Fangs: The Order

by Sapphic


Assumptions

*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Octavia...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*

Silver platters were spread across the table in a coordinated fashion, each of them varying in size with different sets of silverware sat around them. The table wasn't very large - the actual dining table was somewhere deeper in my parent's home - and as a result was filled in every place possible with something to eat other than the seats where we would be sitting.

There were four seats all together around the table, which only ran about twenty feet from front to back. Mother took a seat on one side while I took the end of the table. Vinyl took the seat across from my mother, leaving the head of the table open for whenever my father was going to arrive. A good play on Vinyl's part, but maybe she just wanted to sit close to me to be as comfortable as possible.

My mother still stole the occasional glance across the table to Vinyl, despite her attempts to hide it, but otherwise managed to refrain herself. I was beginning to think that these glances weren't judgmental ones in the slightest, but more of curious ones; it was only natural she be curious in the date I had brought, regardless of gender. A mare just threw her off.

The room was relatively silent as well all sat there, the sound of some stumbling around in the back from my parent's chefs working to prepare some kind of second course if it were to be required. My mother looked at Vinyl still, silently judging her actions while the mare under observation was oblivious to it.

She was enraptured by her reflection in the silver platter.

A voice finally broke the silence.

"The mister will be in shortly to join us; he is just spiffing himself up." Wilfred chimed, standing in the door way of the dinning room.

That was the code for "father was filling out some paper work" around the house, something only used when guests where around.

"He has asked that you not hesitate on his arrival to begin dinner." Wilfred continued, moving to take the covers off the platters, but mother stepped in.

"Nonsense, we will eat as a family." Her voice said that she had not made up her mind on Vinyl, which was understandable.

If I had to guess mothers current assessment of Vinyl, it would come in two sections with two still missing.

The first was appearance, which for Vinyl would be highly questionable for her since this was a first impression dinner.

The second was actions, which right now was Vinyl leaning close to the platter then backing her head away with the occasional funny face; so that could go anywhere right now, but I hope it was an innocent impression at the least.

The third one would be etiquette, which I knew Vinyl wouldn't excel at, but she wouldn't pass with flying colors either. She wouldn't know what spoons were which - I didn't bother with them either - and probably wouldn't be that impressive manner wise either. She could still keep it modest though, I was confident in that much.

The last, and the one that carried the most weight, was stance; Vinyl's opinions on things. This was the one that I had no idea on, as Vinyl's thoughts on current issues were a total blank to me. Did she even know about current issues? Probably not. And even if she did, what would she think about them.

I knew my mother well though, and she wouldn't start a conversation to judge somepony without a second - neutral - opinion to compare to; which in this case was father. We were safe until he got here.

Though that wouldn't be forever.

Sure enough, the sound of vaguely heavy hoofsteps came from outside the room and my father walked in.

He had a friendly look about him in general, and still did, with a faint smile and a sort of 'pep' about him. He was levelheaded and probably the smartest pony I knew when it came to ethical and moral choices; his opinions matched mine is probably the best way to describe it.

"Sorry all, it wasn't my intention to stall your dinner." He said almost sheepishly. He had a knack for acting.

He trotted over and took his seat, finishing the action with a content sigh.

This was when he finally took notice of the unknown mare sitting at our table.

"Oh my, not sure how I missed that." He chuckled, looking at Vinyl.

"And who are you?" He asked gently.

Vinyl opened her mouth to answer, but my mother was quick to interrupt. I wasn't sure whether or not it was on purpose or not.

"That would be Octavia's date." Her tone was slate, no side reflected in her voice.

My dad was the coolest stallion I knew and not in the sense of him being interesting. He simply acted well under pressure, regardless of the amount, and for that I respected him immensely. He went along with whatever happened as if it where all an elaborate set up to some great puzzle; like everything happened because it would come together at some point to make perfect sense.

A good example of this would be the way he reacted to being told Vinyl - a mare - was my date.

He didn't hesitate in his reply to the statement; his attitude didn't change, his body didn't fidget, his smile didn't falter, his breath didn't catch and not even his eyes moved to show any sort of rejection or acceptance to the claim. Not even his sense of humor fled the room.

"Well it's good to see that I'm staying stallion of the house this evening. I'm sure I'd lose if I had any competition." He said chuckling.

