Rules of Etiquette

Despite there being no reasonable cause for it, I felt a quickened surge of fear as I approached the doors to the Last Note.

I knew that Vinyl was right about what I had to do next, that I had to talk to Adagio about what had happened between Stalling and I.

Adagio deserved to know what was going on, especially since it directly impacts the both of us, individually and as a couple. I didn’t have the right to keep something like that from her, and a small part of me wanted to scoff at the idea that I was even capable of it.

I wasn’t in the business of keeping things from the people I cared about and was well aware that I had a tendency to wear my emotions plastered clearly on my face even when I made an effort not to show them. If Stalling hadn’t been able to tell how badly he had rattled me it was only because he truly had not cared, but Adagio would be able to see it in an instant.

Even if she hadn’t been an age-old hand at the game of emotional manipulation, I don’t think I’d have been able to keep it off of my face when I saw her anyway.

Something about Adagio left me raw and exposed when I was with her, and I doubt it had anything to do with magic. The fact was that around the woman I loved I simply couldn’t hide myself.

Whatever walls I’d erected against the cold severity of the world at large may as well have been so much mist and vapor to the eldest Siren sister. That or she simply possessed a key to the gates of my mental fortress which I supposed was as likely as not.

In my heart of hearts I… I didn’t want to hide anything from her.

And I’ve always been terrible at doing things I don’t want to do.

But I was dawdling, and I knew it, so I took a steadying breath and gave a nod to Backstage as I stepped past him and pushed open the crystal-glass double doors.

Most of the lights were out as it was several hours from opening time for the Lounge, and here and there I spotted people going about the business of getting the establishment ready for another night of patrons and parties.

At the bar, I spied Sonata who seemed to be in the middle of setting up her little domain. I only ever saw her and two other bartenders and she was always in the middle of them both, moving with deliberate competence that even now caught me a touch off-guard.

I suppose in my mind she was still a bit vacuous, but I’d gotten to know her enough over the month and change that Adagio and I had been together to understand that Sonata wasn’t nearly as airheaded as she appeared. A part of me wondered if she was simply wearing that as a persona, or perhaps there was just a bit more of the unearthly in her than there was in her sisters.

Something just a little more… inhuman.

Not that that was a bad thing, as I could directly attest to by using Stalling Reins as evidence: there was hardly anything innately superior about being human.

“Morning,” Sonata chirped without looking up.

She was chopping apart a large block of ice and moving the pieces to a cooler beside her as I closed the distance, and I smiled warmly at her.

“For certain definitions of the word, I suppose it is morning,” I replied, glancing outside at the late afternoon light before venturing: “such as if you just woke up?”

“Being a night owl is part of being a bartender!” Sonata replied happily, glancing up and favoring me with that charmingly girlish smile of hers, and after a moment I saw it soften. “You look kind rough, Tavi.”

I chuckled a little.

If Sonata could see right through me then I really didn’t have any chance of hiding what had happened from her much more perceptive older sister.

“It’s been that sort of day, unfortunately,” I said, not bothering to deny it. “Is Adagio in her room?”

“Mhm,” Sonata hummed as she swept the rest of the ice into the cooler and smoothly moved to the task of sort lemons and limes, occasionally tossing out some bruised ones. “She’s getting ready for the night, we got a big contract from some companies! It's gonna make us a big deal!”

“Congratulations,” and I meant it, that sounded like a big win for them. “I assume Adagio is over the moon about it?”

“Actually, no,” Sonata replied, and I raised my eyebrows in surprise. “She… she seemed kind of disappointed when I told her, in fact,” Sonata chuckled slightly and shrugged, “she tried to hide it from me but we’ve been together for too long, not even ‘Dagi is that good.”

“Why would it disappoint her, though?” I asked, feeling a pit of concern open up in my stomach. “She’s so proud of the Lounge! It’s her pride and joy!”

Sonata just smiled wanly at me and let out a wry little chuckle.

“I have a few ideas,” Sonata replied, “but you came to talk to her right?”

“I… I did,” I said quietly, “as I said, it’s been one of those days.”

Rather than answer, Sonata just nodded her head towards the back and then returned to tending the bar and I took a few steps away before tossing a glance back her way. There was a strange sort of distance in her eyes, something that betrayed a bit of strain and worry that I found clashed with her usually light-hearted nature.

The sight of it put a chill in my heart… I wasn’t sure why but it felt like something bad had happened today and not all of it had happened to me.

I considered coming back another day, after all I had intended to spend the entire evening with the Orchestra, rehearsing and the like but, after my conversation with Director Reins, I couldn’t bring myself to play my cello under that roof again.

At last, not today.

God, was I really considering leaving?

