The shipment had arrived, as Vinyl found out from the blonde waitress as she entered the bar with her brother, both of them with damp hair from the continuous downpour. The bartender went to the back of the building to sign for the crate, standing in the doorway to avoid getting too wet. No one else was around, so she had to carry it in herself, though it was much heavier then Vinyl knew she could easily lift, so she more dragged it then carried it. By the time she was able to get it into the back room, her arms felt like lead and her feet were killing her. She made her way to the bar so she could sit and rest.
Approaching the door, she froze as she heard a melancholy noise perforating the air. Octavia must have finished tuning her large fiddle, cause now she was playing a slow, somber song, melodic and beautiful, but also extremely sad. Vinyl frowned, creeping from the doorway to a bar stool and resting her elbows on the bar so she could listen and rest.
Glancing at Octavia, she watched the snooty woman play. Her eyes were closed, her hands gliding smoothly across the strings of the over-sized fiddle. She looked at home. She looked at peace.
Vinyl closed her eyes, smiling wistfully. If only she was allowed to play music like that; not sad and snooty, of course, not that it wasn't nice, but music like that isn't Vinyl's, won't be Vinyl's. Never in hell. No, what Vinyl wanted was music that could make her feel safe when she played it, make her feel at peace. Make her feel at home. Like Octavia looked. Vinyl wished she could play with that sort of freedom. With love. It would be beautiful.
Wishful thoughts left her head as the music came to an end. The bartender opened her eyes and reached for a bottle of tonic water, pouring it into a glass as she heard Octavia setting her instrument down.
"When did you get here?" Her snooty voice asked. Vinyl sipped her gin-and-tonic-without-gin, grinning as she turned around in her seat to look at the woman.
"Oh, you know, a bit ago." She shrugged, a playful glint in her eyes, which went unnoticed by Octavia, who could not see past Vinyl's glasses.
Octavia rolled her eyes in return, turning away from Vinyl. "Well, if you're going to give answers like that..." She said, obviously annoyed. Hm, and I thought they agreed to get along?
"Oh come on, Ms. Snooty Pants. Pull some of that gloom off and lighten up a little. It's not like your fiddle needs anymore tuning." Vinyl was obviously goading her, but she took the bait.
"You do realize cellos and fiddles are not the same thing, right?" She glared.
Vinyl laughed with venom. "Of course I do, Snoot, I do have a brain you know. Though I'm starting to doubt yours works very well, as you don't seem to understand the difference between humor and insult." The sarcasm and menace in her voice was astounding.
Octavia's glare deepened, her eyes dark and foreboding. "What do you understand other than your stupid jokes? What do you have, you...you..." She seemed to be searching for a word that would work as an insult but no include profanity. With an annoyed sound she hissed "Uncouth cretin!"
Vinyl smirked, narrowing her eyes. "I'm not going take that sort of talk from a snoot like you. You think you're so much better than me with your stupid fiddle and your 'classical music'." Her tone was full of a deep hatred, and in the end she knew she'd forget herself and go along hissing at the arrogant woman in front of her. "Well, don't you?" she snapped.
Octavia stared at her, not knowing what to say, being put on the spot like that. In normal circumstances she'd never let herself fall so deep into an argument. But this woman was rude and rash and listened to the most audacious things. And they both were livid. So why not. Why no just say it?
"Well of course I am! You don't care about what I do! You don't understand it! You don't appreciate music! You don't know anything!" She shouted, her voice filled with such vehemence that it left her panting.
Vinyl stared at her, her glasses slipping down her face as she shook with fury. Octavia could just barely see the eyes that were glaring at her, piercing her with the pure anger that was blaring off of Vinyl, hot and burning. "You don't know!" Vinyl shouted, her face heating up.
And then she turned, and she ran, almost knocking Roderich over as she exited the room.
"Vinyl, what is going on in he-" Began the man, with a stern voice, which stopped as he glimpsed the look on her face as she ran past. "Vinyl!" He shouted, his expression immediately turning to one of concern.
Octavia stared, eyes wide, at where the red eyed woman had once been.
The door slammed as Roderich entered the bar, dripping wet. Octavia looked up hopefully from her seat at the bar. Roderich shook his head, rubbing the bridge of his nose from frustration. Vinyl hadn't returned and Roderich hadn't been able to find her. Now it was too close to opening time for him to continue looking for her.
He had tried calling Ludwig, to see if he could replace her for the night, but he said he had plans with his significant other and their was no way he could reschedule them. So, Roderich turned to the blonde waitress and her brother, who were sitting at one of the tables, waiting for instructions.
"You're going to have to help me with the bar tonight. I don't know it as well as her." The waitress nodded. Roderich then left the room. He didn't even look at Octavia.
The cellist stared at the floor, wishing she'd been able to hold her tongue. She didn't know what had made the woman leave like that, didn't know the strength of her words. She still felt terrible, though. Alas, words can't be taken back.
"What did you do to her?" A gruff voice asked. Octavia looked up, surprised to ear the voice at all, for its speaker was the blonde waiter, who Octavia hadn't never heard speak yet. Even his sister looked surprised at question.
"I...I didn't do anything to her." Octavia said weakly, looking back down at the ground. She felt pitiful, but couldn't help but defend her case. "We were just...arguing."
The waitress gave her a harsh look. "Well you must have said something."
Octavia furrowed her brows. "I'm...sorry..." Her voice lacked its normal pride. It was entirely regretful, and Octavia hated that.
The night was hectic. Whilst Roderich was running the bar, the two other employees rushed to hand out drinks. The problem was, though, Roderich didn't understand Vinyl's system and orders were filled out much too slow. No one understood how Vinyl made things run so smoothly.
