The sounds of the drums reverberate beneath my chest. The bass's low and throaty thrums courses through my soul. The sound of our guitars synchronizing together, combining into one, rings melodically in my ears. My voice sings to the heavens, my heart soaring with every word I speak. Every word I scream.
This is why I got into this. This feeling of euphoria. The utter rush of bliss, of self fulfillment. Making music. Writing songs. Getting together with the others. All of it in perfect harmony. I swayed on my feet, my body moving along to the noise. My head nodded violently, but I was still managing to stabilize my vocals so I didn't have to sacrifice audio quality for my own entertainment.
This is my world. My domain. My paradise. Where alone, I am the one who commands the ebb and flow of the music. It's my creation. Connecting the chords, the lyrics dripping from my lips, the smile across my face. The electricity in the air. All of it coalescing into one beautiful harmonic symphony of our alt rock group.
My eyes were shut tightly. The last chorus plays. I could feel the sweat from my body dripping onto the floor. My hair is all over the place, my fingers gliding across the neck of the guitar to reach the next chord. The next note. The song is almost over. I don't want it to be though. I want to stay in this moment. I want to keep playing.
But I know better than that as we go straight into the purely instrumental only outro and finish the song.
The song ended on the last quarter note with a resounding buzz that carried on from Blake's guitar and the deep throatiness of Trifa's bass. As the note died off, the panting of the four girls broke through the would be silence with Yang's and Blake's being the loudest of the four since they expended the most energy.
Reaching for their water bottles that they brought in there, they all took greedy gulps of water, guzzling it down as if they've spent weeks in the Vacuan deserts. The air had a metallic and salty twang to it, due to the amount of sweat pouring from their pores. A pleasured sigh escapes past Blake's lips just as Velvet's voice spoke through the speaker of the booth.
"Nice performance!" She cheerily spoke. "Definitely more of an improvement since the last time. Come on out and we'll go over and review before we leave for the day yeah?"
With a collective grunt of agreement, the members of Wild Hearts all put their instruments down and made their way to the door. They popped their knuckles and stretched out their arms to get rid of any of the soreness that they gained from playing the complete set. An egregious popping sound was made the moment they all made it into the room which caused all the girls to pause and turn around to see Yang, who was still in the position she was in from twisting her upper body.
The blonde noticed their looks with a sheepish chuckle and a wave. "Heh heh, what's poppin guys?" She joked casually, causing the others to groan loudly.
They all gathered around Velvet, who sat in front of the soundboard. There were neat stacks of paper sitting on her left with some highlighters marking certain sentences that Blake could barely make out from where she sat. In her hand was a pen that she clicked every now and then and spun between her fingers.
"Alright everyone, that was a great session we had." She said, a congratulatory smile on her face. "I really think you've nailed the first two songs, though there are things that you need to be careful of."
"Yeah, I think that's pretty much a no brainer though." Ilia spoke up, wiping the sweat from her face with her black crop top. "I mean, the first two songs were already developed before Neon left us, so acclimating her into those songs was just a matter of copying and pasting what she listens to, to how she plays."
"That's precisely correct, Ilia." Velvet nodded in agreement. "Having to start from scratch is where the real problems emerge when it comes to the last song, which is fine since we have 4 more days till the Garage show to iron out both the little things and the big ones."
"True," Trufa sighed, one hand on her opposite shoulder as she rotated it in slow circles. "But at least it's nothing that we can't handle. Not like we didn't think things would be perfect off the jump."
"Yeah sorry bout that." The blonde drummer rubbed the back of her head with a sheepish smile on her face.
"No, it's fine." Blake waved away her apology. "You don't need to apologize for something like this. You were brought in under short notice anyways."
"Yeah but-"
"I'm honestly happy that we managed to make as much headway as we did." Ilia interjected before Yang could depreciate herself even more. The chameleon Faunus looked over to her black haired friend with a grin. "Good thing you're so anal about recording everything, yeah?"
Blake flipped off her best friend with a roll of her eyes as most the snort from Trifa and the giggle from Velvet. "Hardy har, very funny. Let's just listen to the tape." Ilia made a face at Blake in turn before the rabbit Faunus began to play the recording of their most recent session.