I’d told Vinyl that I wasn’t sure I could bear to be a part of an organization that practiced such blatant discrimination. Career or no, the very thought of it turned my stomach and now I was forced to weigh my personal standards and morals against my lifelong dream.

Fate, it seemed, was not without a sense of irony.

Sonata continued to work, her hands moving with that odd, swift, surety that made me think of nothing so much as one of my peers in the Orchestra plying their skill with their instruments. There was no wasted motion, no distractions, and no errors; just pure technical brilliance on display that was supplemented with a spark of true artistry.

I can’t decide what to do, so instead I do what I must: I turn on my heel and go to see Adagio.

Tempest, still silent and stoic as ever, nodded to me as I passed her and I returned the gesture. By this point she’s used to my presence enough that I barely register with her, I think, but personally I still find the notion that someone so imposing could sneak up on me as many times as she had.

The VIP section was a bustle of organized chaos, with several workers moving here and there, and I spotted a familiar head of two-tone purple and teal hair standing in the middle giving directions.

Aria Blaze was dressed in low, hip-hugging jeans, a purple crop top, and the black denim vest I was used to seeing on her, and she gave sharp clipped, efficient orders as she directed the workers. There were masses of wiring all over the VIP section going to various speakers, lights, and sundry electronics.

I barely made it in a few feet before Aria snapped her gaze over to me.

“Good, you’re here,” she said, as though I’d been expected, and I raised an eyebrow at that.

“Beg your pardon?” I said quietly as Aria cut through the milling workers to reach me.

“Adagio’s in her room, and she’s…” Aria grimaced as she trailed off. “She’s not in a good place, Snoots.”

“Must you call me that?” I groaned before registering her words fully. “Wait… what do you mean?”

Aria sighed and crossed her arms, and I was struck by the impression that she was almost prettier when she frowned.

How odd.

“It’s bad,” Aria said slowly. “Adagio wanted this contract somethin’ fierce, alright? She fought for it at the convention even knowing how much work it would be to fulfill it,” she gestured around to the renovations happening around the VIP section. “It’s a huge deal, right? But all that was before she met you and… I think her priorities might’ve shifted.”

“Alright, I can understand that much,” I said carefully, narrowing my eyes at her, “but you haven’t told me what’s wrong.”

“Octavia!”

I heard my voice called out from somewhere to my side and I turned to see none other than Sunset Shimmer, half-buried in a mass of electronics surrounding a laptop and looking up at me with a wide smile on her face. Her amber skin was scuffed and dusty, her hair was a little messy, but she was every bit the bright-eyed and fierce young woman I’d gone to high school with.

“Sunset, it's lovely to see you again,” I said with a genuine smile as she stepped out from behind her workstation and made her way through the workers towards me. “What are you doing here?”

Sunset pulled me into a hug which I returned, not as easily as I had embraced Vinyl but we had been friends once upon a time.

“Helping my ungrateful girlfriend with her work,” Sunset gestured to Aria who scowled at Sunset. “I’m going to CCU for a degree in programming and they need someone they trust to upgrade and run the backend of the systems here.”

“Hey! I’m not ungrateful,” Aria snapped stepping over to glare up at Sunset as she jabbed a finger lightly into the redhead's chest. “I’ll be plenty grateful tonight.”

Sunset looked down Aria smugly and then leaned in to peck a kiss on the middle Siren sister’s lips. “You’d better, the way this contract is shaping up the only time we’ll have together in the next few months is on the job and after hours.”

Aria looked pained for a moment and then reached out almost desperately to grab Sunset’s hands in both of hers before stepping closer and burying her face against Sunset’s chest. Sunset wrapped her arms around Aria and then looked up at me with a slightly sad smile.

“Guess you’re here about Adagio, huh?” Sunset said quietly. “You should go to her, she’s pretty rough right now.”

“Why do people keep saying that?” I asked testily. “Just tell me what’s wrong!”

“No can do, Snoots, it wouldn’t help,” Aria shook her head without moving from her place buried in Sunset’s arms. “Just go see’er, and you’ll see what we mean soon enough, okay?”

Sighing, I nodded and moved past them, watching the pair out of the corner of my eye as I did.

There was something heartwarming about them, the way they looked at each other, the way they bickered and then kissed. Aria Blaze was many things but in the presence of Sunset Shimmer she almost looked, dare I say it, rather cute.

Aria truly was in love with Sunset, and it heartened me to see it. I wondered if Adagio and I ever looked like that to others who saw us from the outside.

I should be so lucky.

I walked away from the pair and towards the rear door to the right of the main stage. The hallway within was cool and quiet, and the sounds of the work outside was muffled as the door swung closed. I followed the short, familiar pathway to Adagio’s room and stopped in front of it, frowning at the slightly cock-eyed placard that hung from the door.

