Nothing Some Kisses And A Band-Aid Won’t Fix
Vinyl Scratch, a world renown DJ and overall fantastic girlfriend to the also world renown Octavia Philharmonica knew they would have problems throughout their relationship. It came with the territory, and with the impossible to notice differences in almost everything about them it had already been set up to be somewhat difficult. But they had beaten the odds the last year and to celebrate Octavia had tried to show her appreciation for Vinyl by taking them to an ice skating ring as part of her “exceptionally awesome Philharmonica special anniversary”.
However, as Vinyl had guessed when she suggested it and based off her previous slights with physical activity, it had not gone well. Not even twenty minutes into them skating around, Octavia mostly falling, did Octavia finally crash and burn a little too hard. An emergency room trip and cast for a broken arm later, and Vinyl now finally reached the latter point in the relationship of through the good and the bad.
It wasn’t necessarily breaking her arm that put Octavia in the state that she was. Her tenacity with handling the moment and way she dealt with everything up until getting back home, cast on and timeline for getting better received, was commendable. Though, once she was able to get out of sight of anyone that wasn’t Vinyl, the real situation unfurled. And as Vinyl stood in the kitchen, making some camomile tea to cheer her up, she could hear the distress setting in.
“I do not know, I just do not know how I can deal with this monstrosity of a conundrum.” Octavia said to seemingly herself, Vinyl saw her splayed on the couch. Her arm was elevated as the doctor ordered, and her stupor was broken as Vinyl came around the corner with the healing scent of tea. Maybe it was a placebo, as long as it did something to Octavia she didn’t really care.
“You’re doin’ fantastic Octy, I don’t know how you’ve held it together this long.” Vinyl brushed Octavia’s hair with her fingers, “Maybe I’ll even find a way to make a song off of it ya know. The mojo from the way you’re going through with this is really motivating.”
“Vinyl, dear, I cannot express how much the pure amount of positivity you bring to me everyday of our relationship means to me.” Octavia felt tears wet the sides of her eyes, “But I do not think you understand the gravity of the situation.”
Vinyl sat down next to Octavia, the plush couch they had was from her parents. They had refused in person when the discussion of moving in together had first been broached, but the day they had received the keys to their apartment the same couch had appeared with their name signed to it. “And what could I not understand, beautiful.”
“Vinyl, I cannot play anymore.” Octavia looked her in the eyes, the tears now flowing down the sides of her cheeks. “My dominant arm and hand are broken. Even if I recover perfectly, the musical world will have moved on without me.”
The situation wasn’t good, Vinyl could admit that through her constant half full outlook on life. But that didn’t mean she couldn’t make a positive out of something, multiple positives even. “Octy, I love what you do and I’m tellin’ ya, you won’t be going anywhere from your pedestal anytime soon. Plus, Plan B can always happen if you truly think it’s all over.” Vinyl leaned close to her ear, watching Octavia shiver from her breath. “And I’m going to do it anyway, if that’s what it takes to keep you happy.”
Octavia huffed, “I will not have you risking your career off of what I caused. This is a mistake I have to reap the second and third order effects of, and that should have nothing to do with you. Not at this point in our relationship will I risk that amount of stress.”
“I see, so if I did it myself that would be entirely on me then yes?” Vinyl smirked.
“What did you do Vinyl Scratch? I told you that that plan was a decision that we had to make together.” Octavia still had some pull behind all the pain she was obsviously in.
Some time ago, when Vinyl had met a music block in producing something new to keep her relevant, the two had decided that if their career went south in any form they would have a plan B. This plan was a Hail Mary, a never been done before in either of their industries. And something that would likely force them to go from romantic partners, and admirers of each other’s music style, to business partners. So, not only did Vinyl have to worry about the strain of literally mixing business with pleasure, but the possibility of fallout from their respective industries.
“Okay, so I might have already taken the reigns on this plan.” Vinyl scratched the back of her head, “Not that I posted it, but I did take some samples from your last stuff and knocked out a song. Just in case something happened, and from what I’m seein’ it was the right choice.”
Octavia grumbled, something Vinyl wasn’t used to seeing, even after how long they had known each other. The whole fiasco of a date had caused an unusual rut for Octavia, and Vinyl was prepared to get her out of it. Normally, some followers and sexy time music got everything settled by the next morning. For once though, it seemed some extra effort was due.
Taking Octavia’s silence as her pouting, Vinyl rushed over to grab her laptop from their bedroom. Plopping back down beside her girlfriend, Vinyl opened the laptop and navigated to her recently produced song. Without speaking or waiting for a response from Octavia, Vinyl played the song. She leaned her head against Octavia’s, closing her eyes to allow her senses to fully absorb the music. She didn’t need to glance over to see if Octavia had done the same.
The song began smoothly, caressing the ears with classical while the soft bass in the background carried the notes along. It climbed and climbed, both classical and edm synchronizing to meld into a completely new untouched genre. Some stock opera like singing that Vinyl had found to supplement until she found more or felt good about what the product could be came into play before the climax.
A small time after the buildup, and a small second of silence to give the drop the needed impact later, the bass dropped in succession with a cacophony of opera and cello in the background. The rest of the song carried similar style and uniqueness. Vinyl knew she had something because of the shifting Octavia was causing on the couch.
Once the song finished, Vinyl glanced at Octavia with a shy grin, “So, what’d ya think?”
Octavia’s mouth opened and closed a few times, “Scratch I do not think I could appropriately describe what you may have done here. It was simply beautiful, I don’t care how much you technically butchered my samples of cello.” She laughed, “It was like listening to organized chaos Vinyl.”
“Does that mean I could get this to Neon Lights, see if we can get this in the woodworks and ride it till you’re better?” Vinyl responded, a hopeful note in her voice giving her feelings away.
“Vinyl, dear, I think that you can use whatever creative liberties you choose with everything I’ve done.” Octavia wrapped her good arm around Vinyl. “I genuinely think this is what we have both been striving for. Thank you love, I have no qualms involving my situation anymore. This takes absolute precedence and I must apologize for my uncouth behavior toward you.”
Vinyl kissed her on the forehead, “It’s no biggie, as long as you’re happy and healthy as can be, I’ll wade through any mucky attitude to get you better.”
Octavia smiled, “I appreciate that, now how about I help you place these instruments a smidgen better in the track?”
“But of course my dear Tavi, do as you please. This is a joint effort after all.” Vinyl said, handing the computer over to Octavia.
“Of course.”
Vinyl sat back and smiled, “Octavia I love you, happy anniversary.”
“I love you too Scratch. Happy anniversary.”