Strangelove (Blind Mix)
(Remix by Daniel Miller & Rico Conning, original by Depeche Mode)
Octavia whistled as she walked, the sun rising behind her into a cloudy sky the colour of milk. It was her second day away from the music hall, and she felt almost guilty that she hadn't held a bow in all that time; however, knowing Scratch, today would be nothing but intensive practice. She looked forward to it.
Vinyl's house was impressive, although far from lovely. It was larger than a single pony needed, but not so large that it attracted attention, and the walls were the dirty white of sea-gull’s wings (and would have matched the lustre of Vinyl's own flanks, had they been washed). There was no doorbell, which struck Octavia as odd; a bell was, after all, an instrument, and Vinyl was all about music.
"You're here," Vinyl said by way of greeting after a few raps on the door, revealing perhaps the worst case of bed-head ever to hit Ponyville. It seemed Equestria's premier DJ was not a morning pony.
"Really? Didn't notice. Good to see you, by the way," Octavia smiled wryly. Vinyl looked unimpressed. "I've asked a friend if they will deliver my instrument. It should arrive within the hour."
"No need. I have an old cello you can use," Vinyl said, disappearing into her house. Octavia rolled her eyes, and followed at what she assumed was a safe distance.
Vinyl lead her upstairs (three at a time), and through a dusty hallway to 'the music room'. It was not a misnomer.
"I wasn't aware you were classically trained," Octavia told her, casting her eye over a collection of cellos, clarinets, kettle drums; all types of instruments.
"Because I'm a DJ?" Vinyl asked with an arched eyebrow. "Music is music."
Octavia nodded, a little impressed; to say a violin and a synthesiser were equal was one thing, but to believe it another thing entirely- and she had no doubt that Scratch believed. Threading her way through the instruments, she took up the cello Vinyl pointed her to; it was well used, but exquisitely taken care of, and had clearly cost somepony a lot of money.
She took it up, and the bow she found with it. "Well, then!" she called. "How are we to practice ignoring distractions? I place myself in your hooves, miss Scratch."
Vinyl sat down, slowly, and said, in her very smokiest of voices, "Play for me, Octavia. Then we'll see."
So she played, as naturally as she knew how; a minuet that became a sonata, a bolero that became a ballad, a vast, meandering cascade of notes and feelings, not all of which she noticed, and not all of which she understood. Vinyl watched her with the same, half-focused gaze with which she favoured the saxophonist. Eventually, she stood, and signalled silently that the piece was to end. It did, with a trembling flourish; to grandstand in the midst of those silent instruments seemed somehow sacrilegious.
A raised hoof, and the performance began again; but this time the unicorn stalked, a predator, through the scattered musician's tools. She came so close that Octavia's skin prickled, and she felt the cold electricity of fear descend upon her, for Vinyl's red eyes now held a curious spell. Then, she retreated, like a snake before a charmer; and it began again.
Closer, then a retreat; a careful, four-hooved waltz was the dance Vinyl chose. In, out, in, out; then, inevitably, the retreat did not come. She tasted warmly of dry ice and fresh cut daisies.
A procession of angry, discordant notes broke the spell.
"You kissed me," Octavia accused, quiet, almost in awe. "You kissed me."
Vinyl sat down at the other side of the room once more. "You got distracted."
"But you kissed me!" Higher pitched, almost as terrible as those last, broken notes; they both winced.
"You can leave if you like," Vinyl replied, and her voice, hard and steady as iron, betrayed her nervousness. "If not, please begin again."
Octavia tried, then, to remember the kiss that had been stolen from her. What was it she had thought? What had she felt? But it was already lost, nothing but a half-second's sensation on the lips.
Vinyl, taking her silence for a refusal, stood and sighed, and for the briefest moment, Octavia saw her legs tremble. Somehow, that was all she needed; to see that her fear was not just her own.
There was much in the world that Octavia did not understand, that made her tremble, that made her weep. But music was something she did understand. For good or for ill, she began to play. So Vinyl Scratch again waltzed the waltzed of the uncertain, retreating as if unsure, drawing closer as if to gathering courage.
But when she finally came close enough to taste, Octavia's music remained unbroken.
Yay! I think this is my favorite of your shippy drabble collection things, so I'm really glad to see it hit Fimfiction. Sadly, the formatting is a bit wonky here--I'm seeing wall of text, which is hard on the eyes.
557875
Aww, man...I'll go back through and do some formatting after I've had dinner, play around with horizontal rules and line breaks. Thanks for giving me the heads up!
I'm liking your take on Vinyl, a lot.
Can't wait for more!
Story is under reformatting to make it look a little less wall of texty. Do not adjust your sets, folks!
558582
I'm told it's quite different to the standard, gregarious fanon Vinyl. (And yet, despite having done this story, every time I write her name I want to call her Vinly...) Glad you're liking it so far!
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("Yes. Normally, I would cut you here and now, but...you really are one of our best, usually. Please, take the rest," he urged, and she found herself nodding. A day or two without concerts gave her time to go and fix whatever mistake she'd made with Vinyl.) Yup, just resting. Sorry if I made it unclear; I know I was talking about her being cut and then having her rest very close together. D'oh.
559166
fair enough, it just struck me as a bit odd
559185
the bigger problem is that the conductor asks her if she would like a few days off instead of performing in the concert
559194
You're right, I should probably change that to make it less ambiguous. Good catch!
I like this. Here's a derp.
559815
I'll see your derp and raise you a moustache. Glad you liked it!
559100
Actualy even tho she is in shadows if you briten up the picture it still won't be red XD. I've seen the scene adjusted to where her eyes were red but the rest of the scene was f(yay)ed up.
