Fluffy pieces of popcorn covered every flat surface, crevice and crack of the kitchen. The popper chugged away like a champ, the occasional snap of an expanding kernel chiming out every few seconds. The smell of freshly popped popcorn slowly faded as a new yet familiar burning odor replaced the current one. Within the maize maelstrom, Sonata nearly disappeared beneath its consuming waves in her attempt to try and turn off the overfilled machine.
"Help me Vinyl, I'm drowning!" Sonata choked out as Vinyl scrambled to pull her new friend out of the ocean of popcorn and into the living room. Wayward bits clung to Sonata with a death grip, as though hesitant to release their hold from the siren. A few sweeps of Vinyl’s hand cleared many of the kernels away from Sonata’s neck and shoulders. Sonata felt a warmth rising in her face, but was unsure exactly why.
Questions swam in Octavia’s head, the most obvious one springing to the forefront of mind. "Heavens, Sonata, why did you think putting an oversized bag of kernels in the popper was a good idea?" Octavia shut her eyes and crossed her arms, huffing loudly.
Sonata simply shrugged her shoulders, picking loose pieces of popcorn out of her hair only to pop them into her mouth. "’Dagi and Ari always told me I was no good at things like volume and other math stuff,” she retorted, mouth half full of popcorn. “But hey, I think I used just the right amount of salt!”
Octavia decided that rather than further grow her migraine, she needed to focus on the issue at hand. Namely, more popcorn than should be legally allowable in a movie theater on a Friday night, let alone a residential kitchen. "Ok then, so how do you both propose we fix this mess?"
Vinyl grabbed two posters off the wall rolling one up before handing it to Octavia and rolling another one up for herself. "Start paddling Tavi, we’ve gotta cut it off at the source.”
As ridiculous as it sounded, Octavia didn't have any better ideas and so began rowing, but as she figured, the popcorn provided no resistance and produced no forward momentum.
"Oh look at that. It’s almost like we're trying to paddle through a popcorn catastrophe with a rolled up poster," the cello player stated flatly.
Ignoring Octavia’s jab, Vinyl turned to her two friends. "Ok then, plan B it is." Vinyl took a deep breath before she dived into the sea of popped kernels. Sonata quickly jumped in after her friend, leaving Octavia alone, groaning.
"Ugh! Why is it I'm always the one getting caught in Vinyl's hijinks...," Octavia sighed to herself. “You've got to pick your friends more carefully, Ms. Melody,” she muttered under her breath before she jumped in after her two companions as well.
The three of them waded through the sea of snack food, Octavia almost choking on a few pieces on the way. After several tedious minutes they reached their destination: the air popper. They found the plug, buried beneath two feet of popcorn, but it was slick with popping oil. It took a cooperative yank between the three of them to pull the plug from the socket. The popper whirled to a halt as the three girls sighed in relief and exhaustion. The smell of burnt popcorn was overwhelming at this point, and a fine smoky haze of carbonized corn drifted out into the living room.
Vinyl glanced around, surveying the mess before her. While the guacamole incident had been…traumatizing, the current disaster was akin to spilled milk comparatively. Still, she reasoned, this was going to require a significant amount of time and effort to restore any semblance of normalcy. She cracked a nervous smile before continuing through gritted teeth. "Geez, if Mom saw this she would kill me." She faced Octavia and Sonata, a little more frantic than before. "Okay we've got a lot of cleaning up to do, but thankfully Mom won't be back for a little while so we can…”
Jazz opened the door as her daughter was finished her pep talk. "Hey Vinyl, sorry to interrupt but I forgot-" Jazz halted herself when she got a good look at the house, she then focused her attention on Vinyl and her friends. The color drained from Vinyl's face as her mind raced a million miles a minute, while the fear of her impending death manifested with a singular repeating thought: “I’m dead.”
Rather than shout and chew her out like Vinyl expected, Jazz put on a rather relaxed expression and began sifting through the popcorn armageddon. With unnatural grace, she grabbed a tea bag from a shelf. She fetched a “#1 Mom!” mug Vinyl had made for her in the 8th grade and heated some water in the microwave before making her way to a loveseat in the living room. She sipped her tea quietly, rubbing her temple with one hand while keeping her tea steady and level. "This story is guaranteed to be a good one this time, yes? And worth the headache, I’m expecting."