It's been three days since their initial meet up and recruitment of Yang Xiao Long and to say that it has gone smoothly is an understatement. Boringly so actually. The young woman wasn't lying when she told them about her experience, because her actions over the past few days showed just how skilled she was and how quickly she assimilated and caught up with the band was nothing less than impressive.
Though, of course, there would still be some complications.
"So right here Yang," Velvet pressed pause after one of their breakdowns of the first song. "You tend to go off and do your own thing, deviating from the original pattern which causes the others to falter slightly due to the unfamiliar rhythm being played."
"Ah yeah that's fair." The blonde flipped her hair back over one shoulder, leaning back in her seat with one arm behind the back of the chair. "Sorry for stringing y'all along." Trifa groaned into her hands which Yang ignored. "I sometimes get a little too lost in the moment when I get carried away." She chuckled sheepishly, scratching at her cheek.
"It's quite alright." Velvet went to mitigate her worries. "It's not that you played badly or anything like that. It's more like…" the Brunette tapped her chin with her pen, humming slightly before she spoke again. "It's more so that you just need to take into account that we really don't know your drumming style well enough to play off of your improv during those moments when the musicality matters most."
Pushing one of the pieces of paper with notes written on it towards her, Velvet gave her a gratuitous smile. "Read over this and always keep in mind to have your eye on the bassist or lead. Even if it is elementary advice, everyone needs to be reminded of the basics every now and then."
"Aye aye Cap'n." The lavender eyed babe saluted.
"Good and the same goes for you too Blake."
Said Cat Faunus, who was listening with only half an ear during the explanation, blinked in surprise with a little jolt in her seat. "Eh? What?" She asked, pointing to herself with an eyebrow raised.
"Yea, you." Velvet pouted, arms crossed as she stared at the singer.
"Uh oh." Ilia leaned forward in her seat, now far more engaged than she had been.
"She's in for it now." Trifa smiled viciously, crossing one leg over another.
"Huh? But I didn't do anything wrong?" Blake defended herself, leaning back a little from the older woman with an apprehensive gaze.
"You," Velvet pointed the pen at the cat faunus menacingly. "Keep getting lost in the music too. And when you do it, it's even worse when it comes to Yang." Said girl coughed into her fist after being put on the spot like that while Blake could only blush slightly in embarrassment. "As a singer, your words begin to slur when you're singing the lyrics." Blake blushed a little harder, slinking a little in her seat. "Your voice breaks on the higher notes."
Even lower in her seat, the black haired faunus falls. "Your strumming also gets ahead of the others at times and it's even worse on the build up because you start to miss the strokes and hit the wrong chords." Blake's back was touching the seat as she groaned, her head in her hands, her face a bright red color as Velvet continued to call her out.
"Hey, uh, Ilia…" Yang whispered as she leaned over towards the brown haired chameleon faunus who was paying rapt attention with an amused grin. Her eyes momentarily took in the blonde's figure appearing in her range before focusing back on the dressing down with a nod. Yang decided to take that as a sign to keep going. "Isn't Vel going a little bit too hard on Blake?"
"Nah, it's fine." The woman replied. "It's almost an everyday thing with those two so I wouldn't worry about it too much."
"Seriously?" She witnessed Blake squawking indignantly back, trying to defend something that Velvet said about her before the bunny, who was usually so timid and mild mannered, shoved a finger into Blake's chest and the other girl pouted but continued to listen. "This happens after every practice?
"Yeah pretty much." Trifa managed to slink over to the other two girls, causing the sole human to jump a little in surprise. She didn't even see her move. "It's probably one of the nastier habits that Blake has, that's only as bad as it is because of how it affects the band."
"Huh… I guess I can see what you mean by that." Placing a hand on her chin, Yang massaged it for a bit before something struck her. "Actually, how long have you guys been a band together for anyways? I don't think I ever asked."
That gave Ilia a bit of a pause, her eyebrows scrunching together for a while as she thought about the length of time it took for them. "Huh, today's October tenth right?" She asked Trifa who whipped out her scroll to check. After receiving the thumbs up in confirmation, Ilia returned her attention back onto Yang. "It would probably make more sense to say that we've always loved to play together, ever since we were young, but we haven't really played seriously for about a year now."
"Oh wow really?" Yang hummed. "That makes you guys probably the youngest band I've been with."
