//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 // Story: Eternal Harmony // by TheOneAJ //------------------------------// Sonata flipped the lock to the van over dozen times by the time Octavia tapped on the van door. “Hey, sorry about that.” Octavia said with an apologist smile as she opened the door. “You okay?” When Octavia held out her a hand, Sonata looked at it wearily. “No trouble?” She asked. “Not... on trouble?” Octavia chuckled at Sonata’s attempt at grammar. “No. Just friends being silly.” “Sure,” they heard Vinyl say to the side, before being elbowed in the stomach by Bon Bon. “I mean of course not! We’re all happy smiling friends here!” Octavia let out a breath, then said to Sonata, “Estará bien ... ellas, será agradable.” Sonata glanced at Octavia’s friends, then back to Octavia before nodding, “O... Okay.” and took her hand. Relived, Octavia helped Sonata out of the van. “Wait,” Vinyl said, arching any eyebrow as the pair walked over. “You can speak strange girl now?” She dodged Lyra’s elbow while Octavia and Sonata stood by their sides “Well,” Octavia shrugged. “I figured it was only fair that if I taught her our language, we should try understand her’s.” She let out a cough, and told Sonata, “La blanca es la que piensa que eres malvada. Ella también es la más sabrosa, así que cómela primero si resulta que lo eres ". Sonata stared, but then started to laugh. “I feel like I should be insulted,” Vinyl mused. “Can’t we all just speak plan English?” “Now to be fair,” Lyra interjected. “What is ‘plan’ English? Seriously, you ever try reading old English?” She shuttered at the hours of late night finals study. “Let me tell you, it’s like learning a different language. And that was just from the stuff people were speaking 100 years ago!” “Come to think of it,” Bon Bon added, rubbing her chin. “Arn’t a lot of words we use today simply ‘borrowed’ from other languages?” Lyra beamed. “Oh ya! It’s like, you know that one class we had where our teacher said word such as, sync, actually come from Grease.” “How about that,” Octavia chuckled. “Funny enough, my own English teacher mentioned something last week about how our language is constantly changing and evolving. I think he said there are nearly a hundred new words added to our dictionary every year.” “So, who knows!” Lyra said, patting Sonata’s shoulder. “Maybe years from now, we’ll be saying,” she looked to Octavia. “She have a word for upset?” “Um,” Octavia thought, before Sonata offered in her place, “¿Molesta?” “Oh, I like that!” Lyra beamed, letting go of Sonata to smirk at her girlfriend. “Bon Bon, I am molesta that you forgot our anniversary last month.” Bon Bon’s jaw dropped, before smiling in bemusement. “Well, Lyra, I’m molestaed that you leave your underwear laying around our room all the time.” Lyra blushed. “Oh yeah? Well I’m— “I’m going to listen to some music I can understand before I start molestaing!” Vinyl groaned, pulling out a pair of headphones and walking away. Sonata frowned and reached out a hand to Vinyl, but Octavia held back. “She just... needs space. Sonata not bad!” she said, as much directed at Lyra and Bon Bon. “So,” Bon Bon started, eyeing Vinyl who has sat on one the logs and was banging her head to her music. “What now?” Still have a few hours until it gets dark.” “Cards?” Lyra threw out. Octavia started to protest, but thinking it over, “That’s actually not a bad idea.” She looked to Sonata. “Um, game? ... ?Jugar juegos? Divertida!” Sonata beamed. “Ah! Fun.” Octavia giggled. “Yes. Fun, fun.” She deadpanned at Lyra and Bon Bon’ chuckling. ***** And so, they pulled out a folding table and chairs, a pack of cards, and spent a good half hour teaching Sonata about the various card names and numbers. Playing old maid to start, since it didn’t need a lot of talking. Once the four of them thought Sonata knew the card names well enough, they switched over to a little bit of go fish. “So,” Sonata said, looking at her cards, the other girls and biting her lips, had to ask Octavia again what the J card was, showing her hand and pointing. “Jack,” Octavia smiled encouragingly. “And yes.” she said, handing Sonata the card. “Je, Jam... Jax.” Sonata tried to word out. “Closer?” Octavia let out a half smile. “Yes. Buen trabajo.”