It was tilted at about a sixty-degree angle as if repeated blows to the door had knocked it loose somehow. I reached out to fix it, tilting it back to its proper position, then took a deep breath and began to announce myself.

My words were interrupted by an inchoate shriek of primal rage as the door thudded thunderously with the sound of impact and the violent shattering of glass.

I froze, staring at the door whose placard had returned to its original off-kilter angle, and tried to mentally resolve the voice that I had just heard through the door with the voice of my beloved.

My Adagio.

They were the same, I knew, but… never in my life had I heard her so utterly out of control. Not even when she’d been on the floor weeping had she sounded so completely lost to herself.

Without thinking, I reached out and tried the doorknob only to find it locked.

Of course it was locked, Adagio was quite mindful of security no matter what and she always kept her room locked. It was the manager’s ‘office’ as well as her own private quarters, and she kept a number of sensitive documents filed away inside.

The fact that it was always locked was why I had been given a key some time ago, so that I could reach her no matter how late or early the hour.

I paused to smooth out the wrinkles of my skirt and blouse, then straightened my bow tie before drawing out the key and fitting it to the lock. I turned it and heard the satisfying thump of the deadbolt coming free, and then opened the door to what I could only properly describe as a minor disaster zone.

There was shattered glass on the floor, and larger fragments suggested the pieces had once constituted one of Adagio’s fine drinking glasses, while the floor was stained in several places with what looked and smelled like high-class whiskey.

Speaking of the smell.

The entire room reeked of alcohol.

I wrinkled my nose as I took in the devastation of Adagio’s room, and it took me a moment to spot the woman herself.

For the first time since I’d met her, Adagio Dazzle looked genuinely awful.

Adagio was leaning her weight against her heavy vanity wearing little more than her bathrobe and staring into a mirror that was spiderwebbed with cracks. She seemed wobbly and unsettled as she braced herself on her hands, leaning heavily on them as she stared into the mirror. I saw bags under her eyes, dark circles that were exacerbated by her scowling countenance.

I realised with a flash of panic that she was favoring her right hand, as her left hand was bleeding rather badly, with cuts and abrasions on it from what looked like her having punched the mirror.

“Get out,” Adagio hissed without turning to even see who was at the door, and I watched her pick up another glass of whiskey, half empty, and slug back a swallow of the drink.

I stood there, poleaxed and stunned, working my jaw as I tried to find something to say to break Adagio out of this… this horrible state she’d somehow worked herself into. I wanted to ask her why, and how, she had ended up like this… I wanted to know what had happened.

My desire to help prompted me to take a step forward and my boots crunched loudly into the glass.

In retrospect I probably should have announced myself first, and had I been thinking clearly I likely would have. Seeing the love of my life in the state she was in, however, had quite banished all rational thought from my mind and all I could really think to do was to go to her, to gather her in my arms and kiss her and make all the darkness that was poisoning her go away.

The glass, though… that small sound seemed to snap whatever final reserve of patience was left to Adagio in her fractured state of mind.

Adagio whirled on me with a wordless howl of anger, her eyes blind with alcoholic rage as she cocked her arm back, her fingers gripping the thick, heavy glass of whiskey to heave it in my direction and I flinched back violently as Adagio took drunken aim.

“I SAID GET OU-!” The final syllable of her roar died on her lips as she saw me recoiling back from her, and the whiskey sloshed wildly, a little of it dumping onto the top of her head as she brandished the glass. “Oh… O-Octavia…”

The glass dropped out of her hand to strike the floor with a dull thud, spilling its contents across the plush carpet. My eyes followed its descent, and I had a vague thought of how much it would cost to have her carpet refinished after all the damage she had inflicted upon it.

“I… I’m sorry,” Adagio hiccuped, backing up from me with nothing short of absolute shame on her face. “I didn’t… I wasn’t thinking, I’m…”

Her words slurred badly as she bumped into the vanity behind her and staggered, and I could see she was having a hard time focusing her eyes. Adagio was drunk… righteously drunk in a manner that I had honestly never been.

I think if Adagio had been anyone else she would probably be ‘blackout drunk’ and judging from the no less than three empty bottles of whiskey I saw scattered around the vanity, I didn’t feel dissuaded from that assumption.

I was actually a little impressed she was still standing and had any control of herself left at all.

Slowly, I crossed the distance between us and reached out my arms.

Adagio grunted wordlessly, swinging her good hand in front of her as if trying to ward me away. I caught her wrist in my hand and gripped it tight, and there was little strength left in it.

“My love?” I said softly. “What’s happened to you?”

“Get out!” Adagio sobbed, her words were nearly lost to a drunken slur as she tried in vain to pull away from me. “Please… please get out… I don’t… you weren’t supposed to see me like this!”