They relied on Octavia to keep the costumers entertained while they rushed to hand out drinks. Her music was fluid, but melancholy, reflecting her mood. It created a rather gloomy cloud over the bar.
Her first night working at Wein Ton (which means Wine Tone in German, if this hasn't been made clear), Octavia learned how cynical the costumers she played for were. They were rude to the wait staff and often complained about those around them. Octavia was bothered by their words, so much like those she had grown up around.
The worst part, though, was they liked her.
"Nice of that Austrian man to finally hire some class."
"Yes, makes the place feel more suited for the crowd it draws."
"She's better then the rest of the workers here. Have you seen that waitress? Annoying blonde."
"I wonder if that garish woman quit? The bartender?"
"Let's hope so. Maybe he fired her, realized how rude she was."
"Hopefully this place will finally be free from that riff-raff."
Octavia tried not to let her emotions show, to make her face reflect her concentration on the music instead, but she couldn't help the lump that formed in her throat as she heard those words.
Vinyl did not return that night. Roderich sent the blonde siblings home before they had a chance to try and clean the bar, saying that they'd handle it tomorrow, they worked hard enough for one day. Octavia packed up her instrument slowly, the dreaded feeling of shame from earlier seeping out of the empty bar and find itself a home in her.
She sighed. Picking up her cello and walking toward the door. Hopefully, the blue haired bartender would return tomorrow and Octavia could apologize.
"Octavia, could I speak to you?" Roderich asked, using one of those very calm voices that were dripping with stern disappointment.
Octavia stopped in her tracks. Oh right, she had been expecting this. "Sir?" She said, trying to hide her feelings behind an equally calm voice. She turned toward her employer, who waved her over to the bar.
"You remember what I told you when I hired you, correct?" She should, the conversation had only happened about a week ago. Octavia nodded. "What did I tell you?"
"You'd only hire me if I promised to avoid conflict with the bartender." She said, paraphrasing from memory. It had been a long talk in which Roderich described how employees should a get along and how fighting would just lead to tears, not a better community. Octavia had thought, at the time, that it was really unnecessary.
Roderich nodded. "Why then, were you and Vinyl fighting today?" He asked, implying a sense of 'what was so terrible that you risked your job?' He was being very calm about the whole situation, but you could see how serious he was just by looking at his face. He really look like he was on the brink of glaring.
"Well, sir, I don't really know how the argument began." Octavia explained nervously. "Vinyl was insulting my instrument and I retaliated."
Roderich raised an eyebrow. "Are you saying Vinyl started the fight?"
Octavia furrowed her brows. "Yes, sir, I am. Though, to make things clear, I'm not saying she is the only one to blame."
Roderich stared at her. "You'll clean the bar tomorrow." The Austrian man said, naming her punishment, which Octavia was to glad to see wasn't her being fired. He then stood abruptly, waved to her in a way that said 'go' and walked toward the back of the room, where he sat at a small piano in the back and played. The song was very melancholy, but loud and rash. It was also extremely well played. Octavia walked out of the bar before the song ended.
Everyone arrived earlier than normal the next day. Except for Roderich, that is, who had gone to look for Vinyl via visiting her apartment. Everyone else helped clean the bar, especially Octavia, whose heart was still full of guilt from the incident that had happened the previous evening. The bar was cleaned much quicker than normal, though, with the work of three people, but by the end they wondered how Vinyl did it all by herself. Roderich required a lot of work to be done, and it was too much for one person.
As time waged on, neither Vinyl nor Roderich appeared. Octavia got around to tuning her cello, the waiter and waitress kept casting worried looks toward the door and soon to began to grow close to opening time. But Roderich did not arrive. Vinyl did not arrive.
Eventually, it was decided that Octavia would help the blonde waitress tonight and the waiter would take Vinyl's role, but as this decision was made, the door to the bar opened.
Everyone turned their heads to look, but their hopeful expressions soon turned to worried ones as a tall, blonde man stepped into the bar.
"Roderich says he'll be late." Ludwig said, taking off his coat and rolling up his sleeves. "I'll be filling in for him and Vinyl till he arrives. The cellist should resume her normal duties and you two," He pointed at the waiter and waitress, "Should carry on as normal. Understood?" Octavia, who was not used to Ludwig's demands, looked rather confused, but the others nodded and stood to take their stations.
Octavia stood, staring for a moment, as Ludwig walked to the bar. "I am Ludwig Beilschimdt, a friend and colleague of Roderich's." The man explained, pulling out a piece of paper from his pocket and reading that instead of looking at Octavia. "You are Octavia Melanson, correct? The musician Roderich hired?"
"Yes." Octavia replied, slightly intimidated by this man.
Ludwig said nothing more, but focused on the paper. By the way he was reading it, it seemed to be a set of instructions given by Roderich. Octavia left him to the instructions in favor of her cello. Soon, people would begin to arrive. She needed to be ready.
Vinyl did not return that night, but Roderich did, looking rather frustrated. He locked himself in his office for awhile, and if you walked b it you'd heard the loud sound fo a piano being played. at the end of the night, Ludwig went to go talk to him and left mumbling to himself. Octavia went home without talking to anyone.
Meanwhile, Vinyl was on the other side of the city, sitting at the bar of a loud, racy club. She watched as people danced provocatively under flashing lights in colors like blue, red, and green, a giant mass of sweat and limbs, moving rhythmically to the loud music. The kind of music Vinyl liked; flashy stuff that really had no meaning, but that you could move to in ways no other music could; the kind of music that was so loud you couldn't hear the words, and it didn't matter. The blue haired woman sipped her drink, wincing because she knew she cold have made it better then this seedy guy who kept giving her weird looks, but smiling because the music was soothing. She was mulling over her thoughts, trying to relax her mind. Soon she'd have to return, she'd run out of money before she could ruin herself, she knew that, but for now she'd relax.
