Her day started the same as any of her other days did.
With her phone playing one of her least favorite songs, assisted by the massive speaker system she'd set up in her room.
Her body jerked itself upright, very zombie-like according to one of the friends trusted enough to sleepover, her eyes still squeezed shut as she slapped at the device on her bedside table. Managing to smack it off, she slammed her head back into the pillow…
Just as the Rube Goldberg device one of her friends had assisted her with, disturbed by the trilling bass, snapped open the curtains, allowing sweet, glorious sunlight to shine directly upon her entire face.
She slapped both hands over her face, squealing into them at the indignity and horror, before slumping over the side of her bed and onto the mess of clothes that covered the floor. Pushing herself to her hands and knees, she groped around the desk until she found her glasses, slamming them on.
Vinyl Scratch slowly opened her eyes, using the bed to pull herself into a stand so that she could survey her room. She absently reached up to scratch her neck, running her fingernails over the cloth choker she'd slept in.
Moaning quietly, she walked to her closet and reached in, pulling out a white blouse and a neon green tank-top. She slipped out of her pajama top, then paused, trying to remember how long she'd been wearing this particular sport's bra.
Pulling the middle of it up, she bent her neck to give it a cursory sniff, then leaned as far away from it as she could while her mind made peace with the stench that lingered within her nose now.
Tossing the articles of clothing in her hands onto the bed, she pulled the offending cloth over her head and sling-shot it into a basket in the corner, whacking it into the side of the hamper and watching the bra slide to the floor. She stared at it for a moment, then raised her arms straight into the air, proclaiming a goal for herself, regardless of what reality said.
Her arms raised, she recalled another familiar scent, and moved to what her mom called a vanity, and what she called an emergency smell-decent desk.
Blinking at the desk, she grabbed a mass of wires and electronics, lifting them and moving the pile until she found the small white container. Snagging it, she popped the top and applied the deodorant to her arms, thought for a second, then smudged it around her bra line as well.
Lifting her arms again and sniffing, she nodded and threw the deodorant on top of the wires, then went to her dresser to pull out a fresh bra.
Pulling it over her head and down, she walked over to her shirts and pulled them on, blouse first with the neon tank on top. Rolling up her sleeves, Vinyl stretched her arms before nodding. She reached down to pull her phone out of her pocket, then realized that she didn't have pockets, because she was still in her pajama bottoms.
Sighing, she dug around the floor and pulled up a pair of jeans. Sight checking them, she gave them a cautious sniff before shrugging and puling them on, pulling her pajamas down at the same time that she leaned over to step into her jeans.
Zipping her pants, she walked over to her phone and unplugged it from the speakers. Grabbing her headphones, she pulled them around her neck, pushing her vibrant blue hair out of the way. Walking over to her mirror, she tried to think of anything else she might need as she made sure she was wearing everything she needed to be.
She looked longingly at the bat in the corner, thinking of some of the things that had slipped into this world, before sighing. Principal Celestia had said no, and even more important, Mom had said no.
She looked over her desk, making sure she hadn't left any papers there she might need, then grabbed her backpack from the corner. She pulled the charger cord that trailed from it out of the wall and wrestled it into the dark depths of her bag.
Walking down the stairs, she sniffed at the air, listening to the sizzling of eggs as she walked into the kitchen.
Standing at the oven was her mother, a woman in her late thirties with silvering hair and pale skin, in dirty blue jeans and a black tank-top that showed off ink covered and well muscled arms.
“Hey sweetie. Ya got time for some breakfast?”
Vinyl checked her watch, then shook her head sorrowfully. Reaching up into the cabinets, she pulled a breakfast bar out and slipped it into her backpack, then reached into the fridge and pulled out a small plastic bottle of milk.
“Alright then. Stay safe at that crazy place,” her mom chuckled, pulling her in for a hug and a kiss on the top of her head. Vinyl wrapped her arms around her mom and hugged back, before walking backwards out the door, pointing at her mom and then holding up two fingers. Her mom chuckled and nodded, turning back to her eggs as the door closed.
Vinyl fondly patted the black and white cruiser in the driveway as she passed it, then ran towards the corner where the bus was pulling up to the corner.
She got there just as the doors were closing, slipping between the crack as the driver slowed the doors so that she could get on. She flipped him doubles thumbs and a grin, which he returned almost grudgingly as he waved her to a seat.
She slid easily down the aisle as the bus accelerated, something the driver probably wasn't explicitly allowed to do, but he seemed to like her for some reason, so she never had to walk to the last seat on the bus.
Slipping into the seat, she bumped into the lime-green girl sitting there, letting her glasses fall and wiggling her eyebrows seductively at her.
