//------------------------------// // CM: Downtime 4 // Story: Melody of the Future // by Tatsurou //------------------------------// When X returned from a brief sojourn to the shopping district to stock up on portable repair kits and virus clears to assist in future missions, he was rather surprised to find Octavia sitting at the edge of the air bus dock, staring out into space drinking shots as Varia hovered worriedly over her head. Confused, he approached her. "Something bothering you, Octavia?" he asked comfortingly. "Just my libido," Octavia responded brusquely. She smirked as she saw X back up very fast. "I'm kidding, Dad. I just felt like casting this whole situation in a humorous light." X breathed a sigh of relief as he sat down beside her. "So...what's really bugging you?" "We bumped into Ferham while shopping," Octavia explained. "I got the impression Ferham was one of the ones we could trust," X pointed out, trying to parse out Octavia's thoughts as best he could. "She is," Octavia confirmed. "But it's what she was doing that led to my current mood." Sighing, she took another shot. "Okay..." X allowed, discreetly checking to see just how much Octavia had already drunk, only to see Varia actively displaying a counter of 'shots taken/too many'. He was relieved to see it was currently at '4/20'. "What was she doing?" "She was trying to pick an outfit to wear to flirt with Massimo," Octavia explained, staring up at a passing cloud. "She even asked my advice." "That's..." X hesitated as he tried to picture that, contrasting Ferham's overly sexualized behavior from before with what sounded like 'first date jitters'. "...disturbingly adorable." "Yeah..." Octavia drank another shot. "And talking with her, it sounds like those two have a real chance at having a thing...as long as Scarface doesn't pull a Colonel." X chuckled softly. "You know, he and Zero still meet up to fight every so often." "I know," Octavia agreed. "Iris complains about it...a lot." She sighed softly. "And things are working out wonderfully for Axl. Marino and Cinnamon both seem to absolutely adore him, and he seems to feel the same way. I wouldn't be surprised if one or both of them come back with us to Abel City with a bun in the oven after this mission. They're both Terrans, after all." She let out a much longer sigh before taking another drink. While X often had a hard time understanding his equine daughter, he was by no means slow on the uptake. The clues were plain as day. "And yet you can't seem to find anyone?" he asked gently. "Something like that," Octavia allowed. "But...it's more than that." She lay on her back, all four hooves in the air as she stared up at the clouds. "It's...any time I start thinking about looking for romance, I see Vinyl in my mind." "Vinyl? Oh, the unicorn from the old era?" X clarified. "Are...are you saying you're in love with her? But you've only seen her in a hologram." Octavia shook her head. "No, it's nothing like that. But..." She closed her eyes as she searched for the right words. "I can't help but feel if I went looking for romance, I'd be betraying her...and yet at the same time I know that's stupid, but that knowledge has nothing to do with 'I've only seen her as a hologram'. The 'that's stupid' comes from the same place as the feelings of betrayal. Does that make any sense?" X rubbed his chin, trying to come up with an explanation that made sense. "Well...I might have a theory..." Octavia glanced over at him. "I'm all ears." "Well, given what the Light hologram's talked about regarding you, Vinyl, and how you wound up in my capsule...it sounds like there was time travel involved," X observed. "And given it also screwed with your aging...what if that was part of the time travel, rather than an after effect of the bio-stasis like we thought? What if when you arrived in Light Labs, you'd been...reverse aged?" "Implying I had a whole life prior to this one that I just can't remember?" Octavia deduced. "And that some of the things I just know but can't quite explain - like my passion for the cello and this bit with Vinyl - are echoes from that life trying to be remembered?" X nodded. "Yeah. And we can assume the same situation with Vinyl from that, since you both are magical, candy-colored, talking equines. It's logical the way your world of origin connects to ours is the same no matter when you're being sent to. That would mean Vinyl also had another life she couldn't quite remember. What if the two of you were a part of each others' lives then?" "I...guess that might explain why it influences my thoughts," Octavia allowed. "But how does that explain the mix of thoughts?" "Sitcoms," X offered cryptically. Octavia turned to stare at him flat-eyed. "What." "Well, let me spin a possible scenario for you," X offered. "You and Vinyl were very different ponies, but had enough in common to become good friends and understand each other well. When the time came to find a place to live, that led to you two getting a place together as roomies to save money. But the more time you spent with Vinyl, the more you grew to be fond of her as more than a friend...but you were too afraid of messing up your friendship to try and pursue it." "Well, that would explain why I would think of her whenever I thought to look for romance," Octavia deduced. "But how does that lead to thoughts of betrayal, and betrayal being a stupid thought?" "Well, from the outside perspective of the audience, that would be the situation where both roomies feel the same way about each other, right down to 'not wanting to screw up the friendship'...especially since neither would be aware of how the other felt," X explained. "Given how everything of Vinyl's we've seen has been, I'd estimate she was something of a party girl in her previous life. That'd mean any sign she tried to give as a way of 'testing the waters' to see if you two could be more than friends you'd shrug off as her being careless or 'just being her', rather than an attempt at subtle flirting." "...I'd probably dismiss the notion of Vinyl being 'subtle' out of hoof..." Octavia murmured softly. "What makes you say that?" Varia asked curiously. "Because the moment 'Vinyl' and 'subtle' were mentioned in the same sentence, I had a powerful urge to say, 'Vinyl doesn't do subtle' as dismissively as possible," Octavia answered dryly. "That...that sounds about right." "So we just need to find a way to get you back to your world - probably through "Vinyl's legacy" on Mars - and that should get you in the same approximate space/time as wherever Vinyl went after The End," X concluded. Octavia nodded. "And then I can express myself in a way Vinyl will get by walking right up to her and planting one right on the kisser. Think that'll work?" X blinked for a time, processing. "Uh...maybe? You might want to gauge whatever situation we find Vinyl in before doing that, though. The way the Light hologram and Prometheus don't talk about The End...I get the feeling it was a rather emotional event, whatever it was." Octavia said nothing, deciding instead to just take another drink.