"Seriously?" Trifa joins in, giving the blonde an askance glance. "What's the longest experienced band you've been with?"
"I'd say about 5 years."
"…" both girls just looked at her with an awed look that made her preen a little.
"It's not that big of a deal." She smiled coyly, one hand on her chest. "Ya know, they needed the best of the best and I just happened to be at the right place at the right time."
"No wonder you're completely fine with freestyling like that then…" Ilia muttered, surprised by the blonde's admission.
"So why'd you leave then?" Trifa asked, one eyebrow raised. "Creative differences?"
It was miniscule, but Ilia saw the way that her shoulders slumped and her body seemed to hunch in on itself. "Uh, yeah, something like that…" She says, rubbing the back of her head with the most fakest and weakest of smiles that the chameleon had ever seen.
She opened her mouth to say something, but was promptly interrupted by Velvet clapping her hands causing all three of the women to jump in their seats. "I hope that we are all now paying attention, yes?" The sweet smile that was on her face sent a shiver down all of their spines.
"Yes, Velvet/Vel." They intoned together.
"Good! Now then let's continue the review."
The next hour was spent going over and marking down the mistakes that everyone had made. Ilia not matching tempo during the second song on the second verse, Blake's singing going flat at times when singing long notes, and Trifa missing chords and hitting sour notes all throughout the set. Of course though, Yang's only complaint was her freestyling and the only solution for her was to memorize how the drum pattern was supposed to sound.
Blake couldn't help but be a little jealous about that.
As the time struck close for their time to be up, the girls all began to pack up their equipment, chatting about what their next plans are going to be and complaining about their jobs. Throughout the exchanges, despite having her ass reamed by her friend and manager, Blake couldn't help but smile… Even if a little sadly. I wish you were still here, Neon. She thought, placing her pic in her wallet and hoisting her guitar bag onto her shoulder.
She idly wondered if she should contact her, to see how she was doing, only to immediately cast that thought away. While the breakup was amicable, there were still some feelings there that Blake couldn't help but feel. She was a little hurt and betrayed by her leaving, even if it was due to Neon wanting to do something different for herself. The cat faunus would never begrudge her or force her to stay… Even if she had really wanted to do so.
They all left the studio after pooling the money together to pay for their session, Yang having pulled out to continue the last few processes of helping her sister move into her new apartment which left the other three girls alone. Ilia was the next one who had to leave early, reciting that tomorrow she had a self defense class to teach in the morning before waving the other three girls an early goodbye. Lastly, there was Velvet who then bowed to the two women with an apology on her lips as she then took off herself with her reasoning being a date night with Coco.
Which left Trifa and Blake who stood together in the bustling evening of a Wednesday afternoon. Both women had their arms crossed, their stance mirroring one another and an eyebrow raised. They stood like that for a few moments as people passed them by.
"A Simple Wok is open right now." Blake said, eyes still focused forwards.
"You got a coupon?" Trifa had a wry smile on her face as she answered.
"Two, actually. Buy one get one free."
"Bet, count me in."
"I'll hail a taxi."
Their pleasured moans would be enough to make a grown man blush if the place was actually busy at this moment. The two girls tucked into their ramen with gusto, Blake having ordered a spicy tuna ramen with miso and veggies whereas Trifa had a normal pork ramen dish. It tasted divine as the steamy broth trailed down their throats.
"Shooo good." Trifa talked around the mouthful of noodles, euphoric tears in her eyes.
"Hash shome manners." Blake glared, poking her chopsticks into the spider faunus's direction. The silver haired woman rolled her eyes in response, but didn't say anything more as she went and focused on her food for the time being with Blake quickly following suit.
This was their favorite spot to go to after a hard day of practice, the hole in the wall noodle shop having been something that they had happened upon by accident one night as they were on a night out on the town and the rest was history. The owners were a nice and lovely couple from Mistral who moved over from their life in the countryside to try and bring their skills to the big city. They don't get much business in Vale, sadly, but ever since the girls had found them they've never been to another noodle shop again.
"Well, I'm happy to see your appetite hasn't diminished any dearies." Mrs. Tsukihime, the 60 year old woman said as she came over with two steaming cups of tea on a tray. "You're all still so thin, I don't know where you put it all."
"Blake's food goes straight to her fat a- ow!"
