing on me?”
“Because it is the same thing! And you have that awful taste!” Adagio laughed aloud.
Aria cocked a hip.
“Explain.”
“Well,” Adagio began to count off her fingers. “You think the Joker is sexy, you loved Twilight when that was a thing, you love Tim Burton-”
“There's nothing wrong with Tim Burton!”
“You like modern Burton, though” Sonata cringed.
“What’s wrong with modern Burton?!” Aria stressed.
“Alice in Wonderland… Charlie and the Chocolate Factory… what do they both have in common?”
Sonata chimed in before Aria could answer.
“Both awful edgy misinterpretations of the source material," Sonata said, matter-of-factly.
Aria snapped around.
“And just when the hell did you get so smart?”
“I’ve always been smart, I just pretend to be dumb because it’s cute.”
“What?”
“What?” Sonata smiled, oblivious.
“We thought you would have liked it because it was another edgy remake of a masterpiece, and that seems to be your thing so... sue us,” Adagio stated.
Sonata and Aria’s gaze fell onto Adagio as they both identically repeated,
“Masterpiece!?”
“Yes…?” Adagio was confused. “I mean the original movie. With Tim Curry.”
Her opinion barely left her mouth before she was met with explosive laughter from her two sisters.
“Adagio, the original is awful!”
“Shut up, no it’s not!”
“Nah, Dagi, it’s pretty bad.”
“How is it?”
“It’s too slow, the effects are goofy and it’s way too long.”
“You’re just repeating what Nostalgia Critic said!”
“I honestly had no idea you knew what Youtube was.”
“Well, I do. And he was wrong too, that movie is a cinematic masterpiece.”
“Except it was a TV show and not a movie.”
This time it was Adagio who turned on Sonata.
“Okay, what is it with you today?”
“No, she’s right,” Aria defended. “The original was a mini-series.”
“I know she is right! And the fact it was a TV series and still works well as a movie is just more points towards it being amazing.”
“But it doesn’t work as a movie!”
“Yes it does!”
“Adagio, come on. You can’t tell us you legitimately thought the original was a masterpiece and expect us to take your opinion seriously.”
“Well it is my opinion.”
“Then your opinion sucks and you have bad taste.”
“Jared Leto’s Joker…?”
“Shut your whore mouth.”
“Language!” Sonata snapped.
“At least the original was better than this one,” Adagio mumbled.
“Agreed. Why the heck did that get such good reviews?”
“Again, it was edgy.”
“Is that all it takes for a movie to be successful?”
“You know what I don’t get?” Sonata asked. “Why was Pennywise a clown?”
Aria rolled her eyes.
“Seriously, Sonata?”
“No, really! Why was he a clown?”
“Because clowns are scary.”
“And it was like that in the original book.”
“Why are clowns scary?”
Adagio shrugged.
“They’re super cheerful but look creepy as heck, I don’t know, I’m not scared of them.”
“Exactly, they’re super cheerful! He wasn’t.”
“What do you mean?”
“She’s right, that’s what I was saying!” Aria exclaimed. “They made Pennywise serious and creepy, but part of what makes clowns scary is how overly happy they are. They completely missed the point of what makes clowns horrifying.”
Adagio shrugged.
“I guess…”
“So they shouldn’t have made him a clown,” Sonata repeated.
Aria shook her head.
“You can’t just do that though, that’s like making Jurassic Park without dinosaurs. IT is about clowns.”
“Well then the actor should have been funnier!”
“I don’t think that’s really the actor’s fault, Sonata.”
“I thought he was pretty hot,” Aria grinned.
“Not this again,” Adagio grimaced.
“What?”
“You sexuallizing none-sexual characters.”
“Adagio, we are literally sirens. We seduce people with our bodies and kill them, it’s what we do. And you’re way more perverted than either of us.”
Adagio chewed her lip.
“But I’m one of the good perverts.”
“How!?”
“I’m just sexy! And I know that I am, so I use it to my advantage. I’m not weird about it, like you.”
“How am I weird about it!?”
“You just are! With all your role playing and stuff.”
“You own a nurses outfit, you can't talk.”
“That’s different! Nurses are sexy, a planet isn’t.”
Aria groaned.
“That was a meme, it wasn’t serious. And that hasn’t even happened yet!”
“What do you mean?”
“We just watched IT in the cinema which means this chapter is in 2017, Earth-Chan dosen’t become a meme until January.”
Adagio groaned.
“This timeline is really inconsistent.”
“And congrats on just massively dating this entire story,” Sonata rolled her eyes. “People will read this in two years and wonder what the heck you’re talking about. Honestly I swear this whole thing is just a conduit for somebody too lazy to be a movie critic and too depressed to write anything other than fanfiction to get their opinions out.”
Adagio made a cutting gesture with her finger.
“Dial it back, too meta.”
Sonata shrugged.
“I just want to go back to watching The Thing. I don’t know why we stopped halfway through.”
“What thing?” Aria asked.
“The movie.”
“What, IT? We watched all of that.”
“No I know, I mean THE Thing.”
“Which thing?”
“Girls, would you kindly fucking not?”
“Sorry, Adagio,” the girls said in unison.
The walk back to the apartment was a short one, and before they knew it the trip had reached their apartment block. A quick trip through reception and into the elevator and they were stood in front of their front door.
“I did like the references they made to the original, I admit,” Adagio unlocked the door, allowing her sisters in behind her.
“Which references?” Sonata asked.
“Oh, I caught that,” Aria said. “The puppets, right?”
“Puppets?”
“In that one scene with all the puppets, there were some pictures on the wall of Tim Curry’s Pennywise.”
“Aww, that’s cute!” Sonata beamed.
“It was cute, but it didn’t really excuse the rest of it. Honestly, I don’t think I’ve cared that much about a movie in a long time. And not in a good way.”
“I know, it really bothered me,” Aria agreed. “They could have least tried to make it more like the novel.”
Adagio locked the door behind them, threw the keys down onto the coffee table and collapsed onto the sofa.
“You’ve read the novel?” she asked.
Aria nodded.
“I don’t massively like Kings stuff usually but eh, I like horror stories.”
“And sexy clowns,” Sonata mumbled, crossing the living room with a plate full of biscuits.
“Piss off.”
Adagio grinned.
“Hey, Aria…”
“What?”
“You remember that one part in the book?”
“Which part?”
“That part.”
“Which… Oh. Adagio, please don’t.”
“I can’t believe they missed out my favourite part.”
“Which part?” Sonata asked.
Adagio chuckled.
“The absolute highlight of the original and the most criminally underrated scene ever.”
“Adagio!”
“Which part?”
The older siren sneered.
“You don’t know what originally happens after they defeat Pennywise?.”
“No, what?”
“Christ, Adagio! Can you not? It’s gross.”
“Oh Aria, she deserves to know! It was in line with Stephen King’s original vision, after all.”
“Yeah, and it was disgusting, out of place, and very, very illegal.”
“Oh, like you’ve never done anything illegal before.”
“Jesus, not that bad though! Only sickos like you would want that to be included.”
“What? What!? Somebody tell me!” Sonata moaned.
“Don’t you dare,” Aria glared at Adagio.
Adagio laughed obnoxiously.
“Alright, alright,” she held her hands up in defense. “Sorry Sonata, you’ll have to read the book to find out that one.”
Sonata crossed her arms, grumbling.
“Trust me, you don’t wanna know,” Aria said, quieter this time.
