[Unmuffled Electric Dance Music Plays in the Foreground]
Octavia Melody clicked her tongue thoughtfully as she moved her bow back and forth over the strings of her double bass. A low, melodic tune of her own design drifted from the instrument, filling the sheet music, JD equipment, and instrument littered room, with calm, soothing music.
Octavia smiled and began to sway gently to her own playing. Her bowstring moved smoothly over the strings of her bass and her forehoof wielded it fluidly. Closing her eyes, her smile grew and the notes began to flow from her instrument almost organically. She enjoyed these quiet moments at the house, free of stress, distraction, and perhaps most importantly—
“SURPRISE RAVE, GO!”
…her housemate, Vinyl Scratch.
Within a time shorter than which a moment breathed, the house was filled with loud, electronic dance music which Vinyl began to headbang to as she held headphones up to one ear with one hoof and threw the other forehoof.
Octavia grit her teeth as the lights began to strobe and a disco ball filled the living room with reflective dots of luminescence that danced wildly over the room and the grave of her quiet time.
“SERIOUSLY, VINYL?!”
“WHAT’S THE MATTER, OCTI-TOVI-TAVI?! JUST TRYING TO ADD SOME MORE EXCITEMENT TO YOUR DAY!”
“I CAN SEE AND HEAR THAT! I REALLY WISH YOU WOULDN’T JUST ASSUME I’M GOING TO ENJOY THIS EAR SORE PUMPED AT ME LIKE THIS!”
“COME ON! NOTHING LIKE A GOOD SURPRISE RAVE TO GET THE BLOOD FLOWING!”
“THAT’S NOT WHAT…” Octavia sighed heavily. “JUST… DARUDE SANDSTORM?! THAT’S THE SONG THAT PEDESTRIANS PASS ON THE STREET BECAUSE IT’S SO OVERDONE!”
“YEAH, BUT—” Vinyl raised her sunglasses onto her head and stared at Octavia in confusion. The music came to an abrupt halt. “… Uh, what?”
Octavia rolled her eyes. “If you insist on disrupting my afternoon, the least you can do is bring your ‘A’ game… or maybe even ‘C’ game? Blasting Darude Sandstorm at me is ‘last minute, forgot to do your homework, scribbling before the teacher comes to collect it’ game. I mean, the strobe lighting and disco ball were a nice touch, but this is your ‘D’ game if I’m being generous.” Octavia shook her head. “Really, Vinyl. You disappoint me.”
Vinyl simply stood behind her DJ table and stared, dumbfounded at Octavia for a moment. Slowly, her features began to tighten and she glared out at her roommate. “Oh, yeah?!”
Octavia nodded. “I believe I’ve made my case quite clear on this matter.”
“Oh, yeah?!”
Octavia raised an eyebrow. “Yes…? Shall I… Shall I go get some paper and a quill to spell out your boorish, lackadaisical, and frankly, lazy attempt to throw a surprise house rave? I suppose having a written record of your failure here would be a nice reminder to at least put some effort into these sorts of things.”
“Oh, yeah?!”
Octavia tightened her brow and pursed her lips. “Right, then… I’ll just… I’ll just go get my inkwell…”
With an angered, determined expression on her face, Vinyl brought down her sunglasses over her eyes and brought her forehooves down to the floor. “OH, YEA—ACK!” Vinyl did her best to storm off, her head jerking to one side as her headphones cord pulled taut against the device it was plugged into. With an annoyed grunt, Vinyl’s horn glowed an electric magenta and the cord came loose. She then threw the cord around her neck as if she was angrily wrapping a scarf around herself. “FINE! YOU WANT MY 'A' GAME, YOU GOT IT!”
“So… that’s a ‘no’ to the diagram, I take it?”
“GAME ON, TAVI! I’M GOING TO GO UP TO MY ROOM, LOCK MYSELF IN THERE WITH A CASE OF BOTTLED WATER, A BUCKET, SOME UPPERS, DOWNERS AND NOT COME OUT FOR HOURS OR EVEN DAYS UNTIL I HAVE A SURPRISE RAVE SET THAT WILL KNOCK THE STRINGS OF YOUR CELLO THERE! I’M GOING TO RAVE YOUR FACE SO HARD THAT YOU’LL NEED A GLOW STICK TO SEE IN THE SUNLIGHT!”
Octavia let out a long, disapproving sigh. “I didn’t need the disturbing visual of you getting hyped up on goofballs, or what have you, and only having a bucket for relief, it’s a ‘double bass’ not a Cello, and the strings can’t be ‘knocked’ off, but they can break and need to be replaced from time to time. Also, glow sticks don’t work in the sunlight, and are you sure that’s a ‘no’ to the diagram? I mean, it seemed to me you really needed it…”
Vinyl let out a roar of frustration. “UP YOURS, OCTI!” she screamed as she stormed across the living room and towards a set of stairs. “… I’ll DJ that stupid bow tie right off her neck… I’ll make a remix so new and so fresh that they’ll be selling it at the local farmer’s market once I get myself unbanned from the local farmer’s market! I’m open for business, and my business is giving that prissy pony the business… right up the BUTT!”
“… You do know you just stopped at the foot of the stairs and began ranting and raving like a lunatic in earshot of me, right?”
Vinyl turned and leveled an accusatory forehoof at Octavia. “Yeah! That’s ‘cause I want you to see it coming when I rock the cutie mark right off your flank with this surprise rave!”
“You want me to ‘see’ the ‘surprise’ rave coming?”
“Totes magotes, dude! Cover your butt, ‘cause it’s gonna get off-the-chain up in here!”
“Okay but… If I see it coming, then it’s not a surprise, now is it?”
Vinyl paused. Her head began to quiver with anger as she let out a disgruntled roar and turned up the stairs. She ascended each step by practically smashing her hooves down as she marched upstairs and out of view.
Octavia heard a door slam above. She smiled wryly to herself and shook her head. “Too easy…”
Picking up her double bass, Octavia made her way to the DJ station and swapped out a couple records on it before allowing it to play at a modestly-loud volume. Her bow began to fly over the strings on her bass as she began to sing.
“The bass
The rock
The mic
The treble…”
The End
