It was unusual for Trixie to show up twice in a row, but there she was.
Like last time, Trixie sat across the table from Octavia, robbing her of any chance at a half peaceful lunch. At least she had remembered to bring her lunch this time, but if one thought that would mean even a moment’s respite then one was sorely mistaken.
“So, this Saturday is good for you?” Trixie asked Vinyl in between bites. Apparently, she had yet to notice that her supposed companion was oblivious to her existence.
Octavia had thought to prepare this time. That was to say, she clutched her cutlery the moment she saw Trixie approach. Fortunately, Trixie was preoccupied with her own food. Unfortunately, she didn’t appear to accept the reality that her milkshake had long since run dry. Any hope of the table getting away unscathed today was lost as Octavia dug her fingernails into the tabletop each time Trixie made that loud, strangely-echoey slurping noise of failure.
Every single time, Trixie proceeded to look at her drink as though it was its fault for not magically refilling in the intermittent minute or two.
Vinyl nodded, prompting Trixie to flash an excited smile. “Excellent! Be there at—Hold on, Trixie has decided she will order pizza, are you in? Cool, then be there at six. Not a moment later. You know how Trixie hates to wait.”
Oh, she was going to wait, alright.
Octavia suppressed a smirk.
The problem was clear now. While Vinyl was always nodding along to the beat of her music. Trixie had a tendency to avoid eye contact and announce her every statement as though she were on stage, speaking before some unseen audience. She only glanced at Vinyl when she desired confirmation, and she found it in a nod, but Trixie never actually looked at Vinyl long enough to notice the next rhythmic headbob right after it.
All the world’s a stage, or so the Shakespeare wrote. Trixie did seem like the kind of person who would take that too literally.
“Trixie doesn’t like to brag,” Octavia choked on her noodles, “but she believes you will be impressed with her home entertainment system. It even has color. Of course, The Great and Discerning Trixie could accept nothing that is not at least half as impressive as she is."
Octavia rolled her eyes. A color tv? This day and age it would almost be more impressive if it was still black and white.
"The same goes for the tv couches. They even fold out into a bed. It’s really comfy you know. Trixie can personally vouch for it after she’d had a small incident with her smoke bombs in her bedroom at night." For a brief moment, Trixie faltered, showing just a hint of self awareness. "I-it doesn’t matter what she was doing. So, hey, have you ever wondered what those foldout beds are like?”
Vinyl nodded, obviously.
How Trixie functioned in daily life was beyond Octavia's comprehension. Could a person really live their life without giving anyone the time of day for longer than it took them to agree? Surely, that type of thing would lead to catastrophic misunderstandings, much like this one, actually. Perhaps the experience of getting stood up would teach the selfish magician to pay more attention.
“Well, Trixie normally would not tolerate just anyone, but as a special favor to you... Trixie supposes she could allow you try it out.” She turned away in a haughty pose, trying far too hard to appear disinterested as she carried on. “Of course, you can’t have the true experience if you don’t sleep in it, but surely you would not have time to spend the night, or would you?”
With poorly hidden tension on her face, Trixie peeked as inconspicuously as she could at Vinyl.
Vinyl, of course, nodded.
Then tension visibly drained out of Trixie’s shoulders. She turned her back to Vinyl, not even looking at her at all anymore. “Then it’s settled,” she announced simply, “Trixie will allow you to stay the night. Don’t you dare keep Trixie waiting.” She got up from the table and carried her half-empty tray away.
For someone with a love of the stage, Trixie was a pretty terrible actor. Moreover, one would think that as a magician, Trixie would better understand how to hide things from her audience. While she succeeded in hiding her expressions from Vinyl, she hadn’t paid attention to Octavia.
From Octavia’s angle, the look of sheer joy on Trixie’s face was hard to miss and even harder to forget.
Octavia bit her lip as she watched Trixie practically skip away. What seemed hilarious a minute ago, was now decidedly less so.
“Vinyl,” Octavia said aloud while she turned her back to her mute, head-bobbing companion. “Please, tell me you actually heard all that. Was she talking to a brick wall again?”
Vinyl nodded, and nodded, and nodded, obviously not hearing a thing Octavia was saying either. That suited Octavia just fine. She kept talking anyway.
“Yes… I had expected as much. That girl is an annoying, attention-seeking jerk, but she’s going to be really hurt, isn’t she?”
Vinyl nodded.
Octavia sighed and slowly rubbed her temple. “I’m going to have to tell her, aren’t I?”
Vinyl nodded.
“Oh, sure.” Octavia half-smirked. “Allocate your dirty work to me, mhm? Maybe I should just unplug those headphones of yours and make you do it yourself. On the other hand, at the moment I am the only one who knows. It would be twice as humiliating for her if I inform you too, wouldn’t it?”
Vinyl nodded.
Octavia stared at Vinyl nodding obliviously for a long, lingering moment, then pushed herself away from the table with a resigned sigh. “I can not imagine what she sees in this. I only attempted it for two minutes and you have already convinced me to do something I do not wish to.”
It wasn’t hard to find Trixie. What a surprise.