- Sonata grinned ear to ear. “Still on the baby games?” Vinyl said from behind them. Octavia sighed. “Feeling better?” Rolling her eyes, Vinyl answered. “Was never ‘feeling bad,’ to begin with. No, batteries low, so I figured I see what you dorks are up too.” “Oh, you know, having a good ole time with our new friend and all,” Lyra teased. “You’re more than welcome to join,” Bon Bon offered out loud, while I a loud whisperer added, “if you promise to play nice and try and help make a good impression!” Vinyl, though about it for a minute, before saying, “Alright,” and brought up an additional chair, sitting herself between Lyra and Octavia, and nearly straight across from Sonata, who was between Octavia and Bon Bon. “But if you think she’s got enough know how by now, let’s move on to something more fun.” Octavia narrowed. “And what would that be?” Smirking, Vinyl started to shuffle the cards. “Texas hold em?” Everyone, save for Sonata for having no clue, gave Vinyl a mix of annoyed and worried expression. “Yeah, let’s teach her about gambling,” Bon Bon chortled. “What could go wrong?” “Aside from how much more complex it is?” Octavia protested. To which, she felt a tug on her right sleeve and turned to face Sonata. She was expecting either a look of confusion, or at the very least something of a worried frown from Sonata. To Octavia’s astonishment, Sonata’s expression matched more of a person full of determination to make a point. “Play,” Sonata said firmly. “If, Silly’s game,” she pointed to Vinyl, “I game!” Everyone at the table stared at Sonata, jaws dropped. Then Vinyl started to chuckle. “You know, I think I’m starting to warm up to this chick.” Lyra sighed, but said, “Okay, but we’re playing with snack chips, not actually ones! I’ll go see what we got from our supplies while you try to explain to Sonata how to play?” So Lyra got some various chip bags, as Octavia and Bon Bon tried getting Sonata to understand the basics of the game. To which, Octavia could decide if it was a good, or bad thing, with how quickly Sonata got the concept of poker. They only needed to play a few round without before her said Sonata said she felt ready enough to give it a try. Even then, she only needed to be explained which hands were better once or twice. Octavia more than willing to her her out, although Octavia couldn’t help but feel like Sonata was less asking her for help at times, less out of not knowing, and more to get suggestions if she should fold or not in a round. However, Sonats true potential at the game came to life when she was and Vinyl found themselves in a fierce stand off to a rather large pot. The other girls having folded a long time ago. Bon Bon, as the dealer at the point, shook her head and the two and flipped the fourth card. The board now having on it an ace, three, king, now five. “Okay,” Vinyl smirked, pushing forward serval pretzels. “I’ll raise. That too much for you, kid?” she tainted her new nickname for Sonata. Sonata blew on a strand of hair, matching Vinyl’s ten with an additional twenty. Vinyl whistled. “Feeling cocky, are we?” Sonata raised an eyebrow, before answering, “Silly in, or out?” “In! And plus five.” Vinyl responded. Sonata was about to call but paused in thought. She then leaned over to Octavia and whispered something into her ear. The other girls watching in intensity as Octavia’s eyes widened at whatever Sonata was saying. “I mean, I guess if Vinyl is okay with it.” Octavia frowned. “She may ask... I don’t know.” Sonata took Octavia’s hand, and nodded gleefully. “What did she ask?” Lyra inquired. “Well,” Octavia reached for a pen and paper scrap. Hastily writing something down, she pushed the note towards the pile. Suspiciously, Vinyl leaned forward to read the note. Vinyl must say something, genuinely, nice about Sonata. “You kidding me?” Vinyl laughed. Until she saw no hint of joking from Sonata. “Okay, but,” she started to take the note pad and pen from Octavia. “Actually!” Octavia stopped her, thinking of the thousand and one things Vinyl would bet in turn. “I, er... You know what, I have just the thing you can offer.” It was a dumb idea, but maybe she could get this