Octavia nibbled at the sandwhich Vinyl had brough her, mind a bit elsewhere as her marefriend tinkered with the back of one of her speakers. She chewed slowly, thinking over the past few days. Unfortunately, her thoughts were interrupted by an abrupt and intensely unpleasant sensation beneath the bandages around her sprained hoof. She glared at the cast, and bit her lip as she tried to rub her other hoof against it. Sadly, the minute amounts that she managed to shift the cast around only served to further irritate her skin. She looked around, trying to find something to wedge under the cast—a fork, maybe—to scratch at the maddening sensation. Or, perhaps, a chainsaw to lop the offending limb off.
Some minutes later, she was interrupted by the sound of Vinyls laughter. Octavia glanced up and found the unicorn giggling helplessly. Looking back down, she thought for a moment about the display she was presenting.
Octavia had bent a wire hanger into a crude scratching implement, and was using one hoof and her teeth to vigorously jam it under her cast to try and reach the itching skin.
She…supposed it might look a tad ridiculous.
Coughing delicately, she stood and stowed the hanger away, before smiling at the still giggling Vinyl. “Ah…darling, I have a bit of an itch. I don’t suppose you have any spells that might help?”
Vinyls horn lit up despite her giggling like a school-filly, and Octavia almost fell over the abrupt cessation of agony that was an un-scratchable itch. She almost purred. “Thanks.” She murmured, sighing in relief.
Untangling the deformed wire hanger from her hoof and setting it aside, she flopped back onto the couch and eyed Vinyl for a moment.
“So…do uh. Do you want to meet my parents?” she asked, the words just kind of tumbling out.
Surprisingly, Vinyl didn’t spew the soda she was drinking everywhere. She did have a hard time swallowing before she coughed and stared at Octavia, actually pushing her shades up to look at her.
“Uh. “ Was her only reply at first, followed by an eloquent, “What?”
Octavia looked down, a bit sheepish. “Sorry. That was…kinda a bit much to spring like that. I mean, after last night, and this morning….” She trailed off, before looking up at Vinyl with a small half-smile. “I don’t want to hide anything from you. And, well…we have been dating for awhile, and neither of us knows much about each others family, and I thought it might be nice and all, and I know my story might paint them in a negative light but they are good people, though we are a bit distant right now, though that might just be standard drift, and I’m babbling, aren’t I, am I babbling, I’m just a bit nervous about the idea, not that you aren’t lovely but my parents would expect me to date someone of, of, oh deer theres no way to end that sentence that isn’t insulting is there, I—“ She was cut off by magic clamping her jaw shut, much to her relief.
After a moment, Vinyl released her jaw with a wry smile.
"You are way too high strung, Tavi." She shook her head, chuckling, before flashing her a grin. "Yeah, if you want me to meet them, sure. I guess it won't be too bad. Maybe they'll have embarrassing pictures of you as a baby or something."
She perched on the couch next to Octavia and nuzzled her neck lightly. "And if they don't approve of me, eh, good. I'm a bad influence, and you know it." She stuck her tongue out at Octavia who just rolled her eyes.
"I'm sure they'll think you're just lovely, deer. Albeit flamboyant." She said dryly, back in control of herself. "I'll get in touch with them. How about this weekend? They should be free then."
Vinyl shrugged. "Nothing really planned, so sure. Sunday would be better--not nearly as much of a chance of a last minute call in to DJ. "
Octavia nodded, leaning against her special somepony. “I suppose it was inevitable anyway.” She murmured. “They do try not to bother me, but mothers will be mothers.” She sighed, before raising her voice an octave. “Darling, if you’d just put yourself out there, you’d be swimming in stallions! Or mares. We don’t judge.” She hugged another sigh before glancing at Vinyl, who was trying desperately not to laugh.
And failing.
“Oh, get it out of your system Vinyl.” She said with a snort, prompting Vinyl to burst into giggles. Again.
“Sorry! Just, wow, that’s like something out of a bad sitcom.” She snickered.