“Urgh, shut up, loser,” one of her best friends, Lyra Heartstrings, said as she put her hand flat against Vinyl's face, pushing her as far away as possible.
Chuckling, Vinyl batted away Lyra's arm and reached into her backpack, grabbing her breakfast and pulling open the sugary cereal bar. Munching it away in a couple of bites, she sipped at her bottle of milk and offered her friend a drink.
Lyra made a face and shook her head, making Vinyl shrug and gulp at the bottle as she slid her trash into her backpack.
Her hand returned with a pair of earbuds, attached to an mp3 player. She offered it at Lyra, who shook her head again and covered her ears, frowning at Vinyl. Vinyl shrugged, unplugging the earbuds and banishing them into the depths of her bag. She clipped the device into the headphones around her neck, then to her arm.
She swiped once, scrolled, swiped again, then hit the play button. Music instantly began blasting from her headphones, and the bus had enough time to hear, “You got me so wild,” before Vinyl slipped them over her ears, dampening the noise with her head.
Her head bobbed and bounced with the beat, through three songs, before Lyra nudged her with an elbow. Turning her head, Vinyl saw they were at school, and paused the music blasting into her brain.
“Can you even still hear?” Lyra asked, rubbing her own ears.
Vinyl flipped her off with a grin, then grabbed her bag and stood in the aisle, waiting for her friend to stand up before they both moved off the bus.
Vinyl whipped her head around, grinning when she found who she was looking for and nudging Lyra, pointing out the duo standing near the giant horse statue their school had for… some… reason…
Vinyl was sure there was a reason, beyond the whole school mascot thing.
Lyra tugged on Vinyl's shirt shoulder, pulling her out of her head, then nodded her head towards the other girls. Vinyl grinned as she paused her music, plans forming and unforming until she settled on one.
Vinyl held a finger up to her mouth, then slipped into a crouch, going into Ninja Mode.
She looked up to Lyra, who was busy covering her whole face with her hands, before slipping over to the girls by the statue, ducking in and out of random groups of teenagers on the way to them.
She slid up the statue, standing on tip toes to breathe hot air onto the ear of the girl in the grey suit.
The gray complexioned girl squeaked and instinctively swung her armful of textbooks over her shoulder, smashing Vinyl's nose with a hearty pop.
“Oh my god, Octavia,” Lyra called, laughing, “You just killed Vinyl!”
Octavia and Bon Bon turned, looking down at the young DJ holding her face and squirming on the sidewalk. Octavia gasped, but Bon Bon just sighed.
“Thank goodness,” she said, wiping a hand across her face. “I though it was some unknown creep, but it's just a creep we do know.” She kicked Vinyl, not gently, in one of her shins. “It's what you get, you know.”
Vinyl raised a hand, slightly bloodied, and curled in all of her fingers but her thumb.
Worth it.
Octavia grabbed the lifted arm and helped Vinyl up, pulling away her other hand and looking at the swelling nodule on Vinyl's face that used to be a nose.
“Oh, dear, oh, I am so sorry, Vinyl,” Octavia gasped, moving to touch Vinyl's nose before moving her hand away. “Oh, that must hurt so much, dear, can I take you to the nurse's, please...”
Vinyl waved her away, tilting her head forward and pinching her nose, smiling and wincing at the same movement.
She tried a grin, and gave a bloodied thumb up.
Octavia clucked her tongue and shook her head, pressing the thumb back down. “Then at least let me clean you up. Come on, to the bathroom before you drip blood on your clothes.”
Vinyl raised her hand again, but Octavia gently grabbed it before Vinyl could wave her off again. Sighing, Vinyl felt herself melt a bit at Octavia's grip, and she nodded. Looking over her shoulder, she saw Lyra waving at the duo before coming to a rest beside Bon Bon.
Octavia started pulling her closer to the entrance of the school, and Vinyl felt her ears heat up as their hands slipped into each other's, and she tightened her grip as they walked up the front steps.
A few students glanced at the duo in passing, many of them doing a double-take when they noticed Vinyl's face. She usually gave them a grin in response, and most of them slowly nodded and looked away. Nearly everyone could recognize the DJ's face even when bloodied; it wasn't necessarily a rare sight.
She did get a couple of the freshmen to scatter though, when they tried to get snotty with Octavia when she asked to get past them into the bathroom.
“Oh my god, who do you think you are, even talking to me? I should get my father to-”
Vinyl stepped forward, reaching towards the idiot's golden yellow jacket with her bloody hand and letting out a reverberating snort through her bloody nose.
The purplish teen squealed and snagged her cohort, pulling her away and making loud threats that Vinyl ignored with a finger. She grinned at Octavia, who was shaking her head with a small smile, then nudged the swinging bathroom door open and walked over to a paper towel dispenser.
