Aria sat at home, she didn’t care much for television or radio. It was just too artificial; she was a siren for Faust’s sake. An expert singer and musician, her taste in music transcended the bourgeois artist of today. She picked up the guitar that she’d purchased cheep at a pawnshop. Her voice may not have been what it once was, but she still had her ear for music.
As she strummed and picked at the worn strings, the music would carry her away to a land of magic.
There her voice would carry pure and clear across the waves. It was a voice so beautiful that it could lure unsuspecting sailors to their doom. Yes, her voice could capture a pony’s full attention. She and all the sirens would use their magical voices to cause strife and fighting so they could consume the negative energy as a type of food. But what most didn’t realize that they could influence more than fighting. Sirens could evoke love, sadness, heroics and calm. She now tried to copy this with the instrument…
Maybe she was close.
When she played with the window open, the sounds of the alleyway would often go quiet, even silent.
She didn’t intend it, but she started playing a tune that inspired love. She thought of Micro and chuckled. Truthfully, if the old definition of a generation is 38 years, she could be his Great26 Grandmother since coming to this world. But for some reason, it pleased her to think like this. It’d been a long time since she’d anything in her heart other than anger, rage, hate, hurt, strife and a hopeless homesickness.
So she continued to play as the vision of the geeky human played before her eyes. But when the vision of him holding her close, and she removing his glasses then kissing him started, she stopped playing.
“Don’t think such stupid crap Aria! Do you really want to go through all that mess again? You remember all the past pain of mortal lovers and mates!”
Aria put the guitar down and lit a smoke as she went to retrieve a beer. She sat back in her chair, looking out of the window at what sky she could see. It amazed her when she first got here that the stars were exactly as in Equestria. She could try to figure what this meant. After all, living here over a thousand years, you pick up a thing or two. But for now, the stars she could see through the city haze were probably for the first time…
Beautiful.
Aria sat and thought about the nerd she couldn’t get off her mind. If that system of his really worked, and if she could spot him some money then they could stand to make a lot of money. It would benefit him and it could get her arse out of living above a whorehouse. Not having to share a bathroom with anyone, except Micro…
Where the hell did that last part come from?
“Stop it Aria! Don’t be such a fool!” Aria scolded herself. She tried to get her mind back on what she had been thinking.
Two problems with the blackjack thing:
#1. Would he actually want to go to the casino and play?
# 2. Where could she get money to give him to play?
She looked around at the few possessions she still had. Nothing of worth jumped out at her. Even the guitar she was playing wasn’t worth very much. Then her eyes saw something glinting on her dresser.
“No, I couldn’t do that,” said Aria out loud to herself, and not too convincingly. “Could I?”
It’d been a couple of weeks since his talk with his parents. This only made his mind think of Aria most of the time. Being inexperienced with relationships, he didn’t understand it.
Now Micro sat at the café. He hadn’t gone out to eat much in the past. But for the last month and a half he was here almost every day. It was obvious to Aria and she didn’t appear to mind it at all. He’d even come early for the shift change.
No girl had EVER caught his attention like this. Plus to think a girl as pretty as Aria would ever actually want to be with him. But she’d sit with him at her break or mealtime.
The only thing that concerned him was that Aria wouldn’t let him walk her home.
As he thought, the sight of Aria walking in the door early interrupted him. He smiled a large smile Aria didn’t miss. This time instead of checking in, she came straight to him and for the first time, sat beside him.
“Listen Micro,” said Aria with a smirk Micro didn’t miss, “I know if I waited for you to ask, you’d be old and gray before you got up the nerve.”
“What do you mean?”
“It means that I’m going to have to be the one to ask you out.”
“Beg pardon?”
“I know you’ve taken some fancy to me, don’t deny it, your blush gives you away. And you're here quite often.” Said Aria with an honest smile, “and believe it or not, you’re a breath of fresh air in my stagnated life. So I’m asking if you’d want to go out with me this weekend?”
Out of the corner of Aria’s eye, a couple of Aria’s coworkers had over heard this and were smiling at Aria. Alice was giving thumbs up!
“Are you serious,” said Micro not believing this was happening to him.
Aria leaned over, put a hand behind Micro’s head and kissed him. Not only was it the first time a girl had ever kissed him, but it was a total surprise that she’d ‘slipped him the tongue’. It wasn’t too long, and at the feeling, Micro was wishing it would go on forever. Plus he wasn’t sure if it’d ever happen again.
When she broke the kiss, she took and held his hand.
“Does that answer your question?”
“Yes,” said Micro, “forgive me, but why? I’m sure there are plenty of better looking guys out there who’d love to take you out.”
“I don’t want to go out with fake pretty boys who only want to get me on my back. Or to have me with them to make themselves look better.” Said Aria being totally honest. “I want to go out with someone who’s nice, polite and smart. Not just looking for a trophy, or a conquest in bed.
But if you’d rather not…”
“NO!” said Micro with a burst of confidence and loud enough for people to stop what they were doing and look their way. Then more quietly, “I’d love to go out with you!”
Aria smiled at this.