Blake smiled innocently at the older lady as she took her tea cup carefully. "Thank you, Mrs. Tsukihime, we really appreciate it."
"Oh how many times must I tell you to call me Diana." She tsked, setting down Trifa's cup for her, since the girl was too busy glaring at her friend. "Mrs. Tsukihime makes me feel old."
"Right right, sorry." She smiles politely, taking a sip at her tea. It was an herbal blend straight from Mistral known for its calming aroma and soothing taste.
"How's your band going along? I remember you saying that that Faunus girl… hmm what was her name again… Nio Gnat?"
"Neon Katt." Trifa corrected gently.
"Ah that's it, thank you Trifa." She placed her hand atop the girls head and patted it, The silver haired spider Faunus preening under the attention. "But yes, that Neon Katt girl left?"
"Ah yeah…" Blake sighed, setting down her drink, she placed one elbow on the table and her chin in her hand. "Well… She's not really in the picture anymore… We replaced her like, three days ago."
"Oh dearie." The woman tutted, looking at the black haired woman with a pitying look. "And you looked like you were quite enjoying yourself around her too."
Blake stiffened momentarily, eternally grateful that she didn't have a drink in her mouth. "Oh?" She croaked, hiding her head down to hide her face away from the woman and her friend's face. "What makes you say that?"
Trifa rolled her eyes. "Blake, everyone knew." She said, crossing her arms at her friend. "You definitely weren't the best at hiding feelings like you think you are."
"Hey, that's a little uncalled for."
"I'm afraid she's right though." Tsukihime agreed. "It was pretty obvious darling."
"Not you too." She groaned, wanting to sink into her chair.
"Ugh, listen Blake." Trifa started, moving her chair to join her on her side of the table. "I get it. Neon was a pretty fun person, smoking hot, and you guys did have some chemistry, but it was never going to work out. You know that right."
"Wow…" Blake rolled her eyes. "Going a little hard there aren't you."
"No, it's what you need to hear." Trifa clarified, patting her on the shoulder. "Neon is way too freedom oriented, she always talked about going out and seeing the world and traveling to different spaces back even in high school. You just didn't see it, nor wanted to." She shrugged. "You're more structure oriented. You want stability, a place to call home, to settle down, and all that other stuff."
"Nice…" She grumbled. "First Velvet earlier, now you… What is it, Kick The Blake While She's Down Day."
"Far be it for anyone to make fun of you, sweetie." The woman placed her hand on her other shoulder. "Your friend here is just looking out for you is all."
She sighed, looking at Trifa who had moved back to the other side of the table so she could get back to drinking her tea. "Yeah… I know."
"Look, I get that you may have been infatuated with her, but honestly you could do better." She spun one finger in the air, a smirk on her face. "She was totally not your type anyways.
"Oh yeah?" Blake raised an eyebrow, skeptically. " And what is my type exactly?"
Trifa took another drink. "Now isn't that an interesting question."
"..." She waited for a minute, watching as the spider Faunus went right back to her bowl of noodles. "Sooo… You're not gonna tell me."
When the silver haired woman managed to swallow her food, she gave her a wink. "Nah, it's more fun for you to figure it out on your own."
"Ah, to be young again." Tsukihime said with a reminiscent smile on her face. "Why, it reminds me of the time when me and Norton went out several years back and he…"
The two Faunus sat patiently, eating their noodles as the old lady told them one of her many tales concerning her and her husband. It was sweet, hearing people who have successfully fallen in love with someone and making it work for almost your entire life. At one point listening to such stories made her bitter and resentful, but now?
Well, it still made her a little bitter, but she can appreciate it for what it tells her.
The time passed and soon they were saying their goodbyes to the lady and her husband, who had waved at them before returning to the kitchen. Mrs. Tsukihime had given them an extra helping of noodles to take home, after trying and failing to tell her she didn't have to, before they made their way out and onto the night life of Vale. There was much more people out tonight than usual, so the two remained close to one another and kept an eye out on their surroundings.
It didn't take too much longer for the two to make it to Trifa's and her boyfriend's, a bat Faunus named Yuma, apartment. They were more closer to the inner city than Blake and Ilia were, so she'd have to try and catch a cab or call a Ouber to pick her up. Though Trifa didn't really like that idea.