My mother and I didn't laugh at all, not even a snicker. My mother did it because of her seriousness and me out of nervousness.

Though one pony did.

Vinyl let out a chuckle that was just loud enough for all of us to hear. Her laughter was genuine and it got a look from my father, who seemed pleasantly surprised that he had an audience for his jokes and let out a bigger smile to show it.

Well played Vinyl.

My father clapped his hooves together and Wilfred came in along with two other - a mare and another stallion - who served as personal assistance to my mother and father.

It was originally thought that I would be living with my parents for most of all of my life until I took over as head of the house, therefore my parents hired Wilfred to be my personal aid just as they had hired their own. However, I left the home to become more independent and self reliant, so Wilfred's job was in question despite being just as important as my parents in my upbringing through foal hood.

He had grown on my parents over quite the span of years; long enough that I was able to watch his mane go from a flawless, dark brown to a lighter shade that was streaked with slivers of grey. My father said it was stress that had him look so much older so fast, and that he was in fact still quite young. But he ended up getting to stay with my parents and help with chores around the house.

I found out that he soon became my father's second opinion on things thanks to their similar life views and that my father gave his first assistant to my mother so that she could get a stallion and a mare opinion on clothing.

They trotted around setting out of all the silverware for dinner in a complex fashion that I could never understand the ordering for.

They placed a single plate in front of us a perfect inch from the table, followed soon by two forks of different sizes placed on the left of the plate with a napkin to finish the left side. A knife was place on the right, blade facing the plate, followed by a spoon and a single knife. They took care to place a single glass filled with water directly above the spoon, followed by a glass of wine to the direct right of that glass.

Vinyl looked perplexed at the sight of red wine and seemed to study it with an odd intensity. Did she think it was blood?

They then removed the tops of the silver platters, much to Vinyl's sadness at seeing her reflection disappear.

Maybe I could get her a warped mirror for her birthday. Speaking of which, when was that? Or better yet, how old was Vinyl anyways?

I was drawn back to attention as they all finished removing the platter's tops in sync, as if it were a routine that they practiced regularly. It probably was.

The platters were all filled with extensive amounts of salads and vegetables prepared in all sorts of ways I hadn't even thought possible. My parents have an unnatural love for salad, which I guess is where I got my like for the dish from, but nobody made it quite like they did. My mother actually liked to partake in the creation of it so the chefs got it just right.

They gave an expectant look to father, whom nodded, before turning and taking their leave out of the room. Most likely going to their break room.

As soon as they had left, we all turned back to the table; half the occupants of the dining hall with flat looks and the other half with faint smiles that never seemed to fade unless things were truly worrying.

"Dig in" My father said, already making a move for a bowl of vegetable soup.

My parents may have had butlers and maids, but they still liked to do things themselves; like preparing their own dinner.

We all began to slowly gather our select vegetables with the small talk of asking someone else for a bowl just out of reach.

I noticed Vinyl refrained from use of her magic. Maybe out of note of the fact that she was surrounded by earth ponies, but I had noted that she tended to do things in a harder way than normal; getting a stool to reach the top shelf just like I did, getting up to go get things rather than using levitation, even choosing to walk places rather than teleporting.

We finally had everything gathered - we ll had just about one of everything so our meals all looked vaguely similar - and my father finally made a move for a utensil. That we the signal we could do so ourselves.

I took a fork, not really caring which one I grabbed, and slowly began to eat at the silent table. Everyone else seemed to follow the same path as me, until my father's unnatural dislike for silence at the dinner table got the best of him.

"So Octavia," He began.

I nearly jerked at the sudden break of tension.

"Y-yes?" I stammered only slightly.

"I heard you lost your orchestral position. Such a shame." He was genuine with his care.

"Not too much, I had hardly been going to practice as of late anyways." I said nervously. My mother loathed me not going to practice with a passion.

"And why is that?" My mother asked with a raised brow. I knew this question was coming, yet still couldn't find a way to lie to my mother, though it seemed I didn't have to.

"That was my fault." Vinyl said apologetically.

We all seemed a bit shocked by her sudden intrusion, though I was heavily thankful and my mother even more curious. My father seemed to have regarded the fact and stared at Vinyl heavily for a moment as if he had seen her from somewhere, a little strain to try and remember flickering in his eyes, though he shrugged a moment later and gave up on his attempt.