little showdown to end if Vinyl thought believed Sonata had the better hand. Quickly writing something down, blocking Sonata from view when she tried to look, Octavia slide the paper over. “Here, you can,” Octavia took in a deep breath. “You can use that.” When Sonata looked worrisome at her, Octavia told her, “Sonata won’t have to do anything bad. Promise.” That didn’t seem to put Sonata as ease when Vinyl began grinning wickedly. “Wow, Tavi! Really?” “What does it say?” Lyra asked, starting to look over before Octavia said loudly, “Under! The condition you keep it to yourself if you win.” She realized a bit too late that Vinyl could have taken that to mean she wasn’t 100% confident in Sonata’s hand. “Deal!” With that, Vinyl slammed the paper down inti the pot. “Perhaps we should move on before this becomes too intense?!” Bon Bon suggested. There was a death glare between Vinyl and Sonata, before they agreed. With a sigh, Bon Bon flipped the last card, showing a six. Ace, three, king, five, and six. “That being said,” puffing out her chest, Vinyl showed them her hand. An ace, and another ace. “High three pair!” Octavia’s stomach dropped. She then turned to Vinyl, murder in her eyes. “You wouldn’t happen to have any aces up your sleeves, now would you?” “What?” Vinyl cried, hand to her heart, and pointing to her sleeveless shirt. “I am insulted to think you would believe I would do something such as hide an ace somewhere and waited for the right opportunity to take your little friend to the cleaners.” “Well then,” Lyra said, reached over to Vinyl. “You won’t mind if we— “Um, excuse me,” Sonata spoke up. They all turned to see Sonata, for lack of a better term, acting like she was a sweet, nieve and ‘innocent’ little angel. “Hand good?” she motioned to her cards, then placed a finger in her lips. Everyone’s jaw dropped at the two, and four the four. Turning the already win Sonata had with the ace, three, five, and now the six, into an overkill straight. “But, but I,” Vinyl stammered, watching Sonata pull in the pile to her side, laughing manically. “I think I’m more scared of her now than when we first met,” Bon Bon said with a shiver. “Octavia, I’m borrowing her for poker night next month with the gamma’s!” Lyra declared, hints of dollar signs in her eyes. Once Sonata’s evil laughter fit has passed, her attention turned to the other slip of paper Octavia had written on. Curious as to what Octavia had gambled for her sake, she started to pick it up. But wasn’t able to read it before Octavia snatched it away. “Well great job on winning!” Octavia nervously chuckled, holding the paper out of reach of Sonata. Not thinking about the fact that Sonata very likely wouldn’t have been able to read the note even if she had seen it. Which proved to be even more stupid, as the action allowed Vinyl to pluck the note out from her hand. “Well I’m saving this for some other time,” Vinyl said with a huff. “Or,” she stared as Octavia tried to take the paper back. “I could always tell everyone what it says now.” Octavia tried to say something, but soon feel back into her chair, defeated. “Fine. But you better be sure whenever you play that card.” Sonata watched in confusion Vinyl, smirking, slipped the piece paper into her pocket. “Oh I will, don’t worry. I’ll be mindful.” Sonata turned to Octavia, who was rubbing her shoulders, looking downwards, and blushing furiously. Before Sonata could say anything of comfort, Vinyl stole her attention. “This is so not over between you and me though!” Vinyl declared, pointing a finger to Sonata. Pushing her curiosity aside, Sonata leaned onto one of her hands, and asked, “Go again, Silly?” Meanwhile, Octavia simply sat there and, despite that last games intensity, she allowed herself the briefest of smiles. Judging from Vinyl’s reaction to Sonata’s comeback, and knowing her friend as well as she did, knew things were starting to look up. While Vinyl would deny if asked, and wouldn’t yet be fully won over, it was a step in the right direction for the situation. And for a moment, things for Octavia were fine. Then that moment ended with the ping of a one of their cell phones. “Who’s was that?” Bon Bon asked, looking to her own phone. “Not mine,” Vinyl