Vinyl was wary; her mother was far too calm for someone whose house now looked like a cornfield met a solar flare. She scratched the back of her head nervously, and cleared her throat before continuing. "Well, I told Sonata to make us some popcorn and…”
"She used the entire contents of that bulky bag we have, correct?" Jazz interrupted, and Vinyl nodded in reply.
"It’s alright Vinyl, I'm not mad. I’m sure it was an honest mistake.”
"Much like Vinyl thinking befriending an evil witch was," Octavia grumbled quietly, earning a retributive punch to the arm from her friend. Octavia shot Vinyl a sour look before addressing Jazz.
"We're terribly sorry Mrs. Scratch, we'll have this mess cleaned in a jif-".
Jazz threw a hand up, silencing her guest. "Oh, heavens no Octavia, don't even think about it, I had your friend Twilight help me set something up before she left."
Jazz stood and walked to a switch on the wall, flipping it up. A loud whirring noise accompanied the disappearance of thousands of popcorn kernels as a vacuum device built into the wall made short work of cleaning up the sea of salty snack food. Jazz looked at her daughter, perplexed.
"Vinyl, honey, why didn't you use the switch you have in your room?" If looks could kill, then Octavia was drilling holes in the side of Vinyl's head with her eyes. Vinyl chuckled nervously, her eyes darting around the room. "Oh yeah...you know… it’s been so long since we used the switch that I forgot we even had it hahahahehehehe...ehhhhhhe….”
Octavia had half a mind to strangle Vinyl but that train of thought was interrupted by a man walking into the house, which drew a gasp from Vinyl and a surprised look from Jazz. He looked no older then Jazz did, and his jet black hair had a purple hue to it. He wore a clean and pressed black suit, its only embellishment a blue handkerchief in the pocket. Before Sonata or Octavia could react, Vinyl rushed over and embraced the man in a tight hug.
"Dad!" Vinyl exclaimed with utter glee. Jazz got up from her seat, her face still dawning a look of surprise, "Blues!? What are you doing here? I thought you were getting sent on a business trip.”
Blues Scratch finished his embrace with his daughter before responding to his wife. "I convinced them to give me a few days off to prepare, but what I didn't tell them was that I’m ready now. So I thought, ‘Hey, a vacation’s been long overdue,’ and I plan to use those couple days to do what I haven't done for far too long, enjoy some time with my family.”
Jazz smiled wistfully. "You’re no different than you were the day I married you.” She shared her own embrace with her husband, who playfully tickled her after several seconds.
Blues noticed his two houseguests waiting in the wings: one familiar and one new. “Hello Octavia, how are Viola and Forte doing?" Octavia nodded before she replied, her face expressionless. "Mother and Father are well, thank you for asking, Mr. Scratch.”
Blues smiled. “Good to hear.” His gaze lingered on Sonata long enough to make her uncomfortable, smile fading into something firmer, something stern and ready to lash out. Vinyl and Jazz felt the tension as well, like a taut bowstring on the verge of snapping. "Hold on a second. I remember now. You’re one of those sirens who tried to take over my daughter’s school. Aren’t you.” His eyes narrowed and focused on Sonata; in turn, she withered beneath his gaze. Vinyl grabbed ahold of Blues before he could advance toward the target of his ire.
"Dad… relax, Sonata is with me. She’s already been through enough already.”
Before Blues could respond, Jazz whispered in his ear. Blues relaxed visibly, and everyone could feel the tension in the room slip away. He walked over to the young siren and placed a hand on her shoulder, face now sad and sympathetic. "Jazz gave me the short version of what happened, Sonata. That’s horrible, and I’m sorry, but you deserve better than those garbage friends of yours.”
“Thank you, Mister Scratch,” Sonata glanced to Vinyl and smiled, still extremely grateful that Vinyl stuck her neck out for her.
