This is an interesting case. Unlike the last entry, where our two subjects have already been together for a while, our subjects for this entry haven’t even met yet. So from first meetings on, let’s look at the case of Vinyl Scratch and Octavia.
“Hey, are you ok?” A voice called through the darkness to me. I tried to open my eyes but the bright light forced them shut and worsened the headache I had. “You don’t look to good,” The voice, which I recognized as female, said through the pain.
I tried opening my eyes again and succeeded this time, seeing the mare standing over me with her white coat and red mane. I rolled onto my side and woozily stood up.
“Where am I?” I asked, rubbing my aching forehead.
“Up until a minute ago, passed out on my front lawn; that was a wicked party last night,” the mare said.
“Yeah, I guess,” I said with a laugh, “but can you be more specific as to where here is?” ‘Oh please tell me I’m still in Manehattan.’
“Um, I think this is Soho in Manehattan,” she said a little unsure, but nodded after thinking it over. “Yeah, this is Soho. I’m an artist so I have to live close to work.”
I sighed in relief. “Thank Celestia, if I somehow ended up in Stalliongrad again, I probably would have killed someone.” I looked around the yard for my things. “Hey, where’s my bag and headphones?”
“You mean these?” She asked and held out exactly what I was looking for. I never really liked saddlebags so I always use those string backpack thingies. I took the bag from her with a thank you and looked through it. Thankfully nothing had been stolen while I was out, though all there really was in it were my headphones connected to the latest music player I got, a notepad filled with doodles and notes, and my bag of bits.
“Oh and here’s your payment,” she said and held out a bag in her mouth, which I took telekinetically. I counted them to make sure they were all there and bit one to make sure it was real (yes, ponies still do that.) With that done, I emptied the bag of bits into my own and handed it back.
“Thanks, but I gotta get going,” I told her and turned to leave.
“That’s alright. I’ll let you know if I want you to DJ again.” I reached up and moved my trademark goggles down to hang from my neck. It worsened my headache, but that look of surprise when a pony saw my eyes for the first time was worth it every time.
“No problem, you know how to find me.” With that I walked away to begin my morning ritual.
Vinyl Scratch, better known by his stage name ‘DJ Pon-3’, made his way through the city he’s called home for about a month now. His first stop of the day was a convenience store for a can of Red Pony and hopefully a newspaper, which he didn’t find immediately.
“Hey, you have any issues of the Daily in yet?” Vinyl asked the cashier as he rang up his drink.
“None for the Daily yet, but I do have Inquirer,” he said and showed a copy of said newspaper. Vinyl mouthed a curse.
“Fine, I’ll take it.” Vinyl paid the final price and left with his items. He was about to open his drink when he caught a look at his reflection.
‘Ugh, I need a shower,’ Vinyl thought as he looked into his eyes, which were much redder than usual, before moving on to catch a tram to his destination. He read the paper on the way, but threw it away when he found nothing interesting along with the empty can of Red Pony. His second stop was a familiar stop for him, a record shop about two blocks from his apartment.
Scratch loved all kinds of music and sometimes he just liked to browse the record selection to see what was catching on. At the moment nothing was reaching out to him.
‘Sapphire Shores has a new record, which I’ve already heard. There’s a compilation album I made, a remix, indie rock, another compilation, anther remix.’ Vinyl let out an irritated sigh, ‘Well, looks like nothing new is in. Too bad, I was hoping for something new.’ Vinyl turned to leave, but stopped when he passed by the new releases and saw something that caught his eye. Vinyl grabbed the record telekinetically to get a better look at it.
This album was possibly the most minimalist thing that Vinyl had ever seen, featuring only a light purple treble clef on a gray background and ‘Octavia’ written in the same light purple along the top. The back only had a list of songs, most of them classical, and the name Octavia on the bottom.
‘The only way this thing could be more avant-garde is if the artwork was just the treble clef on a black background, or hay just take the treble clef out all together.’ Despite vinyl’s remarks, he was more than intrigued. So he floated the record over to the register. ‘Well, whoever you are Octavia, you’ve caught my eye.’
“Are you feeling alright Octavia?”
The cellist perked up at her name after almost nodding off. She rubbed the tiredness out of her eyes.
