Chapter 3
Octavia hesitated in front of the towering white building. She wasn't entirely sure which building was more intimidating at this point. Her apartment building, while a total trainwreck, at least offered her some respite from her day. She hesitated to call it home though. Any place that you couldn't stay in for extended periods of time without the desire for noseplugs was tough to feel welcome in. The clean white building towering in front of her should have been the preferable of the two locations, but it had easily become a place of dread for her. After her first foray inside, and the second trip shortly there afterwards, she was having a hard time finding the motivation to venture inside a third time.
Her second session hadn't deviated much from the first. She'd showed up early out of habit, heard Vinyl screaming at the poor violinist, and they started work on the next song shortly afterwards. From that point on, it was pretty much a repeat of her first experience. The only notable exceptions being that Oliver kept quiet, and Vinyl chose not to grope her again. She suppressed a full body shiver as she thought about that particular moment. She could handle the yelling, and the attempted degrading, but not, that. Just thinking about Vinyl's hoof striking across her flank nearly caused Octavia to burst with rage.
There was something foul about having a pony like Vinyl pull such an act on her. It was so much worse than any of the other times she had dealt with it. Other ponies trying such behavior on her before had been met with her trademark dignity and grace. That, and careful allusions of the incident to the right pony of power. She'd been quite good at the social game of Canterlot, and one thing you did not do to a lady was touch her inappropriately. This case was more difficult though. She had nopony to turn to, and was actually quite reliant on this job if she wanted to keep a roof above her head and food on her table.
Of course, Octavia had considered that the behavior might have been part of what Oliver had termed "something drastic," but she couldn't quite repress a shudder at the thought of Vinyl lusting after her. If that was really the case, then she wasn't entirely sure if she would be able to stomach this job after all. Bits or no bits, she still had her dignity, no matter what anypony said about her. If she allowed somepony to pay her basically for the rights to ogle her while she played, then she really couldn't claim any of that dignity. She might as well just stride right into the shadowy parts of Canterlot, never to return.
Octavia was startled from her reverie as she had the realization that she was zoned out in front of the building. Vinyl's behavior would not be an issue. If Vinyl really only wanted to gawk at her, then she would simply demand her pay and leave. A confident smile spread across her face as she made up her mind. She strode through the doorway and resolutely ignored the receptionist once again. The poor pony seemed to have finally accepted it, and didn't even try to stop her this time. The smile across her face widened at this new development as she pushed the button for the lift.
The painstakingly slow lift finally brought her up to her destination and and opened its doors. She was once again greeted with the usual dull shouting coming from the door in front of her as she exited. She hesitated for a moment, then thoughtfully glanced over at a clock on the wall. She made up her mind and took a few careful steps to the side, while making sure her instrument was still set solidly on her back. Sure enough, a few moments later the door burst open with a bang. She watched as the cream coated unicorn galloped straight out the door and towards the stairwell, sobbing loudly the entire way.
Octavia shook her head in disgust as she watched the distraught unicorn disappear down the hallway, then resolutely pulled the door open to make her way inside the studio. She automatically glanced around to see if Oliver was on hoof, but didn't see any sign of either of the unicorns. She was still a few minutes early, according to the clock outside, but without any hints on what to do she decided to just head back into the recording room.
She unpacked her double bass and sat down on the chair in the center of the room, balancing the instrument on the endpin and checked to make sure it was still in perfect tune. She almost fell out of her chair a few minutes later as the door slammed open with a loud bang. She placed a hoof over her chest in an attempt to calm her breathing down. She took a few breaths as she waited for her heart return to a normal pace. She eventually glanced up with a glare to see Vinyl standing there, seething with rage at nothing in particular. She didn't appear to have even noticed Octavia yet, but when she did, she chuckled quietly at the frightened look on gray mare's face.
"Oh. Hey, Octagon. Sorry didn't mean to startle you. That violinist is just really getting to me."
"Why do you treat her like that?" Octavia asked before she could suppress the urge.
"Because she's a moron!" Vinyl yelled abruptly, and her voice reverberated slightly in the small room despite the panels in place.
"You seemed pretty direct about only hiring the best. She's not actually a moron, is she?"
"No, she isn't. It's just frustrating okay?" Vinyl admitted with a sigh. "She has major talent, but she's completely squandering it. If she can't get her act together, then she's not going to make anything of her life."
"So you scream at her on a daily basis?" Octavia asked incredulously. She gave her instrument a few more experimental tweaks as she waited for a response.