Tears were falling hot and fast from her eyes, and her cheeks were ruddy with pain and shame. She refused to meet my gaze, all but hiding behind her unruly mane of orange and gold curls.

“If not I, then who?” I asked quietly, refusing to let go of her. “If even I’m not worthy of seeing you like this then… who is?”

Another wracking sob escaped Adagio’s lips as she sank to the floor, cradling her wounded hand and crying bitter tears. I followed her down and gathered her up in my arms, just as I’d wanted to when I’d first walked in, and held onto her as she cried.

I don’t think that any part of my life had ever prepared me for seeing the strongest woman I’d ever met be so broken, but as she clung to me I realised that there hadn’t really been any need to. I wasn’t sure if I could do anything for her, but by God I could at least be there for her.

“Ssshh, it’s alright, my love,” I whispered quietly, rocking her as she clung to me. “I’ll never leave you, and I’ll never be anywhere but by your side when you need me.”

We sat there for a few moments as she held on to me, she wasn’t wearing much; her terrycloth bathrobe that was stained with spilled drink hung haphazardly from her, and a set of the kind of racy lingerie that I suspect made up the entirety of her underthings.

Adagio wasn’t exactly a ‘tight and white’ sort of woman, after all.

As soon as I felt like she was emotionally intact enough to handle moving I pulled her to her feet and walked her into the bathroom, then sat her down on the closed toilet as I went fishing for the first aid kit that I knew she kept under the sink.

I drew it out and began tending to her hand, which fortunately was not nearly as bad as it had initially looked. None of the cuts were more than shallow, and there wouldn’t even be a need for stitches. So I washed the cuts, sprayed some disinfectant across her palm which I suspect her inebriated state mostly absorbed the pain of, and then bandaged her hand neatly.

Once that was done I pressed a glass of water into her hand and sat down on the edge of the bathtub as she sipped at it quietly, her eyes still downcast in humiliation.

“I would have happily lived my whole life without you seeing me in such a state, my love,” Adagio said after almost an hour of silence and dedicated refills of her water glass.

Her words were still loose and shaky, but not as slurred as they had been when I’d found her.

“Perhaps,” I said quietly, “but we all have our low moments, do we not?”

“I should think that after so many centuries of life I’d have run out of such moments,” Adagio scoffed, wavering slightly on her seat before steadying herself on the bathroom counter. “Bah… I’ve not been so drunk in almost two hundred years… once I could’ve downed twice that amount of liquor and still been coherent.”

“Sonata was right,” I said blithely and I crossed my arms. “You really do drink scotch like a monster, darling.”

Adagio curled in on herself at my words and I felt a pang of guilt. Frowning, I reached out and took her good hand in mine, squeezing it slightly.

“What happened, my love?” I asked in as soft a voice as I could manage. “Sonata said you won a contract… I should think you would be thrilled!”

Adagio scoffed and spat on the floor.

“Contract?” she bit the word out bitterly. “Yes… a very lucrative contract… a very lucrative, difficult, time-consuming contract that will require me to be visiting every major city for weeks at a time for better than eight months.”

A chill of pain sluiced around my heart.

Eight months? More than eight months, actually. More than eight months of separation? If we were lucky we might find a scant day or two but from the sound of it Adagio would be terribly busy throughout that whole time. The very thought of it turned my stomach almost violently. The thought of not being able to see or lay with Adagio for better than half a year was almost physically painful to imagine.

“A month and a half ago I would have been thrilled,” Adagio said angrily. “Now… now I can’t turn the contract down without being blacklisted and ruining our reputation… without destroying the business I’ve spent the last half-decade creating.”

I worked my jaw a few times, then pushed past the pain and fear.

“W-what… what is this contract?” I asked quietly.

Adagio sighed.

“The Last Note is a ‘gentleman's club’ technically speaking, but it’s more than that,” Adagio waved a hand in a vaguely grandiose manner that was somewhat spoiled by her drunken demeanor. “It’s far more progressive than most, catering to all types of desires without judgment and with a distinct promise of privacy.”

I nodded to show I was following and Adagio leaned forward, pulling her hand back from me and bracing her elbows on her knees as she massaged her temples with her fingers.

“It’s not uncommon for companies to have membership to lounges and clubs like mine be part of an ‘executive benefits’ package,” Adagio continued, and then chuckled a little wanly. “With these men and women, powerful movers and shakers of the corporate and government world, purchasing membership fees en masse, it would make this little ‘lounge’ of mine a name spoken in boardrooms the nation over, and further.” Sighing, she sagged a little, letting her hands fall from her face. “I fought to impress the representatives of these companies during a large convention some months ago and, apparently, I succeeded beyond the dreams of avarice.”

