Octaves

by JapaneseTeeth

Chapter 2: The Answer Lies Within

Octavia paused to flick her mane out of her eyes. Despite the best efforts of the local weatherponies, winter was doing its best to linger. Spring was winning the battle, but today had turned out to be one of the chilly ones. She tightened her scarf as she trotted towards her dorm, hoping that it would be a long time before she needed it again.

She gritted her teeth as she saw that the door to her room was ajar. She distinctly remembered locking it before leaving, which could mean only one thing. Well, it could’ve meant one of several things, but one of them was much more likely than the others. She pushed the door open, and sure enough, Vinyl was sitting on the couch, drinking root beer that Octavia had been saving for later.

“Hello, Vinyl,” she said, trying to hide her surprise at finding Vinyl not only in the room, but awake. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

Vinyl finished the bottle before answering. “Oh, I just figured I should at least stop by to say goodbye before I leave.”

“I see… wait, what?!” Octavia rubbed her ear, convinced that the time spent practicing with the orchestra had damaged her hearing. “You’re leaving? As in, moving out and leaving the Academy?”

“Yup!” Vinyl tossed the empty bottle in the general direction of the wastebasket. It missed and bounced off the wall. “Spent all morning packing up my stuff.”

“Really.” Octavia glanced around the room. Vinyl hadn’t had a lot to pack. She never used her own anything when she could borrow Octavia’s. “And why exactly are you leaving now? There’s only another six weeks left in the semester. If you had waited at least you’d be able to transfer those credits somewhere else.”

“Eh,” Vinyl sniffed. “It’s no big deal. Something came up. I couldn’t really wait that long. Besides, it’s not like I’m gonna need any of those pesky academic credits where I’m goin’ anyway. Figuring out all that stuff was a pain anyway.”

The obvious question popped into Octavia’s mind. The equally obvious answer appeared just as quickly, almost before the question. She couldn’t help asking anyway, just to be sure.

“So if you aren’t transferring to another school, where are you going?”

Vinyl raised an eyebrow, and even through the opaque glasses, Octavia knew she was receiving an incredulous stare.

“On tour. Duh. My first single dropped a week ago and it actually managed to crack the top five! Now I’m going on tour to drum up hype for the full album!” Vinyl sprawled out across the couch, throwing her hoof over the armrest. “I’m gonna be opening for Draftwerk! Draftwerk, Octavia! Isn’t that awesome?”

“I’ll have to take your word for it.”

“Hmph.” The enthusiasm drained out of her like air out of a balloon. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised,” Vinyl grumbled. “It’s not like you’d be familiar with the most important electronic musicians, like, ever. Next you’ll be telling me you’ve never heard of Balepusher!”

Octavia raised an eyebrow, unsure if Vinyl had made the name up on the spot to mess with her. “Who?”

“Nevermind.” Vinyl rolled her eyes. “I was actually gonna stick around till the end of the semester, and do some shows over the summer, but they liked what I showed ‘em so much that they wanted me to get on the road ASAP. We’re going all the way from Applewood to Manehattan, and it’s gonna be awesome!”

“So that’s why you dropped in?” Octavia asked, too annoyed to be impressed by Vinyl’s claims. “So you could tell me all about how great your tour is now that you’re on it?”

“Oh please,” Vinyl snorted. “Give me a little credit. I came here to say goodbye, not to rub my success in your face. Though now that you brought it up, it is gonna be pretty sweet. We’re even playing a show here in Canterlot in a month or so. I’ll see if I can score an extra ticket for you.”

“Thanks,” Octavia said.

Vinyl threw up her hooves. “Octavia, please! Try to contain your excitement! Seriously, I thought that if nothing else you’d at least want to hear it live.”

“Hear what live?”

Vinyl swung her head back and forth in an exaggerated gesture of dismay. “The song I sampled your bass on, obviously! Come on, don’t you want to hear what it sounds like when I’m actually performing it? Even you couldn’t say no to that, could you?”

“Perhaps,” Octavia answered, cursing her honesty. “I would be lying if I said that I wasn’t curious.”

“I thought so,” Vinyl said, a wide grin on her face. “I guarantee that you will be completely blown away.”

“I didn’t say that I would go!” Octavia snapped. “Only that I would consider the possibility. If your show is a month from now, I’ll be incredibly busy. I’ll have my end of semester composition project to work on, rehearsals for the spring concert, auditioning for summer ensembles, and that’s not even taking final exams into consideration. I may very well not have time!”

