An Explanation
Octavia wasted no time in taking in the injured filly. She also wasted no time in making sure that no wound would be left untreated. “Come in,” she replied, instant, quick. This was injustice, this was wrong. So much for forgetting her. “Follow me and lock the door behind you,” she ordered. Vinyl would have to listen for now. She wanted Octavia’s help? It would be on her terms this time.
As Octavia turned to lead the way deeper into her abode, it seemed that Vinyl would follow without complaint or without saying anything at all. She could hear the door lock, but otherwise, nothing returned her words. Octavia may have not known Vinyl for very long, but already she could tell that was unlike the more boisterous mare.
Regardless, Octavia took them to the same bathroom she’d let Vinyl use before. “Sit down. Can you clean yourself up a little bit? I’m going to get you a warm hand cloth for your nose and eye, alright?” she asked. She let her tone shift to be more gentle, caring. “I’ll only be a second. Do you want anything else? Water? Food?” she asked. Octavia’s eyes roamed all over Vinyl, getting a better look with the new light.
It did Vinyl no favors. The eye looked the worst of it, completely and utterly swelled shut. It twitched, looking as if Vinyl tried to open it but failed. The nose had mostly stopped bleeding, though the dried blood stained Vinyl’s white fur, standing out as sharply as the mare’s eyes. Even worse, the cuts on Vinyl’s side bled still, enough that it had already started to drip onto the white tile of the floor. Octavia’s eyes followed it down, waiting for her answer.
“No. No. Just the towels fine. Um.. do you have any bandages? O-or painkillers?” Vinyl asked, trying to smile but failing pathetically. She still trembled like a leaf in the wind, the poor girl so obviously terrified that anypony could see it.
“Yes, of course. Wait here,” Octavia ordered.
She hurried out, swiftly trotting through her home. She was a mare on a mission now, Vinyl had trusted her and she wouldn’t throw away that trust so easily. She rummaged through the drawers in her bedroom, throwing out clothes and all sorts of knick knacks to the ground as she searched for a very specific thing. It took her only a moment longer to find it - a red first aid kit, freshly stocked, still unopened. Octavia had hardly needed it before now, but she thanked the Goddesses for her preparedness. One of her wash clothes was tossed across her back, carrying it with her as she marched back down to the bathroom.
By the time she’d returned, Vinyl already looked half asleep. She slumped against the side of the wall, apparently having difficulty standing. With the clopping of Octavia’s hooves, however, Vinyl’s one good eye opened again. “Oh. Thanks,” she mumbled, standing up all the more straight. “So um, you can just leave it here and-”
“Hold still,” Octavia interrupted her. She wrestled with the kit, mentally cursing her Earth pony hooves. Why could she not have been born a unicorn? “I’m going to bandage your cuts,” she explained. “I’m going to disinfect them first, and it’s going to sting a bit, okay? I’m also going to hand you a cloth. Press it against your eye, or at least try to.”
She shrugged the cloth off, flicking the sink on and quickly wetting it with warm water. She handed it over to Vinyl, who accepted it as if she were in a haze. Despite the clear disorientation, Vinyl still pressed the rag against her eye, though she made a hiss of pain at the touch of it.
Octavia expected nothing less. It would be sore for days. Perhaps they’d even need to go to a hospital. Octavia didn’t like that thought, didn’t like having to send Vinyl away again. She pushed it far from her mind as she wet the bandages with disinfectant spray, the taste of it stinging her tongue and her hooves. With a grunt, she wrapped up Vinyl’s side, pulling the bandages tight. As expected, Vinyl whimpered again from the pain, a whimper that made Octavia’s heart skip a beat in her chest. She hated that sound.
“Okay,” Octavia finished, taking a step away and looking at her hoofwork. It wasn’t the best, but she’d managed to wrap the worst of the wounds. The bleeding had stopped dripping onto her floor and Vinyl looked… well, marginally better at best. She looked almost like a mummy. “Oh. Right. Painkillers,” she noted, remembering only because she imagined Vinyl’s pain.
She had to root through the kit to find those, and struggled to tear off the little tab with her teeth. Briefly, she considered the thought of writing a letter to whoever made this kit. Clearly, it wasn’t earth pony compatible!