“Hold on, you'll get blood on the poor thing,” Octavia called, reaching forward and tugging Vinyl away from the plastic device.
Vinyl nodded and stepped away from the towels. Octavia pulled out three and scrunched them up, then cautiously pressed them to Vinyl's nostrils. While Vinyl took hold of them, she pulled an extra one and soaked it in cold water, wringing it and folding it into a rectangle before placing it on Vinyl's nose.
Vinyl gasped and yanked away. Octavia sighed and put a hand behind Vinyl's head, pulling her closer and placing the wet towel again.
“Come on dear, it'll help with the swelling. There we go, just like...” Octavia carefully smoothed the paper on Vinyl's nose, then resmoothed it when Vinyl wrinkled her nose and scowled. “Can't have been too bad, I suppose, if you're wrinkling you face like that.”
Vinyl carefully pulled the wad of paper away from her face, looking at the mirror and testing with her finger to see if it was drying yet.
Looking at the clean finger, Vinyl raised her thumb and grinned at Octavia.
Nodding, Octavia grimaced at the dirtied towels, moving to take the paper until Vinyl ran them under the water and started scrubbing her mouth and nose.
“Well, I suppose you did look like you'd just eaten something raw,” Octavia said, looking disdainfully at the soaked and bloody towels.
Vinyl stopped scrubbing her face, moving only her head to look at Octavia. They stared for a few seconds, before Vinyl started scrubbing her face again, giggling.
“What?” Octavia asked, fidgeting. “Did I say something?”
Vinyl waved and shook her head as she checked her face in the mirror, then tossed the soggy mass in her hand into the trash. Checking her hands, she scrubbed them under the water for a moment before tugging some more towels from the dispenser, hastily drying her hands before presenting herself to the girl opposite her.
Octavia looked her over for a moment before she moved closer into Vinyl's face, scraping at a small dot on her cheek before smiling up at her.
“There we go, just that… last little…” Octavia seemed to realize how close she was to Vinyl's red face, and she joined Vinyl in blushing. “Ah, sorry. I'll just-”
Vinyl stopped her with a hand on Octavia's cheek, pulling her closer as Vinyl brushed her lips against Octavia's gently, then kissing her more firmly a second time.
They stayed pressed together for a few moments, before Octavia drew away, still blushing as she grinned shyly at Vinyl.
“Not in the bathroom, Vinyl,” she giggled, looking around at the empty room before stepping forward for a last peck. “Come on, Lyra and Bon Bon are going to accuse us of more… untoward, things if we stay in here too long.”
Vinyl shrugged, throwing up both hands and flipping off the room in general, before Octavia grabbed one of them and tugged her from the room.
“You guys enjoy the,” Lyra said, before smacking her fists together and waggling her eyebrows wildly.
Octavia scowled, Vinyl threw out a double thumbs-up, and Bon Bon punched her in the arm.
“Ow, shit Bon Bon, they knew I was joking,” she said, scowling as she rubbed her arm. “And, I mean, they took forever. Why else would they have been in there for-”
“Three minutes?” Bon Bon cut Lyra off, checking her watch and raising an eyebrow. “Oh yeah, they totally got each other off in three minutes. Octavia's completely fine with getting nude and sexy in a bathroom. You're right Lyra, how could-”
“Alright, god, shut it,” Lyra said, laughing. “I get it, it was a dumb thing to say. Don't take it so hard, it's not a-”
Vinyl sighed loudly before flipping out a thumb's down and turning down the hallway, checking her watch as she bumped Octavia with a hip. She showed the watch to Octavia, who nodded.
“It is about that time, indeed,” she said, nodding. “Almost time to get to first period, girls.”
Lyra groaned as Bon Bon nodded, looking at her own watch.
“But I don't wanna do to dumb old Geometry! Why the hell do I even need to know where Prance or the Neighderlands are, or whatever!”
Bon Bon and Octavia palmed their eyes as Vinyl started walking down the hallway, chuckling and tapping on the mp3 player on her arm, resuming the end of the song she'd paused before her impromptu ninja mission and subsequent failure.
Bobbing her head along with the bass, she looked over her shoulder and smiled, holding out her hand to accept Octavia's, lengthening her step to match her girlfriend's. She always worried about getting to class on time, even when they had a head start and plenty of time to get to the classroom. Then again, Vinyl supposed she'd be in a hurry to get algebra out of the way as well.
They parted at the door to the classroom, assigned seating having placed them across the room in this particular instance. She gave Octavia a parting peck on the cheek, stifled the need to slap her on the ass as well, then headed to her desk at the front of the room, but thankfully next to a window.
