Manhattan Ballad

by ObCom

Part 7

Octavia was safe. She knew this. She was so sure of this that she no longer had her nerves to focus on. Now, bored out of her mind and hardly focusing on her workout routine, she almost wished she was scared again. Octavia paused for a moment, weights suspended above her as she replayed the thought in her mind. I want to be scared again. Memories of a past exercise accident still fresh in her mind, Octavia gently lowered her weights to the ground. Now that she was free from harm, she sat up on the bench and raised an eyebrow to herself. Alright. Why do I want to be scared?
It’s not that I want to be scared. I just want to feel something new!
Fair enough, Octavia conceded to herself. What else is there to do around here? Vinyl has taken to furnishing her apartment since I arrived. Her eyes drifted across the rest of the exercise equipment haphazardly strewn about the corner. She got off the bench and walked to the couch, careful not to trip. Maybe I could play the violin for a bit? That’s always been fun in the past.
I don’t want to do that, her alternate self said. I want you to think about Vinyl some more.
Octavia felt the heat rise to her face. I already did. I have written all my feelings about my… generous host in my diary. That’s it, that’s done, I do not need to go back to that.
Oh, come on. What about that dream last night?
“Drop it,” Octavia said out loud, lightly rapping her knuckles against her head. She paused, her mind trying to comprehend the fact that she was talking to herself. “I must be losing it,” she said and dropped onto the couch, despite the fact that her body shone with sweat. Not for the first time, she wished she had augmentations so she could watch the news. It wouldn’t hurt to know what was happening outside.
Octavia looked at the clock and was unpleasantly surprised to see that only five minutes had passed. Bored, her eyes inevitably drifted to her overnight bag. Or, more specifically, the little diary poking out. Just thinking about what she had written in there was enough to make her blush. Alright, you win. I’ll think about Vinyl some more.
Somewhere, a small part of her cheered and made popcorn.
She leaned back on the couch so that she stared directly at the ceiling. Truth be told, Octavia couldn’t tell when Scratch had wormed her way into her heart. The ex-DJ turned babysitter had not been what Octavia had expected when she arrived. When Bass Leader’s men told her to pack, Octavia passed the time in the car wondering what lonely existence she was going to face as she lived out her days in some hole in the dirt. Instead, she was put in the care of a young woman who was very irritable if she didn’t have enough sleep or coffee. Not to mention that the two weren’t completely dissimilar. Sure, they had different tastes in music, but that wasn’t enough to stop them from being friends.
Friends, eh? I don’t think that’s all you want to be. Octavia ignored her own jab at herself. At some point that Octavia wasn’t aware of, her feelings for Vinyl changed. There was just something about the DJ that made Octavia feel complete. Like nothing bad could ever happen when they were together. Octavia was sure it was too soon for her feelings to be considered love. The two had only been living together for about two months. Despite a complete lack of experience, Octavia was sure that she was thinking too much into things. Vinyl was just a great person. That was it. A great person with a great body. Yup.
The door flew open and slammed shut within a second. The noise made Octavia leap and wonder where Vinyl had put the gun before she realized that it was just Vinyl. Her heart still leapt in her chest at the sight. However, as the DJ stepped into the apartment, Octavia was gradually filled with concern. “Vinyl? Is something wrong?” she asked.
The DJ looked horrible and, instead of saying anything, threw herself at Octavia. The sudden proximity turned Octavia’s face several shades of red. Vinyl was squeezing her for all she was worth, not caring that Octavia was still sweaty from working out. Tentatively, Octavia returned the hug. “There, there,” she said, running a hand through Vinyl’s hair. “You’re back now. Nothing’s going to hurt you.”
Vinyl held on for a moment longer before letting go, much to Octavia’s disappointment. She walked to the kitchen, grabbed a soda, and fell onto the couch. Vinyl took her goggles off and stared at the soda can. Octavia wondered if she was supposed to say something, and was about to do so when Vinyl spoke. “It’s going to hell out there.” Waving an arm to indicate the outside, she said, “I was just out there, saw a boy get picked up by some Hunters.” She paused, opened and closed her mouth a few times, and shook her head. Finally, she grabbed the soda and pulled the tab. “Let me start over,” she said and took a drink. Octavia waited patiently, unknowingly leaning forward.
“Alright,” Vinyl began. “I was just walking, minding my own business, when I find a large crowd of people. That’s nothing new, I mean, look at where we are. It’d be strange if there wasn’t a crowd. But these people were all looking up, so I figure, they aren’t gonna move, I might as well see what all of the hubbub is about.” Another drink. “So I look up, and I see these two people. They had to have jumped or something. I mean, one of ‘em didn’t have augs, so I don’t know. Maybe he didn’t wanna go and things got desperate. Anyway, if that was the plan, this Hunter wasn’t gonna let it happen. So what do they do?” Another drink. “They jump off after them! This Hunter jumped off, caught up to the jumpers, and plucked the one kid out of the air and let the other one eat the pavement. Then they walked off like they had a box of pizza. Meanwhile, everyone’s freaking out, soldiers came in, blahblahblah.” Vinyl drained the rest of the can in one gulp and Octavia noticed her hands were shaking. “It was awful.”
Octavia frowned, unsure of how to act after hearing that story. Could she say anything that would make Vinyl feel better? She put an arm around the DJ and pulled her into another hug. Her chin rested on the top of Vinyl’s blue head. From there, her eyes drifted to the violin Vinyl had bought her a while back, and an idea came to her. She let go of Vinyl and stood up, forcing the DJ to drop her arms, and picked up the instrument.