“Now then,” Jazz added, “I believe the three of you were having a sleepover. Don't let us hold you girls up.” she then focused on Vinyl, "I'm just gonna spend some time with your father Vinyl, you girls have a fun evening!” Vinyl nodded to her mother and gave her dad one more hug before returning to her room with Sonata and Octavia. Octavia was first to speak up. "Well, it was nice seeing your father again Vinyl, but can we now get this trainwreck of a sleepover back underway?"
Vinyl punched Octavia's arm, playfully this time. “Oh quiet, you musical nerd.”
Octavia smirked. "Look who is talking, Ms. Drop That Bass.”
Sonata giggled at the two of them taking playful shots at one another. It was truly magical to be witness to a true friendship, and all that comes along with it: the good times, the bad times, and the just plain wacky times. Usually she was stuck in the middle of Adagio and Aria hurling barbed insults back and forth about grooming and questionable sources of nourishment.
Vinyl grinned. "Alright, you chumps, let the late night festivities recommence!" Octavia leaned back into the wall, tapping the glass she was holding in her left hand. "Sonata, could you be a dear and pass me the soda?"
Sonata smiled cheerfully. "Sure thing Aria, soda coming right up.”
Octavia was puzzled. There must have been some kind of disconnect. "Sonata I'm not Ar-" she started before she stopped and gaped in shock. Vinyl shared in the sentiment, judging by her uneasy facial expression. Sonata suddenly realized what she had just said and slapped her hands over her mouth, some of the color draining from her face.
"I-I...I'm sorry...I didn't mean...", Vinyl felt a pang of guilt wash over her, figuring the whole situation with Sonata's former friends affected the youngest siren more than she was letting on.
Vinyl put down her bowl of popcorn and placed her right hand on Sonata's shoulder. "Sonata, it’s okay. Don’t worry about it, dude." She put on a small smile. "We're here to help you through this. Right, Octy?" She looked toward her best friend softly, but sternly. Octavia frowned. Though she wasn’t entirely sure she could truly trust Sonata, it was clear she needed help, and badly. Octavia sighed in response.
"Vinyl is right, Sonata, we are here to help you, and we want you to feel welcome.” Sonata’s eyes held back tears as she pulled the two into a tight hug. "Thank you,” she whispered, “thank you both so much.” Vinyl was clearly touched by the sentiment. Octavia knew that light pink blush that graced her friend’s cheeks was truly part of a heartfelt emotion. Knowing her bestie was happy put a smile on Octavia’s face.
Okay, so it wasn’t a big smile. Stiff upper lip and all that. But it was still a smile.
Vinyl shrugged, looking to the pair of teens to her left and right. "Alright, so what do you two want to do now?”
Sonata spoke up excitedly, with all the impatience of a curious puppy. "Oh I know! I know! Let’s do makeovers!" Vinyl scratched her head and chuckled, "Um yeah…well that sounds fun, but I'm not the makeover kind of girl."
Sonata shot a sideways glance to Octavia, and a silent understanding was shared between them. A nervous bead of sweat trickled down Vinyl’s brow as she sensed the evil machinations at work, because of course it would be two against one. "Oh come now Vinyl, it’s going to be fuuuuuuuuun,” Octavia singsonged as she rolled up a tube of lipstick.
Sonata grabbed a can of hairspray and some eyeliner. "You'll feel like a whooooooole new person, hehehehehe….”
Vinyl nervously backed away, sliding into the bedroom wall sooner than she expected. "Uh no, no dudes, that’s totes fine, you two have fun and I'll just stay over-", The newly matched tag team advanced towards Vinyl, beauty products in hand. Vinyl gulped, her doom imminent. "H-H-Hey, come on you guys...w-we can t-talk about this right…?” Acting as one, the two of them tackled Vinyl and began their herculean labors to pin the agile DJ. Vinyl squirmed mightily against the efforts of her oppressors as she cried out for help, but it was in vain. A fate worse than death approached, and it was called nail polish.
"Someone help me, they're insane… Ah! No! Octy stop, that’s not my color! Sonata stop! You'll ruin my shades! Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!”