“Well, if you’re that busy, you’re gonna need a break to keep from burning yourself out!” Vinyl answered, wagging her eyebrows vigorously. “What better way is there to unwind than to get off campus for a bit and let off some of that stress at a show?”

“I would’ve said making myself a cup of tea and curling up with a good book, but I suppose it’s different for everypony.”

Even behind the glasses, Vinyl’s eyes were obviously rolling.

“You really just don’t know how to cut loose, do you? Live a little! Get out of the dorm and do something for once.”

“I know perfectly well how to ‘cut loose’.” Octavia’s voice was like ice. “I simply choose not to.”

“Yeah yeah, your loss.” Vinyl waggled a hoof at her. “I think you’d get a real kick out of hearing it, but hey, it’s up to you. I’ll send you the tickets and you can do whatever you want with ‘em. If you want to be boring and stay home and drink tea or whatever, fine, but do me a favor and at least give the tickets to somepony else, alright? No point in letting it go to waste.”

Octavia’s ear twitched. For just the briefest moment, the swagger had vanished from Vinyl’s voice. Her haughty persona had cracked ever so slightly, and Octavia could’ve sworn that a hint of the real Vinyl, the one who didn’t show up on stage, had poked through. It gave her the same feeling as if she had seen behind Vinyl’s sunglasses.

“Very well,” Octavia said, “If I am unable to attend your concert, I will make sure to give the tickets to somepony who would appreciate them.”

“Great!” Vinyl said with a smirk, her facade firmly back in place. “Well, I did what I came here to do, so I’m gonna get out of your way now. I’ll see you at the show. You know you can’t resist checking it out. Hope you enjoy having the room to yourself.”

Octavia stepped aside as Vinyl walked past, her head held high. As she watched the unicorn walk through the doorway, a flicker of emotion sparked in Octavia’s head. It wasn’t quite sadness or even melancholy, but subdued resignation. She could hardly say that she wanted Vinyl to stay, but part of her wished that her roommate’s departure would’ve been slightly more reluctant.

“Vinyl,” she said.

She spent a silent moment staring at the empty doorway before Vinyl poked her head back into the room.

“Yeah?”

“I’m not going to wish you good luck, but I just wanted to say that I hope your tour goes well. And congratulations on your single doing so well. I know it… isn’t exactly my style, but obviously you did something right, and I suppose I should thank you for incorporating my playing into it, even if it was in a rather indirect fashion.”

“I… uh…” Vinyl stared blankly, as if she had expected Octavia to say something entirely different, and didn’t have any suitable response ready. “Thanks.” She stood silently for a moment. “Good luck with all your rehearsals and studying for finals and all that stuff.”

Octavia stared coldly back. “What makes you think I need luck?”

Vinyl bit her lip, not sure whether to answer, or to walk away. Then Octavia snorted and broke into a wide grin. “Really, I would’ve thought you of all ponies would’ve known better.”

“I walked right into that one, didn’t I?” Vinyl said with a relieved chuckle. “Well, you know what I meant.” Her eyebrow twitched; Octavia assumed it was a wink. “I guess I rubbed off on you a little more than I thought. See you later.” She turned dramatically and trotted down the hallway.

Octavia watched the empty doorway for a moment. Vinyl had rubbed off on her, if only a little. She wasn’t quite sure how she felt about that. Then again, she had influenced Vinyl just as much. Maybe more. Octavia hadn’t incorporated any of Vinyl’s… compositions into her own work, after all.

She shook her head. Now wasn’t the time to worry about that. She bent down and plucked up the root beer bottle and dropped it into the garbage. Now was the time to relax, and a root beer sounded good. She opened the fridge. Then she closed it with a sigh.

“I should’ve seen that coming.”

Author's Note:

Chapter 2, finally.

Comments

[Yami Vizzini]

Well, same well-characterized interaction but with Octy starting to appreciate Vinyl.

[Meta Four]

“Hmph.” The enthusiasm drained out of her like air out of a balloon. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised,” Vinyl grumbled. “It’s not like you’d be familiar with the most important electronic musicians, like, ever. Next you’ll be telling me you’ve never heard of Balepusher!”

Ha!

For anyone who doesn't get the joke: the closest equivalent in rock music would be going on tour with The Beatles and then quipping, "Next you'll be telling me you've never heard of Stereolab!"

[CrystalMoon884]

I have been waiting a while for this story to update. It was worth the wait!