At least Vinyl spoke again, breaking the relative silence in which Octavia had worked. “Hey, so uh, sorry about all this,” she started, letting out a weak little chuckle. “You know how things get. I was uh, really busy this week and everything, so I couldn’t come to my normal spot. I swear I didn’t mean to ghost you,” Vinyl rambled. Some of her words were a little slurred, but it was understandable.
With a huff at her victory over the small packet, Octavia hoofed over the two small pills. “Take those, please. They’ll make you start to feel at least a little better. And dear, please don’t worry about it. That’s not important right now.” Octavia couldn’t help but let her voice sound a little strained. She had been worried. She’d been curious. She’d thought she’d screwed up, and now Vinyl thought it would change with just an apology? Not yet.
Vinyl levitated up the pills, though she winced as her magic sparked. They disappeared into her muzzle, a swallow finishing them off not a moment later. “Right. Right,” Vinyl repeated, her voice cracking on the second one. “I guess uh, we can talk about that later, right?” she asked. Vinyl looked over at Octavia for what felt like the first time, timidly meeting her eyes. The hurt inside the single one was as clear as day, the fear, the terror. Octavia had felt all those things before, her heart skipping a beat once more.
“Of course. Tomorrow,” Octavia promised, returning the look with a smile of her own. It was her practiced smile, her reassuring smile, the smile that made other ponies think she was such a cultured lady. But most importantly, it was a smile that Vinyl needed to see. “Shall we get you settled into a bed?” she asked. Even Octavia’s perfectly manicured look had started to fall apart this late. She was tired, exhausted even, but her need and drive to care overwrote it all.
“That’d be awesome, Tavi, thanks,” she mumbled.
Octavia only nodded, starting to lead the way. “Tavi, hmm? I thought you were going to call me Octy, what happened with that?” she asked. She dared a peek over her shoulder, ensuring Vinyl followed her. For a little while, Octavia felt like the mare’s mom. She fixed her up when she was broken, took her in when she needed it… wasn’t that what mothers were supposed to do? Or just friends? Octavia preferred that thought.
“I like to keep it fresh,” Vinyl shot back, not even missing a beat. The simple response bolstered Octavia’s spirits. It meant that Vinyl wasn’t broken entirely, that she’d been beaten down but she could and would be fixed again.
“Of course,” Octavia agreed again, letting herself let out a little giggle. She opened one of the side doors, leading Vinyl towards one of the more modest bedrooms. Dresser, bed, nightstand, bookshelf, writing desk, that sort of deal. For Octavia, it would be modest, though others may not have the same thoughts. “Please, make yourself at home. Relax,” She offered. She stepped to the side, holding the door opened for the injured Vinyl. “If you don’t mind me asking, what exactly happened?” she asked.
The door closed behind them as Vinyl stepped it and Octavia released it. The injured mare hobbled over towards the bed, collapsing onto her uninjured side with a groan. “This bed is the best, Octy,” she declared, voice muffled only because her muzzle was stuck right into one of the pillows.
Octavia, however, clicked her tongue. She stepped across the floor lightly, taking a seat on the very edge of the bed. “Don’t change the subject, Miss Scratch. I’m letting you stay here, I think I deserve a few answers,” she pressed. Her breath caught in her throat, holding her next one without even thinking about it.
Vinyl huffed, rolling over onto her back and staring up at the ceiling instead. One of her hooves sprawled out against the bed, the other holding the towel against her eye all the while. She swallowed, biting at her lip, thinking about the answer. She didn’t say no, and to Octavia, that was by far the most important part. She couldn’t stand the thought of getting another no, or another ‘I have to go’.
“Look, when you’re homeless, you gotta do some bad shit to stay fed, right?” she proposed, propping her head up just enough to glance at Octavia. “I mean, most of the time you can live on other’s generosity, but there’s a reason some of us are homeless. Ponies don’t like me, you know?” she started.
Octavia’s blank look probably answered that question for her, especially considering Vinyl groaned with frustration and laid back against the pillow once more. “A long time ago, I pissed off the wrong ponies. Well, I didn’t even really piss off the wrong ponies, my dad did. That was enough though, and he hasn’t exactly… you know, paid his debts or any of that. It sounds stupid, but every time I try and get a job or something like that, a pony I recognize is always there to make sure it doesn’t happen.