556206
Thanks, you know that the failure rate for the Marine Scout Snipers is around 50% i believe right? I'm nervous and I'm not even close enough to the legal age, but I'm gonna try my best to join an elite little group of soldiers.
I like this. I'm not used to this new Vinyl Scratch you're writing, but she seems good. Solid. And strangely extremist. A part of me hoped she had stopped going to the concerts to get money to pay Octavia back. Then I thought she was sleeping with the saxophonist and a shitstorm was coming. Glad I was wrong on the last one.
I like how you've made her two different ponies, merely by having or not the glasses on. Your writing, too, is good. I'm not used to so much being contained in so little words, but hey, it works. Works really good.
560114
Like I said, the rinal color should be about RD's eyes. The point about them being potentially brightened to red was a comment on how fans take insufficient reasons and excuses and make then into fanon. She is a light yellow if you want to want to argue technicalities, but fanfiction and art has generally stayed with her being white despite this.
And if BonBon has five or so canon voices, fans can continue to argue for different interpritations of background characters. None of it is necesarily a constant
560359
Thats true, and I'm fine with fans doing their own thing, I just wanted the author to know about the "official" information.
560464
I'm just saying that there is fan 'official' and artist-posted-on-a-message-board 'official'. It is an argument unto itself which should be preferred.
You cast a wide net posting here too. Still a good story is to be shared.
560132
Nope, didn't know that. I don't even really know about the outfit at all. The Marines are an American military organisation, right? I'm British, so, whoop. Way over my head.
560262
Yeah; I basically characterised her based entirely on her appearance. Then flailed with Octavia's characterisation until I cried. She's...different. Regarding the concise writing thing, that's turned into a little bit of a habit nowadays, ever since I started writing drabbles. The problem is that when you know that you can basically render any given scene into 100 words if you try hard enough, it becomes difficult to not do that. Every time the wordcount peeks over 500, I start going nuts because I'm losing the concision. So annoying. Also, sleeping with the saxophonist? Wow, that's an interpretation I've not actually heard before. That genuinely took me by surprise.
In terms of chapter 3, iunno if you're familiar with the term 'chip on your shoulder'- if someone has a chip on their shoulder, they have a belligerant or aggressive attitude, or act as if to provoke a fight. Seeing as Vinyl was essentially talking smack in the last chapter (look forwards to beating you, much?), I think the terminology is correct.
Thanks to everyone who commented, and...whoa. I only just got up after a nap, and I've already gotta do cleanup on those notifications. Better than being bored, though.
561036
Posting here too...? Wait, did you read this on ff net? Sorry, I can never remember things from that site. So many emails, so many names! Glad you liked the story, though.
561078
Yes, I guesse I should have refered to them as the USMC, cause I knew that alrdy...
561078 I'm used to the party-animal-mess-of-a-pony-full-on-DJ-full-of-sarcasm Vinyl I read on my second favourite OctaScratch, Mixing Relationships. I love the comedy of that Vinyl. This take on her is... well, different on a few keypoints. She seems more mature. More responsible. I like that.
Ok, here's the thing in my mind: monetary crisis saxophonist get big bag of cash from veeeery sexually open DJ pony who just got turned down by her, say, new romantic interest, although she doesn't really show much romance until the last chapter so far. And I'm raving. Anyways, I thought Vinyl was looking for a rebound to shake off the sadness, and the saxophonist would be way too grateful for her generous donation.
So if she's not sleeping over at Vinyl's, the question rises, where is the poor saxophone girl?
561186
Mixing Relationships? Can has link? I'm always looking out for stuff that has good characterisation that I can assimilate. Stops me flailing so much. Good grief, if I could've found a good model for Octavia when I first started this story...
Oh, I see. That makes sense. I didn't even think of that angle, but now it's been pointed out to me, I really like it. I think I said something about the saxophonist in a later chapter, so I didn't end up forgetting about her completely. (And yet, I sort've did, since I spent more time feeding background character moments to the unnamed, undescribed security guard...)
561249 Mixing Relationships enjoy~ if the link doesn't work if't because I suck at this :( but the fic is here, so you can find it on the browser.
Far as I recall, you pointed she wasn't in her usual working place. Might have to re-read to be sure. Not that it bothers me to do so
561279
I meant chapters that I'm yet to post. So far, it's all been backlogged work from my ff.net account that I've been posting. Because I've had to edit all the chapters, though, I'm not posting all the ones I have done at the same time (so I've got a little while to look through, format, primp, clean, etc.) The next few chapters of this should be up later today, though.
Also, the link works! Yay! Added to my read later list, as it should be. Thanks a lot!
Well that was extremely well done...
I can say that you are very good at fitting emotion into a rather limited amount of words, I'd compare it to a rather enormous and emotionally unsure elephant that's wrapped in a rainbow of misunderstood feelings trying to be stuffed in a both that's being held together by conflict fearing masking tape--and you pull it off
I do have a thing or two to point out though:
"It was larger than a single pony needed, but no so large that it attracted attention, and the walls were the dirty white of sea-gull’s wings-"
I think you meant to put -not- there, instead of no.
"Really? Didn't notice. Good to see you, by the way," Octavia smiled wryly. Vinyl looked unimpressed.
You have an extra space between those two words.
Anyway, back to reading
this writing seems similar to a musician improving to me, starting of with small phrases to set the tone, then gradually building and building, the chapters sometimes feeling unfocused and purely based on feel while at times it can become as focused as the edge of a blade. good job so far sir
again this was a very fabulous and adorable chapter
So Vinyl Scratch again waltzed the waltz of the uncertain, retreating as if unsure, drawing closer as if to gather courage.