replied. “It’s mine,” Octavia said with a groan, reading the short preview display. Unknown number: Your father and I have been looking into some wonderful career opportunities for you if you’d like to talk sometime. We only want to help, and not see such— Octavia mumbled something as she slides her phone into her pocket. “I thought you were going to block them,” Vinyl frowned. “I did,” Octavia sighed. “But you know what?” She stood up straight and shook her head. “I’m not going to be bothered enough to think I need to change my number. I don’t need to.” Vinyl sighed. “Okay, then, Tavi.” Sonata watched, as whatever had happened seemed to deeply trouble Octavia. “Octavia,” she started, only to recoil at Octavia’s sudden change of attitude. “So, who’s hungry?!” Octavia smiled, pushing up from her seat. “Could use a stretch of the legs. I’ll take care of cooking and the fire if you girls want to keep playing for a while.” Sonata simply watched as Octavia excused herself. Turning, dejected, to the other girls for some sort of explanation. “Octavia, upset?” “You know, I feel like,” Bon Bon started to stand up, but was pulled down by Lyra. She then looked to Vinyl, her slumped shoulders showing she would have to do most of the talking. “Look, Sonata,” Lyra began, taking in a breath. “It’s, um, well it’s, er— “Complicated?” Sonata guessed. Lyra blinked, but nodded. “Yeah. Best word for lack of a better one. By chance you know what the word, parents?” When Sonata didn’t answer, Lyra tried throwing out serval other words until Sonata pointed out the word family. “Family?” Lyra asked for confirmation. “Yeah, family.” Sonata nodded. “Word from show. Like,” Sonata thought over the right words to show she got a grasp of the concept. “Mom, dad, sister, brother? Always love each other?” Everyone looked away at that. “Eh, first half, yes. Second half, um.” She nudged Vinyl. “Why don’t you start another game to keep our hands busy.” Vinyl sighed but did as she was told. “And you can take that nine out of your underwear, Vinyl.” Vinyl spoke up in protest, but with a grunt, fished into her pants and pulled out a card. “Ha! It was a six.” “Anyways,” Lyra said after a huff, shuffling the card back into the deck. “Yes, Sonata. With the mom, dad, sisters and brothers. The basics is they’re related to you by... um.” To Lyra’s relief, Sonata nodded, “Think I know what means.” Lyra smiled in relief. “Good.” “Why react... to love?” Sonata questioned as Vinyl tossed her a pair of cards. “Well,” Lyra hummed after looking over her cards. “The thing is a lot of that love is unconditional.” “Un, con,” Sonata started. “It’s a fancy way to say required.” When that did work, Lyra tried, “something you need/have to do.” “That bad?” Sonata answered in understanding. “It, um,” Lyra stammered, not sure how to best explain it better at the moment. Rolling her eyes, Vinyl spoke straightly, “It means some people will think your obligated to do whatever you say, and the other person is obligated to listen ‘out of love’ with no say so in the mater.” “Er,” Lyra waved her hands after pushing four chips forward. “I’m guessing that made no sense to you?” Sonata shamefully shook her head. “More words?” They looked at her in confusion. “Eh, Octavia said, to say later. When speak better.” They all let out and “oh” in recognition After looking at her own cards, then after looking to Octavia throwing sticks into the fire, Sonata guessed, “Octavia’s family hurt her?” “Um... Basically.” Bon Bon answered, looking away. “Like you said; complicated, but yeah. They did.” She turned back to look at her hand and the first flipped card. “And I’m folding.” “Well I’ll raise,” Vinyl said, looking at Sonata’s sad expression. “Hey, you make Octavia happy. So that’s good, I guess.” Sonata stared up at Vinyl, who pointed to the other piece of paper in Sonata’s own pile. “That sincere enough?” Grinning, Sonata pushed took the paper, and started to hand it to Vinyl, only to drop it into the pot instead. “I’m out!” Lyra cried to that. “That’s enough being nice to the alien girl for one day,” Vinyl sighed, pushing her cards away. Beaming, Sonata pulling in the pot, discarding her terrible hand before they could be the wiser.