“Every time I stay somewhere too long, they come on my corner too. I like, never get any peace, not even for a second. It’s like a fucking conspiracy, man. I didn’t do anything and I’m getting fucked for it. It sucks, I hate it. I mean, I know I sound like some sort of… paranoid crazy pony, but I swear it’s true!” Vinyl asserted, the conviction quite clear in her voice.
And for some reason that she didn’t quite know, Octavia believed her. She nodded in response, reaching a hoof out to ever so gently pat against Vinyl’s leg. “So that’s what it is? You’re homeless because your family is in trouble with...somepony?” she asked, keeping her words vague. She hadn’t exactly been given all the details.
“I mean, shit happened before that even came into the picture, but yea, basically,” Vinyl agreed. At some point, she’d reached up and started to trace a pattern into the ceiling, hoof going back and forth into little circles. “I didn’t have the greatest home life, but who did, right?” she asked, letting out a feeble, almost unstable sounding laugh with it.
Pity welled up inside of Octavia, spreading through her and taking root. She’d already worried, but now? Even more so. “I’m sorry to hear that Miss Scratch. I’m sure that it won’t be a problem here, though,” she said, sounding sure of herself. Inside, she had her doubts, but Vinyl didn’t need to hear those right now. Again, that was a conversation for the next day. “Though… you still didn’t answer how exactly you managed to get so injured,” Octavia reminded her. She cast a critical eye at Vinyl’s injuries - they didn’t exactly look pony made, or at least, the kind that would be made from a fight.
Vinyl rolled over again, facing away from Octavia. “I mean, that’s not really important,” she mumbled. “Look, do you mind if I go to bed now? I’m really tired. I’ll tell you about it in the morning,” she promised.
Doubts screamed at Octavia to not let that happen, to find out now. She’d already been ghosted once, she didn’t want it to happen again. But… perhaps a little trust would go along way? With a sigh, she stood from the bed with a small nod. “Of course. Good night, Miss Scratch. Sleep well.”
She drifted towards the door, waiting for one last answer. “You too, Tavi. See you tomorrow.”
And with that, Octavia could sleep.
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Man, it's been a while since I've seen a OctaScratch story - and even longer since I saw one this good! I'll be eagerly awaiting further chapters.
ooof, the suspense you built over the course of just two chapters is killing me. Update soon!
Man, I'm glad I tracked this
Alright, you're being consistent with quality. Keep going.
Vinyl is being very rude. You’re supposed to let the host know details so they can prepare for theoretical home invasions or get a 3rd key made for a stalker or similar.
9094152
I've always loved this pairing. I wanted to get much better at writing before I worked on it myself though, glad I could finally do it ^^
9094319
Thanks! And life's a bit busy right now (boyfriend moving in finally/birthday) but next chapter's over half done so it shouldn't be long!
9094328
Thank you ♥
9094409
I plan to! It's got a while before being done.
9094709
Hah. The hope is they don't find her.
9102120
Happy birthday, if it still is anyway.
May your chaos spread through the winds of time.
Really enjoying it, and eagerly anticipating more!
9121577
Over 3/4s done with next chapter. Hopefully done tomorrow and posted Wednesday ^^
9102387
Thank you so much! I'm getting oldddd
9122651
Awesome! And don't worry, age is just a number. You wouldn't believe the freakout my wife went through when she turned 30.
9122702
Hahahaha. Birthdays stop being celebration and instead mourning :P
9123039
Call me weird, but my big 30th is coming up, and my biggest concern is which restaurant to take the family out to. I might age, but I refuse to mature!
9123063
Honestly, that sounds fantastic. I moved like...3000 miles away from my family, so mine are just a small group of intimate friends. Still fun ^^
9124032
Yikes, sorry to hear that! Still, it's good to have close friends around. I'm in the opposite situation. My parents and brothers are all within 15 minutes of me, but my friends all moved to the other side of the state or farther.
9124375
Yea I moved from Georgia to Montana, haha. Its a bitttt of distance.
10 bits says she's gone by morning
Getting intense Legacy vides from Vinyl’s nondescript mafia stalker.
Don’t know what happened to that story.