"Hey don't knock it. My method works. Most of these ponies walk out these doors a better musician, even if they hate my guts by the time I'm done with them. Yesterday I got nearly double the usable material from her, and today almost triple. She's definitely improving."
"So, you've almost got a minute?" the gray mare asked with a smug grin on her face. She finished checking everything on her instrument, and stopped to look up to see Vinyl's voice failing her. Octavia broke into an amused smile at the reaction she had elicited.
"I- That's not the point!" Vinyl yelled, and glared at Octavia as she adjusted the microphone down with her magic.
"Maybe if you said something nice to her once in a while..."
"Nah, that's not really my style. Don't you worry my little Octavo; she's strong enough to handle it. I'm not wrong about these kind of things. Once she gathers the courage to stand up to me, she'll be fine. Anyways, we get to have a bit more fun today. Let's drop the boring crap for a day. As soon as you're ready, we can get back to the musics!"
"I'm scared to ask what you mean by fun..." Octavia finally ventured after a momentary silence.
"Oh, come on. Have I ever steered you wrong?" Vinyl asked innocently, and Octavia hung her mouth slightly open from shock.
"Geeze. Someponies..." Vinyl muttered quietly. "Whatever, just finish getting ready. I'm going to get set up myself."
Octavia was deeply entrenched in the battlefield of wills, and was narrowly avoiding being overrun. It was taking all of her effort to not grab the chair behind her and send it crashing through the window separating her and that vile pony. She couldn't help but imagine the unicorn's face as the glass would shatter into countless shards, and she'd have to duck away with a panicked look on her face to avoid the vicious projectiles.
All thoughts of her previous two days being horrible had been quickly reconisdered once they had gotten into what Vinyl had termed their "fun" for today. Octavia never thought that anypony would ever come up with a way to torture her with music, but by Celestia, Vinyl had figured out a way. She still wasn't sure if this was all part of the vile pony's plans, but if it was, then it was bucking working.
"What the hell was that? How was that supposed to be intense? Are we back in kindergarten? Okay maybe if I need to lull a foal to sleep I'll give you a call! Try it again Octopus!"
Octavia ground her teeth together as she bit back the scathing response that was bubbling in her mouth. She was finding Vinyl's harassment especially difficult to deal with today. After their brief conversation, she had allowed herself the glimmering hope that today might not be quite so bad. She had hoped that maybe, just maybe, Vinyl really was an altruistic pony who allowed herself to be the villain at her own expense. Any hopes that Vinyl was hiding a good pony underneath her rough exterior had been brutally crushed as soon as they'd started on the music though. The increased intensity of the shouting had made it difficult for her to stick to the theory for very long.
"Seriously, is that the best you have? Haven't you ever been pissed off at somepony? I know you prissy society types like to hide your emotions and shit, but just hit me with it already! I'm not asking for a lot here."
Octavia paused, and stopped herself as she was partway through taking a deep breath. She slowly became aware of the emotions that were bubbling inside her, and now forced herself to stop trying to clear away the annoyance and tinges of hatred. She drew the bow back in her hoof, and plied it across the strings without her usual gentle touch. In her emotional state, with thoughts of anger and hatred towards Vinyl bubbling around in her head, she could hear the notes trembling slightly.
Still, she reined in the desire to stop and start over. The more she drew the bow across the strings, the more the furious emotions stormed inside of her. As she got more into the playing, her normally neat mane started falling down across her face. She didn't bother to fix it as she fell deeper into the music, and soon her mane was flying around behind her as she raged onwards.
The intense emotions continued to carry her away, guiding her hooves as she found more mental images of things she'd like to do to Vinyl playing through her mind. A mischievous smile broke across her face as she pictured herself punching a hoof into Vinyl's snout as hard as she could. She imagined seeing that perfect white face falling backwards with the trademark sunglasses cracked and flying off to the side. She watched as the imaginary Vinyl fell back in slow motion, flecks of blood escaping her nostrils, and the pupils of those bright-red eyes dilated in shock. The disturbingly clear picture that formed in her mind gave her a frightening amount of pleasure. She recoiled reflexively in horror as the images flashed through her mind again.
The bow across the strings hesitated. She created some uneasy notes as she tried her best to expel the violent imagery from her mind, completely shocked by how quickly her mind had turned to such thoughts. She managed to pass this off as a break in the turbulent storm, and timed it perfectly with a lull in the intensity of the song. Octavia took a few deep breaths as she shuddered slightly, and continued to maintain the gentle pace for a few more moments in an effort to regain her composure after such an uncharacteristic outburst.