"Why don't Yuma and I bring you?" She asked, her mouth fixed into a frown. "It's better to have us with you than you being out all alone like this."
But Blake waved her off. "I can take care of myself, Tri." She pointed to her purse matter of factly.
" That's not what I mean Blake and you know it." Sharifa argued.
"Stop worrying so much. I'll be fine, promise." Blake reassured her. "When I make it home I'll let you know."
"You know we don't like it when we're out at late at night." Trifa wouldn't budge, her hands on her hips, her face now a scowl.
Blake tapped the side of her head pointedly, not budging either. "Night vision remember, besides I'm hailing a taxi anyways." Before Trifa could rebuttal, Blake softly pushed her to the elevator door. "Go on, Yuma's waiting on you, I'll be fine."
The petite woman growled low in her throat before sighing in resignation. There was no changing Blake's mind when it was set. "Fine." She rolled her eyes in exasperation. "But you better text me the moment you get home, understood." She wagged a finger in her face.
"Fine fine." She swatted the silver haired faunus's hand away from her face. "You're not my mom Tri."
"No, but you definitely need one out here to set you straight." She snorted before she went to the elevator and waited for it to come down. Blake was about to turn to leave when Trifa called out to her.
"Yeah?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.
"You can sleep on our couch, you know." She tried one last time.
"What and listen to the two of you humping like rabbits?" She had an amused grin on her face at Trifa's red cheeks. "I'll take my chances outside with the wolves."
"Screw off, Belladonna." She flipped her off and Miss Blakes chuckled with one last wave, disappearing behind the closing doors of her ride up to her room.
Turning around, Blake let out a yawn and stretched one arm above her head as she headed out the front of the building. Ugh, can't wait to get home and go to sleep. She thought, not at all pleased with a reminder that she also had work tomorrow morning. Kill me now… Maybe I can call in?
It took some time for her to flag down a taxi, even waving as widely as she did. There were a few that did slow down momentarily only to then speed up when they got a good look at her… Not like she didn't know the reason why, which only stoked her ire.
Getting in, she told the driver her address, whipping out her scroll to let Trifa know she managed to get a taxi as the woman began to drive off. Her friend sent back a thumbs up in response followed by the eyes emoji and a finger pointed at her. Blake smiled softly at that, and sent her a 'fuck off' gif in response.
Trifa and her were kind of similar, in the way that they were both snarky and relatively quiet. However, Blake couldn't really afford to be that way nowadays, due to her duties as the front man of the band. Maybe I should've been the bassist instead. She thought idly, looking through different apps and messages on her phone. But that would mean having to hear Trifa singing… She shuddered at the thought.
Yeah, never mind about that. The only other one in the group who feasibly could take over as front man was Ilia, but she hated singing, even if it's for backup vocals. I'm doomed. The cat faunus sighed.
Well, at least Yang seemed to be the one saving grace so far. She didn't really know exactly how to feel about her just yet, but she seemed like a pretty cool person… Minus the dad puns. She even reminded her a little bit of Neon. If the disco maniac was blonde, a human, and had a terrible sense of humor.
At the thought of Neon though, she felt her shoulder slump a little. She pulled up all of their past messages on her scroll and was instantly hit with a few paragraph sized texts that they had sent to one another complete with emojis, smiles, hearts, winks, the works. Some made her chuckle and others made her cringe.
She also saw the four messages from the woman herself, asking if things were ok between them and that she was sorry for the last minute bail. Messages she never responded to. Maybe messages she never would respond to.
Maybe Trifa had a point that they wouldn't have worked out, maybe they were too different in their mindsets. That, however, didn't get rid of the small lump in her throat. Her fingers paused over the keyboard before shutting the app away and moving onto her notes where she started to look over the lyrics.
"We're here at your stop." Came the call from the front.
Blake blinked as she looked up at the woman who was looking back at her with an expectant look on her face as she tapped the meter. "Oh, right, yeah sorry." She dug into her purse and pulled out the lien she needed. "Thought it would take longer."
"Of course you would." The response was shrewd, giving off a barely aggressive tone that had Blake's hackles raising. "Trust me, it's not hard to find out where you would belong." She should have grabbed a Vuber.