“Yeah I’m fine. I’m just a little tired,” Octavia told her ensemble as she got her cello out. Frederick, the pianist of the group, stopped setting up for a moment to turn to Octavia.
“Are you still a little worried about that record?” Frederick asked. Octavia sighed a little and rubbed her face.
“Maybe just a little bit,” Octavia said and took a deep breath to regain her composure. “It’s just stage fright, it’ll pass.” Octavia then stood up straighter and prepared her cello. “Don’t we have practice?”
‘That felt so good. I needed that,’ Vinyl thought as he stepped out of the bathroom. His apartment was by no means spacious with only one bedroom, bathroom, and a small kitchen but it served well enough. Vinyl lay down on his couch and looked at the record he just bought and then over to his record player.
“Ah why not?” Vinyl said to himself and got up from the couch. “Let’s see what you can do Octavia.”
“Ok, is everyone ready?” Frederick asked the ensemble and received an affirmative toot from Beauty’s sousaphone, a ‘mhmm’ from Harpo, and a silent nod from Octavia. “Ok,” Frederick said and turned back to his piano.
“Let’s get started,” Vinyl said as he put the record in the player and set the needle down. Vinyl took the few seconds before the music started to collect himself. Then the music started and he let it wash over him.
Octavia loved the cello for a lot of reasons, though one of the biggest reasons was stress relief. Every time she played, the music flowed through her and she felt all the worries of the day flow away with every note. During moments like these there was no sadness because she couldn’t see her family that often because of work. No worries over the possible consequences of making a classical album in a musical age of club dance songs. Even the incredibly small troubles like the lack of any real love life were gone. In moments like these there was only the weight of an instrument, the motions of artistic expression.
There was only the music.
But these moments are fleeting at best and they all come to an end. This one ended much too soon for Octavia. One final note from her cello, and the moment was gone.
Vinyl jerked awake to find that the sun was starting its descent and the record he had been listening to had reached its end, the only sound being produced a pathetic scratching sound as the needle failed to find a groove. Vinyl got up from the couch and removed the needle from the record. He stared at the record’s label and that one word printed on it. He then started to laugh, a low happy chuckle that grew into one of the hardest times he’s ever laughed.
“Hahaha, forget the shower, that was something I definitely needed. I can’t remember the last time I heard something that wasn’t techno beats.” Vinyl contemplated on playing the record again when a knock came to the door.
“Hey Scratch, are you in?” Vinyl walked over to the door and looked through the peephole to find it was exactly who he thought it was.
“What do ya want Or?”
“Oh, you’re actually awake this time. Me and the boys were gonna go down to Stray Dogs. You wanna come?” Vinyl put a hoof to his face; the last thing he wanted right now was to get hammered, especially after last night. Eventually he lowered the hoof and sighed.
“Yeah, let me get my jacket.”
“Alright everyone, great practice today. We should be ready for our next show very soon.”
Octavia never really cared for these after session chats. She still listened in on what the others were saying as she packed her cello away and loaded it on her back.
“Are you going home already?” Frederic asked Octavia as she started for the door.
“Yes, it’s been quite a long day,” Octavia said without turning around, “I’ll probably just go home and enjoy the rest of the night.”
“Why don’t you come with us? I found out about this great bar that has some of the best whiskey I’ve ever had,” Beauty said, aiming right for Octavia’s weak spot.
She hit it dead on; Octavia wouldn’t really admit it to anyone, but she did enjoy the occasional glass of whiskey, and it really has been a while since she had been with her ensemble anywhere that wasn’t practice.
“Alright, I’ll join you. I still need to drop my cello off at home, so I’ll meet you there. What’s it called?” Beauty smiled at this.
“It’s called Stray Dogs.”
The Stray Dogs bar wasn’t the best bar in Manehattan, but Vinyl knew plenty of other places much worse than here. It was clean enough, had good staff, and the greatest selling point to vinyl was it was only a few blocks from home.
“So, you guys invited me to go drinking with you just so you can tell me that nothing of importance has happened to you?”
“You know, not everything has to do with work Vinyl. Can’t we ever just hang out when we’re off?” asked an earth pony to Vinyl’s right. Vinyl found it a little weird that he was the only one of the group that went by his real name, but after a while of hanging out with them he just stopped caring.