Slumping into the chair, Vinyl pulled her backpack off and slapped it onto the desk, opening it and digging through it for the paper she'd had to finish for homework.
Looking over the front of the page, she flipped it over, then grinned at the last question.
She had five minutes. She could do this.
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Vinyl slumped in the chair, groaning slightly. She set her backpack on the white table and pushed it away from herself for a moment, just letting herself think about absolutely nothing for a few minutes.
It was bliss.
Then her actual bliss arrived at the table, sitting beside her. Making an effort, Vinyl slid herself so that her head thumped into Octavia's shoulder, and groaned pitifully.
“Oh, hush darling,” Octavia said, kissing the top of her head and pushing Vinyl back into her own chair. “We both know you had Music Theory for your second period, and you're months ahead of anyone else in the class.”
Vinyl grinned, pointing back at Octavia and holding up two fingers.
“Yes, I know I am as well, but I have been studying Musical Theory since I was five,” Octavia said, waving a hand. “The point is, even with the other two classes it can't have been that bad.”
Vinyl 'hmph'd, reaching to her backpack and pulling out her wallet. She flinched, then put it back into the bag before getting Octavia's attention.
Octavia watched Vinyl for a moment, then blushed a little.
“You want me to come over to your house today? I don't know Vinyl, it could be fun, but… Well, you're handsy in the most public of places, and-”
Raising her eyebrows, Vinyl took off her glasses and stared into Octavia's eyes. Slowly, she crossed her heart, fluttered her hands at her sides, then covered one of her eyes, keeping a steely look on for the entire ritual.
“Oh, well,” Octavia said, the blush receding. “I mean, I'm not entirely against anything at all, I'm just not sure what we would do besides. Well.”
Vinyl waggled her eyebrows at Octavia, then pulled a CD from the depths of her backpack.
“Oh, another 'Fresh Beats-track' from the 'Hottest DJ to ever flash an entire crowd her bra'?” Octavia teased, smiling fondly as Vinyl blushed at her. “I'll try it Vinyl, but you better have some pain relievers in your room. We remember how it went last time.”
Vinyl scoffed as she replaced her glasses, then tugged on the backpack and held a hand out to Octavia. She sighed before taking the hand, then giggled as Vinyl easily lifted her from the chair. While they walked, Octavia took her phone from her backpack and tapped on it, swiped her fingers around the screen, then tapped the screen a few more times before slipping it back into her bag.
They made their way out of the front doors, and Vinyl had a mini panic attack as she watched a bus pull away from the front of the school.
The the bus numbered with her stop pulled up, and she sighed and pushed her palm flat against her chest, trying to contain the beating muscle held within. While she slowed her breathing, she looked around for Lyra, knowing Bon Bon took an earlier bus. She spotted the mint girl hanging out by the statue, looking after the bus that just left.
Nudging Octavia, she nodded at Lyra, then made her way over to their friend.
Grinning, Vinyl leaned forward, her hand reaching towards Lyra's skirt, thumb and index finger scissoring ominously…
Octavia tapped Vinyl on the shoulder, then tapped her nose meaningfully.
Vinyl flinched, and sadly nodded. Her nose had been abused enough today. Instead of pinching her, Vinyl tapped Lyra softly on the shoulder, smiling and pointing at her with both hands when Lyra turned around. Her thumbs wiggled back and forth on top of her fists.
Ptchoo, ptchoo, bitch. Your ass is saved, for now.
“Put the guns away, Vinyl,” Lyra said, rolling her eyes as she put her hands over Vinyl's. “Hey, Octavia. Did you miss your bus? I could have sworn that you were supposed to be on the one that just left.”
“Sort of,” she said, blushing slightly. “I'm heading over to Vinyl's today, we're going to-”
“Oh god no, don't,” Lyra said, holding a hand up and grimacing. “I'm already envisioning it, I do not need to actually hear it.”
Vinyl reached up and slid her glasses down, giving Lyra a practiced cocked eyebrow, before she wiggled it up and down.
“Oh, gross, no I don't wanna come,” Lyra said, pressing her hand against Vinyl's face and pushing it away. “Bonnie would kill me, plus you're skinnier than a skate park rail. You're lucky you've found 'Tavi and she's willing to,” she leaned in and whispered, “grind that rail.”
Vinyl burst into laughter, roughly shoving Lyra into the statue and flipping her off. Octavia put her hand on Vinyl's shoulder to steady her, looking between the two and shaking her head.
“I do not even want to know, do I?”
Lyra opened her mouth, but Vinyl slapped her hand over it, shaking her head while she giggled. Lyra shrugged, looking over her shoulder at the bus and making a face.