Rolling her eyes, Octavia thumped Vinyl’s side with an elbow. “Oh yes, and I suppose your mother is simply the paragon of “cool”, hmm?” She said. The giggles stopped immediately, and Vinyl looked up at the ceiling with a scowl.
“Yeah…not talking about my mom.” She grumbled, flopping over onto her side and taking up as much space on the couch as she could.
Both of Octavia’s eyebrows rose at that. “Ah…can I ask why not? Surely she can’t be that ba-“
She was cut off by Vinyl raising a hoof. “Not. Talking.” She growled. “I don’t get along with my family. Like, at all. It’s a whole thing.” She snorted. “And she’s pretty far from being anywhere near cool. “
Octavia blinked before nodding slowly. “Alright, I…well, I suppose. I can’t fault you for that, I know how straining family relationships can be at times. Just…” She hesitated for a moment, before walking over and kissing Vinyl’s cheek. “I love you.” She said softly, prompting a light blush from the unicorn. “I hid things from you, things I was scared of, but I’m never doing that again. Don’t think theres anything you can’t share with me, Vinyl. I’m with you through anything.” She smiled and nuzzled against her marefriends neck, earning a slight squeak from her.
“…Yeah, ok. Just…not right now, ok Tavi?” Vinyl mumbled. “It’s a good day so far. Tomorrow? I know you’re probably really curious and all, but I think declaring a one or two day moratorium between big emotional breakdowns is understandable, huh?”
Octavia smiled and nodding. “Sounds perfectly rational to me darling.” A slight pause. “Perfectly rational, and very well spoken. Moratorium?” She quirked an eyebrow at Vinyl. “Who are you, and what have you done with my wild, crazy, limited vocabulary marefriend?” She asked in a deadpan tone.
Vinyl snrked. “Hey, I can know big woods too! You’re not the only one with access to nerd-books!” She stuck her tongue out before squawking as Octavia pounced and bit her ear firmly.
“I’ll show you who’se a nerd!” Octavia mock-growled, followed by a strangled yelp as the two rolled off the couch and onto the floor with a thump. “Ah! Ow! Vinyl, get off my mane!”
“Hah! Now who has the upper hoof, nerd?!”
“EE! Vinyl, do NOT bite me there--EE! Ahah! Stoppit!”
-|-
The sounds of two mares rolling across the floor, wrestling and tickling one another, continued for some few minutes, moving around the floor of the living room, until there was a resonant “thunk” as something dense struck a wall, knocking a frame from it with a crash.
There was a moments silence.
“Vinyl? Are you ok? That sounded like you hit your head pretty hard…”
“Eh, I’m fine. Don’t worry about it Tavi. Mind helping me clean up?”
Octavia pulled herself up. “Of course darling. “ She nudged Vinyl onto her hooves and grabbed the frame from where it had fallen. She looked over it, inspecting for damage as she moved to return it to the wall. “Hmm. Doesn’t look like it’s broken, glass is intact. Bit of a scuff, but nothing-“
She stopped dead mid-sentence, staring at the bottom corner.
Inside the frame were a few loose leaves of paper covered with musical notation.
That, in and of itself, wasn’t too surprising. Octavia had a few framed bits of notation herself, mostly sentimental pieces from her old shows.
No, it was the signature, elegant loops and whirls in the bottom right hoof corner, that had shocked her into silence.
“Vinyl! Why do—is this—is—why do you have sheet music signed by Ivory Keys?!” She gasped, heart thumping as the name brought up memories.
She didn’t see Vinyl stiffen, though the frustrated sigh drew Octavia's attention to her again. The DJ glanced back at her, magic plucking the frame from Octavia's hooves and hangnig it back up. "Mom gave it to me when I got my own place, something other than posters for the wall." She said begrudgingly.
Octavia stared at her, mouth slightly open. "Your mother? Is she a fan, or, o--" She was cut off by another sigh.
"I really didn't want to talk about this today." Vinyl muttered, rubbing the bridge of her nose. She took a breath and looked at Octavia, speaking louder. "No, not a fan. My mother....is Ivory Keys."