“Yeah I guess. I’ve just had a lot on my mind,” Vinyl said and took a drink.
“You had another wild part last night?” asked the pegasus of the group. “Though I guess the better question is can you remember any of it?” he asked with a laugh.
“Oh shut it Tobias,” Vinyl said and took another drink of his cocktail, “and no, I can’t remember last night. She paid me full price though, so it must have went well.”
“That’s just like you Vinyl,” the other unicorn in the group said, “If you can’t remember and it paid well then it must have been a good night.” He shook his head. “So where did you wake up this time?” Vinyl emptied his glass before answering.
“It was someone’s front yard in Soho.”
“Heh, better than that one time at the Statue of Neighberty,” Tobias said with a laugh and got hit with some salt licks thrown by Vinyl.
“And this is the place,” Beauty told the group. Octavia was less than impressed with the building’s facade, but followed the group inside. The inside wasn’t the best she’s seen either, but then again looks weren’t the reason bars existed. So Octavia and her ensemble settled themselves at the bar. While the others engaged in small talk, Octavia had the misfortune of overhearing another group’s conversation.
“So Scratch, how are things going with you and the ice queen?” Octavia then heard a sigh.
“Hey, can I get another Painkiller over here?”
“Coming up,” the bartender called back and then turned to Octavia’s group. “Sorry about that, what can I get you?”
“Whiskey, straight,” Octavia told her.
“I’ll have the same, but on the rocks.”
“I’ll have a Rum and cola.”
“Same.”
“Alright, they’ll be up soon,” the bartender said and left to prepare the drinks. This left Octavia with her thoughts and the other groups conversation.
“What do you mean you broke up?! When did this happen!”
“Will you calm down, you’re attracting attention!” Vinyl sighed and rubbed his forehead. “Besides, it happened two weeks ago. It was way too soon in any case.”
“Here’s your drink,” a waitress said and placed a drink in front of vinyl, who nodded his thanks.
“Geez Scratch, you have the worst love life I’ve ever seen. What is this, your sixth fillyfriend?” the earth pony asked.
“Can we please not talk about this? I’m getting uncomfortable,” Vinyl pleaded.
“I have to agree, let’s talk about something else.” The unicorn said.
“Well, what else is there?” Tobias asked. Vinyl’s ears perked up and he smiled widely.
“I got something,” he said and popped a couple salt licks into his mouth.
“Here you go ma’am,” the bartender said as she placed Octavia’s drink down, “Would you like some salt too?”
“No thank you,” Octavia replied. She never ate salt with her drinks, it dilutes the flavor. She picked up the glass and swirled the whiskey around. It wasn’t what she would have preferred had she been given the choice, but it will have to do. The conversation continued behind her as she took a sip.
“So get this, I was in the record store near my place and-“
“And you actually found something that interested you?” the unicorn interrupted and Vinyl shot him a nasty look. “Sorry.”
“Anyway, I did. It was the most eye catching and simplistic thing I’ve ever seen, just an insignia and the artist’s name.” Octavia stole a look at the speaker.
‘My word, what is with that mane?’ was her first thought on actually seeing him.
“So, who was he?” his pegasus friend asked. Octavia let out a small ‘hm’ before raising her glass for another sip.
“Beats me, somepony named ‘Octavia,” he said and Octavia nearly did a spit-take, though she managed to make it mostly unnoticeable.
“Octavia?” the unicorn friend asked. Octavia could have sworn that he had looked at her. “I didn’t think you would be into that kind of music.” The white unicorn perked up.
“You know ‘em?” he asked.
‘Oh Celestia, please say no,’ Octavia thought to herself. ‘Wait, why am I panicking?’
“Yeah,” the friend replied and this time he definitely looked at her, “I know her.”
‘Oh no,’ Octavia thought and turned around for another drink.
“Are you ok?” Frederick asked, to which Octavia only nodded.
“So, care to fill me in?” the first one asked.
‘What was his name, Scratch or something?’
“All I know about her is what I’ve read in magazines. Apparently she’s a good enough cello player to get invited to play at the Grand Galloping Gala.” Octavia glanced back.