“Boarding time, ladies. The line's almost gone.”
Vinyl killed off the rest of her giggles, snagging Octavia's hand and pulling her closer as the three started towards the yellow mega-demon of shuttling them back and forth between the school and their homes.
Vinyl squinted at the bus, imagining horns and black flames spreading from the grill on it's front.
Demon bus consumes all.
Octavia tugged at Vinyl's hand, and she realized that she'd slowed down to feed her imagination. Shaking her head, she kicked her walk up a bit and got to the bus just as the driver was reaching for the door lever.
They got to the back seat just as the driver started kicking the bus up to gear, and the trio slid easily into an empty set of seats. The bus was always emptier in the afternoon than it was in the morning, for some reason Vinyl could not spend the energy to try and fathom.
Instead, she lifted Octavia's hand kissed the back of it, letting it go so that she could dig in her backpack. She pulled out a purple spiral notebook, the front held on by half of the usual amount of paper as normal. Flipping to the end, she giggled at the last entry before writing down, “Bus Demon Eats the Children,” and slapping the journal closed.
“Another golden song title?” Lyra asked, pulling a candy from her backpack and opening it. “Something along the lines of, 'Black Beauty on her Knees', or more 'Dog Farts in the Rain'?”
Vinyl held up two fingers, then flipped the journal back open to show her the page.
Lyra read the sentence, then snickered. “At least we know what you were thinking about back there, I guess. You gotta commission someone to make some art for that one, maybe that guy in English that got sent to the Principal for drawing tits in his notebook.”
Vinyl quirked an eyebrow, then held up her hands about half a foot apart.
“Nah dude, like, gazongas. Way too much to ever actually happen, that kind. I got to bring him his book when the teacher was done making sure there wasn't any more of those drawings, and he's really good. As long as you don't need realistic busts, anyway.” Lyra scratched at her head, eyes screwed up in thought, before shrugging. “I can't remember his name right now, I'll hit him up tomorrow for you.”
Vinyl started to nod, then winced when she remembered her wallet. She shook her head instead, holding up her index and thumb and rubbing them together.
“Ah, out of cash too? I feel that,” Lyra said, frowning herself. “A movie and dinner date with Bon Bonnie is just criminal, one plate of food and two hours cleaning out a wallet is just crazy.”
Octavia tilted her head and leaned over Vinyl, making the DJ blush. “Where did you go?”
Lyra blushed herself, looking away and muttering an answer before perking up. “Hey Vinyl, isn't this your stop?”
Vinyl looked over Lyra's head, shrugging and tilting her hand back and forth. It was close enough that she slipped her notebook into her backpack, and made sure everything was closed and wouldn't fall out.
Waiting another minute in silence, Vinyl recognized the corner to her street. Standing up and bracing herself on the seats, she walked up to the front of the bus and tapped the driver on the shoulder, making him jump.
“Crap girly, don't walk up the bus like-” He spared a glance up at Vinyl, then glued his eyes back on the road. “Oh, right. This close enough, then?”
Vinyl made an affirmation sound, and waved to Octavia as the bus slowed and put on it's lights, stopping three houses up from Vinyl's. The driver reached out and pulled the lever, giving the two a gentle look as Vinyl leapt from the top, Octavia carefully walking down the three steps.
“Idiot,” he said with a gentle smile, closing the door before turning off the lights, taking off down the road with a small revving.
As soon as the vehicle was down the road, Vinyl wrapped Octavia in her arms and lifted her, spinning the girl a couple times. Octavia giggled and grabbed Vinyl's head, holding on until Vinyl started to set her down.
“You are so silly,” Octavia said, pecking Vinyl on the forehead. “I've told you you can be more affectionate at school, as long as...” She giggled, blushing at Vinyl. “Well, as long as your hands stay in the more innocent areas.”
Vinyl nipped playfully at her nose, getting both of them to giggle, before they both turned to her house and started walking.
Vinyl opened the door, pausing as she sniffed at the tomato and garlic wafting from the kitchen. She gave a quick wolf whistle, letting her mom know both that she was home, and that she smelled the food.
“Thanks hon, but I'm afraid it's pretty much you tonight,” her mom said apologetically. “I got called in on some paperwork that got misfiled, so I'm out for a while.”
Vinyl tugged off her shoes, setting them on the rack next to the door, then gestured at Octavia to do the same. Vinyl then walked into the kitchen, putting her arm around her mom's waist and hugging her before pointing to the doorway, where Octavia waited.
“Hello again, Miss Scratch,” she said, waving and smiling. “Vinyl sort of drug me here. I hope that's alright?”