“And they’ve already begun purchasing the membership fees, haven’t they?” I said quietly.

Adagio nodded. “Yes, in almost obscene quantities in fact, and we don’t have nearly the capacity to satisfy that many members, which I had known would be the case from the outset.”

“Hence all of the work being done,” I filled in. “You were planning on expanding the Last Note using the funds from the membership fees and such.” I furrowed my brow as a thought occurred to me. “But… aren’t you three privately wealthy?”

"We are," Adagio confirmed, but I could hear an edge to her voice. "But... wealth means many different things in this world... shares, property..."

"Haven't you been hoarding wealth, though?" I pressed, "you've been around for so long!"

"And we've lost everything multiple times," Adagio replied bitterly. "My sisters and I fled the inquisition and carried nothing but what we could hold, we endured the blitz which reduced the home we'd had at the time to rubble!" She curled up for a moment and groaned. "We had small caches and safehouses all across the world, but mostly sundries like clothing, or small amounts of tradable tender like gold or jewels."

I felt a cold pit open in my stomach as Adagio recounted the miseries she and her sisters had gone through, and I began to understand what it was she was getting at.

"But you... you must be wealthy to begin this kind of endeavor," I gestured around to the Last Note.

"You're right, and for the first few years, we posted enough losses to bankrupt a small empire, darling," Adagio sad with a wan smile. "Yes, my sisters and I, mostly thanks to Sonata, put together a great deal of wealth after consolidating our caches, but..." Adagio sighed quietly, then grimaced. “Do you have any idea how much it costs to maintain a business in this part of Canterlot? We sunk much of that wealth into this lounge with the idea that, so long as we managed it well, we would be fed for life.” she sighed again and leaned back against the cool porcelain of the cistern. “Inflation has made everything far more expensive, and even our centuries of hoarding has only brought us so far… now that we are without the ability to simply sing wealth out of people, we’ve used up a great deal of what we had saved over the past several centuries, and now only a very little of our wealth is actually liquid, much of our stock is only thanks to our ties to various industries we meddled in over the years!”

“I see,” I lowered my gaze. “So if this contract falls through…”

“We’ll be ruined,” Adagio said grimly. “I can’t do that… I’m the eldest, and it is my duty to care for my sisters, as it has been for all the centuries and ages since the deaths of our parents.”

I hadn’t ever thought of it like that but now that Adagio said it I found I could barely fathom what that must feel like. To feel responsible for two lives, and to bear that responsibility for literally thousands of years. Now she is faced with the notion of being separated from me for the better part of a year, and likely more with the new duties and difficulties this expanded business would present.

Adagio wiped at her eyes and sobbed again, then reached out for me and gripped my hand so hard it was almost painful.

“I… I don’t want to be without you again, my Melody,” Adagio cried. “Even for as short a time as this… I’m not immortal anymore… I can’t just watch time pass by now!” Slowly, she pulled herself closer to me, kneeling in front of me and pressing her forehead to my knees. “For the first time in millennia I have a limited number of moments to spend, and I want to spend as many of them as possible with you, not with these arduous cretins that have more money than sense!”

I felt my heart swell almost to bursting at the raw emotion Adagio was pouring out to me, and I slid from where I sat down to her level and pulled her in close, burying my face in her wild locks of curly hair.

“But I can’t let my sister’s down,” Adagio bawled, “I can’t just… run off and do as I want… they rely on me!” she sniffled and clung tighter. “M-Maybe Aria might do alright, but Sonata? S-She needs me! She’s my baby sister, and… and…”

That was when Adagio truly broke down.

For several minutes I held her as she wailed out her grief and pain and impotent rage. Adagio Dazzle, once the ageless and eternal Siren, cried like a child in my arms as her heart broke for her sisters and for herself.

With great care, I pulled Adagio to her feet once more and guided her back to her bed, dutifully moving around the sections of the carpet still littered with broken glass, and we laid down. After another half hour Adagio’s breathing had returned mostly to normal, and she didn’t really even look drunk anymore.

She just looked exhausted.

“Did I ever tell you,” Adagio began in a weary voice as we laid side-by-side, staring into one-anothers eyes, “that my entire family were considered to be freaks?”

I furrowed my brow at that. “No, you never did… why?”

Adagio shrugged.

“Because Sirens do not love as humans know it,” she replied. “When Sirens mate it is a violent thing, producing only a single offspring, after which the parents fight one another over who gets to raise and influence the spawn.” Adagio laughed a little bitterly. “Whoever lives gets to guide and shape the result of the union.”

“That sounds vile,” I said, mouth twisting in disgust. “The father and mother butcher each other?”

