The Chapter That Comes Before Chapter 2
The soft sound of pattering drizzle dancing the sidewalk seemed to match the frigid feeling in her chest as she shivered. It seemed rather ironic that a Siren, a living and fluid force of water, would be shivering in the rain.
Well, a former Siren, it seemed.
Not much was clear about her nature after the Battle of the Bands when they lost their gems. Not much of anything was clear at all, come to think of it. And an awful amount of thinking there had been. A Siren stripped of her power didn't exactly have a given definition. She couldn't feed to sustain at least her powers, that much seemed to be for sure. Did it mean she was no longer effectively immortal? Would the ravages of time soon catch up to her and bring her a swift end?
Maybe that was getting a little too paranoid for the moment.
Aria took a drag off her fag, exhaling slowly through her nose, as she let her mind meander into a perturbed haze. Sonata liked Aria's whimsy habit, never ceasing to comment how it made her look like a dragon. Annoying. Annoying like the damn rain. And annoying like the eco-kid taking this long to drop off the goods. As much as she despised Canterlot High, it had proven to be a ripe place to make connections while the students were unable to resist. After all, the little shits would probably be growing up alongside them now. Knowing with whom to barter and pass influence would help, and was indeed helping, in the long run.
The eco-kid was a nice catch on Aria's part, not that it was hard to induce his proclivity for natural substances. All she had to do was tell Sonata the trees looked sad and aim her at the possibly traced guy. All true Sirens were tidy with their environment in Equestria and they didn't falter the habit when they were forced on Earth. At least that was the case when they were actually Sirens. Sonata did tree-talk, looked pretty, and soon enough had the details Aria needed to get a lead on part of Canterlot's drug market. Sure paid off now that they had literally nothing to do. No more conquering the world for adoration.
The sound of a splash ripped Aria from her reflections. For fuck's sake, the dude had shown up on his bike. In the rain. At night. Kudos, she supposed, for not ejecting more CO2 than he had to.
A few minutes later, the damn annoying rain was thoroughly forgotten. The cold not so much, as the shivering Siren had to open her coat to hide the newly acquired goodies. As she reached into her pocket for another fag on the journey home, Aria thought of her sisters. Sonata had actually had a moment of brilliance and suggested that they take some time to chillax before they decided what best to do now that the pendants were shattered. And for the millionth time of how in the hell Adagio was going to put up with Sonata's rejuvenated ganja habit. Adagio hadn't smoked since the... whenever that Pihkal guy had let her try one of his pet projects. Nonetheless, she had agreed to go along with the plan, at least for the sake of not having to argue against it. It probably had to do with the benzos of which she had grown so fond.
In a weird way, it almost seemed like Sonata was the one in charge these days, having *attempted* to keep ideas flowing, however inane they often were. Like making allies with The Pink One. As if. Nothing good could come from that abhorrent shade of color.Adagio had taken to mourning the loss of their gems and hardly left her room. Aria, on the other hand, was more than happy to reap a share of Sonata's stash in return for picking up her weed, so long as she was left alone most of the time. She'd be damned if she let Sonata do the pickups on her own, though; a set of chest and drawers without a strong sense of self-preservation didn't spell for the best situation. As irritating as Sonata could be, Aria wouldn't wish for her sister to get gang-banged by the overzealous, wannabe gangsters that would sometimes frequent that particular part of town.
As if the weather knew exactly when to rain, it immediately let up once Aria got home. It was a rather nice place, having the accommodations and space the three sisters needed, and then some. Guess it kinda helped to have accumulated wealth over the centuries past. Guess it also helped that the kiddies here went to some fancy prep school as opposed to Canterlot High. Made keeping a low profile easy from the Rainblossoms/blowhards/whatever.
Aria pushed through the door and was engulfed in warmth and... jazz? As much as she didn't much care for Adagio's invention of Pop music, it was at least somewhat more coherent than jazz. Punk and metal suited her musical needs better. She looked through the foyer to the next room to be met with the sight of Sonata in her skull pajamas sliding her ass across the smooth hardwood floor, giggling all the while. Siren or not, she was still an idiot.
"Aria, you're back! Didja get the ganja?" she belched out before divulging into a round of hiccups.
"Did you get into my booze cabinet?" Aria snapped back. To be fair, she was getting a share of Sonata's purchase. Not that it mattered, Aria's booze was Aria's booze. "Have you caught the stupid again? Adagio is gonna kill yo- I'M going to kill you for getting into my stash!"
Sonata stuck out her lower lip in a pout, "Ari, I barely had any! See!" She pointed over to a bottle lying, thankfully capped, on the floor. If Sonata had simply sneaked the bottle back from whence it came, Aria wouldn't have noticed. It was like Sonata had gotten drunk without even drin-
Oh. It was the 151. That explained it.
Groaning, Aria grabbed the Bacardi from the floor and headed to the expansive kitchen. She then set about preparing for what would soon be a slightly less irritating evening with Sonata. A solid quarter bag of blueberry kush and mushrooms sounded perfect. Grabbing a trusty jar of peanut butter and a pair of spoons, she hurried back to the living room. What was to happen next was high up in the air. Adagio was likely out of the picture, sedated by her beloved Ignorital in the bath.
Sonata and Aria took their respective spoons and dug out some peanut butter, lathered their mouths and chewed their shrooms as quickly as possible. After all, who'd want to feel like they're eating dog shit?
Dog shit or not, the two of them were gonna be in for a nice ride.
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Indeed, in one of the above suites, was the former Siren leader herself, Adagio Dazzle, although, for once, she wasn't cranking up the water bill. Adagio gave a contented sigh as she lounged around her massive bed naked. The smooth sensations of Adagio's skin against her bed's warm blankets – fresh from the laundry – eased her mind into a state of comforting and sedating bliss.
Her girls weren't admitting it, but all this drug use would get them nowhere in the grand scheme of things. Not that there was a grand scheme anymore after they had lost to those insufferable rainboobs, but still. They'd have to do something with themselves, if only to occupy themselves productively until their wealth ran out... in a couple centuries or so... or until they passed away without their powers.
Adagio knew Aria, at least her, was capable of coming to the same conclusion. She just happened to have more mundane distractions to keep her occupied. For a short while.
Sorry sweetie, but Dagi's still got a little more conviction than you, Adagio thought playfully. She just had to...
Fuck it, Adagio thought as she reached for one of her pill bottles, I'll think later