“Really, that’s so weird this is the first I’ve heard of her,” Scratch said.
“That’s because you don’t read,” the unicorn said and finished his drink.
“Hey, I read.”
“Action novels don’t count,” the earth pony said with a laugh.
“Oh that’s a load of hay and you know it,” Scratch said as his friends stood up. “You’re leaving already? It’s not even ten.”
“Unlike you, some of us actually have to work most of the week. I’ll see you, Scratch,” the earth pony said and waved, followed by the pegasus. The unicorn stayed behind for a moment.
“Hey, you wouldn’t happen to know what this Octavia looks like eh? I’m really curious about her now,” Scratch asked and his friend sighed. It was here that Octavia felt the precursors to something she hasn’t felt in years.
‘Oh please don’t say what I think you’re going to say and why am I panicking?!’
“If you really want to know more about her, just ask her. She’s over at the bar right now,” the friend said and motioned toward Octavia.
“Really,” Scratch asked and followed the motion. His red eyes met with Octavia’s, and that’s when it hit her. Octavia felt an electric tingle run under her skin and her breathing was getting heavy. She turned away from him and tried to calm her breathing, but found it wasn’t working.
“Octavia, are you ok?” Beauty asked.
“I need to use the bathroom,” Octavia said and quickly made her way there. She barely had enough time to lock the door before she collapsed against the sink. She had one last coherent thought before she was overwhelmed by this long forgotten feeling.
‘Oh no, this is going to be a big one.’
“Well, that was weird. Is she gonna be ok?” Vinyl asked.
“She hasn’t been feeling well for a while, but I’m sure she’ll be fine,” Frederick said. Vinyl got up and walked over to the bar with his drink floating next to him.
“If you say so. Do you mind if I sit here? I don’t really want to drink alone.” Frederick nodded and motioned to a seat which Vinyl took. Vinyl was wondering how to break the ice, but was beaten to it.
“So, you’re Vinyl Scratch?” Harpo asked which took everyone at the bar off guard, “You’re smaller than I thought.”
“You’ve heard of me?” Vinyl asked not sure if it was a good thing.
“I know you through your stage name, which I found spray painted on my apartment building.” Vinyl reacted to this as well as he could have, which was tossing his drink into his own face, face planting into the bar, and groaning into his forelegs. “Although to be honest, I don’t know any more than that.”
“I’m going to check on Octavia,” Beauty said and stood up. Vinyl sat up and levitated a couple napkins to him.
“I’m sorry about that, I was just hoping for a better first impression,” Vinyl said and started drying himself off.
“Octavia, are you ok?” Beauty asked and knocked on the door.
“I’M FINE, LEAVE ME ALONE!” Octavia screamed from the other side of the door, which caused everyone to stare at the door.
“…So, what do you do Mr. Scratch?” Frederick asked.
Octavia’s breathing finally slowed to normal and that electric tingle started to fade away. She splashed some water on her face to help clear her thoughts.
‘Well, it’s been a while since I’ve felt something like that. How did these surges work again?’ Octavia thought and rubbed her forehead in an effort to try and remember. After a moment of thinking, Octavia shook her head and sighed, ‘I guess I have a letter to write.’ Octavia took a deep breath before she unlocked the door and found Beauty on the other side.
“Are you feeling better?” Beauty asked. Octavia nodded, finding that she actually did feel better than she had for a while. At least until she saw Vinyl at the bar. She felt that tingle coming back, but managed to suppress it so it wasn’t noticeable and returned to the bar.
“Are you alright?” Vinyl asked her as she sat down, and Octavia responded with a silent nod. “That’s good, ‘cause I would much rather not know I was able to make somepony violently ill just by looking at them,” Vinyl said with a chuckle and offered a hoof shake. “I’m Vinyl Scratch, by the way.”
“Octavia,” she said and shook his hoof, “Pleasure to meet you.”
“Nah, the pleasure is all mine,” Vinyl said with a grin. The bartender walked up and set a drink in front of him.
“Try not to spill this one, ok?” she asked.
“Ok, sorry about that,” Vinyl said and took a drink from his cocktail.