"Yeah, I kind of messed up her practice a lot. I don't know much about music, but I know that it takes a lot of time to get where she was. I guess I was a bit too needy." She said, sounding saddened.

Lies.

All of it.

She hardly messed up my practice, if anything she had helped me get there more than a few times. Even more of a lie was about her lack of knowledge in music; she had ears that could pick up the smallest fluctuation or difference in the intended tone for any piece I could play as if she herself had written the piece herself. She also could play the piano well enough to beat both Fredric and a unicorn whom had devoted most their life into the practice in an almost disturbingly easy manner. Not to mention she had done that while she looked like she hadn't slept in days.

Speaking of that, thank goodness they didn't recognize her from that. I assumed that was where my father was trying to remember her from, but I've found that Vinyl has a way of being forgettable if she wants to.

My mother looked a bit sorry for her and was quick to speak.

"Oh don't be saddened dear. Another thing about music is that you almost can't forget how to do it." She sounded sympathetic, but her intentions were still the same as before.

Vinyl smiled a little bit.

My mother juggled the conversation a bit longer.

"So, Octavia, does your companion here have a job?" It was odd she would ask me that, or ask that all frankly, but I guess it was because she could tell if I was lying to her.

My father's eyes flickered up from his soup that he was blowing on and stared at me with small curiosity as well, making me get choked up on an excuse.

"Nothing."

My mothers eyes went wide and turned on a swivel back to the source of the voice who was currently prodding at vegetables. I was just as shocked as her to hear Vinyl answer the question without a second thought, not to mention honestly as well.

"N-Nothing?" My mother stammered.

"Nope, not a thing." Vinyl repeated to my mother happily, not bothering to look up from her plate as she smiled while pushing her vegetables around. This wasn't going well.

The room was silent.

"Um, why, might I ask, have you not had a job?" My mother's tone was critical and I could tell that she was judging Vinyl heavily on this response.

"I kinda stopped working once I met 'Tavi?" Vinyl blabbered on, no hesitation to reveal the rather bad sounding situation.

My father giggled before muttering 'Tavi' to himself and going back to his soup.

My mother's gaze hardened at Vinyl, her eyes squinting and her pupils narrowing at her to show her dislike of Vinyl. Her face somewhat twisted into a grimace, though it looked like I was the only one who noticed.

My mother was a very kind and loving mare, but she would turn into just the opposite at the mention of somepony doing me wrong. I appreciated it, but this was much more complicated than what she though. They didn't know I had let her into my home as payment for Vinyl saving my life, nor did they know that Vinyl had already planned in advanced to give her job away to Shakes. Vinyl also knew she couldn't tell my parents this, so why was she digging her grave so eagerly?

The table began to fade back to silence as we all ate, I myself hardly eating at all while Vinyl hadn't even ate anything.

"You don't seem to be eating anything dear." My mother said dryly at the notice of Vinyl's lack of apatite.

"I don't really like veggies." She said with a giggle and a sheepish look.

That probably just put her on my mother's 'kill' list.

"How can you tell with those thick glasses on? I'd imagine you could barely see anything with them." My mother said, not insultingly, just genuinely.

My father nodded.

Vinyl let out another chuckle as her hoof found her way to the back of her neck.

"I, uh-" She stammered. It seems even she was at a loss on this one. I felt the compulsion to help her out in someway, but what was I to say? She was highly sensitive to light? Well, I suppose that would have worked if I had been so clever to think of it in time.

Vinyl cast her glance to me, mother and then to father and finally back to me. She looked stressed, but gulped and started going up for her glasses, sliding them off slowly. She set the piece of plastic down on the table and seemed to shrink under our gazes as both me and mother looked on intensely for different reasons.

I heard my mother gasp.

A familiar red filled my gaze, the wine next to me not even coming close in comparison of beauty and color to Vinyl's eyes. They were practically sparkling with emotions of all shapes and sizes, and we seemed to pick up on that. It was a sight that truly never got old.

She fidgeted under the attention.

"...My..." My mother whispered.