“Well...” She looked between her daughter and Octavia, ignoring Vinyl's begging looks before she shrugged. “I guess you can't get her pregnant, so go nuts. I'd say don't do anything I wouldn't do, but, well, Vinyl makes fun of me for my Kama Sutra already,” she waved her hand dismissively, giving the food another stir, "and I trust both of you enough to not go after some meth-head, so just keep the destruction localized and I'll call it even."
Octavia stood in the doorway, matching the spaghetti sauce in the pot to the side of the boiling water, muttering, “Oh my,” to herself. Vinyl giggled and moved to pull her to the small four person table, then grabbed the spoon from her mom's hand as she shooed her from the kitchen, miming putting on a shirt.
“I don't need a uniform right now, I'm just-”
Vinyl cut her off by pointing at her mom's current shirt, the same black tank-top now splattered with a bit of tomato sauce. She cocked an eyebrow, then turned to stir the sauce.
Laughing, her mom walked out of the room, leaving the blushing Octavia to stare as Vinyl stirred the sauce and opened that cabinets, pulling out a blue box of noodles and checking the water. Nodding at the roiling water, she dumped the noodles in and stirred them until they sunk below the top of the pot.
“I didn't know you could cook, Vinyl,” Octavia said, trying to get her blushing under control.
Vinyl tilted a hand back and forth, then pointed at an open book off to the side, showing a stick figure chopping some onions with it's bare hand. There were some words to the side, looking somewhat like a shopping list.
“Ah, cookbook,” she said, comprehension washing across her face. “Still, it's more than I can do, especially if I was by myself.”
Vinyl snorted, gesturing to the doorway that her mom had disappeared through.
“Oh god, I really couldn't cook if I had my mother helping me,” Octavia said, wincing a bit. “I couldn't even imagine her in a kitchen, much less actually cooking.”
Vinyl set the spoon carefully on a piece of clean ceramic on the stove, then moved behind Octavia and leaned over her, hugging her girlfriend tightly. Octavia's hands came up and pressed into Vinyl's arms, hugging her back in at least a small way.
“God Vinyl, your room's right up stairs. And you didn't even remember to take your clothes off or anything.”
Octavia jumped a bit, but Vinyl just lifted an arm and finger towards the door, prompting a bit of laughter as her mom moved the rest of the way into the kitchen, finishing buttoning on the white dress shirt.
“Better?” she asked, holding her arms out and spinning.
Vinyl put her hand on her chin, looking thoughtful for a moment, before she put a hand on a wrist and twisted it a few times.
Her mom rolled up the sleeves to her elbows, then held her arms out, displaying the complex web of tattoos on her forearms.
Grinning, Vinyl gave her two thumbs, then walked over and hugged her mom.
“I love you too sweetie. I'll try and be back around nine or so, so please be clothed or in your room.”
Shaking her head, Vinyl stood on her tip-toes to kiss her mom's forehead, then shoved her towards the door, pulling her badge from a side table and shoving it in one of her mom's back pants pockets.
“Remember, you know where the book is!”
Shutting the door firmly, Vinyl sighed and walked back into the kitchen, coming in to see Octavia blushing at the table.
“I-in the inter-rests of even footing,” she started, taking a deep breath, “would it be possible for me to r-r-read this…” She looked around the room, then whispered, “Kama Sutra...”
Vinyl stared at her for a second, then slapped her palm over her eyes, giggling. Taking off her glasses and placing them on the table, she went back to the stove, made sure everything was doing as it should. Then she went upstairs and into her mom's open room, grabbing the book off the tall bookshelf and walking back downstairs, slapping it in front of Octavia.
Shaking her head, she started prepping the dinner dishes as Octavia carefully opened the book, her eyes widening at the picture next to the description.
“Oh, my…”
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Vinyl watched Octavia study the entire Sutra, actually reading every entry even though her face still hadn't recovered from her first blush. Eventually, she moved the bowl of spaghetti from the table directly onto the book, raising her eyebrows when Octavia jumped and looked up at her.
“Oh, uh, sorry,” she said, blushing harder as she pulled the book out and placed it off to the side, marking it with a piece of paper towel Vinyl had served with the meal. “It's just, well, fascinating. It's not just a book about, well, positions, but about love and family and more. It's absolutely fascinating…”
Vinyl rolled her eyes, pulling another pile of spaghetti into her mouth and chewing, looking down into her almost empty bowl.
Octavia giggled, reaching out with her feet and tapping them against Vinyl's.
“Sorry for, 'nerding out',” she giggled. “It's just a lot more than I expected it to be, and I guess that excited me. I think I'll read up more on it, but later. Right now, I'm supposed to be spending time with a very lovely cook,” she said, fluttering her eyelids at Vinyl.