“Oh, well… yes and no,” Adagio chuckled dryly. “Sirens are a monogendered species, there are no male Sirens, our magic allows us to blend our essences to produce viable offspring.” Adagio moved to snuggled closer to me, as if talking about her people made her feel cold. “During pregnancy the carrying Siren goes dormant, while the one who remains awake defends them.”

I furrowed my brow. “Wait… you have sisters, though… if there is only one offspring then-”

“Yes I was getting to that,” Adagio replied quietly. “Our mothers made the borderline heretical decision to simply raise us jointly which, to my knowledge, had never been done before,” she closed her eyes and smiled a little as she continued on. “Our mothers were pariahs, my sisters as well, and I was considered to be tainted by ‘uneven guidance’ since I had been raised by two parents instead of one.”

“That’s awful,” I reached out and laid a hand across her cheek, stroking it gently. “Uneven guidance… that’s utter hogwash!”

“Not to a Siren,” Adagio said with a wan smile. “To a Siren the ability to function as a solitary unit was essential, we are apex predators, there simply wasn’t enough food in the oceans to sustain any considerable population of us,” Adagio flipped over to lay on her back and stared up at her canopy. “My sisters were nearly executed for simply existing, instead… our mothers paid that price, and we were separated.”

“Oh god,” I put a hand to my lips, horrified.

“But they couldn’t hide my sisters from me,” Adagio’s voice became harder and sharper, “my magic was stronger than most, and I found them… blood of my blood,” Adagio reached out above and closed her good hand into a fist. “I found Sonata amongst the geometers, weaving circles around even the elder magisters, and Aria held position as a Myrmidon, a royal guardian and elite soldier, and together we survived even the apocalyptic arrogance of our Empress.”

I stared for a few moments, and I could feel the ancient strength in the core of the woman I was lying beside. Her drive, ambition, and absolute devotion to her family had guided her all of her mind-bogglingly long life, and now she had to cope with the frailties of humanity in addition to all of the other threats.

“I cannot abandon my sisters… but I cannot be without you, either, my Melody,” Adagio’s voice cracked, and she lowered her hand to cover her face as her shoulders shook with silent sobs. “What can I do? I cannot ask you wait for the best part of a year in the hope that I will eventually have time for you.”

‘You won’t have to,’ I thought bitterly as I stood up from the bed and pulled out my phone.

I punched in the number and lifted the phone to my ear, waiting as it rang a few times. A moment later the familiar, surprisingly bass voice answered.

“Director Reins? Yes, It’s Octavia,” I said into the phone as Adagio sat up and looked around for me. “Yes… yes I’ve made my decision.”

I listened to him drone for a moment and then nodded.

“Yes, if it’s not too much trouble I’ll take your advice and withdraw,” I said, biting my lip as I heard him let out a hum of approval.

The last thing I cared for was making his day better, but this wasn’t about him it was about Adagio and, maybe more importantly, about my own ethical standards.

“I’ve decided to accept your offer, if you’d be so kind as to annul my contract to the Orchestra, I’ll be out of your hair,” I said finally, letting the words fall like the blade of a guillotine over the neck of my career, and I heard Adagio let out something like a strangled yelp of surprise. “Assuming, of course, that there are no legal repercussions to that?”

He assured me there wouldn’t be, which I knew would be the case from the start.

If Stalling Reins had pursued reparation over a broken contract I could simply backstep and offer to take up the fullness of my contractual obligations to the Orchestra. Whatever he had said to me in the office, I knew that in truth he simply wanted me gone, and that he was fully willing to permit a legal annulment of my contract if I would oblige him.

“Yes,” I replied over his next series of questions, “yes if you’ll send me the paperwork I’ll have it signed and dated within the next few days and you can move on to naming the next first chair.”

My stomach roiled as he agreed, his tone smugly victorious, and I fought down a vicious curse.

“Yes… you are… you are very welcome, Director,” I said through gritted teeth.

Then I hung up, turned calmly on my heel, and violently hurled my phone at the solid oak doorway of Adagio’s private quarters where it smashed into multiple pieces.

I spent the next several breaths spitting out every expletive in my extensive vocabulary before transitioning into what Vinyl would probably call ‘freestyling it’ as I made up another dozen more, all directed at the insufferable Director Reins that I had just infuriatingly appeased.

Silence reigned in the room for several moments as I caught my breath, stood straight, primly adjusted my bow tie, and then turned to face the shocked expression on Adagio’s features.

Adagio's jaw was hanging open and had it not been fastened by the bounds of biology I feel safe in assuming it would have struck the mattress and promptly slid to the floor. Her eyes were as wide as saucers and I couldn’t decide if the expression she was wearing contained more surprise or terror.