“We’ll talk about this at my break, if you want to hang around that long, okay?” Said Aria, then in a whisper, “I’ll get you a burger, chips and drink on the house.”
“Yes, I’d love that! The talking, but the food would be good as well.”
“Good,” said Aria and leaned over and kissed Micro a long kiss again.
Aria got up and went to work while Micro sat there trying to sort through what had just happened.
Aria was also trying to figure why she’s kissed him, twice. The first she’d planned. But the second came out of no where. But it felt so nice and Aria was sure it wasn’t just the ‘dry spell’ of no boy or girl friends in the last several decades. And not prey, but an actual romantic relationship.
The other girls at the diner would giggle and kid her, Aria would just smile.
“Not your boyfriend, eh?” asked Alice with a smirk.
“You’re just jealous,” Aria would kid back.
The girls were getting used to Aria acting like a real and likable person and not just the sad-sack she’d came across as in the past.
Several days later, Micro and Aria were walking to Micro’s home. Aria wasn’t ready to have Micro see what part of town she lived in… If ever.
Since the middle of the movie, they’d been holding hands, Micro had actually made the move.
In the past, Aria had always considered that handholding was a juvenile courtship ritual, something that hadn’t any relevance. But now, Micro’s hand was soft and warm, yes the palm was slightly sweaty, but so was hers.
The only thing that came up was that Micro objected to Aria smoking. Sirens are immune to the addictions of most human substances, but it had become a habit. Aria was surprised at herself when she threw away a new pack of smokes with as little concern as throwing away a fast food drink cup.
‘This will save me money,’ thought Aria with a smile.
Luckily, Aria had also curbed the crude language.
Contact with and in the company of Micro was a real new experience. In her long life (she’d actually lost count of her age before she was exiled to this world over a thousand years ago) she’d never felt this way. This certified geek, whom she may’ve never taken notice of or even would’ve berated, was doing something to her. She didn’t know if it were herself becoming more human or if she was just discovering something sirens never experienced.
Perhaps it were both.
But something happened that made Aria afraid that Micro might fear her or even hate her altogether:
“Micro,” said Aria, then she paused thoughtfully, “would you mind if I called you Mike? It’s easier and doesn’t sound… Diminutive.”
Micro had never had a nick name that wasn’t derogatory.
“I’d love that Aria, to have something nice no one else calls me.”
Aria smiled at this. They stopped, embraced and kissed quite passionately.
Unfortunately, they were rudely interrupted. A large, muscle bound man grabbed Micro and shoved him aside.
“Doll, is this dweeb really the best you can do? Why don’t you try a real man instead?”
“Sure,” said Aria with all her past snippiness and looking around as if someone was with the imbecile, “do you know where one is?”
His self-confident smile changed quickly to a snarl.
“Listen bitch,” said the creep, grabbing Aria’s wrist hard, “I’m the one you’ll be waking up with in the morning. And that isn’t a request, so get used to it!”
The man was obviously drunk. And Aria was about to teach him the error of his ways when he was suddenly pulled aside.
Micro was trying to intervene. He had a brave look on his face but Aria’s predatory senses could feel his overwhelming fear.
But she knew that bravery wasn’t the absence of fear, but doing the right thing in spite of the fear. Or the old saying:
‘A hero is a coward who has said his prayers.’
“Leave her alone mister!” said Micro, not allowing any fear to sound in his voice.
“How dare you touch me, little man!” Shouted the jerk as he brutally backhanded Micro and sent him into the street. It wasn’t certain if it were on purpose, but Micro landed in front of an approaching car. The fool laughed when he saw this.
But the laughing was cut short.
The car was on their breaks but it was obvious it wouldn’t stop in time. Micro’s arm was over his eyes, but it’d only hide the sight of the impact.
For Aria, what followed was that adrenaline induce hyper awareness that appears to put time into slow motion.
Aria grabbed the man’s wrist so hard that she could hear and feel bones snap. He let go of her immediately howling. Then with the speed of a cheetah, Aria ran in front of the oncoming car.
With all the strength of the siren, she planted her feet solidly and braced herself. She was able to catch, lift the front and stop the speeding car without her losing any footing.
The driver, Micro and the bully were stunned. Aria dropped the front of the car, picked up Micro and sat him on the sidewalk, then she turned her attention to the brute.
“You’re lucky my boyfriend isn’t hurt. If he were, I’d pull your dick off and shove it down your throat!”
The jerk was believing this strange girl could do what she threatened.
“H… How? How did you…?” said the man, his astonishment overriding the pain in his wrist.
“Sssssss!” Aria hissed as she snarled, the fool could see fangs!
“You have exactly two seconds to be completely out of my sight!” Aria threatened.
“But?”
“One…”
The guy saw his death in Aria’s eyes, so he took off running down the sidewalk.
“Two!”
The guy turned and shouted.
“Fuck you!”
But Aria had already bend down and picked up a respectable fragment of concrete.
The next thing he knew, he was waking up on the sidewalk with a splitting headache and blood running down his face.
At the insult, Aria launched the projectile faster than the jerk could register. So he actually didn’t realize he’d been hit with the stone between his eyes.
He was afraid to admit to the emergency room doctors how his wrist and nose had been broken.