Finally after feeling that she had herself at least mostly under control, she let herself get thrown back into the turbulent streams of the music. This time she was more careful about it, not allowing her mind to wander to such topics. Instead, she imagined trashing her apartment, bucking her legs out and smashing the horrible bed that tortured her spine every night. She went back to her fretful dance, her mane flying all around her even as she toned down the storminess of the piece a bit.
As she drew the piece to a close though, she couldn't keep her mind from wandering back to Vinyl. She imagined herself giving Vinyl a good buck in the flank and sending her tumbling as she dramatically drew her bow across the strings one last time. She supported the double bass with the least amount of contact that she could, so the final note could reverberate for a long moment before being silenced.
"W-where the bucking hell did that come from?" Vinyl asked breathlessly through the speaker, and Octavia looked up to see Vinyl with her sunglasses off and her eyes wide open in shock. "T-take five I guess..."
Octavia couldn't stop herself, another grin spread across her face as she watched Vinyl disappear from sight. She appeared to be shaking lightly as she walked. Octavia sat down in the chair behind her, and reflected upon what had just happened. Even with the happiness of striking Vinyl completely speechless, she couldn't help but be terrified by her own mind and the images it had conjured up. She was definitely going to have to be more careful in her interactions with her. She couldn't let those kinds of emotions brew inside of her, lest she wind up doing something terrible that she'd no doubt regret.
"I'm not sure what you did, Tavi, but it seems like you're winning after that one." Oliver stated simply as he walked through the doorway, startling Octavia as she looked up and saw the door to the recording room open without remembering seeing it do so. She blinked dumbly a few times at the stallion before finally understood what he was getting at. She accepted the usual cup of tea that he offered her and started to drink it, each slow slip helping to ease her tension.
"Yeah. I guess..." she said softly into the cup. She sipped once again on the rose flavored tea savoring it for a long moment before swallowing. "Thanks Oliver, I really needed this today."
"What did you even do? She looked like you punched her."
"I-I'd rather not talk about it right now..." she muttered into the cup and took another long slow sip. She winced slightly at his choice of words, and she saw the imagines flashing through her head again. Octavia shook her head suddenly to expel the thoughts. She then reached up to try and straighten her rather wild mane in an attempt to calm herself down.
"Well, let me know if you need anything okay?" he added reassuringly, again taking the empty cup from her. He walked out the doorway, leaving her to sit there and drift back to pondering over everything that happened. She sat there in silence for what, to her felt like it could have been an hour, in that weird way time can seem to stretch onwards. Eventually it was Vinyl who reappeared through the open doorway, and quietly cleared her throat.
"Yo, Octavia... That was, um... perfect actually. Thanks a ton. We'll be back to some of the more normal stuff tomorrow. Oliver will have the music for you on the way out." Vinyl said, a little shakily, but she seemed to have regained most of her composure.
Octavia gave a small nod, and packed her stuff up before striding right out the door past Vinyl. She held her breath for a moment as she walked past Vinyl, but nothing made contact with her as she walked out of the room. Her curiosity got the best of her, she turned briefly to look back to see Vinyl sitting on the chair staring dully off into distance. Octavia couldn't help but be slightly worried by Vinyl's reaction. There was no way that Vinyl had picked up on what she was imagining. She knew that unicorn magic couldn't do that, but she was filled with no less doubt as she strode out the studio. She held the music from Oliver in her mouth as she continued her walk and once again tried to clear her mind.
Her hooves carried her out of the towering white building, and onto the path that would lead her home. She was glad to be free of that horrible place. She feared that Vinyl was started to rub off on her. For the first time since she moved, Octavia was glad to be on her way home.
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A few people have expressed some worry over the centralization of the story on the studio, but I don't want you guys to think that this is going to be the case. It's simply that these interactions are important to the story before we can start venturing outwards. It should be pretty obvious that at this point if the two of them ran into each other outside of work Tavi would just walk away and be done with it.
Sorry again about the lateness of this chapter, hopefully it will not be repeated. I hit a point where I was lacking motivation to write this chapter, and I really did not wish to force it.
Maybe, if you said something nice it once in a while..."
was tough place to feel welcome
>> Two minor errors, that's all I saw besides some misc comma errors. I didn't point them out because they don't really detract from the story. Also, this chapter was pretty awesome if you ask me. I could imagine musicians looking for those emotions while playing and you did just that, you found a source of inspiration. Was it dark? Yes... Was it a little strange? Admittedly yes. Was it realistic and did it work? BUCK YEAH.