“What have you done?” Adagio’s voice was a ghostly whisper and I could only shake my head and smiled.

“What I probably would have done anyway,” I replied, and my voice contained a smidgen of heartbreak. I had just all-but torched my classical musical career after all. “And if I hadn’t then I strongly suspect I would have lived to regret it assuming I hadn’t snapped and strangled Director Reins by that point.”

Adagio’s eyes widened a little more and I sighed, wringing my hands for several awkward moments before I sat down at the edge of the bed and reach out to take Adagio’s hands in mind, being careful with bandaged one.

“Something happened today… something I came to talk to you about,” I began slowly, “something that… changes a lot of things for me.”

Her expression softened as I told her everything, most especially about Stalling’s ultimatum though. I could see the fury I’d seen in Vinyl’s eyes flash across Adagio’s face but, at the same time, I saw something resigned in them too, as if she was unsurprised. Over all of the anger and resignation, though, I could also see the shadow of guilt grow in Adagio’s eyes.

Guilt at having been in such a state when I had been the one coming to her for comfort, only to have to clean her up when I arrived.

“Don’t be ashamed, my love,” I said quietly, giving her good hand a gentle squeeze. “No matter in my life will be so great that I wouldn’t drop all of it to dry your tears.”

“Why?” Adagio cried quietly.

I had never seen Adagio like this before, raw and open, as if a barrier had been shorn off of her. I’m not sure why I’m surprised, if I’m being honest. The truth of the matter is that, for whatever creature she once was, in the end Adagio and her sisters probably have more in common with humans than with their own kind.

Adagio loves her sisters more than her own life and happiness, and I suspect that love existed long before they were banished here to this world.

“Because…” I finally answered, leaning down to brush my lips over her fingers, “because I know you would do the same thing for me,” I looked up and met her eyes, and she let out a quiet sob. “Or am I wrong?”

Her hand tightened vice-like around mine and she shook her head.

“No,” Adagio replied in a voice that was raw and choked, “you’re not wrong at all, my love.”

I gave her hand another squeeze, then straightened and began to undress. My bow tie came off first, and I wrapped it around my wrist so as not to lose it, then unfastened my blouse and let it fall to the floor to be swiftly followed by my skirt. Adagio watched me with hungry eyes and a growing, lascivious smile as I doffed my boots, then peeled away my lacy underthings.

Underthings that happened to be a combination of gold and warm, citrus-orange in color.

“Shouldn’t we clean up the room a little before we do anything?” Adagio said a little teasingly, but she moved more comfortably onto the bed as she spoke. “It’s quite a mess.”

“Considering what I intend to do to you, my dear,” I replied with a heated grin, “I highly doubt there would be much of a point.”

Her laugh came out husky, and for the first time that night I could hear a touch of her real self in it again. A bit of that flirtatious temptress that haunted my dreams and more than a few of my waking moments that were spent beneath the sheets when she wasn’t around.

“Aren’t I a bit of a mess myself though?” Adagio playfully shied away from me as I got onto the bed, crawling towards her on hands and knees as she played with her hair. “Look at me… why, I’m an absolute disaster!”

I was getting rather tired of her pulling away from me, she knew it drove me up the wall and that’s clearly why she was doing it.

“My day, darling,” I began as I reached her and planted my hands on her shoulders gently before roughly pinning her down to the bed, “has been quite bad enough without your teasing.”

I gripped her shoulders and lunged down to fasten my teeth around her neck and she hissed in delight at my touch, returning fire by raising her leg and pressing her thigh hard against my dripping sex, pulling a groan from my throat as I pulled away and stared down into those luscious raspberry eyes of hers.

“I’ve endured my bigoted ex-boss,” I began counting off with a snarl as I reached around the back of Adagio’s head and siezed her by her hair, pulling her head back to expose her graceful throat, “I cried my eyes out twice, put my hot mess of a girlfriend back together, and then set my own career on fire!” The last words came out in a snarl and I lowered myself to run my tongue along Adagio’s carotid, and delighted in her shuddering response. “And now the day is over, my life is in shambles, and I want my woman!”

I felt Adagio shivered deliciously in my grip as I kissed my way up her neck, cheek, and around to her full, lovely lips. As I did, Adagio looped one warm leg around my waist and dragged me down into her grasp, bucking her hips as she did and grinding herself against me. I moaned, long and low, into her lips as I felt her hot wetness press against me, and I released my grip on her with on hand to slide it between us and bury two fingers deep inside of her.

Adagio bucked again, moaning softly, and I had time to appreciate just how perfect she felt against me. All warm, firm lines along her sides, arms, and legs, and the pillowy softness of her full breasts and, frankly, divine ass.