Who burst into giggles, blushing slightly and wiggling her eyebrows back at Octavia.
“Shut up, I've been practicing,” she said, covering her eyes and grinning, blushing at the giggles. “I though I had it pretty good…”
Swiftly taking to her feet, Vinyl rushed over and peppered the backs of her hands with small kisses, then moved on to the rest of her face as Octavia squeaked and started batting at Vinyl.
“No, you've got garlic breath, quit it,” Octavia weakly protested, finally wrapping her arms around Vinyl's neck and pinning her against Octavia, both girls giggling.
Octavia pushed Vinyl away after a moment, waving her towards her bowl. “Go on, finish up, then we can go listen to that CD you showed me earlier.”
Vinyl gave Octavia a smug grin, tilting her bowl to show it's nearly clean emptyness.
Laughing, Octavia said, “Well, then, find something to do while I finish. Something,” she said, suddenly stern, “that is not waving your eyebrows around at me.”
Vinyl gasped, clapping a hand over the aforementioned eyebrows and looking as though she had been wounded.
Giggling, Octavia nodded smugly. “We both knew you were going to. Why don't you go get your system set up and ready?”
Vinyl stuck her tongue out and gave Octavia a raspberry, then snagged her dishes and brought them over to the sink, plunking it into the soaking pot, disturbing the hot and soapy water.
Vinyl gave Octavia a half-assed salute, then frog marched out of the room.
Not for the first time, Octavia wondered why Vinyl was so goddamned weird.
Then she shrugged and turned back to the spaghetti. Whatever Vinyl and her mom had put into it had made it extremely good, better even than the usual from her own kitchen.
She was down to the last few bites of her pasta when a drum started trickling down the stairs, reminiscent of a marching band. She paused and listened to the instrument being struck.
It started with a rapid legato, almost like some person knocking on a door. Several more beats, now staccato. Then the drum gave another round, again tied together, before falling into a beat with a tambourine. It was almost pleasant, for marching music. Very upbeat, of course.
Then a brass instrument trilled it's awakening, Octavia flinching at the unexpected noise.
Another quarter minute later, and another brass joined into the melee. At the moment, all three were surprisingly cohesive, for Vinyl's music. It sounded very much like a choreographed street brawl.
After listening for a minute, Octavia found herself surprisingly tapping the toe of her left foot on the chair she was sitting on. If nothing else, this trio knew how to hold a beat, and they were fantastic at making their instruments seem to reply to each other. It was like a musical argument between two friends, with the percussion there to keep everything civil and everyone friends.
Almost seamlessly, the song transmuted into a different tune, the only thing really giving it away as a new track was the CD's staggered transference.
Now it was two instruments carrying along the third, Octavia now able to recognize the trumpet for what it was. The drums and other instrument moved easily along the other's almost solo, lifted by the background sounds until very suddenly the brass traded places. Listening very hard, Octavia decided it was a saxophone, a very large one to be hitting the notes it was.
She jumped as she heard a large thud come from the stairs, and turned around to see Vinyl leap from the second set down to the floor level.
The girl almost came down on her ass, but her thin legs were springy enough for her to bounce back up, and Vinyl started shaking her shoulders back and forth at Octavia, as close as a human could come to being in time with the beat.
She'd lost the white button-up, and was now parading around in a stringy tank top and ratty jeans, the black straps of her bra flashing underneath the white top.
Another song started, surprising Octavia with actual words. Although...
"Is he just saying, 'da booty', over and over again?"
Vinyl's head ripped back, her mouth open in silent, billowing laughter, before the skinny girl jumped up and spun, landing with her back to Octavia. Vinyl shoved her hips out and wiggled them forcefully, shaking what very little tush she had.
Giggling, Octavia turned back to the table and pulled a dish towel towards herself. While Vinyl continued shaking and attempting to gyrate, Octavia wound the slightly damp towel and flicked it towards the pale teenager.
A resounding snap sounded through the kitchen, and Vinyl froze.
Octavia felt some worry creep up on her face as Vinyl slowly turned her head to look at Octavia, a red iris barely glinting past her askew glasses.
"Was that too... hard..."
Octavia felt herself trail off as Vinyl slid one of her feet to give herself a little bit of a wider stance. Slowly, the teen rolled her lower back just a bit, before popping her hips out even more than before. A cocky grin covered Vinyl's face as her visible eyebrow raised slowly.
Octavia felt herself flush as she gently bit her lip, looking away to stare at the clock on the kitchen wall.
Looking back, Octavia sighed as Vinyl rocked her hips back and forth slowly.
"How long do you think we have until you mom gets home?"
Vinyl's grin widened.