“So Mr. Scratch, what exactly do you do and-“ she stopped when Vinyl looked her right in the eye. “Um…”
“I’m a DJ, you can just call me Vinyl, and yes my eyes are naturally red. Cool huh?” Vinyl asked and waited for a response.
“Yes, of course,” she replied and took a sip of whiskey. Thankfully, Vinyl didn’t say anything and let a comfortable silence fill the bar. About ten minutes passed like this until Frederick and Beauty stood up and put some bits on the counter. “You’re going home?”
“Yeah, I’m pretty tired. Don’t stay up too late, ok?” Frederick asked.
“I won’t. Goodnight,” Octavia said and waved goodbye. Frederick and Beauty returned the wave and left.
“I can stay a bit longer,” Harpo said from down the bar. Octavia was grateful to have a friend nearby.
“Hey, do you mind if I ask you a question?” Vinyl asked and continued when he had Octavia’s attention. “I don’t really get the impression that you’re the kind of pony to release a record. What made you do it?” Octavia let out a small laugh.
“No offense Mr. Scratch, but you don’t seem like the kind of pony to listen to classical. Why did you buy it?” Vinyl gave Octavia a confused look, to which she responded with, “Answer my question and I’ll answer yours.” Vinyl took a breath and started thinking.
“I guess I got it because it was different from what I usually listen to. I usually listen to techno and pop songs, but you get burned out on that stuff after a while. That’s pretty much it really.” Vinyl took a drink and waited for Octavia. She finished her glass before speaking.
“I made a record because I wanted to. That and because there’s a severe lack of classical music out there,” Octavia said and turned to Vinyl, “Do I need any more of a reason?” The two of them were silent for a moment before Vinyl started laughing.
“I guess not, but that’s priceless,” Vinyl said in between laughs while Octavia glared at him. Octavia barely registered the bartender walked up to her.
“Would you like some more whiskey ma’am?” she asked and Octavia nodded without taking her eyes off of Vinyl. He soon stopped laughing and turned to Octavia.
“That was awesome. You know what; I like you ‘Tavi.”
“Don’t call me that,” Octavia said, but was ignored by Vinyl.
“We gotta do something like this again sometime. This was the most fun I had just shooting the breeze with somepony.”
“I don’t think we should do that,” Octavia said simply and thanked the bartender when she brought her drink over. Vinyl sighed and rubbed his forehead.
“Are you always this difficult to deal with?” he asked and got a glare from Octavia for his troubles. “You don’t to hang out as a friend, fine we don’t have to do that. At least humor me with the thought of maybe working together in the future.”
“…I’m sorry?”
“One of my favorite things to do is work with other artists on something. If we were to do something like that, I would follow your lead on it and try my best to back you up.”
“…You cannot be serious.”
“I am serious,” Vinyl said and levitated a card from his bag, “Just humor me on this, please?” he placed the card on the counter and looked at her. Octavia looked down at the card and then into her whiskey.
‘He has to be joking. I’ve known him for less than fifteen minutes and he pulls this on me?’ Octavia looked at Vinyl and felt that electric tingle return, though not as powerful as before.
“What if I don’t want to do it?” she asked.
“Then you don’t have to, it’s your choice,” Vinyl replied. Octavia looked at Harpo, who gave her a shrug. Octavia stared into her drink and sighed.
‘I hope I don’t regret this,’ Octavia thought as she took the card. “This doesn’t mean anything, I hope you know that.” Vinyl smiled and picked up his drink.
“Of course it doesn’t,” he said and took a drink.
“And I don’t want you showing up whenever I’m at practice,” Octavia told Vinyl, who emptied his glass before answering.
“I won’t, but I may see what your shows are like,” Vinyl said and stood up from the bar. “Put my bill on my tab. Night ‘Tavi, hopefully I’ll be seeing you.” With that Vinyl left the bar, leaving Octavia alone with Harpo.
“I hope I didn’t make a mistake there,” she said to herself.
“He seemed like a nice enough guy,” Harpo said as he paid for his drinks and got up to leave, “just give it time, you never know what could happen.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” Octavia asked, but didn’t get an answer.
*Observation suspended. Observation will resume at next possible opportunity.*
Made a couple minor edits I missed my first run through.