I let my other hand wander, touching, caressing, and squeezing wherever I wanted. Tonight Adagio was mine, tonight she was letting herself be mine, and I intended to take full advantage of that.

I rolled my hips and curled my fingers inside of her, and I felt her tighten around me as we kissed. I was drowning in the sensations of her, even ostensibly as in control of the situation as I was… it hardly mattered. Adagio was not a woman you could simply be with, she was a force of nature and I was caught in her inexorable tide.

Even had I wanted to, I don’t think I could have mustered the strength to leave her bower.

So, as Vinyl would say, I leaned into it.

“You’re mine,” I whispered harshly against her lips, and I felt them curl into a seductive smile. “All mine… now and forever.”

“Promise?” Adagio whispered back huskily, her lips sliding from mine to brush against my ear, and I gasped as I felt her warm, wet tongue dart out to lick along the lobe. “Will you promise me that? Will you promise me ‘forever’?”

I pulled back from her, my own eyes burning as I withdrew my fingers from her, soaked with her honey, and slid them between my lips, tasting her as I stared into Adagio’s eyes.

How must I have looked in that moment?

Naked and bare, my ink-black hair falling fiercely around me, my eyes scorched with lust, and my breath coming in heaves.

I didn’t just feel beautiful… I felt wild.

For all of my life I’d felt archaic, staid, and bound by the ancient traditions of my art, but I think that during that time I had quite forgotten the other side of the coin we call ‘ancient’. The side of the coin that was made of beating, pounding drums in the firelit night, and of dancing painted priests of the old gods with their ululating hymns that carried from hilltops to caverns.

Adagio’s eyes saw me that way, and I saw myself within them.

Adagio was my goddess and I suppose that, at least for tonight, that made me her priestess.

I’ve never much held with paganism if I’m being honest, but at that moment I certainly understood the appeal.

“Forever,” I hissed as I lowered myself to her, caressing a hand down her leg and pressing my lips to her thighs, shuddering at the taste of her skin. “Forever…” I repeated quietly, kissing down her inner thigh until I was between her legs, and I slid my tongue up and down her drenched slit.

Her voice was angelic as Adagio cried out her pleasure, and her good hand fixed itself onto my head, gripping my hair and pressing me harder against her. I hardly needed the motivation, though, and I let my tongue explore her, taste her, and please her as my hands roamed over every inch of perfect flesh I could find.

After a few moments I felt Adagio’s legs curl around me as her breathing quickened to shuddering gasps, and I smiled as I increased the fervor of my pace. I wanted her to cum, I wanted to taste her and to feel her hit her peak.

My lover did not disappoint me.

Adagio arched her back, crying out as her pleasure splashed against my lips and tickled down my chin. I lapped and sucked as she writhed in my grip, and rather than lessen, the hunger in my belly only seemed to ignite with greater fury.

“More,” I hissed, as I pulled myself up and stared into her eyes, “I want more.”

I licked my lips as I moved, weaving my legs between hers and straddling her until our nethers were pressed together and I began bucking and rolling my hips.

Adagio jerked as I rode her sensitive cunt with primal roughness, only to rise and wrap herself almost entirely around me.

I hissed in delight as her fingers scored red lines down my back and her teeth fastened hard to my collar. I hit my own orgasm a moment later as she bucked her hips hard against me, and I only managed half of a moan before her lips were sealed over mine.

As we parted, I let out a shivering gasp of satisfaction as she pressed against me again.

“How do you feel… about having some company on those flights around the country?” I gasped out, a delirious smile on my face as I kissed along the crook of her neck, and Adagio hummed contentedly.

“Mmm… they’re all-expenses paid but… I think I could- Ah-!” Adagio gasped as I nipped at her neck, and she swatted my bottom earning a sharp, joyful cry from me, “a-as I was saying… I think I could tack on a ‘plus one’.”

“Good,” I said in a warm, satisfied tone as I wriggled against Adagio’s wonderfully pleasant body. “I’ve been meaning to take a sabbatical anyway, actually,” I pulled back only to lean in and press my forehead to Adagio’s, staring into her entrancing eyes, “and those hotel rooms would be dreadfully lonely without company, don’t you think?”

“Dreadfully,” Adagio agreed, then she moved in to press her lips lightly to mine, and I smiled as I tasted the warm, full flower of her kiss.

She was so intoxicatingly soft, and I felt my inhibitions flowing away from me with every taste of her breath, replaced with burning desire.

We parted and I stared into her eyes again.

“Now… if you would be so kind,” I said in a quiet, throaty voice, “I’d appreciate it if you would positively wreck me, darling.”

Adagio’s smile was shark-like, and I swear I imagined her teeth were the triangular fangs of a deep-sea predator for a moment.

“With pleasure, my Melody.”