"Whatever, here take lien." She shoved the amount through the glass pane that separated the driver and backseat. Opening up the door to get out, she took one last pot shot at the woman. "And as a tip, maybe don't be an asshole to a paying customer."
She slammed the door shut, the tires of the woman's car taking off with a screech. She saw it go down the road and take a right, a growl in the back of her throat. Bitch. She thought. She didn't want to call the woman discriminatory or anything but the way she looked at her damn near almost called for it.
Not everyone is a nice person Blake. She remembered her mom saying once Just cause they're mean doesn't mean they're racist.
Taking a calming breath, Blake settled her nerves before turning around and coming face to face with lavender colored eyes. "Eep!" She jumped, her heart racing fast in her chest.
"Ah, sorry I didn't mean to scare you." Yang Xiao Long scratched her cheek with her prosthetic limb with a sheepish smile. "I just didn't know if it was really you or not."
She had to take a few moments with her hand over her heart, trying and failing to settle it. "Yang?!"
"Hey, I'm Yang." She waved casually, as if she hadn't almost given the woman a heart attack.
"What the hell?!" Blake demanded, pointing a finger at her.
"Hey, it was just an accident, sorry." She laughed, laughed at her. "Won't happen again."
"Whatever." Blake grumbled to herself, adjusting her guitar bag and making sure that her noodles hadn't spilled outside of its packaging. "What are you even doing here?" She asked once she finally made sure that everything was in order. "Did you forget to tell me something?"
"Huh?" The blonde's head tilted to the right quizzically, as if not understanding what she meant.
"Well you don't live around here." Blake explained with a roll of her eyes, placing one hand on her hips. "Unless you're dating someone at my apartment complex."
"You're... apartment complex?" She asked slowly, looking left to right, still slightly confused by what the woman was saying.
"Oh my gosh, I know that blondes aren't stupid but you're not really helping your case any here."
"Woah woah woah. Hold it there." Yang waved her hands side to side, her face set in a frown. "That was uncalled for."
Blake opened her mouth to say more, but stopped herself in her tracks. Calm down you idiot or you're going to lose the drummer you JUST BARELY managed to get in time of the concert. "Sorry you're right," she relented, adjusting her strap again. "I'm just a little frazzled from the drive here."
Sighing herself, Yang just shrugged it off. "Nah it's fine don't worry about it. I can get that just by the way she zoomed off on you."
"Thanks."
"Don't mention it."
There was a bit of an awkward silence between the two, the sounds of the street behind them doing its best to fill it in when Blake coughed into her fist. "You wanna come in?"
Yang raised an eyebrow at her. "Uh, actually, I was just about to leave actually."
"Ah ok then, sorry, I didn't mean to hold you up."
"Honestly? It helped more than it hurt, especially since I'm also a little nervous about leaving Zwei here."
"Zwei?" Blake questioned. "Who's that?"
"He's my dog." She fished in her pockets for her scroll to show Blake a picture of her Home Screen which had a blonde man, a black haired girl, a black haired man, and a dog on it. "We have to leave him here overnight because he needs testing done."
"… Testing?" Blake looked at the little devil from hell with a grimace. When did her apartments do that? Or anywhere around her place actually.
"Uh, yeah… ya know, testing." She stressed the word out. "That's what vets are for."
"A… Vet…" The cat haired faunus looked up and, for the first time, noticed exactly where she was dropped off at. Her face fell and her noodles fell from her hands, landing on the ground in a splash of brothy goodness.
"Blake?" She heard Yang ask distantly, her voice sounding far off and away as she continued to stare straight ahead at the building before her. "Hey Blake you okay? What's wrong? You're white as a ghost."
She dropped her off at the Veterinarian Clinic. A place… for animals…
"Oh."
Where you would belong. She had said. As if there was anywhere else for her to be at. As if she didn't have her own place, her own room, her own bath, her own bills. A sense of hurt welled up beneath her chest, but heat also flooded her cheeks as her fists clenched tightly in her hands.
"That fucking bitch."
I'm so sorry everyone about the wait for this chapter. I know I'm 6 days past the post date, but I came under a severe sickness that left me too weak to even function properly. I hope you all forgive me and as a bit of compensation I nearly doubled the chapter length this go around. The next chapter will be releasing as per the usual schedule so expect it to be out next Friday. Thank you all for reading!