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Vinyl's mom had texted her from outside, and Vinyl had given Octavia a long farewell kiss before sorrowfully waving from the front door.
Her mom hadn't even mentioned Octavia's freshly shampooed, still damp hair.
When her mom got back from dropping off her daughter's girlfriend, she found Vinyl hunched over four papers being examined on the dining room table, with another five or six off to the side. Walking up, she nodded at the finished pages, looking over them herself.
"I'd say it looks good to me," she said, Vinyl looking up and checking out the page she was holding, "but this garble might as well be in Germane."
Vinyl snorted, nodding in agreement at her mom's insight into advanced Algebra. Sighing, she returned to the history paper she was staring at, trying her best to fill in for the blank parts of certain statements.
Vinyl barely noted her mom wandering away from the table, but looked up when she returned with a glass of milk and a packet of blue wrapper-ed chocolate cookies.
"Don't fry too much in there," her mom said as she leaned down and kissed her daughter's forehead.
Vinyl sighed and nodded, pulling the package over and dunking a cookie into her tall glass.
After another hour of struggling, Vinyl let out a gust of breath as she pushed away the last sheet, having double checked the backs of all of them for lurking problems waiting to dip her scores.
Only once.
Stretching her back, Vinyl grunted as a couple of her vertebra popped into place with loud cracks, before she relaxed with a sigh. Opening her backpack, she shoved all of the pages into the main compartment before unzipping the smaller one.
Double checking her mobile equipment, she found only her mp3 player needed charging. Again.
Sighing, she left her backpack on the table and wandered over to her mom's office. She found her mom working on a slim laptop, typing away at several keys as she filled some report or another.
"Bedtime?" she asked, not looking away from her typing.
Vinyl nodded, and her mom paused before stretching her back. A loud crack filled the office, and she leaned forward with a sigh.
"Alright then, trouble seeker, c'mere," she said, raising herself from the spinning chair.
Vinyl heaved a sigh and put on a blank expression, opening her arms mechanically.
Frowning, her mom narrowed her eyes before her hands shot out, attacking the teenager's open armpits.
Gasping, Vinyl tried to fling herself backwards, but her mom hooked her fingers into her daughter's bra and tugged her into a bear hug, picking her daughter up and squeezing her fiercely. Vinyl (gently) kicked at her mom's shins for a couple of moments, before giggling and nuzzling into the top of her mom's head with a chin.
Her mom squeezed one last time, before dropping Vinyl and spinning her towards the door, giving a small kick to her daughter's ass.
"Get on then," she laughed, walking back around the desk. "And remember to brush your teeth, milk mouth!"
Vinyl blew a raspberry, rubbing her offended cheek before heading upstairs. Making a brief (too brief, honestly) pit stop in the bathroom near her room, she headed to her room.
Inside was the same mess, almost untouched since this morning. She smiled fondly as she noticed some of the more offensive items of clothing had been gathered, and a fresh basket of clothes sat on top of her bed.
It was quickly chucked to the floor.
She launched herself up in the air, her bed coughing and wheezing as she bounced on top of the padding. She wiggled her back, getting the blankets underneath her to just the right level of lumpy, before sighing.
Her smile slowly slipped as she let herself settle. Her mind wandered, and she eventually sighed as she sat up slowly. She walked over to the mirror on her vanity, and flopped down on the thin bench.
Slowly, and with an air of ceremony, she reached up to the choker that she hadn't taken off this morning, one of several she had. Reaching behind her head, she unsnapped the button on the back of the ribbon.
Slowly, she ran a finger lightly over the ropey scar trailing across her vocal cords.
Reaching over to the side, she pulled a pill bottle off the top of the vanity. Watching her reflection carefully, she pulled out her single pill, almost forgotten tonight. She placed it on her tongue, grabbed a nearby bottle of water, and took a deep pull from the slightly stale liquid. Putting it off to the side, she reached out and grabbed both sides of the mirror, baring her teeth.
Coughing roughly, she strained and gurgled uselessly for a moment, before she felt something move in her throat, just a little.
With a choking gasp, she said, "I won today."
Pushing her reflection, her past away, she grinned as she flicked off her lights.
Within a minute, she was asleep.
Author's Note
Hey guys, I want to give you all a great big thank you for reading this story. I started it a loooooooong time ago, around the time of the Vinyl Scratch Rainbow Rocks short. Yeah, that long 
I got halfway through it before dropping it and just never coming back. Today though, I dusted the poor thing down and found that I still liked the story, and I still knew exactly how to end it. This is a personal story of sorts for me, and probably a few of you reading this, but one that I hope gives you the same hopeful type of happy as Vinyl.
Remember, you made it today. You won, and I am so proud of all of you. Love you peeps 