Near the vending machine, Trixie was munching on crackers; a small package of peanut butter held in her other hand. It struck Octavia as strange, given that Trixie had not even managed to finish her lunch earlier.
Now that she was actually here, Octavia was not quite sure how to proceed. “Trixie? Do you have a moment? I’d like to talk to you.”
That was a lie, Octavia would rather be doing anything else.
Trixie froze midbite, holding half the cracker outside her lips as she gave Octavia a wide-eyed look, like a deer caught in headlights. As Octavia met her gaze, Trixie seemed to grasp that she was in fact being addressed.
Of all the times for her to finally be quiet.
It was an awkward moment for Octavia as they stared at one another without a word, but then the cracker in Trixie’s mouth started to slowly wiggle up and down slightly.
Blinking, Octavia focused on the little snack, then once comprehension set in she glared at Trixie. “Oh, honestly! You are eating? Get rid of that cracker or I'm leaving.”
Raising up one finger between them, Trixie motioned for a moment’s respite, then used that same finger to push the rest of the cracker into her mouth. Perhaps under the very mistaken impression that Octavia wouldn’t notice her chewing if she just did it slowly enough.
“I can not believe I am putting up with this.” Stricken with disbelief, Octavia tapped her foot impatiently. “Will you hurry up? Actually, what am I doing? Vinyl can go take care of this mess herself.” Turning on her heels, she headed back to the cafeteria.
“Vinyl?” Trixie’s voice called from behind. “What about her?”
“She is not your companion,” Octavia said over her shoulder without breaking her stride. “I apologize for my bluntness, but you have squandered my patience.”
“Hey! Get back here!” Trixie skidded past Octavia and blocked her way. “What are you on about?” Trixie looked Octavia up and down. “Trixie remembers you, the one Rainbow Dash blew off stage in the very first round... Octavia, right?”
A vein pulsed on Octavia’s forehead. “Sunset forced us to sit at the same ‘entertainers’ table for most of the school year, and that is how you remember me?”
Trixie adopted her trademarked cocky grin, folding her arms as she leaned back against the cafeteria door. “You should take it as a compliment. The Great and Powerful Trixie is not in the habit of remembering losers.”
Perhaps the most infuriating thing was that Trixie actually looked as though she thought this was a reasonable thing to say. As though Octavia should be grateful that she was remembered at all.
“Did you perchance forget you lost as well?” Octavia mirrored Trixie’s pose, folding her arms as she looked down at the little magician.
That wasn’t even a putdown. Now that Octavia finally stood face to face with Trixie, she couldn’t help but notice the difference. If it wasn’t for the absurdly high heels Trixie wore, they wouldn’t even be able to look each other in the eye.
For someone with such a big ego, Trixie certainly was petite.
“Hah, only by bribery.” Trixie guffawed, holding the back of her hand before her mouth as though she was embarrassed for some imagined blunder on Octavia’s part. “And in the semi-final. That still makes Trixie two wins ahead of your zero. What is zero times a hundred? Oh, right, still zero. That makes Trixie at least a hundred times better than you.”
“I signed up back when it was still a musical showcase. The idea was to demonstrate the appeal of classical music, not some petty popularity contest.” Octavia narrowed her eyes at Trixie. “Perhaps if popularity is so important to you, we ought to attempt to compare the number of friends next, mhm? We’ll see about that hundred times.”
Trixie scowled. “What is that supposed to mean?”
Octavia bit her tongue. Truly, this was not how she imaged this conversation going down in her head. She was supposed to be helping Trixie, not arguing with her. Octavia wasn’t even sure how she could be this easily tilted over a silly contest. Trixie just had this aggravating way of getting to her.
“Ah, you did mention Vinyl,” Trixie puffed up her chest. “You’re jealous. That’s adorable, but you shouldn’t feel threatened. There’s no sense in worrying about things you cannot change, you know? So, please, don’t try to compete with someone so clearly better than you.”
“Yes, jealous; that’s me.” Octavia rolled her eyes. “You are of course aware then that she cannot hear a word you say?”
To Octavia’s surprise, Trixie gave her a very confused look but then started laughing. Really laughing, not that little mocking guffaw.
“Haha, you--you thought? Hah! Oh, haha, my god!” Trixie said, gasping for breath while rubbing a tear out of her left eye while Octavia looked on with equal confusion and annoyance. “Trixie’s sorry, but, hehe, you are such an idiot. Haha!” Trixie broke down fully again.
Octavia’s cheeks burned and she looked around at the few passing students that stopped and stared. She wasn’t used to drawing this much attention to herself, outside of recitals, much less being just straight up laughed at like this.
Clearly, Trixie was perfectly in the know. In hindsight, of course she’d have noticed. Octavia figured it out after two minutes.
With haste, Octavia spun on her heels and headed for her next class, or more accurately, as far away from Trixie’s laughter as she could reasonably get. Octavia could hear Trixie attempt to force out some words between gasps, but apparently it was just so funny that she couldn’t bring herself to form a sentence.
As Octavia turned a corner, Trixie managed to compose herself just long enough to shout after her.
“She’s mute, not deaf!”