After an experimental pluck of the strings, Octavia rested the bow, closed her eyes, and began to play. She preferred a cello, or even a double bass, but neither instrument was available. But with her eyes closed, she didn’t have to see Vinyl’s face distorting with disgust as she played.
Octavia had to admit that, as the time wore on, she found herself repeating bits of the song. She didn’t even know why she was playing a song that she hadn’t even finished composing. It was supposed to be a lighter piece, designed to make someone feel better after a bad day. If she kept playing, she was sure Vinyl would chalk up her performance as the low point of the evening. Once that thought had arrived, she stopped. “I’m sorry about that,” she said. “That song isn’t anywhere near completed.”
“Play it again,” Vinyl said from the other side of the room. Octavia opened her eyes and saw the DJ had moved to stand behind her little speaker in the corner. Her fingertips were shining as she synchronized her virtual mixing table with the speaker, allowing Octavia to hear what Vinyl was doing.
Hesitantly, Octavia started the song again. When Vinyl didn’t immediately join in, Octavia raised an eyebrow, but Vinyl waved a hand for her to keep going. Finally, at a point where Octavia thought the song was lacking something, Vinyl started playing a drumbeat. The two smiled at each other, Vinyl’s electronic beats mixing perfectly with Octavia’s strings.
An hour passed, the sun had set, and the two were still playing. Octavia had spotted Vinyl giving her several looks during the set, but thought nothing of them. Even though the DJ always seemed to find something else to look at whenever she was caught, Octavia was determined that there was nothing strange about Vinyl’s behavior. That was until Vinyl said, “Fuck it,” and slipped out from behind the speaker, her augmentations allowing the music to keep playing without her. She stalked towards Octavia, who was still playing.
Vinyl put her hand on Octavia’s, forcing her to stop. She tried to think that Vinyl was just going to do something silly. There was no way, no way that her increasingly dirty thoughts would be right. So Vinyl’s eyes were at half-mast and filled with… something, and the DJ was walking forward, making Octavia step back. The music was still playing when Octavia fell on the couch with a startled yelp and Vinyl was on her lap. Still completely innocent, Octavia told herself, although her heart wanted to fly out of her chest. Vinyl put her hands on the back of the couch, slowly leaning in.
Although Octavia’s mind was working to convince herself that none of this meant anything, her body figured it had had enough. She put her hands on both sides of Vinyl’s head and pulled her forward, pressing their lips together. Vinyl’s red eyes shot open, apparently taken by surprise. Octavia chuckled to herself before closing her purple ones and throwing herself into pure ecstasy. Somewhere, in the back of her mind, the music was still playing.

The first thing Applejack noticed after stepping out of her small, personal ship was the guards. In order to be staffed at Camelot, one had to do months of training and tests. It was the heart of the Solar Empire, and they took no risks. Celestia was the brain behind everything, but no one, barring Twilight, knew where she was. Applejack looked around the hangar for a bit, drawing the attention of every guard there. Something didn’t feel quite right, but she couldn’t put her finger on it. Shrugging, she walked forward. She needed answers.

After the hangar came the shifting hallways. No one was quite sure why the place was built like that, but it came with its advantages. Applejack squared her shoulders and let muscle memory guide her to Twilight’s office. Without breaking stride, she pulled a spare keycard from her pocket, unlocked the door, and walked in like she belonged there.

To her disappointment, Twilight was gone. Applejack frowned, looking out of the window to a view she missed too much, and decided to wait. She sat behind Twilight’s desk and kicked her feet up. There was no point in looking for documents while she had the chance, because she knew Twilight wouldn’t leave any copies around. Or she might, provided the woman’s paranoia. A loud yawn cancelled any thoughts of a search, however, and Applejack lowered the brim of her hat. She was dead tired after the flight, and she knew Twilight wouldn’t mind if she took a nap at her desk.

Comments

[TacoTown]

coo. new chapter.