“I fell down,” was all he would say.
The couple were sitting on the porch swing at Micro’s house. Micro had been very quiet since the incident. But he still held Aria’s hand.
Finally Micro broke the silence.
“Is it true what you said earlier, am I really your boyfriend?”
“Mike, do you think I’d catch a moving car if you weren’t? Well, maybe I might, but that’s beside the point. I’m not going to say I’m sorry about shocking you. I couldn’t let you get hit by that car. And I certainly had to teach that bastard a lesson. However, I was honored when you came to my defense. No one has ever done that for me. Not that I needed it.”
Micro looked at her in wonder.
“You’ve nothing to apologize for, and I’m very grateful. Plus that was amazing! How did you do that?”
Aria was, for the first time, embarrassed about her origin. She drew a deep breath and started:
“I know you know that Sunset Shimmer and Princess Twilight Sparkle aren’t from this world. That they’re actually ponies. Not like the ponies here. Ponies are the dominate intelligent species of their world of Equus.”
“And you come from that world? You’re a pony as well?”
“Yes and no.” Said Aria, trying to tell this as easy as possible. She also was trying to figure just how much she should say now. “Yes, I and my sisters2 , Adagio and Sonata are from the world of Equus. But no, we aren’t ponies, we’re sirens. I know you have stories of sirens in this world’s past. Or also called the Loreley.
As you may have seen back at CHS, we are, or were, able to cause strife and negative feelings with our voices. These emotions were a type of food for us, it fed our magic. But when we were defeated at The Battle of the Bands the magic gems that allowed us to have such magical voices and was the means of us feeding on emotions, were shattered.
We still retained the strength and probably the immortality of the siren.”
“Immortality?”
“My sisters and I were banished to this world by an Equestrian wizard…
Over a thousand years ago.”
“You’re a thousand years old!”
Aria’s eyes were filling up with tears.
“No, we were old by your measure before we were exiled here.”
Micro sat silent, taking this all in.
“May I ask something,” asked Micro.
“Yes.” Said Aria, holding back sobs.
“Legend says sirens would lure sailors to their death.”
“Yes.”
“Have you been responsible, directly or indirectly for the deaths of sailors or anyone?”
“Yes,” said Aria, very quietly. For the first time in her life feeling ashamed of her past deeds.
Aria started crying hard and started to get up. But Micro still held her hand.
“Why are you going?”
“Now that you know what I am and what I’ve done,” said Aria, “you probably won’t want to be around a monster like me.”
“No,” said Micro with a smile, then matter-of-factly, “remember that I study probabilities?
Well I have to correct you.
That particular probability is in error.”
“But my past…”
“Have you killed anyone since coming to this world?”
“No,” said Aria.
“I can hear the remorse in your voice. That past is the past. As far as I’m concerned that was a siren, not a human. A different world, a different being and a different lifetime.”
Micro started to pull Aria close.
“But my age.”
Micro did something he hadn’t done up to this point. He initiated the kiss. Aria was surprised at just how passionate it was. Then when they broke the kiss, Micro said with a smirk.
“Maybe I like older women.”
The two laughed.
“Are there any other non-humans living under our noses, undetected?”
Aria looked into his eyes, then with trepidation.
“Well... There are the Octanoids,” said Aria.
“Who are they?”
“Ancient enemies of the sirens, they are an intelligent type of octopus. They too look human here. They hypnotize their prey. Then when they are alone, a tentacle will go up the victim’s nose and devour their brain.”
“Really?” Asked Micro suspicious.
Aria paused, but couldn’t keep a straight face. She’d never kidded anyone before like this.
“NO!” she laughed nudging him in the ribs, “got you!”
They both laughed hard until they kissed again, as they did, Aria’s hand slipped down to Micro’s crotch. She was surprised that Micro moved her hand away.
“Aria, this isn’t the time or the place. Plus we hardly know each other.”
“If you say so,” said Aria smiling at the sense of proprietary. Then winking, “your loss.”
But she laughed again.
It was refreshing. And to tell the truth, if Micro had just ‘went for it’, she wouldn’t have respected him as much.
“Thanks, that proves you’re special. I need to get going,” said Aria giving Micro a small kiss. “I have an early shift tomorrow.”
“I can walk you home,” said Micro.
“No honey, I can take care of myself, as you saw. But I really don’t want you to see the dump I’m living in. Maybe one day. Okay?”
Micro nodded his head and Aria kissed him one more time.
At her flat, Aria got ready for bed. The evening kept replaying in her mind. She snickered remembering feeling his crotch. Aria was certain she knew what Micro was NOT named for.
Micro had thought that Aria had asked him out to find out about his blackjack strategy. But nothing was even said about the subject. Not that he would’ve minded. And he was amazed that she was into the documentary they’d gone to see. Some of her comments were very deep. Her age was a puzzle, but her strength was amazing! He snickered thinking that a hug could probably crush him if she wanted.
Then his mind started to get a little more adventurous, maybe Aria was helping him to loosen up. Maybe he should try his luck at the casino.
“You can only prove a theory by experimentation,” his scientific side caused him to say.