It was perhaps just a tad overwrought with the whole bleeding and kicking the living crap out of her, but then again those are thoughts that are wandering while playing music. You took a step out of the way to write about what we should feel from Octavia and I say it worked beautifully this chapter. The important part is that it just stays thoughts. We can all think things but I seriously doubt Octavia has the spirit in her to actually do those things to scratch. As for the apartment being smashed? I could see that easily.
Great work.
~Cosmic.
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Commas are my bane I'm working on them though. Thanks for pointing those out, they SHOULD be fixed but I'm not sure with how wonky FIMF is being today.
Yeah that was kind of what I was going for was just worried about taking it a bit too far. I think it wound up alright, just don't want people to think this is going to turn into like Octavia hatefucking Vinyl in her mind or something.
Love your writing, but I couldn't help but stop at the errors mentioned above and try to figure it out.
Anyway, keep it up. Next time, though, post it to Reddit faster or I'll do it for you!
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Is it not? I had submitted to reddit before it even showed up as public on FIMF. Also I swore I fixed those... well I fixed them again hopefully it sticks this time.
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I will go back in time with the link from the future and post it on Reddit.
amazing simply amazing
Actually, I rather enjoy the way you handled things here. Definitely doesn't need a dark tag. I hope you are going somewhere with Vinyl's reaction here though. It hints towards interesting future chapters, with good exposition regarding Vinyl. It would be a shame if nothing came out of it.
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I'm not entirely sure how much that will really become an issue. It's mostly just because Tavi is such a great musician that when she's basically directing pure and violent hatred at you with her music another musician like Vinyl can pick up on it. Don't know though my plot points for this story are a little looser than normal, so it's definitely possible.
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Oh dear
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I'm glad you love it darling
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Why thank you
Bucking amazing I want to see how this evolves to romance so badly
ah, showing someone your dislike for them through music. love doing that.
I wouldn't worry about Octavia's thoughts being too dark. I mean, in situations like that I'm pretty sure EVERYONE would have started thinking it. As long as she doesn't actually do it I see no problems with it.
And I like what you said in an earlier comment about why Vinyl was so shell-shocked after Octavia's performance. If you could find a way to somehow work that into the story it could give you an interesting emotional platform to build off of. But then again, I'm a terrible writer, and you have shown yourself to be far far better than I am so you're probably better off just going with whatever you already had in mind
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You guys are...
Geeze I'm not used to such praise, but anyways no this isn't going to gain a mature tag sorry. Not really my thing, trying to write such things is... awkward
There may be some implications if their relationship goes in the right direction but I'm not promising anything. It may be that just getting these two into a relationship at all is going to be an epic feat and I stop there with some hints of relationship building. I'm not really sure yet as thats much much much further down the road than I have completely planned out at this point.
Just read all the chapters in one sitting and I'm very interested in your different version of Vinyl and Octavia and looking forward to how it'll evolve as it goes on
I loved the scene with Octavia playing intensely and imagining those (hilariously) disturbing thoughts of harming Vinyl
And all the nicknames by Vinyl are hilarious combined with Octavia trying to withhold barely concealed anger
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A lot of the fanart draws her with a Cello, but in the show it's closer to a double bass. A lot of people wibble back and forth about it, but I just chose to have her play a double bass. Also it wasn't intended so much to be Pinkie's fault, more that Tavi blames it on Pinkie. Her enemies just used that incident as a convenient excuse to drag her name through the mud.
great chapter.
Might be a tad bit late, but you should skim through some punctuation guides...
This is a collection of rules for every usable symbol in a syntax, but for now a little read through the instructions and tips from the comma section are recommended.
The plot line is interesting and something new, something that's very rare in the section of romance-tagged stories starring Octavia and Vinyl Scratch. I can't put a résumé together yet, though, so I'm simply going to read on.
"What did you even do? She looked like you punched her."
But that's exactly what she did. She punched Vinyl square in the face with music, with a maniacal, murderous smile on her face and malice in her heart to boot. Vinyl asked for it, and Octavia delivered (and how!). Brilliant.
Wow... that was pretty intense on both parties.
Hehe, very interested to see how this is going to play out now...
Still good on the flow.
If it weren't for that Romance tag... Dat apprehension...
Gotta say, this chapter reminded me of Apocalyptica a little. I could picture Octavia's mane flying around her like those guys do while playing. Imma go listen to them now while reading the next chapter.
I wish it wasn't so difficult to convey music through words.