“What fresh pit of tartarus is this?” Octavia asked as he stepped into her house, recoiling.
Vinyl looked around. Well, she'd admit it was a little messy. Some clothes were on the floor, she forgot to put her pizza slice away when she didn't finish it, so it was on the couch. There was a bit of glimmer on the ground, too. Not to mention a few lights and glow sticks. There was a clear path for them to walk through, so she didn't get what the deal was. “What?”
“It looks like a bomb went off in here,” he muttered. “Is... what happened to that?” he asked before pointing at the dismantled remains of a toaster on the ground.
“That? Probably one of Silver's things she's working on. She does that a lot. Don't worry, it doesn't explode or anything.” She gave it a wide berth. “Probably. I mean, they usually don't. Come on, I'll show you our sound system.”
“Our?”
“Oh yeah. Silver loooooves tinkering with the thing. Every so often she'll come back from the dump with a bunch of pieces from tossed out and broken sets. She's an absolute wiz with anything mechanical.”
“Does it... blow up?”
“The stereo? Only when I crank it up to fourteen or higher for too long, but it's sooooo worth it.”
Octavia cringed again. “Let's not have it that loud then, shall we?”
She nodded and pushed open the door. “Here it is.”
Octavia gasped. “She... she built this?”
“Eeyup. I bought the initial system, but she's fixed it up and made so many adjustments to get it just right that it's both of ours.” Vinyl stepped into the room.
Octavia followed behind, his eyes wide with wonder. There were at least six different speakers of varying sizes strewn across the room, all aiming towards the center. Up against one side was a frankensteinion creation of metal, knobs and dials. A computer was up against the opposite side, complete with its own desk filled with knobs and dials, as well as cassette, record and cd players. “She did all of this?” Most impressive of all, it was all clean and gleaming. He couldn't even find any dust on it.
“Yeah, here. I'll turn it on.” Vinyl walked around, flipping knobs and dials, before going by the computer. An ominous hum filled the air and Octavia felt the hairs on the back of his neck go on end. He was starting to understand why there was no dust anywhere. “Even have a new mixing program.”
“W-wait, what are you going to--”
The sheer sound sent the cellist toppling back out the room, crashing into the wall. He groaned for a moment, his head ringing. It switched off quickly.
“See? Totally worth it! That was sixteen!” Vinyl yelled, her air now pushed back. “Can't do it for more than a few seconds though! Entire thing just goes boom then!”
Octavia groaned and slowly sunk to the ground. “Can... can you please turn it... down a lot more next time?”
Vinyl chuckled and gave a nod. “Sure. Hold on, I'll play one of mine.”
Once again there was a hum, but it disappeared quickly. This time when the music played, it was actually kind of pleasant. It was fast and a bit wild, but without the heavy thumping or ear shattering sounds he'd grown used to hearing from Vinyl's music. He got to his feet and walked into the room, timidly looking around as if he expected to be rocketed out of the room any second. Satisfied, he stepped into the center of the room and listened to the music. “You know, this isn't so bad. I can see why you enjoy dancing to such things.”
“Dancing? When?”
“You're doing it right now,” he said with a smile.
Vinyl looked down and, true enough, her hands were tapping to the beat and her legs were bouncing up and down. “Huh. I didn't even notice. How long was I doing that for?”
“Entire time. You're not one who usually likes to sit still while letting the music run over you, are you?”
“Are you kidding? Music is for moving! Letting it flow through you with every--”
“Our concert must have been horrible for you then, correct?”
Vinyl froze and quickly coughed into her hand. “Err, well, no, not horrible. Just... errr...” She looked up at him. To her surprise, he didn't look hurt or void of emotion this time. He just looked amused.
“No, that's fine. I can understand that need to move. We all enjoy music in our own way, after all. I won't deny that there are some songs that even I feel I must dance too. Though I imagine my style is far different than yours.”