The room was silent, the only sound being of my father asking Vinyl for some salt as if the eyes weren't visible to him. I noticed that he hadn't bothered to look at them, his food was more important. Vinyl happily obliged, the request probably being a breath of fresh air from our prying eyes, and hoofed him the salt; at which he gave her a casual thank you while my mother and I were left awestruck.

However, his thank you ended rather shortly as he hit a mysterious brick wall.

"Oh my." He began, coming to a realization. "I can't believe we could have forgotten something so common and simple." He turned to Vinyl.

"What's your name Miss? I just realized we hadn't even shared names and here we are eating together." He seemed embarrassed of himself.

Now I would have normally made a move to stop this exchange, as it was the main fear of the night, but I found myself equally as hypnotized as my mother as we stared at Vinyl's eyes. Words seemed muddled to me, and I only managed to snap back to reality as the words left Vinyl's mouth as casually as ever.

"Vinyl. Vinyl Scratch."

The room finally went completely quiet as my father's silverware 'clinked' with his bowl.

There was something about seeing my father grow cold and panicked that sent shivers down my spine; it was like seeing something that you had assumed to be unbreakable for many years suddenly crack. All my life I had never seen him fret, panic, or even sigh in distaste over anything but the two times the name "Vinyl" had come up with him and it was beginning to truly scare me.

Though this time it was much scarier than the first, and I'm guessing it was because talking about something that worries you is much different than seeing it up close and personal.

His eyes seemed to dim at the mention of her name, and I was worried he would tell her to leave and never come back, but he simply slumped back in his chair as a darkness seemed to sweep around him and cover his eyes from view. It took him a bit longer, but he eventually got up from the table and left without a word.

"Dear?" Mother questioned with worry, getting half way out of the table before turning back to me with a look that I couldn't quite make out. We locked eyes for a split second before she trotted hastily out the door my father had stumbled out of.

*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*

.
The silence was overwhelming after they had both left; Vinyl had sunk down in depression while I could only mull over how horribly this was going. I wanted nothing more than to make my parents happy, but I also wanted them to be happy for me. Rather than me simply trying to impress them, they could be impressed by me simply doing what I would've done naturally. I had operated like this for awhile, acting on my own whims, and having them judge those whims.

Though now it seemed that might have back fired.

"Tavi, I don't think your dad likes me." Vinyl sighed, her eyes cast down at the plate where she had done nothing but move the contents of it. It was hard not to pick up the depression in her tone.

I wasn't too sure either, but I couldn't say that to her. Actually, I wasn't quite sure what to say after my father wordlessly got up and left after Vinyl gave him her name.

"I'm sure he... just... had to use the bathroom." I said with a distinct lack of truth.

She seemed to honestly believe me.

"Well...I hope he's okay. His eyes got all weird looking and I think I saw him sweating a little." She commented, now concerned for my father's digestive system and its safety.

I felt compelled to find my parents and talk to them. Vinyl had done nothing more than be honest - despite lying for me a little bit - and said her name. This was no way to treat a guest and I especially wouldn't stand for it if it were Vinyl. I was determined to find my parents and tell them a little story.

"Vinyl." I said firmly. I assumed she could hear it too as she bolted to attention at the sound of my voice.

"Huh?"

"I'm going to go see if thy're okay. Will you be fine by yourself for a little while?" I felt a bit silly sounding like a caretaker, but she nodded meekly and I got up myself.

I turned and trotted to the door, running into Wilfred on the way out.

"Miss Melody, are you too going to the study?" He asked.

Perfect, now I knew where they were.

"Yes, I am."

He seemed concerned.

"Very well. Will you be needing anything?" He asked diligently.

I turned back towards the dinner table and saw Vinyl sitting there by herself obediently. Her head had sunken down far enough that her nose was level with the table and she had a droopy and depressed look in her eyes. She must have felt like this was her fault somehow.

"Actually Wilfred, I think I do have a small request." I mused.

His eyes widened in anticipation.

"Of course."

"Keep Vinyl company please." I said.

To his credit he only hesitated for a moment before nodding and turning towards the dinning hall. I watched him long enough to see him sit down at one of the chairs at the table. Vinyl's eyes looked up like a small dog would, her head unmoved but her eyes filled with a new emotion that wasn't sadness.

And that was good enough for me.

I turned and walked on, my parents now my target.