“I'd hope so. Could you imagine if you started doing a club dance on stage?” Vinyl grinned as she imagined it. “Actually, yes. You must do that.”
“I will not! I'd be lucky to get away with tapping my foot, have you ever lifted a cello?”
“Suspend your cello from the roof, it'll be fine.” She smiled, but quickly faltered from his glare. “Easy, easy, it was just a joke.”
He kept glowering for a few moments before smiling. “Your music is quite good. I'm surprised you aren't more successful.”
She gave a shrug. “It's really about who you know. I've managed to get a few nibbles, but never any full bites. Nothing I could really use, yet.”
He nodded before looking down at the station. “What kind of remixes do you do?”
“All kinds, I-- ohhhh, wait. Here.” She quickly pulled out the cd before disappearing behind the station. After a few moments she came out with a small black case filled with cds. “Okay, it's in here. Now, which was it... ah hah! Here!” She popped it in and his eyes widened.
“Is... is that--”
“Eeyup. Hunt of the Golden Tiger. With a few personal additions.” She smiled proudly. “Well, what do you think?”
“I'm... quite honestly? Stunned. I didn't imagine that you'd have the skills to do such a thing.” Now it was her time to glare. “I didn't mean it like that. Classical music just tends to be more...”
“I can find the best beat and mix for anything,” Vinyl said with a smirk. “I'm a master of the table. I bet with a bit of time I could even set your music right so it could be played at the club. AND it would get people dancing, rather than sitting at their tables.”
Octavia chuckled before smiling to her. “I'd like to see that.”
“Okay, it's a deal.”
That made him falter. “Err, excuse me?”
“Tomorrow, you come by I'll have a mix that will take your breath away.”
He shook his head and she could see the worry rising in him. “N-now Vinyl, there's no need to--”
“Oh, relax. I won't ruin your precious classical vibe. Trust me, it'll be awesome.”
Octavia gave another worried look before sighing. “Well, what could it hurt?”
“Good. Swing by here tomorrow around... ohhhh... let's say three. Okay?”
He gave a nod. “That shouldn't be a problem, but I won't be able to stay all night, I have--”
“Another show?”
He gave a sheepish smile.
“That's fine. I'll see you then.” She walked to his side and gently guided him to the door. “Want me to walk you home?”
He chuckled and shook his head. “No, I can get a cab.” He turned and smiled to her. “I had a wonderful time, Vinyl. It was-- mmph!” He was cut off when she leaned in to give him a kiss on the mouth, cutting his words off. She pulled back after a few seconds.
“I had fun too. Though you really need to work on your kissing technique. It's not bad, just a bit awkward.”
“W-well then give me a bit of warning before you do it!” he snapped, his face beet red.
“What's the fun in that? You should just start expecting it.”
“Expecting it? How?”
“Expect it at all times. Wake up? Expect it. Go for a walk? Expect it. Go into the males bathroom? Well, don't expect it from me, but expect it,” she said with a snicker, before reaching out to take his hand. “Or do you not like my kisses?”
“I-I think it's time I took my leave.” He pulled his hand back from hers and quickly ran down the hall, making her giggle as she watched him go.
“Vinyl? Is that you?” a voice asked from behind her. She glanced down the hall to see a woman with long, silver hair standing in the doorway. She was only wearing a robe and her hair was disheveled all over the place.
“Yeah, it's me, Silver. I didn't wake you, did I?”
“Hmmm? No,” the woman said with a yawn. “Hungry. Was someone here?”
Vinyl snickered and closed the door, heading back towards the music room. “Yeah, I had a date.”
“Ohhhh, who with?”
“The cute cellist.”
There was a momentary pause as the woman tried to process that. Then her eyes widened. “What? HEY! That's not fair! How can you get a date when I struck out?”
She snickered. “Ah, Frederick wasn't interested? Shame. You should have gone for Beauty.”
“Who?”
“The guy in the dress.”